October 15th, 2013 Commentary on Henri Nouwen's Daily Meditation

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Daily-Meditation--The-Pillars-of-the-Church.html?soid=1011221485028&aid=6O125pqWU-4

In case the above link to Henri Nouwen’s Daily Meditation doesn’t work:

Tuesday October 15, 2013 

The Pillars of the Church

The two main sacraments, baptism and the Eucharist, are the spiritual pillars of the Church.  They are not simply instruments by which the Church exercises its ministry.  They are not just means by which we become and remain members of the Church but belong to the essence of the Church.  Without these sacraments there is no Church.  The Church is the body of Christ fashioned by baptism and the Eucharist.  When people are baptized in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and when they gather around the table of Christ and receive his Body and Blood, they become the people of God, called the Church.

My Commentary:

I think Father Nouwen’s metaphor of “pillars” is very interesting especially when we think about the current trend to deconstruct the structure of the corporate church with apostasy, universalism and antinomianism.  Church theology or Ecclesiology has suffered a lot of blows in the past few years.  It can’t just be defined through the narrow parameters of just “liberal or conservative,” either.  It goes way beyond party-line church politicking and suggests a human failure in hearing the true intentions of “church.” 

Jesus Christ taught his disciples (one on one faith based discipleship) that church began first and most importantly within the tabernacle of the Holy Spirit—the heart.  A heart turned to God plus contemplation (mind) creates response as well as relationship.  This requires a life of obedience, spiritual formation and developing relationships with God and neighbor.

Understanding the GRACE of what had happened for our behalf is something the corporate church of the past as well as of today have always struggled with.  GRACE itself is an embodiment of the unconditional love (Agape) of God, Kairotic time and the mystery of God…  We have been spending centuries upon centuries to try to completely understand or fathom this reality…  How can we fathom it though, truthfully and completely?  It is beyond our understanding!  All we can as human beings (both saint and sinner) is graciously respond by and through Faith.  Faith is an outward, altruistic, transformational expression of being a disciple.  Getting back to the pillars of the church being Baptism and Holy Communion; if we live truthfully in a sacramental sense the pathos of our lives—we can rebuild or re-strengthen the corporate church…  This can only happen through genuinely freed discipleship centered around Christ alone and the reality of living into the light of GRACE being an ongoing process of reflection, confession, repentance and renewal.

God Bless Your Tuesdays!

Nicole Collins