Pastor's Blog: The Holy Christian Church
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Every Sunday when we recite the Apostles’ Creed (or the MBBC version of it), we refer to our belief in “the holy Christian Church.” The reference in the Creed is actually to the “holy catholic Church,” but years ago, when MBBC first began reciting the creed, our pastor at the time, Dr. Nelson, didn’t want people to be confused over what they were confessing with that phrase and so made the switch so that we might affirm what the original creed invited believers to confess – that in spite of our divisions and our diversity there is a larger fellowship of which all Christians are a part, what theologians have called “the Church Universal,” or the Church that has existed from the beginning and will continue to exist until Jesus returns to receive her into heaven. The word catholic simply means “universal,” but I agree with Dr. Nelson. There’s no use confusing people over a minor issue so that they miss out on the major one, which is how no church is in competition with another. Instead, we all are together in our battle with the powers of darkness, which in the power of the Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – we will one day overcome.
Like most Baptists, I didn’t grow up reciting the Apostles’ Creed, unless we were meeting with the Methodists for a fifth Sunday evening service at their place, where the Creed was a part of their regular worship. It was only in seminary that I became more fully introduced to it, its history, and its significance.
But there was something we did in my Baptist church that served the purpose of affirming our place in the larger community of faith. It was the Lord’s Supper. We didn’t do it frequently, but when we did, we were acknowledging how we were joining in an observance that other Christians practiced, which in some sacred way joined us together in a confession that Jesus had commanded we do. It was our way of remembering how all Christians have been reconciled to God through the broken body and shed blood of Jesus. Whatever theological differences may have divided us, our confession of Jesus’ atoning death for us sinners was a belief we most definitely held in common.
I tell this story for two reasons. One, this Sunday morning, October 4, is “World Communion Sunday.” Churches around the globe will be participating in this act of remembrance Jesus mandated as our way of acknowledging our foundational confession. At MBBC, we will share together in the Lord’s Supper in both our services, at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. So, if you are not able to be with us in person, begin now to make preparations as you share with us online so that you can participate in this most important act of worship. And if you are able to be with us in person, make sure before you enter the Sanctuary to receive your individually packaged elements.
Secondly, now more than ever, it’s important for us as a Baptist church to look for as many ways as possible to affirm our connection with other Christians, regardless of their denominational position. In a divided time such as the present one, our world could stand more examples of people disregarding their differences by rallying around whatever they have in common; and there is nothing more important for us to rally around than the salvation God made possible through what Jesus did for us at Calvary. As the old saying goes, “The ground is level at the foot of the cross,” and the Lord’s Supper reminds us of this signal truth.
Sara Miles is an author, an activist, and a Christian. In her book Jesus Freak, she writes about how the challenge for the Church today is to become a permeable body so that all kinds of people might come in and go out. “Church,” she says, “is actually a place for people to experience we.” She confesses that in her life and faith she feels the need to be “knocked around in the great rock tumbler of the church with people I didn’t choose – because left to my own devices I’m gonna choose people like me.” For her the way this “knocking around” happens most frequently is through the manner in which the church serves a meal – what we call “communion” – which, she reminds us, can’t be bought, earned, or deserved.
I read those words and wonder why Baptists don’t observe the Lord’s Supper more often, maybe even every Sunday! But then I quickly fall back into the liturgical status quo of my tradition and tell myself that observing it anymore might take the special aspect of it away. But that’s another conversation for another day. This Sunday, we will do something vast numbers of believers around the world will also be doing, something that will for one Sunday truly make us a part of a “holy catholic Church,” where we are reminded of what and who bind us together and the grace lavished upon us to empower us for the mission God has for every church to fulfill.
“Do this…in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24-25).