Part XXXII Matthew - Dedication and Transfiguration, Part I

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on 23 October 2014 3 Comments
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Question

I have read two of your books, Why Christianity must Change or Die and The Sins of Scripture and have started Eternal Life, A New Vision. I have gone to church all my life (Methodist and now Lutheran) and never had any doubts about what the church teaches until about the past ten years (I am 81). I have been afraid I was becoming a heretic until I read your books and found out a bishop also had my concerns. I could not understand how a loving God who has helped me so much all my life would say that people could not be forgiven unless Jesus suffered such a horrible death upon the cross. God never asked for a human sacrifice before. I have come to believe if Paul had not taken the Christian movement to Rome so fast- if it had stayed in Palestine longer - it would have grown much differently and not absorbed so much of Roman paganism. I said that to a rabbi one time and he said, “Well, you said it, not me.” When I read the Bible, it doesn’t sound to me like Jesus considered himself the same as God. He often prayed to God-always trying to show us what God is like and how to love and serve him. He even corrected the one who called him “Good teacher” and said, “Why do you call me good?”

My problem now is where can I go to church? I love my God and I want to worship God, but I can’t honestly say the creeds any more and some parts of the liturgy bother me. I recently moved and have been attending a church I like and I like the Pastor. I need to transfer my membership, but I know I will be asked to recite the creed to join and I can’t be a hypocrite and do that. I just say the first article in the service and some of the rest and hope no one notices. I am sure there are many with my problem, but there is nowhere for us to go unless one wants to join a house church group. I was told at a retreat I attended one time that there are several of those forming in the area. The church seems always to be talking about why church attendance is dropping and what methods or new tricks they can use to get people back, but they never seem to discuss how the church itself needs to rethink some of what it teaches. I hope your books and lectures will change that but I am afraid not in my lifetime. I am grateful for the work you are doing.

Answer

Dear Janet,

Thank you for your honest and straightforward letter. You speak for a large number of people. There is much truth in what you say and yet I find myself thinking that your exposure to contemporary church life must be rather limited.

There are a number of worshiping communities that you might attend. Your letter does not reveal where you live so I cannot be specific. I do know, however, that there are many congregations that live out a very different agenda from the one you seem to have experienced. These individual churches are present in every denomination. I have written about some of these in this column in the past. They are in all sizes of communities and in all parts of the nation. I think of churches in which I have spoken in such communities as: Hendersonville, North Carolina; Greeley, Colorado; Phoenix, Arizona; Omaha, Nebraska; Morristown, New Jersey; Norman, Oklahoma; Sacramento, California; Helena, Montana; Springfield, Missouri, and many others, far too many for me to identify. These “pearls of great price” congregations have to be looked for, but most of them do not hide their light under a bushel. They are well known and are even regularly attacked by the more traditional churches.

There are also denominations that encourage local congregations to move in this direction. I would put the United Church of Christ and the Unity Movement at the top of this list. I think more (but not all) of their congregations tend to move in a more modern, positive direction than those in many other denominations, though every denomination has some of these churches that fly outside the mold. I have attended an Episcopal Church in the tiny rural community of Fairlee, Vermont, that I am confident that I could enjoy as a member on a regular basis. I have also attended a Congregationalist Church in the even smaller village of Peacham, Vermont, which would also attract me easily.

In regard to the creeds, why do you think that a fourth century document should be invested with literal and infallible truth? The creed is not an “ecclesiastical girdle into which you must force your flabby faith;” it is a love song that fourth century Christians sang to their understanding of God. I can sing that love song without forcing my mind into a fourth century pretzel. I recommend that you join the church that you say appeals to you and work from the inside to make it a life-giving community of faith.

Congratulations on being so vital at age 81!

My best,

John Shelby Spong

 

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