“The body of Christ takes up
physical space here on earth” (page 207).
“A truth, a
doctrine, or a religion needs no space of its own. Such entities are bodyless.
They do not go beyond being heard, learned, and understood” (page 207).
“The body of the
exalted Lord is…a visible body, taking the form of the church – community”
(page 208).
I have read and
pondered the first pages of The Visible Church – Community and am
struggling with how to communicate what I’m reading, for Bonhoeffer is leading
me on quite the dance of point and counterpoint. It could be that he sees more
than he can succinctly communicate, or it could be that I simply can’t see
clearly. I am loath to distill what I may not fully understand, so I won’t
pretend to do it. This is my disclaimer, it is also my endorsement of Discipleship,
for it challenges me in the best way possible, it stretches me, it calls me further
up and further in, as Lewis might say.
I hope you are
reading and pondering The Cost of Discipleship, what I’m writing is meant
to point us to Christ and to Bonhoeffer’s message, it is never meant as a
substitute. As a reminder, I recommend the Fortress Press Reader’s Edition,
under the title Discipleship.
I have chosen
the above three quotations with which to move into Chapter 11, I think as we continue
into the chapter that we’ll see treasures in our Lord Jesus Christ – I have my
copy underlined and marked up.
“The body of Christ takes up physical space here on earth”
(page 207).
“The body of the
exalted Lord is…a visible body, taking the form of the church – community”
(page 208).
Taking the first
and third quotations: Jesus Christ took up space on earth during the
Incarnation, and He continues to take up space, for His Incarnation continues
in His Body. This goes back to what we’ve previously seen, the Church, the
Body, the Temple, is a person rather than an institution or an organization, a
unique Person, but indeed a Person. We ought to be thinking of the Church,
the Body, the Temple, as a Person.
Now if you have
ever thought about something a particular way for many years, and then changed
your mind about it, you may know that it can take a while for your whole person
to make the change. Sometimes it takes a while for our hearts to catch up with
our heads, sometimes for our heads to catch up with our hearts, sometimes for
conflicts within us to be resolved (and sometimes we may have to learn to live
with loose ends). Isn’t this what we should expect? We are not machines, we are
women and men created in the image of God in Jesus Christ with feelings,
emotions, intellectual constructs, and so much else.
There are times
when I think my intellect is engaged in bumper cars as I work through elements
of Scripture and life, and the same is true of my emotions and feelings. The
things that matter are often wrestled with for a lifetime.
Why are we so
quick to insist on what people should believe, rather than teaching and
modeling for them how to believe? Yes, yes, what we believe is critical, but
the “what” without the “how” falls short. Belief and a life of faith is
continuous engagement, it cannot be compartmentalized as Christians tend to do,
it engages all of life, insisting that all of life must be in Christ and that
Christ must be in all of life.
If we have spent
our lives thinking of the Church as an institution or organization, rather than
as the Person of the Body of Christ, then it is likely that a change in seeing
and thinking will be a process, it is not likely that we can flip a switch and
cross from A to C without experiencing a process, without working through B.
If we are rooted
in a movement, a system of doctrine or practice, or in a denomination (and I
daresay that we all are whether we acknowledge it or not), this will be challenging,
for despite our protestations, our vision of the Church has been limited by our
practice, if not also by our doctrine. Some of us have no qualms in asserting that
our mother church is the only true church, while others may be nuanced but practically
think the same thing – we just don’t advertise it or teach it as a matter of dogma.
For most of us,
it takes time to learn to think of the Church as a Person, it takes time to
read the Scriptures as they are written rather than through the filter of our religious
and ecclesiastical conditioning. For others, to think of the Church as a Person
may be an economic threat, for our livelihood may depend on maintaining a parochial
view of church. For still others, social considerations may take precedence.
My own sense is
that our God is able to redeem where we are and to use where we are to be a
blessing to the Body of Christ – yes, there is risk, there is always risk – but
are we not to lay our lives down (including our denominational and
organizational lives) for the brethren? What opportunities we have!
What would it be
like if we were to say, “Yes, I am a Baptist, but I am more than a Baptist.
Yes, I am a Presbyterian, but I am more than a Presbyterian. Yes, I am
Pentecostal, but I am more than a Pentecostal. Yes, I am Reformed but I am more
than Reformed.”
There are deeply
practical ramifications to thinking and living Biblically in Christ. There are
ecclesiastical consequences, and for those in vocational ministry or education,
there are vocational consequences – some will bring sunshine, some may bring
storms.
As we learn to
visualize the Church as a Person, let’s recall the words of Jesus to Saul, “Saul,
Saul, why are you persecuting Me? I am Jesus whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:3
– 6).
When Saul
touched the Church, he touched the Person of Jesus Christ. As Saul would learn
and teach, the Church is not an organization or an institution, it is a Person,
a unique Person for sure, but nevertheless a Person, a Person taking up space.
The Lord
willing, we’ll pick these quotations back up in the next reflection in this
series.
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