Church

A very good joke contributed to me by Bob Pond, one of our distinguished MDiv students!

—————–

There once was man who had been the sole occupant of a deserted island for over 30 years. One day, a plane flying overhead spotted his presence on the island and radioed for help.

When the rescuers arrived to the little island, they noticed three huts, two of which were fairly close and one farther down the beach. So they asked the man, “What are those three huts?”

The man answered, “Oh, the first hut is my house and the one beside it is the church where I attend.”

 ”Ok,” the rescuers said, surprised to hear that he had built a church despite the fact that he was the only one who had been there all along. “But what is that third hut a little way down the beach?”

“Oh, that,” the man said smugly. “That’s the church I used to attend!”

How Do You Get the Christ into the Christ-Centered Seminary? by Blayne Banting

 24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me (Colossians 1:24-29 ESV).

We have been entertaining our individual efforts at defining what it means to be a Christ-centered seminary.  Like the proverbial blind men given the task of describing an elephant, we all are lining up to contribute our perspectives—each with some piece of the puzzle.  In all likelihood, the full answer we seek exists both among and beyond our combined efforts.  One perspective we have shared in common is the relative difficulty of this issue.  How can, or even should a seminary be Christ-centered?  It seems similar to the cosmic conundrum posed by the old Caramilk commercial: “How do they get the caramel into the Caramilk bar?”  The indirect answer was both simple and unsatisfying.  Basically it was: “Who cares how they got the caramel into the Caramilk bar, the fun part is getting it out!”  Maybe we face a similar situation today.  Could the issue be less, “how do we get the Christ into the Christ-centered seminary?” and more “how can we express the reality of the present Christ who is already in the seminary?”?

Could the above passage from Paul’s letter to the Colossians be of assistance? While not equating the seminary with the church, Paul’s defense of his arm’s length ministry among the Colossians may present a paradigm for those of us who serve within the walls and halls of the seminary.  Paul begins by identifying himself.  This identity has implications for his role as an apostle to the Gentiles.  Dipping back to verse 23, Paul calls himself a minister (servant – diakonos) of the gospel which has some relation to his self-designation in verse 25 as a minister (diakonos) of the church.  The calling of this identity is seen to be the stewardship from God to make the word of God fully known (v.25b).  This ‘word’ or message is further described as “the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints” (v.26).  The content of this mystery is revealed in verse 27b: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

So the mystery revealed is that Christ is in us (cf. Eph 3:6)—both Jews and non-Jews—as a present reality (i.e. the caramel is already in the Caramilk bar).  This is more than a present soteriological/existential reality, however.  It is an ecclesial one (Christ in you—plural) and an eschatological one (the hope of glory) as well.  The implications of this multi-faceted truth are many but Paul focuses his thought on what he does with this message.           

“Him we proclaim,” Paul writes, “warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom…” (v.28a).  The act of proclamation is primary here (as you might expect a homiletician to point out) aided and expressed by the twin ministries of exhortation/warning and teaching.  These means of ministry are pointed broadly to all believers (‘everyone’ is mentioned 3 times in v.28).  While Paul was probably targeting the elitism endemic to the nascent Gnosticism in Colossae, there are other forms of intellectual elitism that tend to be more troublesome in the contemporary seminary.           

The purpose of this ministry is so “that we might present everyone mature in Christ” (v.28b).  The ‘already-not yet’ dynamic is prominent in this ‘outcome’ which may relativize our current preoccupation with learning outcomes.  Paul also addresses the power available to him for such a task: “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works in me” (v.29).  Servants of Christ may employ this asymmetrical synergism (cf. 2 Cor 6:1; 1 Thess 3:2) in which God supplies the power for ministry as we offer God an obedient and moving ‘target.’  Such a posture might give an added perspective to our attempts at long range planning.           

So, in this light, we might be better served not to emphasize how to get the Christ into the Christ-centered seminary, but on how we let him out.