Thursday, February 1, 2007
Ordination
Well, I'm pretty stoked. I finished my last requirement for ordination. This has been a three year process that never seemed to arrive. I will participate in an ordination service at Southern Missouri District Council in April. Then, I'll be a card-carryin' preacher man (I already am but at a lower level). Seriously, this is a blessing from the Lord. I have been blessed to be ordained in a truly awesome fellowship that has welcomed me and supported me through the entire process. Now into the wild-blue yonder...
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6 comments:
Congratulations Lee! Now that you have your MDiv I'd like to plumb your mind on a subject...What is your opinion of corporate confession of sins in a worship service? Poniticiate please.
Love the pictures,
Nancy
Well, shoot, that strange word was supposed to be "pontificate", sorry. 20 Hail Marys for that one.
It's interesting that you should ask that question, since I have been dwelling on that very concept as of late. Specifically, I have been contemplating the fallenness of humanity. As children of the Reformation, we tend to focus on individual sin and tend to ignore corporate sin. Whereas I have not completely thought this through, I will tell you what my first thoughts are. I am thinking that we must remember that all (corporate) humanity is fallen. The whole idea of communion (i.e., community) is important. Koinonia, Koine, all community is important. In many instances, Scripture calls for corporate confession and repentance. II Chronicles 7:14 says, "If my people (Heb. 'am, collective unit, a tribe)... Also, Luke 3:8 called for a collective repentance (or production of fruit in keeping with repentance [gr. poiesate - the commandment to produce or make from is for a plural "you"]). Now, I believe that a worship service may very well be the place for corporate confession and repentance. The context of the local body of believers should dictate the appropriateness of that action. As a matter of progressive spiritual maturity, I believe that the corporate body should regularly confess and repent of her sins before communion is served. In I Corinthians, Paul speaks of partaking of the eucharist in an unworthy manner. I personally believe that Paul is not speaking to individuals that are not regenerate. I believe he is speaking to the Corinthain church as a corporate body because of the manner in they were treating those that who had less. In fact, the rich were eating all the food and the poor were going hungry. Thus, Paul admonished that church that they (plural [i.e., the corporate body]) needed to examine themselves as a body of believers before taking part in communion. Of course, I may be a heretic.....
Addendum - As I looked at your question, I am wondering if you were really asking if the church should expose someone else's sin as suggested in Matthew 18; or whether there should be a time in a service where individuals are provided the opportunity to confess sin publically in a worship setting?
Thanks Lee,
I'm assuming that you're back from the frozen tundra of Chicago. Your first comment was the direction I was looking in. I agree with you and was in support of corporate confession of sins until a couple of weeks ago. I was a bit astounded that I couldn't find a Scriptural incident of corporate confession of sin within a worship service. I've decided to wipe the whole slate clean and start with what I do know. I know my own need of daily repentance so I'm not discounting its importance. However, reading F.F. Bruce's commentary on Hebrews raises a lot of questions. Please let me know what you discover as you dig deeper into the subject.
Nancy
What are some of the questions that you are asking?
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