The church communes, shares and participates together as the heart, mind and body of Christ. As far as being the body of Christ, see Acts 9:4; for the mind of Christ, see Phil 2:5; for the heart of Christ, see Eph. 3:17.
We too readily take up the intellectual aspects of Christianity by comforting ourselves with lectures and sermons, along with CDs, blogs, textings and slogans.
Such things can be an individualistic effort. A sermon, a talk, a seminar; there, I've done my duty as teacher or listener.
Harry Blamires penned it well in his book, The Christian Mind, Christianity is emasculated of its intellectual relevance. It remains a vehicle of spiritual and moral guidance at the individual level perhaps; at the communal level it is little more than an expression of sentimentalized togetherness.
p. 16 from Servant Books, 1978
How can we bring intellectual force into our communal life? How can our communal life nurture sound theology?
We must pursue the intellectual faith, but we're to do so communally; and that takes vision and time. 1) Vision to see that our congregational acts of worship (e.g. recitations together, responses, readings, confessions, hymn-singing, gestures, hands raised, knees bent and more) give shape to understanding the faith. 2) It takes time--we must be patient with each other in gaining skills in recitations, for example; and it takes time to learn to sing, read and converse. It also takes time to practice well, and from the heart, bodily gestures as the communal people of God; this too helps us along in learning, acknowledgment and doctrinal maturity.
Isn't it rich, deep theology to read in Scripture of bodily gestures befitting the Lord's presence? When the church participates in such ways as the called-out, together people of God, she grows beyond sentimentality.
Worship must rid herself of sentimentalized togetherness and don the cadence and character of intellectual rigor and triumphal conquer.
G. Mark Sumpter
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