It seems clear that the Church is moving in a direction of no return. As a result, we will need institutional consensus on how to move forward culturally, sacramental consensus on how to move forward ecclesiastically, and a domestic consensus on how to move forward in the home.
In all these spheres, I am arguing for a consensus of principle, not methodology. This means we will need to overlook certain practices to pursue a greater, unified agenda.
Culturally, we will need to embrace institutions that are decrying leftist policies without exception. While this may entail remaining in certain institutions temporarily, it also means that we begin to create new institutions that protect the principles of mere Christendom.
New business models will emerge as a result of fruitful discourse. Such models will carry the imprimatur of Christ, though they may at times contain non-Christians. But every non-Christian must work under the ethic of Christendom. This will necessarily create expected tension.
Churches must also participate in this cultural renewal, but she is primarily a blueprint expositor and a cultivator of virtue. She lays the groundwork for institutional transformation by calling laborers to Word and Sacrament.
Congregations form the center of kingdom work as a headquarter for spiritual grace, strengthening communities, fostering discipleship, enhancing our rituals of hospitality and love, and providing a biblical grammar in pulpit and song. Thus, a genuine ecclesiastical conservatism affirms that the Church is central to the purposes of God in the kingdom and that from her flows the wisdom of God to the world (Eph. 3:10).
She must, however, see that she does not divide foolishly. She must find a consensus that allows her to work with other bodies in advancing the cause of orthodoxy. And she must not remain together for the Gospel foolishly. She must know when to forsake the sinking ship.
Sacramental differences may keep bodies from worshiping together in the same building or religious affiliation, but it should not keep us from holding the shovel in one hand and the sword in the other in the same house project.
Domestic consensus must occur at all levels. We must understand fundamental roles in the home not merely as an orderly pursuit but as how society is rebuilt. When roles are reversed, there is a cosmic shift in the oikos.
Masculine leadership must look one way, and feminine beautification must look another. Assumptions about parents and children must return to Deuteronomy 6 and Ephesians 5-6 as roots for a proper new domesticity.
While we should expect sphere confusion at times, we should work with these assumptions. We must not waste this opportunity in our historical landscape. The fields are ready to be harvested.
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