If g and t is common on the social scene, t and c is equally common when we order goods or benefits on-line. What we imagined to be a simple agreement or contract becomes overloaded with explanatory notes. This is a feature of the world today and we have to live with it.
But is this a feature of the Christian faith? Can it be that a child’s simple trust in a father is an adequate explanation of faith in God? If we say yes, we may find ourselves excluding consideration of difficult issues like syncretism (the belief that all roads lead to God) or euthanasia (assisted suicide, in today’s terms). If we say no, we may find ourselves denying access to the Gospel to a large swathe of the population by making faith too complicated.
The important word here is ‘covenant’. We are familiar with the word used in specifying an undertaking freely entered into – for giving to a charity, for example. We donate money on the understanding that the other party will perform stated tasks. That kind of agreement between equals is one thing. The way the word is used in the Bible is something else.
It is commonly said that the Bible is a book of two testaments, the Old and the New. A variation is to say that the Bible is a book of two covenants. The two words mean more or less the same thing. For one reason or another we don’t hear this kind of language very often today. Even those who protest most loudly that they have espoused a biblical faith are less than enthusiastic in their usage of the word ‘covenant’. Yet, as James Atkinson has said, ‘Here is the entire Gospel: here is perfect atonement.’
The popular writer William Barclay was similarly specific: ‘Our relationship with God is not something which we entered in our own right and on our own terms; it is something given to us solely and completely on the initiative and in the grace of God.’ Compare Mark 14.22-25 with 1 Corinthians 11.23-25.
We cannot cut deals with God. He gives everything. We can give nothing. We come to God on the ground of the perfect atonement in the cross. The Gospel is a Gospel of grace.
TRANSPARENT
Deane parish church, Bolton is nothing if not transparent. It puts its cards on the table when it says it aims to Meet Jesus, Walk with Jesus and Share Jesus. It features mug-shots of its ministry team and others on the website and invites newcomers to identify them and speak to them when they arrive. The Rector is Terry Clark.
ECHOES OF C.S. LEWIS
Holy Trinity church, Poulton Lancelyn, Wirral came into being in 1977 when Roger Lancelyn Green, a member of the Poulton Green family who had lived in the area for generations, donated building and grounds to the church. An academic, he had known Lewis at Oxford and became a friend over the years. Holy Trinity became a parish church when new housing estates were built and the church became too small/ It was replaced by a new building in 1987. The Vicar is Roger Wiles.
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