So, what about "doctrine"?

"Doctrine" is a word that doesn't exactly bring on warm and fuzzy feelings when it is mentioned.

Just think about the word "indoctrinate" and the first thing that comes to mind is "brain washing"

"Doctrinal statements" are used as tests to see who is in and who is out; if you can recite your denomination's "doctrinal statement", then you are fit to be part of the in-crowd there.  (If you can't then, well, perhaps you need to be "indoctrinated"!)

These aren't very pretty ideas, but it was never intended to be that way.  Jesus spoke words of healing; a far cry from the litmus tests of right belief according to one denomination or another

 

In her book Christianity after Religion (New York: Harper One, 2012)

Diana Butler Bass has this to say about "doctrine" on pages 134 and 135:

"Indeed, the word doctrine, a word fallen on hard times in contemporary culture, actually means a "healing teaching", from the French word for doctor.  The creeds, as doctrinal statements, were intended as healing instruments, life-giving words that would draw God's people into a deeper engagement with divine things.  When creeds become fences to mark the borders of heresy, they lose their spiritual energy.  Doctrine is to be the balm of a healing experience of God, not a theological scalpel to wound and exclude peole."

What do you suppose we can each do to help "doctrine" to be used for healing, rather than as a tool to sort out who is in and who is out?  Something to think about.

Love the Sinner . . . ?

How many times have we heard the saying "love the sinner, hate the sin"?

And often good people mean well when they say that.

Hmmm.  Tony Campolo points out that what Jesus taught us would really be more like "love the sinner, hate your own sin".

If you have any doubt about this, check out Matthew 7:3, where Jesus says "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"

And if that isn't clear enough, in verse 5, Jesus says "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

That looks a lot like Tony's quote: "love the sinner, hate your own sin".

Expanding on what Tony says, might look like "love the sinner and hate your own judgmental attitude for looking at the sinner as 'the sinner'".

Something to think about next time we might be tempted to look at someone in a judging sort of way.

What about Tradition?

Next year, Community Life Church will be celebrating 150 years as an organized church in Grand Harbour on Grand Manan Island.  Over that time many changes have occurred and a lot are still occurring.  Even the name has changed a number of times, but changed most radically recently from "Grand Harbour United Baptist Church" to "Community Life Church".

So we have much to celebrate in our 150 years, pioneers to honour, accomplishments to marvel over, a rich heritage of service to the people of our Island. Does our service today look different? Of course; but that should not take away from the celebration of our past.

No doubt some of the people who faithfully attended this church years ago might be astonished if they were to drop in on a Sunday morning now. Worship would look very different to them to be sure.  In fact some of them might feel we are wrong not keeping with the strong traditions of the church established by our forefathers.

So as we look back at our 150 years, how important is tradition and what role does it play?

One of the best quotes I have found on tradition is in McLaren's book "Naked Spirituality" in which he says (on page 189):

"Similarly, we must celebrate the rich heritage of our religious traditions, but those traditions are now the foundations on which we build, not the ceilings under which we are trapped".

Let's think about that as we reach forward and as we remember back.  Let's celebrate the rich traditions we have, lets build on these, but let us also be sure not to let them become ceilings under which we are trapped.

Greeting each morning

Some people are "morning people" bouncing out of bed and excited to start the day; others are grumpy until that first cup of coffee gives them a boost.  Whichever way you lean, how you start your morning shapes your first attitude as you face your day.

Brian McLaren, in his book Naked Spirituality, gives a great piece of advice which is a sure way to get your day off to a great start.

"Give God the first greeting every morning"

Brian notes that as he emerges from sleep into awareness, even before opening his eyes, he turns his attention to God with this little prayer of thanks and worship:

"O Lord! Good morning! Here I am, with you for a new day, and here you are, with me as always.  Thank you, Living God, for this fresh installment in the gracious gift of life! O Lord! I worship you for who you are, gracious and compassionate, just and good, holy and forgiving, almighty and gentle."

How could anyone be grumpy after that!!!  Starting the day with a little silent meditation like this puts everything in perspective. 

A "fresh installment in the gracious gift of life": what a great way to shape your attitude for the day!

(From Brian McLaren's book Naked Spirituality, page 77)

Re-ligion or De-ligion?

How many times have we heard people say "I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual".

Essentially, they often mean "I don't buy into all the trappings and rules of religion, but I know that the secular world with its science, politics and economics doesn't fill my inner being either".

Why is it that religion and spirituality are looked at as being so different by many people?  Why is it that talking about someone being "religious" isn't always seen very positively by people who would look at themselves as being "not religious".

Let's look at one view of the origin of  the word "religion".  The root of the word is "lig" from which we get the word "ligament" which holds together bones in a joint.  So the root "lig" means to connect together, to unite, to bring together into one body, one wholeness.  And "re" means again.  So "re-ligion" in its purest form, would be connecting us together again, making us whole again, one body with God.  It would be about bonding us with all creation.

But what we have often seen in "religious" organizations is a setting apart from others, judging others for behaviour that religious people won't tolerate; a "disconnect" from others as we huddle within the confines of our own belief systems.

A "re-ligion", which is supposed to be connecting us together with all God's good creation, has morphed into a "de-ligion", a separating from other, especially from those who need reconnecting the most, those who are having a real tough time with life struggles.

So let's focus on trying to "re-lig": to reconnect with God, with one another and with all God's good creation.  And in that pursuit, we will find God's spirit encouraging us on.

"Re-ligion" or "de-ligion"; which will be our goal?

(Adapted from the book "Naked Spirituality", by Brian McLaren)

Hurray for questions and doubts!

At Community Life Church we often talk about our walk of faith as being a journey toward Jesus Christ, toward bringing his kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.  Everyone on this journey is coming from somewhere, and everyone is taking steps forward, sometimes slipping up and then taking more steps.

Some have been on the journey longer than others, some have advice to give to others, but all of us on the journey are learning, asking questions, puzzling over questions, getting answers to some which lead to more questions.

Sometimes people think that Christianity has all the answers, when you “become a Christian”, the expression commonly used, you have arrived.  Even the expression: “become a Christian” suggests arriving at a destination.

Isn’t it interesting that the term used for early followers of Jesus was “The Way”?  It wasn’t “The Place”, it was “The Way” which suggests a journey, not a destination.

Which brings us to the question: which is better, to have all the answers or to have questions, doubts and more questions?  Our modern way of thinking puts a lot of stock in answers: if I have all the answers, then I have arrived.

But if I have arrived, I am not going anywhere, just sitting smugly where I am.  I don’t need much faith if I have the answers, just faith in my answers.

At Community Life Church, we value questions and doubts. Questions and doubts deepen faith.  As I wrestle with questions and doubts, I must dig deeper into faith to continue to believe and press forward on my journey.

So let’s celebrate our questions and doubts! It’s through questions and doubts and digging and persevering and talking with others who are also having questions and doubts that we move forward on our journey and become more useful participants in the Kingdom of God.  Hurray for the questions and doubts!

Which comes first: Believing or Belonging?

At Community Life Church, we think that many of us as churches have in the past got it wrong: we always thought you had to get your beliefs all straightened out and then you could belong to a church.  First you had to get your beliefs all lined up with what the elders and the denomination told you was the right stuff to believe, then you had to be baptized and then you could be a member of the church.

Now, at Community Life Church, we want things to be different.  We want people to feel that they can belong first, regardless of where they are in belief.  And if you belong, you can join with us on our journey toward Jesus and the Kingdom he has inaugurated, “on earth as it is in heaven”.  And on that journey you will believe things and then you will doubt these things and you will believe other things and then you will doubt them too, and so it goes as we journey in our conversations with one another and guided along by God’s Spirit.

Think about it, when Jesus invited people along, he didn’t test them for what they believed, he simple said “come follow me”, or put another way, “come go with me”.

Jesus invited little children to come close to him; he didn’t get them to make sure their beliefs were all lined up first; he just wanted them to feel that they could belong.

 

And Jesus got into trouble with the religious people of his day for hanging out with the wrong sort of people, people who were, well, sinners, you know, bad people that the good religious people would have nothing to do with.  Jesus didn't tell them to clean up their act and then he would meet with them; he simply invited them to "come go with me".

In making this change at Community Life Church, we have dropped the importance of church membership; if you want to be a member, that is okay, you are more than welcome to become a member.  But you don't have to be a member to participate actively in all our church does or to participate in our business meetings; and you can work in various roles around the church without being a member.  We want you to feel that you can belong and journey with us.  And on that journey our conversations will help us all sort out our various beliefs.

We have a little video we like to show frequently and the video ends with what we want people to feel: “It’s okay to be not okay . . . really”.

The Biggest Moment in All History

The resurrection of the Son of God changed the course of history like no other event before or since.

 

Think about it. The life of Jesus was quite remarkable, but he never traveled far nor reached a lot of people.  When he has put to death on a cross, a spectacularly cruel death, it is certain that everyone watching thought that that was the end of it: another would-be messiah had failed.

No one was expecting what happened on that first Easter morning.  Not only was the tomb empty, but Jesus, who had indeed been very dead on Friday and Saturday, was alive, seen alive, the same Jesus, alive in the flesh, yet somehow different.

That resurrection made such an impression, on people that the band of followers were able to proclaim with confidence that the risen Jesus was Lord, King of the new Kingdom.

Bishop N. T. Wright has written a massive 738-page book called “The Resurrection of the Son of God”.  He looks at the event from all angles, from the way people at that time looked resurrection, if they believed it at all, which most didn’t - until this one; and they way resurrection was viewed after this special one, from the historical accounts surrounding the event, not just the accounts in the Bible, but what other contemporary historians and scholars had to say, and also he looked at it from the perspective of a Biblical scholar.

Wright (page 730): “Death is the ultimate weapon of the tyrant; resurrection does not make a covenant with death, it overthrows it.  The resurrection in the full Jewish and early Christian sense is the ultimate affirmation that creation matters, that embodied human beings matter.”

(Page 731):“The resurrection constitutes Jesus as the world’s true sovereign, the ‘son of god’ who claims absolute allegiance from everyone and everything within creation.  He is the start of the creator’s new world: its pilot project, indeed its pilot.”

In Wright’s book “Simply Jesus” on page 191: “When Jesus rose from the dead on Easter morning, he rose as the beginning of the new world that Israel’s God had always intended to make.  That is the first and most important thing to know about Easter.”

In his book “Surprised by Hope”, Wright has a whole chapter:  “Reshaping the Church for Mission: Living the Future”.  He tries to get us excited about Easter: “Easter is about the wild delight of God’s creative power . . . It’s about the real Jesus coming out of the real tomb and getting God’s real new creation under way . . . This is our greatest festival . . . This is our greatest day.”