It's Been a While...

It's been a while since my last post. I have been mixing rest, study, family responsibilities, and trip preparation over the last two weeks. I enjoyed several very productive study days at Highlands Presbyterian Camp and Retreat Center (thank you, Maria!) before and after a trip to Minnesota to witness my daughter Bethany's graduation from Carleton College. I managed to work through significant portions of Book IV of the Institutes, as well as portions of the historical compendium of Reformed polity documents in David and Joseph Hall's Paradigms in Polity. I was both affirmed and chagrined to note that David Hall had anticipated many of my own conclusions about Reformed polity in his introductory article.

There have been a few minor changes to my plans: the presentations I was to give at the American Church in Paris have not panned out due to an overbooked schedule at the church. I may (or may not) preach there on June 28, and/or have an informal conversation with interested church members on Monday, June 29. In any case, they are still hosting me as their "theologian-in-residence" for which I am grateful. In many ways this is the best of both worlds: I benefitted from having a focus and a deadline for my preparatory studies, but do not have to carry the burden of anxiety that comes with developing and delivering formal presentations.

Now to follow up on a few earlier thoughts about ecclesiology and polity. I had described the three dimensions of life in the koinonia that bear on polity as Spirit, power, and community. Here, Spirit refers to the affirmation that the church is a unique kind of organization in that its primary function is spiritual; it is formed and sustained by the Spirit of Christ -- the Holy Spirit. The traditional "notes" of the church -- that it is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic all derive from the work of the Spirit in the church. In scripture, the birth of the church is connected with the gift of the Spirit: in John 20:19-23, Jesus breathes on the disciples and says, "Receive the Holy Spirit." At that time he also gives the church its mission: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you...." Likewise, the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost in Acts inaugurates the evangelistic mission of the church "first in Jerusalem, then in Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). As a spiritual community, the church seeks to give effect to the will of God, not the will of the church members or officers.

The second dimension is power. People are reluctant to speak about power in the church. We are encouraged to have the mind of Christ who emptied himself of status and power and became a humble servant. By power I don't mean the abuse of power, but the exercise of authority (given by Christ to the church -- John 20 and Acts 1, again) within the organization to accomplish its ends in a manner consistent with its spiritual identity and values. The letters of Paul, for example, are an exercise of apostolic authority to address issues in the various churches he planted. "Power" and "Pastoral" are not antonyms!

The third dimension is community. There is a sense of mutuality and interdependence in the church that Paul described as "the Body of Christ." This community is created and infused by the Spirit -- Ethicist Paul Lehmann described the koinonia as "the fellowship-creating reality of Christ's presence in the world." This community is part of the church's witness to the world -- "They will know you are my disciples by your love for one another."

We see each of these three dimensions at work in the apostolic church:

SPIRIT

-For the discernment of God’s will (Acts 15)

-To promote and facilitate the mission of the church (Acts 8)

-To confirm the call, gifts, and work of the Spirit (Acts 6, 8)

POWER

-To assure the equitable and just treatment of God’s people (Acts 6)

-To correct error (Acts 5)

-To preserve order (Acts 11)

COMMUNITY

-To be “the provisional demonstration of what God intends for all of humanity” (Acts 2)

-To demonstrate the unity of the Body of Christ (connectionally) (Acts 11)

-To facilitate reconciliation (Acts 9)

-To build one another up in love (Acts 20)

Calvin had much to say about all three dimensions of the life in the koinonia. I will reflect on some of his comments in future posts.