Scott Benhase: Does Christianity mandate practices?
“How can you tell a faithful Muslim?”
I was teaching an adult education class in my parish. We were discussing the three great monotheistic faiths: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
The answers were pretty quick in coming: “Pray five times a day facing Mecca.” “Fast during the daylight hours during Ramadan.” “Make a pilgrimage to Mecca during one’s lifetime.”
I asked a similar question about Judaism and the answers came just as quickly: “Keep the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.” “Keep kosher.” “Keep all 613 Mitzvot.”
“What about Christians?” There was some extended silence and then tentatively one person said: “Well, I guess, going to church and trying to live a good life.” Heads nodded. It seemed we had agreement.
I was not really surprised, but that does not mean I was not disappointed. The truth is Christianity does have particular practices that define us as much Islam and Judaism. Unfortunately, to some extent, over time, we have not understood them as being central to our discipleship. So, we get the common answer: “Going to church and trying to live a good life.” Some, but not all of these practices are:
• Participating in the Eucharist on the Lord’s Day.
• Offering hospitality to others
• Forgiving sins against us
• Testifying to the faith that is in us
• Serving the poor
There are more, of course, but the above are the ones that have been universally present in our tradition for 2000 years.
We ought to be clear with those we lead that the above practices are central to our common identity in Christ in the Church. Being faithful is more than just going to church and trying to live a good life. Our practices are more particular than that.
Scott Benhase is the Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Georgia.
practices
A beautiful work reflecting on Christian spiritual practice is Martin Marty's "The Hidden Discipline." Published in 1960's it speaks to current discussion of spiritual practices in this forum.
yes, but
Scott, after I read the post, I knew I agreed with you, particularly on the need to expand the typical thinking on church practices. I also knew, though, that something irked me a little bit about the post. Instead of flaming here, I made something of a reply on my own blog. It is more of a nuancing than opposition, though!
Good work!
http://www.stevenhovater.com/wordpress/2010/04/thoughts-on-practices-our...
An Alternative View
Two alternatives to the proffered formulation come to mind:
1. Love God with all your heart soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself, or
2. The historic precepts of the Church catholic, i.e.,
- attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor;
- confess your sins at least once a year;
-receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season;
- observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church;
help to provide for the needs of the Church.
I, too, was a bit irked by the post, but I have tried to keep my response as laconic and helpful as possible. I am nevertheless perplexed as to why Episcopalian bishops feel the need to ignore or change the received traditions of the historic church.
Come now, alternative Bill
There are Episcopal bishops out there quite proudly "ignoring" and "changing" traditions of the historic church. Benhase is not among them, and certainly not in his claims here.
There is no necessary opposition between love of God and neighbor and the pre-Vatican II list of obligations you give, it's hardly one or the other. There is certainly a good-faith argument you can make back that practices are secondary in Christian faith, perhaps even that emphasizing them can lead to a Pelagian effort at self-salvation. But no one can claim specific Christian practices and love of God and neighbor are mutually exclusive!
My annoyance at this (quite vanilla) post was much more minor: did Benhase really have parishioners who knew there are 613 Mitzvot in Judaism?!
Doing and Being
Scott,
Thank you for this wonderful post. Isn't it amazing how Christianity has lost its understanding of practice in our fear of competing with grace? In reality, Jesus modeled a life of doing good, being in his Father and extending grace generously.
Discipleship
I think being a Christian should look different or be different from not being a Christian or being something else. We're mandated to make disciples so Christianity should be about discipleship.
Michael Foss identifies the following marks of discipleship:
- Daily prayer,
- Daily scripture reading,
- Weekly worship,
- Growth in giving to the tithe and beyond,
- Serving others in Jesus' name,
- Sharing the faith story with the unchurched.
As a Lutheran it kind of goes against the grain to say or think that we must do something. Our confessions are clear that we don't earn God's favour but they are also clear that the life of faith ought to produce good fruit and I think maybe others should be able to tell.
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