Church
A church is a self regulating, consensual body of people who agree to abide by a defined set of principles. People talk about the Labour Party as "A broad church" and the Church of England, spanning Evangelicals and Catholics is certainly a broad church.
What makes us a church is our voluntary agreement, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to:
- Worship God
- Live in the love of God
- Love God
- Love God's creation and created beings
- Provide and receive the solidarity other Christians.
To be in God's church is not an option for Christians; the Christian way is corporate. Going to church expresses the essence of what we are as creatures, created to worship, thank, repent and put ourselves in the hands of our creator.
The Church of God, promised by Jesus and governed by the Holy Spirit, is founded upon two major pillars:
- The Word of God in Scripture
- The Sacraments of God.
The Word of God in Scripture. Our Bible is made up of two parts:
- The Old Testament, the Jewish Scriptures (chronicles, prophesy, poetry, wisdom)
- The New Testament, the Christian writings of the Evangelists and first missionaries (chronicles, letters, prophesy).
Some Christians regard the Bible as the direct expression of God unmediated by man, and, therefore:
- Historically accurate (inerrant)
- Theologically specific (inerrant)
- Morally specific (timeless moral code).
This approach elevates code above ethic. It says that interpretation is separate from:
- Scientific knowledge - e.g. creation
- Anthropology - e.g. slavery
- Organic growth - e.g. changing views of priesthood.
It says that the Holy Spirit has ceased to function.
We might expect the Bible as the Word of God to be about God rather than about human concerns, about theology rather than anthropology. We might better describe Scripture as:
- A record of the relationship between the Creator and the Created in the Old Testament; and
- A record of the relationship between humanity and the Redeemer and the Sanctifier in the New Testament.
From our own experience, what kind of help do we receive from the Bible? Does it help us to:
- Know God better
- Live better lives
- Understand the church?
The Sacraments of God. In our first discussion we talked about 'mystery' and the gap between God and human beings. One way of bridging that gap is the study of God's Word in the Bible which draws us towards an understanding of God's purposes for us; but a much more tangible bridge is provided by Sacraments.
A sacrament is simultaneously a sign which we can experience through our senses and the occasion for receiving God's special support (what theologians call "Grace'). Like an icon on a computer, it does what it says it does; it both signifies and performs.
Although Sacraments have mysterious kernels - we know what happens but not how - they are the nearest thing we have as creatures to sharing the being of the Creator.
Most Sacraments are landmarks in our relationship with our Creator:
- Baptism admits us to the citizenship of God as a responding Creature free to love
- Confirmation celebrates our mature understanding of Baptism with the responsibility to bring others to Baptism
- Marriage is the celebration of our physical joy in God's creation as the echo or image of divine love
- Ordination is the marriage of a human being to God in service to all of God's people
- Anointing is the celebration of a loving life being in preparation for perfect union with God (heaven).
There are two Sacraments which are life sustaining:
- Reconciliation is our deliberate, self conscious commitment to seek closer union with God
- The Holy Eucharist is our deliberate commitment to share in the life of God through receiving the body and blood of Jesus.