Still Quarrying 8: The Gospel On Steroids.

I am having a surprisingly bright start to the day at present.  I think that’s down to the steroids I am having to take as part of the treatment.  They were a big factor in the Consultant’s insistence that I had to be off during this time.  I’ll never forget what he said: ‘Steroids have a tendency to make you a bit manic.  We can’t have you standing up in your pulpit and saying outrageous things.’  I had to laugh.  The St Paul’s congregation have  been well used to that over the last 31 years!  But he was making a serious point that I had to take on board.

Mind you the Gospel is an outrageous thing.  Think about it.  The death of one man has paid the price of the world’s sin; his resurrection from the dead is the only guarantee of life beyond death; upon him depends our quality of life now and our security in the life to come.  Outrageous - if we stick to it.  The pressure to let it go and make it less outrageous and less offensive has been there from the beginning.  Paul’s letters and those of the other apostles would not have been written unless there was a real and present danger that the core message was under threat of at least dilution or at worst obliteration.  And not from outside pressure but from within the Church.  

C.S. Lewis once wrote of ‘Christianity and water’, a version of Christianity when the message is watered down to make it more acceptable to the world at large.  I have sometimes referred to this as cappuccino Christianity, all froth and no substance.  No death to deal with my sin.  No hope of resurrection.  No purpose in suffering. No promise of a New Heaven and a New Earth.  Nothing to distinguish the message from any other of the myriad items on offer in the ever proliferating spiritual market place.  

During the Mission and Discipleship Report at last year’s General Assembly the matter of ministry recruitment was raised.  When it came time for questions an Elder from West Kilbride raised a recent report that a Church of Scotland Minister had stated publicly that to believe that Jesus died for our sins was ‘ghastly theology’.  Her question: ‘Are we so desperate for Ministers that we no longer require them to believe the Gospel?’  

I did not envy the Convener’s task in responding to that in an Assembly that does not merely differ in opinion but is divided in opinion.  But the point was well made.  

An early influence on my Christian development was a book by Os Guinness called The Dust Of Death.  I see from my inscription that it was bought in July 1974.  I admired the way Guinness connected with contemporary culture and addressed the challenges it posed to orthodox Christianity.  Also his use of modern literature and music to illustrate various themes was impressive.  He quotes in full a poem written by Adrian Mitchell who he describes as a frustrated atheist.  It is called ‘The Liberal Christ Gives An Interview.’  

I would have walked on the water
But I wasn’t fully insured
And the BMA sent a writ my way
With the very first leper I cured.

I would’ve preached a golden sermon
But I didn’t like the look of the Mount
And I would’ve fed fifty thousand
But the Press wasn’t there to count.

And the businessmen in the temple
Had a team of coppers on the door
And if I’d spent a year in the desert
I’d have lost my pension for sure.

I would’ve turned the water into wine
But they weren’t giving licenses
And I would have died and been crucified
But like – you know how it is.

I’m going to shave off my beard
And cut my hair
Buy myself some bullet-proof
underwear
I’m the Liberal Christ
And I’ve got no blood to spare.

It’s what happens when we put Jesus through the sieve of what we find acceptable.  What we are left with is merely a reflection of ourselves and our own particular needs.  I think I read somewhere that this is idolatry.  

Phew, I’m really cooking this morning.  But remember I’m on steroids . . .