Some things I wish I'd learned sooner...

From "Ecclesiology 101..."


I don’t have a monopoly on either truth or personal piety. People who know and love and follow Jesus wholeheartedly may see some things differently from the way I see them. I do believe that people who know and love Jesus and seek to follow Him wholeheartedly have much more in common than they might at first think. That is why I’m glad I finally learned:

If you begin discussion about the “whats” you probably will disagree along the line. If you begin with the “Who” and invite Him into the conversation He will help you to disagree like brothers and sisters, and to discover new facets in His love for His Bride.

I do have a claim on all the rich history of the Church across the centuries. It is as much “mine” as it is any denomination, ancient or new. At the same time, I do not own these sacred traditions; I must reverence them, even as I seek to apply them, use them, let them use me in the bewildering changes of the culture in which I live.

The sacraments of the church must be reverenced. The scriptures must have a central place in public as well as private worship. The offices of Christ as Prophet, Priest, and King must be reflected in the messages I preach, and model the pastoral role I seek to follow. I must seek to be Trinitarian, letting the full orb of all God reveals to me have access to the whole of my being; my innermost thoughts, my most private moments, all in glad surrender to God’s revealed will.