Sunday, January 21, 2007
It seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us...
A clash of cultures led to the Jerusalem Council's decision recorded in Acts 15. In our multicultural world where modern and postmodern world views overlap, liberal and conservative viewpoints collide, and numerous spiritual paths diverge, the potential culture clashes seem almost limitless and infinitely more complex than the Jew vs. Gentile issue faced by the early church.
So, how do we relate to the story of Acts 15? Is it even worthwhile to ask (as I sort of did in the last post) how would we update these recommendations for our current situation? I think it is worthwhile and here is why...
In his book Believing, Behaving, Belonging: Finding New Love for the Church, Richard Rice writes the following.
"Community is the most important element of Christian existence. Believing, behaving, and belonging are all essential to the Christian life, but belonging is more important, more fundamental than the others. Moreover, because the Church is the creation of the Holy Spirit, it provides a fellowship that cannot be found anywhere else."
This could be an overcorrection to the neglected importance of community in our churches. However, the point I think is well made that belonging is fundamental to what it means to be a community of believers. Therefore, a focus on belonging is important particularly for those newly introduced to our community. Instead, the focus in Adventist circles tends to be on believing and behaving and when those are taken care of the belonging is automatic because there are limited options for Second advent anticipating, Sabbath keeping, vegetarian, non-jewelry wearing, oh and also Jesus following people. (I apologize for my inaccurate stereotyping and cynicism. I am attempting to describe an unfortunately familiar extreme to make a point.)
And, the point is this. We have taken belonging for granted because it tends to just happen in the Adventist community.
Getting back to Acts 15... the recommendations to avoid meat offered to idols, strangled meat and blood, and sexual immorality were all important for belonging in a community where Gentile and Jewish converts could coexist. I believe this was the primary concern of the Jerusalem Council. I also believe maintaining community and a sense of belonging where people from differing world views can coexist should be a primary concern for us today.
One difference I see between the early church's situation and our own is that at that time there seems to have been an assumption that the community was already formed and it just needed to be maintained. Therefore, there were a few negative recommendations to that end. I am afraid that our individualistic society's natural sense of community is so stunted that many positive statements such as, "Focus on the good in one another," would instead be required. Or, perhaps just two would suffice, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength and all your mind and Love your neighbor as yourself," if we really understood them and took them to heart.
Another difference is that the early church was dealing with a very specific issue of Judaizers attempting to convince new Gentile converts that they needed to be circumcised and then keep the entire law of Moses. If you've ever seen a grown man circumcised (done today under general anesthesia) you can much better appreciate the Gentile's immense relief when the council's four recommendations were made! On the other hand, when I think of issues of diversity in our current context they seem very broad and rather nebulous whether it is race relations, liberal vs. conservative (whatever those titles mean), interdenominational interaction, or interfaith dialogue.
Help! What do you think the Holy Spirit would have us say to address issues of diversity?
So, how do we relate to the story of Acts 15? Is it even worthwhile to ask (as I sort of did in the last post) how would we update these recommendations for our current situation? I think it is worthwhile and here is why...
In his book Believing, Behaving, Belonging: Finding New Love for the Church, Richard Rice writes the following.
"Community is the most important element of Christian existence. Believing, behaving, and belonging are all essential to the Christian life, but belonging is more important, more fundamental than the others. Moreover, because the Church is the creation of the Holy Spirit, it provides a fellowship that cannot be found anywhere else."
This could be an overcorrection to the neglected importance of community in our churches. However, the point I think is well made that belonging is fundamental to what it means to be a community of believers. Therefore, a focus on belonging is important particularly for those newly introduced to our community. Instead, the focus in Adventist circles tends to be on believing and behaving and when those are taken care of the belonging is automatic because there are limited options for Second advent anticipating, Sabbath keeping, vegetarian, non-jewelry wearing, oh and also Jesus following people. (I apologize for my inaccurate stereotyping and cynicism. I am attempting to describe an unfortunately familiar extreme to make a point.)
And, the point is this. We have taken belonging for granted because it tends to just happen in the Adventist community.
Getting back to Acts 15... the recommendations to avoid meat offered to idols, strangled meat and blood, and sexual immorality were all important for belonging in a community where Gentile and Jewish converts could coexist. I believe this was the primary concern of the Jerusalem Council. I also believe maintaining community and a sense of belonging where people from differing world views can coexist should be a primary concern for us today.
One difference I see between the early church's situation and our own is that at that time there seems to have been an assumption that the community was already formed and it just needed to be maintained. Therefore, there were a few negative recommendations to that end. I am afraid that our individualistic society's natural sense of community is so stunted that many positive statements such as, "Focus on the good in one another," would instead be required. Or, perhaps just two would suffice, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength and all your mind and Love your neighbor as yourself," if we really understood them and took them to heart.
Another difference is that the early church was dealing with a very specific issue of Judaizers attempting to convince new Gentile converts that they needed to be circumcised and then keep the entire law of Moses. If you've ever seen a grown man circumcised (done today under general anesthesia) you can much better appreciate the Gentile's immense relief when the council's four recommendations were made! On the other hand, when I think of issues of diversity in our current context they seem very broad and rather nebulous whether it is race relations, liberal vs. conservative (whatever those titles mean), interdenominational interaction, or interfaith dialogue.
Help! What do you think the Holy Spirit would have us say to address issues of diversity?
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It seems as though we are now turning from the topic of outreach and to the topic of maintaining the community.
Frankly, I find myself thinking much more about this. Maybe it is because of the stage of life I am in with 2 teenage children and a family history of poor church retention. While the issue of reaching out to disaffected Christians and the unchurched is interesting, the questions of why there are so few 3rd, 4th, etc generations in our church weighs on my mind more.
I think that Acts may really be speaking to this situation -- once they join the community, how do you keep them. Maybe there are lessons to be learned from the early church. Maybe in the 150+ years we have picked up unnecessary "stuff". Maybe we need to determine what God really desires of us and shed the extra.
Frankly, I find myself thinking much more about this. Maybe it is because of the stage of life I am in with 2 teenage children and a family history of poor church retention. While the issue of reaching out to disaffected Christians and the unchurched is interesting, the questions of why there are so few 3rd, 4th, etc generations in our church weighs on my mind more.
I think that Acts may really be speaking to this situation -- once they join the community, how do you keep them. Maybe there are lessons to be learned from the early church. Maybe in the 150+ years we have picked up unnecessary "stuff". Maybe we need to determine what God really desires of us and shed the extra.
Hey good epicenter folks,
Thanks for linking to the Spectrum Blog -- it looks like y'all are having some good conversations about this experience called faith. Will be dropping by again. . .
Thanks for linking to the Spectrum Blog -- it looks like y'all are having some good conversations about this experience called faith. Will be dropping by again. . .
Are we really asking, “What shall we require of converts to Adventism so that they don’t offend us and disrupt our fellowship?”
Wouldn’t it be better to ask, “How can we change (even giving up Christian liberties) so that we don’t offend (exclude, turn off) people interested in becoming Adventist Christians?”
Or maybe I should have saved those questions for class tomorrow. :-)
Wouldn’t it be better to ask, “How can we change (even giving up Christian liberties) so that we don’t offend (exclude, turn off) people interested in becoming Adventist Christians?”
Or maybe I should have saved those questions for class tomorrow. :-)
Good question Luke. The early church seemed to apply their wisdom to the new gentile converts. Perhaps it would have been better for them to tell the Jews to lighten up a bit. Yes, better perhaps, but also probably a lot less feasible.
My thought is that if the purpose was to maintain the possibility of community with increasing diversity then what practical steps should we recommend to new and old converts alike to accomplish the same goal today?
Yung, I hear you. The experience of having children (which I just had the pleasure of experiencing once again!) has helped make me more attuned to community or the lack thereof and I am sure this will increase as they mature.
My thought is that if the purpose was to maintain the possibility of community with increasing diversity then what practical steps should we recommend to new and old converts alike to accomplish the same goal today?
Yung, I hear you. The experience of having children (which I just had the pleasure of experiencing once again!) has helped make me more attuned to community or the lack thereof and I am sure this will increase as they mature.
I am impressed with this blog and your Sabbath School class. I've reciprocated the linking and subscribed to your feed. Keep up the good work!
What would the Holy Spirit have us do regarding issues of diversity? Are there any universal rules that would be useful in the practical matter of our weekly discussion in Epicenter?
I guess respect and civility would be accepted by all as guiding concepts. These could be demonstrated by thoughtful probing to try to fully understand the idea being espoused. Would we all agree that any question is valid? Deserving of thoughtful discussion?
What if another party expresses a view that conflicts with my view of a core belief in our Adventist message? How strongly do I register opposition? Would there ever be a time when I should stay silent? Or would silence mean that I endorse the view being espoused?
Would we all agree that impuning another's motives is off limits?
I guess respect and civility would be accepted by all as guiding concepts. These could be demonstrated by thoughtful probing to try to fully understand the idea being espoused. Would we all agree that any question is valid? Deserving of thoughtful discussion?
What if another party expresses a view that conflicts with my view of a core belief in our Adventist message? How strongly do I register opposition? Would there ever be a time when I should stay silent? Or would silence mean that I endorse the view being espoused?
Would we all agree that impuning another's motives is off limits?
# posted by 
: 7:24 PM
: 7:24 PM
These are important questions Carmen and I would briefly respond that in our class Mission statement number 4 reads, "This class is an open forum where EVERY question is allowed and discussion of differing beliefs and perspectives is encouraged, desired, and expected." So any question should be considered valid.
How then should we respond? from the most recent post, "in all things, love" sounds good to me.
Practically, that may mean we speak up in as humble a way as possible when another class member calls into question one of our deeply held beliefs. Remaining silent may be the only available option if we are unable to get a word in edgewise, or if we are unable to get our thoughts together quickly. In that case, we could broach the subject later or post a comment on the blog.
Choosing to remain silent seems dishonest to our own beliefs and robs the rest of the class the opportunity to learn from a variety of perspectives.
And yes, I think impuning motives should be avoided. Always look for the best in one another. "...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." (Phillipians 4:8)
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How then should we respond? from the most recent post, "in all things, love" sounds good to me.
Practically, that may mean we speak up in as humble a way as possible when another class member calls into question one of our deeply held beliefs. Remaining silent may be the only available option if we are unable to get a word in edgewise, or if we are unable to get our thoughts together quickly. In that case, we could broach the subject later or post a comment on the blog.
Choosing to remain silent seems dishonest to our own beliefs and robs the rest of the class the opportunity to learn from a variety of perspectives.
And yes, I think impuning motives should be avoided. Always look for the best in one another. "...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." (Phillipians 4:8)
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