Thursday, September 13, 2012

Devotion - Thursday, September 13

We often hear a desire to return to the "first century Church."  I can understand that, and appreciate the desire to be as close to Jesus as possible.  

But as is true for so many of our dreams, the central image which draws us is not complete.  

The first century Church was closer in time to Jesus, but it was not necessarily closer to unity.  That first century was a time of exploration and discovery; it was a time during which those who followed Jesus argued with each other and condemned the actions of one another.

This morning I was reading from Acts 8.  Here we have the vision of Peter, in which God shows him that he is not to consider the Gentiles "unclean."  This story represents a turning point in the development of the Church.  while Paul had already been working among the Gentiles, sharing with them the Good News of Jesus Christ, Peter had argued against this, claiming that if one was to be a follower of Jesus they must first become a Jew.

The first century Church was unsure whether the followers of Jesus would be a new religion, or a renewal movement within Judaism.  Such a question would never be asked today.  Because in the second century Church the followers of Jesus formulated separate documents for the establishment of a Church.  The fourth century Church wrote creeds and doctrines.

The eleventh century Church questioned the interpretation of those creeds and doctrines.  The sixteenth century Church split even further over the application of those statements of faith.  And in our day there is tremendous discussion as to whether this verse or that chapter is of the greatest importance.  None of the disagreements we are having are as significant or as extreme as those of the first century Church.  You could say we are arguing over the furniture, not the shape of the room.

I am all for examining the furniture.  For the Church to be the Church we must in every generation reconsider what has been passed on to us and determine for ourselves what is the way of Christ.  Let's eagerly engage in this discussion.  But let's do so with an honest look at our past and and a confidence that if God could lift from the turmoil and confusion of the first century Church the great cloud of witnesses which we call the saints, then surely God can be seen as active in our current discussions.

No comments: