CrossRoads VBMHC History

LECTURES & HISTORICAL NOTES

"OUR JOURNEY OF FAITH"
Dr. Myron S. Augsburger

All that we experience has its roots in history. I recall one of my Professors, Dr. Harold Bender saying that "we learn nothing apart from history." This raised questions in my mind in view of our modern orientation to science and research. But later, at Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, my major Professor, Dr. John Leith said, "If you think you have come up with something new either it is wrong or you haven't read very far!"

We stand in the stream of history in which God has been at work. I am moved by reading Stephen's sermon in Acts 7, reviewing the work of God in history. The story moves from the call of Abraham to walk in covenant with God, through the Old Testament to the coming of Christ and then into the Church which He builds. We are in the continuum of that Apostolic Church, but with its many expressions we need to be honest about our own heritage. Among the many forms of Christian community we find our life in the Anabaptist continuum, the believers church movement, the expression of freedom to be the church in separation of church and state. This freedom was basic in the development of this country in the faith of Roger Williams of this tradition, who insisted on religious freedom in the face of the pattern of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and its commitment to the state religion brought from England.

This Anabaptist continuum has come into its own in our time with the majority of the churches in the Two-Thirds world being "believers' churches." And its special relevance is its Christocentric emphasis applied to the whole of life, in ethics with the conviction that just as we are saved in relation to Christ so we behave or live in relation to Christ. Salvation is not a private piety, an experience that one can get and run away with, but is a relationship of covenant which we describe as discipleship. This conviction that Christ Jesus is the "example that we should follow in his steps..." (I Peter 2:21) has been basic in our journey of faith even though it has not been affirmed in the same way by other Christians. As a consequence we have sought to follow Jesus teachings to "love your enemies, to turn the other cheek, to be peacemakers in societal relations."

As Dr. Arthur Holmes of Wheaton College has said, "All philosophy and all theology is perspectival." We confess in all honesty the perspective by which we approach the interpretation of faith and expect others to be just as honest about their presuppositions. What divides us is not what the Bible says but we are divided by what we "understand it to say." Our contribution to the larger Christian community is to make clear our presuppositions and add to the reexamination of what we understand Jesus to say.

The Brethren/Mennonite community of faith, by cooperation in the venture of this historic center, can contribute to the ongoing dialogue among Christian denominations. Not always understood at least we are not to crawl off into a corner, not to "put our light under a bushel."

I. WE ARE AN EXTENSION OF THE HISTORIC NARRATIVE

But our faith is based on the Biblical story and its meaning, God's call to Abraham, Gods call to Moses from the burning bush, Gods message through successions of prophets and his ultimate Word in the Christ. There are frequent references in the Word stating, "I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob." Jesus used this phrase to refer to the reality of resurrection, "God is not the God of the dead but of the living," thereby stating that these persons were living on.

When reading these words I am reminded of a comment by the well known Presbyterian preacher, Dr. Robert Lamont, "The God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob is (1) the God of different personalities, (2) the God of varying circumstances, and (3) the God of succeeding generations."

But most remarkably, we confess that He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. As I recite the Nicene and the Apostles' Creeds I thrill at the positive statements of faith confession. And we do not regard history as a closed book, nor as a movement that will fulfill itself, but we recognize God at work in history and believe that he will complete his promises and his purpose.

II. WE HAVE THE PRIVILEGE OF "TIME-BINDING" POWER

One of the greater aspects of choice is the ability to reach back into history and select values that are evident there and channel them into life again through our own commitments. This privilege of selectivity is what accounts for the difference in lives and in the various heritage's of faith. This is one of the greater challenges for us as ministers of the gospel, to select that which is consistent with the whole of scripture and that which is consistent with the person of Jesus. It is this selectivity that gives expression of the presuppositions by which we work.

It is for us to actualize the meanings of Gods Word in life. The actualization of truth, putting truth into practice, is the test of the genuineness of our faith. This is what Paul calls "the obedience of faith," the fulfilling of the meaning to which we are pointed. And in proclamation, as I frequently emphasize in teaching on the art of preaching, there must be the "happenedness" of the truth in the passage, that is, the meaning of the passage must happen again in the moment.

As we create a center to express the historical journey in which we share we want the meaning of that historic peace position to be emphasized and understood by the next generations who stand in this continuum as well. We want to share and to see the Kingdom of God, i.e., the rule of God, both experienced and extended in society and in the world. As Dr. E. Stanley Jones has said, "We do not build the Kingdom, God gives us the Kingdom, we build the church." Yes, I agree, but I also would emphasize that the nature of the church which we build must be consistent with the Kingdom, must reflect the "rule of God."

III. WE CAN BE PROPHETIC BY UNDERSTANDING THE ACTS OF A GOD WHO IS NOT CAPRICIOUS.

God is consistent with himself. This is my understanding of emphasizing the sovereignty of God, that God is self-determined, that he will always act in a way consistent with his own Being. This very consistency is what allows us freedom, for God does not manipulate nor coerce but relates to us in love and freedom for self-actualization. But in turn honesty about our limitations will turn us ever and again to his grace. But my point here is for another application.

Because God is consistent we can be prophetic, for we can interpret what is happening in life and knowing how that God works or expresses himself we can project into the future and make a prophetic declaration. Being prophetic is not to claim some mystical link with God of special "knowledge" but is rather to seek the wisdom of God to interpret. It is not difficult to be prophetic when we understand that "violence begets violence," that violence is not answered by greater violence; the propetic word is the word of the "cross" where we learn that love drains violence and is the only power that can bring it to its knees. As P. T. Forsythe said years ago, "He took the sting and pulled out the stinger."

We are responsible to interpret Old Testament prophecies carefully, in light of the New Testament use of those prophecies. Much that was predicted led to the full expression of Gods purpose in the Christ, and is confirmed again and again in the New Testament use of the Old. Even Gods prophecies of the calling and creating of a people through whom he would bring the message of grace to the larger world must be understood as people-centered, not land centered (Leviticus 25:23). As Dr. Karl Barth has said, we must recognize that Israel's presence is a sermon of Yahweh wherever they are found in the world. This is a different focus than to be pro-Israel without also being pro-Palestinian!

Our Brethren/Mennonite heritage places peace in a context of evangelism, an emphasis that would win peoples of all races and cultures to become brothers and sisters in Christ. If we are thoroughly evangelical, wanting to win each person to be our brother or sister in Christ, we cannot but be pacifist. We cannot take the life of a person for whom Christ died when we want them to be partners in the community of faith.

Let me close by a moving story from the life of a student I had a few months ago in a class at Union Biblical Seminary, Pune, India. Using another name, Kumar came from a wealthy family in New Delhi that were Muslim, successful in business and high society. One night as a young man he heard Jesus speak to him in a dream, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest..." He had never heard those words in his life, he had never read a Bible. The next morning he told his father and his dad said, "Forget it, put that out of your mind, don't bring that up again."

He tried to do that. Several years later, on a delivery his truck stopped and across the street was a church building. He went in to use the telephone and met the pastor. As the were chatting he told the pastor of this dream, and without a word the pastor picked up a bible and opened it to Matthew 11, and had him read. As he read those very words it "blew him away." Reflecting on this he came to faith, and in a few weeks the pastor baptized him as a believer.

He didn't tell his dad, but in a few weeks his dad asked him, "Kumar, what is so different about you" What has happened to you? You behave differently, you donŒt run with the same gang anymore." And Kumar said, "I' ve become a Christian, I've been baptized." His dad's face flushed, and in heat he said, "Out, get out, and don't come back unless you come back a Muslim." Kumar went to his room to pack up and his dad came to the door, "What are you doing," he asked. "You told me to leave, so I'm packing up." His dad said, "You leave, everything else stays here."

Kumar left a wealthy home with the cloths on his back. His pastor was afraid for his life and sent him to Calcutta to work at an orphanage. The people there didn't quite trust his commitment, knowing of his background, and they said they would put him to the lowest of jobs and test him, and they put him to cleaning the toilets. But he stuck, and now he is a senior at UBS, married, and this couple is planning to give themselves in a mission to Muslims.

In sharing peace we share the Prince of Peace, and in knowing him we know peace with God and with our fellows

LECTURES & HISTORICAL NOTES

"OUR JOURNEY OF FAITH" Dr. Myron S. Augsburger

"OUR JOURNEY OF FAITH"
Dr. Myron S. Augsburger