One of the more engaging books I've read lately has been Whittaker Chamber's controversial autobiography Witness. The Foreword, written as a letter of explanation to his children for his life and failings, is a remarkable stand alone piece, being a surprisingly strong testimony to the power of historic, biblical Christianity. I didn't expect to find Jesus there.
The bulk of the book is the story of his initial infatuation with, immersion in and eventual messy extrication from mid-century American communism. Chambers went as deeply into the belly of the beast as any American could go and became intimate with the inner workings and many of the party's major players. Curiously, it was his almost complete absorption into the the party that caused him to leave it.
A local news anchor once told me, in lament form, that he had gotten into the news business because he enjoyed being informed of current happenings and world events. He very much liked being an informed news consumer. However, broadcasting demands and production of three daily news programs left him no time to be more than casually acquainted with the news he was reporting. The system required that in getting the story out, the object of his love had to be checked. His passion took a back seat to the program.
I may be off base and subject to good correction, but the same thing is happening with the gospel of Christ - the supreme message of good. That stunning fairy tale like message that there is a perfect, eternal Relationship of love called Father, Son and Spirit who improves love the only way it can be - by sharing it with us. In spite of all our brokenness we are invited into what God is. The beast dies, we are rescued and we really do live happily ever after.
It seems that for the serious lover of Christ, one of the easier places to lose sight of Him and this amazing invitation is within one of the multi-layered systems that has built up around the gospel. Lots of elaborate, encrusted, Byzantine structures - denominations and para-church - have been painstakingly developed by the well meaning to propagate the message of good. Agencies, associations, denominational offices, task forces, mega-churches, and campaigns of every description, all with Christian underpinnings are sustained with enormous outlays of emotional and creative energies and tons of cash. They move mountains for sure, but not nearly with the ease Jesus said we could.
Maybe the well logoed organizations and carefully crafted systems are missing the Presence. It could happen..
It's a happy fact that the local church is the only organization of believers mentioned in the New Testament. Maybe that's because it's the best and only essential one. It's in that messy place and not within the efficient, well lit offices of strategists, demographers, bishops, superintendents and sages that the Presence and power of the Triune God best displays what He's all about. It's in the sometimes comical, sometimes tragic foibles of the local church that the creator of the rivers of living water speaks His invitation to satisfaction the loudest. It's where the thirsty soul hears it most clearly. The strong but crazy notion that within the local church family, serious seekers and bruised saints alike have the best chance to respond to the still, small Voice has been around for a long time. For good reason.
Chambers left the party because the treasure it was designed to preserve and propagate was misspent and squandered. It can happen with any human structure I suppose, even very good ones that do Jesus stuff. Maybe the Pearl of Great Price is not to be found in Christian TV, the various Vaticans and pseudo-Vaticans, denominational offices or agencies. Oh, sure, they can talk about Him in those places and how much He's needed outside those gleaming but expendable think-tanks. Still, it seems to me the local church is where it's at.
Now, if I could only convince over half of Americans who claim to be Christian, all the local churches would be bursting this weekend and the smart girls and guys trying to save the world from their busy beehive of cubicles could go on vacation. Or go to church.
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