Rechoosing our reformed identity
As we all know, there is a wide variety of approaches to the Christian faith. And we will certainly see more diversity in Christian styles and practices as the years unfold. Even as Presbyterians we have noticed many. For instance, our worship services have seen the basic ingredients from the Reformed and Puritan heritage replaced by countless others: liturgical responses from the Anglo Catholic heritage, contemporary songs from revivalist and charismatic traditions, and a trend toward the satisfaction of our personal comforts in dress as well as in the lightening of the sins in our prayers of confession.
Will we not also see more? There could be more pressure to augment or even to replace customary hymns and anthems with selections from the “global” or world church. And perhaps the age-old commitment of Scripture authors to use masculine pronouns for God will be increasingly replaced with words that suit our particular preference. We have come to a sort of do-it-yourself approach to the Christian faith. Some refer to it as a personal customizing approach. Even components from other religious faiths seem to provide a kind of buffet from which people are making their personal choices. We choose that which “works for us.” We look for the practices that enhance our own “spirituality.”
And then what happens if one day someone remembers that the word “Reformed” was once used by Presbyterians? Could it mean that once upon a time Presbyterians were actually guided by some standard? There is, of course, a constitution in the church, but people do not really seem to “reform” their lives or their church behavior by it. And then there is the Bible, but it has not provided a simple criterion. There seems to be a long stretch between the era of the Bible and our current needs.
Could the “Reformed” identity be something that actually meets our need that, well, “works for us today”? The concept of “Reformed” was a rather daunting one when it came about in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It represented the bold claim that God himself spoke authoritatively through the preaching of his word in Scripture. And it then suggested something more, that God actually intervened in our lives, called us to repentance, woke us up to his will, and united us with the living Christ.
To explore the possibility of a fresh approach to our Reformed identity would be to return to the basic principles of God’s reformation of his church through the preaching of his word. We would, of course, have to ask what we have learned about Scripture through the centuries. Biblical studies have not stood still. And then could help to ask what we could learn about the Christian life from other traditions that reinforced the principle of Scripture’s authority.
It would call for a haunting degree of honesty in prayer, but through it we might learn how to hear this terrifying and saving word again. And then, by the reasoned deductions from Scripture’s authority and the guidance of our classic confessions and theologians, we could recover a sure sense of moral identity again.
In the process we would rediscover the unique dynamic of our Christian faith: It is the awareness that when God’s word is truly preached he himself pierces the heart and reshapes the mind. God does not simply set abstract standards. He forms them in our souls and implants them in our lives. He admonishes us by their significance and judges us by their enduring character. He then enforces them across the centuries in his church. In addition he directs us toward the essential practices and indispensable prerequisites of simplicity and humility, through which we reform our worship. Our God is historically intrusive. He works out the contours of repentance and forgiveness through the community of faith and the issues with which we struggle. God confronts us and deals with us directly. That is precisely what the Bible reminds us of and what our Reformed tradition implies.
Could we really re-choose our Reformed identity? That is, could we accept the calling to explore its wisdom for ourselves? If we did, we would discover that its principles were more than merely historic reminders of what we once were. This choice would begin to draw us away from much that is beguiling in our current preoccupation with ourselves. It would certainly be a step toward the recovery of the sovereignty of God and the centrality of Christ’s majesty and power. It would require stepping out into a mysterious moral and spiritual adventure.
Would this be easy? There is no reason to think so. We would have a lot of recent moral and spiritual assumptions about our lives to evaluate again. Our greatest spiritual teachers, such as Augustine or Calvin, would remind us also that when God intervenes in our lives and calls us forward, such acts of grace usually bring pain on their way to bringing joy. We would have to accept that. And, in the process, we would recover the insight that our most serious problems concern neither membership nor money. They concern obedience to God’s word. |
