Divided We Stand?

It's late in the evening.  You're belly is full from the meal you have just eaten, but your mind is troubled.  You and a group of friends are walking through a vineyard.  The air is warm and you would normally have enjoyed such a night.  As you walk along you hear his voice.  He gestures to some of the vines and says,

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.  You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.  Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me..."

Those are the words of Jesus, taken from John's account; chapter 15:1-6.  The image is what I see in my mind as the disciples follow him from the upper room to Gethsemane.  Judas has just left in an odd turn that Jesus described as betrayal.  Peter has just said something in his usual knee-jerk reaction sort of way to which Jesus said Peter would deny him.  Three times!  Jesus is talking about leaving, and a comforter to come.  That the disciples would face trials and persecution.  Heavy stuff.

Now he is talking about vines and branches.  And how Jesus is the vine, and they are the branches.  They of course also being, us.

You and me.

You're a branch.  I'm a branch.  That guy on the soap box, he's a branch.  The shy one in the corner, she's a branch.  The guy with the tattoos all over, yeah, he's a branch too.  So is the guy in the suit, the lady in the uniform, the kid on the skateboard...

Get the picture?

We are all different.  Each branch is separate from each other.  My branch isn't connected to your branch.  Not by ourselves anyway.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Paul later uses the description of a body.  One body many parts.  He's talking more about spiritual gifts there, but the idea is similar.

Difference doesn't mean disunion.  Look at the people Jesus drew to himself.  Fishermen, tax collectors, activists, men, women, children.  Vastly different.  One thing in common.  They all needed to be forgiven of sins.

Just like me.  Just like you.

But in the common ground they had Jesus.

So while there are many "denominations" within the Church, and many differences within the denominations, Jesus is the branch.  We may differ on somethings, or out right disagree, and I'm here to tell you that is okay.

Again, many years later, Paul is arrested for spreading the good news of Jesus.  He writes a letter to the part of the church in Philippi.  (See, the church is all of us together, not just a building.)  Here he mentions something these folk seemed to know something about.  In verses 15-18 of chapter 1;

It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

Christ is preached.  That is awfully magnanimous of Paul.  He doesn't care that others are preaching for reasons other than good will.  Christ is preached.  He's in jail.  But Christ is preached.  Now if that isn't a division, I don't know what is.  But the underlying fact remains, Jesus is The Vine.

Please do not misunderstand.  There is a difference between disagreement and difference and malicious division.  That type of division would be against Jesus.  Jesus cannot be divided.  Therefore the Church cannot be divided.  If we all individually remain in him, he will remain in us.  If we come together, remaining in him, with others who remain in him, we are the Church.

And it does not matter where or how you meet!  Huge campus, country church, Gothic Cathedral, or grocery store parking lot.  The types songs that are sung, do not matter.  Remember, hymns were "modern" at some point.  Jesus taught from inside the temple, to synagogues to hillsides and homes.

We are all different.  Individually, and in the places we gather to worship and fellowship.  And that is okay!  Some vines are longer than others.  Some have more leaves or fruit.  Some are new, some are very old.  But one thing keeps them all connected.

Jesus is the vine.

Tomorrow:  United We Are Christ

grace, peace + hope

-Bear

Breastfeeding - Part 2

The Sunday Morning Worship Service

-or-
How to Breastfeeding at the Teat of the Double-breasted Suit
Part 2

The Fancy Sunday Morning Spectacular.  Light show.  Fog machines.  Pretty singers in matching outfits, except that one guy who never quite gets the memo.  Or maybe it's simpler.  Choir and a song leader.  Then you sit down for 30-45 minutes while someone looks out at you from a pulpit and tells you what the Bible is saying to you.  Because clearly you can't figure it out on your own.  And maybe in the early days you can't.

Now imagine you've been going to church your whole life, or that you've been going for at least several years.  Does this story change?  Sure.  A little.  Maybe you are reading your Bible a few times a week, or even every day.  Perhaps you're even doing one of those nifty reading plans to read the whole Bible in a year.

You arrive at your pew/seat/whatever Sunday morning and wait to "get fed."  The pastor gets up, opens up his suit coat and begins to nurse you.  Usually in clever repetitive letters or phrases.  On average at least 3 points.  There are well timed and placed jokes.  Well, sometimes well placed.  And you sit there and lap it up.  You've become the four year old running up to mommy asking for some milk.

It's weird.

It's immature.  My friends, if you know who Jesus is, I mean really know who he is, not just the stories about him.  You're ready for solid food.  And it's available to you.  Pastors are wonderful people, at least most of the ones I have known are.  They are genuine God loving folk who want to serve God with all their heart.  The word pastor comes from the Latin word for shepherd.  Jesus told  Peter to feed his sheep.  He told him to be a "pastor."  Something tells me this is not what he had in mind.  Imagine with me one last time today...

You see a shepherd.  For me it's one of those Bible picture ones.  White guy with a blondish beard, in some sort of blue dress with stripes on it.  He gets down on his knees amongst his sheep and picks up grass.  He starts to chew it.  Then he spits it into the mouth of the first sheep on his left.  Again and again he picks up the grass and chews it for his sheep.

Again...it's weird.


So why do we do it?

Yes I strongly believe Christians should have teaching and instruction.  I do not believe the only way is by coming back to the trough every week and getting your fill. 

The Word the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

(Hebrews 4:12)

When was the last time your soul and spirit were divided by the Word of God?  When was the last time your thoughts and attitudes were judged by the Word?

It's time we grow up church.  We can not keep waiting for pastors and church leaders to tell us how we are to live for Jesus.  Jesus had plenty to say on it himself.  It's right there in the last third of your Bible.  The books titled Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  Jesus has a lot to say for himself.  If you don't get it, ask someone.  Maybe they will know, maybe not.  So read it again together.  Keep reading and seeking God.  He'll tell you what it means.  That is how you eat the "meat" and give up the "milk."  Get up, work for your food.  Don't wait for the breastfeeding!


grace, peace + hope
-Bear

Breastfeeding - Part 1

The Sunday Morning Worship Service

-or-
How to Stop Breastfeeding at the Teat of the Double-breasted Suit
Part 1

Alright people.  I've been writing my posts with a mixed audience in mind.  Not anymore.  Hey you, Johnny and Susie Pew-Warmer, I'm talking to you.  (And myself.)

The gloves are off.

For the better part of the last 2,000 years Christianity has enjoyed a type of celebrity.  A few hundred years after Jesus set our forerunners (the disciples) out to make more disciples, baptize, and obey his commands...the faith of Christianity is made legal and embraced throughout the Roman world.  Before this it was tolerated at best in some places and culled in others.  Suddenly those who were spreading the Good News of the Kingdom in secret are allowed to speak openly.  Jesus is now safe.

Soon the religion of Christianity comes to power.  Homes, catacombs and other hiding places are abandoned for the public forums and official buildings.  Leaders emerge.  Learned men who studied and knew more than the rest.  A gap began to form between the brothers and sisters and those who led the way to Jesus.  We know this as clergy and laity.  (I'm really simplifying the history here, look this stuff up it's out there.  I recommend Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna.  But there is a lot out there, go find it.  After this blog if you don't mind.)

Laity below, clergy above.  Sometimes literally.  Think about the last Sunday morning worship service you went to.  I know there is a lot of variety out there, but the average "church" in the United States has some form of platform or stage for the leadership to lead from.  Okay, maybe I'm being harsh on the format of public speaking arenas, I mean "sanctuaries."  Think about it though.  There is a psychology in speaking to people above their level.  Look at old Gothic style churches too.  The lines in those buildings were designed to draw your eye upward.

"Hey, didn't I say something about breastfeeding?"

Okay, so there is a gap between clergy and laity.  Somehow this led to the idea that the clergy had a closer walk with God.  After all they are the ones teaching the congregations week after week right?  They are the ones feeding the sheep. Surely they are special in God's eyes.

Really? 

What does this have to do with my ridiculous title?  I'll tell you what.  It's time for us to grow up.  It's natural for babies to breastfeed right?  But there comes a time when they stop.  If they get too old it just gets weird.  Why is it any different for us as followers of Jesus?

Look what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3

"Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it."

As a baby you get fed milk directly by mom.  Then you are spoon fed somewhat more solid food until you can feed yourself.  You grow up and you get a job and earn money to buy, cook, and feed yourself.  Depending on your tastes, more complicated meals than milk or pureed carrots.  Simple concept right?


Think about that progression of eating with how you learn about Jesus at a "church."

As a baby you are fed directly nourishing food.  Whether you start in "Kids Church," or a "Beginners, class.  You're told the basic ideas of the Bible.  Generally you get a simplified version of the story with a digestible memory verse that sums up the story.

As you grow you get into more complex foods.  The stories you learned earlier take on a broader focus, or deeper meaning.  David isn't just the kid who killed the giant, he's the guy who coveted someone's wife, but is still a man after God's own heart.  It's a bit harder to chew but you get there.  As you grow more you might make a snack of a devotion time on your own, but the real Biblical meal is what happens on Sunday morning.

to be concluded tomorrow...

grace, peace + hope
-Bear