I went to Grace Presbyterian last night and found the pastor sitting behind me. The boys are up with their Mum: I dropped them off for a 10 am flight. Robyn went to our usual morning service. When I caught up with her for a walk and tea she said it was wonderful, spiritual, and she felt blessed.
That was not my experience. We had a very young man, who struggled with the sermon. He confessed that he thought he had the sermon nailed… until he went to his mentor’s place. He then knew better. Part of this is he was young: he is working from scripture, not experience. You know what love is when your beloved is sick and injured and you care for them, or changing nappies at 2 am.
But he said that we should do good: we should know we are of God, pray in all things, and act for good. All true. All challenging, particularly when I examine my life and the sins that I cherish.
I am not sure which service was better. Perhaps both were blessed. For it is not about our feelings, or our spirituality, or our sense of well being. It is about God.
Ask rain from the LORD
in the season of the spring rain,
from the LORD who makes the storm clouds,
and he will give them showers of rain,
to everyone the vegetation in the field.
For the household gods utter nonsense,
and the diviners see lies;
they tell false dreams
and give empty consolation.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd.“My anger is hot against the shepherds,
and I will punish the leaders;
for the LORD of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah,
and will make them like his majestic steed in battle.
From him shall come the cornerstone,
from him the tent peg,
from him the battle bow,
from him every ruler—all of them together.
They shall be like mighty men in battle,
trampling the foe in the mud of the streets;
they shall fight because the LORD is with them,
and they shall put to shame the riders on horses.“I will strengthen the house of Judah,
and I will save the house of Joseph.
I will bring them back because I have compassion on them,
and they shall be as though I had not rejected them,
for I am the LORD their God and I will answer them.
Then Ephraim shall become like a mighty warrior,
and their hearts shall be glad as with wine.
Their children shall see it and be glad;
their hearts shall rejoice in the LORD.“I will whistle for them and gather them in,
for I have redeemed them,
and they shall be as many as they were before.
Though I scattered them among the nations,
yet in far countries they shall remember me,
and with their children they shall live and return.
I will bring them home from the land of Egypt,
and gather them from Assyria,
and I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon,
till there is no room for them.
He shall pass through the sea of troubles
and strike down the waves of the sea,
and all the depths of the Nile shall be dried up.
The pride of Assyria shall be laid low,
and the scepter of Egypt shall depart.
I will make them strong in the LORD,
and they shall walk in his name,”
declares the LORD.(Zechariah 10 ESV)
I am not a prophet. I can see patterns, but that is limited to my clinical training and outdoor skills: when the clouds look stormy I seek shelter or break out the rain gear. But Zechariah was. This passage is often taken as referring to the restoration of Israel in the last days, but it is also a clear indication of how God considers the pastors and priests. When they rot, the people are laid low.
The church, if we take this seriously, is not a human institution. It is not something of sociological benefit, or where psychological manipulation — advertising or propaganda — will sustain a place of worship. What we believe matters.
The forthcoming article, entitled “Theology Matters,” confirms a truth universally acknowledged, or reasonably intuited anyway. The Christ-optional, Gospel-as-metaphor, liberal-progressive mainline Protestantism borne of our secular age keeps so loose a lock on wandering souls that they wander away—choosing boozy brunch, perhaps, over pew-sitting.
The authors, Drs. David Haskell, Kevin Flatt and Stephanie Burgoyne, used five years’ data gathered from 2,255 attendees of Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian and United Church of Canada parishes across the province of Ontario. (The United Church of Canada boasts an ongoing, unsurprising self-parody in an atheist minister no one seems to have ginned up the nerve to defrock.)
Approximately half of the authors’ subjects belong to growing parishes within these three mainline denominations, the other half to shrinking ones. Their most striking survey result finds churchgoers at shrinking parishes more doctrinally committed than their ministers. Ministers of shrinking churches are the least likely group to profess faith in the resurrection or in the power of prayer:
When asked to agree or disagree with the statement “Jesus rose from the dead with a real, flesh-and-blood body leaving behind an empty tomb” 93% of growing church pastors agreed, 83% of growing church attendees agreed, 67% of declining church attendees agreed, and just 56% of declining church pastors agreed.
When asked if “God performs miracles in answer to prayer” 100% of the growing church pastors agreed, 90% of the growing church attendees agreed, 80% of the declining church attendees agreed, and just 44% of the declining church pastors agreed.
Preaching what the authors call conservative theology—”Protestant Christian beliefs based on a more literal interpretation of the Bible and greater openness to the idea that God intervenes in the world”—necessarily drives devotion, they find. The rewards of a defined faith keep congregants coming back.
“Conservative Protestant doctrine is strongly linked to personal happiness,” they find, citing prior research. “Just as a clear map helps us get where we’re going faster, groups with a clear, unified mission or purpose tend to outcompete groups with ‘foggy’ or wide ranging mission and purpose.” In matters of the soul, certainty sells.
The Weekly Standard is secular, and sees all this as mythos. We should not. Our faith is in God, and our life and salvation relies of God and God alone. It is not our doing. As Christ has called the Jews back to Israel (leaving a disobedient rump promoting a secular state in the West) so he will call those whom he as chosen to his true church, and those who do not abide in him will fall away, and be one with the Shakers and Nestorians.
(It is worth recalling that the Nestorians were quite righteous and the Shakers claimed to be highly spiritual and perfect, eschewing all the comforts and pleasures of marriage, for they were single and celibate. They died out. They worshipped their virtue and emotions, not God, and many were led into error by their female leadership).
It is not about spirituality. It is about obedience. It is about what makes us uncomfortable.
I think the problem is that when a minister quotes the Bible and espouses traditional theology, people can sense that this teaching is from God, because it is at odds with their selfish desires. They understand the authenticity of it, because it calls them higher. Progressives like Greta Vosper tell people that their current sinfulness is just fine, since the goal of spirituality is to look inside yourself for guidance so that you feel good. But does sinfulness really deliver results over the long term? We were designed by God for righteousness, not selfishness. I am pretty sure that Jesus knows a little more about human nature than Greta Vosper does.
…
People can see right through progressive “spirituality”. They see that this is man-made humanism designed to make people feel better. They know that this is just one person’s opinion, and not from God. The blind leading the blind, as the Bible says. Greta Vosper isn’t deriving her worldview from a truth-centered investigation of science, history or logic. It’s feelings all the way down, and that’s not useful to people who are looking for objective truth and purpose.
The truth is that none of us are righteous. We will be found guilty in any fair trial. We need to turn and seek forgiveness, daily as needed, and then obey Christ, who died for us, and who has taken our due penalty when he did not need to.
For love.
Obedience and duty is for humanity. Leave being pretty and content and spiritual to our cats, who keep the laws of nature, and in that are content. But they are a lesser creation: we are in the image of God, and in Christ we are men and women of God.
So today, our duty we must do.