Church

In Larry Crabb’s book, Becoming a True Spiritual Community, he quotes A. W. Tozer.

“The word “mystic” refers to that personal spiritual experience common to the saints of Bible times and well known to multitudes of persons in the post-Biblical era. I refer to the evangelical mystic who has been brought by the gospel into intimate fellowship with the Godhead. His theology is no less and no more than is taught in the Christian Scriptures. He differs from the ordinary orthodox Christian only because he experiences his faith down in the depths of his sentient being while the other does not. He is quietly, deeply, and sometimes almost ecstatically aware of the Presence of God in his own nature and in the world around him. His religious experience is something elemental, as old as time and the creation. It is immediate acquaintance with God by union with the Eternal Son. It is to know that which passes knowledge.”

Crabb contrasts this mysticism with “managers”,

Managing Problems

“The road to spiritual community has now reached a fork. We must go one way or another, and we have come to see that we can no longer walk the management path. It doesn’t work. It quenches the Spirit and leaves us handling conflicted community with congeniality, cooperation, consolation, counseling, or conformity. Yet there is no greater determination in our fallen hearts than to manage things. We long to reduce mystery to manageable categories. To turn for help to experts who can figure out what’s wrong with us and apply the appropriate remedy. To come up with a system to follow that does not require profound spiritual depth.”

I have come to the conclusion that I, and I believe too many of my fellow believers, have sold ourselves short in our pursuit of faith. Tozer and Crabb are grappling with a depth of spiritual life that is beyond our imagination. I use the word “grappling’ because they are trying to describe a relationship with God and each other that words struggle to describe. I for one, am listening and reading intently because I yearn for a community like that, and also, I firmly believe that the malaise of faith in the West can only be countered by a Spirit filled people whose relationship with God and each other is a witness that cuts through the hardened hearts and minds of our age.

Reading: Crabb, Larry (2007-07-10). Becoming a True Spiritual Community: A Profound Vision of What the Church Can Be Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

The story goes that Opa, an esteemed boat builder, was so opposed to the marriage of his only child, a daughter, (my grandmother) to my grandfather, a common house painter, that, at least on one occasion, he physically separated them on a public street.

Over a hundred years ago social class was still a serious means by which everyone was put in”their place”. It was an era in which the local noble in Holland  would arrive at church and be the first to enter with his family. After all it was a pew that he had paid for. Only after this had happened could the riff raff take the other places.

Quite a few years ago two theological students did an experiment. One dressed up neatly and the other poorly. They set about visiting local churches and measuring the reaction they got; how many greetings, invitations and conversations etc. It will not surprise you to know that the well dressed student was warmly greeted far more than the poorly dressed student.

A number of years ago I went on a retreat that was also attended by a number of Christian bikers- tattooed, chained, leather jackets, long hair (if they had any). To be frank they looked a scary bunch. I kept my distance. As I got to know them they revealed the most caring and gentle hearts I have ever come across. They invited street kids, and unwed mothers and people struggling with addictions to live in their homes. They were reflections of their master – Jesus.

I was ashamed of myself and reminded of what the Lord said to Samuel, “ … The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Sam 16:7

In the 2003 German film “Goodbye Lenin” we see the coming down of the Berlin wall  in 1989 through the eyes of Alex, a young East German man. The gist of the story  revolves around an incident where his mother has a serious heart attack and is in a coma  at the time the wall comes down. She awakens well after the event. But as she isn’t allowed to have any shocks no one tells her about the momentous changes in Germany. The story then explores this dilemma.

I have often wondered how a saint, who died in the 1950s, would respond to our Christian lifestyle if they were to return more than 50 years later. How would they react to the television and film content we consume or the magasines and books we allow in our homes? What would they think of our language and priorities?

I am prudish enough still to be offended by the crass language now so common in films, and the revealling catalogues that ordinary department stores send out. Photos only found in men’s “girlie” magasines in the 50s now seem quaint in comparison to the magasines I see at the supermarket check out.

“Times change,” I am told. “We can’t stop it,” says another. True enough, but it is more the unthinking acquiescence that troubles me. I don’t pretend to have answers but all these small examples are evidence for a far deeper malaise: the depreciation of values and ideals – even, or should I say, especially, in Christian circles.

In Philippians 4: 8&9 Paul gives us a Christian vision: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

In this passage Paul is reminding his fellow workers that as they pursue and prepare for Christ’s kingdom there is a lifestyle that goes with it. It is a lifestyle that reflects our Saviour and King. We are His ambassadors. As we serve Him even the little things count because they give evidence of what is in our hearts.

Too often we forget that one of the most powerful witnesses we have to our neighbours, workmates and friends is the way we live our lives: To use an old hoary phrase: “Walk the talk.” But walking the talk can easily turn into legalism. Really it must be more than that. It is walking the very relationship in Christ that impels our lives. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice for me my passionate desire is to become, in His strength, what He wants me to be. That is my witness – Christ in me.

I know that I need to do a constant audit of my heart. What about you?