christians confess meme
I have been tagged by Sonja (mend well, lady!) for a confession meme. Seems a very fitting meme - one in which we would answer with care and sincerity; for those who follow Christ should be marked as being a people who confess and a people full of mercy.
The rules follow:
- 1. Apologize for three things that Christians have often got wrong. Your apologies should be directed towards those who don’t view themselves as part of the Christian community. Alternatively, apologize for things you personally have done wrong towards those outside of the church.
2. Post a comment at the originating post so others can keep track of the apologies.
3. Tag five people to participate in the meme.
4. If desired, send an email with the link to your blog post at the Christians Confess site, giving permission for your apologies to be added to the website.
Three Confessions:
I confess that I have experienced and even helped perpetuate a Christianity that was more consumed by “a love for power than the power of love” (a great couplet that captures my thoughts exactly stolen from Bishop N. T. Wright). Too often the church wants to be in the position of making decisions and charting the course, grabbing more influence and more and more; rather than assuming the posture of Christ - the posture of love. May the church repent and return that we might be known as a community of unconditional love.
I confess that the churches I have affiliated with have often been overly concerned about “eternity” and the hereafter; and too often only gave lip-service to the realities and horrors of everyday life (poverty, homelessness, AIDS, fair trade, genocide, war, violence, environmental concerns, etc.). This is not the way of Christ, as I understand Him. May the church repent and return to the values of Christ and be known as those who actively reveal a Kingdom of holistic-restoration.
I confess that too often the church is more concerned about “right thinking” (in all areas - sometimes which can be characterized as focusing on the minutia) and not equally concerned about showing “right behaviors.” I think our over-emphasis on orthodoxy sometimes to the detriment of orthopraxy has shown those outside the church a fractured, rancorous, too much bickering with too little action body. May the church repent and return that we might “be one, as God is one.” May we demonstrate the actions of Christ to the world around us and take to heart, “in the essentials unity; in the non-essentials liberty; in ALL things charity (attributed to Augustine see correction in the Comments).”
I tag the following folks to participate in this meme:
Chris Folmsbee
Matt Steen
Monty Stewart
Christine Stine
Mark Riddle
Thanks, Doug … I am feeling TONS better today.
Love your “confessions.”
One thing though and I’m just curious, but I’ve often seen that final quote attributed to St. Francis. Though, of course, he was probably drawing on earlier sources.
hmm… good question…
The internet seems to “wrongly attribute it to Augustine” and it is also not a Francis quote. So here is what I have found, hopefully it is correct.
According to Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. 7, pp. 650-653 (repr. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1965):
It was during the fiercest dogmatic controversies and the horrors of the Thirty Years’ War, that a prophetic voice whispered to future generations the title watchword of Christian peacemakers, which was unheeded in a century of intolerance, and forgotten in a century of indifference, but resounds with increased force in a century of revival and re-union:
“IN ESSENTIALS UNITY, IN NON-ESSENTIALS LIBERTY, IN ALL THINGS CHARITY.
NOTE
On the Origin of the Sentence: “In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis (or, dubiis) libertas, in utrisque (or, omnibus) caritas.”
This famous motto of Christian Irenics, which I have slightly modified in the text, is often falsely attributed to St. Augustin (whose creed would not allow it, though his heart might have approved of it), but is of much later origin. It appears for the first time in Germany, A.D. 1627 and 1628, among peaceful divines of the Lutheran and German Reformed churches, and found a hearty welcome among moderate divines In England.
The authorship has recently been traced to RUPERTUS MELDENIUS an otherwise unknown divine, and author of a remarkable tract in which the sentence first occurs.
Doug,
Thanks for contributing to the meme. Really appreciated your confessions.
Whoa … that’s really cool. Thanks for digging that up …
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