11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
*Ephesians 4.11-16 (NLT)
Writes Charles Simpson, in Pastoral Renewal:
I met a young man not long ago who dives for exotic fish for aquariums. He said one of the most popular aquarium fish is the shark. He explained that if you catch a small shark and confine it, it will stay a size proportionate to the aquarium. Sharks can be six inches long yet fully matured. But if you turn them loose in the ocean, they grow to their normal length of eight feet.
The Ephesians passage gives a context for our growth as spiritual Christians. It speaks of the gifts Christ gives "the church" for the growth of the members of the Church, his mystical Body.
Spiritual growth and maturity for the Christian is rooted in being in Christ. "In Christ" means both Jesus Christ and, so, the Body of Christ ~ the spiritual Church. The spiritual man or woman will grow to speak truthfully and lovingly. This Christian will grow in "every way" to be more "like Christ."
What, or Who, is the organizing energy of this environment called Body of Christ? Christ. "He makes the whole body fit together perfectly." Why? That each one and all together may be "healthy," "growing," and "full of love."
The proper context for spiritual maturation of Christ followers is association with others of the Body of Christ. To deny this Body is to deny Christ, the "head of his body." We meet the resurrected Christ in his earthy Body, the resurrected Christ meets us in his earthy Body. To take the Christian out of fellowship with the Body of Christ is to take him or her out of the environment Christ holds together to provide space for growing into the likeness of Christ.
In a culture of me-ism, many persons just do not get this fact: there is no such thing as private faith, private religion, or my own spirituality. One is only revealing a profound ignorance, and maybe more ~ like a childish, reactive judgment of the church ~ , when he or she parades a self-made concoction called my spirituality.
But what is this spiritual, mystical Church? To be true to the Christian faith, which is being true to Christ and his Body, we must see this Church linked to the church on earth throughout the centuries. We are of a living tradition in place and time, not a nebulous, metaphysical reality. We cannot just meet at a coffee shop with some "spiritual Christian friends" and use that to justify our alienation from the institutional form of the mystical Body of Christ.
"Spiritual" and "mystical" imply that "Church" and "Body of Christ" is not fully equated with the institutional church. Yet, back to the beginnings of Christianity to the present, the spiritual, mystical Christ has found its place in a living tradition that meets together weekly and is linked, in some manner, with all other churches of the tradition.
We live in essential tension as men and women of contemplative Christianity. We are given insight, through loving-union with Christ, to know that Christ is not confined in the institutional church, that such a church is not the sole mediator of salvation, and the "Church" and "Body of Christ" are not fully equated with "church." The other side of this tension is that being a contemplative, or mystical, Christian, we accept this earthy, institutional church as the primary and Spirit-chosen means to be an icon of the true, spiritual, and mystical Body of Christ. Here, Christ places gifts of the Spirit for the building up of true Christians.
The church is not fully the Church, but the church is not fully other than the Church. In nondual spirituality, we could say: The Church is not the church, the church is the Church.
While I respect deeply other world faiths, I cannot say "I am a Christian" without commitment fully to Christ and the church. For me, as a follower of Christ, this earthy, imperfect, and human institution is the environment the Divine places me to grow to be more like Christ, to learn love, and to receive and share spiritual gifts. I do not confine Christ to the church, but I find the church to be the beautiful, earthy icon of the cosmic Word of God. The church, logically and bibilically, is the continuation of the Incarnation of Christ.
While it has brought me much pain, the church has been the means of graces to form me more into the image of the living Christ. The church I once tried to escape, I have found to be the place I most need to love and serve Christ and others.
*Brian K. Wilcox lives with his two beloved dogs, St. Francis and Bandit Ty, in Southwest Florida. He serves the Christ Community United Methodist Church, Punta Gorda, FL. Brian is vowed at Greenbough House of Prayer, a contemplative Christian community in South Georgia. He lives a contemplative life and inspires others to experience a more intimate relationship with Christ. Brian advocates for a spiritually-focused Christianity and renewal of the focus of the Church on addressing the deeper spiritual needs and longings of persons, along with empathic relating with other world religions, East and West. Brian has an independent writing, workshop, and retreat ministry, for all spiritual seekers.
*For replies and biographical information, as well as booking retreats or workshops, fill out the following form:
|
