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I once worshipped
at a maverick, very original church in Williamsburg, Virginia, The Williamsburg Community Chapel. It was
good to me, and for me. My spiritual gifts of speaking, and leading and
teaching Bible studies were identified while I was there, for instance, and I led
four Bible studies in a row.
Williamsburg
Community Chapel was non-denominational, with members from every Christian
denomination, and none.
So, they
had an answer to pretty much every theological question put to them.
And that
was “Yes!”
* * *
Oh, it
drove me nuts. It seems an illogical way of answering an OR question,
and an annoying way of deflecting it.
But
thinking about it now, I see its brilliance.
Do you
believe in infant baptism or in believers’ baptism?
Yes.
Do you
believe in water baptism as a once-in-for-all experience, or do you believe in
the Baptism in the Holy Spirit?
Yes
Do you
believe the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, the second blessing, is a one-time
experience, or can we have a second, third and fourth experience?
Yes
Are we
justified and saved by our faith alone, or does true faith need to have an
expression in works?
Yes.
Should a
Christian woman be a keeper at home, or use her gifts outside the home too?
Yes.
Should a
Christian woman be silent or teach and lead, if so gifted?
Yes
Were
Charismatic gifts given to establish the church, or are they still active
today?
Yes.
Do you
believe in the gift of tongues?
Yes.
But I
don’t need the gift of tongues to be a Christian?
Yes.
* * *
It’s
because God is so big and so rich that he is unlikely to confined to any of our
restrictive, limited theological positions.
If you
take extreme theological statements
like Calvinism,
and the contradictory, more moderate theological statements, truth is often to
be found between the two extremes, with each of them having some truth, some Yes.
So the
next time, I am involved in, or over-hear or over-read a theological
controversy, that’s a theological word I am going to remember: AND. Both positions of these sincere
Christ-followers likely have some truth in them, and the absolute truth is
likely to be found somewhere in the middle.
* * *
Jesus
came to us, full of grace and truth
(John 1:14). And where will we find him?
Quite
likely between the extreme scripture truth-based positions on the issues which
the church clashes with its own liberal wing and with the world (homosexuality,
let’s say, or abortion or the demographics of hell and heaven) and the extreme
grace, “everyone is okay because is God is love” position.
The
land of And, the place where love and truth meet, (Ps. 85:10) is the place in which we
are most likely to find Jesus.
Not in
the place of controversy, over “circumcision or uncircumsion,” but in the place
of gentleness, of truth working through love. (Gal 5:6).
In the
middle ground between sheer uncompromising truth, and a look-the-other-way
love.
I often talk to my friends about not putting God into a human-shaped box. I trust in the truth that he gave us - that if we believe and put our trust in him and if we love one another, that all will come to pass according to his plan. When I die, I will have a tidy list of questions for him...I foresee a wonderfully long conversation :), but all those questions will wait just fine until that time.
ReplyDeleteMy all-time favorite Christian musician is Chris Rice...one of his albums has a song entitled "Smell the Color Nine". I love this piece because it typifies for me the mystery that is God and that we, as humans, will never, ever fully understand. So far above our ways are his ways.
Here is an excellent video of this song a church put together - it has the lyrics so it's easier to follow the words.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip2WgqBHYqM&feature=related