Faith: Which Church Exactly Are We?

20060617

CNN

     The recent decision by the Roman Catholic Church to retranslate the American English version of the Latin Mass so that it is closer to the original Latin has brought about a variety of responses from ‘About time,’ to ‘Never, ever’. Yet, one of the most interesting responses I have heard to this decision was not directed to the nature of the change but to the nature of the church making the change. This response was, “I don’t want them to make the change because we are the church of today, not the church of 200 years ago.”

     Now, many people might nod their heads at this assessment, thinking, “Surely we are the church of today and not 200 years ago,” but those many people would be wrong, simply because they fail to understand the nature of the Church. In fact, the Church of today is by its very nature not only the church of 200, but 2000 years ago, the Church of all Christians in all times that has existed since Christ fulfilled His redemptive work.

     Am I saying that this Church is the Roman Catholic Church? Hardly. Rather, I am saying that the Church of Christians that exists in 2006 must be united in belief and purpose with every other generation of the Church that has ever existed, or what we believe has no meaning. If any essence of the saving Gospel has changed from the moment Christ spoke, “It is finished,” until now, then the faith we hold to is meaningless simply because it becomes unreliable.

     To the contrary, the Gospel is whole, irreducible, and unchangeable. The Christians who joined the church on Pentecost believed the same thing that Christians do now, insofar as it related to the saving Gospel. If any of them did or do not, then they were not Christian. All Christians in all times are united in the Gospel, making Christ’s Church the unbroken extension of Himself and His redemptive work from His ministry until now.

     One can argue many of the merits of the change decided upon by the Roman Catholic Church, but there is one aspect of this change that certainly bears examination. In making this change, the Roman Catholic Church seeks to return the vernacular services to a point where they are closer to the original Latin Mass, a mass practiced for hundreds of years, back to a time when the Church was united not only in belief, but in doctrine and practice as well.

     By reaching back to this history, arguably the Roman Catholic Church is reaching back to a time before the Church was degraded to the point where it is today- an almost infinite number of fragments, believing, espousing, and practicing however they see fit, swerving dangerously away from the truth of the Gospel because they have no center in the common doctrines and practices that generations of Christians have held to with unwavering conviction.

     In this respect, the Roman Catholic attempt is one that should be considered by all Christians today. Why is it that so many people have such differing views on the Church? Is there not one Gospel and one redemption for one salvation? Is there not one Baptism and one Body and Blood of Christ? If these things are one, then what purpose do these divisions, differences, and changes serve?

     I have heard it said that perhaps we should not consider whether the Christians of ages past would have belonged to our church, but whether we would have belonged to theirs. I think that this thought is one that haunts the modern Roman Catholics, and many modern Christian denominations. Because of that haunting doubt, I think it is high time for all Christians to look at not only what they believe, but what they espouse and practice, compared to what all of the Christians who have come before us have believed, espoused, and practiced.

     If we find in what we are doing today something that is new or different from how it was once and always done, then the likelihood is that such a thing is also wrong. Perhaps we all need to look at whether we need to return our belief, doctrine, and practice back to an earlier time, back to a time that brings us closer to Christ and the unalterable purity of the saving Gospel and the Church that is built upon it.

DLH