28 Jul 05 Wasted Paper
Like many areas we have our fair share of churches of Christ. These churches are not only arrayed geographically they are arrayed philosophically. One of the churches in our area apparently still believes they have the authority to tell all the other churches what to do, or what not to do, as they see fit. I thought we had grown past this absurd practice in our movement. It appears I thought wrong.
Our church is not even in the fray this time (surprise, surprise). This particular church published an entire newsletter condemning another church in our area for having a Saturday night event featuring a praise band. One of our members received this publication in the mail and showed it to me last night. I am so sick of this type of publication. I am so sick of this beam-eyed religious pretense. I am so ashamed of our movement at times like this.
What about church autonomy? All I hear is restore the pattern, restore the pattern but you never heard that from Jesus. Jesus never said restore the pattern (which some men thought up in the first place) and then you will be known as my true followers. Jesus said restore the spirit of love to be known as his true followers. Love, acceptance and tolerance among brothers and sisters in Christ are the indicators of those who belong to Jesus Christ.
This publication said something like “we are so grieved at what happened here in northern Virginia.” The only thing, connected to this particular event, which grieves the Lord is the attitude of those who wrote, published and sent out that newsletter.
I support any church and their decision not to have a praise night featuring a praise band. I support any church and their decision to have a praise night featuring a praise band. We have had a Saturday night fellowship event featuring a praise band twice in the past year and plan to have more. I do not support and take great offense at the critical spirit behind such attitudes which blossom in publications of this nature.
My personal response to this event will be to spend some additional time in the solace of Romans 14 and to pray. Praying for my brothers and sister who stumble and praying for my brothers and sister who are becoming all things to all people so that by all possible means some might be saved.
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Amen and amen.
I get so frustrated when I hear about things like this because the question is obvious: What must the world think of us?
You have the right idea though. All we can do is pray. Pray that God changes hearts and puts the minds of those who love Him on the lost. Pray that those who have received His grace can actually appreciate it and stop trying to do (and get everyone else to do) everything RIGHT. Pray that the world sees the positive in us more than the negative. Pray that people see Jesus’ love in us.
Well you have hit on one of the sore spots of my heart. I feel so sorry for folks that take out of context a notation written in the 1800’s and make it some holy’er than thou practice. That they can somehow hold it over other belivers who are wanting to praise our Lord and Saviorn as did David and others in the past, Just so they can feel better about their shallow faith and lack of brotherly Love. I will be praying with you.
Your blog reminds me of the old saw that “Christians shoot their wounded.”
I wonder whether the writer/church that was so grieved over “what has happened in northern Virginia” had the guts to undertake a Matthew 18-style intervention with the “offending” church before publishing this complaint.
Boy are we ever tired of such self righteous, arrogant orthodoxy! The sad thing about the whole Romans 14 text is that we’ve allowed the “weaker” brothers and sisters to use this as a power leverage. Pray for them … yes. But don’t give in to them! One of my prayers is that some day some congregation of the churches of Christ will actually rise above the weakest member and soar!
That said, you can also try and sponsor an event that will tick the “writing” church off even more! (Sarcasm intended.)
Whatever you decide, you know in my opinion that “you’re the hand!” [Private joke from Mexico Mission Trip.]
This is a blog that hits close to home. The doctrine of “church autonomy” has become a doctrine of convenience for many. As long as your church looks like our church we’ll practice church autonomy. The minute your church deviates from the accepted model it’s time to fire up the bulletin articles or as in our case, an organized boycott of an event sponsored by our church. This boycott was due to the fact that we “dared” to hire a speaker for a youth event who was on record as having once said, “communion could be a time for celebration.” Never mind the fact that Jesus himself says that he went to “celebrate” the Passover. And this particular church who we have supported their events for years, didn’t dignify us with an opportunity to address their concerns, either before or after our youth event. Shouldn’t we be Christ-like in the practice of any church doctrine?
This has been a very painful exchange for me to read, and I have thought about it for several hours before making any comment at all. I don’t know what I want to say, except that I know and love people from both sides of this fence. I have a brother who would say a hearty amen to those who published that paper, but I disagree with him on just about everything in life.
I have always disliked these “brotherhood” papers that put things like that into print and set themselves up as judge and jury, with an attitude of “we’re right and your’re wrong.” I’ve seen a lot of them. I agree whole-heartedly that the attitude is wrong.
I realize that probably most of those who comment within this blog are preachers and have arrived at your stand on this issue through much more advanced study than I. And I respect that; however, I have been a life-long member of the Church of Christ. My parents and grandparents on both sides were, also. I am in a period of some confusion, and I would tend to lean a great deal more to the “liberal” way of thinking than, say, my brother would. In fact, his way of thinking smothers me. BUT, I still believe in the basic rudiments of our teaching….not because it’s our teaching, but because I believe it’s what the Bible says. It takes both the spirit AND the letter. While the spirit has admittedly been lacking many times, negating the letter won’t remedy that.
For a lot of years, I have felt pulled, and I can’t seem to get off the middle of that fence……
So painful and disappointing. It hurts everyone, not just the CofC, but all people trying to find, follow, and serve God. Satan loves this junk.
P.S. - In cwinwc’s comment, it is mentioned that someone took a big issue with referring to communion as a celebration. Even in my middle-of-the-road muddle, I can’t understand any kind of reasonable thinking that could cause someone to do that. Just as we celebrate the life of a loved one at a funeral, with a mixture of smiles and tears, we celebrate the Lord’s life, death, burial, and resurrection. It IS a celebration! All I can say is:
My, My, My!!
I have to confess my not being as familiar as I should be with the traditions of the movement.
But then while traditions are not to be trifled with, it does seem from the urgency and effort employed in the offended bulletin that there is nothing more important.
it seems to me that looking at this from the perspective of those who we are trying to influence for good, i.e., the need for Christ in the lives of people and reflecting himto others in the 21st century, that whatever this article was that was written is pretty irrelevant. Don’t let it distract you from the big picture!
What the praise band seeks to accomplish through outreach, praise to God and example, far outweighs any displeasure it may have caused some who are tied up in their own notions of proper form & structure. I know this sounds a bit harsh - and I’m certainly not writing this in that spirit - but the fact that a whole newsletter was even written about this pretty much emboldens your efforts to become all things to all people, it would seem to me.
In my view, you hit the nail on the head that the only one you should be concerned about “grieving” is our Lord. At the same time, I wouldn’t dwell on taking offense at such an action so-called “brethren”. In the scheme of things, the focus by some on esoteric issues of “correctness” of worship is pretty irrelevant to our daily walk with the Lord and what Christ’s life was about.
Keep up the good work, Randy! Let Christ shine through your music, your pure hearts, the band members’ talent and dedication. The needs in Arlington & the DC area are much bigger than restoration of some 19th century idea of the 1st century.