A Church Full of Sinners

At dinner yesterday, enjoying  lentil soup and borak and  salad and chicken wings, my guide, Gorkey, suddenly asked me a question.  “Are there much sinners in your church?”  Even though we had discussed religion and our lives quite a bit, I was caught off guard by this inquiry.  I paused for about 10 seconds trying to decide if I would say something funny about a church overflowing with sins.  I decided on a different approach.  “We don’t emphasize sin that much in our church.  Yes, people sin and with God’s help can sin less often.  But we are more interested in encouraging people to live their lives on God’s side, to be people of justice and peace and love.  Then sin more or less takes care of itself.”

In response, Gorky slapped me on the back and proclaimed, “Good for you Ken.” 

Today Gorky wanted to know why protestants call their leaders “Pastors.”  He said that pastor means shepherd in Spanish and who would want a shepherd for a leader?  Every flock of sheep and every herd of cows has a shepherd in Turkey. “Why not priest? Gorky asked.   I reminded him that a shepherd cares for the sheep and protects them and I added that the image comes from the Bible, that Jesus was the great shepherd of the people, the one they could recognize and the one they could trust.

Priest is a very different image, I added.  The priest leads rituals that represent people before God.  We believe that each person can talk to God for themselves.  You can pray and listen to God.  No one has to tell you what God says.

Gorky responded, “I like this.  Right now I am your shepherd in Cappadocia but I can teach you to see Cappadocia for yourself.”

I’ve been thinking a lot on this trip about what churches consider most important, “Job 1.”  For the first two weeks of our trip we traveled with 39 American Christians and almost all of them thought that Job 1 for the Christian is being prepared for the second coming of Christ---and He is coming soon!  That’s why they were so enthusiastic about traveling in Asia Minor to see the seven churches of Revelation for themselves.  Some of them stood in Laodicia, for example, and were thrilled to hear the scriptures read that warmed the church of Laodicia how they  must change.  For me these places were interesting and informative but I was not inspired to deep emotion.  Others were.  I on the other hand was deeply moved by the visit to Corinth and the reading of 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter.  I was inspired that Paul, so long ago, sent a message of love to these Christians whom he personally loved.   We made some wonderful friends on that trip but as Christians our priorities are very different.

So, here is my list of some of the possible primary purposes of the church and of Christians.  And I can tell you, what a church/Christian decides makes all the difference in the world.  I am putting them in my order of importance, but this order is subject to change and addition,

1)       Building the Kingdom of God on Earth as it is in heaven.  Justice, peace, love.

2)      Being people of prayer and devotion.   Spiritual growth and maturing in Christ.

3)      Repentance from sin and personal devotion.  Heaven and hell.

4)      Personal holiness.  Unflinching commitment to codes of conduct.

5)      The Return of Jesus at the end of time.  Being ready for what God does next.

Please think about this.  What does each possibly priority mean for what God requires of us?