June 27, 2014
Bon appétit
I’ve just been given the opportunity to write a
religion column for a local on-line publication, the Montrose Mirror. My concept for the column is to visit local
churches and report on their Sunday worship services. Think in terms of a food
critic going to a restaurant and rating the experience. The intent of the
report is not to tell the owner what to put on the menu, or to tell the chef
how to cook, but rather to analyze and evaluate the food that is served and how
it is being served. I anticipate this “snapshot” in the life of a congregation
will be an eye opening experience for me, as well as for churches. My inaugural
visit is tomorrow at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, who holds worship
services on Saturday. Jesus is the Bread of Life and I look forward to seeing
how churches serve Him, both literally and figuratively. Jesus said, “Whoever
eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just
as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who
feeds on me will live because of me” (Jn 6:56-57 NIV)
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2 comments:
Gail;
-----Beware of the snare. It has caught feet in the church almost since Jesus’ feet parted from this earth. From then till now there has been no lack of evaluating everything and anything of others. So walls were built around groups who held to similar ideas and doings in the Lord. The church became carved up and sold off, piece after piece, to intellectuals. These developed ideologies beyond what is written, thus maintaining divisions to harbor all the pockets from which they seize a return upon their investment. It is a sad picture of a particular evil.
-----But the glory of Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit is in that even this fracturing of His body is not a fatal wound to it. The church is surely scarred up by smashing itself against the brick walls. But a fist having pounded and pounded and pounded bricks develops ugly callous and bone always crushing to the teeth of The Accuser when properly swung by the arm of one inclined towards the Lord. God turns evil into good for those who truly love Him. That is just one gem of the treasure buried deep in the very personally intimate relationship each has with the most Almighty God.
-----The bricks of history would not have built into walls of division had the intellectuals of the churches learned what Paul taught rather than taking from him what they wanted. Paul put one foot upon the errors of the church and the other upon its wonders and proclaimed it alive in the Lord and good for participation. Though he was far more knowledgeable than most, he taught knowledge subjected to love and love tying the church together.
-----Paul well understood what it was to be human. He understood the almost impenetrable walls separating the deep, deep understanding of any one individual from that of any other. He understood that error was seeded throughout personal understanding like tares sown throughout a field of the Lord. He understood harvest-time was the certain time for tare burning, but today was the day of a softer touch. So he wrote to us Romans chapter 14 about loving one another above even diametrically opposed differences. He underscored in it that since the relationship with Jesus Christ is personal, then no aspect of any heart truly a field of His is condemnable for its smattering of tares. Therefore, as known and sheltered by Almighty God Himself, that heart is honorable and edifyable in spite of tares it mistakes for wheat.
-----Beware. The snare can catch either foot. One man’s inability to discern a tare speaks nothing of another’s ability to discern it. Those who can must warn to keep one foot out of the snare. To avoid snaring the other foot, respect for the safety of the wheat growing around the tare must be woven into every communication. Since God accepts this other eater of the flesh and drinker of the blood deeply personally, the health of his wheat is foremost important. Speak to it of any tares.
-----You’ll visit mighty tarey fields. But I think your column will be beneficial (which is the intellectual way of saying “lovingly edifying”.)
Love you all,
Steve Corey
Steve,
Thanks for the word of caution. I think if I stay in the confines of observing and reporting, as opposed to commentary and personal opinion, I’ll avoid some pitfalls. All churches have different characteristics and personalities — friendly, charismatic, reserved, traditional. Sometimes our perception of who we are as a body of believers is not the same as what a visitor experiences. Hopefully it will be encouraging and thought provoking to read an outsider’s perspective.
Gail
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