Ensign: the holy catholic church
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3
AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS. 12 August 2017
And now we come to a sticky wicket among some Christians.
Seriously, I know some people in church who will rise and say the Apostles Creed and will say "I believe in the Holy Spirit" but then will drop the next line "the holy catholic church" because it's SO ingrained with the Catholic (as opposed to Protestant) Church -- I had to trick Autocorrect into not capitalizing those words as I'm typing them! In the context of the Creed, "catholic" is a synonym with universal. And it's ok if you cut the line; like a great deal that goes on in church and in life, it's not a heaven-or-hell issue. But just be careful when you do that you're not forgetting that the church, the fellowship that we're part of as the Bride of Christ, is supposed to be holy.
Not just the Spirit, but we too, are supposed to be holy. Sacred. Set apart for God's use.
A passage from a devotion I real earlier this week comes to mind: "We, too, have a personal connection [to the Lord]. The Holy Spirit is in our very being. When we find ourselves in a crisis, we can trust that God will give us the staying power to follow through." Through the Holy Spirit Who didn't just begin existing at the passover Jesus had with His disciples (the "Last Supper") in the Gospels or first manifest Himself as flaming tongues of fire over the disciples' heads in Acts 2, we too -- that devotion I referred to was written regarding an event in the prophet Elijah's ministry from 1 Kings set, oh, thirty centuries ago -- we too have the staying power.
The holy catholic church has the staying power. More often than not in spite of you and me.
Now over twenty centuries, the church faces the greatest threat ... oh, who am I kidding, the church -- and by this I mean assembly of believers in the New Testament sense, not that building with the steeple on it we go to Sunday mornings! -- has ALWAYS faced threats to her existence since Jesus ascended back into heaven! Faced them, and faced them down. Made them blink first. Made them move out of the way. With the same membership the church had before? No. With the same position on every non-salvation issue the church had before? No. That's true of you and me and anyone else growing and changing in this process of life.
And yet we stay,
David
AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS. 12 August 2017
And now we come to a sticky wicket among some Christians.
Seriously, I know some people in church who will rise and say the Apostles Creed and will say "I believe in the Holy Spirit" but then will drop the next line "the holy catholic church" because it's SO ingrained with the Catholic (as opposed to Protestant) Church -- I had to trick Autocorrect into not capitalizing those words as I'm typing them! In the context of the Creed, "catholic" is a synonym with universal. And it's ok if you cut the line; like a great deal that goes on in church and in life, it's not a heaven-or-hell issue. But just be careful when you do that you're not forgetting that the church, the fellowship that we're part of as the Bride of Christ, is supposed to be holy.
Not just the Spirit, but we too, are supposed to be holy. Sacred. Set apart for God's use.
A passage from a devotion I real earlier this week comes to mind: "We, too, have a personal connection [to the Lord]. The Holy Spirit is in our very being. When we find ourselves in a crisis, we can trust that God will give us the staying power to follow through." Through the Holy Spirit Who didn't just begin existing at the passover Jesus had with His disciples (the "Last Supper") in the Gospels or first manifest Himself as flaming tongues of fire over the disciples' heads in Acts 2, we too -- that devotion I referred to was written regarding an event in the prophet Elijah's ministry from 1 Kings set, oh, thirty centuries ago -- we too have the staying power.
The holy catholic church has the staying power. More often than not in spite of you and me.
Now over twenty centuries, the church faces the greatest threat ... oh, who am I kidding, the church -- and by this I mean assembly of believers in the New Testament sense, not that building with the steeple on it we go to Sunday mornings! -- has ALWAYS faced threats to her existence since Jesus ascended back into heaven! Faced them, and faced them down. Made them blink first. Made them move out of the way. With the same membership the church had before? No. With the same position on every non-salvation issue the church had before? No. That's true of you and me and anyone else growing and changing in this process of life.
And yet we stay,
David
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