More Mumbo Jumbo by columinist and US soldier David Averill
We Christians get so caught up in defending the church as an institution that we forget to embrace the church for what it truly is: a body of believers and a communion of saints.
Like the Pharisees whom Jesus admonishes in Matthew 23, we are guilty of trying to justify faith in Christ through worldly pomp and circumstance, through our worldly religions and denominations.
We care more about cleansing the outside of the cup -- organizations, clubs, building projects, church plants -- than we do about cleansing the inside -- our spiritual life, our prayer life and our personal walks with Christ. We are all complicit in the institutionalizing of the church body.
Christian institutions are ailing. Fewer people are going to church. Church is no longer the "in" thing to do on a Sunday morning.
The Christian faith as the Gospel of Jesus Christ endures forever. God's very incarnation reveals to humankind all we need to know of the Christian faith. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
His sacrifice proves to humankind all we need to believe of the Christian faith. A liturgical paraphrase of Romans 5:8 says it all: "Christ died for us while we were yet sinners; that proves God's love toward us." An act of sacrificial love is the core of our faith.
The Christian faith is the true faith because it is not a religion. Religion is merely an attempt by humankind to connect with the hereafter. Religion is pure speculation.
But the Christian faith is a faith that defies conventional wisdom. It cannot be encased in the old wineskins of religion for long. As Jesus proclaims in Luke 5:38, "new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins."
The new wine of God's justifying grace through the blood of Christ on the cross must be poured into the heart of the new, born-again believer. It will do no good in a gold-encrusted chalice of a worldly priesthood. It is a wine that will sour and become bitter at the earthly table.
The truth of the Gospel and the Christian faith is the triumph of grace over karma, mercy over justice, and eternal life over death. It's a triumph no worldly institution could ever achieve.
David Averill is the youth pastor of Marvin United Methodist Church in Martinez.
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