iChurch

It’s become quite fashionable to say, “I’m spiritual, just not religious.” Another version goes like this, “I’m into God and Jesus, just not church.”

I understand what folks mean when they say these things, but still it sometimes feels like a subtle put-down of the church, or a slightly prideful way of saying, “I don’t need church. I can figure it out on my own.”

It seems to me that the big advantage of the church is that we get to try and figure it out together. And not just with one another. We have spiritual teachings that date back 4000 years. We have forms of worship and ways to encounter God that go back just as far. And at the heart of it all is spirituality - communion with God. That’s why we sing hymns, recite prayers and study the scriptures. I love church because I love God. And I find God within the church, its people and its ministries.

There are two beautiful images for the church in the New Testament.

One is the Church as the Bride of Christ (Revelation 19:7). This image speaks of living in partnership, in covenant and in union with God. The church is a gathering for those who seek to live in a loving partnership with God. It’s a gathering for those who love God, who seek to live as God’s Beloved.

The other important image for the church is the church as the Body of Christ (I Cor. 12:27). The church is to be a physical manifestation of Christ upon this earth. We’re to do what He would do if Jesus were physically here today.

After WWII ended a small town in England was being rebuilt. One of the town’s prize possessions was a statue of Christ that stood in the center of the village. Workers gathered the pieces of the statue together to reassemble it, but something was missing - the hands. They considered contacting the original sculptor to ask him to recreate what was missing. But someone had a better idea. They crafted a sign that was placed at the base of the statue. It said, “You are the hands of Christ.”



Question: Which image speaks to you more - the church as the Bride of Christ or the Body of Christ?

Prayer by St. Teresa of Avila

Lord Christ,

You have no body on earth but ours,
No hands but ours,
No feet but ours.

Ours are the eyes through which your compassion
Must look out on the world.

Ours are the feet by which you may still
Go about doing good.

Ours are the hands with which
You bless people now.

Bless our minds and bodies,
That we may be a blessing to others.

Amen

Resurrection!

Easter changed everything!

Had Easter not happened we probably would have never heard of Jesus of Nazareth. He would have been one more prophet tragically killed. Christianity would not exist and it’s very doubtful that his teachings would have been preserved and handed down through the centuries.

But Christ has been raised! That’s the only explanation for the existence of Christianity. Think about it. When Jesus was arrested his disciples abandoned him. 3 times Peter denied that he ever knew Christ. Only John is mentioned as being at the foot of the Cross. Where were the others? On Easter Sunday some of the disciples had gone back to fishing. When they did gather that evening they barred the windows and doors shut out of fear for their lives.

But then something happened. These men became fearless. They preached openly about Jesus the Messiah, crucified and raised from the dead. They were beaten, stoned and imprisoned, but they kept on preaching. What made the difference? They met the Risen Christ.

John Knox, the found of the Presbyterian church, put it this way: “The early Christian church was not a memorial society with its eyes fastened on a departed master; it was a dynamic community created around a living and present Lord.”

Here’s a thought: We serve a Living Savior!

Questions: Which part of Easter means the most to you? and which part is hardest to believe or understand?

Prayer: Thank You, Lord Jesus, for your victory over the grave. Thank You for your constant presence and companionship. Thank You that you’re more than a role model, teacher or martyr. You’re our Living Savior. Amen.



Extra Credit: More Apologetics

The Case for the Resurrection

1. The Tomb was empty! The body was never found.
2. Jesus predicted it. Matt. 16:21, Mark 8:31, Luke 9:22, John 2:19-21
3. The Post-Resurrection Appearances: Acts 1:1-4, I Cor. 15:3-6. These eyewitnesses were still alive during the time in which the New Testament was written & circulated.
4. The change in the disciples’ lives. They went from denying him to dying for him. Ex. Peter. 11 out of 12 were martyred. If it was all a hoax they would have known.
5. There were no earthly benefits for a hoax. (no TV evangelism!)
6. The earliest Christians (who were all Jewish) changed the primary day of worship from Saturday (the Jewish sabbath) to Sunday - the Day of Resurrection.
7. The earliest Christians celebrated adult baptism by believing it signified dying with Christ and rising like him to live new lives.
8. The joyful and widespread celebration of Holy Communion in the Early Church. No Resurrection = No Communion. Too morbid.
9. The Existence of the New Testament. No Resurrection = No NT.
10. The Resurrection is consistent with Jesus’ Divine Nature. God, the giver of life, can overcome death.

Beneath the Cross of Jesus

When I graduated seminary I did what a lot of my friends did. I put off entering the workforce a few more weeks and backpacked through Europe. Like most tourists I spent a lot of time in the great cathedrals. Many of them are Roman Catholic churches and therefore had large Crucifixes above the high altar. People would sit in the front pews and stare for hours at Jesus upon the Cross. I’d see them when I walked in, I’d take a tour of the cathedral, climb to the top of the steeple, go to the gift shop,and when I was leaving the same folks were still there, staring at Jesus upon the Cross, often in tears, meditating upon him. I thought of the hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” When you survey the Wondrous Cross, what do you see there? How do you understand it?

When I look at the Cross I see at least these three things:

1. I see the Empathy of God, the empathy God has for and with humanity. The book of Hebrews (4:15ff) speaks of Jesus as a great High Priest who connects us to God, and the writer says this: “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tested in every way . . . so that when we approach the throne of grace, we know we’ll find mercy and help.” Hebrews 2:17 says, Christ “had to become like us in every respect,” so that we might know that our Savior knows the human experience, including death. “Therefore he is able to come to our aid.”

The British theologian John Stott wrote: “I could never myself believe in God if it were not for the Cross. In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?” The Cross shows us the empathy of God.

2. Secondly, when we look at the Cross we see the supreme example of sacrificial love. St. Peter in a letter to some early Christians put it this way: “Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps” (I Peter 2:21). The Cross reminds us that love is costly and often requires great personal sacrifice.


3. The Cross is our Atonement.

I Peter 3:18 - “Christ died for our sins, once and for all, in order to bring us to God.” In this act of unconditional love, God has swallowed up our sins, and has therefore made us one with our Creator once again. The Cross is our atonement, our “at-one-ment” with God. That’s something we can never totally understand this side of heaven - how God reconciled us by the Cross. But we can let the Cross of Christ do its work and bring us to God.

Question: Which one of these views of the Cross is most meaningful to you? Or is there another understanding you prefer?

Here’s a thought: Spend some time meditating on the Cross this week. Perhaps read one of the accounts of Good Friday in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.

Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for your sacrificial love and for the gift of atonement through the Cross. Love so amazing, so divine, demands our lives, our souls, our all. Amen.

Above is Salvador Dali's "Christ of Saint John of the Cross."