Until recently, I thought being a Christian was all about belief. I didn’t know any Christians, but I considered them people who believed in the virgin birth, for example, the way I believed in photosynthesis or germs.
But then, in an experience I still can’t logically explain, I walked into a church and a stranger handed me a chunk of bread. Suddenly, I knew that it was made out of real flour and water and yeast ”” yet I also knew that God, named Jesus, was alive and in my mouth.
That first communion knocked me upside-down. Faith turned out not to be abstract at all, but material and physical. I’d thought Christianity meant angels and trinities and being good. Instead, I discovered a religion rooted in the most ordinary yet subversive practice: a dinner table where everyone is welcome, where the despised and outcasts are honored.
[i]”..a dinner table where everyone is welcome, where the despised and outcasts are honored.[/i]
That’s all well and good but leaves me with the impression that they were not called to repent of their sins, the very reason Christ gives when He was queried for eating with publicans and sinners. I’m guilty of assuming certain things based on geography and denomination. Sorry.
How does your assertion compare to Mark 2 15-17? Could you reference your scriptural assertion?
I’ve explained that I was guilty of assuming and in this case I was answering a question that hadn’t been asked yet, namely WWJD which invariably (and I say invariably because again I am assuming) gets trotted out by the inclusive/welcoming/sharing outfit that stresses a gospel of humanitarian relief over the transforming power of Jesus Christ to change hearts and minds and heal broken lives.
I don’t know if that is a satisfactory response to your question but that was my impression.
At least when I’ve read the Gospels, Jesus’ calls to repent seem to fall most heavily on those in power, those who set the rules others are to live by yet don’t do anything to help them, the proud, the hypocrites.
Re: Mark 2:15-17. Jesus comes as a physician to heal the sick (include sinners here). However, any good physician knows that no one course of treatment covers every ailment. Some people do need to be reminded of their sins and to have their pride deflated. Oftentimes, though, that same approach doesn’t work on those who’ve been cast to the margins. If all your life you’ve been told you’re a worthless sinner, that’s about the last thing you need to hear. Instead, what’s needed is the message that God does indeed love you. Once that message begins to seep in, only then can transformation begin to take place.
Pride isn’t always the chief sin for everyone. Sometimes, the chief separation from God is a sense of utter worthlessness. Of course, no one on here would be guilty of fostering that in others.
And did Christ “honor” the despised and the outcasts? Where did he do that? LM
Isn’t it odd, that it will be Jesus who judges the quick and the dead and it only could be done by one who has lived life close to the margins in knowing the hidden travail of the lost..whether by chance or by choice.
The vast gulf between perfect God and imperfect man bridged by Gods own design in reconciling men to Himself through the shedding of his blood gives the people of Christendom unfathomable hope inspite of their inability to say YES to God in EVERY aspect of their lives Each and Every time. Why else would we need the sacrament of confession or in other words need accountability? “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”, is addressed to whom?? Was it just to the Roman officials or the Jewish religious authorities? I’d like to think the impenitent thief was part of who Jesus was remembering at that instant in anticipation of his eventual repentance, but that is as unknowable as the heart of my next door neighbor.
Sexual sin is certainly one of many which plague us all..whether in thought, word, or deed, but arguably the weight which is put on fleshly human weakness of this stripe is disproportional to the offense. What are the limits of sexual expression within marriage?? Are we considering principalities and powers as the authors of runaway debauchery of our society? The greatest offense is hubris which does not own its boundaries and can only be illuminated by the contrast between the Holy and the profane. Since there is only one Righteous man in whose righteousness we share, ie, we have no righteousness in and of ourselves, the ministry to the stranger outside us, the stranger within us, the stranger even within ourselves, if we were really honest, would be none other than that of the Holy Spirit. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, is a hard saying, for it assumes one knows oneself in the light of the Holy Spirit. Without grace who could stand the scrutiny?
Jesus calls us to die to ourselves. I cannot pretend to know what drives anyone to call good evil and evil good except perhaps when caught in clear defiance of conscience one would do anything to escape the penetrating agony of truth. We as Christians simply do not love Gods love enough. Jesus calls us to die to ourselves. We complain we have a vacuum of leadership. No one is stepping up, saying the hard things, living the narrow way. Jesus calls us to die to ourselves. But we do not wish to die without honor, which is precisely how Jesus died, without honor. That, dear friend, is a hard saying.
Timothy
dvocate alongside when our case is argued before
This thread and some of the comments make me think of the St. Anthony’s Foundation and St. Anthony’s Dining Room next to St. Boniface RC Church in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, where the Franciscans there minister to those who are really down and out, often forgotten, friendless, and with no place to sleep except the cold streets(except during the dy when, after mass in the morning the homeless are allowed to sleep inside the beautiful old church). Anyway these people are ministered to for care of their basic needs because it is the will of Christ that we care for our neighbor. I don’t think that the priests and Brothers are telling these people to repent first, or later. The message there is God’s love.
I wasn’t suggesting that anyone be asked to repent first before they got fed. But one doesn’t have to be a Christian to sponsor, support or operate a soup kitchen for the indigent either. What struck me in this article about good deeds and feeding strangers was what was missing. How many who ate that bread will be hungry again? And how many will taste the bread of life?
Who’s saying that they’re not being fed spiritually over the course of time? Spiritual feeding is vital, but it’s hard to focus on that when you can’t even get physical nourishment. I would, however, tend to stress that our work of feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, etc., flows from our spiritual food of Word and Sacrament.
Yes, but did Christ “honor” the despised and the outcasts? For that is what the author says. He went where the sinners are, rich or poor, and he made it clear that those those were not with him were against him, whether rich or poor, presumably. Feeding the poor and siding with the world’s outcasts is a standard endeavor and a good one, for charity is mandatory, but would it not be as well if the church expended as much energy on moving them out of this condition, teaching how to work, socializing them, getting them jobs so that they had something to live for. But we run up against a peculiarly human problem: My experience with the poor and the outcast is that they are where they are because they choose to be so, that they refused to help themselves. So maybe we need to choose between the poor and the poor, the outcasts and the outcasts. Christ certainly distinguished. LM
#8..
It is fair to ask what distinguishes Christian social service from secular humanitarianism. I dont have an answer..except that perhaps Christian service is a concrete witness to the larger community that God cares for his creation precisely because it is done by men and women who profess to be Christian. What percentage of lives obviously changed would demonstrate that God is working though his Church, that is, you, and me…and all others, to heal spiritually as well as physically those who come for help. How can we know that? How can I know for sure if the communion I take today will influence my willfulness and rebellion tomorrow? Are we not constantly reminded to turn from our sin and be saved(and by saved I am defining salvation as a process of wholeness in mind, body, and spirit). And how many of us respond? I do not see one iota’s difference between me in the pew on Sunday and that soul elsewhere either in a boardroom or a brothel who may not have ears to hear or will to do. The one great advantage which may be ours is that at least we know we need a Savior. Indeed, it is a great thing. It is a revelation.
Roman and Centexn,
It seems to me that you each get the point and, yet, you miss it entirely. I, as Roman did, thought to myself, “hmmm, NPR, San Francisco…” We are guilty, Roman, of assuming the worst, and given the geography, we may not be wrong. However, it is our responsibility to do those things she speaks of and we do not do it only if some one has confessed their sins, asked for forgiveness, and promised to amend their ways, and has done so. If that is the benchmark, I shouldn’t be allowed beyond the Chancel steps. While Mrs. Miles and I might vehemently disagree about those matters, she has taken the teachings of James to heart.
It is a starting point.
John
The pastor of a large RC parish in San Francisco has put Sarah MIles’ book on his recommended reading list. FYI San Francisco’s many RC churches have the same mix of liberal/conservative that you will find anywhere else.