Standards

I love looking at the cartoons on Reverend Fun and sometimes they strike me as funny and some just strike me. This one just struck me. I have spent the last couple weeks reading overatures to General Assembly as well as books that are out on various issues at stake this week. I have come to see the church as becoming Pharisaical.

The Pharisees are often villanized, but they really weren't a bad lot. Their job was to protect the institution, protect the rules, protect the faith. In Mark 2, Jesus heals the paralytic and tells him to take up his mat and go. They wonder who he is that he can command this? I imagine them sitting and watching in amazement and thinking, "Who is this guy? How did he just do that? Where does his power and authority come from?"

The Presbyterian Church is in the midst of a huge debate (actually several). Do we keep things as they are and deny the ordination of homosexuals or do we open ordination to everyone? This is an issue that weaves its way into several items of business before the Assembly. There are also issues of Peacemaking and the debate about divestment, how are we to be the church in the world? Much of the debate comes down to who do we say that we are and how do we interpret Scripture in light of that.

This is why the cartoon struck me I think. Are we so worried about numbers that we forget about people. Are we more concerned about posture, tithing, and Bible Study focus groups (cartoon) than about the people who are truly in need of hearing the Good News. Have we become like the Pharisees and only concern ourselves with the institution or are we willing to stand in wonder and amazement at the power and glory of God?

So I go back to reading the Book of Confessions quotes on my walls.....
Heidelberg Catechism Question 28.
What advantage comes from acknowledging God's creation and providence?
Answer: We learn that we are to be patient in adversity, grateful in the midst of blessing, and to trust our faithful God and Father for the future, assured that no creature shall separate us from his love, since all creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they cannot even move.

Time to be patient as the church is in a time of adversity and to trust that God ,who is ever faithful and loves us more than we can ever know, will see us through this storm.