One more comment to consider. This one from Eugene Peterson in the March 2005 article of Christianity Today (p.45). He was asked by the interviewer, "So how should we envision the Christian life?" A better question, admittedly than my "ideal church" one, but it gets to the same point. Peterson then describes a "miserable" Norwegian Lutheran church with the words, "it wasn't a very nice service, it just was just not very good worship." He then describes how this small, mostly elderly population cares for single mothers in their midst.
The interviewer asks:
"But many Christians wood look at this church and say it's dead, merely an institutional expression of the faith."
Peterson responds:
What other church is there besides institutional? There's nobody who doesn't have problems with the church because there is sin the church. But there is no other place to be a Christian except the church... I really don't understand this naive criticism of the institution. I really don't get it.
Frederick Von Hugel said the institution of the church is like the bark on the tree. There's no life in the bark. It's dead wood. But it protects the life of the tree within. And the tree grows and grows and grows. If you take the bark off, it's prone to disease, dehydration, death.
So, yes, the church is dead but it protects something alive. And when you try to have a church without bark, it doesn't last long. It disappears, gets sick, and it's prone to all kinds of disease, heresy and narcissism.
Personally, I found this comment to be both insightful and challenging. And his indictment of "institution-less" church as a form of narcissism is also worth pondering a bit more. When we eschew institutions are we merely substituting the bark of the church with the dead wood of our own personalities and preferences?
Tomorrow: Some thoughts on the Ideal Church and another installment of the Lent series on the communal spiritual discipline of sitting under.
PS. I just found that Joe at Evangelical Outpost had the same quote. And Joe offered a candid and inspiring self-revelation. This whole theme must be resonating in all of our hearts. (HT: Smart Christian)
Recent Comments