Last week I shared a personal demon that has plagued me much of my adult life – sexual addiction. I felt impressed to share all of that because I am convinced of 3 things:
1. We are as sick as our secrets and
2. If we confess our sins before each other we shall be healed and
3. There are millions just like myself who are hurting and the Church, instead of being the first place they turn, is the last.
Those of you who have been following my blog for awhile know that I love the church. I love her enough to want to see her thrive and be the center of reconciliation she was called out to be. In Paul’s 2nd letter to the church in Corinth, a church that was carnal and prone to mishaps (sound familiar?) he implores them to live into their God-given vocation to be ministers of reconciliation. Why is this so important? Because, Paul declares, God has reconciled all things through Christ and has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation!
But he doesn’t stop there. He calls us Christ’s ambassadors and it is through us that God is making his appeal to all the world! (2 Cor. 5:16ff). Who is us? The Church! We have an awesome, humbling responsibility! In fact, we might even say that the extent to which the world does not believe the Gospel of Christ is the same extent to which we have failed to make the right appeal. We have not been ministers of reconciliation but division. We have not been inclusive but exclusive. We are Christ’s ambassadors and we far too often forget that for most people the only Gospel they will ever read is us. God makes his appeal through us.
So the first step to righting the ship is to admit we don’t have it all together. To humble ourselves. To confess to the world that while we’ve done some good we’ve also done a lot of damage. We are sorry.
We might do well to do a church-wide First Step, where we come to the end of ourselves and admit we are powerless over our theological addictions and that our lives, and our appeals, have become unmanageable. We must confess this and own this before we can move on to Step Two, which is: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
I have a dream for a church called Recovery. Why Recovery? Because we are all recovering from something. For some of us it’s addictions like alcohol, drugs, sex, love, food, and more. For still others it’s religion and church itself. We need to recover from the hurts, disappointments and disillusionments we feel because we have bumped into other humans just as messed up as we are. And then of course there are the families and loved ones of addicts who need to recover from the pain and betrayal they have experienced at the hands of others and have been forced to remain silent for far too long in their churches because “keeping up appearances” has become the new salvation.
Reconciliation is hard work. I don’t pretend to have the answers. But I want to do better and I want to see others experience hope and freedom in new, profound ways. I want to see our churches become radical places of reconciliation for the weary and heavy-burdened. I want to see and know in my own life and in yours that the Gospel is powerful and mighty to save.
Over the next few weeks I will be posting studies that your church or small group can participate in that will help bring awareness to the needs of addicts and their loved-ones. I wrote this last year for a pastoral ministry course I was in at Duke Divinity School. It does me nor you any good if it stays buried in my documents. So I will share it with you in hopes it will inspire some beautiful, life-giving work of recovery.
My blog is Dancing on Saturday. Here we learn to dance between the already/not-yet. The Already which is Easter and the Not-Yet which is Christ’s return. This “dance” we get to participate in requires a symphony of voices, and I hope you will sense a beat here worth throwing your body, mind, heart and soul into. If not all that just yet feel free to start with just a two-step.
Thanks for reading, sharing, loving and dancing. The support I have seen in the last few days has convinced me we are on to something here, and I am full of hope.
Chad. Keep dancing. I think Recovery Church is a great idea. Kind of walking into an AA meeting and saying. Lord, I am a sinner. I promise to do better. I will follow you.
Love this. I’m with you.
I look forward to the resources.
Are you aware of the work of Pink Cross Foundation? It works to help those in the porn industry and those struggling with porn addiction. http://www.thepinkcross.org/
So ironic. You posit something seeminly new here but it’s merely a reformation of something that lost it’s way or shape or path. Some people say “yeah, it’s ok to have “para-church” organizations” but I wonder if the church was what it should be would we need “para-church” groups?
[...] I posted a blog describing my dream for a church called Recovery. You can (and should) read that HERE. Below the beginning of a several week study that I wrote this past year that is intended to [...]
Chad,
I wish you well with your dream. Another Reformation? But how can you put this new wine into old wineskins? And is it new enough? Will you end up with just another religion? Your concepts are good ones. You have been able to get many people to think about and question their hidden agendas, secrets, doctrines, theology, religious views, etc. And many have come to follow you because they are hungry and looking for comfort and reassurance concerning their fears. Fears of facing death and fears of facing the truth about themselves and fears of facing a Christ-god who will return to chase off his enemies – all these fears are the result of the sincere teachings of the church which has controlled the minds of Christians for some 2000 years with their “holy” words. I would encourage you to step out even further. Question the human scriptures even more. Where they are oppressive and speak of punishment and payback justice, question if they come from a Supreme Love or from the mind and pen of a prodigal’s brother who thinks that the forgiving justice of Love is unfair. When you do this, you will also grasp why the prophets complained about the oppressive religion of the priests and the oppressive decrees of the kings. Jesus, bar Nasha as he called himself, caught the Spirit of the prophets and repeated their message, a “new thing” from an everlasting Love, generous acceptance and endless forgiveness, – “mercy without sacrifice!” It was this good news that drew his followers because it comforted them and slammed their fears of death and punishment and meeting an angry sky-god who would destroy them. Jesus did not teach that he was their perfect substitution. He did not teach them to depend on Easter either. He taught the REAL good news above and that they were ALL brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, unique images of Abba who lived in them and around them and who would NEVER leave them or forsake them! No wonder their fears melted away and death had no sting! There was no need for the church’s perfect bloody payment as a sacrifice. And there was no need for the church’s Easter. Again, I declare that the message of the prophets and Jesus is the message people yearn to hear today. The old wineskin of a religion and the old wineskin of theology and the old wineskin of a church as it is understood today cannot hold this great news. A gathering that declares this new message and reassures each other with it and accepts one another and cares for each other, especially for those in need, forgiving and loving each other – now THAT’s what I would call a Recovery Group! Many blessings on your recovery of the new word of Love, the Father’s REAL judgment call found hidden in the scriptures of men who demand payback. Father forgive them. They do not know what they doing – yet.