What Kind of Church…
Jun 21st, 2008 by ljkim
Here’s a question I get asked from time to time (although not by our church people)… What kind of a church are you? Are you liberal, conservative, traditional, post modern, progressive, reformed, evangelical…? My usual response is to kind of nod and say “Well, you know…” But here’s what I really mean:
If you look at the list of people Jesus picked to be his 12 main disciples, what’s so interesting is that he picked those who (in that culture) would have been natural enemies… Simon the Zealot, a religious-political fundamentalist alongside Matthew a tax collector (collecting money for the Romans), alongside middle of the road Jewish fishermen (who were too practical to get in the way of such debates), alongside Philip the Jew with an obviously Greek name… Jesus picked Republicans and Democrats and Libertarians, Fundamentalists and Liberals – and he seemed to do it quite intentionally!
I think what this means for us is, first, that although we may take sides and have honest differences in opinion with our neighbors, we are not to take our differences too seriously. The Apostle Paul said something about not yoking ourselves to other causes because we belong to Christ – and Jesus obviously saw something worth redeeming in people with wildly differing points of view. Surely on any given point some are right and others are wrong – but from God’s perspective even the things we’re really right about can be flawed, and even things we’re totally wrong about can have some merit. So we must wear our cultural, social and political allegiances lightly…and hold our strongest opinions with humility (knowing that we can be wrong – and at the same time showing gentleness to those who hold opposing viewpoints in case they are wrong).
Second, this means that a church that follows Jesus ought to be (and should strive to be) populated by people with opposing points of view… That’s how Jesus did it. It honors God to have liberals and libertarians, republicans and democrats, worshiping (and debating) within the same church family… This applies to culture and traditions and tastes just as much as it does to politics: People who love Coltrane and people who love Cold Play loving a God who is ultimately responsible for both…
So there’s the long answer to the question… That’s the kind of church we are – a Hillary, Obama, McCain voting, gun toting pacifist liberal progressive conservative traditional postmodern folk rock jazz hip hop church. Where can such a monstrosity meet? Now this is the part where I tell you where to find us: Sunday mornings, 11:11 AM at 873 Broadway (bet 18-19th St)…When you get to the front door there will be a sign telling you to buzz #0020 – and when you get to the 4th floor you’ll see more signs pointing you to Room 408!
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