Category Archives: House Church

Noah and the Flood Story Retold

And it came to pass that God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.  But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  Also, the grifters, deficient and the affected caught a break.

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.  And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.  And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.  Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.  And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.  Also, don’t forget the grifters, deficient and the affected.

Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.  Thus, did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.  Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.  Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.  Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of everything that creepeth upon the earth. Also, don’t forget to include seven pairs of the grifters, deficient and the affected.

To this last inclusion, Noah objected.  Seven pairs of the grifters, deficient and the affected.  Really?  You want these rejects to foul the ark for half a year?  Seriously?  God, this is where I put my sandal down.  Just like the unclean, which they are, only a single pair of the grifters, deficient and the affected.  God reluctantly acceded.  And Noah said:  Mark my words, this is a big mistake.  You shouldn’t try to save everybody, because you can’t.

There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.  They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.  And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.  However, God noticed not every pair was there.  And He said unto Noah: Wait a sec, where are my grifters, deficient and the affected?  And Noah said unto Him: Whoopsie, I didn’t think you’d notice their absence since you’re over there busy destroying all of mankind.  Oh well, I’ll put them in the ark, only a single pair of each like we agreed.  But I won’t hold them.

And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in.  Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.  And the grifters, deficient and the affected immediately set about plying their dark arts.  The grifters making deals with man and beast which they would not or could not fulfill.  The deficient giving a hot foot to the orangutan, short sheeting the giraffes, etc.  The affected laughing hysterically as they mocked to death the turkeys for their bizarre physiology, the baboons for their crimson asses, ad nauseum.

And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged; The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;  And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.  And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and went and looked for every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, to offer burnt offerings on the altar.

But there were no clean pairs left of the seven pairs saved.  Through deceit, cruelty and ridicule the grifters, deficient and the affected destroyed the beasts of the boat.  Watching the display for one hundred and fifty days, even the unclean felt dirty.  However, after allowing the grifters, deficient and the affected to join the unclean, the unclean were now their minions and set about populating the earth accordingly.

As for Noah, it would be bad.  Without something clean to sacrifice, God forsook him.  He died quickly after this fiasco.  His dying words to God were: Told Ya.

To provide for sacrifices is the reason more of the clean animals were to be taken into the ark.

2017 – A Grifter in Every House

If I opened my doors to anyone in need, who would get in line?  First, oh yes, would be the grifters.  Money for nothing and nothing for free.  Next, the rejected, for sure.  Nobody wants them a second time around and so you got ’em and their bad behavior.  At the end of the line slouch the young, they never grow old.  Couch surfing without gratitude, rudely swaggering in and out, taking everything that can be carried out, returning nothing but calculated promises, and bitching about any impediments.   You might think that my musings reflect a bad year with worse people.  How about another year with the same type of people?

Why would I keep relationships with those who have rendered themselves useless?  Think of it this way: If every home housed a homeless, homelessness would disappear from the headlines.  If the destitute turned the wealthy into the impoverished, there goes the wealth gap.  Greed was once again put solely into the hands of the desperate, there would be much less for the rich to covet.  As for an individual purpose, it is hard to rationalize.  But as remedy as to what is wrong with this society, country, and world, you should be able to see the merit.  Take from well healed earners and give to undeserving slackers in order to make this a more sustainable world for all.  What’s the first step?

This idea has to be law, sermon, and fact.  From government to church to education make believers out of the moneyed populace or take money from them.  They have no choice.  Concern should be given to those who have been taken.  A community that has level wealth has level fiscal health.  The rapidity of decline in the upper class when grifters, misfits, and young start working in this world (to justify their new found welfare).  Think of it.  Getting less but paying more.  Quality is no longer a requirement, it is only found in museums and historical documents.  Showing up is optional.  Trust is all but quaint.  Lying is expected if not mandatory.

 

Exempt from the “Don’t Be A Jerk Rule”

I admit that I willingly entered the world I’ll refer to as “OpenArms”, where everyone is welcome and no one is turned away, and all souls are equal.  Except there must be order.  There must be a plan.  There must be funding.  With these truths self-evident, there is a hierarchy.  This hierarchy will have its automatic positions of royalty in the form of family and friends of hierarchical elites.  There by making some more equal than others.  Planning and funding are not the fortes of all who pass through the arch.  There by meaning those with credentials manifested by initials after their name or deep pockets expressed through generous tithes are more equal than individuals with no trailing inits or meager shekels.  These realities allow for unintended exemptions.  Exemptions from the “Don’t Be A Jerk Rule”.

The view downward from the high hierarchy must contend with cloudy awareness and self imposed myopia.  Informal royalty can scowl and growl at plebeians who entered the gates, commoners fully expecting to be welcomed by all and treated with appropriate decorum for a spiritual entity.   Credentialed critics, however, troll the words and actions of true believers unchecked because their designations protect them from admonishment.   Another group, broadly identified as the infirm, get away with inappropriate language, grifting, bullying, and even aggressive contact because of known conditions of mind, addiction, orientation, emotion, and vulnerability.  Ok, so who is left?

No true believer is totally exempt from attack by the DBAJR categories listed above.  However, most congregants in OpenArms respect the tenets of community and spiritual expression.  Live and let live.  Listen as well as talk.  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  Being human, we all have our hiccups.  But when someone of status trolls the words and actions of another, seen as subordinate,  in a clearly malicious way, in a sustained attack, action would seem to be in order.  But who will bell the cat?  Those in the hierarchy risk losing credentials or funds and therefore admonishment is not something to be undertaken in a knee-jerk manner.  On the other hand, when the pastoral setting becomes aware of “dogs in the manger”, there is more to lose than status and shekels.

The first of the innocent to fall should signal symptoms of an illness within the organization.  It can be ignored as an anomaly or characterized as a person’s prerogative to leave but it is the beginning.  Spiritual communities don’t rot only from the top down but also from the inside out.  Once the cancer begins, it will spread increasingly while ignored.  What can the first harmed individuals do?  Try to survive until awareness sparks in someone who cares.  Until that distant time dawns, avoid the menace, continue the work, contain impulsive emotions that demand fight or flight.  Not being a position to win at this point, one must hang on, hunker down, hope for a quick resolution to a slow deterioration.  If there is fault on the harm-eds part – then resolve it.  If there is over reaction to injury – then heal it.  Watch the spectacle as a phenomenon rather than a personal attack because there will be others who will be hurt and perhaps far worse.

Another caution is the spread of terror as the aggressive person recruits others, inside and out, to carry out this onslaughts in the innocent.  These minions of menace migrate towards this minor power source like tiny bugs to a putrid light.  Pleasing the prince of evil by punishing the parish becomes an end in itself.  Malleable, shallow, and mean, they swallow whole the discharge of their defacto leader and seek to destroy the very haven they covet.  Not powerful but tenacious, their insidious actions turn away those who they do not know and have done no harm.  The soldiers of sinister escape an isolation from humanity only to start down the path that got them isolation in the first place.  The stronger but silent victims of this transgression may leave or distance in order to avoid contact even if it means losing contact with the vessel that gives them succor.  How do a minority of insincere and weak minded infiltrators defeat a mass of commitment and dedication?

Matthew 20:1-16King James Version (KJV)

1 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.  The kingdom of heaven resembles a householder who hires laborers to work in his vineyard.

And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.  The laborers agreed to a wage of a penny a day to work in his vineyard.

And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,  After three hours, the householder observed idle men in the marketplace.

And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you.
And they went their way. (?) The householder told the idle men he would pay them a right wage.

Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.

And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?

They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.

So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.

And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.

10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.

11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,

12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.

13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?

14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.

15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?

16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

My first take is: Opportunity is provided in the beginning by one to all.  All may choose to capitalize but may not be able at the same time.  The ones who chose first are no better than the ones who chose last, their reward is still the same.  This is at the discretion of the good man.  One can assume the evil eye might respond differently.  The one who agrees to terms with another may not change those terms, only the maker of those terms has that option.

Upon re-reading this parable, I am at first confused.  When verse 4 states “they went their way” it could be understood as they left (as it is meant in verse 14).  Verse 15, the householder becomes slick and uses a leap in logic by attributing the laborer’s “evil eye” to the householder’s goodness rather than his obvious lack of fairness.  The householder even contradicts himself in verses 4 and 7 by telling the men he would pay them what was “right”.

Verse 16 explains the actual proceedings and but does not explain the logic.  Why pay more for less?  Won’t the next harvest find these early risers hiding at the tavern until the 11th hour?

In the parable each of the people and the places, wages, and hours are symbolic.

19:30 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

The well-tended vineyard is the symbolic image of Israel, God’s obedient people of the Old Covenant Church in covenant with Yahweh.

In verse one Jesus says this parable is about the coming Kingdom of Heaven that He has come to establish; therefore this parable is about the new Israel and the New Covenant Church.

  1. vineyard = the Church, the kingdom of heaven on earth/house of God
  2. housemaster/lord of the vineyard = God
  3. laborers = those who serve the kingdom/house of God in the Old and New Covenants or who come to serve the kingdom at different ages in a lifetime.
  4. market-place = the world
  5. foreman who pays the promised wage for service = Jesus
  6. wage = salvation
  7. hours = the age of man in salvation history from Creation to the end of the age of man and/or the lifetime of a person from birth to the end of life

Whether a person is baptized at birth and continues to serve the Lord all his life or the person who is called in his youth or middle age or even the person who answers the call to salvation at the end of his life, God’s gift of salvation is freely given in every case.

Matthew 25:14-30 – The Parable of the Silver Pieces

  1. For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them;
  2. to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability.  Then he went away.
  3. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents.
  4. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents.
  5. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
  6. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.
  7. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, “Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.”
  8. His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”
  9. And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, “Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.”
  10. His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”
  11. Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed;
  12. so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.  Here you have what is yours.”
  13. But his master replied, “You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter?  …worthless, lazy lout!
  14. Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest.
  15. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents.
  16. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.
  17. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Summary Matthew 25 Parables

Ten Virgins 1-13: I tell you, I do not know you.

Five virgins were foolish; The foolish said to the sensible, “Give us some of your oil…”;  Master answered, “I tell you I don’t know you…”

Silver Pieces 14-30: You worthless, lazy lout!

Master handed over funds according to each man’s abilities;  …out of fear…; those who have not will lose even the little they have.

The Last Judgement 31-46: Out of my sight, you condemned…

…go off to eternal punishment…

The Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-21, 22, 23)

The Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-21, 22, 23)

  1. That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the lake.
  2. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach.
  3. And he told them many things in parables, saying:
  4. Listen! A sower went out to sow.
  5. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up.  Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil.
  6. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away.
  7. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
  8. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
  9. Let anyone with ears listen!
  10. ’Then the disciples came and asked him, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’
  11. He answered, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
  12. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.
    • What they HAVE is “spiritual wisdom”, those who have NOTHING have “no faith”.
  13. The reason I speak to them in parables is that “seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.”
    • This little verse may have at least three points to consider.  First, veiled truth is told to those who do not want to hear it.  Second, a powerful message goes forth but it does no harm if ignored.  Third, if it sets men thinking, it can bring them to faith.  Jesus must speak and move in veiled ways, much like many authors through the centuries wrote their fiction in the form of roman à clef in order to speak the truth in deadly times.
  14. With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:“You will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive.
    • Isaiah’s words are not a command but a prediction of what the people will do.
  15. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn—and I would heal them.”
  16. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
    • Those people in our lives who taken for granted, who exhibit trust and kindness and forgiveness, they are our eyes and our ears, but we don’t see or listen.  We believe that our selfish sense is what is important even as we descend from happiness and distance ourselves from humanity, civility.
  17. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.
  18. ‘Hear then the parable of the sower.
  19. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path.
    • The birds that came and ate the seed that was sown on the footpath represent the evil one who comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart?  Is the evil one the devil or anyone, including self, who steals from the heart for selfish reasons?
  20. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
  21. yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.
    • The rocky ground represents the person who can hear and see and receives joy but has no depth of devotion.  The sun represents trouble or persecution that rises when wisdom is awakened.  Without depth of understanding, commitment to patience and wisdom, and strength to endure pain, even good news will rationalized and forgotten.
  22. WHAT WAS SOWN AMONG BRIERS IS THE MAN WHO HEARS THE MESSAGE BUT THEN WORLDLY ANXIETY AND THE LURE OF MONEY CHOKE IT OFF.  SUCH A ONE PRODUCES NO YIELD.
    • The company we keep or pursue can amount to briers that choke us of yield while giving us the impression of bounty.  The perils of this world and also its luxuries powerfully choke us of the ability to be a planting and a product of wonderful growth and harvest.
  23. BUT WHAT WAS SOWN ON GOOD SOIL IS THE MAN WHO HEARS THE MESSAGE AND TAKES IT IN.  HE IT IS WHO BEARS A YIELD OF A HUNDRED- OR SIXTY- OR THIRTY-FOLD.
    • It is a mature person, no matter the age, who recognizes the good seed landing in the good soil and then grows.  Life’s opportunities and natural potential are constantly availed to us and we need to recognize the shallow paths we may be walking, the tangled briers stalking us, the rocky ground we choose to tread, and the fertile deltas that we may pass.

This parable presents double meaning to me.  The seed here represents God’s message but to me the seed could represent many things.  In addition to God’s message, it could also represent, growth of both good and evil.  Winning and losing, life and death, marriage and divorce, benefit or crime.  All acts in life have within them and outside them opportunities, possibilities, and potential for moving forward on various paths.  Winning a game might justify an opportunity to rest.  Losing could inspire examination and strengthening one’s skill.  One’s life is a solid block of opportunity.  Another’s death might allow for sculpting an unfinished legacy.  A marriage might be a new beginning in happiness or the continuing of old family tradition of misery.  Every mutual financial endeavor potentially hold’s mutual benefit or individual crime.  Making the most of life’s fallen seeds depends on one’s outlook and another’s guidance.

You are the Answer to Prayer – Unabashedly

Chapter 11, Unabashedly Episcopal, by  Bishop Andrew Doyle

God’s hand with them, lead them, serve you, dwell with you, through Jesus.

Harvest is great, laborers few;  Prayer is fate, let us renew.  from Luke 10:2

Asking is not praying and a harvest is not always bountiful.  You may sometimes ask for help but you should always pray for it.

Mark 4:3-9  Some seed sown is eaten, Some seed sown without depth and had no roots.  Some seed sown and choked immediately and did not yield.  Some seed sown good and produced.  The parable does not say that sowing with wild abandon resulted in fruit coming up all around.  Great harvests are due to great care in the sowing and great production from good soil.  There is always a harvest but the harvest is not always good.  From a good harvest, one only prospers in fruit.  From a poor harvest, one might prosper in knowledge…Missioners can be found in the halls of Congress or sacrificing in a crisis and more, each and all a heritage.

— Many have Labored Before Us

A mission of healing, preaching, and announcing the reign…A wooden box can be many things, or it can be just a box.  It can hold books that instruct.  It can be a bookshelf, a piece of furniture.  It can be a coffin for the laborer returning from the final harvest…be a sower of seeds…in a variety of places and in all kinds of soil…

  • Jackson Kemper – first missionary bishop to go West.  One man can build a college, seminary, outreach, and inspire…are we doing at the present moment even one tenth part of what we are capable?…Many owe birth and life to the missionary spirit.
  • Julia Chester Emery – A Century of Endeavor – a chronicle of the great missionary age…provide hospitality…faithfully care for the infirm…coordinate and encourage…the first foreign field of the Episcopal Church, the strange new land of Texas…those whose hearts burned for mission and whose giving under-girded the proclamation.
  • James Theodore Holly – the first African-American bishop…serving in the new Diocese of Haiti…freed slave…namesake…a dispute about ordaining local black clergy…as the last surviving apostle of Jesus was in tribulation on the forlorn isle of Patmos…to free before emancipation, to bring a better life before they could achieve it themselves.
  • Lillian Trasher – she canceled her wedding, sure that God had called her to serve…Acts 7:34…send thee to Egypt…pray for a life that reflects the light.

— Called to be Missionaries – caring for abandoned and malnourished…reconcile love with the world in word and in action…Lucien Lee Kinsolving…help others to find respite…accumulated masses of debris were visible on every hand…remaking and reshaping and re-imagining.

— Generous Evangelism – mission is creative and energetic, adventurous and inspirational, and it is inevitable… I am a better person because now I know that my value is not based on the world’s calculations…Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, Malcolm Gladwell…faith we would inherit…a few people making little changes will happen steadily, organically, and exponentially through generous evangelism…movements are more like an epidemic than an economy of scale…renewing, restarting, renovating.

— Taking the Message on the Road – Gospel news…makes a lasting difference…we have each had resurrection moments, and thanks to our own personal evangelists, we could understand just what was happening…The only way the tipping point occurs…is through us…people in pews with private, polite, personal Jesus…seekers can smell inauthenticity a mile away…The harvest is outside…Matthew 23:37…The world needs a vital, living missionary organism.

— Unabashedly Episcopalian – How will we know…?  We will know we are making progress when evangelism…and caring for others become the hallmarks of the Episcopal Church once again…We will know we have turned a corner when our leadership…is more diverse ethnically…the only way we find is to walk outside…even while we look it may cease to be an unfinished vision by becoming transformed into a consummate reality.

The House Church Movement – What are THEY Saying?

I wish to write of my experiences with St. Isidore’s different missions.  One of these is the House Church.  Following is some research and review on that subject.

Wikipedia “House church”

A house church describes a group of Christians who meet in a private home which may be part of a larger Christian body or independent from any larger group.  Sometimes the reason for a house church has to do with its small membership while other times it has to do with Christians being banned from meeting in any venue (as is the case in China).  Some Christian groups believe that house churches are a better form of outreach and still others contend it was what Christ intended.  The New Testament speaks often of house churches, which were the only option for 300 years until Christianity was legalized by Constantine.

The modern revival of the House Church in North America and the United Kingdom can be traced, in part, to the feeling by many unfulfilled church goers that traditional churches fail to meet their relational needs.  Some supporters of the movement consider House Church a misnomer, preferring other monikers which better describe its function rather than its location, such as “simple church,” “relational church,” “primitive church,” “body life,” “organic church” or “biblical church.”  For example, organic church expresses that the group takes on the pattern of a living organism.  Though the origins are varied, one philosophy is: …if people would not come to church, the church must go to the people.

Sometimes, traditional churches must cut mission funding to support the cost of fixed church expenses for buildings and salaries.  House churches can have more money for missions, less pressure to fill pews, and do not resemble the mega-church which can become a big monster which eats everything that is given and can be given and still constantly asks for more.

SteveBremner.Com: 5 Things the House Church Movement is Getting Wrong

Steve Bremner wrote 5 Thing the House Church Movement is Getting Right – which I am not evaluating.  I feel that the Wikipedia coverage sufficiently addresses many of the points addressed by Bremner’s positive piece.  I am curious about his counter point so I address it here without first reading the first article.

Generally, Bremner says that the House Church Movement is like other prior movements intended to address the faults of the institutional church but over compensates to correct the institutional errors such as pastor, pews, programs, buildings, indifference, hierarchy, etc.  He lists the 5 faults in no particular order as:

  1. Meeting in houses does not necessarily solve the problem that being institutional allegedly creates. Bremner states that neither location or size is inherently spiritual.  However, from my point of view, a home is in actuality personal, private, and welcoming much more immediately than a big building and  possibly a long journey.  I feel this point is moot, using the modern meaning of the word.
  2. Inward focused.  Again, Bremner uses the term inherent, as in members feel that they are inherently different because they are meeting in a house.  Also, some members feel that a house church can become just another social meeting place which abandons its initial objectives.  These things probably are true in some cases but they are surely true in institutional churches.  So I’ll use Bremner’s term to say that just because it’s a house church does not mean that it will inherently become a social club without any outreach.
  3. Not making disciples.  Bremner here avoids using the term inherently by substituting ipso de facto, nice.  He somehow states that member to not become disciples via osmosis, duh.  Certainly, any church, large or small, must have content, intent, and extant meaning.  This makes 3 for 3 on his non-point points.
  4. Not Evangelizing.  Again, I think Bremner is missing the point.  Most non-believers are turned off by overt evangelizing.  However, most people of all stripes find evangelizing by example irresistible.  Once one sees another walking the walk, living and acting in full compliance to the word, there is little to find fault.
  5. Arrogance of ‘doing church the Biblical way’.  Bremner writes of an admittedly extreme case where the house church movement led to prohibition from associating with institutional churches and isolation of the individual house church congregation.  He is describing cult mentality and the warning and need to avoid such a consequence goes without saying.

This counterpoint article did not add much to my understanding of the house church movement in terms of “don’t” other than pointing out some obvious, obscure, and moot points.  Glad I evaluated it though!

Reviewing the two articles, Wikipedia’s “House Church” and Steve Bremner’s “5 Things the House Church Movement is Getting Wrong” might seem tedious, so I’m going to attempt this by taking my talking points from a third article from TheHumanist.Com, titled “This Sacrilegious House of Cards Scene Even Shocked Some Atheists” by Maggie Andriente. Specifically, the article is written about a Season 3 episode prefaced by such terms as “deliciously obscene”, “binge-watching a sport” and referencing a prior episode scene where Frank Underwood urinates on his father’s grave which she understatedly supposes would be offensive – at least to religious conservatives. So, let’s get going.

Season 3, episode 4, Frank converses with a Bishop about the fire-and-brimstone of God in the Old Testament but the Bishop’s response disappoints him.  Unconvinced, Frank walks to the alter and, standing before a statue of Jesus, spits in Jesus face.  This scene improbably led to the religious right to wonder why Hollywood wasn’t equally offending other religions.  How does this relate to either of the two prior articles?  Well, the call for equal offensiveness against other religions would seem to be a contrary position to take for a group whose necessity to meet in private houses during Christianity’s birth years was a result of persecution.  Also, attracting others, whether it be to a house church or institution, can not be served by seeking retribution towards other religions because they are different or individuals because they spit in the face of a un-offended statute.

A conservative actor then leaps from his Hollywood spitting in Jesus face to the left pissing on Christianity as a whole.  Wow.  Let’s see if we can find leaps like this in Herr Bremner’s 5 Faults.  Maybe Bremner’s point 3 applies here.   Bremner states that members of a house church can’t become disciples through osmosis.  That leap presupposes that disciples can’t be produced outside the house church.  The whole reason for house church is that institutional religion is not working.  Discipleship must be activated by use of a new serum – good old contact and content.  Don’t leave conversion up to the congregant, make it a part of the congregation continuing discipleship.

The best point made in this article is: …respecting sacred space and accepting such space as sacred are two different things.  The house church like institutional chapels or cemeteries deserve respect, silence, and reverence, no matter the religion or lack of it.  Yes, house churches should not become social clubs or cultish extremes and the few that develop are not representative or likely to subsist.  To base criticism or things that might happen or did happen in the media are not reasons to discount a movement that attempts to reverse the trend of people turning away belief in something greater than them and towards something less likely to satisfy their eternal needs.

The Man at the Gate

Chapter 10 of Bishop Doyle‘s book – Unabashedly Episcopal

 

Acts Chapter 2.47 Praising God and winning the approval of all the people.  Day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Acts Chapter 3

  • Cure of the Cripple

1 three o’clock

2 “the beautiful”

3 alms

4 fixed gaze

5 whole attention

6 Peter said: “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.

7 the beggar’s feet and ankles became strong

8 walking, jumping about and praising

9 when the people saw him

10 sit at the Beautiful Gate

Peter’s Discourse

15 You put to death the author of life

17 I know that you acted out of your

22 …raise up…a prophet…from among your own kinsmen…

26 God sent his servant to bless you by turning you from your evil ways.

Chapter 4.9 If we must answer today for a good deed done to a cripple and explain how he was restored to health, then you and all the people of Israel must realize that it was done in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean…

When there is a father figure showing the way, one can be productive.

Short term gimmicks can lead to productivity that appears miraculous.

You have to catch fish in order to learn how to fish.

In time gimmicks need to be retired.

One has to feel productive before becoming productive.

It doesn’t matter how much or how many but how and how well?

At the end of every day …our…actions speak louder than our…promises.

 

It Matters How You Live

The Rich feast sumptuously while the poor get sores.

Those who received good things will be in agony in hell.  Those who received evil things will receive comfort far away.  No one can cross from hell to here.

If those receiving good things will not listen to the living they will not listen to those rising from the dead.

Luke 15:32  The brother of yours was dead, and has come back to life.  He was lost, and is found.

Luke 16:19-31  …you were well of in your lifetime, while [he] was in misery…

Luke 17:1-2 Scandals will inevitably arise, but woe to him through whom they come.  He would be better off thrown into the sea with a millstone around his neck than giving scandal to one of these little ones.

It matters how the rich man in the house treats the poor man lying at his gate.

Care for the sheep who have no shepherd.

If you love the shepherd, feed the sheep.  John 21:15, 17

We are responsible for the people in our lives and for the people around us.

Radical message is to radically reconfigure family to mean each one is a brother or sister.

If one has taken responsibility for me, I should take responsibility for my community.

Not just the few, the very few, that we like.

Someone is standing at the gate waiting for us.

We can take up our responsibility for one another, and share our lives…

 

Good and Dangerous News

Act out of deep care and solidarity with the suffering.

Each day one comes to the gate hoping to receive some measure of kindness.

No gold or silver but something better.  Acts 3:1-8

A source of transformation for hurt and need.

Out-narrate the rival narratives about what the world is…

Live so that others are attracted to our character and peace…

“…after his resurrection Jesus ascended into heaven and at the end of the age he will come in glory to judge the living and the dead…” The narrative is that both the living and the dead will be judged…

Go further with unique proclamations…

The Baptismal Covenant:

  1. Supported by
    1. Scripture,
    2. teachings,
    3. prayer,
    4. sacraments
  2. Mission work sends us into the world to enact the gospel for Jesus:
    1. first,
    2. last
    3. always
  3. Outreach meets the needs of the whole person:
    1. spiritual
    2. physical
  4. Proclaim the reign of God in
    1. voice
    2. action
  5. Believers are
    1. taught
    2. baptized
    3. nurtured
  6. Respond by serving
  7. Transform unjust
  8. Seek sustainable and renewing initiatives that redeem humanity and creation
  9. Root outreach and mission in
    1. Scripture
    2. Tradition
    3. Reason
  10. Meet the needs of others by joining hands with those with different
    1. theology
    2. ideology
    3. identity
  11. Change by serving and walking with the
    1. poor
    2. voiceless
    3. oppressed
  12. God’s grace saves us and gives us power to serve & act

The story of our faith is what we are given and what we have to offer.

Episcopal

  • Epi means on or above
  • Scope means to see in order to act, to target, to observe

 

Sharing the mission and a Message

Meet people outside our doors as a responsibility.

 

A common mission prepares us to meet the people outside our door because we have received grace and mercy.

In order to meet God at his gate, I must hold the hand of the one outside my gate.

In order to come to rest in the bosom of Abraham I must arrive holding the hand of the one sitting at my gate of comfort.

Knowing When You’re Being Guided by the Hand of God

When you’re doing things that don’t make sense to anyone, but they getting results, they are satisfying your needs and not hurting anyone.  When the ones you care about don’t see the point in your objectives and you can’t get anyone to listen to you.  When your life slowly, slowly rises while others falter and strangle and the proof, the only proofs you have are the results, the sure better way in a rejecting world.  You may have been guided by the hand of God.

Not being religious and not believing in the tenets of the Christian faith, this is a bold statement on my part.  But how else to explain it?  Illogical to everyone but inspiring to me.  Doomed to failure but ultimately a subtle success.  Impossible in the eyes of the wise yet being accomplished by someone with no chance of success.  With no encouragement, little help, incessant ridicule and criticism, something of lasting value is created and rises up from the ashes.  Something precious to others who are capable and sought by others with with resources, that something coming to one with no capability to attain it, no resources to secure it.  When the crazy person finds the hidden treasure and those weighted and balanced are left holding only their malice, you may have been guided by the hand of God.

The proofs that God is guiding you are very hard to see.  Mostly in hindsight they are.  Completely blemished they may be.  Never bold and underscored will they appear.  Because they are illogical and unexplainable they are wonderful not miraculous.  Because the guidance comes not from present rationale or past training and bread crumbs on the path… There will be mistaken paths…There will be harmful failures…  There will be disheartening betrayals…  There will be growth and maturity and scars…  These are the proofs.  Along with the knowledge that something went right when everything went wrong.  That someone stayed with you when everyone abandoned you.  That when all is lost you can still be found.  Just when the silence and the censor and the cynicism haunt you and seek to crush your flagging hopes and disparaged dreams, you see a light.  You get back up.  You leave the dried blood to cover your wounds.  You savor the pain radiating from you your bruises.  You seek to understand the abandonment of those you trusted.  And you get back confidently on the path…you must have been lifted and now you are guided by the hand of God.

You are a joke if you don’t think the ridiculers are funny.  You are ignored if you have an opinion without credentials.  You are crazy if you stand alone with the truth.  Being guided by unseen forces means that your intensity will almost always put you at odds with someone who is more convinced than intense.  More arrogantly right than actually correct.  More interested in self interest than self enlightenment.  Yes, order has its place, but disorder is always waiting to enter into a structure that only honors credentials and might and tradition.  No one deserves anything.  Every one is free to take.  Only the strong will get it.  But the patient and persistent and persevering can be served.  Served at a later time than the time of avarice.  The time of confrontation.  The time of win and lose.  This will seem to be the position of the weak, which I am.  All the same, it is some kind of truth.  A kind of way that balances the dominating haves with the masses of have nots.  When you can hold on to only hope as you watch the tangible blow away in the wind, you might be being guided by the hand of God.

Being disposable is a tough role to exist in for your entire life.  Having your trust, loyalty, and hard earned money pave the way for another’s pleasure or success or good life can be devastating if dwelt upon.  So don’t do it.  Let go of it.  Trust is your own mis-confection and a lesson learned for future application (too bad it is so often forgotten).  Loyalty is your own bad choice and your are surely not alone on this one (too many wars and not enough families have suffered from poor, abused loyalty).  Money?  Money is the easiest thing to fix.  Jimmy Buffett sings “I made enough money to buy Miami, But I pissed it away so fast…”.  You can always misapply your trust again.  You can always find someone or something else to affix your loyalty to…and have it slip, then slide, then fall on the floor of fate like the other loyalties that didn’t stick.  Money isn’t a matter of acquiring, it’s a matter of pursuit.  If the values in your life have no value to the non-trustworthy, disloyal, and wealthy – you are one the path, guided by the hand of God.

Loss still has to hurt.  Harm still has to draw blood.  Abandonment will still take its toll.  Make no mistake, listening to the voices no one else can hear brings more immediate hardship than listening to those who everyone can hear but bring long term but only temporary comfort.  Infestation, infection, and pestilence are part of the dynamic always going along for the sake of protection, health, and belonging.  Leaving the herd not only exposes one to the pain of rejection but also the frigid steppes of the unknown.  The cave of solemnity is also the cave of salvation.  Sit by its meager fire.  Feel your wounds slowly, painfully, blessedly heal.  Commune with the emptiness which surrounds you, haunts you, enlightens you.  These are the moments you will remember through the many stages of your life.  Stages begin and end up until the end.  But moments of clarity and maturity occur and stay.  Hold them dear.  Neither wish for them or avoid them but rather cherish them when they occur.  They are a result of you listening and holding the guiding hand of God.