Copyright © 2012 by
Chris R. Glaser. All rights reserved. Permission granted for non-profit use
with attribution of author and blogsite.
One
of my favorite images in the Bible is that of our spiritual community, the
church, as the Body of Christ. And this past weekend the Metropolitan Community
Church of the Blue Ridge in Roanoke, Virginia, gave me an opportunity to
reflect on this image with its members and friends.
Generally
I do not move in academic circles, so I’m not sure if it’s still the fashion to
identify one’s “social location” at the beginning of a presentation or paper as
it was a few years ago. It humbles anyone who might claim to write or speak for
one and all, because everyone’s perspective may be limited by their social
location. (I must admit to faith in the discernment powers of readers and
listeners to decide what speaks to them and what doesn’t without such disclaimers!)
I
mention this because I believe one of the consequences of the metaphor of the
church as the Body of Christ is that it has helped Jesus transcend his
particularity, his social location as a first century Palestinian Jewish male living
under Roman occupation. In the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians, the Body of
Christ is Jew and Greek, slave and free. In our own words we could say that the
Body of Christ is now of every race and place, of every age and culture, of
every condition and class, gender and sexuality, of every vocation, education,
experience, and skill set.
Jesus
transcended his particularity, his social location, by leading and loving us
into this community. And we transcend our
particularity, our social location, by living
and loving in this community. The
Body of Christ stretches around the globe and reaches backward and forward in
time. Now I think that’s cool!
The
problem is, others don’t. They want to silence or censure or shutout those with
different perspectives. The classic definition of “liberal” suggests a willingness
to consider all views. Church historian Martin Marty has pointed out the
liability of being liberal: when liberals rise to places of influence in
denominations, they leave conservatives in place. But when conservatives do the
same, they ax the liberals! Thus, over time, mainline denominations are being
skewed to the right.
One
of the points I made in my presentation on progressive Christianity this
weekend is that Christian fundamentalists and biblical literalists claim they
are the “traditional” Christians, when in truth, they are relative newcomers to
the tradition. I believe that much of what today is called “progressive”
Christianity is really good old mainstream liberal Christianity.
I
have been re-reading Kenneth Leech’s Soul
Friend, and in his chapter, “Prayer and the Christian Spiritual Tradition,”
he writes:
Frequently…expressions such as “traditional
theology” and “traditional spirituality” are used in ways which indicate
ignorance of the tradition in its diversity. We are in a situation of breakdown
so that what often passes for orthodoxy is simply a current convention, and the
most deeply rooted orthodox teachings are seen as some novel theory.
So,
while listening to the conservative members of the Body of Christ, progressive
Christians must never believe that our positions don’t have multiple roots in Christian
tradition!
And
when conservative members of the Body of Christ question whether we are members
of that body and resist listening to us, we must remind them of Paul’s words to
the Corinthians about failing to recognize the Body of Christ:
Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup in an
unworthy manner will be answerable… For all who eat and drink without
discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves.
In
context, Paul is talking about discerning the Body of Christ in each other, not
in the bread and the cup. When we fail to see the Body of Christ in one
another—and I would add, in the stranger as well—we are held accountable.
I
delight in the concept of our spiritual community as the Body of Christ because
it celebrates diversity while resisting divisiveness.
+++
Donations to this Emerging
Ministry are welcome through the blogsite http://chrisglaser.blogspot.com or by mail to MCC, P.O. Box 50488, Sarasota, FL 34232 noting "Progressive Christian Reflections" in the memo area. Thank you!
No comments:
Post a Comment