A Lutheran Visits a Christian Scientist Church? It was a surprise ...

Some years ago I wrote a series of posts on other churches I was visiting -- it was a blend of curiosity, and fellowship / ecumenism, and a quest for my next home-congregation that (even then) I understood was becoming necessary. I had not planned on continuing that series -- until last weekend when I was traveling. At a graduation party for my son and some of his friends, I heard a couple of the parents discussing church services in the morning. I mentioned I was interested in joining -- why should I miss Sunday celebration and worship merely because I was in a different city? After all the arrangements had been made, they mentioned: it was a Christian Scientist service. I knew nothing directly about them except by reputation, and had no idea if their reputation was fair. And so I followed through with the plans to see what there was to see. 

The worship space

The worship space was pews and piano and organ, and a space for the readers. It gave an impression that was pleasant but unremarkable. 

The readings

The readings were extensive and substituted for the sermon, lasting around the same amount of time as a typical sermon. There was an introduction that made it seem that extensive readings were the norm, an intentional practice to keep doctrinal purity as they saw it, that the readings / sermon at each congregation should be distributed from a central location, with each location reading the same readings as the sermon. The majority of the readings were taken from a denomination-specific book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by their founder Mary Baker Eddy. In format, the readings were broken into a number of sections: each section began with a few short Biblical verses or portions of verses and continued with longer quotations from Science and Health which interpreted and expanded on various topics. For my part, I found the readings from the Bible to be so short as to lack their own context, and the readings from Science and Health to be difficult to reconcile with Scripture. 

The leadership

The leadership was mostly a pair of readers -- one man and one woman -- and most of the service consisted of listening to them read, alternately. 

The congregation

It was a small congregation -- the smallest I have ever joined for the main weekly worship service. I wasn't sure how much was due to being in a smaller city, or a smaller denomination. I could easily count on my fingers the number of people under thirty. (Those over thirty probably outnumbered them two- or three-to-one -- to give an idea of the modest size of the congregation.) The people were friendly without being pushy, and did a great job of welcoming and including me without crowding me. 

The Christian Scientist particulars

The Christian Scientist particulars do seem very particular. While they did not hand me a theology book, there were consistent ways of wording things that made me wonder if we had compatible views on the identity of Jesus, or the goodness of creation, or even the reality of creation. There was a recurring undercurrent suggesting the physical is illusory, and a clearly recurring theme that if God is spirit, and the image of God is spirit, then man is truly spirit. At several points I had to shush the little voice in my head saying, "Wow, they're Gnostics!"

The worship space, reprise

After noticing the direction in which many readings slanted during the service, I took a second look around the worship space and did not find a baptismal font, or communion rail, or altar. 

Lingering thoughts

If I were to speak about God to someone from the Church of Christ, I might start with the goodness of creation, that we taste and see that the Lord is good, and that the created world declares the glory of God. They seem to understand the love of God -- that God is good. That might be common ground on which to build. 

Personal: Traveling, no regularly-scheduled post

Today I am spending time with my son out-of-state, and there is no regular post today. I intend to be back behind my keyboard next weekend. Wishing a blessed week to all. 

Mother's Day: The greatest command of parenting

At Forward Progress, Michael Kelly's recent post on parenting is on my mind as today is Mother's Day in the U.S. He brings up the "dirty little secret of parenting," as he calls it: that we don't actually know what we're doing. He makes some fine points along the way. My children are now grown, and what I say comes with the benefit of hindsight, and knowledge that I need grace for a job that was flawed. 

Here is what I see of our job as parents: 

• Treasure our children
• Nurture our children
• Edify our children
• Guide our children
• Pass on faith, hope, and love

There will always be room for more to say because there are so many details of how to live that, and so many decisions every day about what is the best way forward. There will always be room to grow in understanding like there is always room to grow in love. But as in life, so in parenting: the greatest of these is love. 

The beatitudes: A challenge to the spirit our age

Jesus' beatitudes have been translated into our language long since: they are not in a foreign language to ours, so much as a foreign spirit to the times in which we live. "Blessed", blessing, a trust in benevolence of anyone or anything, seems foreign to us. The beatitudes tell us about God's values: Purity, humility, righteousness, peace, mercy -- these are not among the values of our times. The beatitudes are spiritually beautiful -- in an age which has deadened tastes for spirituality and for beauty. Reading them washes our minds, washes our spirits, re-baptizes us with the Spirit of God. 

The most important battle of our day is spiritual: regardless of which person comes out on top of any particular conflict, that person will not last long. It is "the way of all flesh": rulers come and go. But will hatred win, or love? Will honesty, or falsehood? Will debauchery win, or purity? So the beatitudes do not need to be translated into our culture by a linguist, they need to be transposed into our culture by souls who live them in faith. "Faith" is another word that is out of phase with our culture; only when we live in faith can our culture be reacquainted with faith.

The presence of God

A small word of encouragement today in a troubled world: 

"The Lord be with you." It's an integral part of many Christian worship services. "The Lord be with you" was recorded as a blessing and a greeting in the days of Ruth and Naomi in the generations before King David was born (Ruth 2:4). It's a treasured and familiar greeting among God's people.

Scripture teaches us that God's presence reaches all the world. That is a promise that no place is beyond his providence, beyond reach of his blessing. God is present whether we see him or not, whether we recognize him or not. Yet his presence brings us peace of mind only to the extent that our minds hold thought of him. 

We live in troubled times -- the most troubled I have yet seen, with a possibility that things may get worse before they get better. Even more prosperous times feel empty and pointless without being grounded in the presence of God. Without that presence, troubled times can become overwhelming. 

It follows that our awareness of God matters for our peace of mind.

Redemption through death and resurrection

Without forgiveness, eternal life is not a prize. Look at any family gathering where there is no tradition of forgiveness. There is either open enmity or secret hostility; those are about the sum of available options, without forgiveness. Forgiveness is the acceptance and love that values us even through our imperfection. Without it there is either a requirement to meet a standard, or the desperate pretense that there are no problems of any significance. Forgiveness brings with it the better likelihood of honesty, where admitting a problem isn't a deal-breaker and so problems can be addressed rather than masked or ignored. It may be counter-intuitive, but admitting to problems leads to fewer or smaller problems: there is a safe way back, so they can be addressed.

Without redemption -- and making all things new -- our lesser holiness doesn't survive first contact with a fallen world. We easily adopt the things we are cautioned against, whether doubt or enmity or strife or factions or discord or envy, bitterness or pride, or any number of pitfalls in this life. They can all start as strategies for making things better; the problem is that they don't. The Psalmist's cry, "Create in me a clean heart" is one of the most beautiful in Scripture. There comes a time when we are as interested in becoming pure and holy, as we are in being accepted or forgiven. 

To God be the glory for making all things new, and first for the death and resurrection of our Lord. 

Forgiveness: The no-shows at our big moments

This continues a series on forgiveness. 

 "But Thomas, one of the Twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came." (John 20:24)

Thomas is one of Jesus' chosen Twelve apostles -- a high honor in this world. And yet he is most famous for doubting. Who was he doubting?* Did he doubt the women's story? He might have convinced himself that Mary and the others were confused. Did he doubt the other disciples? He must have; they carried the word to him also. He was likely to have heard the report of Mary and the others who had gone to the tomb. Thomas chose not to be there in the upper room that night; he may have been expressing his doubts already by his absence.

So Thomas missed Jesus' first supper with his disciples after the resurrection. Thomas missed the joy, and continued in grief. He wasn't there for Jesus; he also wasn't there for his fellow apostles to console each other in their sorrow. We're not sure where he was when his fellow apostles found him, but as they brought him the news of Jesus' resurrection, Thomas made his doubt and skepticism plain: he didn't believe them, and wouldn't take their word. ... Not entirely. He did believe them, or want to believe them, just enough that he was in their company the next time that Jesus came to see them. And Jesus met Thomas' skepticism with compassion, with a willingness to relieve his doubts and fears, to spend some extra time to strengthen him.

There are times when people have been no-shows at my big moments in life -- or, I wonder, have I sometimes been a no-show at theirs? Jesus' patience with Thomas is encouraging -- even knowing his doubt, he meets it with understanding. He considers it worth the effort to reach out, and (to their credit) so did the other apostles. 

Lord, in someone's absence, may I withhold judgment and consider that I may not know what doubts are on their minds. At the right time, may we see each other and resolve the doubts. For those where I have been absent, may I seek the new occasion to be there for them again.

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* Yes, I'm aware that it's still officially on English style-guides that it should be "Whom" at the start of the flagged sentence; that's also (in practical use) considered at least semi-archaic. I choose to use "who" in the hopes that future style guides will adopt what is becoming de facto standard, if not yet formal standard. Even if the style guides do not adopt that standard, it is likely that less formal readers already have.