Barnabas File

Several years ago I attended an ordination service where I heard McAfee professor Loyd Allen say something like this to the candidate:  “Love the church but don't worship it .” His admonition has stayed with me.  We worship God but we love the church that God’s Son established. Darrell Gwaltney, dean of the School of Religion at Belmont University, convened a lunch meeting yesterday with six ministers, seven including him.  Most are “retired” but still involved in some type of ongoing ministry.  It was quickly determined that this group represented over 300 years in combined ministerial experience.  As we talked about matters of mutual concern, it was very clear that each of these individuals loves the church. Now these are not neophytes nor are they naive.  As pastors, staff ministers, members, and interim pastors, they have seen the church at its worst as well as its best.  They have seen the church when one rejoices at its ability to love ...

In a post on ethicsdaily.com, pastor Guy Sayles wrote, “For many years now, I’ve had a growing conviction that the great Catholic theologian Karl Rahner was right to have claimed:  ‘The Christian o f the future will be a mystic or will not exist at all.’”  This is a remarkable quote and got me thinking about its implications:  “ The church of the 21 st century will be made up of Christian mystics or it will not survive.” We spend a great deal of time assuring that our churches are smoothly functioning organizations.  Some of this is cultural and a great deal of it is required by law, but we must admit that we are often more comfortable thinking of the church as an organization rather than as the people of God.   Dealing with the nuts and bolts of church life and administration may be a burden but it is something that we can quantify and control.   If we are indeed God’s people, we will find ourselves dealing with the spiritual and openin...