Yes, so here we go...
The origional churches (the orthodoxes and roman catholic, at this time linked together before the great skism(is that how its spelt?)) came up with the origional seven sacrements, including baptism, communion, marriage and others. Sacrements are, in effect, 'An outward form of an inward grace' (does that realy make sense?). The Salvation Army takes very much to heart the Bible verse 'The Lord does not look at the things man look at. Man looks at the outward appearence, but the Lord looks at the heart.' (see also Philliapians 3) Therefore sacrements are not neccesarry parts of our religion, and it was Catherine Booth lobbied against their use (in the Army Archives you can actualluy find the last plate and challice used in official communion in the Army).
So, this is all well and good, but one can't help but notice we have managed to install our own sacrements. Uniform is baptism in clothes. As Comm. Linda Bond is known for putting it, by putting on uniform we are showing the world we have died to ourselves and are alive in christ (this is very similar to baptism don't you think? All that's missing is the water!).
I suppose our very meetings have become like sacrements. Instead of the spontanius meetings the Army was born with, we all seem to know our routine of worship. We get trapped in the routine of opening song, prayer song, 'and now our prayer,' section, blah blah blah... There almost seems to be barely any space left in our meetings for our own personal expression. I'm sure there are those who disagree with me, but from my viewpoint this is quite possibly where we are: trapped in religious routine, just as Jesus warned us not to, and as paul reminded us not to in Collosions 2: 18-19
And now, for our rules and regulations to take a battering. I'm sorry but the uniform and section rules is a load of rubbish. To worship in the band or songsters or junior sections you have to wear the appropiate uniform. If someone can't keep to our organizations (lets face it) strict rules, why should they be disallowed from worshipping in the way that is most appropiate to them. I applaud open sections which are not conforming to these old views and opinions, but if the Army is to survive this difficult age in time, where our rules appear ten times stricter, then we can't keep playing the law and saying 'if your not willing to...then you cannot worship in this way.'
I suppose at the end of the day the Salvation Army is a human organization trying its best to follow God.
2 comments:
Interesting rant, Mr Ben...with lots of valid points re:Salvation Army Sacraments...one of our strongest is our song book.
Generals Larsson and Clifton have made some fairly strong comments on sacramentalism recently. Look up your parent's old copies of 'Officer' to see what I mean.
Suffice to say sacraments aren't a great evil unless they become more important than the work of grace God does in each of us. When they become more important that personal experience, well, that's when it becomes very dangerous.
I'd have to agree with Martin there. The fact is, we're all human, we need those "outward signs" to remind ourselves and show other people.
There's nothing wrong with the sacraments of our or any other church. The difficulty is that people come to believe that the sacraments are what saves them, not our response to being saved in the first place.
We should most definitely be careful to place the important matter of worshipping God in spirit and truth (i.e. with every part of us) before rules. All gatherings with the express purpose of worshipping God should allow some room for God to come and bless us.
One other comment though. Isn't it possible that people are seeking boundaries? People both need and want rules to live by. If we don't provide that, who else will? The Muslims? We should stay true to our calling to be people of holiness, and that means having a few rules.
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