Searching for a New Church
Ahh, last Sunday Ellen and I went to another church. We are new to town and pretty desperate to find a new church home where the word is preached and where the grace of the sacraments is treasured. Our preference would be “Anglican” because we both love the gospel in the worship of the Book of Common Prayer. We’ve tried several. We experienced stiff pageantry of a fancy-dressed priest and, more recently, a hipster priest and a service that was indistinguishable from a Baptist Church. Both spoke from the Bible but neither gave us Jesus.
I went to church hoping to meet God, but the preacher handing out marching orders instead. You can imagine how disappointed I was! I went hoping for some relief for my weary soul, but I left with the example of a better Christian to emulate. I desperately needed “rest” and to hear that “it is finished,” but I was told to try harder. I was wanting to hear about a Savior, but it turned out to be self-improvement advice from an amateur therapist. I sought heaven but was given earth. I so wanted to hear that God is not mad at me. I went as the rich young ruler who was already ladder-climbing-weary and I left before someone asked Jesus “Then who can be saved?” and before he answered: “With man it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God!” (Mk 10:26-27). I suppose I need more law (because the law is holy, righteous, and good - Rom 7:12), but I am sure that I need gospel. Hearing law without gospel is like the Decalogue and no creed; it is hearing a coach instead of a preacher; it is bad news upon bad news for my already burdened soul. If you leave church feeling burdened, it's because you’ve been slapped again with the law - without the remedy for the law’s demands. This cruelty happens every Sunday all across America, including Alaska and Hawaii! Law without gospel is always heavy, heavy, heavy!
The gospel of which St. Paul is not ashamed is about God’s power to save, his righteousness (Rom 1:16-17). It is about Jesus who died for our sins, rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven as the Scriptures told us he would (1 Cor 15:3-4). It is about “done,” not “do.” It proclaims what God has done for you and me in his Son when we couldn't. It is God’s solution for sin, despair, weariness, and death. Gospel proclamation will leave us feeling exuberant because a righteousness and power not our own has been given to us in exchange for our sin. It is perfect freedom, not obligation, that then produces the fruit of obedience - in that order! His yoke is easy and light, not drudgery. It is faith, not the extra-burden of a call to faithfulness. Paul Zahl was right: “Whenever you hear a preacher invoking concepts like ‘accountability’ or ‘discipleship,’ you can be sure you are hearing the Law. Whenever you feel comforted or elated or absolved as ‘fresh as a foal in a new mown hay,’ then you know you are hearing the gospel.”
The Foolishness of Preaching: Proclaiming the Gospel Against the Wisdom of the World, Robert Farrar Capon
The Worship Pastor: A Call to Ministry for Worship Leaders and Teams, Zac Hicks
A Pilgrim’s Guide to Rest, Yahn, Haskins, Moffitt, Litts
Theology is for Proclamation, Gerhard O. Forde
Law and Gospel: A Theology for Sinners and Saints, McDavid, Richardson, Zahl