Today I am beginning a new blog series entitled, “Does God Attend Church? Re-Thinking Where Faith Should Be Lived.” I believe this topic to be immensely important for all North American Christians to be discussing and thinking about during this in-between time as we shift from being a modern culture to a post-modern culture, from being a Christian society (so-called) to being a post-Christian society. If ordinary Christian folk don’t start talking about this stuff, we’re going to find ourselves in real trouble as a Church within the next decade.
Actually, talking won’t be enough. We’re also going to have to start doing some things, and stop doing some things, and also learn to just be. If you think I’m being dramatic and everything is going to be peachy-keen (thank you Alan for that turn of phrase) you have not been watching the landscape around you carefully.
While it is indeed possible that the Holy Spirit could rustle up a revival out of no-where it is also possible that unless we prepare ourselves for reformation and renewal the North American Church will continue to decline, and I’m not just talking about the institutions related to the North American Church, but the actual Church – people, souls, communities of disciples, and related to all that, the witness to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ in our society.
This series isn’t meant to be an alarmist sort of thing, but rather an opportunity to engage in some real dialogue about what is the Church, who is the Church, where should the Church be or it to say it differently – who is God, where is God, what does God ask of His people?
Looking forward to your input, our disagreements, and some fun along the way!
Fr. Kevin, I think we should already know the answer to some of your questions-- the Church is the body of Christ, and we are its members-- we are the Church and Jesus Christ is the head of the Church. God is the essence of being, God is love itself, God is the in-all, before-all, and ever-all, the great I AM. God is everywhere, and Jesus is in each of us. I realize these are stock answers, but they are no less true because of that.
ReplyDeleteWhere should the Church be? What does God ask of his people? I propose that we are called primarily to the great encounter with Christ. Jesus, walking by the waterside, gave one look to John and James, said follow me, and they dropped their nets and left their father and their family business and were forever changed (and later they helped change the whole world). What was in that gaze of the Nazorean that caused such an abrupt and profound shift in their lives? We MUST find out! We are called to that same encounter with Christ, and to find it in one another, to find it in the supermarket, in the driver in the other car on the interstate, in the person in the pew next to us, the stranger, the friend, and the family member. We have to find the gaze of Christ where He offers it, which is in plenty of places. And then we have to be open to the changes that the encounter with Christ will bring to us.
Does God go to Church? I say that He is there, because we need him, and Church is, or ought to be, a place where it is easy to find Him. We need to go to Church if for no other reason than to receive His body on a regular basis, and to be transformed into that which we chew, swallow, and digest. But we cannot leave God behind in Church.
Authentic faith is always attractive. It speaks to the deepest longings in our hearts. We all desire God. We need to be open to our desires, particularly desires for truth, beauty, and justice, desires which were written on our hearts by God Himself, and desires which give us a clue to the nature of our Creator. We need to help others be open to their desires as well.
From whence will come a North American revival(or a European revival, where it is even more necessary)? From those who have been irrevocably altered by the gaze of Christ, and who bring that encounter to others. One by one. If I can bring that encounter to two other people in the next three months, and each of them does the same, well, you do the arithmetic. In something like seven or eight years, everything will be quite different.
Blessings,
Rick Harris
VERY shooting from the hip here.
ReplyDeleteFirst I think the institution is dying and it should. Second, I think we still need the structure of the clergy and liturgy and catachesis and sacraments. However, as it is, it can't continue and crumble at the same time. Model for consideration: Personal Prelatures and Personal Parishes; Bishop overseeing and teaching Priests. No committees. No structures. Priests with congregations, no vestries or programs. Each priest would actually have to be connected in spiritual ways to his bishop. No freelancing, no independence here. That would be another point. Communion as a sacrament would ONLY be received from YOUR PRIEST because he is your spiritual director/ counselor. It is weighty and should not be received at “random” just anywhere. The Laity would be in communion THROUGH your priest and bishop, up the ladder and then back down. Each bishop/priests group would be like a religious order. Each priest/congregation would be like a religious order.
Very interesting Br. Guy. Might we also add a more structured, lengthy and formal discernment
ReplyDeletecatachesis for entrance into the community?
It occurs to me that Guy is right. The church and it's structure, institution must change. It has done so on numerous times in the past and now could well be one of those times. I've been thinking that bishops should be less focused on committees and maintaining the institution but listen for the direction of God in recreating church by being teachers. The Holy Order of Priests may need by and large to become bivocational priests. Interesting topic for consideration.
ReplyDeleteSam
Here is a lay person's point of view. Perhaps the Christian Church needs to get back to the basics and live the strong foundation of the Kingdom of God as described by Jesus. What does God ask of each one of us? The answers are there for us all through the words and actions of Jesus.
ReplyDelete"John 15:16 "You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.18 ‘If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. 19If you belonged to the world,* the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you. 20Remember the word that I said to you, “Servants* are not greater than their master.” If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also."
Even with our personal life difficulties, how many of us are truly persecuted for our faith? Do we experience hatred for following or walking with Jesus? Discussion of church structure and hierarchy do nothing to strengthen my faith. The answer is not found in priests and bishops, it is found in the Church, the Body of Christ.
We want Christianity without getting messy, without offending anyone. We as a culture think greed and Christianity can go together. Love expressed in humility and charity followed by persecution will produce a more authentic expression of Christianity than the lukewarm lives most Christians live. I include myself in this admonition. Every minute of life is a minute lived as part of Christ's Body, the Church. That is the life so many Christians lack.
In Jesus' Name,
Sister Pam Pranke OP
Good comments all. I do think a renewal of the Church, also requires a renewal of the priesthood and episcopate, as well as a renewal of the laity. Which comes first? Hopefully we can work with the Spirit on both ends at once.
ReplyDeleteIn history the Church has sometimes been renewed and grown through a momvement of the laity, and at other times through the clergy.
I agree with Sr. Pam that a return to basics is called for. Church leaders can welcome and usher in such a return or we can block it, and in our sacramental tradition it is very difficult (though not impossible) to bring about change without the help of the ordained leadership.
However, if ordinary Christians were returning to the basics, deepening their committment, this would I believe have a carry-over effect on their leaders.