From time to time, I get into a conversation, and someone asks me to define what a ‘Christian’ is, what we believe in and if we are different from other people. Now there are a number of ways of answering that but one of the best descriptions of who we are as a faith was also one of the earliest descriptions made of Christians.
In the 13th century, a manuscript was found which was entitled ‘Epistle to Diognetus’, believed to have been written by a Greek writer, but which has been dated as being written around 130AD-so it is regarded as one of the earliest Christian apologetics (arguments in favour of Christianity). We are not sure who the author was or who the ‘Diognetus’ referred to was, but what was written over 1,800 years ago is still as good a definition of what a Christian is or should be as anything else I know:
“ (Christians) dwell in their own countries but simply as sojourners (temporarily). As citizens they share in all things with others and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do others, they begat children, but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table but not a common bed -they are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh”.
“They pass their days on earth but are citizens of heaven. They obey prescribed laws and at the same time, surpass the laws in their lives. They love all and are persecuted by all. They are poor, yet they make many rich; they are completely destitute and yet they enjoy complete abundance. They are reviled and yet they bless. When they do good they are punished as evildoers; undergoing punishment they rejoice because they are brought to life.”
A very familiar phrase is “We are a broad church” which secular organisations -especially political parties – regularly use to show that an organisation can contain a wide range of beliefs, styles and opinions. The Christian faith is quite literally that. Around 2.5bn people are Christian (around a third of the World population in fact), and they are part of up to 45,000 separate denominations – quite an incredible figure. The vast majority belong to churches in the 5 main Christian families of Catholicism, Protestantism, Eastern or Oriental Orthodoxy and Restorationism (including Jehovah’s Witnesses and Church of the Latter Day Saints/ Mormons etc).
Even here in our own parish, we have 5 separate churches who pray, worship, praise, honour and submit to Jesus and God not together but as similar but decidedly individual church families. Although it is sad that as a faith, Christianity has splintered from its early days, into congregations of different styles of worship and even belief, we should be strengthened by the knowledge that there are more things that bind us together than those that separate us.
Jesus, I suspect, would not be surprised at how His church has developed over the millennia, as it was surely to be expected when a faith such as Christianity happens that is truly open to ALL people- whatever their background, whatever they have done to themselves or others, no matter how knowledgeable or not they are, and irrespective of their own personal politics. Christians have always sought to understand who Jesus is, what that means to them individually and how they should worship, praise and live their lives according to Him.
Disagreements and debates amongst Christians are nothing new of course. They happened very early on in church history - St Paul disagreed that Gentile followers of ‘The Way’ had to follow Jewish law- that was a debate he had to win for spiritual and practical reasons, and it led the way for Christianity to become the world force it now is. In the 17th century the Puritans left England to go to Holland and America because Church of England reforms were not to them sufficient (sound familiar?) as they sought a literal belief in scripture with minimalistic worship without the rituals, crosses and church decorations that Anglicanism brought with it from Catholicism.
So, we are all Christians together – even if we worship in separate places and may believe different things about we see and honour Jesus and God.
One of the attractions of becoming part of a church family is how you are welcomed in and can feel that you belong- my local church in Princes Risborough is usually very good and giving newcomers a very warm welcome where you can feel that you are wanted and are made to feel part of an extended family. Sadly however, that is not always the case with churches.
I was recently re-reading the excellent memoirs of the Rev Richard Coles -Vicar of Finedon (Northamptonshire) -who was talking about how he moved from his sex and drugs rock and roll lifestyle as one part of The Communards into becoming a Christian.
Richard was feeling what he called “twinges towards religion” and going through a deep personal crisis “I felt, in crisis an almost overpowering yearning for the feeling of peace that I had experienced sitting in chapel when I was young”. However, he had a problem: he was and is gay and as he remarked:
“The Christian Church was the enemy; in a general sense, the defender of reaction, obfuscation and distributor of opium to the people; in a specific sense, the most implacable enemy of gay liberation, the most consistent in opposition to the liberalisation of law and culture and not a place of welcome”.
Thankfully, Richard took the plunge, and not only did he find his place as part of a church family ,but he later became Ordained and is, in my book, one of the most impressive and passionate defenders of the Christian faith in this country.
However, a point he makes that is sadly still the case today in some church communities is how unwelcome some people are made to feel in church (his quip is that “some of us were, and are, as welcome as ‘Typhoid Mary’ at a parish lunch”) just because they are different in some way – they might be Lesbian, Gay or Transgender, or they could be Black, Asian, Disabled or just ‘different’ from the majority of people.
At our church our mission statement is bold and clear: “Sharing the love of Christ with all”. That last word “all” is so important – we make no exceptions-no matter how different someone may be, we pledge to share Christ’s love with them. Like Jesus himself who embraced people who were different (tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers etc), the whole church family needs to welcome with open arms, hearts and minds those people who perhaps we don’t understand, agree with, or can accept. We have to do that because Jesus demands that of us. So, Share your love. And do it now!
2021 is the centenary of the birth of an organisation that became known as the ‘Oxford Group’ (later renamed ‘Moral Re-Armament’ and now ‘Initiatives of Change’ ) a name I suspect most of us may be unfamiliar with. It was established by a Lutheran -Frank Buchman -after he had a religious experience whilst attending a Keswick Convention in Cumbria and talking of that experience, he said:
“I asked God to change me, and He told me to put things right (with people). It produced in me a vibrant feeling, as though a strong current of life had suddenly been poured into me and afterwards a dazed sense of a great spiritual shaking up”
The Oxford Group’s aim was a ‘Christian revolution for remaking the world’ and for that to happen people had to change and the only way to start that is with yourself. Its motto was ‘When man listens, God speaks, ; when man obeys, God acts and when people change, nations change’. The Group had huge influence throughout the world but perhaps its single biggest contribution was in how it facilitated one of the most impactful life- saving fellowships in history – that of ‘Alcoholics Anonymous’ (AA).
In the 1930s an alcoholic, Bill Wilson, attended a series of Oxford Group meetings and when later in hospital he cried out “I’ll do anything! Anything at all! If there be a God, let Him show Himself!”. He then had the sensation of a bright light, a feeling of ecstasy and a new serenity. Bill Wilson never drank again in the remaining 37 years of his life. With a fellow alcoholic , Bill Smith, they were able with the Oxford Group to keep 100 alcoholics ‘dry’. Realising that alcoholism was not a failure of will power or morals, but actually an illness, they set up what become ‘AA’. It has been an incredible success treating millions of people in its near 90 year history and have saved countless lives that would have been loss to the awful addiction that is alcohol.
One of the main reasons for its success was the ’12 Step’ programme that Bill Wilson and Bill Smith introduced just after WWII which is their group’s ‘bible’. There are exactly 12 for a good reason- Bill Wilson in particular knew that God was crucial to the recovering addict and clearly saw the Christian analogy – there were 12 Disciples, it was at the age of 12 that Jesus was found talking to elders in the Temple, there are 12 legions of angels, the New Jerusalem will be built of 12 foundation stones and of course Jacob had 12 sons -the 12 tribes of Israel etc.
The 12 Steps, amongst other things, require the sufferer to admit :
they are powerless over alcohol;
that a power greater than themselves can restore them;
to turn their lives over to the care of God (as they understand Him);
admit to God, themselves and to one other person (their Sponsor) their faults and to atone for them;
to allow God to remove their shortcomings;
to seek through prayer to improve their relationship with God
to practice these principles and carry the message to other alcoholics
The 12 Steps have been such a success in healing peoples’ lives that other healthcare programmes now utilise it including organisations such as ‘Gamblers Anonymous’, ‘Narcotics Anonymous’ & Al Anon’ (for families and friends of alcoholics).
This is what can happen when a group of Christians get together to ‘remake the world’- great things can happen!
