An apology - "What God wants is tied to what I give, and not to what I want."
I suppose that it is in the midst of brutal pummeling and pain that we are shocked out of our slumber – we wake up to why we are being beaten.
This weekend I think that my soul has been hit more than just about any other time in my life, and perhaps it’s because the same place is getting hit over and over – it’s like laying down on train tracks and being run over… after the first few you just start counting the cars.
The Anti-Christ: Make yourself at home
As people start seeing lots of war and strife and difficult national and international issues, a lot of folks begin asking questions about the end times. Are they here? Are they around the corner?
I have already written a brief article on this topic, but I never really got to the root of the anti-Christ issue and I think it is a valuable topic to discuss in light of the fact that a lot of people are going to become ‘targets’ for fundamentalist groups of all sorts – some with a cultic persuasion will rally behind someone who they believe is going to rise to power and become the ultimate force in the known world. Others who are paranoid will lash out against any sort of person or situation that seems to mimic (intentionally or not) the progression of events played out in Revelation or their respective characters.
Denial Is Not Just a River in Egypt
Over the past – well, let’s say 10 years or so – I have been exposed to a lot of transitional circumstances and situations. A lot of places where nothing was ever designed to be permanent, and yet at every moment in time, every single person who has been there has wanted things to stay just the way they were – forever.
The party – and the show – must go on.
About last night...
It is probably one of the most unusual and awkward moments – the moment when you realize that in a room full of friends you are a stranger. This was a common moment of disorientation in college return trips back home – not so much because any one person had changed, but because there was this barrier of uncertainty. We had lost touch and had not had time to catch up.
I felt this way when I went to a recent meeting with a number of the young people from our church. I am still not exactly sure why I went – mostly to hear where folks were at. What I heard at the start was silence.
The Church is a Business
When we are talking about the church as an institution – as a vehicle with the designation of being both evangelical (spreading the good news of Jesus Christ), apostolic (being sent under the authority of God to do so) and catholic (being universal in scope and breadth) – we are talking about a business.
This concept has been clouded over by what we have traditionally understood business to be within a capitalist framework. A business in its simplest form is an organization set in motion to produce and increase profits. In other words, it does not exist merely to establish minimal benefits for its participants, but seeks to draw in reserves and surplus for several purposes. These profits stimulate growth of the organization, may be used to reward investors, are used to compensate active laborers. None of these are against the gospel of Christ in principle – in fact, according to the logistics of ecclesiastical life, St. Paul recommends that all of these be manifested with regard to the church communities.
Know Your Product
In order to effectively sell the gospel, Christians must know their product. There are two subcomponents to this knowledge:
- Know the scriptures
- Know the players involved
Know the Scriptures
The Scriptures for St. Paul are the texts and stories that establish the paradigm for God’s interface with humanity – the processes and results that were expected according to each new version of the relationship, and the enhancements brought to the lives of those who upgrade from one version to the next.
What kind of business are we?
I hope that as a reader you can see that whether one wants to conceptualize the church as a business or not is irrelevant – the question we should be asking is: Are we a good business or a bad one?
- Do we operate ethically?
- Are our methods of internal governance defined by corporate policy or by personal ambition?
- Are profits being held over for the gain of leadership or for the growth and expansion of the product?
- Are our investors being sold the appropriate benefits, and are the dividends we promise being paid?
Every parish needs to sit down as assess its purpose – its mission – on the basis of several critical factors to its obligation to the gospel:
Sell Your Product
The challenge of selling the product is that within our contemporary capitalist society we try to provide a service or product that adds to a person’s quality of life.
There is a hard way and an easy way to do this:
Use Your Product
In light of the circumstances outlined above, the gospel is knowledge that enables participation in the creative life of God. For St. Paul, it is clear whether someone is using a product or not on the basis of its returns. The returns of the gospel are clear for St. Paul, and follow from the interactions of the relevant parties listed previously:
- Life-giving attributes, not life-taking
- Abundant for the task at hand and generous, not lacking or self-serving
- Universally and holistically applicable, not segregated, personal or isolated
- Accordant and subservient to nature, not exceptional (this is not a reflection on quality, but on conformity)
- Balanced operations between God, the steward and creation (does not necessarily mean this balance is not interrupted momentarily by interaction between humans)
Conclusion, Future Hopes
A parish community can suffer the same fate, albeit on a grander and more complex scale. My hope, and the reason I maintain faith in the possibilities of the future, is that through responsible presentation and honest accountability to the gospel, those who are from these rich liturgical and cultural traditions will learn the futility and danger of pursuing pleasure. They will learn that pleasure is, as Solomon says, ‘vanity of vanities’ and that the fear of the Lord and following His lead should be our highest pursuit.
This is the earliest apostolic tradition, and it was one that the church fathers were adamant to defend and support. One should remember that before all of these beautiful things appeared in our churches, we were the ones who went into the cities and fed the poor, who built hospitals, who gave people alphabets and languages, but most importantly, we shared the life given to us through our faith in Christ and our dedication to bring the peace and love of the grace of the Father to all of creation.