We almost didn't gathering today. It was very cold for this time of year and there was a blustery wind with a wind chill factor barely above zero. We were concerned about bringing the folks from the home out in the cold and, since showing them grace and mercy has become so big a part of the Sunday group's raison d'être, I, at least, considered just bagging the whole deal.
I'm glad we didn't.
The fellowship grooved.
It was noteworthy in that, more than has become usual, there was a high level of participation by the gatherers.
If there can be a connection between gathering and disciple making, I believe that the freedom of potential disciples to participate in the gathering is essential. That happened better this time, than it has in the past.
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ReplyDeleteBill, Thank you for your response to my comments RE: Easter worship.
ReplyDeleteReading your blog often takes me back to my days in Quebec and France where the evangelical church was much smaller and more personal. In France especially we began each Sunday with the table of the Lord, the shared loaf and cup. Many Christians in the US have not experienced that type worship.
However, I would like to know the foundation for your blog being entitled "anti-flockist". From past discussions, which I appreciated, I know your concern about what you call the "shepherd-dominated" church but what do you do with Scripture like Acts 20:27-29 (HCSB)
..."27 for I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole plan of God.
28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock that the Holy Spirit has appointed you to as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.
29 I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock" and 1 Peter 5:1-2 (HCSB)
"1 Therefore, as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of the Messiah and also a participant in the glory about to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you: 2 Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but freely, according to God’s ⌊will⌋; not for the money but eagerly;...." It seems from these passages that "flock" is a biblical concept related to the church.
I am not trying to lure you into some kind of debate. I am curious how you can truly be "anti-flock" when I see the flock (and I am not alone in this view) as a significant picture of the community of people God has called out.
I am thankful you are back to work. I only had to talk to people when I broke my wrist last year--no heavy lifting was involved, except of course the mental heavy lifting.
Lew,
ReplyDeleteThanks for raising this 40,000 foot issue.
Of course, I am not anti-flock. I am, using a term I invented, anti-flock-IST.
All that is entailed by that term is beyond the scope of one comment on a blog post, but, to give you a broad brush answer:
In my opinion, as my anecdote of Jasper, the sheep dog, suggests, the congregation, or the flock, has become the core of what many Christian "leaders" have devoted their lives and ministries to.
Not Christ.
In my list of the characteristics of the CGGC brand, I list "Ecclesiolatry," which is the act of making the veneration of the church, not obedience to Jesus, the core of our religion.
It seems to me that most church people today forget that Jesus, according to the Gospels, spoke Himself hoarse talking about the Kingdom and about what it means to be a disciple, but rarely spoke about the church.
And, when He did mention the church He wasn't talking about the churches that people attempt to "plant" today.
In the passages you quoted, the audience is elders whose role is to shepherd flocks. Certainly, I understand that shepherding is one important task among many, in keeping the community of disciples on the path of righteousness.
Today, however, the flock and the caring for it has become, to many, all that Christianity is about.
There is nothing in what Jesus taught or did that justifies that way of living.