May 18, 2009
Christ's Church
Sometimes we fall into the trap of referring to a church by a man’s name. There’s Rick Warren’s church, Joel Osteen’s church and at one time in my community, there was Lloyd’s church. Churches seem to be christened with men’s names depending on the popularity of the presiding pastor in the community. The name of my new congregation is Christ’s Church of the Valley. For me the name isn’t comfortable to say because it feels like a mouthful, but I also don’t like using CCOV because then I must explain to others what the acronym means...which just adds to the mouthful. The middle ground seems to be simply calling it Christ’s Church. Not only is there name recognition for Jesus, but I think there’s only a remote chance of a future Tom, Dick or Harry being elevated over the Name.
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2 comments:
Gail;
-----We name communities, which are people grouped by locality. There is Montrose, Delta, Grand Junction. In the greater Montrose community there is the West End, Olathe, and the Montrose area. They are all loosely recognized around their governing structures: Montrose County, Delta County, Mesa County, the townships of Nucla, Naturita, and Olathe. All of their people view themselves as members of the Western Slope community, being members of the Colorado community, and ultimately as citizens of the United States.
-----The human psyche forms itself into groups of interests and familiarity. It is natural, and really, it is quite unavoidable. The people of the communities view themselves as part of the groups in which they live, sharing interest in the matters effecting their groups, identifying with the viewpoints of their groups. Beyond simply grouping by where they live, people further group by social interests into the FFA, 4-H, the Western Colorado Congress, the Grange, the Lion’s Club. I was once a Black Canyon Twirler.
-----These groups all have names, internal structures of authority and operation, and organizing documents. But there are also less perceivable groups without any formal organization or internal structure. I am an NFL fan. I recognize other NFL fans by the paraphernalia they wear or paste upon their cars. And I will openly approach them, even the total strangers, and enjoy a bit of football talk. I am also a motorcycle rider. Last Friday, I parked my bike beside a couple other bikes, and went about my business without saying “hi” or anything else to the nearby riders of those other bikes. I felt kind of rude the whole evening, because I failed to share in a bit of fellowship with my fellow bikers. The other day I bade “Good morning” to a passerby on the sidewalk, and he responded, “It’s a great day to be alive in the kingdom.” How could I not respond to that obvious marker? I sensed he was a brother, and I called out his Christianity. We fellowshipped for a good fifteen minutes before going on about our respective duties.
-----I think the local church has become too involved with its authority structure and organization. I think it comes together too much like the former groups I’ve talked about, and too little like the latter ones. What makes the church a group is the commonality of the new life in those of it. Since we belong to a City that has no current turf for walking upon or living within, the locality by which we group should be a nature, rather than a location. Yes, it is easier to drive to the Northern end of Montrose for worship than to Pagosa Springs, so for convenience, we tend to group by location. But that should be the end of it. We should gather about the repentance from an old life and love for a new life, the regard for others, the joy of gentleness, kindness, goodness, and the comfort of hope in having come alive in Jesus Christ.
-----Yet, the sorting of us into our little, exclusive gatherings misplaces those matters as secondary concerns behind the “higher matters” of doctrines, purposes, directions, programs, techniques, styles, and human leaders. And even though this gathering according to perspectives, interests, and missions of the new life is natural, and somewhat beneficial, it should always be viewed as a convenience allowable only for the dying side of our human nature, and an inconvenience for the growing side of our spiritual nature. The nearly non-existent interaction among the churches in the broader communities is evidence that the organizational gravity of this old world has even His church sucked down to the floor and laid out flat on her back. Lo, even when fellowshipping with a neighbor Christian, the caution we must bear to not step on toes having nails painted with doctrine, denomination, and church affiliation evidences what limits us to our organized gatherings. Jesus will free us from this downside of human nature when He returns. Till then, we are stuck with names and prominent personalities.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
P.S.
-----Since we meet in groups having structure and organization, we also must name them. There’s a lot in a name. Many churches shy away from names having such a traditional ring as “Christ’s Church of the Valley,” and then wind up giving the unacquainted public an ambiguous first impression by calling itself some supposedly neutral term. The other church that exited the XYZ Church about the same time as yours chose an ambiguous name thinking it was more meaningful than any traditional name. But since the inception of this church, the Girl Scouts have started a new curriculum for all of their packs using the same word for its name. But in this curriculum is the teaching of Budhism, Hindu, and everything else New Age, including the exclusion of Christianity. Many folks are disgruntled over this new direction, and probably will look upon the new church with at least some amount of reservation, seeing the identical term show up in its name. A church won’t win for loosing by leaving Christ’s identity out of their name.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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