Kate Galli writes a nice piece in Christianity Today regarding two narratives of so many disillusioned 20 somethings and how they do not feel "nurtured" by current ecclesial structures. From the perspective of one such author:
Cunningham cites various New Testament passages that deal with early Christian communities. She mentions Matthew 16 a few times—where Jesus appoints Peter to be the rock on which the church will be built—as the biblical grounds for her understanding of church. Ultimately, though, she shies away from any notion of the church as an institution (the closest she comes is saying that the church should be "a permanent fixture in society"). Jesus, she says, "did away with institutionalized religion and instead championed a real-life faith where he hung out with his followers in a way that was perhaps reminiscent of Eden."
As if Eden was all that successful. Primitivism is nothing new either. The door towards what "once was" will always swing around. The problem here is that "hanging out" with God is not a proper relationship to God at all. Yes, that includes the man Jesus. Galli rightly holds fast to the notion that the way that we organize ourselves is not something formed in a vacuum. As Galli says:
Yes, we're Americans. We multitask all day long. Efficiency is one of our top cultural values. I, too, am pragmatic. I'd like to use Sunday morning to worship God, to get a few pointers on how to improve my relationship with Jesus, and to reconnect with community. But every Sunday, the first words heard at my institutional church are, "Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." And I'm reminded that we gather weekly not to hear a practical talk on how to better live out our faith or to provide a venue to tell our friends about Jesus. We gather corporately to worship God, to celebrate the redeeming work of Christ on the cross, and to remember that our lives are not about us.
That preaches. It is not just about jettisoning the organizational structures of the church as much as reforming what is already there to respond to cultural needs. However, even when the church is effectively responsive to those needs it cannot be beholden to those needs as if the needs of humanity are constitutive of the community of faith.
What is missing with these "disillusioned" is a sense of sacred reality – that one common thread that holds every and all religions together. The sacred reality of God built the foundations of the church through a risen Lord, not the Jesus people walked with and rejected – including the apostles! What is missing in many churches is a profound sense that Christians are called to do something special in the world and mediate the goodness of God to all of creation. If you are a 20-something reading this, this goes way beyond "hanging out" with Jesus. Jesus is the resurrected Lord, not some chap at a poetry reading you meet over a nice scotch or a strong cup of coffee.
The image of Jesus as an "average Joe" is about as destructive as any influence in the church today. Worship is a sacred activity where humanity is related to God through Christ in a special and sacramental way. The Eastern Orthodox get that. They always have. Protestants are effectively killing the relationship between the sacred and the human because we don't want that profound distinction. Yet without it, the church ceases to be what it was founded to be.
I was deep in the movement in evangelicalism of "Buddy Christ" from college through seminary. What I learned over time is that this Jesus is not the one whom we worship in our creeds. He has nothing to do with that. Strangely, as my social perspectives and overall theological perspective became more liberal, I became more sensitive to the profound distinction between Jesus the risen Lord and the cosmos and all that is in it. Even though Jesus is "with us" until the end of the age, it seems that we too often confuse the phrase "with us" with "is us".
The Jesus we worship in the Church is the Pantokrator – and if he is not, he needs to be. It's not enough to capitalize "Him" when you are really just talking about your next door neighbor or drinking buddy, or would rather Jesus play that role. Protestant churches are bereft of images that remind them of the distinction between the sacred and profane – they are not nourished by that difference on a regular basis as when you walk into the nave of an Eastern Orthodox chapel. Protestants forget, or perhaps are not aware that they are to function as the very icons of God in the world and that this theological foundation for lack of these images. They are the image bearers and media for God to communicate not only his love and grace in Christ, but to communicate the sacred reality of who God really is.
But it seems that people do not want to bear that important responsibility whenever they recite the Apostles' Creed. That Creed begins, "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth…" Or in God's speech to Job we can be reminded with these words, "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding,…" When we want Jesus to be "our nurturing friend" and that takes precedence over Jesus as Lord, we are not understanding – still! Why do people do that? It's safe. It's something that can be manipulated and controlled. It is something that can be ignored. It does not disrupt or challenge. That is the heart of what idolatry means and it is why the Garden of Eden was a profound failure for humankind.
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