Like a fire

Theology vs. Listening – Church

Talking to people about this idea that theology is people who don’t hear God, I have heard many people say that the church wouldn’t be necessary. I wonder at that. I think the church would be just as necessary as it is today, maybe even more.

Hearing comes from the word
Church would look a lot different if this were true. Instead of being universities that taught theology, the church would be a place that listened together to what God is saying and what he is doing in each of our lives. Worship would be more of a time of hearing what God is doing and being blessed and encouraged by each other’s stories. Ancient practices like Lectio Divina would become more regular.

My own personal Jesus
Our relationship with God would become more personal as we wouldn’t wrap our heads around these facts about God, but instead would spend more time with him. The church would learn to rely on each other more and help each other.

Patience is a virtue
People would have to wait until God told them something before acting, rather than having to press on and make decisions like our society teaches. In the church, we would have to wait more and do less. It would be anti-culture rather than relevant seeking culture (meaning, trying to catch up to where culture is leading).

Church would be much different, but it would still be necessary and beneficial. The mission of the church would move from telling everyone what they think to asking people to listen. God could speak for himself. It would also allow for a more incarnational way of life. Evangelism would move from memorized phrases and vague references to the death benefit to a personal good news that is in this life and the next.

Now, if I can just figure out how to get there.

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2 Comments

1. 

   Paul, we are so coming from two different directions on this! I grew up in a church that dissed theology and emphasized "my own personal Jesus." But that itself is a theology, and the funny thing is that it is a theology that is just as destructive to being church as is Theology. Everyone gets so involved "having a personal (read "private") relationship with Jesus" and hearing Him tell them what to say to others that they don't remember that they are the BODY of Christ. I was in high school for my first church split, and I am sorry to say that it was not the last. Just as often as the splits have been sparked by arguments over doctrine, they have been sparked by people who claim to or are perceived to be hearing God and being led by Him. How to correct this? At some point we must return to scripture and LEARN what Christ intends the Church to be. But to do that is to do theology! I hear what you are after...but I fear that to define theology as "people who who don't hear God" is a mistake. That is just a definition of BAD theology. Furthermore, to think that theology can be done apart from the Body of Christ-- spread across space and time--is also a mistake, one to which we protestants are particularly susceptible, as we tend to ignore entire swaths of the life of the Church, for the sake of "sola scriptura." The answer isn't to ditch theology, but to do theology BETTER. We are all broken, sinful, missing the mark, and so we all overshoot the sweet spot where Christ stands, and believe that the truth will be found through prayer, OR r theology, OR praise and worship, OR social action. Lord forgive us, and lead us back to your center, to where You are, to where all these things are held together in perfect balance, to Your glory.

   Beth / 12 Feb 2009 / 11:24 AM

2. 

   I hear you Beth, and agree that we are facing the same issue from different sides. I don't think anyone hears God perfectly, which is what it would take to make theology irrelevant. The next post is more where we are talking about. My paradigm is based on the arrogance of people who have given up on hearing God and would never say they have a word from the Lord, but instead think they have theology figured out. Where your culture would divide over their personal hearing, mine would divide over their interpretation of scripture. That is why I think church would still be needed, because we test each other and build each other up, sometimes confrontationally. I think your are right that it can't be unbalanced in either direction. We should meet in the middle on the next post. Thanks for commenting. (and for your humility)

   Paul / 12 Feb 2009 / 1:28 PM