My thoughts on the “Organic” Church

Tags

Christianity, Church, doctrine, ecclesiology, Lutheran, mainline denominations, religion, Theology

It is a good desire to want to get our theology “right.” That is, it is good to know why we worship Christ and to worship Him the way He wants to be worshiped. This involves some degree of knowledge and faith about Jesus Christ and answering some basic questions: who He is, what He’s done, and what He’s said to us. The way orthodox Christianity goes about this is by studying God’s Word and through that, we arrive at the “rule and norm” of Christian doctrine. This seems like basic stuff, right?

Right, well then you’ll be as equally surprised to discover that the “Organic Church” is out there to get doctrine “right,” and get this, without doctrine. I recently came upon a website for this 100% natural church. I found an “introductory tool” that made an attempt to describe the phenomenon. I’ll save you some time, here’s an excerpt that best summarizes what they’re all about:

By “organic church,” I mean a non-traditional church that is born out of spiritual life instead of being constructed by human institutions and held together by religious programs. Organic church life is a grass roots experience that is marked by face-to-face community, every member functioning, open-participatory meetings (opposed to pastor-to-pew services), nonhierarchical leadership, and the centrality and supremacy of Jesus Christ as the functional Leader and Head of the gathering. Put another way, organic church life is the experience of the Body of Christ. In its purest form, it’s the fellowship of the Triune God brought to earth and experienced by human beings.

I think what stood out to me the most about this position was the blatant irony of doing church through “face-to-face community…the fellowship of the Triune God brought to earth and experienced by human beings,” by removing “human institutions…held together by religious programs.” There seems to be a faulty premise held by this notion of an organic church and that is namely: human institutions and religious programs are “organic.” Humans are organic. The Church exists because God became a human being and instituted it for human beings. Consequently, how we “do” church is going to reflect the rhythm of the human life…the way God created us. So then, what is the nature of man and the “rhythm” of the human life? I think the answer to that question begins to clarify what is truly an “organic” church.

Something else that struck me was that, as much as this non-institution tried, it couldn’t help but participate in what it was out to escape: definitions, doctrine, theology. Both in what it states and leaves unstated, the Organic Church takes what is effectually a doctrinal position.

In an age in which many churches’ doctrinal positions are limited to a small “about us” webpage, I fear that the doctrinal ambiguity of American Christianity is setting the American church up for failure. Besides a differing church sign, what makes a church ignorant and ambiguous in doctrine any different from the Organic Church? What are the implications of getting our doctrine wrong (through stated doctrine, ambiguity of doctrine, ignorance of doctrine)? In order to cast aside all ambiguity, let me offer an answer: “Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32, 33)

“rule and govern Your holy Christian Church; to preserve all pastors and ministers of Your Church in the true knowledge and understanding of Your wholesome Word and to sustain them in holy living; To put an end to all schisms and causes of offense; to bring into the way of truth all who have erred and are deceived; To beat down Satan under our feet; to send faithful laborers into Your harvest; and to accompany Your Word with Your grace and Spirit”

Hear us O Lord.

Glorifying God

Tags

Christianity, Church, Confession & Absolution, evangelical, forgiveness, LCMS, Lutheran, Sin, Word & Sacrament

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged anything but I’ve been a little busy (and lazy). I recently got confirmed into a Lutheran congregation that is part of the LCMS. I am very blessed by the congregation and I want to return the blessing as much as I can.

In college I found it kind of difficult to get involved in church. I switched between churches rather frequently and I never had reservation going to someone else’s church. Going to someone else’s church isn’t bad, but I treated it much the same as one would treat trying a new flavor of ice cream. At the beginning of my senior year I started to seriously consider the importance of church and the duty I had to commit to a local congregation. I am thankful for the conviction God gave me to look into this and pursue a solution, but I am even more thankful for the outcome.

As a political science major and an evangelical I placed a lot of stock in duty (I still do). I recognized that as a father I would need to be in a church for the sake of my family. I also believed that church was an effective makeweight that helps good democracy happen. Whereas all this may be true to some extent, it is an incorrect reason to attend the Divine Service on Sunday morning.

It is our privilege to receive from God. I am reminded of David’s intent to build the house of the LORD in 2 Samuel 7. God’s response is to redirect David’s attention. He then gives an overwhelming list of all that He has done for David and, even more, what He is going to do. I believe this passage speaks to our desire to bring glory to God and what that actually looks like.

I am struck by how much we think we can do to glorify God. How can inglorious creatures glorify a God who is glorious? It seems impossible! But it’s not. The way God is glorified through us is grace. God is glorified when He gives to us. Take 2 Samuel 7 for example. Better yet, consider the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. The worst amount of suffering that could possibly have happened to someone was taken on by Jesus Christ, for our sakes, in one of the most glorious acts we know. There is nothing more to offer but my praise and thanksgiving and, even then, that is only the response to the glorious work God has done.

As I conclude, I turn to the Divine Service itself to emphasize my point. The service starts off with confession and absolution, recognizing we are sinners in need of God’s forgiveness. We then move on to the reading and preaching of God’s word where the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to us through His word. After that, we proceed to the Lord’s Table where we receive Christ’s Body and Blood, “shed for many for the remission of sins.” We then conclude with the Nunc Dimittis and a hymn of praise and thanksgiving. The entire service is about us receiving God’s forgiveness and being washed by His word. I go to the Divine Service because I know I need Him. And He is glorified.

Roger Scruton: On Beauty

Tags

art, Beauty, Duchamp, music, religion, Roger Scruton

Does art, architecture, music, beauty have a sacred status? Does it elevate us to a higher spiritual or moral plain?

 

Why Beauty Matters

Rights of the Commonplace

The characteristic of the hour is that the commonplace mind, knowing itself to be commonplace, has the assurance to proclaim the rights of the commonplace and to impose them where it will. Ortega y Gasset, The Revolt of the Masses, Chapter 1.

What is meant by this? There doesn’t seem to be any thing wrong with this statement. Commonplace is good, right? We all want to be a good old boy or girl, right? Well, sure some might be called to that station in life. However, what is being communicated here is that the good old boys and girls aren’t content with being just that. The commonplace man of society is no longer willing to take directives from anyone (unless they’re from the common man, of course). Instead these people believe that being commonplace privileges them to act as if there are no restraints on their prerogative. It is a rare sighting, indeed, to encounter someone who is willing to submit themselves to something other than commonplace authority in religion, politics, philosophy, manners, etc….

The same thing is happening in other orders, particularly in the intellectual. I may be mistaken, but the present day writer, when he takes his pen in hand to treat a subject which he has studied deeply, has to bear in mind that the average reader, who has never concerned himself with this subject, if he reads does so with the view, not of learning something from the writer, but rather, of pronouncing judgment on him when he is not in agreement with the commonplaces that the said readers carries in his head. Ortega y Gasset, The Revolt of the Masses, Chapter 1.

I think what Ortega y Gasset is getting at here could be cross applied to the interaction between the commonplace man and the subjects I mentioned earlier (religion, politics, philosophy, manners, etc…). It seems that no one in America is at all concerned with traditions–unless of course one is talking about the tradition of “tradition hate.” Any authoritative traditions in religion or ethics are looked approached skeptically, if approached at all. In the process, society as a whole is bereft of any substantial direction and guidance. The masses continue in their hatred of tradition and flounder in their attempts to govern themselves without it. The irony of it all is that rather than correct their ignorance towards authoritative tradition, the masses blame tradition itself. I could go a lot of places with this, but I would like to end with a few questions.

When you approach an authoritative tradition, whether it be a text or a teaching, what is your method of approach? Is your concentration immediately lost to the act of thinking up objections and caveats? Or do you approach such traditions with humility and gratitude, hoping to learn something? I think that answering these questions is the first step one takes towards rising above the “commonplace.”

P.S. being in the commonplace isn’t a bad thing unless one decides that their opinions on matters outside of the commonplace are authoritative on their face
without external authority (tradition, reason, mores, etc…).

Bertrand de Jouvenel: On Obligations

From the Hipster Conservative blog (I wonder if there is a difference between conservative hipsters?).

This is an excerpt from de Jouvenel’s book, Sovereignty: An Inquiry into the Political Good. It stresses the importance of tradition and more importantly, gratitude. I have not read Sovereignty but I have read On Power. He’s a compelling writer and I am eager to read this other title.

Bertrand de Jouvenel: On Obligations.

My First Post: The Harp of Alfred

In G.K. Chesterton’s “Ballad of the White Horse,” King Alfred the Great is confronted by hordes of godless Northmen. Alfred and his men had suffered numerous defeats at the hands of these raiders; however, what drives him and his men on is a truth far deeper and greater than the nihilistic self-aggrandizement that fuels the Northmen. In the face of mockery and defeat, Alfred stands true to his faith and in that, we hear the Harp of Alfred:

“When God put man in a garden
He girt him with a sword,
And sent him forth a free knight
That might betray his lord;

“He brake Him and betrayed Him,
And fast and far he fell,
Till you and I may stretch our necks
And burn our beards in hell.

“But though I lie on the floor of the world,
With the seven sins for rods,
I would rather fall with Adam
Than rise with all your gods.

“What have the strong gods given?
Where have the glad gods led?
When Guthrum sits on a hero’s throne
And asks if he is dead?

“Sirs, I am but a nameless man,
A rhymester without home,
Yet since I come of the Wessex clay
And carry the cross of Rome,

“I will even answer the mighty earl
That asked of Wessex men
Why they be meek and monkish folk,
And bow to the White Lord’s broken yoke;
What sign have we save blood and smoke?
Here is my answer then.

“That on you is fallen the shadow,
And not upon the Name;
That though we scatter and though we fly,
And you hang over us like the sky,
You are more tired of victory,
Than we are tired of shame.

“That though you hunt the Christian man
Like a hare on the hill-side,
The hare has still more heart to run
Than you have heart to ride.

“That though all lances split on you,
All swords be heaved in vain,
We have more lust again to lose
Than you to win again.

“Your lord sits high in the saddle,
A broken-hearted king,
But our king Alfred, lost from fame,
Fallen among foes or bonds of shame,
In I know not what mean trade or name,
Has still some song to sing;

“Our monks go robed in rain and snow,
But the heart of flame therein,
But you go clothed in feasts and flames,
When all is ice within;

“Nor shall all iron dooms make dumb
Men wondering ceaselessly,
If it be not better to fast for joy
Than feast for misery.

“Nor monkish order only
Slides down, as field to fen,
All things achieved and chosen pass,
As the White Horse fades in the grass,
No work of Christian men.

“Ere the sad gods that made your gods
Saw their sad sunrise pass,
The White Horse of the White Horse Vale,
That you have left to darken and fail,
Was cut out of the grass.

“Therefore your end is on you,
Is on you and your kings,
Not for a fire in Ely fen,
Not that your gods are nine or ten,
But because it is only Christian men
Guard even heathen things.

“For our God hath blessed creation,
Calling it good. I know
What spirit with whom you blindly band
Hath blessed destruction with his hand;
Yet by God’s death the stars shall stand
And the small apples grow.”

Being a great English epic, “The Ballad of the White Horse” ends on a good note. The Northmen are driven back and King Alfred moves upon London town. However, at this point Chesterton inserts a prediction that the struggles of Alfred’s time will be a time of the past, that in time the pagan will again descend upon Christendom in a new way.

“Though I give this land to Our Lady,
That helped me in Athelney,
Though lordlier trees and lustier sod
And happier hills hath no flesh trod
Than the garden of the Mother of God
Between Thames side and the sea,

“I know that weeds shall grow in it
Faster than men can burn;
And though they scatter now and go,
In some far century, sad and slow,
I have a vision, and I know
The heathen shall return.

“They shall not come with warships,
They shall not waste with brands,
But books be all their eating,
And ink be on their hands.

“Not with the humour of hunters
Or savage skill in war,
But ordering all things with dead words,
Strings shall they make of beasts and birds,
And wheels of wind and star.

“They shall come mild as monkish clerks,
With many a scroll and pen;
And backward shall ye turn and gaze,
Desiring one of Alfred’s days,
When pagans still were men.

“The dear sun dwarfed of dreadful suns,
Like fiercer flowers on stalk,
Earth lost and little like a pea
In high heaven’s towering forestry,
—These be the small weeds ye shall see
Crawl, covering the chalk.

“But though they bridge St. Mary’s sea,
Or steal St. Michael’s wing—
Though they rear marvels over us,
Greater than great Vergilius
Wrought for the Roman king;

“By this sign you shall know them,
The breaking of the sword,
And man no more a free knight,
That loves or hates his lord.

“Yea, this shall be the sign of them,
The sign of the dying fire;
And Man made like a half-wit,
That knows not of his sire.

“What though they come with scroll and pen,
And grave as a shaven clerk,
By this sign you shall know them,
That they ruin and make dark;

“By all men bond to Nothing,
Being slaves without a lord,
By one blind idiot world obeyed,
Too blind to be abhorred;

“By terror and the cruel tales
Of curse in bone and kin,
By weird and weakness winning,
Accursed from the beginning,
By detail of the sinning,
And denial of the sin;

“By thought a crawling ruin,
By life a leaping mire,
By a broken heart in the breast of the world,
And the end of the world’s desire;

“By God and man dishonoured,
By death and life made vain,
Know ye the old barbarian,
The barbarian come again—

“When is great talk of trend and tide,
And wisdom and destiny,
Hail that undying heathen
That is sadder than the sea.

“In what wise men shall smite him,
Or the Cross stand up again,
Or charity or chivalry,
My vision saith not; and I see
No more; but now ride doubtfully
To the battle of the plain.”

Today the battle for Christendom in America, or even the Western world, is not a battle of blood and iron. Rather, it is a battle of heart and mind. Today we must be prepared to meet the nihilistic pagans where we work, where we study, where we play, and even in the depths of our own soul where the devil’s lies are constantly at work to bring us down. Some are our dear friends, some our own family, and many more our fellow Americans. The cold winters of the soul and the hollow look in the eyes are no longer external forces assaulting us from the North. They are in our midst. Our humanity is attacked with the millions of aborted children, the pornographic culture, drug addiction, suicide, moral relativism, sexual deviation, and the list goes on.

The loss of the human metaphysic has led to denial, after denial, of man as a created being with a nature appropriate to him (nature then necessitates a teleological end). With this blog I am seeking a revival of the human metaphysic and the strengthening of the Faith; if not for others, at least for myself. To help me, I will be using “The Harp of Alfred” as a theme to guide me in this process.

When Alfred strikes the lyre in response to the barbarian warchiefs, he strikes at the heart of what plagues the human condition and, the solution to that condition. This is most certainly the plague of sin and the solution found in the Gospel. As I contribute to this blog I want to keep that in mind; namely, that man was created for a certain teleological end, fell into sin, and can only be saved by the Gospel. This is not to say that every entry will specifically address one or more of these themes. However, they are meant to be means of focus for me, the end being my intellectual development and the strengthening of my faith.

Blessings to all. Thank you for your time.