Gang,
Sometimes, when I have finished writing out what was in my mind when I started a post, I realize that what I've written may be too harsh.
I'm thinking that now as I decide whether or not to publish this post.
All I can say is that all I've written is factual to the best of my knowledge,...
...all my opinions are honestly expressed,...
...and, the pastor at the center of this is a bright and thoughtful person who does what he does with considered intentionality.
If you're reading this, obviously, I did decide to hit publish.
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I'm not omniscient. I don't claim to know everything about everything, even in the CGGC. But, I am serious about understanding and, in order to understand, a person needs to know things.
I'm pretty well convinced that there's truth to my Three Eras/Three Value Systems understanding of our body.
There have been three eras in our history, each with its own set of values, each with its own ethos:
The Church of God, which was radical and yearned to join in "another great Reformation," to be rigidly biblical and which was committed to being a prophetic voice in the world.
The Churches of God, which toned down the radicalism, wished to be respected, to become one of many Protestant denominations and wished to provide religious products and services to its own little world.
The CGGC, which inherited generations of spiritual decay and numerical decline engineered by the Churches of God and sought to reverse those trends by creating an institutional hierarchy to lead it and which speaks radically but behaves blandly.
I study up on all of this. As I've noted in other posts, in our body today, most people are of the CGGC culture and most who are not embrace the spirit and the ways of the Church-es of God.
To stay informed about both the CGGC and the Churches of God, I keep my eyes and ears open...but, honestly, as far as the Churches of God is concerned, I study one representative ministry.
I watched this congregation's on line gathering this past Sunday and I studied it carefully...to observe one thing.
Recently I noted that, in this one congregation's Churches of God ethos, the ministry model is one in which the church staff without shame, proudly even, provides religious products and services to be consumed by the laity. They do it as brazenly as any Medieval Roman Catholic parish.
Still, the Word is clear that the gathering of disciples is intended to exist so that disciples "spur one another on to love and good works." (Heb. 10:24)
So, as I say, I studied the on line gathering mostly to obverse one thing: The story of the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police was topping the news. Riots were taking place. I wanted to see how this one representative Churches of God congregation's parish priest handled the issue.
At the very least, I knew that there would be tension.
The biblical mandate, "spur one another on to love and good works," doesn't fit well with the clergy who provide religious products and services to be consumed by the laity institutional model of the church.
Before I turned the "service" on, I had my suspicions...and, as it turns out, my suspicions were confirmed.
NOT ONE WORD was spoken about the issue that was already turning the nation on its ear. Total silence. Nary a burp about how members of the congregation might live in the world as Christians in the midst of rising anger and chaos...
...not a hint of spurring each other on to acts of love.
I've said that each of the three eras/ethe (plural of ethos. I looked it up.), has its own understanding of what righteousness is, that is, their own understanding of what it means to live as a Christian.
I won't suggest that all of our Churches of God congregations ignored the compelling events going on in the world this past Sunday.
What I will be say is that this one behaved according to the principles under which it operates.
These people genuinely believe, when all is said and done, that "going to church" is the central act of discipleship, that, for the pastor, to provide religious products and services to be consumed by the laity, and for the people in the audience to consume those religious products and services contentedly is the Christian life. And, on Sunday, they lived it...
...George Floyd and the whole world be damned.
Let me say that this is a radical form of Churches of God-ism. I don't suggest that everyone of the Churches of God faction entirely ignored the events of the world.
But, I do think that this fits the Churches of God philosophy of ministry.
I've been using the three eras/ethe construct to explain why community doesn't exist in our body. Clearly, a shared understanding of what we do is key to living in community.
I suggest that this congregation's understanding of righteousness can't be our model.
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