Ah Snoopy providing a good reminder to keep it humble and that I could well be wrong, something particularly relevant for this post...
I thought it might be interesting to reflect the thought of who the modern church service is for in a conversation I had with my friend Tim… As always he provokes top conversation, thought and action...
Tim: “Maybe this is the key to understanding what we should be doing, as we've been talking about things. In the western sense of healing, there is an end to the process, and it should be achieved as quickly as possible. That’s why we find putting hands on people easier than living with their hurt and pain, and finding healing together.
Maybe the church should be about maximum relationship/minimum berating and prescription. In essence we have the prescription when we choose to believe. If we truly start down the path, then God will help us - and we'll all be at different places - so to have an inclusive church you almost have to abandon the continual congregational teaching model as for most of the people there, it will be irrelevant 95% of the time. My experience is that most church teachers will aim the talk squarely at the lowest common denominator - the new Christian - and go from there. And to me that makes sense, why alienate new people when you know that the regulars will just put up with it.”
Paul: “…isn’t that being prescriptive about what church should be?
Says the Devil’s Advocate in me…
And what about the 5% of the time when God walks through the room for you? And if that 5% happens for a couple of people each wk… is it still worth the sacrifice for the rest of us? Or should that maybe fuel our worship and focus our prayers? What if for those few people it involves God using me or thee or any other ordinary Jo/e and can occur at any moment, triggered by any word, action, love either we express, they feel or God moves in either…
Could the church service aim possibly be a hint of the discipline of helping the weakest, giving up the right to something more profound so that we can do the most profound thing and turn back and help the weakest in our midst… the discipline of serving rather than the me me me and my consumer needs to be filled?”
“I knew you'd say that... Sorry.
But then isn't everything - even telling them they have to deal with the weakest etc.
What about Paul telling us to get onto solid food, rather than sticking with the milk. Everyone will say, then get it elsewhere. I say yes - so thus I'll go elsewhere. But our worship isn't singing - it's offering our bodies as living sacrifices ala Romans 12:1 (unless there's something else about worship). Is not the way it is prescriptive anyway.
We've been here before...”
“Sorry I couldn’t resist – it appealed to my prescription in context is not always bad streak – especially when the context is Christ in action…
Maybe we have a prescriptive God where – Christ like character leads to Christ like action… imitators of Christ or some such wording that Paul uses…
And maybe it’s not just in the telling but the doing… or as someone said the words, works and wounds of Christ…
As for Paul and milk/meat – the context escapes me without checking but I wonder if that echoes what I was saying about us showing maturity in sacrificing our wants for the milk drinkers…”
Well, here you go - and it makes reasonably good most of the points... Hebrew 5:11-14
11We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Ah, so what does that mean for you in being salt n light – action and reflection?
Well, whatever the righteous life is. I don't have it though.
What makes you so sure you don't?
The Church exists for those outside the church in terms of mission but we also need to care for those inside. The kingdom is bigger than the church and so lets join God in where he is at work in the world. We need a diversity of approachses and at the same time not disparaging what has gone before. We walk with people in pain and lay on hands both/and not either/or.
Posted by: Gary Manders | 07 January 2006 at 04:09 PM