Accountability in the Body of Christ

When Helen Thomas made those remarks about Israel recently that led to her abrupt retirement, she discovered that even for established veterans of the media corps, some accountability remains. Her fellow reporters demanded a standard of conduct and held her to it. Whether one agrees or disagrees with her remarks is another issue. My point here concerns accountability.

Which, in my opinion, often seems lacking in the church. Now I am not referring here to the clergy, which is a separate subject to my purposes. I am referring to the idea among many that what they believe and how they live is no ones business but their own. They answer only to Jesus. In my ministry this attitude has impacted two areas in particular: sexual behavior before marriage and fellowship at the altar. Over the span of two decades I have encountered many who have believed that their involvement in the church was similar to that of any other club, minus the fact that there are any mandatory dues. Answering to their fellow members and pastor for what they believe and how they live their lives is clearly an 'over the top' expectation. Thus, when confronted with the unacceptability of cohabitation prior to marriage, some couples simply move the ceremony elsewhere or join another church. They have no interest in abiding by what God's Word may say.

When it comes to the Sacrament of the Holy Communion the altar easily becomes akin to a fast food establishment. You have food, I am hungry, you must feed me, no questions asked. Period. You don't need to know what I believe or how I live. That's my business. Between me and God, so keep out! How foreign such an attitude is to the Bible and the practice of the Early Church. How far we have drifted from these convictions, where the doors of the church would literally be closed to the unbaptized prior to the Communion liturgy. Instead of holding people accountable so that they might live genuine lives of repentance and forgiveness in Christ, we ignore sin, explain it away by justifying it, and duck from any confrontation. As a pastor I stand indicted myself for a failure to truly hold up my end of this responsibility as faithfully as I am required to do so.

If the church today is to find renewal it must rediscover accountability under the Word of Christ. Anything less will simply be 'playing church.'

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Firefighter's Cross

Image
[Note: A similar article to this will be shared with my department at their next meeting. During this Lenten season when we are meditating on the significance and meaning of the Passion of our Lord and the Cross at Golgotha, it seemed like one way to offer a witness to the department that captured their interest and yet was not too heavy.] [Editorial Note: In response to a recent comment on this article I have made some changes to the original version of this article especially in regard to references to the so-called St. Florian's Cross. For any confusion the previous unreferenced information may have caused I apologize. I hope that the changes are satisfactory.] THE STORY OF THE MALTESE CROSS In many ways the familiar symbol to the right requires no explanation. It is the universal insignia of firefighting nationwide. Yet the precise origins of this symbol are less clear. The most popular explanation proposes its beginning in the far distant past of medieval Crusaders fi...
Read more

Historical Roots of the Warham Guild Hood

Image
In doing just a little checking on the internet, it's interesting to see how the Warham Guild hood, which I have as part of my STM degree attire, is actually a throwback to the Medieval hood. One article notes "the work of the Warham Guild in its imaginative renderings of medieval hoods" (reference is from here ). Again, here is my hood: The Medieval hood, which was originally a very practical outer garment to cover a person's head and shoulders, protecting both from the elements, bears striking resemblance to this revived form: This hood was also a part of the garb of monks in that era. The Medieval hood, in some cases, also had what is known as a "liripipe," a long tail hanging from the back of a hood. You can see the modern stylized version of this on my own hood. From an article on "Academic hood development" we read that "By 1463 the favourite dress of doctors was the hood with round bell-shaped cape, and the lir...
Read more

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

Image
According to a recent documentary, for all the talk about academic freedom in the world of the large American university system, it would seem that it extends only as far as the system defines it - especially with regards to the subject of origins and science. Noted speechwriter Ben Stein stars as host of the film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. Dr. Angus Menuge, professor of philosophy at CUW, highlights the film in an article included in the Concordia University - Wisconsin magazine Concordian , including some seemingly revealing details about the expulsion of talented scientists who apparently were ‘expelled‘ from their positions for mentioning the theory of Intelligent Design: “In the current climate, even when academicians have a relevant doctorate and a track-record of peer-reviewed publication, their careers suffer if they argue that the scientific evidence points to an intelligent source involved in the creation of the world. In 1992, Dean Kenyon, a biology professor at ...
Read more