OrganicJesus.org

I guess it's probably best to recap how God has used organized religion in the past.

Early in God's story, we see Moses in Egypt. God figures he wants to make a priestly nation among the other nations, a kingdom of priests unto the rest of creation. So he gives Moses and the Israelites a bunch of laws to and regulations and even some religious stuff to do. Sacrifices, a tent/temple, things to memorize, rituals -- the whole nine yards, great stuff. This organized theocracy is how God will mediate His justice and compassion within the covenant community, how that community may gain access to Him, and how things may go well in the world generally.

It doesn't take much time before the Israelites boff up and persistently miss the point. They worship the creation (the Power that is Organized Religion) rather than the Creator. They soon worship the religious rites and who's-in-who's-out piety without doing justice. They beat their breasts over God disciplining them, but don't practice a religion that takes care of God's "least of these." So it's not that their God-given Organized Religion is bad at all -- it is very very good! The Temple system was good for that age, but they worshipped it rather than using it to worship God Almighty.

Isaiah wrote (58th chapter NLT):

"Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Tell my people Israel of their sins! Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to hear my laws. You would almost think this was a righteous nation that would never abandon its God. They love to make a show of coming to me and asking me to take action on their behalf. `We have fasted before you!' they say. `Why aren't you impressed? We have done much penance, and you don't even notice it!'
"I will tell you why! It's because you are living for yourselves even while you are fasting. You keep right on oppressing your workers. What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me. You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like a blade of grass in the wind. You dress in sackcloth and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the LORD?
"No, the kind of fasting I want calls you to free those who are wrongly imprisoned and to stop oppressing those who work for you. Treat them fairly and give them what they earn. I want you to share your food with the hungry and to welcome poor wanderers into your homes. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

God punishes his rambunctious people by sending them into exile and then delivering them from it. But the fulllness of the exile is not lifted for several hundred years. The exile ends with the establishment of the church by Jesus of Nazareth. Even Jesus gets pissed about this ignoring of the whole justice thing in their religion.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

Like with other engagements and utilization of one of the Powers, the Israelites placed their religious system and exclusive club over and above loving God and loving people. That is the nature of the Powers -- they are here for our good, but they are always competing with Christ for lordship; idolatry is always a temptation. So, in Jesus' lambaste, we see that the Pharisees being religious people was not wrong -- but it was not the kind of Religion that pleases the Father. They had blown it, big time.

What is the remedy? God shifts gears and uses their dispersed predicament for good. He makes in Jesus a new Way of being the People of God. He makes the church, His New Humanity that are called out to live as signposts of God's future in the present age, wherever they are. In doing this, to make sure the Israelites get the point, God sends strong judgment on Israel by destroying the Temple in 70 AD. They had worshipped that old way of doing religion for Yahweh for too long, and had ceased to be the redemptive agents that He intended them to be in the first place.

So this new Way of being God's people starts happening in the synagogues throughout the Empire. Positions such as the Elder and Deacon arise in these congregations, indicating that the Jesus Movement has order. It's fascinating to me that Paul continues to practice some liturgical-ritualistic religion for God (taking Nazirite vows, etc.). The rituality becomes not prohibited, but secondary to what kind of Religion God truly wants. Writes James:

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

After all that throat-clearing, let's ask: What then is the role of Organized Religion today? What kind of religious structures are okay for this denationalized pilgrim people of God? I'm not too sure, but perhaps some of these ol' "Honors & Critiques" can help hew the shape of them. First, the Honors.

I appreciate the structures of leadership that most churches of have, and understand that they are there for a good reason. Offices of "Elder" and such are good things.

I honor those who have committed their life work to guiding and educating and discipling God's people.

I honor those servants who create church functions which heal and bless people both within and without the covenant community.

I honor the liturgical traditions handed down over generations which can help bring a gathered people to the Lord of Hosts.

I honor the contemporary/charismatic traditions handed down over (less) generations which also can help bring a gathered people to God Almighty.

I appreciate the "spiritual synergy" which can happen when God's Saints come together to honor their King with song and sacrament.

But also of course there are critiques.

Woe to those who think their way of assembling is best, be it liturgical or contemporary or any other style.

Woe to those who become preoccupied with making Sunday gatherings about satisfying church members instead of worshipping God and equipping the Saints for good works.

Woe to those Pharisees of today who tithe but do not practice justice.

Woe to those Pharisees of today who make church an exclusive club rather than a catalytic community for Christ's kingdom.

Woe to those who exalt church growth and upkeep at any cost, even to the point of not making disciples of Jesus Christ.

Woe to those who think tithing is to upkeep a "priestly class" of church staff, rather than the original purpose of tithing: economic redistrubution within the convenant community.

Woe to those who have mistaken indoctrination for discipleship.

Woe to those who have been cruel and divisive toward other traditions of Christianity.

Woe to those who think megachurches will last without cheap oil.

Woe to those who church-hop without committing to reconciling themselves to whatever and whomever they don't like at their current congregation.

Woe to us for making Organized Religion the "end" instead of a "means" for realizing God's "end" in the present.