Monday, February 20, 2006
The Role Of Church
Over at Common Grounds Online, Glenn Lucke is writing about how the Church Attests To Faith. Glenn tells a story about a modern day "doubting Thomas" and concludes
Glenn is very gently making a point here that I think needs to be made with considerable force. The reality and transformative power of Christ is not just for the other guy -- it's for us! Do you think you're one of the "cool" people? Guess again buddy.
Thomas is all tossed about by the church because of his perceived faults, all the while, the church refuses to recognize it's own faults.
I'll just finish with this story, the subject of the story is a guy I will call "Fred" - he's dead now, but I still want to protect him. I used to go to church with Fred, he was what we now call "developmentally disabled," but back then "retarded" fit the bill just fine. Sweet guy, but like most with his issues, prone to some inappropriateness from time-to-time.
There was much discussion in various venues around church about how to manage the "Fred problem." Finally, one day, I got fed up. I walked into some planning meeting or the other where the "Fred problem" was on the agenda and in my hand I took a stack of greeting cards. I had maybe 20 of them. They were all from Fred - he sent them to me for birthdays and holidays, all typed worse than this blog, except for his illegible scrawl of a signature.
When the time came, I threw them on the table and shouted at the group, "He is not a problem, he is a blessing!" I was single at the time and for many of the events those cards represented, his was the only one I received. I looked around me and said, "I have not a single card from any of you." As it turned out, they all had a stack of cards from Fred at home.
You tell me - who was the "problem" in my story? Who had the real ministry? Who reflected God's glory the most?
Related Tags: church, community, doubts, faith, responsibility, Christianity
It's not like I can help Thomas; I'm part of the problem. And when he comes to me saying, "I doubt," I feel responsible.I would really love to know the audience Glenn is writing for, because he sets up the story this way
One schema says Thomas is responsible for his own faith, and it's true. He really is. Another schema says, "But so is the community." You and I cause people to doubt when we fail, pervasively and consistently, to live out the plain words of Scripture.
The Thomas in the Gospels had to see the resurrected life of Jesus before him to believe. My friend Thomas is the same way. Will you and I, empowered by the Spirit of Christ, incarnate Jesus? The Cross makes it possible, so by the Spirit let's make it real.
In the following story your instinct likely will be to frame Thomas in terms of personal responsibility.I had no such "instinctive" response. When I read Glenn's story I wanted to pretty well reach out to Thomas and start slinging stuff at the people that Thomas was meeting in his church. Given the conditions Glenn describes, example
He hears that Christian single women in his Sunday School class complain, "I just want to be asked out some. It doesn't have to be romantic. Christian guys are so passive-- they never initiate."I would not blame Thomas if he went postal with a high powered rifle off the steeple.
So, what does Thomas do? He has asked out three Christian women in his Sunday School class and they have told him, "No." Not dinner, not coffee, nothing.
Glenn is very gently making a point here that I think needs to be made with considerable force. The reality and transformative power of Christ is not just for the other guy -- it's for us! Do you think you're one of the "cool" people? Guess again buddy.
Thomas is all tossed about by the church because of his perceived faults, all the while, the church refuses to recognize it's own faults.
I'll just finish with this story, the subject of the story is a guy I will call "Fred" - he's dead now, but I still want to protect him. I used to go to church with Fred, he was what we now call "developmentally disabled," but back then "retarded" fit the bill just fine. Sweet guy, but like most with his issues, prone to some inappropriateness from time-to-time.
There was much discussion in various venues around church about how to manage the "Fred problem." Finally, one day, I got fed up. I walked into some planning meeting or the other where the "Fred problem" was on the agenda and in my hand I took a stack of greeting cards. I had maybe 20 of them. They were all from Fred - he sent them to me for birthdays and holidays, all typed worse than this blog, except for his illegible scrawl of a signature.
When the time came, I threw them on the table and shouted at the group, "He is not a problem, he is a blessing!" I was single at the time and for many of the events those cards represented, his was the only one I received. I looked around me and said, "I have not a single card from any of you." As it turned out, they all had a stack of cards from Fred at home.
You tell me - who was the "problem" in my story? Who had the real ministry? Who reflected God's glory the most?
Related Tags: church, community, doubts, faith, responsibility, Christianity
