This is too Hard!

Two weeks ago, I opined, in The Shiloh Insider, about the three basic theological/practical objections to a theology of grace. I claimed that those three arguments are: 1. Grace is about radical equality, but the traditional Church has preferred a religion of privilege and power; 2. Grace sounds too facile in theory but is, in actually, too difficult in application; and 3. Grace is about the here and now instead of the hereafter.

It is the second of those arguments with which I am most interested today. As a regular feature of Shiloh's  7:00 p.m. "Discovery Time" contemporary service, the gathered worshipers comment on and discuss the texts/message. The text was from Luke 13, where Jesus heals a woman in the synagogue on the Sabbath. The message drew a parallel between what God asks of Jesus and what God asks of us. God asked Jesus to speak for him, to embody those words in acts of grace and kindness (particularly demonstrating God's love for those previously excluded), and to sacrifice his entire life for the sake of God's kingdom on Earth.

God asks the same of us. God invites us to speak for God, to articulate God's love, acceptance and mercy to every person in every place. God asks us to embody those words in acts of grace and mercy, paying particular attention to those among our brothers and sisters who have been rejected and made disadvantaged by the systems under which persons live. And, finally, God invites us to dedicate our entire lives to the establishment of God's kingdom on Earth.

As the worshiping community discussed the message and texts, one of those in attendance spoke what I imagine most were thinking. He said, "This is too hard. It is too much."

Grace sounds simple in its basic theory, but is remarkably challenging in its actual application. We are only human, after all. We are not able to speak for God, to embody God's grace in acts of love and kindness and generosity, and we certainly are not prepared to place our entire lives on the sacrificial altar of God's kingdom on Earth. It is too much. It is too hard.

This is too much and it is too hard. No human being can possibly speak and act from God's will. No human being is capable of sacrificing self for the sake of expressing God's will in real, concrete, practical situations.

Two questions. Firstly, then why does God grant us the power of God's Holy Spirit? Why are we empowered and equipped? Is it not in order that we may do far more with the Spirit than we are able to accomplish if left to our own skill sets? Does the Spirit not work miracles through us?

Secondly, why do we gather in communities of faith? Why do we worship together, study together, fellowship together, work together? Is it not to share the apostleship to which each of us is called? Is it not to support one another in the course of our mutual ministries and shared mission? Does the community not lift us, support us, enable us?

Grace sounds simple, but it is exceedingly difficult in its application. Sometimes, it is too hard. Often, it is too much. Thank God, in those times, we can rely on the empowerment of God's Holy Spirit and the shared apostleship of the Church. If the Church fails in doing this work, if it allows persons to feel less than empowered and supported, then it is not doing its work. If it fails to call persons to accountability for the Spirit that is breathed into them, and fails to embrace them in their work, then the Church is meaningless in establishing God's kingdom on Earth.

At Shiloh, we work all the time at finding ways to help persons feel empowered, to help people feel the support of a loving, called, equipped community of faith. We could use some additional help. How can you help us?

Charity Golf Outing

This past weekend, on Saturday, August 17, Shiloh Church held its annual charity gold outing at Cassel Hills Golf Club, in Vandalia. This year marked Shiloh's ninth annual golf outing. In the first three years, the occasion was simply used as fellowship. It made no money. In 2008, however, Shiloh saw the need to tie the golf outing to a ministry need. Seeing the need to support needy families in our area through the Christmas and holiday season, Shiloh tied all proceeds to that cause. In the past six years, Shiloh has supported local families with over $25,000 of direct assistance, all raised through the church's golf outing.

In the 2012 golf outing, Shiloh raised just over $7,100. This year, Shiloh is likely to see even more available direct assistance, as the congregation anticipates that final contribution levels will eclipse that sum. At the end of the outing, dinner and auction, the church had raised $6,500. On Sunday, we heard of many additional contributions being made by members and friends of the congregation. Those contribution figures are still pending, but one may assume that the numbers will be greater than those of 2012.

Shiloh's deep appreciation goes to every person who played in the outing, those who supported it with contributions and assistance, those who donated items to the auction, and those who thought about and prayed for the success of the event. The efforts of Pastor Jay McMillen are of special note, since his hard work makes the outing both a possibility and a huge success.

Shiloh wants to recognize its sponsors. If you see these persons, or if you happen into these businesses, let them know that you appreciate their support. 

Diamond Plus Sponsors:  Shiloh Church Women's Board and Vince Russel at Johnson Investments

Diamond Sponsors: Shiloh Church Deacons, Dr. Lisa Peterson & Family, Ben Rupp with the Insurance Board, Englewood Meijer Store, Englewood T.J. Chumps, Tom and Shelby Parnell Family

Platinum Sponsors: Dave Dillard at Dillard Electric, Northmont Class of 1993, the Ivory Family of The Kid's Institute, Reg Richwine Family

Silver Sponsors: Sandi's Clothes Encounter, Alan Pippenger at Requarth Lumber, Glen Green Construction, Bill Homan and Family

Gold Sponsors: Dr. Bob and Zoe Hittner Family, Dave and Lou Tiley Family, Linda Peterson and Family, Roth and Company, Superior Mechanical, the Benvenuto Family at Tony's Italian Kitchen, Shiloh Church Discovery Team (7:00 p.m. Service), the Gerhart Family at Titan Flooring, Jim Shepler DDS and Family at North Main Dentistry, Chris Clausen at Super Tech Automotive, the Bowser family at Miami Valley Vending, Chris Pulos at Brower Insurance, Bill Kindred at Kindred Funeral Home, Jeff Reichard at Reichard Buick,Tammy Greenberg and the Routson Family at Diversite Salon and Day Spa, Rick Snider at Baker Hazel Snider Funeral Home, Rick Holmes and Family at the Architectural Group

Donation Sponsors: Uptown Hair Studios, T.J. Chumps, Englewood, Texas Roadhouse, Regain Solace, Boston's Bistro and Pub, Buffalo Wild Wings, Englewood, Bead Dazzled (Kathy Penfield), Tony's Italian Restaurant, Shiloh Quilters, Pipestone Golf Club, Kroger State Liquor Store, Chick-Fil-A (Miller Lane), Miami Valley Country Club, Meadowbrook Country Club, Midwest Colerain RV, Shumsky (Lorie Woods), Linda Peterson and Family, Pastor Jay McMillen Family, Matt Weaver Family, Tiley Family, Earl McMillen Family, Dr. Lisa Salata Family, Judy Peck, Gary Wachter Family, Rev. Carl & Lisa Robinson.

Thanks to each of you, and our golfers, we are giving Christmas to sixty or more families this holiday season. God bless you all!

Enemies of the Theology of Grace

Paul's theology of grace was rejected as orthodoxy in the early church by, among other formulas, the establishment of Apostolic Succession. Apostolic Succession afforded authority in the late first and early second century Church by granting standing to those who would trace their theological lineage back to the original disciples of Jesus. Thus, it stands as a rejection of the theology of grace in Paul, because Paul, as we all know, was not among Jesus' disciples.

Today, the enemies of the theology of grace are a bit more subtle. They are real and powerful, but they work covertly, behind the scenes. They have shaped the ways that we have thought and acted and spoken. 

Firstly, the theology of grace in Paul was powerful in the Hellenistic world because Paul's theology resonated with the Hellenistic virtues. Grace makes great sense when we can claim spiritual status, when we can claim that, in Christ, God has changed the essential nature of humankind from earthly and physical (Adamah) to spiritual (in Christ). If the essential nature of humankind is altered in the Crucifixion and Resurrection, then all human nature is affected. It is a universal grace. In Christ, God diminishes physical human nature, with its passions and desires and hungers, and strengthens the spiritual, perfect, eternal heavenly virtues.

The Emergent Culture, that which has been surfacing since around 1968, is forcing the Emergent Church, or whatever readers may want to call it, to recover the theology of grace. Culture is leading the spiritual evolution of the Church. The Church has tried, for nearly fifty years, to reject the spiritual evolution being made necessary by culture progression. Conservative movements have tried to draw us back, away from a theology of grace, and toward an increasingly narrow understanding of our relationship with God.

The Church that has formed as a response to cultural evolution has rejected the theology of grace in at least three ways:

     1. Grace Counters Religious Advantage: If everyone's essential nature is made spiritual in Paul's understanding of grace, then there is no advantage to believing a particular thing in a particular way. There is no advantage to orthodoxy in ritual or sacrifice. There is no essential advantage to being in the Church. All are saved (made spiritual) and all are instruments of God's grace, inside or outside the Church.

     2. Grace Requires Action in Application: While the theology of grace reads simply enough, perhaps a bit too simply, it is incredibly difficult in application. It is more than a philosophy or system of belief. Grace required action. It necessitates ministry and mission. Grace can only be true insofar as it is expressed in relationship to living, breathing beings. Grace is the great mobilizing force of the Church-That-Will Be. The Church-That-Was rejects it as too easy in theory and too difficult in application.

   3. Grace is About the Here-and-Now Instead of the Hereafter:  The Church has learned to diminish the meaning of human life by placing salvation in another world, after humans die. Grace is the construction and maintenance of a new world in the here-and-now. It is qualitative. The effort to which grace calls humanity is development of kingdom...on earth....now. The emphasis of our efforts must lie in the development of a way of life, on Earth, that blesses and benefits every person in every place. It is justice and peace and compassion and mercy as ways of life, personal, interpersonal, social and universal.

The enemies of the theology of grace have been loud and confident. The voices of those who work tirelessly for the Church-That-Will-Be have been increasing in both volume and impact. Those voices are beginning to be heard. Let us shout from the mountaintops and sing in the dales the wonderful theology of grace.

Come sing with us!

   

Grace or Religion?

The Church of the first century was faced with the same dilemma that we face in the Church today. Then, the dilemma was best understood as the dynamic that existed between the theologies of Paul and the theologies of Judaizers, like some of the other early apostles. Paul taught the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ as an archetype for faithful life, one that reflected the perfect and eternal heavenly virtues of his Hellenistic culture. Peter, and others, taught that persons must remain true to ancient religious principles in order to attain salvation.

Peter's theological school of thought was primarily moral. Laws, rules and regulations established what it meant to be "in" the Church, in the faith, in relationship with God. Relationship was established and maintained only to the point to which persons were willing and able to remain faithful to the rules and regulations, including those unwritten and unspoken expectations that form community values.

Paul's theological school of thought taught that persons were saved exclusively through the grace of God in Christ. Essential human nature was changed in Christ from primarily physical (Adamah) to primarily spiritual (Christ). Crucifixion and Resurrection are about the empowerment of humans to participate in the process of universal salvation as instruments of God's grace in the world. Humans become spiritual beings, capable and called to exercise grace in relationship to others.

Peter is restrictive. Paul is permissive. Peter is exclusionary. Paul is inclusionary. Peter is judgment and criticism. Paul is empowerment and constructive.

Of course, the developing institution of the late first century chose the path of Peter's theological school of thought over that of Paul. It chose religion over grace.

The Great Reformation was, essentially, a recovery of Paul's theological school of thought. While the Reformers attempted to embody a theological system based in empowerment and grace, the systems that resulted could thing only in terms of new orthodoxies, rules, regulations and morals. Denominationalism failed to fully embrace the possibility of a Church of Grace. The Church continued to pursue religion instead of grace.

Today, culture is leading the way in the spiritual evolution of the Church of Jesus Christ. As it moves in more and more progressive avenues, as equality, justice and fairness among all peoples become hallmarks of contemporary culture, exclusionary religions become increasingly irrelevant. Grace abounds. Acceptance rules the day. Diversity is celebrated instead of feared.

The Church of Jesus Christ has a choice in developing inclusionary culture. It can be about grace or it may cease to exist. It can opt to fall into distant memory or it can be a vital force for the ongoing mission of Jesus Christ. The culture is forcing the Church to choose grace over religion. God is, as usual, acting in strange ways. Maybe this time, the Church will choose grace over religion.