This is the third in a series of reflections I have been engaging with. It's a messy brain dump rather than a structured essay or paper. It's likely to have muddled words, grammar and theology - that's who I am - and certain to contain elements of my weird humour. But it's out of my head and not from a book or the web or any other source, unlike much of the offerings I see posted as 'all my own work!'. The theology, thoughts and the like have been shaped by study, tutors, mentors, congregations and the general population: so be warned (and if you're one who shaped me 'be thanked').
Today we consider the responses and changing attitudes towards whatever it is that people consider to be church, a term which to many (including those who consider themselves to be Christian) to be:
i. The building up the road,
ii. The people that go to the building up the road,
iii. The corporate and collective word for all the Christians (AKA 'Bride of Christ').
I have asked a number of people around me what they think of when the word 'church' is used. Their responses were (in order of popularity):
A bunch of dodgy people
What a slap in the face this is. So many people came back with this answer quoting the news and newspapers and the like and how. "The church is full of dodgy people and dodgy goings on!"
Some people were more explicit in that they mentioned the Catholic or the Anglican church, but sadly these were generally members of another denomination or grouping who seemed to think that this meant it wasn't a problem in their 'church'! This highlights the root of the problem the Church (universal) faces in that it doesn't look past it's own building's boundaries. This self absorbed, petty, self-satisfied parochialism, causes people to shake their heads and point to the fallen and apostate churches around them whilst polishing their own halos and 'looking the other way' at the sinful goings on around them.
If there is sin in the Church, if one part is tainted then surely all of it is tainted, and the Church (all the believers) need to accept that we all have a problem that needs to be addressed and eradicated.
Many years back I personally knew of a case where a senior clergy-person (not RC or CofE) was 'sacked' because they were homosexual. My sadness turned to shock when I was told their activity was a 'well-kept secret' but on becoming public (they'd been caught 'cottaging') something needed to be done. As long as it didn't damage the public profile, they were happy to look the other way.
Recently we have seen headline news concerning church members and ministers clergy caught up in various abuses of trust and power. Many of these were known of by people in the senior posts (as the the parading of Prince Charles and a former Archbishop of Canterbury as complicit or just plain stupid parties in the Peter Ball affair. There have been many other cases since, many of which (if the person I spoke to from a survivors group) never get fully investigated.
We need to understand that like yeast, the smallest piece of sin in the mix that is Church causes every church (local) to be infected and those the whole mix (the Church universal) is tainted and ruined.
We, in our local fellowships need to address this, accept our responsibility as part of the Church and act to come to a place of repentance.
Secondly we need to create a culture whereby sin, when recognised, is dealt with in a manner that meets our statutory and biblical obligations.
If it is a safeguarding issue, then report it immediately. If it is a situation with someone at risk: Call the Police! If it's not, report the situation to the minister (unless it's the minister in the frame), the local safeguarding officer and to the regional/diocesesan/district safeguarding people. Don't go and talk to the person who has been named, don't go visiting the wounded person and get all pastoral and involved - make notes of conversations and keep out of it all (unless invited) and retreat somewhere safe and pray! Oh yeah, definitely don't share your concerns because this turns into gossip and can undermine things such that you end up having protected the guilty!
The problem with all the abuse in the Church has been the fact that from the lowest to the highest in our churches there are people who have sought to protect and look after their friends. Not only that but there are even more people who have acted wrongly to cover things or dismiss them to protect the organisation. It's so frustrating to find that some who have looked the other way are now in senior posts and are apparently being protected by the system themselves.
Forget looking out for your church or your denomination. Don't you fear God for goodness sakes"
Have a read of these words from Ezekiel 3.17.21:
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for b their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself. “Again, when a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself.”
Those in the Church (and I think this applies to those outside of it too) need to take heed of the fact that unless you challenge and correct and assist the sinful to find repentance and seek restoration, then their sin is your sin too. In fact their blood is on your hands. If you look the other way or act to cover their sins 'for the greater good' you are complicit and as guilty as them (good job God is in the business at forgiveness: But at what cost? The death of Jesus, the Christ, is a good starting point here!
If you challenge them and they repent then there is rejoicing, restoration (and that can be prison as well as penance you know) and you will have saved a life!
Those caught in a sin are to be dealt with correctly. When there are legal and spiritual demands placed on us, we need to be good citizens and holy people. It's so blessed simple its not even the first blinking rule!
As so bishops, elders, priests, deacons, superintendents, congregation members and all, any and every other title that we stick on our badges of office. Here's the big question:
Have you covered someone's sin to protect them or the 'Church'? If you have then you need to deal with what you've done and 'fess use. How I love that the Pope has removed the veil of secrecy that once protected the naughty, nasty, vile and just generally weak and stupid. How I wish that others might follow his actions.
If you believe the words below, how can you betray the godhead (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and sleep at night. The Christ is coming again and I don't think he's going to be applauding the Church as it is today. do you?
1 John 1.6-10:
"If we claim to have fellowship with God the Son and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all in.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us."
So here we are - another twenty minutes of brain dump. I hope it makes some sense and more importantly, I hope it help aid some of us to acknowledge our corporate sin and the part we, and our churches, play in it.
Pax
POSTSCRIPT
Having just watched the BBC programme, ‘The Church’s darkest secret’ I have to say that the degree of complicit behaviour at the highest levels has left me saddened, stunned, ashamed and (polite) words cannot express what I am feeling at this moment.
Peter Ball is portrayed in this documentary as someone who, by design and practice, was more than just fallen, and yet his actions and activities were covered by those who should have blown the whistle (many, as the Revd Graham Sawyer says, are still in post today as bishops). It is on record that the then Archbishop of Canterbury acted wrongly regarding Peter Ball at many levels. Something that caused the current Archbishop of Canterbury (Justin Welby) to ask Carey to step down from his position of honorary assistant bishop in Oxford diocese. A couple of years back George Carey said, ”I couldn’t believe that a bishop would do such wicked things!”
The problem is that many who had been harmed were not believed and so Peter Ball’s sin was covered up and within two years of his police caution was free to engage with young people again!
The problem is that the confidence of many will be appalled to such a degree that erodes confidence and trust in the Church and worse still, to God himself. That the Church is well-connected and is not just friends with the establishment but is part of the establishment is indisputable.
The programme continues tomorrow.
Please pray for all wounded by abuses of power and trust.
Please pray for integrity to rule.
Pray that the whole Church would pray, repent and respond to this programme.
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