| Jun. 18th, 2006 @ 02:23 am Modern Day Pharisees, And How Skeptics are The Future Of The Church |
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Current Mood:  hopeful
Current Music: Home - Buble
Skeptics are the future of the church. It has often been asked which is better, to be nothing but a dreamer or nothing but a skeptic. However it is possible to be both, in fact I think if we are to move forward as a church, as a people, nation and world we must be both.
Brian Mclaren paints an amazing picture of the modern church in the first chapter of “Adventures In Missing the Point” He tells the story of a race:
Consider the Parable of the Race. Once upon a time, in a
land of boredom and drudgery, exciting news spread: “There is
going to be a race! And all who run this race will grow strong
and they’ll never be bored again!” Exciting news like this had
not been heard for many a year, for people experienced little
adventure in this ho-hum land, beyond attending committee
meetings, waiting in lines, sorting socks, and watching sitcom
reruns.
Excitement grew as the day of the race drew near.
Thousands gathered in the appointed town, at the appointed
place. Most came to observe, skeptical about the news. “It’s too
good to be true,” they said. “It’s just a silly rumor started by
some teenaged troublemakers. But let’s stick around and see
what happens anyway.”
Others could not resist the invitation, arriving in their
running shorts and shoes. As they waited for the appointed
time, they stretched and jogged in place and chattered among
themselves with nervous excitement. At the appointed time
they gathered at the starting line, heard the gun go off, and
knew that it was time to run.
Then something very curious happened. The runners took
a step or two or three across the starting line, and then
abruptly stopped. One man fell to his knees, crying, “I have
crossed the starting line! This is the happiest day of my life!”
He repeated this again and again, and even began singing a
song about how happy this day was for him.
Another woman started jumping for joy. “Yes!” she
shouted, raising her fist in the air. “I am a race-runner! I am
finally a race-runner!” She ran around jumping and dancing,
getting and giving high fives to others who shared her joy at
being in the race.
Several people formed a circle and prayed, quietly thanking
God for the privilege of crossing the starting line, and
thanking God that they were not like the skeptics who didn’t
come dressed for the race.
An hour passed, and two. Spectators began muttering;
some laughed. “So what do they think this race is?” they said.
“Two or three strides, then a celebration? And why do they
feel superior to us? They’re treating the starting line as if it
were a finish line. They’ve completely missed the point.”
A few more minutes of this silliness passed. “You know,” a
spectator said to the person next to her, “if they’re not going to
run the race, maybe we should.”
“Why not? It’s getting boring watching them hang around
just beyond the starting line. I’ve had enough boredom for one
life.”
Others heard them, and soon many were kicking off their
dress shoes, slipping out of their jackets, throwing all this
unneeded clothing on the grass. And they ran—past the praying
huddles and past the crying individuals and past the jumping
high-fivers. And they found hope and joy in every step, and
they grew stronger with every mile and hill. To their surprise,
the path never ended—because in this race, there was no finish
line. So they were never bored again.
I Mclaren Hits the nail on the head here, in from my point of view he helps to show why skeptics are the future. We as a church have become modern day Pharisees, at best separating ourselves from those who we view as sinful, at our worst trying with laws to separate people from those sins, imagined or not. For a people who claim the name of Christ we have forgotten his most apparent trait, his grace. I say grace not love, and while grace can not exist with out love as it is a part of it, it is that aspect of love most present in his ministry. From the company he kept in his life, to some of the very last words he ever spoke in his earthly life, “Forgive them father they know not what they do,” his grace was blindingly apparent. Why is it we have forgotten his greatest commandment? “To Love The Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul, and the second is like it to love your neighbor as yourself.”
We would no sooner create a law to separate us from anything we enjoy, than would any person with any vice anywhere. We seem to have an extreme amount of love for ourselves, and we seem to be sorely lacking in grace towards others. This is where the skeptic dreamer comes into the story. The skeptic in them finds it hard to find God in a church so wrought with guilt and disdain for those we were given into this world to bless. A church whose primary goal is to “presort” the wheat from the chaff, those heaven and hell bound, and forgets to bless and love all, ignores its call to work for social justice. The Dreamer in them feels the presence of God in everyday life. As much as they might believe however they can not reconcile the God of TBN with the God who has written his law on their hearts.
The skeptic can now do one of two things, abandon all he knows in his heart, deny God for the sins of those who claim his name, or listen to the dreamer within him and walk a road shown to be full of danger, the road of loving acceptance for all, a road that we know has already claimed the life of at least one person. The skeptic can run the race themselves, helping others along the way, discovering areas of the track that has remained on trod on by those whom have spent their entire lives just past the starting line. The Skeptic is needed to recognize the short comings of the present system, and the dreamer is essential for them to offer alternatives to the readily accepted norm.
There is a place for us all in Christendom, and anyone who says otherwise are those who we were warned about in the Book of Jude. |
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