Would You Move a Special Needs Child to a Separate Room from Other Worshippers?

A friend shared a You-Tube video on Facebook. The video told the story of a woman's experience with her special needs child and a local church this past spring at the service to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ.

The child, I'm guessing the age at about 10, has cerebral palsy on the more severe side. During the worship, the child became enthralled with the music and expressed his pleasure loudly. Ushers quickly appeared and escorted mother and son to an over flow room for the remainder of the morning's service.

The charms of our modern world surely reveal our tainted logic, eh?

I guess my initial reaction was strong and negative.

Wanting to understand why such a strong element of controlling the atmosphere in the worship experience is maintained, I visited the church website and found they have a twelve point "Code", separate from their belief statement. The Code outlines their position on many facets of church life and policy which are faced by groups of organized Christians across the US.

Here are several I copied for consideration:

We Are Ruth's Chris, Not Golden Corral – Simplicity enables excellence. We place a disproportionate value on creating a worship experience that boldly celebrates Jesus and attracts people far from God.

We Are United Under the Visionary – "church name" is built on the vision God gave Pastor Steven. We will aggressively defend our unity and his vision.

We Are All About the Numbers – Tracking metrics measures effectiveness. We unapologetically set goals and measure progress through all available quantitative means.

We Are Known for What We Are For – We will speak vision and life over our people. We will lift up the salvation of Jesus rather than using our platform to condemn.

We Need Your Seat – We will not cater to personal preference in our mission to reach this city. We are more concerned with the people we are trying to reach than the people we are trying to keep.

We Act in Audacious Faith -- In order to dominate a city with the gospel of Jesus, we can’t think small. We will set impossible goals, take bold steps of faith and watch God move.

What do you think about the happening in the Wild Wood?

Affected or Affectionate

For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:8

I get a kick out of being startled by the Word of God.

Recently Philippians chapter one jumped into my attention space. I began returning to the selection fairly regularly to digest again and listen to the Spirit. This morning, I noticed the verse above and checked the meaning in the Greek of affection.

The kick was in the gut--literally as the word means bowels. Well, that's the first definition. The third statement describing connotations of the one meaning is a heart in which mercy dwells.

I tend to think of affection as a physical manifestation of tender feelings. This is, of course, the show of affection. Yet, the word as used indicates to me an acknowledgement by Paul that his affective domain, the realm of his emotional being, is tender and full of mercy toward the Philippians, and that he ascribes this state to Jesus. He is not saying he can't wait to be hugging on them, though if with them most likely would express what he feels in that way.

Further, since (according to Strong) the Hebrews regarded the bowels as the seat of the more tender emotions of kindness and mercy, I was struck by the very limited way I have understood affection. I have defined affection as an act. Paul here uses the word to state the condition of his inner-being.

It causes me to question: When will our devotion to Christ, our abiding in Him become so real to us that we are released within to the freedom and authority of a gut level sense of mercy toward one another within the Body of Christ? When will we abandon ourselves to one another emotionally far beyond the affected, obligatory cultural construct of showing physically something we believe ideally perhaps, but do not fully emotionally embrace because of fear or pride?

We modern Christians live in a world where the headlines about predatory priests are but one of the fearsome depravities with which humanity is afflicted. Have we let the world around us hollow our guts of the tenderness which is Christ's mercy? If there were more affection, more depth of the feeling of it within our God-families, would some who have been of the faith but fallen into depravity been equipped by the emotional sustenance flowing from those with whom she or he walked, such that the lure of lust could not have masqueraded as a desirable end?

A Viola Quote

Here's some food for thought. The following is quoting Frank Viola in Reimagining Church. pp 128-9:

"The indwelling life of Jesus Christ is the only requirement for the unity of the Spirit. And amazingly, we Christians can detect that shared Spirit whenever we meet one another. There's an instant sense of kinship that testifies that we have the same Father.

Certainly, those who have been born of the Spirit will live in a way that is consistent with this fact. Yet they may not be clear on many spiritual things. Their personality may conflict with ours. Their worship style may be distasteful to us. They may be immature and have struggles in areas that we've surpassed. They may be painfully eccentric. Their understanding of the Bible may be poverty stricken. They may make mistakes that they regret. And they just might hold to some false ideas. Yet the fact that Christ dwells in them obligates us to accept them as family members. Not only 'in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth'(1 John 2:18 NKJV)."

What are your thoughts along these lines?

Graceland Christian Fellowship

Today begins a series on authority within a body of believers.

The thoughts I have on this topic are formed from three sources. First, my own church experiences. These are a denominational church from age 13 until my graduation from high school, an organized church for 18 years best labeled charismatic, and the gatherings of believers in homes. Second, my reading of Christian compostion on authority and exegesis from scripture on the topic. Third, thinking it over.

I am going to take a memoirist approach. (Thanks, Chip, for the idea!) I will relate real events and how I reacted within a loosely remembered construct. Details of the real people are not necessary as none of this is a record of others, but a story of my journey.

Graceland Christian Fellowship is a fictitious name representing 18 years in a charismatic church.

Authentic Abiding in Jesus, Part Four

The words of Jesus in John 6:53-63 illustrate a dynamic of Christian experience. Actually two dynamics are identifiable, one from the Lord and the one we accept. Christ tells the disciples they must eat and drink Him. I identify this as the core dynamic of the Christian experience. The disciples respond in a predictable manner with some measure of incredulity. These are "hard words." This is the dynamic we often walk in. We hear and want to believe, but we struggle to embrace the fullness of the meaning.

Considering the text again: Is Christ suggesting cannibalism? It is not indicated by the words the disciples thought such, but it can certainly be inferred they worked with little success to give the assertion of Jesus a measure of meaning they could embrace. Jesus challenges that if they cannot grasp the spiritual meaning of His words, what will they do with the physical reality of His departure, which will be fully "spiritual" but occurring in their physical vision.

Of course, this moment in the lives of the disciples is prior to the Last Supper and the Crucifixion, which for us reading after the fact, enables us to ascribe a particular meaning to the text. Herein, is the paradigm shift I believe will benefit understanding the Christian experience more fully. We interpret this moment in Jesus' ministry as a reference to the symbolic meal of communion, now practiced usually with a bit of bread and a sip of juice or wine. By reading this meaning into the text, we move in the same physical understanding of life which was the basis for the misunderstanding of the disciples. We ascribe a physical meaning and fail to grasp the spiritual reality. I believe this event in John 6 tells us more than a symbol of spiritual reality is soon to be instituted. Jesus is instructing on His whole purpose, the redemption of fallen man and the new life of the spiritual man which Adam knew and lost.

Our problem as modern Christians, and perhaps this has been true across the ages, is that we attempt to take the teachings of Jesus as being Truth about our physical lives. What is needed is an understanding that the Truth of Jesus always addresses our whole human experience and this is fully a spiritual reality. We react with little understanding, even incredulity at the supernatural aspects of Christianity. Yet, the scriptural evidence of a supernatural union between a spiritual Being and the simple human existing within the physical realm of the earth is incontrovertible.

Jesus is telling His disciples then and us now that we are to consume Him as the very food of our life. Man does not live by bread alone (physical paradigm), but by the Word, the bread of heaven, which is Himself. This is a supernatural or beyond physical experience, which the Crucifixion/Resurrection restores to fallen man. How often do we eat physical food? Is a symbolic act with a wafer every so often what Jesus means by calling disciples to eat and drink Him? No. In fact, if held up to critical scrutiny, the act of the official Communion service is for too many, little more than a form that denies the power which the symbol represents.

It is not my goal here to question the authenticity of anyone's experience of abiding in Christ. That is beyond me. However, I know I have seen the failure of my heart to embrace the fullness of the in-dwelling Christ. Knowing His Spirit alive in me is the paradigm shift. Specifically, though we live in physical bodies, the spiritual work of Jesus on the Cross and the continuing ministry of the Holy Spirit is to establish the spiritual state of being alive to and through spirit. God is not in communion with our corrupted and mortal flesh, the tent that will pass to dust. Communion with God the Father is only supernatural or beyond the material body.

For me "authentic" abiding in Christ is when I actively involve myself in the union with God for which the symbol of a piece of bread and sip of wine stand; and from this union speak and act. Authenticity is when a harmony exists between the character of Christ, my submission to His Presence and the words and actions coming out of me. This is not hard to understand, but man's Christian religion lacks this reality. Will we consume the Bread of Heaven and know the life He establishes or abide in physical forms?

Authentic Abiding in Jesus, Part Three

If in reflection of any given church experience or just at the end of the day, a gnawing sense of desire for a palpable experience with the Creator lurks in one's soul, what is to be made of that?

Fear it: Fear is a part of your make up, and you should fear God. (Proverbs establishes this.)
Ignore it: Americans always want more. Selfish cravings infect one's spiritual aspirations. Don't be misguided by your sensual feelings. (Read the story of Saul in 1st Samuel or Sampson in Judges.)
Grin and bear it: Wanting union with God is written on our soul, but this will only be fulfilled by leaving this life for the next. (Listen to sermons.)
Follow it: God is at work to complete what He has started in you.

In this series, I report on my journey with Christ as a point of comparison. I do not intend these ideas to be instructive "doctrinally" as the term doctrine is generally used these days in formal Christian orthodoxy. My conclusions are nothing more than my own rationalizations. With that qualifier, here are my conclusions:

Charlie's wife of the previous post illustrates Everyman American Christian looking for direction from "correct" theology. I regard much denominational doctrine as a function of someone or some group seeking to establish truth from Scripture as connected to an identified move of God or as a reaction to an identified wrong position of a predecessor. Though the theology may be strongly developed and in tune with a tradition of the larger church across time, an adherent may experientially identify a missing element. Spiritually, the Christian may be quite strong in devotion but hungers for knowing God in a way that teaching does not fill. The image of the sermon read word for word is telling, as well, but I need to move on.

Evidence that something is awry in churches goes beyond the pulpit. A type of individual believer is illustrated by the "evangelist" teaching in Sunday school. Individuals may wrap themselves around some vital scriptural mandate as a personal cause, but the attitude or spirit conveyed by tone is full of unrighteous judgments against and/or open condemnation of others both within and without the local body. That these individuals enjoy esteem or even gain positions of authority is strong evidence of spiritual immaturity in that body or worse (another post maybe?). On the topic of abiding it begs a question: "Why do we not recognize that clearly mean-spirited, condemning attitudes regardless of their references to scripture are in direct violation of the Spirit of Jesus and His teachings?" The dilemma is a set of dramatic masks, one smiling, one frowning. On the one the hand the speaker smiles confident he/she is representing God, and the other is the frown of disapproval for others. Why is the smile received and the frown ignored among us?

Further evidence is the trial lawyer. Quite simply, we are confounded by Jesus' words about love and enemies. Rather than figure this one out, we make a choice to leave it discussed in Sunday school or Bible studies. How often does something hard in Jesus' words weigh on the conscience to some degree, but we settle for less than understanding to avoid accountability? (Believe me, I state this first about myself!) We deceive ourselves. See John 12:48

Sincere, dedicated Christians can miss the fullness of abiding in Christ. I offered my own life of Christian service that robbed my family of much needed time and love as an example. Understanding how to resist sin is part of abiding but only a defensive posture against temptation. What does abiding look like in a proactive stance moving into and influencing the worldly culture around us? What does abiding look like corporately? Do local bodies of Christians (formerly organized or ad hoc in homes is not the issue) substitute forms for spiritual life?

I submit that if in my opening choices of responses to reflection on a desire for God, you chose Follow It, then you are one who knows an experiential existence with the living God that moves beyond religion, and thereby are one who believes in a proactive "abiding in Christ."

So...desire more life in your life?

The paradigm shift I referenced in Part 2 is addressed in these words of Jesus in John 6:

So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 "For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. 56 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. 58 "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever." 59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, "This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?" 61 But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, "Does this cause you to stumble? 62 "What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? 63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

Summary post in this series next up.

Authentic Abiding in Jesus, Part Two

My search for a more authentic abiding in Christ had begun about a year before my wife and I decided to leave the local body in which we had participated for twenty years and eighteen years respectively. I already understood something of this topic. Having left the world at the time of my conversion to Christ in 1979 mired in more than one life-dominating sin, I had learned to abstain from alcohol dependency, drug abuse and promiscuity by abiding in Christ. That is focusing with confidence on Christ alone in my thought life, I learned avoiding and resisting the pulls of behavior to which I had become accustomed in my flesh. The reality of my walk was noted and confirmed by a call from the local body to be an elder after six short years from babe in Christ. I was thirty years old.

Why was this not enough you may ask? I am not sure how to articulate that other than to relate three observations from those years. First, I had started questioning the leadership of our group about 1991. I was not questioning so much authority as the consequences of our decisions and the manner in which we reached many decisions. I was part of the leadership team, a deep part. I was the second-longest sitting elder after the head pastor. I started to identify threads of -- how should I say this?--self interest labeled "God's heart" in what we decided regarding the larger group and clear indications our decisions were not fully loving others when it came to individual situations. I attempted to speak change and suggest alternatives, but it felt as if the status quo was simply too strong. I was not quite sure how to understand what I thought I was observing nor how little reception my viewpoint received. I questioned myself much, while I prayed constantly for the Lord to change me or our group as He deemed necessary.

In the winter of 1996-97 a predictable crisis in our family erupted over a teenage son. We received one of those 3:00 AM calls every parent dreads, "Mr. Davis, this is Sgt. Jones with the police department. We have arrested your son." I knew I had been too busy with the business of the church and took a year's leave of absence from my elder duties to give my family more attention. My second observation after about six weeks at home was like a deep satisfied collective sigh I began to identify among our family members. We were having more dinners around the table. My wife and I were encouraging, feeding, and accepting more talking and laughter together with our kids. One night when I had been home for four consecutive nights, the kids all in bed, I looked at my sweet wife and said, "This is how most Christian families live. It feels good." I had stepped off the treadmill of "good works" for the cause of Christ as defined by our group and discovered something incredibly precious many families know. We have enjoyed much familial love over the years, but much of that only came after the church had been served. When I reduced the number of hours church business required, the love in our family quickly blossomed into something rich beyond words. This got my attention. My questioning of how leadership functioned broadened and the questions became specific and directed at how people in our modern church culture spend their time; how they experience life in Christ; how leadership might function to more fully serve the saints.

Third, after we had separated from our church; and as I fulfilled my mandated church shopping I had many, many stunning moments of insight into the spirit of what we culturally call church. I visited ten or so congregations of different stripes. Some once, some for several months. Let me share with you three moments I recall with absolute clarity.

• In an open Sunday school discussion about love, a criminal lawyer shared pointedly he did not love and had no ability to love some of the characters he was called upon to defend. He shared this as if it were a problem he had on one hand, and on the other hand as a situation with which he was perfectly at peace. He had no intention of ever showing this class of people any love.

• Within the same body a layman was teaching in Sunday school about evangelism and finished with a starkly worded statement dripping with belittling condemnation and disgust, "Shame, shame," he nearly bellowed, "...on anyone here who is not winning souls everyday of his or her life."

• Entering several minutes before one church's 11:00 AM main service, I recognized one family from our shared involvement in community children's soccer programs. The husband of the couple was an usher and lead me to the pew where his wife was already seated beside a few other folks. As she and I sought comfortable levels of chit-chat I asked, "So how do you and Charlie like fellowshipping here?" I knew already this was their church home of many years, and it seemed like a safe enough topic. She continued to look forward briefly, then turned to me with tears in her eyes beginning to spill onto her cheeks and said in effect, "We have always had our family in this church. I don't know what, but we have to do something different." The service included twenty minutes of the most theologically correct sermon I think I may have ever heard, read word for word from multiple long-hand covered pages and from which the pastor never once looked up.

Comments are welcome. My conclusions and new personal paradigm on abiding lay ahead.

Authentic Abiding in Jesus, Part One

I had been given a "law" by the school board of our Christian school to be looking for a church to attend. I had left my association with a local body of eighteen years; and after seven months of waiting on God, had not recommitted to another local church. My struggle to know a more authentic experience of Christ had me deeply examining everything about the experience of Christianity in this culture. The board found my non-attendance in any organized, sign-on-the-post group to be a failing serious enough to warrant my firing. They requested my resignation at the June board meeting in 1998.

Not only did they take my job away, but with only six weeks until the start of school I was asked to help find my replacement. I needed to be spending my time finding my own job, not head hunting for the position of a Christian school administrator.

Consider the qualifications any serious candidate needed:

• four year degree or better in education;
• references verifying a caliber of character suitable for leading children in the ways of God;
• ability to discern and accept qualifying families who will mesh well with the mission of the school;
• encourage lots of these people who can afford private school tuition that the school is good idea;
• spearhead fund-raising when many of the interested, qualifying families have very little or no disposable income;
• ability to discern from a very small pool of candidates--since the pay is less than 2/3 rds what might be earned in the public sector--the best candidates for teachers in said school (these folks likewise need references that justify putting them in charge of children);
• be willing to mop floors, clean toilets and cut grass when volunteers can't make it to do so, as the school can never afford to pay anyone a reasonable salary to accomplish these needs;
• effectively coordinate and communicate the spiritual mission of the school such that the divided-doctrinally Body of Christ within the community is satisfied enough to join hands together;
• teach classes as needed;
• lead chapel programs weekly for kids ages 5-13;
• anything else as needed since the buck stops at the administator's desk;
• receive less than half the pay available in the public sector for a similar but secular position.

The stuffy, spiritual thing to say here, "By God's grace I was able to do this for seventeen years." The truth is by God's grace, I survived a need to please others so strong I had done all of the above (and attended church elder meetings twelve years) for seventeen years.

Complicating the picture was the reality we had been essentially a one-income family for all of those years. My wife and I wanted a mom in the home for our five children; and that income had been small. We had no savings. I could not, not have a job in six weeks.

In response to the resignation request, I negotiated this law of church shopping and reporting weekly to a board-appointed representative. I understood the board members' hearts understood law (some were spirit oriented, but out voted) and would be satisfied by my recommendation. They were, and I kept my job for two more years.

How Hard is Forgiveness?

The teaching illustration of two posts back was intended as the introduction to a discussion on response to sin within a group of believers. There appears to me a gap between the instruction in Scripture and our practice.

Consider Jesus' instruction to forgive 7 x 70. He has just taught the way to address a sinning brother (show him his fault in private; if he refuses to acknowledge his fault, take another with you on a second attempt; if he refuses to acknowledge his fault, take it before all gathered together) when Peter asks, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?"

Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven."

How many of us keep track of another's sin 490 times then on violation 491 refuse to forgive? None of us. Isn't that the point of Jesus giving us the number?

Yet, how many of us after the first or second time we are offended think or feel something like, OK, I forgive him but I will not trust again. Or worse we enter into some degree of judgment against the other. Our feelings and related thoughts are the measure of the condition of our heart regardless of the religious spin we verbalize about ourselves. Mature faith will fully release within the heart all which is not a complete and renewed embrace of the other person. Everything!

I have watched myself and others harbor feelings other than love toward someone following some sin for which forgiveness has been requested and describe this state in "spiritual" terms such as, "He asked for forgiveness and I gave it. Now I'll wait and see whether or not he produces fruit that evidences true repentance." I could always find some "scriptural" reason for not fully trusting this person. At the very least, I would whine something to God about how hard His words were.Then one day God broke through into my hard heart: simply acknowledging how hard Jesus' instructions on the matter of forgiveness are without disciplining my internal emotional response is excuse-making. Worse, this state of non-compliance perpetuates my own spiritual immaturity.

And the "hardness" of God's expectation goes further! We should be able to move into the same release with the same brother/sister repeatedly. Up to 490 times? No, there are not limits. Love keeps no record of wrong.

"Impossible," you say? "Unrealistic!" "I am not there, yet," followed by a friendly but rueful chuckle.

You never will be! It must and will only be accomplished as we learn to rest in the in-dwelling Presence and exchange our way for His. Oh and to make this not be hard, God allows unlimited attempts to understand abiding in Him.

Judging Sin within a Body

No doubt, it will become a question in many a reader's mind what to do about 1 Corinthians chapter 5 in which Paul scolds the Corinthians for their lack of action against an immoral brother and then describes putting this one out of fellowship. He finishes the thought explaining that his instructions on not associating with "immoral" people did not mean the unenlightened masses of people who are without Jesus, but that he fully intended that those within the church be judged within the church.

How is Paul's action and subsequent explanation reconciled with other New Testament teaching on judgment?

In my view, this is not nearly as difficult as it appears on the surface. Like many other areas, however, in an attempt to practice this teaching within our modern context there are often muddying factors which leave a bad feeling in the soul over what is done "in the name of the Lord."

If the immoral brother had had the facts presented to him without condemnation, then he responded with conviction including confessed repentance that his behavior was abhorrent, would Paul have needed to address the issue? No, because the stain of the sin would have come under the blood covering of the Crucifixion. There is a hermeneutic harmony of Jesus' teaching about judging with right judgment in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus words about confronting a brother in Matthew 18 and Paul's instruction in 1 Corinthians. There exists an authorized judgment by a group of believers which is exercised against immorality defiantly held by someone professing Christ. (Other judgments, i.e. not taking a brother to court in 1 Cor. 6, are also the domain of the group, but that is not part of this post.)

The "muddying" factors that cloud this action include refusal to so judge, the process of the decision when it is made and whether or not the ones making the decision are actually moving in self-righteousness. Some groups of believers never address the continuing practice of immorality without repentance. The opposite pole is a group which addresses the issue with a cold heart of legalism, thus enduring a judgmental spirit that Jesus taught so clearly against. I was in a church once that turned someone "over to Satan." In fact, I observed two separate instances when several people were so condemned. I believe these people were mistreated, and God's intent to protect the body from a leavening effect of sin was missed.

The failing? The leadership made the call and brought it before the congregation as a finalized decision. Looking at Paul's instruction extrapolated further in chapter 6 and considering Jesus' teaching in Matthew 18 against the occurrence of a refusal of someone to reconcile with the truth, it is a judgment by the whole family which is authorized and not an action of a few hierarchical leaders.

I think more often, much more often, a confrontation with sin results in repentance. The strict action of shunning is rarely required. The rub is we do not have the patience to forgive 7 x 70 and continue to love keeping no record of wrong. That will be the next topic. :^)

Good Judgment

I have pondered what to write next for days, but "judging with right judgment" is relatively easy and I need not be long-winded here.

Keep love for the other person the main focus. Draw from Jesus within and speak the truth in love. The truth being simply what you observe in the material world. Keep condemnation out of your heart.

Some relationships include judgment on a regular basis: parent/child; teacher/student; employer/employee; policeman/citizen...you get the idea. All of these relationships are fruitful when the judgment needed simply observes the facts and uses these appropriately toward an outcome which is natural in the context of the relationship. Replicating this believer to believer is a supernatural experience from which we cannot shrink away. What the world sees and judges us by, and thereby "judges" our God is our love one for another.

Simply put to judge (analyze, objectify, discern, critique, estimate, categorize) without condemnation is a hallmark of love.

Responsibility within the Body

Jesus walked from the Mount of Olives through brilliant morning sunshine toward the Temple. He was noticed and recognized. The flocking after Him occurred this Jerusalem morning, as well. Those of the city who already whispered in reverence, "He is the Messiah," those who hoped He was and the merely curious angled as close as possible in their steps on the chance of hearing or seeing some encounter between Jesus and anyone else. His words comforted or jarred but were never like the numbing discourse of the other rabbi's.

Entering the Temple courtyard, Jesus stopped and slowly turned gazing upon the forty or so people who had formed in His wake. His feet shifted easily, and the sound of His sandals scraping the grit on the flooring stones of the Temple could be heard over the quieting group. Many already standing in the Temple court gathered themselves in without speaking, swelling the crowd of followers. Though no one announced, "Be quiet and the Rabbi will teach," all knew He would soon loose His knowledge and insights upon the crowd. His hands opened toward the people, then palmed down toward the ground and everyone settled there. He sat down and began to teach them.

Within minutes, a swirling noisy group entered the courtyard and drowned out Jesus' words. Several men easily identified by their garb as scribes and Pharisees pushed a frightened young woman before them while other men just behind shouted epithets against her. This raucous cluster split the listeners apart scattering them like startled livestock. Jesus stood to face men who shoved the trembling woman to the ground at His feet. The sun felt glaring and hot in mere seconds as a tense hush stalked the courtyard in sharp contrast with the quiet harmony of only a few moments before.

John 8: 4 they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 "Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?" 6 They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. 7 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8 Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. 10 Straightening up, Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?" 11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more."

Reflecting on the above story, what do we make of it? Forgiveness covers adultery perhaps.

Take in the next verse. 12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."

The adulterous woman was in darkness, no? This passage is often used to teach about the forgiveness of God toward sinfulness, and since we are all sinners we should not judge others. But there is more to infer. The Pharisees follow immediately with a charge that Jesus is testifying falsely about Himself being the Light. Jesus challenges them, as well, and the confrontation continues with the Pharisees claiming their lineage from Abraham. Their claim is intended to establish their right position before God. Jesus counters and places Himself before Abraham leading to the Pharisees wanting to stone Him.

The whole scene does include the extent of God's forgiveness toward sin. However, I think the woman being forgiven adultery is the prelude to the point of the passage. Within the story those who would condemn her are told to cast stones if they are without sin. The passage ends with these same men identified as denying God. Are they not the "darkness" to which Jesus refers in verse 12?

The Body of Christ suffers today intensely from condemnation and judgment. Within local bodies identified as being of the same mind by denominational doctrine, the willingness of people's hearts to look judgmentally upon one another with condemnation rather than unconditional love scores the light of fellowship with darkness.

I cannot change everyone, but I can decide differently for myself. How about you?

Believer's and Believers' Responsibility

Individuals related to one another and working together can be a very strong force. This is true in the natural as well as the spiritual. The Tower of Babel is the story of man's cooperation as a community to achieve an end which was of the spirit, or disposition of the enemy: Pride.

In my natural circumstances, I work with a community of professionals. Our collegiality and effectiveness has drawn the attention of a Harvard educational researcher recently and won recognition from the Positive Behavior Support program of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. What we have together has been established over the years as a disposition to professionalism. It is a "spirit" we hold as a group. I note this here only as a real example of group dynamics which are not labeled a "spiritual" endeavor by most people. I see it routinely as a spiritual experience but that is another story.

The Body of Christ is identified by participants as a spiritual reality on earth. This entity, called the Church, is a composite of individuals. Each member is joined to the whole by an individual response to the gospel message of peace and reconciliation with God the Father through the finished work of Jesus on the cross. Once found in Christ and thus as a group member, individual believers have many responsibilities. These become or are sometimes mandated in the Bible as a mutually held responsibility of the Body, as well. Numerous places in the NT instruct believers to fulfill varied imperatives. Romans 12 is just one example. Effectiveness at these responsibilities is a consequence of only one issue, maturity in the spirit or disposition of Jesus. This maturity may be identified by individual and corporate fruit which is described by the Bible as fruit of the spirit. This fruiting is a function of abiding on the vine of Jesus. This "fruit" or evidence of maturity in Christ is that which reflects the spirit or disposition of Jesus.

Being at rest in the in-dwelling Christ and thus being fully clothed emotionally (being reactive and responsive to others based on a heart reality not an intellectual view) in the disposition of Jesus is maturity as a believer and produces the glorious earthly reality of Christian fellowship in spirit, which is church body life.

Corporate Body-life

The quality of our corporate Body-life experience grabs my thinking often. What is it? Why is it? How does it reflect the Father's glory? How does it not? What is the responsibility and effect of a pastoral heart? What is the responsibility and effect of the believers who are no longer strangers and aliens, but as fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. (Eph 2:19-22)

Is there a normative Christian Body-life?

We can study, identify and reason over church history and the fragmentation of the Body of Christ. Is this a work of God? Is it a function of falsehood within believers? I read voices that speak in both of these directions. Clearly experience points to a great expanse of diverse Christian expression within the denominational matrix. Yet, there is a common thread if we will choose to recognize such. We are growing together in a love which is nothing short of the reality of the Spirit of God. We can experience a mutual love for one another. Will we pursue love as normative or remain disenfranchised from one another over territorial beliefs?

All those One Another's

The verses placed in yesterday's blog entry drive home a clear point when taken as a whole, I think. Accepting some restated one-another's, there are thirty-plus directives on how to feel about the person next to you who professes Christ, whether he or she is in the pew with you or in the next seat on the plane is not delineated.

I remember the first time anyone showed me a list like that. It made a lasting impression on me. I was a Christian school principal. I gave the whole list to my secretary and asked her to turn each one into a small banner with her computer. (She was whiz with stuff like that!) I then placed these banners around the school in the wall space above doors and lockers. Whenever and wherever you looked up were these words on how to treat the people around you. Don't know if it mattered to the kids, but it helped me, our staff and the parents.

What if these truly defined our relationships within the Body? I am a romantic come to Christ. My faith fills the piece of my heart (Remember me talking about the imagination?) that wants life to be beautiful. A social fabric pieced together on these simple words would strengthen everyone. So, why not? The Holy Spirit must be at work to see such come to pass. Why doesn't church always feel like these words?

I know what I think. What do you think?

Oh, and calling it the fruit of the fall, though essentially correct, is too easy. Be specific.

The Commission of Community

The sharing of the Love of Jesus through fellowship in the spirit is one of the most sublime experiences on earth. There are individual experiences that equal or surpass what one may find in this community...the day of revelation that Jesus Christ is Messiah, the day of marriage, the birth of children come to my mind; but while walking on earth as a Christian and being assaulted every day with the pain and upheaval of human society, those moments spent with others in Christian fellowship fill with a breeze from heaven itself. If this cannot be said or agreed upon, whatever the reason, the exploration of that lack is a separate discussion. This post touches on the wonder of God's provision through the corporate experience.

Drawing from reader's comments about the topic of Christian community as the Body of Christ:

Life shared within the Body is

• the fulfillment of the Crucifixion and Resurrection
• the venue for spiritual growth
• participants are contributors to the life it contains
  
• the vessel of Jesus' omnipresence with a global and local reach
• the place in which the believer may partake of the character of the Lord
• the expression of God's authority

Each of these thoughts from my brothers is significant. I would agree with each completely. I offer additionally for your consideration this list of New Testament instruction and beauty about life in the Body.

Mr 9:50 - ...Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.

Ro 12:5 - ...so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Ro 12:10 - Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;

Ro 12:16 - Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly

Ro 13:8 - Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

Ro 14:13 - Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this--not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way.

Ro 14:19 - So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.

Ro 15:5 - Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus,

Ro 15:7 - Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.

Ro 15:14 - And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.

Ro 16:16 - Greet one another with a holy kiss.

1Co 12:25 - so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another

Ga 5:13 - For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Ga 6:2 - Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

Eph 4:2 - with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,

Eph 4:25 - Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.

Eph 4:32 - Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

Eph 5:19 - speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Eph 5:21 - and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

Php 2:3 - Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;

Col 3:9 - Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,

Col 3:13 - bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

Col 3:16 - Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

1Th 3:12 -and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you;

1Th 4:18 - Therefore comfort one another with these words.

1Th 5:11 -Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

1Th 5:15 -See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people.

Heb 3:13 -But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Heb 10:24 -and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,

Heb 10:25 -not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Jas 4:11 -Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it.

Jas 5:9 -Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.

Jas 5:16 -Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

1Pe 1:22 -Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart,

1Pe 4:8 -Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.

1Pe 4:9 -Be hospitable to one another without complaint.

1Pe 4:10 -As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

1Pe 5:5 -You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

1Jo 1:7 -but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

1Jo 3:11 -For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;

1Jo 3:23 -This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.

1Jo 4:7 -Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

1Jo 4:11 -Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another

1Jo 4:12 -No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.

2Jo 1:5 -Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another.