posted
Might this word have some legitimate use? When Jesus "instituted" the Lord's Supper and declared: "Do this in memory of me" - might that be a safe usage of this popular term?
In a matter of speaking, house churches are the true institutional church compared to the institutional church. Needless to say and in all fairness, many if not most house churches have un-institutional baggage, too. I'm speaking of things God never required or instituted.
Anyway, if you have no use of the term, that's OK by me. It can be misleading and subject to many false connotations.
We have a large family by some standards. Occasionally the large containers of food we reach for at the store are categorized as institutional foods. How about that?
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Context is everything. I pretend to be a grammarian, and I can think of few words whose meaning is narrowly defined in all contexts. Such words tend to be clinical and technical terms. This doesn't seem like a technical discussion, and I hope clinical stuff doesn't become prominent.
Meanwhile, I appreciate the humor of having to find words to grapple with a distinction which justifies the very existence of this forum. In other places, I might substitute terms such as "denominational church," "mainstream church," "typical organized religion," "official tax-exempt churches," "brick-and-mortar church," etc. Nothing seems to fit every context.
Then again, I poke fun at myself by occaisionally referring to our gathering as the Hurst Home Church Cult. Why not? Certain agenices in the US government have already tagged me as a "shaved-head cult leader" (long, luidcrous story). Actually, I'm very nearly bald, and only recently have I decided to move away from established denominational ministry. (Hey, another term!)
I suppose we are alright until we are institutionalized.
posted
Another seemingly small, but perhaps significant point ... did Jesus 'institute' the Lord's supper? Or did he simply attach new meaning to an ancient tradition? "Whenever you eat [unleavened] bread or drink oinos at family meals or celebrations" make it a declaration of "Messiah has come".
It strikes me over and over again that Jesus began no new customs, rituals or religious practices, but rather dwelt among us doing everything we do, only raising all our everyday practices and relationships to a purposeful, spiritual plane.
Immanuel, God is With Us! We don't have to go anywhere, pose any way, wear ceremonial garb or say magic words. The Spirit lives in us, making us be "the fragrance of life" everywhere we go, loving when others would hate, giving when others would take, remembering when others forget, hoping when others despair, and most important, being alive when everybody else is dead!
-------------------- You & Me and Jesus. We are enough!
posted
Glad there is a grammarian onboard. Words are very special in that they are one way which God reveals himself. Granted, if words are merely clinical something major is amiss.
The "attachment of meaning to an ancient tradition" constitutes an institute according to some. True, Jesus did not come to destroy but to fulfill the law. "Law" can be translated as everything previously written down in the Old Testament.
The church has greatly multiplied "institutions" or as they say in Rome: "sacraments." This, to her own peril. "Ordinances" is another word which usually emerges at this point in the discussion.
Jesus "ordained" the great commission, so called and so to speak. Yet, it is usually not referred to as an institution or even an ordinance. Part of that commission is to baptize.
Another idea: everything in the whole world in symbolic in that it all points to God and his Son. Thus, all of life - all of creation - is "sacramental" or sacred. Of course, not everything is a sacrament or institution.
Marriage would seem to be an institution upheld by Jesus, even strengthened by Him. Baptisms (washings) were not new but the baptism of the Spirit was new in many respects, imo. Public prayer, private prayer, labor, rest, meditiation, etc. are, imo, bona fide institutions, but as LA writes, these are not new. And, to me they are privileges - not so much "duties."
Sad that the eastern religions have capitalized on meditation. That's our birthright.
Years ago I brought a rare book to the light called Christ in the Daily Bread, by Norman Fox. Check it out and give some feedback, sometime. Since then, I have found references to two other books which demonstrate(?) that every meal can be eaten in memory of Jesus Christ, the Bread and Water of life. (Pssst, don't let the churchmen find out about this...)
Email this page to someone.
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How about that?
