I am bummed.

I had one great last post all ready to urge people to reject the teachings of Frank Viola and George Barna.  I had commentary on their use of proof-texting to defend their entire book.  I even had given them a clever “celebrity couple” name.  And I was chomping at the bit to finish, polish and send it.

Then God the Holy Spirit convicted me.  That post will never be sent.

In the face of the onslaught of what I am calling the “New Stalinism”: attacks from the ridiculously far left (Bill Maher, Hitchens, Pullman, Dawkins and the like), I had to take a good, long look at my way of dealing with extremism within the Body of Christ.  Is it right for me to respond to divisive comments with (possibly more divisive) counter-attacks?

I had to conclude: nope.

The radical atheist movement, which would like to see the Body of Christ disappear from the face of the earth, are too unified in their one, simple piece of religious dogma – “God is not” – for us to afford to be divided.  And, when my efforts to counter division in the Church become ugly attacks on the very sources of division, the New Stalinists become even more powerful.

Fact is, Christ has one Bride, the Church.  She is a conflicted gal, to be sure.  She is simultaneously convinced of the efficacy and sufficiency of the Cross and the need for meritorious works; the surety of God’s sovereign choice and the freedom of the individual; the priesthood of all believers and the importance of the clergy; embracing at times Rome and at times the Reformation; holding icons in one hand and casting them away with the other…

Some of us speak of salvation as “when you die and go to heaven” while others think of the “living in the hope of the resurrection” – two very different aspects of the same hope.  We wrestle with incompatible thoughts, such as definitions of the Church and views of the “end times”.  The Bride is one, yet she often doesn’t know it.

What good is it, then, for me to respond to division with more contentious argument?  That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t discuss, or even argue.  But I feel that one must watch the tone of such interactions.

I am at fault.  When Frank and George argued there was no place in the Church for pastors, choirs, orderly worship and the like, I responded with the attitude that there was no room in the Church for such opinions.  Of course there is!  I may think they are wrong, but their thoughts are welcome.

Radical Atheist (a)theology is so simple that even the most diametrically opposed atheists are unified in their basic belief that God and religion taint everything and have no value.  We can’t be the blazing light that will burn up such ignorant darkness if we are distracted by infighting.

So, as a penance, I am willing not to be contentious any longer.  When I disagree, I will – with God’s help – disagree in the most, well… agreeable of ways, welcoming my brothers and sisters into dialogue with, as one of the Epistles says, “gentleness and respect”.

These words from Battlestar Galactica, are quite fitting:

So say we all.

Third Sunday after Pentecost:

Grant, O Lord, that the course of this world may be peaceably governed by Your providence; and that Your Church may joyfully serve You in confidence and serenity; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

This prayer has some of the greatest modifiers the Church could ever hope to pray for.  Imagine: us, Christ’s Body and Bride, His beloved people, … peaceably governed… joyfully serv[ing]… in confidence and serenity… Picture that Church!

That’s what the season of Pentecost is about.  A season to remind us Who is Boss, and for us to rest in that knowledge; for us to put down our swords and pick up our plowshares, and to, side by side, hand in hand, “joyfully serve”.

I have nothing to add to this; I just want to draw your attention to that picture, that unity, that… rightness.

Our pastor here in La Paz, the guy who, along with his wife has been kind enough to do an English-Speaking service for a few Americans, a couple of New Zealanders and a British missionary all these months, had a story to share about God’s peaceable governing and the strange way it sometimes looks.

Upon returning to Bolivia from the States about 13 years ago, their first child, a son, was stillborn.  In the aftermath, they waited for comfort and encouragement, but it didn’t seem like it was gonna come.  Many well-meaning people said the usual stupid things.

Then, one day, shortly before the funeral, the pastor sensed a tiny voice telling him, “Your son has fulfilled his ministry”.  This was, he thought, an outlandish thought; he hadn’t even had a chance to live, let alone minister!

But then, at the funeral, a man, a Baptist missionary, sat down beside him, put his arm around him…

… My friend the pastor thought another failed word of comfort was coming…

… And he said, “Your son has fulfilled his ministry.”  He got up, and rejoined the others at the funeral.

Then my pastor’s eyes were opened; he looked around and realized what this had meant: pastors from the community, who for years had fought over doctrinal non-essentials, and who never spoke or fellowshipped, were hugging, praying, weeping together.

The death of this precious child had brought them together.

I don’t know that God took the child, but I know He used the tragedy to create something new.  What happened was rather remarkable; this tragedy woke these clergy up to the realization that our petty squabbles, our doctrinal cold wars, our liberal or conservative fundamentalism, are blinding us to the things that really matter: bearing one another’s burdens, standing side by side, building up the Body of Christ.

Peaceably.  Joyfully.  In confidence and serenity.

Amen.

I think the cure for Christian disunity is a focus on Christ and an avoidance of the extremes.

Could I be more simplistic? “Allow me to ’splain… No, no time. Allow me to sum up.”

Okay, as I see it, there are two extremes that damage Christ’s Bride, the Church: one is rampant error, and the other is theological snobbery.

The first extreme is when congregations and individuals go off the deep end. The Faith Movement, for example, has so twisted Christian doctrine that I would have to say, without equivocation, that they are, not, indeed, Christians. Now, I’m a fairly ecumenical guy. But essentials are essentials, and when you start saying that Christians are gods and Jesus was defeated at the cross (not to mention that your version of Jesus was rich wants you to have a Rolls Royce), your Jesus ain’t my Jesus; you have left the flock for another flock. You’ve joined the kingdom of the cults.

Even within the fold, however, there are extremists who breed heresy and doubt, such as Episcopal bishops who try to twist Scripture to justify immoral lifestyles, or who want you to question whether Jesus was born of a virgin or rose from the dead. They haven’t outright denied the essentials of the faith (but by implication, they have), but they are close to the edge, and dragging many, many, with them.

But let’s look at the other side. There’s a wideness in God’s mercy… that seems absent from the faith of many “orthodox” believers – brothers and sisters and whole denominations (boy, I hate that word) who would take a non-essential doctrine (how and when one is baptised, for example) and elevate it to the position of essential. “No, your infant baptism doesn’t count, even though your parents were believers and baptised you in a way that represented their belief in God’s covenant faithfulness and their commitment to raise you in the Faith,” or, “I know you were baptised as a believer, but you did it wrong; no dunkie, no cigar.” This is just so sad!

I don’t know which is worse: people whose theology is so bad that I can clearly see we have a rift between us and can see the need to reach out with the Gospel, or the brother or sister who comes up to you with an appearance of fellowship and then shuts the door on your face when they find out you cross yourself or don’t read Tim LaHaye.

No, as I finish the previous paragraph, I do know. I know where I stand with a heretic or someone in grave error, and I know what to do: pray for them, love them and reach out with the Word of God. But with a brother or sister who arrogantly builds a wall between us on the basis of some… well… preference, I feel often disoriented, betrayed and lost for what to say or do.

You who are close to the edge, please, please, please, return to the essentials of the faith. Reject your heresies and errors and join us in the fold (much like the Worldwide Church of God did, thanks to people like Hank Hanegraaf) The best summaries are the Apostles’ or the Nicene Creed, but we also need to immerse ourselves in the Word of God, and take the whole counsel of God to be our authority.

To you who take a mystery (predestination? free will?) or a preference (no holidays? ties at church? baptism by immersion only?) and feel the need to shut out those who do not share this perspective, please know that you are shutting out a part of the body, a part of the bride, a part of yourself. Stop it.

I’m sure I’m guilty of it, too. So, let’s pray for each other on this one.

Form V in the Book of Common Prayer starts with four (four!) sentence prayers about the Church; three cover the following: that she would be committed to love and truth; that our divisions may cease; and that we might fulfill the mission of the Church and share the Good News. I think these are in a really logical order. If we lack either love or truth (the two extremes mentioned above), we will remain divided. If we remain divided, the growth of the Gospel will always be hindered. Pray hard. Pray for the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

For Christ really, really, only has one Bride.

“One Faith”, a song by John Michael Talbot, is one of my favorite anthems of Christian unity. I love calling Talbot my brother, even though he is Roman Catholic and I am, well, not (sorry – I hate the word “Protestant”. We Anglicans have an uneasy relationship with that label, too; “mere Christian” will do just fine, thanks).

Maybe Jesus’ prayer for one Church will again be answered in our lifetime.

Christianity Today has been doing some fine, intriguing articles of late about the evangelical tradition’s rediscovery of the ancient Faith, and I just got sent another neat one – spawned by the Pope’s visit to the White House – about how relations between the Roman and evangelical traditions are warming a bit…

To which I have to give a cautious, but enthusiastic, w00t!

This bit of the article, which can be found here in its entirety, is why I’m enthusiastic:

Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, said, “We have solidarity with the Catholic church in that we are pro-life, value traditional families, and uphold the doctrines of the Trinity, the deity of Christ, and the substitutionary Atonement. In a culture where these beliefs are constantly challenged, we are grateful for all who strongly stand for shared beliefs.”

“It’s not just about abortion,” said Wallis, who describes himself as an evangelical convert to Catholic social teaching. “We’re talking about a new evangelical-Catholic alliance that’s forming around what we would call good news to the poor and what [Catholics] would call preferential option to the poor, as well as what it means to be committed to the common social good.”

This bit is why I am cautious:

“Evangelicals and Catholics have found much more common ground and common cause in the struggles with secularism and other religions,” said Anderson. “But don’t think this means alignment or merger. Our doctrinal differences are as deep and distinct as ever.”

That’s because there are differences, and they do matter. The Pope lets syncretism go unchecked here in Latin America. That – as one example – needs to change. He has also said some things that make me think he’s not entirely welcoming us as brothers.

And evangelicals have serious issues, too. I recently rejoiced openly that someone near and dear to us was attending confirmation classes at her mom’s Catholic church (which is huge because she has been expressing a growing love for Jesus of late, and was afraid of what some in her family might think; it turns out said family members welcomed her attending the classes), and someone else reacted incredulously that these family members are, “okay with Catholicism, but not Christianity?”

I did not hit him. I restrained myself.

So while we have a long way to go – while we all have a lot to learn from our History and His written Story, as well as from each other – I can say w00t, and w00t again, because we truly are one Faith, with “one hope and one baptism, one God and Father of all…”

Thanks so much, Christianity Today for the good reporting and John Michael Talbot for the great anthems of the Faith!

From the words of the Apostles’ Creed:

We believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended to the grave (my paraphrase).

The third day He arose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic (that is, universal) church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.

Amen.

“In the essentials, unity; in the non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”

Well, I’ve just stated the essentials, and last time I added Jesus’ own words stating an essential for the Church, “That they might all be one, as You and I are one…”. I sincerely hope that the Church (and there is only one Church) can have unity on the above.

Everything else (as Rob Bell puts it so eloquently) is commentary. Liberty, then, should rule the day on those. More on those in a future post.

And, let’s just suppose someone had the gall to question the wording of the above Creed. Just suppose someone got all up-in-arms about my changing the word, “hell” to “grave” or someone wasn’t yet convinced about the word “virgin”, or just got bent out of shape that he or she had to utter the word… catholic! What then? Sounds like even the true essentials can get controversial. Well, then, name calling is out. Boycotting is out. Condemning others to hell is out. Calling other people “Satan incarnate” (I’ve seen crap like that) is definitely out! Charity is to be our response. Charity. The only thing, according to Paul, that’s going to last anyway.

As Hank Hanegraaff quotes from holy Scripture every time he starts his Bible Answer Man broadcast: “with gentleness and respect”.

You may wonder why I am on this posting kick. This is a blog about worship and songwriting. Well, I don’t think our Church can really worship God in Spirit and truth if she is busy cutting down other parts of the Family.

However, I can’t go on posting like this all that regularly. It depresses me. I’ll pop a post about divisions in the Church as I see them in the news or the blogosphere. On the flip side, I will begin a series of good news posts, when I see the Church behaving well and playing together nicely.

Because I love God’s Church, and I want to see my family getting along.

I am on a unity kick. This is not new for me, nor is it an original thought. But there it is: unity kick.

The good – and frightening – thing is, I think it’s never going away.

Just like my love for guacamole (all thanks tom my buddy Kerri who makes the best in the world) and my belief that old Petra is better than new Petra (there, I’ve dated myself), here to stay is my belief that unity in the body of Christ is, perhaps, one of the most-neglected essentials of the faith. I said the E word, and I’ll say it again: Essential.

As the first of what will be a series of thoughts (read, if you like: ramblings) I want to start with the Expert Himself. Jesus actually took a great deal of time praying for this one thing in John’s account:

17:20 “I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony, 17:21 that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. 17:22 The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one – 17:23 I in them and you in me – that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me. (NET – emphasis mine)

Nope, He didn’t pray that we’d all have the exact right view on baptism, communion, free-will or predestination. He didn’t pray that they would believe in objective facts about the faith or be convinced that we have a handle on absolute truth. He didn’t pray that we would all like the same kinda music.

He prayed that we would all be one.

Why? Oh, no big reason: only so that the world would believe in Jesus.

[Ranting and raving here has been censored by my own sense of decorum. No need to make too many enemies!]. Folks (and I will get into more detail in a future post): it’s Easter. Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. Or, as they say in another liturgy: We have died with Christ, we live with Christ, we will reign with Christ. Lay off each other.

Please.

More soon.

By the way, the NET Bible can be found at www.bible.org.