On Goods I’ve Received in Each Part of the Christian World
Each part of the Christian world has something good to offer, and I want to acknowledge that. It's been an important part of my own spiritual journey.
This post is the introduction to a short series.
I’ve experienced good in all parts of the Christian world I’ve been in, Evangelical, Catholic and Orthodox, received many good and helpful things. Not that they’re all perfect, or all the same, or differences don’t matter. But each has given me something good I’ve benefited from personally and am grateful for.
But in each I’ve also encountered what I’ve come to call the “True Church mentality,” emphasis on mentality. Not among all or most believers, but among smaller circles of people within each part.
The mentality is a tendency to look down on others who are not part of your church or version of the faith, because not knowing as much or believing exactly as you do. And to treat that part of the Christian world as if it is entirely wrong and has nothing good to offer. It can be true of those who’ve spent their lives in only one part of the Christian world, thus know little about the others, but also converts who may not only leave for something they believe better but condemn what they left behind as if the whole thing is bad. As if the Lord had been leading them wrongly, until they found the right Church, instead of appreciating how the Lord has worked throughout their faith journey to bring them along from one place to another.
It’s an easy thing to do. Hard to hold strong truth convictions and yet be gentle toward those who don’t share them. To love those who differ and acknowledge what is good in what they do have, though having a different perspective. It’s a sign of spiritual maturity to be able to be gentle even when strongly provoked – and a sign of the opposite to be easily angered, quick to judge and find fault.
Reality of Division
The reality is the Christian world is divided, yet in all parts of the Christian world there are sincere believers in Christ, doing the best they can with what they have. Like the parable of the talents or the laborers, and I for one am grateful. Grateful anyone in this world believes in and tries to follow Christ (as Jesus said, when the Son of Man returns, will He find faith on earth?), and I want to encourage them.
And I realize, in reflecting on our divisions, we will likely never all be united in a single faith or Church again, until Christ comes again. More likely, though some divisions may be healed, others will continue, and new ones will arise, that is how human nature is, and something God allows for His own purposes. It is simple reality.
All are Weakened by Division
Something else I’ve come to believe: division always hurts both sides, regardless of who is “right” and who is “wrong.” Both sides are damaged and weakened. Why? Because we are meant to be one. All our gifts are meant to help build up the whole Body, not just this part over here, or that part over there.
Lacking the gifts and insights of all the members of the Body, we are weakened, can go astray, or become off-balance in different ways. That is why, prior to the Great Schism, bishops attending ecumenical councils in the united Church not only had to reach unanimous agreement on serious issues (why they could take years with multiple meetings to reach a conclusion), their decisions also had to be well-received by the rest of the Church. If not, councils could be overturned.
This is because the Holy Spirit resides in all members of the Church. As the Orthodox say, infallibility rests in the whole Church, not only in one man as asserted by the Catholic Church. Thus, serious decisions need to be well-received by the whole Church to be considered truly of the Holy Spirit. (Wouldn’t that practice have avoided a lot of problems in the Catholic world today. But I digress.)
All have Something Good to Offer
So, in this introductory series on this new blog, I want to talk about something good I’ve experienced in each part of the Christian world, focus on one thing in each that has been most helpful to me personally. In my experience each one stresses something important that others may not, that can contribute to a fuller understanding and practice of our faith. The gifts of each, in other words, that are meant to help upbuild the whole Body, not just their part of the Body.
I suppose I’m influenced a bit by what the director of religious education said to me long ago in the first Catholic parish I visited, while still Evangelical. He told me, “You don’t have to leave everything about Evangelicalism behind in order to become Catholic. Evangelicals have really good things to offer, things we Catholics need, and I want you to bring them with you.” That meant a lot to me, helped me feel welcome and wanted.
At the very least I hope these reflections will help each believer in Christ follow Him more truly wherever they find themselves, grow more in holiness with the means they have been given. Trusting, as I do, that the Lord is with them, is leading them, will truly lead them wherever He wants them to go. As He has me.
And first, I’d like to write about one thing that was most valuable for me in the Evangelical world, that I’ve carried with me ever since. I’ll make it a separate post, as this one is long enough already.
Next: The Gift of Reading Scripture in the Evangelical World
