For the Joy of the Journey

THE CHURCH (7) – Real Church 1.1

George June 27, 2021 THE CHURCH 0 Comments

This post continues thoughts on Real Church. Read the previous post HERE.

I am resolved that my pursuit of “real church” will be one of discovery and I will resist my compelling need to explain. As Crabb concludes: “The passion to explain leads us along a path that ends badly.”

My responsibility is to know I reside on a continuum between an idealized church and the real church. My mission is to discover and surrender to the will of God for His gathered people, in that pilgrimage the real church will come forth.

I remain committed to the statements from the previous Real Church post. However, three weeks since writing that post, struggling with the idea of real church, I realize just how much of a challenge, perhaps impossibility, it is to set aside my idealized abstractions about church and discover real church. That understanding is important, otherwise my pursuit will only lead me to confirm my idealized abstractions. I have no illusion that I will discover “the” real church, but I do believe I can move closer to real church.
Although I am not a theologian,Kung was encouraging
“…the theologian learns by his mistakes and that if he is prevented from making any, he is prevented from constructive thinking; that it takes time not only to find the truth but also for the truth to take effect in the Church generally, in the face of innumerable obstacles, of the prejudices and pretexts of an opinion communis which masquerades as genuine doctrine.”
My hope is for —constructive thinking , some truth regarding real church and patience for truth to take effect.

Returning to Hans Kung’s book “THE CHURCH”, I believe he is helpful in creating a starting point to pursue real church. Here are some citations:

Rather than talking about an ideal Church situated in the abstract celestial spheres of theological theory, we shall consider the real Church as it exists in our world, and in human history. The New Testament itself does not begin by laying down a doctrine of the Church which has then to be worked out in practice; it starts with the Church as reality, and reflection upon it comes later. The real Church is first and foremost a happening, a fact, an historical event. The real essence of the of the real Church is expressed in historical form.

The “essential nature” of the Church is not to be found in some unchanging Platonic haven of ideas, but only in the history of the Church. The real Church not only has a history , it exists by having a history. There’s is no “doctrine” of the Church in the sense of an unalterable metaphysical and ontological system, but one which is historically conditioned , within the framework of the history of the Church, its dogmas and its theology.

God’s salvific act in Jesus Christ is the origin of the Church; but it is more than the starting point or the first phase of its history, it is something which at any given time determine the whole history of the Church and defines its essential nature.

For those who believe the Church is headed in the wrong direction. Kung poses an essential question “…by what criterion are we to judge that the Church is headed in the right direction?” I believe the starting point to determine criterion by which to judge is understanding the essence of the Church. Paraphrasing Kung, the essence of real Church is found in its origin, a happening, a fact, a reality — namely, God’s salvific act in Jesus Christ.

“It [the Church] stand or falls by its links with its origins in Jesus and its message ; it remains permanently dependent for the ground of of its existence, on God’s saving act in Jesus Christ, which is valid for all time and so also in the present.”

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 – NIV

The Church must constantly reflect upon its real existence in the present with reference to its origins in the past, in order to assure its existence in the future.
Kung

Pursuing “real church” begins with an assessment of a church’s loyalty to the essential nature (essence) of “real church”, a church that is …committing itself to each new day afresh, accepting the changes and transformations of history and human life, constantly willing to reform, to renew, and rethink.”

Concluding the essence of real church originates in the reality of God’s saving act in Jesus Christ is a game changer for me. When I consider that the Day of Pentecost is when I have believed the church was established, there are profound implications. My idealistic, abstract notions of church as described on the day of Pentecost are inadequate criterion to judge a church’s loyalty to the essential nature of real church.

As Kung states, a concern that the church is headed in the wrong direction must be taken seriously. The vital question is… by what criterion are we to judge that the Church is now headed in the right direction?
Answering first in the negative, he comments, …the Church is not on the right path so long as it adapts itself to the present; nor is it on the right path as long as it holds fast to the past.
How do we know the Church is on the right path? — … the Church is headed in the right direction when, whatever the age in which it lives, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is its criterion..

Well at least that narrows it down —real church is not adapting to the present nor is it holding to the past — now all I need to do to find real church whose criterion is the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
In the next post, I intend to wrestle with what a church looks like whose criterion is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So Much to Think About

George June 21, 2021 Notes Anthology 0 Comments

For the New Year, 1981
by Denise Levertov

I have a small grain of hope–
one small crystal that gleams
clear colours out of transparency.
I need more.
I break off a fragment
to send to you
Please take
this grain of a grain of hope
so that mine won’t shrink.
Please share your fragment
so that yours will grow.
Only so, by division,
will hope increase,
like a clump of irises, which will cease to flower
unless you distribute
the clustered roots, unlikely source–
clumsy and earth-covered–
of grace.

Fake News
Fake news is hardly anything new. Back in the 18th and 19th century, people would anonymously publish newspapers and pamphlets spreading horrible rumors about their political opponents. In the 1790s, one newspaper, secretly financed by Thomas Jefferson, wrote slanderous op-eds claiming that George Washington was going to declare himself king of the new republic. During the Civil War, southern newspapers claimed that Abraham Lincoln was not only going to abolish slavery, but force whites and blacks to intermarry.
Mark Manson

We almost never think of the present, and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light it throws on our plans for the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present our our means, and the future alone our end. Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are always planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so.
Pascal’s Pensées

Biblical Worldview
The findings were published in the report Perceptions about Biblical Worldview and Its Application.
Now around two-thirds of Americans identify as Christians, and the study found that 51% of American adults claim to have a Biblical worldview. But then those supposed Bible believers were asked specific questions.
The study found that a minority of those Christians who thought they did have a Biblical worldview actually held to teachings the researchers considered to be benchmarks of a Biblical worldview. Only 9% got all of the answers right. From the study:
[Only] 26% believe the personal accumulation of money and other forms of wealth have been entrusted to them by God to manage for His purposes
[Only] 29% believe that the best indicator of success in life is consistent obedience to God
[Only] 33% believe that human beings are born with a sinful nature and can only be saved from the consequences of sin by Jesus Christ
[Only] 47% believe that when they die they will go to Heaven only because they have confessed their sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior
[Only] 48% believe that it is very important for their religious faith to influence every dimension of life
[Only] 49% say that their most likely source of moral guidance in any given situation would be the Bible
[A whopping] 49% accept reincarnation as a possibility after they die.

Cognitive distortions
Cognitive distortions are exaggerated patterns of thought that are out of line with reality. All people engage in cognitive distortions to some degree, but if you engage in too many, too often, you may become anxious, depressed, or both. Not coincidentally, learning to avoid cognitive distortions is also a good way to learn critical thinking.

1. MIND READING: You assume that you know what people think without having sufficient evidence of their thoughts. “He thinksI’m a loser.”
2. FORTUNE- TELLING: You predict the future negatively: Things will get worse, or there is danger ahead. “I’ll fail that exam,” or “I won’t get the job.”
3. CATASTROPHIZING: You believe that what has happened or will happen will be so awful and unbearable that you won’t be able to stand it. “It would be terrible if I failed.”
4. LABELING: You assign global negative traits to yourself and others.“I’m undesirable,” or “He’s a rotten person.”
5. DISCOUNTING POSITIVES: You claim that the positive things you or others do are trivial. “That’s what wives are supposed to do— so it doesn’t count when she’s nice to me,” or “Those successes were easy, so they don’t matter.”
6. NEGATIVE FILTERING: You focus almost exclusively on the negatives and seldom notice the positives. “Look at all of the people who don’t like me.”
7. OVERGENERALIZING: You perceive a global pattern of negatives on the basis of a single incident. “This generally happens to me. I seem to fail at a lot of things.”
8. DICHOTOMOUS THINKING: You view events or people in all?or ? ?nothing terms. “I get rejected by everyone,” or “It was a complete waste of time.”
9. SHOULDS: You interpret events in terms of how things should be, rather than simply focusing on what is. “I should do well. If I don’t, then I’m a failure.”
10. PERSONALIZING: You attribute a disproportionate amount of the blame to yourself for negative events, and you fail to see that certain events are also caused by others. “The marriage ended because I failed.”
11. BLAMING: You focus on the other person as the source of your negative feelings, and you refuse to take responsibility for changing yourself. “She’s to blame for the way I feel now,” or “My parents caused all my problems.”
12. UNFAIR COMPARISONS: You interpret events in terms of standards that are unrealistic— for example, you focus primarily on others who do better than you and find yourself inferior in the comparison. “She’s more successful than I am,” or “Others did better than Idid on the test.”
13. REGRET ORIENTATION: You focus on the idea that you could have done better in the past, rather than on what you can do better now.“I could have had a better job if I had tried,” or “I shouldn’t have said that.”
14. WHAT IF?: You keep asking a series of questions about “what if”something happens, and you fail to be satisfied with any of the answers. “Yeah, but what if I get anxious?” or “What if I can’t catch my breath?”
15. EMOTIONAL REASONING: You let your feelings guide your interpretation of reality. “I feel depressed; therefore, my marriage is not working out.”
16. INABILITY TO DISCONFIRM: You reject any evidence or arguments that might contradict your negative thoughts. For example, when you have the thought “I’m unlovable,” you reject as irrelevant any evidence that people like you. Consequently, your thought cannot be refuted. “That’s not the real issue. There are deeper problems.There are other factors.”
17. JUDGMENT FOCUS: You view yourself, others, and events in terms of evaluations as good– bad or superior– inferior, rather than simply describing, accepting, or understanding. You are continually measuring yourself and others according to arbitrary standards, and finding that you and others fall short. You are focused on the judgments of others as well as your own judgments of yourself. “I didn’t perform well in college,” or “If I take up tennis, I won’t do well,” or“Look how successful she is. I’m not successful.”

The antidote to cognitive distortions is practiced disputation, which means examining and engaging with competing ideas in order to correct distortions and arrive at a nearer approximation to the truth.

Fly or Honeybee
Some people tell me that they are scandalized because they see many things wrong in the Church. I tell them that if you ask a fly, “Are there any flowers in this area?” it will say, “I don’t know about flowers, but over there in that heap of rubbish you can find all the filth you want.” And it will go on to list all the unclean things it has been to.
Now, if you ask a honeybee, “Have you seen any unclean things in this area?” it will reply, “Unclean things? No, I have not seen any; the place here is full of the most fragrant flowers.” And it will go on to name all the flowers of the garden or the meadow.
You see, the fly only knows where the unclean things are, while the honeybee knows where the beautiful iris or hyacinth is.
Fr Stephen Freeman

View from the Front Porch
This past weekend Ann and I traveled to Alabama to attend a small reunion with several of my high school classmates . It was good to get reacquainted and share memories. I am thinking a lot about how our origins were so similar but our perspectives and understandings so different, not so much in a bad way, but different. It was an opportunity to reflect on who I am and how I got here. It made realize how life changing my decision to leave Florence, Alabama and travel to Texas to attend college really was. I discovered this song some years ago and it came back to me as I thought about the reunion. Listen HERE.

Still on the Journey

THE CHURCH (6) Real Church

George June 5, 2021 THE CHURCH 0 Comments

“it is high time to think about, as Kung calls it, is …the real church.”

…no matter how many old movies you have in your DVD collection or how often you watch them, you can’t go back to the time and cultural context that forged them. Any attempt in the present to make something like Casablanca or The Manchurian Candidate or [insert your favorite here] will essentially fall short. It will be a reproduction that apes the signature characteristics — dress, décor, modes of speech, vehicles, and so on — of another time. Similary, a Civil War re-enactor’s club may help keep the memory of that history alive, but it doesn’t make that history present. At the end of the day, the actors put away their muzzle loaders, change back into their normal clothes and drive home to their modern dwellings with electricity, indoor plumbing, and internet.
Steve Skojec

Being convinced that that no “one true church” exists today is not to imply that the Church does not exist. In my understanding, scripture unequivocally confirms, not only that that the Church exists — it is real.

Rather than talking about an ideal church situated in the abstract celestial spheres of theological theory, we [should] consider the real Church as it exists in our world and in human history. The New Testament itself does not begin by laying down a doctrine of the Church which has then to be worked out in practice; it starts with the Church as reality, and reflection upon it comes later. The real church is first and foremost a happening, a fact, an historical event.
Hans Kung – THE CHURCH

In the midst of writing this post, I was “called” to mow my yard. As is my custom, I use the time mowing to listen to various podcasts. My choice, one of my regulars, was Josh Graves at Otter Creek Church. His sermon was “Deep Church”, one in a series entitled “Church, Why Bother?”
My intention for this post was to pursue Hans Kung’s thoughts on the real church. However, Josh’s sermon and an unexpected conversation with a Nepalese seminarian diverted me. I will return to Kung later.

Pondering the idea of “real church”, I wonder how my pursuit of “real church” is different than a quest for” the one true church” or “restoring the NewTestament Church” ? This is an important question, if there is no difference, any conclusion I reach about “real church” will be nothing more than another idealistic, abstract notion.
I believe the difference lies in discovery verses explanation. I was reminded of this distinction as I “discovered” an excerpt from Larry Crabb I cited many years ago. Worthy of another post, it is entitled “Fire Lighters” you can read it HERE.

Isa 50:10-11
Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the word of his servant?
Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD
and rely on his God.
But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze.
This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment.

I am resolved that my pursuit of “real church” will be one of discovery and I will resist my compelling need to explain. As Crabb concludes: “The passion to explain leads us along a path that ends badly.”

Resisting the need to explain is essential, not only in the pursuit of “real church”, but , also in growing faith in God. There are a couple of metaphors I’ve written about before, that can be helpful in avoiding a path of explanation.

Mirage,
“…an illusion of something that is real“. All images of church today are a mirage, illusions of what is real. They are not false , but they are not real.My task is not to explain why or why not they are false, but to discover what is real.

Jigsaw Puzzle
If all existing truth [about church] were represented by a jigsaw puzzle, what we know would only be a few pieces from the puzzle. This means that what we know can only be known in varying degrees of probability, since after all, we only have a small portion of the entire puzzle—we are always drawing conclusions based off of partial information. (Zachary Broom)
My task is to continuously discover the entire puzzle.

Because we are redeemed and flawed people of God … ecclesia…body of Christ we must be humbled by the truth that we are the church now — but not yet. My responsibility is to know I reside on a continuum between an idealized church and the real church. My mission is to discover and surrender to the will of God for His gathered people, in that pilgrimage the real church will come forth. Perhaps that is why Kung declared, in part, …” the inner nature [of the church] can only be seen by believing Christians”.
Walking in the light of our own fires and torches will only bring torment.

Discovery is not an event, it is an adventure.

Still on the journey.