The social aspect of the gospel

“How far should a Church go in the direction of acceptance of mutual responsibility? Should a gifted youth of the Church, whose family is in poverty, be sent to college at the expense of his fellow members? Should the Church match modern business corporations in providing for old age when there is no other provision? Should a Christian couple be able to face the possibility of their sudden death with the calm assurance that the Church of which they are a part will support their orphaned children up to maturity? Unless we know answers to questions as specific as these we do not know very much about the quality of love which the Christian society is meant to exhibit in concrete practice. General statements about love are not adequate.”—Company of the Committed, page 107

<idle musing>
Those are questions that the early church answered in a way that made them stand out in contrast to the surrounding culture. Unfortunately, they are also answered in a way that makes the church stand out today: The government offers assistance while much of the church criticizes them for it :(
</idle musing>

in a humble stable...

"While the main contribution to the idea of the Church which Alcoholics Anonymous provides is that of the fellowship of mutual caring, this is not its only contribution. Another, of only slightly less importance, is the insistence on anonymity. Individual notoriety and fame are simply no part of the movement. Here the contrast with the existent Church is sharp and terrible, for almost every branch of the contemporary Church has its dignitaries. The Church in general sets great store by titles, and clergymen are perhaps more open to the dangers of egocentric pride than are members of other professions. Clergymen are one professional group in which the existence of the receiving line of complimentary fans is an accepted practice. One can hardly look at the church page of a metropolitan newspaper on any Saturday without embarrassment and shame, because one is forced to face the fact that the contemporary Church often exhibits the opposite of the true humility which is anonymity. In nearly every city the cult of personal leadership seems to be as blatant in Christian circles as in any others. We are like the worldly societies against which Christ warned specifically. "You know," He said, "that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you" (Matthew 20:25-26). These trenchant words can apply just as much to the authority of a local pastor concerned with his own prestige as to papal authority.”—Company of the Committed, pages 104-105

<idle musing>
That seems an appropriate post for Christmas eve. Reminds me of this:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Philppians 2:6-8 TNIV

Have very blessed Christmas, remembering him who came to set us free!
</idle musing>

Great literature?

Many years ago, in an English Literature course, the teacher/professor told us that there were 3 themes in great literature: Man against man, man against nature, and man against himself (bear in mind that this was pre-inclusive language). I don't know if that is still considered the case, but I have found it helpful over the years.

Last night, on my bike ride home, I encountered all three. I'm not sure that qualifies my ride as great literature—I suspect not—but it does give it a narrative framework :)

We had freezing rain yesterday. I had to pick up some stuff after work, so I had my panniers (saddle bags) on my (new) bike. I ended up with about 14 pounds on one side and 7 on the other, so a bit unbalanced. That's not ideal in the best of situations, but with icy roads, it is even worse. Given the ice, I figured I wouldn't have much trouble with traffic. I was right, in fact, I only got passed by about 3 cars the whole way home.

So, here I am, riding along on slick, ice covered pavement with an unbalanced bicycle in the freezing rain around 6:00 PM, so it was dark. The studded snow tire in the front kept me steering well, but the rear doesn't have a studded tire (yet!) and it kept sliding out. I only actually fell about twice, but nearly fell uncountable times. It took 40 minutes to do a 20 minute trip. Man against nature, that's for sure.

Internally, I kept thinking I should just quit and either walk the bike home or call Debbie and have her come and get me. I decided against the latter because of the ice. I figured one person at risk beat two. So, man against himself; the stubbornness of going on won.

I figured that man against man was not likely to happen. There wasn't likely to be another bicyclist on the road to race against! And the traffic was non-existent; everybody else was too smart to be out :) But, I was wrong...about half way home, there is a corner where a lesser traveled road (250 South) joins a higher traffic road (Packerton). A car was traveling down 250 towards Packerton, a bit too quickly; the driver applied the brakes too hard and slid partially into the intersection. They saw me coming down the road and apparently decided it would be fun to scare me. Gunning the engine, they came towards me, fishtailing and clearly out of control. I don't think they realized how slippery the main road was. They missed me by about 2 feet. I think they were more shaken that I was, as they came to a stop, then started very slowly, watching to see that I was still upright. I suspect they won't try that again—or at least I hope they don't! Man against man...

I made it home without further incident, just going very slowly. When I got home, Debbie told me that God had grabbed her heart and had her praying for my safety. Who says God doesn't hear and answer prayer? So, is that God against evil? I don't recall that category.

Merry Christmas!

The greatest is love

“Commitment, then, is not sufficient; we must be committed in a particular way. Our commitment is outside the spirit of Christ if it involves an effort to ride over other men, to use them for our cause, or to see anything else as more important than the individual welfare of individual persons. For the Christian faith, when it understands itself, there is only one absolute, and that absolute is the genuine caring which is expressed in the Greek word agape.”—Company of the Committed, page 98

“Part of our study of Christian history ought to be devoted not to doctrinal disputes, creedal formulations, heresies, and schisms, but to the finest examples of Christian love. By contemplating these we may be able to see what the standard from which we deviate really is, and we may have encouragement to go deeper.”—Company of the Committed, pages 102-103

<idle musing>
I love church history, but as I think about it, there are few histories that don't major on the disputes, heresies, etc. Anybody out there looking for a topic for a book? :)
</idle musing>

double take

anybody else find this picture disconcerting?

More on the "true" church

Trueblood takes off the gloves in this section. He comes out with some hard-hitting observations...

They [those who judge the validity for a “true” church of Christ by ceremonial aspects] are still pre-Christian in their assumption that membership in Christ's true Church is limited by external performance.—Company of the Committed, page 95

Not content with that observation, he twists the knife when he observes:

It is paradoxical, indeed, that each of the criteria which is popularly supported is concerned with something which Christ did not propose, while the criterion which He did propose seems not to have become the battle cry of any organized group. His own piercing words are: "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). This sentence must not be taken alone, for Christ gave other commandments, such as the injunction to witness, but no sincere Christian can fail to take it seriously. It may not indicate the sufficiency of love, but it at least indicates the necessity of love. We know, then, whatever else we know, that the unloving fellowship is an heretical fellowship, so far as Christianity is concerned. How strange, in the light of the Biblical insistence on love as the principal thing, that we have emphasized it so little in comparison with other elements.—Company of the Committed, page 96

<idle musing>
But it is a hard command! It is easier to make rules and regulations, gates and fences. How are we supposed to know who is in and who is out? No, we want our own version of christianity, but thank you for the offer, God. And then we wonder why there is no power, no love, no transformation...
</idle musing>

They just keep following me home

They leap off the shelf into my cart a few times a year. Once they do that, you just have to buy them and bring them home. And, once they are home, you just have to use them. There's just no way around it.

And, it happened again last weekend. I was minding my own business when this cookbook just jumped off the shelf and into my hands. It even had the gall to open up to a herb cheese bread! What could I do? I had to buy it! And, once purchased, I had to try it. Not content to tempt me with the cheese bread, it also contained a recipe for soft pretzels. How could I resist? So, Sunday evening, our house had the fragrant aroma of baking bread. The pretzels were good, but the herb cheese bread was phenomenal. I substituted oregano for the rosemary they called for; Debbie doesn't like rosemary. It will become a common bread around our house...

What cookbook is it, you ask? Why, The Old Farmer's Almanac Everyday Cookbook, of course. I'm sure Debbie and I will be trying more recipes from it soon :)

A true church...

“A third test [of the validity for a “true” church of Christ] is that of Biblical literalism, according to which acceptance of every word of our present Bible is seen as the criterion of a true Church. We can see the falsity of this test at once when we realize that it was not even a possible one in the early Church because many of the books, to which adherence is now required, had not yet been written. Absolute Biblical literalism, while upheld as a dogma by some, is in fact impossible and is never seen in practice. Subjective interpretations are always added to force consistency. Even an appearance of consistency is not possible except by virtue of ingenious dodging, which some denominations have made into an art.”—Company of the Committed, page 93

<idle musing>
What more can I add? He says it all—sadly :(
</idle musing>

Today's thought

Surely the righteous will never be shaken;
they will be remembered forever.
They will have no fear of bad news;
their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear;
in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.
Psalm 112:6-8 (TNIV)

<idle musing>
It just seems like a good Advent verse...
</idle musing>

Truly Missional

“If we who care about the Church and its farflung ministry were boldly wise, perhaps we should give much greater incentive to work with youth than we give to the management of a big ecclesiastical organization. But we cannot do this, or anything remotely similar, unless we have a revolutionary change in our own vocational values.

“Once we begin to alter our conception of what the Church is, viewing it as intrinsically missionary — not merely in Africa, but in every part of the life of the West as well — we realize that we have hardly begun to see what our major task is.”—Company of the Committed, page 89

<idle musing>
If he saw this as a problem in 1960, I wonder what he would think of megachurches! This goes nicely with the Out of Ur post from yesterday: "It is our consumer-mentality that causes us to think we need buildings."
</idle musing>

idle musing about commuting

<idle musing>
As I mentioned, I have a new bike—and I'm loving it. But, I got to thinking about the economics of it. I commute 11 miles per day, about 48 weeks of the year—3 weeks of vacation and about 1 week of holidays brings it to 52 weeks. That comes to about 2600 miles per year. For round numbers, I'll say 2500. Gas currently costs about $2.50, but for argument's sake, let's use $2.75. That means, if I were to drive, I would use about 50 gallons of gas per year; total cost of gas per year would be $137.50.

So what, you say? That means it will take me over 2 years to save enough in gas to pay for the bicycle! Now, granted, we have a Prius, so the numbers are probably skewed. But, it just reminds me that I don't ride to work just for the economics of it...
</idle musing>

Immunization

“The tragedy of many religious audiences is that they have become immunized by much listening to speeches. Wise Christian leaders will not give their precious time to saving the saved when they have alternative opportunities in life outside the purview of the Church.”—Company of the Committed, pages 80-81

<idle musing>
Hey! That sounds "missional," doesn't it? I wonder what they called it back in the 1960s? :)
</idle musing>

Stressed out?

Some nice thoughts about Christmas stress over at A Place for the God_Hungry. Here's a snippet:

Could it be that many of us are under so much stress during this time of the year because we are trying to achieve so much? Perhaps some of the stress is due to our efforts to achieve something perfect instead of simply receiving graciously all that we are given. Ultimately, it is only what we receive from God that will satisfy. Our efforts to create and achieve something to satisfy will always be lacking and will have its limits. After all, the Bible presents God himself as the ultimate achiever.

<idle musing>
Isn't that the truth? We struggle and strive, when all we need to do is rest and abide. Too simple...
</idle musing>