Month: March 2023

Thoughts from here and there…Covenant

A Church Covenant is vital for the understanding of our Christian community as a Congregational Christian Church.

I recently read that “Karl Barth once compared the creeds and confessions of the church to the guardrails that border the narrow roads of the Swiss Alps. Only a fool with suicidal tendencies would want to drive across the Alps without the guardrails. But it would be equally foolish to mistake the guardrails for the road; when we start driving on the rails, disaster is imminent.

In writing this article Timothy George went on to reflect that “to push the analogy further, Jesus Christ is the Road, and the Bible, as interpreted by a covenanted congregation of baptized believers in continuity with the apostolic witness, is the light by which we are able to see clearly both the road on which we travel and the guardrails that protect us from dangerous deviations.”

Christ is the Road. We have no difficulty in accepting this conclusion. The Bible is the is the source of light as it is understood within the context of a “covenanted community.” If the church has no covenant it cannot be a covenanted community.

To review the question “What is the nature and importance of a covenant,” I offer you some quotations that I found on the Internet. I apologize to the author. I have misplaced the reference. The words are not mine, but the intent is mine.

“A covenant is simply a solemn promise by which people commit themselves to common action. The most important element in the life of any church is commitment. Christians must be able to count on one another, the way family members depend on each other. This should go without saying; it is part of being a true Christian.

“The raging spirit of independence in America has led many to disregard fundamental life commitments: to spouses, to children, and (for believers) to the body of Christ. We Christians flit about from church to church, shopping for a perfection we never find. The large number of churches in any community makes it easy to change churches like we change seasonal wardrobes. Most of us are not used to any real commitment to a local church.

“A church covenant not only serves as a focal point for mutual commitment, it also clarifies a common understanding of what the church is and what exactly we are committed to do together. This is also an essential thing for a church since so few Christians really understand the Bible’s teaching about the nature and functions of a local assembly. The church covenant can serve to identify the essential points of agreement which can then serve as a positive focus for the group. The non-essential points of disagreement can be handled with charity and patience over time without undermining the unity of the body.”

The Ozaukee Congregational Church Covenant to which all members agree, accept and implement:

“We covenant together of our own free will, to love God and to enjoy God forever, to walk in God’s ways, known and to be made known, to study the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, to live and work together in unity and peace, and to care for those whom God has given us to love.”

Thoughts from here and there…How much time do you have?
I was deeply impressed with this story. Mary Ann O’Roark in an interview with Anne Lamott talks about her friend Pammy and herself.
“I was raised to keep all the family secrets and present myself in such a way that people would be either envious or approving. But keeping up a facade like that takes so much energy.
“When my friend Pammy was going through chemotherapy, and I asked her if the dress I was wearing made me look fat, I was making a fuss about the dumbest things, and Pammy looked at me and said, Annie, you just don’t have that kind of time. It was so profound, it was like I was in a cartoon and somebody conked me over the head. I got it.
“Pammy died seven years ago. But I still live by her words: You don’t have time to live a lie. You don’t have time to get the world to approve of you. You only have the time to become the person you dream of being. You only have the time to clean out your mean and ugly spots, areas that drag you down and hurt other people. You only have the time to accept yourself as you are and start getting a little bit healthier so you can be who God needs you to be. In a way, it’s exhilarating to say, This is really who I am, and I’m not going to pretend just because I have the sneaking suspicion I’m not good enough. God meets you where you are.”
God meets us in so many ways and in so many places. God meets us during Lent to reminds us of the brief nature of life and on Easter to loudly declare that there is life after life. Get the message?
Mary Ann O’Roark, an interview with Anne Lamott, reprinted from Clarity magazine.

The Christian’s Immune System
“If there is no immune system to resist heresy, there will soon be nothing but the teeming infestation of heresy.” —Thomas C. Oden
Your immune system is a complex defense system for suppressing and eliminating infections. Agents that can invade your body live everywhere—in the air; on dust particles, food and plants; on and in animals and humans; in soil and water; and on virtually every other surface. They range from microscopic organisms to lager parasites.
The vast majority of these organisms do not produce disease, but some do. This majority is usually kept under control by your immune system but, if that system becomes weakened or you encounter an organism to which you have not built up a resistance, illness results.
We live with the constant battle that is going on between the body and infection—a battle your body usually wins, but not always. We don’t have to be told how important our immune system is for our good health. A strong and healthy immune system protects us from disease.
We know how important it is that we pump–up the immune system with vaccinations, injections or oral immunization agents. We can be immunized for the flue, measles, chickenpox, diphtheria, mumps, smallpox, and many, many more threats to health and life.
It might be well to think of the Christian religion as an immune system that protects us from dissolution and death. But the benefits that Jesus Christ offers us include much, much more than immortality.
The great plague that, more than anything else, infects us and inhibits us is selfishness. The selfish need an immunization of love. Harry Emerson Fosdick in “Riverside Sermons,” wrote: “Bitterness imprisons life; love releases it. Bitterness paralyzes life; love empowers it. Bitterness sickens life; love heals it. Bitterness blinds life; love anoints its eyes.”
Bitterness is the end result of selfishness. It is a deep feeling of anguish created by anger, resentment or animosity to people or life. Life owes us and it has not paid off. Only the application of the therapy of love can gradually wash away the fruits of bitterness.
Thomas C. Oden speaks of an immune system for heresy. Heresy is like an infection. Heresy can be understood as an opinion or doctrine that is not in line with the accepted teachings of Jesus Christ. It is more than false teachings; it also has to do with improper attitudes.
The siren call of the heretic enters smoothly into the ear and mind. The message is one that supports our own personal gods, whatever they may be. The message infects our morals, our ethics, our values, our attitudes, and our relationships. We are victims. We are bound by unnecessary restrictions. We do not allow ourselves to experience the pleasures of life. It is an old song which reverberates from Eden to the present day.
There is a vaccine which we can take that helps the immune system resist heresy. It is the good news taught by Jesus Christ. There is a clinic which dispenses the vaccine, it is called the church. The clinic is open seven days a week to provide the information and use of the antitoxin that saves us not only from the heretics but also from ourselves. The invitation is open. It’s up to you.
It was a very wise pastor who observed, “The most extraordinary thing about the oyster is this: irritations get into his shell. He does not like them. But when he cannot get rid of them, he uses the irritation to do the loveliest thing an oyster ever has a chance to do. If there are irritations in our lives today, there is only one prescription: make a pearl.” Harry Emerson Fosdick