We’ve Only Just Begun

(from The Abbey Letter)

Most Christians want to do the right thing, both as individuals and as groups, and most Christians would define “doing the right thing” as doing what Jesus would want them to do. Individual Christians can learn what Jesus would want them to do by reading scripture, praying, and following the examples of other people who seem to be doing what Jesus wants them to do. Even so, it is often difficult to discern the right action because times and cultures change and the template for doing the right thing and following Jesus does not always work in every situation. Jesus does not change, but we do and our world does, and so it is hard to always make sure we are putting the precepts of Our Lord into action as we should. Christian groups have the same problem that individuals do in trying to figure out how to follow Jesus in a world that is not exactly the same as it was when He and His first followers were here. Even the generation after Jesus had a lot of questions about how to work and live together as congregations and as a worldwide organization.

Reading the Book of Acts and the letters of Paul shows how much strife and scandal was already plaguing the church, and in studying subsequent church history, we learn that strife and scandal were always present. However, we also learn how much good and holiness were always present in individuals as well as in the church as an organization throughout history.

Many people tend to think of church history as being either blank or irredeemably corrupted between the New Testament and: Martin Luther or John Calvin or The Council of Trent or John Wesley or the Azusa Street Revivals (etc, depending upon one’s denominational affiliation or tradition). Doing so deprives us of many good examples of Christian life as individuals and as a Church. Of course, it also deprives us of many bad examples, but we need both the good as cases to emulate and the bad as warnings to avoid. The long centuries of church history are filled with real people trying to be real Christians, and all denominations and traditions would profit by learning about and from them.

One often hears Christians saying that we should base the church solely on the example of the “early” or “First Century” or “New Testament” Church. In a way that is true — we should follow their example, but we also need to remember that they are not the only example to follow. The past has a vote, but it does not have a veto. The Holy Spirit that was active in their lives is the same Holy Spirit that has been active in the Church since then, and is the same Holy Spirit that has been encouraging good works and correcting bad ones since the day of Pentecost. The church is always learning; it is always in need of reformation, and yet it is always holy, because Jesus is its head. If the church is the Body of Christ, and if Christ is eternal, then the church is eternal and therefore we are still the
early church.

We are in as much need of growth as the New Testament Church, and our growth will never end. Whatever our denomination or tradition, learning from the lives of Christians from the “forgotten” eras of the Church (those between the New Testament and the beginnings of our distinctive traditions) can help us in our own struggle to live as good Christians in good denominations and congregations. We are all growing together. All of our failures and successes affect every member of the Church — past, present, and future, throughout time and space. We just need to listen to the Holy Spirit and try to do what Jesus wants us to do now.

— Br. Abraham