Fatal Flaw?

Posted this the other day at a group on FB, "Happy to be a Presbyterian" -

For much of my ministry (39 years’ worth), I’ve watched portions of our church raise critical questions about our faithfulness, our orthodoxy, our trustworthiness, and sometimes, with the questions, a full-out dismissal of the church as heretical, if not apostate.

Some of this reflects an American desire to supersede one another – to find the next version - bigger, better, purer, and more effective. Along with this, then, the stories of dramatic conversion and numerical success as proof of the “better” idea.

But it’s not just an American thing, but an element of the Reformation itself – what I’ve come to term, “our fatal flaw.” Not always fatal, of course, nor always a flaw, but our incessant desire to pin one another down on what’s believed, to write and write again, to give expression to our faith, at the moment, and then check and recheck on one another as to how we’re lining up.

In this regard, I’ve had some appreciation for the Roman Church – their unity is less a matter of faith and more a matter of polity. Upon closer examination, in spite of the Pope and the Magisterium, there is tremendous diversity across the Roman world, especially in the near-independent monastic orders, but from nation-to-nation as well.

Nothing works perfectly, of course – the Tower of Babel Principle - a marvelous gift from God that insures a failure-factor in our unrelenting efforts to build a tower to heaven.

Whether Reformed or Roman, evangelical or progressive (or whatever title we might claim) we do well to heed Calvin’s leveling words – the persistent character of sin, and in so recognizing OUR sin, and seeing how merciful God is to US, we might, in our recognition of someone else’s sin, be a bit more sympathetic and kindly.

Jesus never told us to stop taking out one another’s eye-splinters, but reminds us to deal with our own splinters, logs, before we jump self-righteously into someone else’s eye.

We might learn a thing or two from our Asian brothers and sisters who tend to think both/and rather than either/or. Western thinking is painfully linear, whereas Eastern thought is bit circular – think yin yang.

Our typical linear pattern has been “you’re in or you’re out” – the last 150 years has been a see-saw battle at our General Assemblies, what with the ouster of Briggs at Union in New York (and Union’s subsequent withdrawal from the Presbyterian fold) and 40 years later, Machen’s departure to form Westminster in Philadelphia … and back-and-forth it goes; either/or.

I think we’re learning – a new generation of evangelical youth are deeply concerned about poverty, the environment and justice – demoting, if you will, the hot-button issues of their parents – abortion and homosexuality.

On the other hand, a whole new generation of progressives are returning to Scripture and prayer, taking monastic or semi-monastic vows and seeking a vision of God.

Both groups and everyone in between are taking a fresh look at all the theological anchors of the Christian faith – hard-liners are not so hard any more, and those who’ve been so soft, as to be mushy, are firming things up a bit. God be praised; we’re meeting in the creative middle ground.

Convergence, emergence – a new paradigm is evolving, a both/and arrangement.

The culture wars of the 80s and 90s have exhausted us, without a clear winner.

The mainline churches are experiencing renewal, and the mega-churches have reached their zenith only to discover their own failures to make disciples rather than merely attract attendees. After all the claims and counter-claims, we go to bed at night forgiven sinners, and awaken the next day in grace – the same grace for everyone!

Is there a better idea?

Maybe for soap or cars, but we need to be very careful about matters of faith and life. We’re all in this together, and I’d rather encourage you in your journey, as strange as it may appear to me, even being contrary to my journey, but if we’re complimenting one another, praying for one another, seeking to understand and strengthening one another, then the church will prosper – for when love trumps all other laws, that’s when the world begins to pay attention!