In Praise of Dysfunction in the Family of God

Well, season 3 of the Tudors will be starting soon and I am anxiously awaiting getting back into the show that made me the poster child for Sloth when it became available on demand. In this season, we see Henry the VIII dealing with wives number three and four, coping with his own failing health, and contending with the “Pilgrimage of Grace.” Although it is a very nice sounding name, the Pilgrimage was actually a rebellion in Northern England against the new Church of England and the suppression of the Catholic Faith. I, for one, am glad that if we are not satisfied with the church we attend now, we can just leave and don’t have to take up arms (because, let’s face it, with Spirit of Peace’s size we’d get creamed). The first episode had me thinking about Schism in the church and I really must ask is schism such a bad thing?
In pretty much every church I’ve been to, there seems to be a lot of talk about how great it is that the Christian Church is so diverse BUT when a church chooses to leave someone’s denomination and join another or start their own, it’s sack cloth and ashes time. No church is immune to separation and I can think of many instances where I would want to split with my current church as well. For example, the Polish National Catholic Church split with the Roman Catholic Church in the early 20th century because a group of churches in the New York/Pennsylvania region felt the RCC was not keeping their needs/interests in mind when making decisions about church finances and land use. Another example is the African Methodist Episcopal church which split from the United Methodists in 1816 over discrimination in the denomination against African-American members. Those of us in the UCC would probably cheer on such decisions, but we don’t exactly boast a 100% satisfaction rate. St Paul UCC in Cibolo, as well as others across the US, chose to split with our denomination over the UCC’s resolution supporting same-sex marriage. Although the UCC stands by its decision and (I’d like to think) respects the minority opinion, the separation of these churches from ours is often seen as a sad event.
Although Jesus’ experiences with organized religion (i.e. the Pharisees) weren’t exactly ringing endorsements, I think we can glean something from his experiences to help put the concept of schism into context. In Matthew 22, a lawyer asks Jesus which is the greatest commandment and the response is to love the lord with all your heart, mind, and soul with loving you neighbor as yourself coming in a close second.
Love is something that remains a bit of a conundrum in all forms of religion. Most people talk about God’s love as “simple” but whole fields of counseling and psychotherapy are based around the premise that love between two people is anything but. Many moons ago, I saw a relationship therapist over some trouble my significant other and I were having at the time. I felt my attempts to affirm the affection for this person were being ignored and I felt very awkward over their actions which were so different from mine. She told me that people express love differently (the term she used was “love languages”) and different people had different languages to express their love.
If we use this idea applied to religion, it does seem to make sense. I know we at Spirit of Peace express our love for God by keeping an open mind about the Bible’s teaching and being accepting of everyone. Maybe more conservative Christian denominations feel the best way they express their love is to maintain as strict an adherence to the Bible as they can. Just as no two relationships are exact clones of each other in terms of how feelings are expressed, can we really say that a church that isn’t exactly like ours loves God any less?
To better make a plug for changes in the church leading to separation of different churches, I turn from psychology to engineering. Many years ago I watched a show about how buildings designed in Japan were better able to withstand an earthquake than those made the in US. The ones in Japan are able to “give” so when an earthquake comes, its lack of rigidity causes the building to remain more intact. I think the Christian church needs to have a similar form of “give” since it serves so many people around the world with different needs, interests, and priorities. If however, we strive for a “one size fits all” model, I really can’t see everyone getting what they need out of church. Many years ago, I worked with a woman from Northern Ireland and she had no real affinity for organized religion. Her reasons were understandable, she said that after growing up in a place where people were killing, bombing, and committing other acts of violence against each other over who belonged to the Catholic Church and who belonged to a Protestant denomination, the whole institution of religion seemed pointless. I can certainly appreciate her position and would probably feel the same way if my experiences growing up were like hers.
Therefore, if we are to fully embrace the diversity of the Christian church, we can’t really bemoan or be in denial about the fact that part of that diversity takes the form of strong disagreement. Still, just as a relationship between two people can become stronger when points of contention are addressed, so two I think the church becomes stronger when sticking points are not swept under the carpet but brought out in the light for all to see and deal with. Furthermore, like with many relationships, if there is love, the love Jesus said was the greatest commandant of all, we should have faith that we stand on solid ground.