The Church as Holy-

Hi everyone!
In regards to our reading for this week, the question is asked what it means to claim that the church is "indefectibly holy," what grounds there are for this claim, and how the church can be both "indefectibly holy" and "imperfectly holy" at the same time.  Before reading... I pondered upon this question for a minute before continuing to seek out the answer for myself.  What did you all think in reference to this question?? 

As I read within Lumen Gentium, I found that it simply sums up the answer to the question on page 62.  "Accordingly, all Christians, in the conditions, duties and circumstances of their lives and through all these, will grow constantly in holiness if they receive all things with faith from the hand of the heavenly Father and cooperate with the divine will, making manifest in their ordinary work the love with which God has loved the world."  Being faithful believers, we are invited and obligated to try to achieve holiness and the perfection of our own state of life.  It is a free will that we must choose to partake in... a gift from Him.  Part of my daily prayer are the repetitive words from deep within my heart... To be holy and acceptable in His sight.  Within my further study of this question, I understand the term "holiness" as referring to the church, the bride of Christ.

I found Sullivan to be interesting when answering this question.  He explains that the term "indefectibly" means holy in a way which can never fail.  This made perfect sense to me and was such a powerful moment for me in my readings. Scripture reassures us of this by saying that the gates of hell shall not prevail over his church.  For the church to ever cease being a holy people, a people of faith formed by love, would mean that the powers of evil had prevailed over it. Christ's church will always be a holy people.  Sacraments are holy, they cannot be removed... for if they are removed, Christ is moved.  A church as Holy is a church that is "imperfectly" holy in which all of the members are sinners, because no one can avoid all sin, for we all fall short.  Keeping this in mind helps me to understand the church as both holy people and a sinful people, not only because some are holy and others are sinners, but because even the holy ones are also sinners.  For example, Sullivan states that the fact that the same people can be both holy and sinners at the same time is manifested when we celebrate the Eucharist. 

Holiness, then, is a church of "indefectibly, imperfectly" sinners "walking in love," (Eph 5:2)  Sullivan states that, "All growth in holiness is a matter of striving for "the perfection of love." 

So what do you think? Can we describe the church itself as both holy and sinful?  If we consider the church as the substantial people and therefore consists of real people who are both holy and sinful, wouldn't we have to conclude that the church is both holy and sinful?
I could have written so much... It was hard to choose a few points to focus on as well as not write all that I am feeling in reference to Holiness.  Be blessed and sorry for the delay.  (I was hosting 3 friends from out of town for the Super bowl, which slightly delayed me with my school assignments.)

Again... I love pictures as visuals say a thousand words.  This is a simple reflection of what "Marked with a Genuine Though Imperfect Holiness is.  It also represents a Holiness that cannot ever be taken away.

COMMUNITY

Community

When I think of the word community, I break it down to its root words: common and unity. Common means: of, relating to, or being; belonging to or shared by two or more individuals or things or by all members of a group; of the best known or most frequently seen kind, (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/common) to name a few. Then I looked up unity. A totality of related parts: an entity that is a complex or systematic whole; a condition of harmony; the quality or state of not being multiple (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/common). The reason for me doing this is because I needed clarification of my mind and Spirit. In the readings, I was taken aback when I read on the bottom of page 23, “All those that have detached themselves from it must recognize it, and return to it” (Sullivan, 23). I thought to myself, could I be that far off course in my faith? God has given me such great gifts, and revelation…
            I kept reading, and began to see hope for my state of confusion. At the bottom of page 26 to the beginning of page 27, spoke of how the term “the church of Christ is the Catholic Church was changed to “the church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church. Also as I understand it that it was to ensure that we know the historic applications of the Catholic Church and the Church of Christ. This clarified the true teachings in my mind, because I had just read Lumen Gentium, Chapters 2, paragraph 14 which stated: “Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ would refuse to enter or remain in it, could not be saved. I take my salvation so seriously that I was completely shaken.
            I really received a lot of understanding from this week’s readings. It was not just about a dogmatic approach, but about bringing God’s people to an understanding that as His children, we must forget about our own agendas, and work together towards spreading the Gospels of Jesus Christ. Scripture puts it better than I can, so I will leave you guys with this Luke 9:23 NKJV. “Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+9%3A23&version=NKJV).

The Church as One

Moe... What a great blog!  Thank you!

This week's reading was just WOW to me! 

I was extremely moved by Sullivan's Chapter 3 in answering the question, "What defines the church we believe in?"  Throughout my reading, I have gained a deeper understanding that the One Church IS a "koinonia," or communion of churches.  I, too, Moe was moved by Sullivan's comments about "one body" and being "in communion" with one another.  Sullivan states, "It is because Christians and their churches share such essential things in common that they are 'in communion' with one another, and thus constitute one body, one church."  The essential things are the same God: Spirit, Lord and Father; the same hope, same faith, and same baptism, which are the "common" things which forms a bond of unity among those who share these commonalities. 
Paul not only speaks unity, but shows the meaning of unity when giving such accounts in regards to the Jews and Gentiles. As Paul believed, I too believe the same.  For there is one goal, one mission, one church: "Christ has been crucified for all, and all have been baptized equally into him."

Moe, in reference to you and me within our classroom/school ministry... Keeping in mind Paul's longing for the division to be conquered and the belief that God shows no partiality is igniting to one's soul.  For we are the church... all of us... together... "One flock all belonging to the one shepherd, having heard his voice, that is having responded to his call to faith."  Classrooms are filled with diversity, a place where maybe we could possibly feel the most like Christ if being guided and directed by the Holy Spirit.  I just imagine Him being among the people, the children... no matter the race, sex, or social standing.  A sense of unity and the one church within.

The concept of oneness of the church has a new and deeper meaning to me within my ministry, my calling, and my life. As Raush quotes in his Intro, "Most Christians, no matter the denomination, tend to view Christian history and the church through the lenses of their own particular traditions.  Because of these lenses, their vision of what has been and what should be takes on a particular theological color."  Therefore knowing this, it is vital to understand and grasp the underlying concept which is, despite all the individual Christians, we are "One person, one church in Christ Jesus."
Perhaps if  we as a church not only believed, but taught and enacted the saying that "Diversity makes up oneness," we could then get a deeper glimpse of who Christ truly is.

This is just a cute picture I found... I loved "Embrace Diversity!"  (And the peace sign within it... because Jesus is PEACE and DIVERSITY, which make up the Church as ONE!!!)

The Church as One

The topic for our readings centered on notion of “The One Church.”  During Catholic liturgies, the congregation recites the Nicene Creed after the homily.  It is a profession of faith that has a line that announces and affirms belief in “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.”  Francis A. Sullivan S.J. seeks to establish what is meant by “one” as understood in Scripture and official church teachings.  He speaks particularly well about the issues that the early Christians faced in terms of unity.  During his ministry, Paul wrote letters addressing the tension between Jewish Christians who kept Jewish laws and believed in Christ with the Gentile converts who did not follow the customary Jewish traditions but still believed in the gospel.  This was a great challenge for Paul, as the two groups did not have much in common outside of their being newly converted.  This led me to consider my own ministry as an educator - am I promoting a vision of unity in the classroom and what lengths do I go to in order to promote it? Am I extending an invitation to all students of all backgrounds and abilities to full and active participation not just in the classroom and school community, but in the larger context of the Church?  According to Lumen Gentium describes the visible bonds and unity of the people of the Church “through profession of faith, the sacraments, and ecclesiastical government and communion” (p 14).  What of these can apply to my classroom?

In addition to having a shared faith as grounds for being united as "One Church," I especially liked how Sullivan points out Paul’s sense of communion included in sharing of gifts, especially to the poor.  From Sullivan’s perspective, the sharing was not a one-sided distribution of gifts.  He calls it “mutual sharing-of spiritual goods coming from the older Jerusalem church, and of material goods, coming from the richer Gentile churches” (43).  I am sure that in this case, each group valued what they received and felt worthy knowing that they could contribute something important to the overall Christian community. In the spirit of sharing, I came across this video, an experiment that recorded the reactions of children when they realized they received unequal food portions.  Perhaps in the Christian world there would be no need for the experiment as it should be an expectation.  I do not think the makers of the video were necessarily promoting the idea of Church, but I thought I would share the video nonetheless as it does make a point and is cute! As for my praxis, I can ask myself what mutual sharing and exchanges occur in the contexts of my ministry?  What are the implications of a shared faith in the gospel by the various members of my school community, including my colleagues, administration, students, and parents?

What readings and thoughts prompted reflection for you in your own ministries that connect to the idea of “One Church?”

How do you others perceive "One Church?"

There's Hope

Good morning class! Reading you guys’ posts is making my morning. While I agree with, and share Rose's passion towards the church re-aligning its focus back to the works of Jesus, I struggle more in the area of realizing and addressing the causes which may have led to the “shift” of focus in the first place. So, this leads me to what Daniella and Moe were discussing about camps. I have had the fortunate misfortune to have a very diverse religious background. Being raised Catholic by well-intended but miss-guided partakers of the faith, along with sprinkles of Baptist ideology from occasionally going to church with friends and family members who were not catholic, to trying to find my own way into the Pentecostal faith, and then finally settling into becoming Baptist; allowed me to visit those camps which are spoken of.  In the end, I realized that it was not about religion, but about relationship with God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

To me camps were created to separate one person’s true agenda from the other. In order to cover up the fact that you have strayed away from what God called have called you to be, you start another camp. Sometimes camps are started because of the cover-ups; members do not want to be a part of it. Whatever the reason, we are losing the war, because the “church” is too busy fighting individual wars, and many are against themselves. My use of the word church refers to page 46 in Rausch’s description of the church being Trinitarian. That’s why the passage in 2 Chronicles 14 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Chronicles+7%3A14&version=KJV), allows us to know that God knew we were going to turn away from one another, so He gave us the solution on how to win this battle against our enemy.

I would like to pose a question… on page 92, the 3^rd paragraph of Dulles’ writings, he talks about the church not being spoken about in the bible as service oriented. If one indeed sees the church as the body of Christ, or Believers of Christ, shouldn’t it be about service? What do y’all think? As for an answer to your question Rose, unfortunately, I cannot think of a community that exemplifies a metaphor of church, because there is always a conflict of interest between God’s way, and the ways of this world (government). I don’t want to seem like gloom and doom. In fact, I am quite hopeful that god’s people will get it together, because the Lord hears the cries of His people. I am going to leave you guys with a little song that cheers me up when I am beat down. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COE6YHIK-pU&noredirect=1)

Quiz! What is your model of church?

Dear Class, as you engage with the materials this week, here is a helpful online quiz to test which model of church resonates with you the most. Have fun :-)
Blessings,
Daniella

Metaphors of Church

Dear Class,

In the reading for this week I was especially interested in Rausch’s Chapter on “Metaphors and Models of Church”. In Rausch’s section on ekklesia he speaks in a beautiful way about the mission of the Church. “The mission of the Church is that of Christ, to reveal God’s love through Word and sacrament and to be itself a sacrament or instrument of communion of all people with God and with one another” (Rausch 46). I was struck by the mission of the Church acting as “sacrament”  between all people and God, and all people “with one another”. I found this to be a very powerful description of how we are called to treat one another as Church. I found myself reflecting on what it means for me as a member of Church to live in a sacramental way so that I can bring myself and others into fullness of life with God and with others. What does this mean? I think it means seeing the dignity and value of others and working to let others recognize the dignity in all human beings. I think that is just one example of how we can live in a sacramental way as Church. What do you think other examples are of how we can live out this mission of being sacrament?

We are also called according to Rausch to be an “instrument of communion”, we are called as Church to bring people together with one another and with God.  Later on, Rausch expands on this in his section, “People of God”. He says, “Salvation was always communal, not individualistic” (50). We are called to bring one another together in communion because that is what our salvation is about, living in communion with one another and bringing one another closer to God and the fullness of life through our worship as Church.

One last part of Rausch’s chapter that I was drawn to in this same section on the Church as “People of God” was this quote which sums up my belief on what Church is about: “The prophets never tired of reminding Israel of the inseparability of justice and worship” (50). This is very powerful and very true for me. Our actions must always be in line with our belief and the Jesus we meet in the Gospels is someone who cares very deeply about justice. I think one group that really exemplifies this description of Church is the Catholic Worker Community here in New Orleans. I have attached a link to their website! Can you think of other communities that exemplify your favorite metaphor of Church?