This is my third and final objection to The Shack. As I have said before, I really appreciate the book. I find it helpful and moving. But, being who I am I can't seem to just unequivocally praise a book. So, I decided to get my objections out initially so that I can say what I appreciate in the book without that luggage. In a conversation between Mack and Jesus, Jesus dismisses the value of institutions like the church--or at least the church in the organizational and administrative sense. Admittedly, my objection probably is rooted in the fact that I receive a paycheck from such an institution.
It may or may not be historically accurate to say that the historic Jesus was not about creating an institution. However, he was a Jew and functioned within his contemporary experience of Judaism. It is wrong to construct a picture of the historic Jesus as someone who threw all the organizational and institutional aspects of Judaism out the window. That's frequently how we portray Jesus but it simply isn't accurate. In the December 26, 2006 issue of Christian Century, Jewish scholar (of the New Testament!) wrote about the unfortunate divorce of Jesus from his Jewish background by the church (Amy-Jill Levine, Misusing Jesus: How the Church Divorces Jesus from Judaism, Christian Century, 12/26/2006, pp. 20-25). She points out several moments from the biblical account of Jesus's life that reveal his attention to Jewish practice.
In terms of the institutions created after Jesus's life, the book of Acts shows that after the Ascension of Jesus, the people committed themselves to formal practice of religious community. The development of the Epistles from Pauline to Deutero-Pauline to General Epistles also shows this growing awareness of the Christian life as rooted in institution. The earliest epistles of Paul were addressed to particular churches--in Thessalonica, in Corinth, in Galatia. But the Deutero-Pauline epistles of Ephesians and Colossians reveal a growing sense of connectedness between churches. Finally, with the general epistles (Hebrews-Jude), the epistle form is being used but the letters no longer address particular congregations but at the very least groups of congregations and ultimately the church as a whole. While there's no requirement to believe that the earliest followers got it right, it is nonetheless a misreading of the New Testament witness about normative Christianity to claim that Christians can or should neglect the institution of the church. New Testament Christianity is overwhelmingly concerned with the church as both a mystical community and as an institution. To preach a Christian faith that disdains or denies the importance of the church is to preach against the New Testament witness. This is not to say that you cannot be a Christian unless you go to church. Certainly you can. However, the agency that God has used over two thousand years to bring the message of the gospel to the world has been the church. God could have certainly chosen some other means, but God chose the church.
Having the character say he didn't intend to start an institution feels good to people who have been burned by the church. And God knows the church has burned far too many people--literally and figuratively. It separates Jesus from the failures of the institutions which have developed around his message, life, death, burial and resurrection. And those failures have varied from the ludicrous to the tragic. But for all our failures, God has not chosen to wash away the church in flood but has preserved us through the storm. Such is the grace of God.
2 comments:
Uh oh - see I have to comment because Geoff sent me these...and I can't just ignore good conversation on faith;) I read the Shack and had a similar concern about your objection #1...but since he handled it with some decent creativity, and was not out of alignment with my own experiences of God, I ignored the issue. I disagree with your objection #2 and #3 though. For #3 I agree with you that it is a mischaracterization to describe Jesus as anti-establishment. However, I think we have failed as the church at learning the clear lessons of Christ's outrage at HIS institution. As you point out Jesus supported and participated in the community, the organized worship and teaching, and the faith based rituals of Judaism. However its false application of rulings, legalism, and misuse of authority are all sins we in modernity have not yet overcome! Check any church's bylaws, membership class, giving portfolio, or hiring practices you will refute your own affirmation of Christ's direction several times over. Look at the institutionalized Christian church as a whole, a body, and it is almost crippling to the believer and follower of Jesus. Rife with cancers, sickened with the effects of gluttony and corruption, certainly abounding in pharisees and sadducees. None of us pretend we are what Christ sought to acheive. No Christian lifts up the current church as a successful embodiment of Christ's vision and leadership. It is less about being burned than being realistic. There is just very little institutionalized feet washing going on. Certainly so little that I can accept, as an ardent church ministry participant, the fact we have missed the big ball on this one. Walls, rules, membership requirements, small doors, dress codes, archaic music, programs, convenient time slots, closed communion, assigned parking spaces, gender roles, nurseries for noisy babies, etc etc etc...none of it is in Christ - or even Paul. We have strayed - as an instituton - sometimes in attempts to reach out- but far more often in the never ending satisfaction of self.
I once preached a sermon for a grade in which I made a few minor critiques of the church. The minister grading the sermon—not Joey Jeter—became defensive, almost irrationally so. His critique embarrassed me. I try to remember that experience so as not to do the same to anyone else who has a legitimate complaint about our failures as the church. You’re pointing at screw-ups in the church like me. And I wholeheartedly agree with you. But, I also know people like Ed Michael, Johnny Wray and Geoff Mitchell—all undeniable products of the church. My hunch is that when it’s all totaled up we will have done more good than harm. It’s just that the harm can be so incredibly painful and the good often—especially the best stuff we do—goes on under the radar. But we cannot justify the church’s existence by trying to total our gains and losses and hope we come out ahead. The church is sinful. I despise, absolutely despise, the bumper sticker that reads, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.” It sounds like a cop out to me. A wimpy way to apologize to the whole world. Oops, we’re so sorry about that whole ignoring global warming until it’s almost too late, Jim Jones, witch trials, homophobia, guilt trips, shame tactics, and the shooting the wounded bit. But hey, Christians aren’t perfect . . . please! Except that it’s true. It’s not the kind of truth that should be flippantly slapped on the back of my Honda Accord but the kind of truth that should be tearfully whispered while on my knees. Martin Luther once prayed, “Use me as Your instrument -- but do not forsake me, for if ever I should be on my own, I would easily wreck it all.” Indeed.
I am painfully aware of the failures of the church just as I am painfully aware of my failures as a Christian (as a husband, father, brother, son, pastor and friend in general). And I use that word painfully in the most literal sense. However, all my self-pity would not justify me in saying, “Well, I’m just a big failure, I guess I’ll just quit trying. I can’t do it right so I’ll just do what I want.” This is the misconception of forgiveness—that it lets us off the hook to go on with a free ticket to sin some more. It doesn’t free us from our past so much as whispers, “Yep, you blew it. But you get the chance to try again.” As the church, we cannot defend ourselves against our poor record. But, I believe that the biblical witness is this: God has called the church into existence just as God knit each one of us in our mothers’ wombs. Rather, I am convinced, that we must face our failures without defensiveness, confess our sins, make reparation where it is possible, and try to do it right. And I’ve seen some beautiful examples of people getting it right—not in the mirror mind you—but in the institutional church I’ve seen some beautiful examples. You might take a look at a book entitled Amish Grace.
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