Over the years, I have changed my views on many things, and I am not afraid to admit that when I believe something that is proved to be wrong, I change my mind. A lot of the changes in my life have been theological, which makes sense, considering what I do for a vocation. I have changed many of my faith practices, including how I put worship services together and what I believe to be true. Take original sin, for example. We know that, historically, original sin didn’t become a theological idea until Augustine fleshed it out in his disagreement with a monk named Pelagius, sometime in the early 5th century. While loosely based on Genesis 3, it took over 400 years for the idea to become deeply entrenched in Christian thinking. I reject it because I find the idea of God punishing all of humanity for all time for Adam and Eve’s longing for knowledge to be silly and cruel.
I will often ask people in and out of the church this question: if you could change one thing about church, what would it be? I will be honest and say that I would get rid of the Rite of Confirmation. It isn’t that there is no value to it; I just haven’t found much data that shows it is very effective in the long term. You might have had a good experience, and I will admit that keeping teenagers connected to church at the very worst part of their lives is a positive thing. The problem is that most parents, once confirmation is done, give their 13-year-old the option of never going back. That seems nonsensical to me. After affirming their belief in Jesus Christ as the incarnation of God, they leave. Seems like a parenting problem, not a kid problem.
What would you change (this isn’t rhetorical – I really want to know!) Would you get rid of older hymns – or hymns in general? Would you lose the prayer of confession, something many Evangelical and big-box churches have done? Hierarchy? Creeds? This isn’t a blasphemous idea – the reason so many reform movements come about is to accomplish these very things. And once you have made your change, what would the outcome be? I want to challenge you to send me the one thing you would like to change the most – and you might have dozens, but I’m just one person. I can use your name, or you can be anonymous. We will call this series of thoughts “Change for the Good”, and it will have as many parts as you send me. Ready? Go….
Prayer – Holy God, give us the courage to change what needs to change and keep that which is meaningful, so that our faith might become more every day. Amen.
Today’s art is the “Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, Dakovo Cathedral (Cathedral of St. Peter), Croatia.