Theological Journal – September 17
Anemic and Dehydrated Christians and Churches
There are many different ways to parse the malaise of the
American Church, of course. I suggest this way drawing on the sacraments and
Word is as or more helpful than most. Life as God intended it revolved around
water (the river flowing out of Eden), food (the fruit of all the trees in the
garden save one), and God’s Word. Israel’s life revolved around water and manna
divinely provided in the wilderness and the Word of God. Jesus’ life also
revolved around water (his baptism), food (his feedings and table fellowship),
and God’s Word. So too the early church (multiple possible references).
It seems, then, that water, food and Word comprise the
health of God’s people. Though God’s Word has primacy he has designed our lives
so that that Word encounters us not only directly in preaching and reading its
written form (the aural and literary Word) but also in the Liquid Word of
Baptism and the Edible Word of the Eucharist.
When God made the covenant with Moses and the people the
elders met with God who had just given them his Word of constitution (the Ten
Commandments) and ate and drank (Ex.24). When Jesus renewed that covenant with
his disciples under his new Words of constitution (the Sermon on the Mount)
they ate and drank. And we too, as members of that people, met with the Risen
Lord under his Word eating and drinking.
The Seal of the Presbyterian Church (USA), my tribe,
captures this threefold form of life under the Word nicely.
Look at the center spine of the seal. It has an elongated
base with a cup at its top. Positioned over the cup and a part of it is the
symbol of an open book (obviously, the Bible). Hovering over this Bible and the
cup of the Eucharist/font of Baptism (the shared meaning of this symbol) is the
dove symbol – the Holy Spirit. At the heart of life according to my tribe is
this same tripartite life in the Word under the Spirit.
Sadly, too many churches focus on the aural/literary form of
the Word alone or primarily and live anemic and dehydrated lives from want of
attention to the divinely provided encounters with his Word at the font and the
table.
But what does it mean to encounter the Word at the font and
the table? Tune in tomorrow for more on that.
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