The Holy Huddle

The Gregory Peck adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird begins with a childhood song playing while the camera pans a collection of old items--a pen knife, a pocket watch, etc. (if memory serves). Any collection like this calls to mind the scent of your father's shirt while sitting on his lap as a child, or the feel of your mother's hand around your much smaller one.

Each of us received from our parents a box full of things, some precious, some just things we haven't gotten around to throwing out. As we go through life, many of us discard items when we decide they are irrelevant or are tired of carrying them around. An old marble here, a campaign button there.

The box is metaphorical, and more precious to us than any collection of real items. It's our collection of beliefs. For someone raised in the church, it may include things from "Jesus is the Son of God," to "our elders are trustworthy," to "Republicans/Democrats aren't trustworthy."

Most of us start tossing things before we hit our teens. "Santa Claus" gets ejected pretty early. Many a non-discriminating teen-age hand has grabbed all of these, along with God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and only kept things like "If you work hard, things work out for you" or "Beautiful people are happier."

Tossing things can be a sad, lonely, even agonizing thing. It can get us kicked out of churches and put a gulf between us and our families. But sometimes it can be a relief.

If you go to seminary, you are likely to ditch quite a number. A good seminary will help you remove things like "Jesus knew everything" and will get you to ask, "Did Jesus feed the 5,000 and the 4,000?" And maybe you'll toss some things out of your box at that point.

Sadly, some seminarians, even some who become professors, throw away little objects labeled "inspiration" or "predictive prophecy" or "reliability of Scripture", leaving "divinity of Christ" feeling somewhat lonely and vulnerable. Peter Enns wrote a book a few years ago in which he systematically catalogs some of the things he's jettisoned (though not in those terms), and encourages other to do the same. He does the community a service by getting them to look at their boxes, though doesn't offer much help keeping these central beliefs. You can imagine him wandering around showing his mostly-empty box to any who will look, all the while chiding them for the things they are still holding onto.

That Jesus did a tremendous amount of box-auditing for his listeners, Pharisees and Sadducees especially, goes without saying. Jesus removed from boxes many beliefs regarding the Sabbath. First-century beliefs about the Messiah? Needed some sifting to say the least.

It also goes without saying that the things in our boxes can become sacred enough to demand their own allegiance. The longer something's in there, the harder it is to distinguish it from the things which must be believed. Caution argues for a minimalist approach. How central to the gospel are all our beliefs? If you can't say with certainty that a belief is biblical, is entailed by the core of the gospel, it should be held lightly.

It also makes you think again about creeds, confessions and ordinances.

What do you keep in your box, and what have you reluctantly, or eagerly, tossed?

How about

• Inerrancy of biblical authors in statements not central to the point they are trying to make (i.e., when Jesus teaches in Mt 19 that God created humans male and female, he is making a statement about divorce; can inferences also be made from that passage about same-sex marriage?)
• Limited atonement (Christ's sacrifice applies only to the elect)--people keep trying to put this one into my box!
• Jesus was sinless but that doesn't mean he never got halfway to work and realized he'd left his keys at home (...and what does "perfect" mean in Mt 5:48, Col 1:28 and Hebrews, anyway?)
• God has one path in mind for each of us in this life...
• ...and it's possible to walk off this path when we sin, as the younger brother did in the Prodigal Son
• God, who loves to give us good gifts, would be happier if more of us were speaking in tongues, prophesying, etc., so long as we did it in the spirit of love and service to the Body
• There was a literal Adam (Wheaton grads cheer or wince!)
• You can't do right before God--but you can be a conduit for his righteousness
  

This doesn't even get into worship styles or beliefs about creation.

I'm not saying which of these is in my box, and I've purposely made these a little imprecise. You'll also note that the things in this list--as in most of our boxes--ranges from minor to foundational. All sorts of things end up in there.

What would you add? What have you removed from your box that you wish others would too?

‘Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. ²⁵For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.’

(Mk 4:24-25)