The Trinitarian Call of the Church (eCrozier #225)

On June 13, 2014, in Holy Trinity, by bishopbenhase

This time between the Feast of Pentecost and Trinity Sunday offers a good opportunity to reflect on the nature of the Church. It’s no accident that we also celebrate between Pentecost and Trinity Sunday the first Book of Common Prayer, which was introduced on Pentecost in 1549. Below then is my reflection on the nature, and thus the mission, of the Church, for her nature is inextricably connected to her mission.

The Church is the extension of God’s incarnate nature, the Body of Christ, on the earth. The Church then is God’s way of taking take up permanent residence on the earth. So, the Church isn’t merely a human organization, even though it’s made up of human beings (with all that entails). The Church isn’t an organization. With apologies to John Wesley, it’s not even a religious society. Rather, she’s an organism, a body, on which God has endowed the Divine nature. The Church then isn’t simply a place to come together for fellowship or doing good things for the community, although both of those things occur as a result of coming together. Rather, the Church is a people gathered in Christ’s name deriving her identity and purpose from God’s incarnate nature on earth.

That means the Church is the Church of Jesus Christ as she aligns herself with God’s nature and then physically and animatedly lives out that incarnate nature in the world. Now, that doesn’t mean that the Church will ever be even close to perfect. The Church will always be a human organism as well. God sires it, but humanity incubates it. Still, the Church is called to incarnate God’s nature on earth and to live by the Spirit that gave her birth.

When Jesus rose from the dead and God sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to give birth to the Church, it wasn’t God’s intention to check out of life on earth. It was God’s intention to be smack dab in the middle of human life. The resurrection isn’t an invitation to come to heaven when we die. Rather, it’s a decision that God has made to take up permanent residence on earth. The resurrection doesn’t tell us that Jesus is in heaven calling us to join him someday. No, it tells us that Jesus is here with us right now and always.

The Gospel then doesn’t mean that when we die we go home to Jesus, but rather it means that Jesus has been raised from the dead and comes home to us. The Good News of Jesus tells us that life isn’t something we endure. Rather, through the Holy Spirit, life is something God endows. The Good News of Jesus isn’t a mere promise, but rather it’s a manifest presence; the presence of the risen Jesus in the midst of the world incarnated in his Church. The Good News of the Gospel isn’t only that we’ll live some day with Jesus, but that Jesus lives with us today. Why should we want to live with Jesus in heaven for eternity, if we’re not willing to live with him now on earth? Do we think we’ll love him someday in heaven, if we don’t love him now on earth?

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit directs and sustains the Church. The nature of God as Trinity shouts out a clear message to us. God is in the midst of us as Trinity. And we’re called to incarnate that relational nature as the Church.

+Scott

 
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God Calls the Church to Model God’s Nature as Trinity (eCrozier #179)

On May 24, 2013, in Holy Trinity, by bishopbenhase

Some thoughts on the Holy Trinity and its implications for the Church:

The Holy Trinity describes a God who is in perfect relationship. God is by nature relational, interdependent, and collaborative. Since God is Trinity as revealed to the Church, what do you think God desires the Church’s nature to be? It seems to me that God calls the Church to model God’s nature by also being relational, interdependent, and collaborative.

Have you ever wondered why God created the Church to bear the Gospel message? If God were better organized, then God would have used a satellite to beam the Gospel message directly into everybody’s home. We’d get the message without ever having to leave the comfort of our lazy boy recliners. We’d never have to be in relationship with anyone. Everybody could get the same message without ever having to be dependent on others, without ever having to collaborate with other people.

Now, why didn’t God think of that? It’s not that God didn’t think of it, it’s simply that it’s not in God’s nature to work that way. Instead of wave particles from a satellite, we have one another to bear God’s nature and love to the world. God has so ordered the creation and the Church that instead of being isolated individuals, we have to be in relationship with one another. Instead of being self-sufficient, we have to be dependent on one another. Instead of being isolated operators, we have to collaborate with one another.

The Church is the extension of God’s incarnation on the earth. The Church is God’s choice to take up permanent residence on the earth. The Church isn’t only a human organization even though it’s made up of human beings. The Church really isn’t an organization at all. Rather it’s an organism, a body, on which God has endowed God’s very nature. The Church isn’t a place to come for fellowship, although that occurs as a result of coming together. Rather, the Church is a people bearing the nature of God.

Now, that doesn’t mean that the Church is perfect. The Church will always be a divine and a human organism. God sires it, but it’s incubated in humanity. When Jesus rose from the dead and sent his Spirit to give birth to the Church, it wasn’t his intent to check out of life on earth, but rather to take up permanent residence on earth. The resurrection doesn’t tell us that Jesus is in heaven calling us to join him when we die. No, it tells us that Jesus is here with us now having begun that eternal relationship.

But we often get it backward. The Gospel isn’t that when we die we go home to Jesus, but rather the Gospel proclaims Jesus is risen, ascended, and comes home to us. The Good News of Jesus isn’t a promise, but rather it’s a presence of the risen and ascended Jesus incarnated in his Church. The Good News isn’t that we’ll live someday with Jesus, but that Jesus lives today with us. Why should we want to live with Jesus in heaven for eternity, if we’re not willing to live with him now on earth? Do we think we will love him more in heaven, if we do not love him now on earth?

+Scott

 
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eCrozier # 38

On May 26, 2010, in Body of Christ, Holy Trinity, by bishopbenhase

Have you ever heard of something called the “Butterfly Effect?” It’s a term physicists use to describe a mysterious phenomenon. If a butterfly flaps its wings in Australia, then molecules in Georgia are affected by the flapping. That’s weird, isn’t it? There is also something called the “Strange Attractor.” In this, scientists say that when one sub-atomic particle is affected it can have a corresponding affect on another sub-atomic particle. But here is the amazing thing: that other particle could be on the other side of the galaxy.

This coming Sunday is Trinity Sunday; the day we gather to offer praise to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. When we speak of the Holy Trinity, we’re speaking of the way God has revealed God’s own self to us. The Holy Trinity describes a God who is in perfect relationship. Just as God is revealed to us in the created world, God is revealed to us in the divine nature of inextricable relationship. So, such things as the Butterfly Effect and the Strange Attractor should not be at all surprising. It seems God has created the universe to reflect the very nature of God as Trinity.

Since God is Trinity, what does that say to the Church? It says that God is by nature relational, interdependent, and collaborative. If that’s God’s nature and God has revealed that to the Church, what do you think God desires the Church’s nature to be? Yes, relational, interdependent, and collaborative. Is it any wonder then that the Bible describes the Church as the Body of Christ? St Paul describes the Church as being like a human body. The body is relational, interdependent, and collaborative. Because God is Trinity, God calls the Church to model that very nature. Have you ever wondered why God created the Church to bear his message? If God were better organized he would have used a satellite to beam his message directly into everybody’s home. We’d get the message without ever having to leave the comfort of our lazy boy recliners. We wouldn’t have to ever be in relationship with anyone else. Everybody could get the same message without ever having to be dependent on anyone else, without having to collaborate with other people.

But it’s not in God’s nature to work that way. Instead of pristine wave particles from a satellite, we have one another to bear God’s love to the world. God has so ordered the Church that instead of isolated individuals, we have to be in relationship with one another. Instead of being self-sufficient, we have to be dependent on one another. Instead of being isolated operators, we have to collaborate with one another. The Church is the extension of God’s incarnate nature on the earth. The Church is God’s way of taking take up permanent residence on the earth. The Church is not a human organization even though it’s made up of human beings. The Church isn’t an organization at all, it’s not even a religious society, but it’s an organism, a body, on which God has endowed his very nature. The Church isn’t a place to come for fellowship and goodwill, although those things occur as a result of coming together. Rather, the Church is a place where we gather in God’s name and then go out to incarnate God’s presence in the people, things, and circumstances of our lives.

+Scott

 
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eCrozier #16

On February 26, 2010, in Body of Christ, faith, Holy Trinity, by bishopbenhase

Miroslav Volf, in writing about the relationship between the Holy Trinity and the Church (After Our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Holy Trinity. Eerdmans, 1998, p. 199), argues that since God has revealed God’s self to the world as Trinity then it is right for the Church to convert Trinitarian ideas to ecclesial ones. But he cautions that we must not go too far. While such a relationship is not mere analogy, we still face the danger of deifying the Church if we equate the Trinity with its ecclesial creation.

Volf’s reformation temperament causes him to be wary of placing too much authority in a divinely born, yet still human institution like the Church. The Church is not the Trinity, to be sure. When the Church historically has elevated its authority to that of the Holy Trinity, we have seen her all too real sin. As a necessary corrective to a potentially arrogant Church, Volf concludes his comments by writing: “God is accessible to us only in our own thoughts about God.” That is quite a conclusion to reach. It reflects how profoundly Enlightenment thought has pervaded theological reflection. Volf falls into the Cartesian trap by limiting our accessibility to God to thoughts alone. Maybe this is to be expected from an academic who lives the life of the mind. Volf has made a great contribution to theology, but he unwittingly, it seems, is underwriting the very misguided constructs of the Christian faith that have brought us a distorted understanding of what faith is. Faith is not merely intellectual belief.

If God is only accessible to us “in our own thoughts” as Volf contends, what is to prevent us from becoming the individual “spiritual tyrants” Stanley Hauerwas has written about? My mind, my reason, if you will, is chock full of crazy thoughts and ideas. If I acted on every thought that goes through my head, then I would have been arrested long ago for an assault on a few area motorists. I would alter Volf’s assertion and say: The living and true God is accessible to us only through our faith in this God. That faith, to be sure, includes our thoughts, ideas, and imaginations, as they are enlivened and provoked by faith. But that faith also includes how we live and relate to the people, things, and circumstances of life. Faith is more than intellectual thoughts contemplating propositions about God. It is placing a compelling trust in the God who became flesh in Jesus and who calls us in our flesh to be the ongoing heart, hands, and feet of Jesus in the world.

This is important to our parochial ministry because we have a lot of people in our congregations who see the Christian faith as only propositional, which leads them to conclude that as long as they think the right thoughts about God or proclaim certain written formularies then that is all there is to it. Faith is much more than that and we are doing our people a disservice if we do not show them that.

+Scott

 
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