Apr 05, 2008 @ 11:04 am by claypot
Like other churches in Albany, our church has been involved in the Bible in 90 Days program. It has been great for community unity and has gotten a lot of people into the Word. It has also been very difficult for people to keep up. As a minister, I was able to, but only because I was able to devote part of my “work” day to the task. This week, I completed my Bible reading (in 89 days, no less!), and made a note of it on my Facebook page. A friend of mine asked what new perspectives I had gained from reading the Bible cover-to-cover in a relatively short time span. My reply was off-the-cuff, and I need to think about it more, but I thought I would post my thoughts here:
“As for new perspectives on the Bible, reading the OT was a needed reminder on the wrathful side of God’s holiness. It’s something we don’t talk/think about much anymore, but it dominates there. Another perspective is that I came to the conclusion that the Bible isn’t really meant to be read in 90 days. There were parts, especially in the NT, and there, especially in the gospels, where I really needed to camp out and let Jesus’ words work on my heart, but I didn’t have time because I was rushing to keep up with the schedule.
Not that the experience was a waste — it wasn’t. There are lots of things that tie together that I was able to connect — like the book of Obadiah & Malachi 1 and the Romans 9 thing about “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” Was he really talking about predestination of individuals, or God’s election of certain peoples, e.g. Israelite over Edomites / believers over unbelievers? In thoroughly CofC fashion, I lean strongly toward the later.”
Apr 03, 2008 @ 02:55 pm by claypot
A few days ago I was in Walmart and I ran into an older gentleman that I had known years ago at another church in the area. I had not seen him since the early 90s, so I gave him a rundown on my life since then – our years in Africa, my marriage, my children, and our work here in Albany. Then he asked, “So your wife’s a Christian?” I joked, “Yeah, she’s even a Church of Christ Christian.”
He didn’t think that was funny. He began to talk about his fear that we as the Church of Christ are losing our identity. I knew where he was coming from and listened respectfully. I agree we should know more about where we come from as Restoration Churches and value that heritage. I believe that we can learn from other groups, but I also believe that we have a lot to offer. I don’t want us to lose our identity as Restoration churches.
But I also see a danger – a danger in deriving our primary identity from the “Church of Christ” as a heritage, and being as sectarian and divisive as the churches that the early Restorationists left. Let’s make sure that we who are in the Church of Christ are really focusing on Jesus Christ himself.
When we were in Africa, young Christians would sometimes ask us, “How does the Church of Christ _____________?” You can fill in the blank with just about any practice a church might engage in. Pray, sing, take the Lord’s Supper, give, evangelize …. The question always drove me crazy.
If we are focusing on Jesus, then the question “What would Jesus do?” becomes a much more important question than “What does the Church of Christ do?” Because the Church of Jesus Christ should always do what Christ would do.
