The eCrozier

As I listen to leaders in our churches, I hear a common refrain: “People outside our church don’t know who we are. They’re not even sure we’re Christians, especially in small town in Georgia.” People should know better, but often they don’t. So we have a choice: we can blame them for their ignorance or we can do something about it. We need to be ready to tell folks about our church, who we are, what we stand for, and how we are disciples in community. What follows is my apologia for our church.

We are Christian. God has uniquely and particularly revealed God’s self in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. And through that complete revelation, God has acted and is reconciling the world to God. As Christians, our vocation is to seek “the mind of Christ” and to do “the work of Christ” so we become instruments of God’s holy mission to the world.

We are sacramental. All of life offers us “outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace.” As Christ is the sacrament of God, the Church is the sacrament of Christ in the world. God uses the stuff of creation, like bread and wine, to communicate God’s love for the world. Individual sacramental life is rooted in daily prayer and in Sunday Eucharistic prayer both of which shape our discipleship in Jesus.

We embrace God’s creation. We see the creation as fallen, to be sure, but we also see it as good. That means the stuff of creation like the air we breathe, the water we drink, the land we till, the music we sing, the candles we light, the flowers adorning our gardens all matter to us as they matter to God. Our worship is physical, tactile, and olfactory. Beauty matters. It is a way to glorify God and God’s creation.

We seek a holistic life. We are balanced in our approach to life. We value the rhythm of life where family, work, rest, and play all are important and contribute to the whole of a holy life, even as those different aspects of life sometimes cause tension in us and in those we love.

We expect maturity. We honor diverse viewpoints. We encourage people to work out their spiritual lives in ways that make sense to them. We avoid prescribing one way of worship and discipleship. There is an inevitable tension between what an individual may desire and what the community may choose to do. At our best, we live creatively and appreciatively with this reality.

We recognize life’s uncertainty and finitude. We don’t have answers to all of life’s problems. Sometimes the answers we have are in conflict with one another. By staying in community with one another, however, we are able to listen deeply and respectfully to one another while humbly and patiently waiting on God. Our unity is not in uniformity, but rather in a shared trust in God’s sovereignty and providential care for all. This stance helps us maintain a “big tent” of a church with space for many people.

+Scott