One of my favorite passages in the psalms begins, ‘As a deer longs for running streams, so longs my soul for You, my God.’ I have recently been visiting the blog of a Methodist minister, the title of which, As the Deer, comes from that Psalm, number 42.I enjoyed very much his entry of May 18, Post Denominational Christian. It really spoke to me and my life in Christ on many levels, and I left the following comment, which I publish here just so I will be able to go back to his post whenever I want to reread it.
…
In spite of the specifics of your surroundings and your personal history of church affiliations, what you write, and how you write it in this post sounds exactly like me, except if I had to label it, I would not say that I am a post-, but a pre-denominational Christian. You see, I am a Greek Orthodox Christian who has lost most of his baggage in his travels, and yet has never left home, like the writer of the Tao Te Ching, ‘Without going out of my door…’
As for being a mongrel, though the Word of God has come to me by the mouths of many teachers, I never received more than one Teacher, nor less than His Word. And going to church from the day of my conversion at age 24 till now, I have never felt comfortable at all, except when with the children, but when I became aware of that fact, it never bothered me. I read in scripture, ‘a door that He opens and cannot be closed, a door that He closes and cannot be opened’ (Revelation 3:7).
Churches in their institutional aspect, yes, where can Jesus go when He comes among us looking for the fellowship He shares with His disciples, where can He go for that intimate sharing and caring? Probably to the closest Sephardic synagogue, that's what I am guessing. At least there He's among His own kith and kin in all their quarrelsome childlikeness. At least there He may well find another John or Andrew, or Peter.
‘They will know we are Christians by our love’ was a song I used to sing at folk mass when I went to church with my high school sweetheart. Those were days when the possibility of discipleship was starting to timidly appear in the historic houses of ‘religion’ to the confusion of the typically static rosary-telling devotee.
Now, we have no choice, it seems, but to follow the wind, that Wind which blows ‘where it listeth’ (John 3:8) and we are left not knowing where it comes from or where it is going, but we are happy, because at last we know for sure, we are with Jesus.
As for being a mongrel, though the Word of God has come to me by the mouths of many teachers, I never received more than one Teacher, nor less than His Word. And going to church from the day of my conversion at age 24 till now, I have never felt comfortable at all, except when with the children, but when I became aware of that fact, it never bothered me. I read in scripture, ‘a door that He opens and cannot be closed, a door that He closes and cannot be opened’ (Revelation 3:7).
Churches in their institutional aspect, yes, where can Jesus go when He comes among us looking for the fellowship He shares with His disciples, where can He go for that intimate sharing and caring? Probably to the closest Sephardic synagogue, that's what I am guessing. At least there He's among His own kith and kin in all their quarrelsome childlikeness. At least there He may well find another John or Andrew, or Peter.
‘They will know we are Christians by our love’ was a song I used to sing at folk mass when I went to church with my high school sweetheart. Those were days when the possibility of discipleship was starting to timidly appear in the historic houses of ‘religion’ to the confusion of the typically static rosary-telling devotee.
Now, we have no choice, it seems, but to follow the wind, that Wind which blows ‘where it listeth’ (John 3:8) and we are left not knowing where it comes from or where it is going, but we are happy, because at last we know for sure, we are with Jesus.
1 comment:
Being in a church -- and especially attending church services -- brings Christians closer to Jesus. That's why we often refer to the Christian Church as the Body of Christ.
Post a Comment