the statement for our church reads like this:
“a place where God is present, love is offered, help is received & friendship for the journey is found”
i’ve written about love being the highest value here before, check it out if you like. recently though i’ve was thinking about “friendship for the journey’.
this one is of particular importance to me right now for a number of reasons.
one reason in particular has to do with how we treat one another on social media. things we write to a computer screen & tag someone in a post, many of us would never consider saying to a living breathing person standing in front of us. we used to know that not everything we think should be said. but with the accesability of modern things we seem to have forgotten that part of life.
one of the things that was said to me a few years ago at a church i serve was this; “we’re a kinder, gentler church now.”
i, naturally, asked her to unpack that for me. she was remembering a time when the church had more of a requtation of relationally running over people & not exercising grace & the dignity of other people; and insistance on being right over getting it right.
so as a church it’s important to realize that God has placed friends in our path to walk with us along the way; and, as usual, we use biblical foundation as the building blocks for the stance.
1 Corinthians 15:33
Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
Job 2:11
When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.
Proverbs 18:24
One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Colossians 3:12-14
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
You said some good things here. I have one question about not agreeing and that not being healthy. No two humans will agree about everything especially when it comes to politics or our taste in music, and the list could go on and on. Are you including doctrine with that statement? Being part of a confessional church and doctrine being extremely important, and we reject postmodernism that would say otherwise. That belief (unity in doctrine) is reflected in what we teach about communion. That is why the communion table is not open to everyone because “While the Lord’s Supper is always a personal matter, it is never a private matter.That is an important truth that is often overlooked.Those who commune at the same altar are thereby declaring publically that they are united in the doctrine of the Apostles (Acts 2:42). Therefore, fellowship in the Supper is church fellowship.This is what is taught by Holy Scripture in 1 Cor. 10 and 11. “
jason, i agree with the notion that there are parts of theology that we need/must agree on; otherwise we cannot share the “table” as you referenced communion. my larger point in the post was much more to the reality that we let our earthly differences; race, politics, fandom, etc. create dividing lines & we then tend to villanize the opposing view point. so to the point i was after; if i only watch & listen to fox news i’m going to be decidedly narrow in my understanding of national politics. the same is true if i’m a cnn junkie; i’m only getting part of the truth, part of the story. so if i limit my intake to a specific channel & voice it’s easy to have blinders on & see only part of what’s happening. i then am tempted & drawn into a position that marginalizes the opposition.
now to theologial issues; when it comes to communion & the confession that represents…
even though my catholic brothers and sisters see communion very differently i have no trouble sharing the table with them if they have a salvation view of what commiunion is about.
i just think we have more in common with other believers than we think, with our theological differences being more minor than major.
i was just talking with some other pastors about theological history this week & we were discussing the fact that we [in general] are pretty good at knowing our own church history [presberian, assembly of God, nazerene, etc.] but the over-all church & theology history not so much. so when someone shows up & talks about God in a way that seems worlds different than what we’re used to we tend to brand them a heritic without acknowledging where it sits in the total arc of theology in church history.
in short, i just don’t want to be known for what i’m against; i’d rather celebrate what we share in common & oru humanity & reflect Jesus in that mode.
i’m interested in where your quote came from, please share.