Faith Works 8-19-22

Faith Works 8-19-22
Jeff Gill

It's not essential that you agree with me
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Discussion of theological essentials always provokes a wide range of responses, and is a useful reminder of why Christian unity is difficult to achieve in visible, immediate forms.

My own religious tradition speaks of a "Restoration plea" asking that churches unite on the basis of "Scripture only," but that's where we find some immediate dissension. I spoke of my own reading of the Bible and Christian tradition as leading me to disagree with calling the exclusion of women from the pulpit a "scriptural essential."

That got me a few correspondents sending me textual citations. That's right where I think we have a problem: single verses or even half verses aren't how we're going to reach true discernment on God's will spoken in the word of God in the Bible. I believe we need a wider perspective.

The Ten Commandments include "Thou shalt not murder." We're still sorting out the Hebrew to English context for "do not kill" versus "do not murder" and then parsing down into second degree and manslaughter and pretty soon we're doing legal homework, not theology.

I believe in a Biblical worldview. Where I end up crosswise with others who say the same thing is that I'm not always certain I know what a Biblical worldview is, and am willing to be pastorally cautious about applying my understanding to particular situations.

My essentials for a Biblical worldview start here, in four points: there is a God; the one whom I call God is good entirely; God is engaged with creation (or contrariwise, God is not indifferent); and finally that our best way to see or hear or understand such an infinite and eternal God who is good is by looking to Jesus of Nazareth.

How do we work from basic concepts like that to daily application and personal beliefs? There's the challenge between church and culture. Not to mention within church cultures.

For instance: I am very conflicted over applause in worship. Look, I grew up in the Sixties and Seventies when everyone in church youth groups talked about how when we were older, we'd encourage applause in church. And the idea that God is best honored by an icy, unemotive, stock-still congregation just can't be supported by belief in a loving God who is deeply interested in the decisions we make and the lives we live.

Yet the move to worship as concert venue performance has . . . issues. Okay? Can I leave it there? I'm not saying all applause is bad, or that never applauding is good. I just am still wrestling with how we can allow some moments in worship to just . . . be.

The last verse of the last Psalm says "Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!" If lute and harp and tambourine and dancing can all be used to praise God, why not applause? It's a matter of where, and when, and in response to what.

You can carry this same question of discernment into matters of love and justice, food and sex, money and sharing. When, and why? To the person begging at the highway exit? At the buffet thinking about seconds? In your estate planning? And yes, I would argue that sexual intimacy is best intended within the marriage tie, but it's hard to find a Bible verse that simply spells that out directly. I think it's an argument that calls on the best of a Biblical worldview, but as sexuality is connected to questions of stewardship and mutuality and covenant, more than a "here's the verse that tells you what to do."

And then there's how we apply our faith, personal or communal, to matters of public policy. I believe very strongly indeed in the power, the value, the need for each of us to perform acts of service. But I really have a problem with mandatory community service. I truly believe in the power of prayer, but I also believe forced prayer is like forced confession, or worse yet forced belief. You can't order someone to have faith, and prayer has to be voluntary to be, well, prayer.

What I believe we can do in community, and I pray we are doing in this space each week, is to provoke one another to reflect on where a loving God is at work in all that we say, and all that we do, and especially when we struggle to bring the saying and doing together.


Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he's actually certain of a few more things than he was in the Seventies. Tell him what you're certain of at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.