This morning's Sunday school class was the third session in a series focused on the story of the Christian church. The leader, a fellow seminary student, shared with us the process of becoming a Christian and being welcomed into the early church. It was a long journey beginning with the example and evangelism of a Christian in the streets, workplace, home, community, etc. Someone who was interested in Christianity would begin asking questions of another Christian. If this person was sincere they would be sponsored, or mentored, by the Christian who introduced them to Christianity and they would be allowed to enter the church community to begin instruction. This process could take as long as three years and the candidates would not be allowed to take part in the celebration of the Lord's Supper, or even be present for the entire church service, until they were baptized. During this time they were instructed in the Scriptures and the Way of Jesus and taught the story and practices of Christianity. They were also exorcised daily of demons and evil spirits that had been binding the believer. The catechesis of the early church was extremely vigorous and not to be taken lightly. Yet, the church grew and grew as those who began with questions yearned to be transformed in baptism. When that day finally came, and the mentor affirmed that the candidate was truly prepared to enter the community and follow the Way, he/she would receive a final exorcism, anointed, be de-robed, and then enter the baptismal where they would be immersed in the cleansing waters of baptism. Afterwards the candidate would be re-robed in white, anointed again, and then the congregation would lay hands on them while the bishop invited the Holy Spirit to enter the newly baptized Christian.
A question that was raised in the discussion was why would a religion that was so difficult to become a part of and often led to, even guaranteed, severe persecution and death, draw so many so rapidly? People saw in the lives of Christians that they worked with, lived with, shopped with, a hope and meaning that was absent from all other religions or philosophies. Christians didn't just invite their lost neighbors to church to hear the sermon and hopefully get "saved". They lived, breathed, and preached what they believed to everyone they met as often as they could. The Holy Spirit was breaking out and transforming people in ways they couldn't stop talking about. In his sermon this morning, the pastor shared a story of a time when he met a famous football star. That was all he talked about for weeks. If we get so excited about shaking hands with someone famous, why are we not ecstatic after being in the presence of Christ and being transformed by the Holy Spirit?
I left church this morning wondering what would happen to the church today if we literally modeled the life of the first church. What would happen if we actually asked (sincerely) that the Spirit of Christ would enter our congregations and transform us? What would happen if baptism was viewed not as a ritual or rite of passage into the membership of the church, but an actual cleansing of the strongholds of evil and an opening to the Holy Spirit? What would happen if we were taught the Scriptures and the Way of Christ with such intensity and depth that it took three years to complete a catechesis? What would happen if we had to know that we know that we know and believe it so strongly that not even pain and death would cause us to recant? What would happen if each member of the community was mentored and held accountable so closely as in that first community? What would happen if we allowed the full meaning of the resurrection of Christ to envelope us and take hold of us, so much so that joy in Truth and healing and freedom of all that binds this world was happening all over the place? What would happen if we truly claimed Christ as our Lord, over all government and institutions and cultural values? What would happen if the Church was actually what Christ meant for the Church to be?
Diana Butler Bass was the keynote speaker at the annual Pastor's Week here at AMBS last week. She is author of Christianity for the Rest of Us and The Practicing Congregation. In her project she found that vital mainline Protestant congregations all shared three common characteristics: practices, tradition, and wisdom. All of the congregations she and her colleagues studied held a high value on remembering their tradition, not as the habitual ways that they do things, but tradition as the story of what they believe and why the practices of their congregation are so valued. Diana pointed out that the religious groups who pay attention to their tradition in history actually have a more vital spirituality and are more influential in the current culture. This shows that people are seeking to be rooted in the wisdom, tradition, and practices that have formed Christianity and are so meaningful. A church that has so watered down its beliefs and convictions in order to be more appealing to the seeker culture achieves nothing but convincing people even more that Christians are hypocritical, phony, and irrelevant.
All this is to say that I believe the Church is being called to return to its roots, or rather to scrape away the fake, feel good niceness of what the Church has become and grow its roots once again in the deep nourishing soil of Christ. I believe we are called not only to imitate the life of Jesus, but to live wholly in the Spirit of the resurrection and claim Christ as our only Lord and Savior. I believe we are called to ground ourselves in the Truth of Scripture, rather than merely accepting the cliches we've been taught as truth. I believe that we are called to hold up our tradition and our story, and teach our children the practices of our faith. I believe that we are called to move our beliefs to convictions and to allow the Holy Spirit to once again transform our lives, our communities, and our world.
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