The great thing
about having a personal Blog is that I can use it to express my personal
thoughts. I don’t necessarily have to go
to the extent of doing research, getting sources, and the like. My analytical personality, as a rule, does
tend to lead me to naturally do some research and to provide sources in my
Blog posts, to support the opinions that I express; but I don’t have to.
This is my personal
Blog. I don’t formally represent anyone,
except myself, and everyone who reads my Blog knows that. So, provided I don’t do anything silly, like
post a video or a cartoon that will lead to two weeks of outrage amongst
Muslims; or photo’s that will incur the wrath of the royal family; I should generally
be okay with expressing my opinion here.
This particular post
on my Blog, is one of those. It has no
research material whatsoever to support it.
It is entirely my personal opinion. It is based on a thought that popped into my
head yesterday evening, while I was sitting in my garden watching the bird life,
after Vespers.
For some strange
and inexplicable reason, a song we used to sing at Sunday school in the
Anglican Church, when I was very young, popped into my head. I don’t know how old I was when we sang the
song at Sunday school. If I had to guess, I would say that I was 6 or 7 years
of age.
I can remember
the tune for the song quite clearly. I
can also remember how we use to happily clap and sing along. It was a favourite song of ours. But I do not remember all the words. The only words that I do remember are these:
“Silver and gold have I none said he, but
such as I have give I unto thee…”
It’s amazing
that I should, completely out of the blue, for no reason at all, suddenly
remember that Sunday school song, nearly 40 years later. Although I do not remember all the words of
the song, I immediately remembered exactly what the song was about.
I wonder how
many of you have figured it out yet?
The song is about
the story of St Peter, outside the temple, when the lame man asked him for a
donation – Acts 3: 1 – 8:
“Now Peter and John were going up to the
temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at
that gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful to ask alms of those who
entered the temple. Seeing Peter and
John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, with
John, and said, "Look at us."
And he fixed his attention upon them, expecting to receive something
from them. But Peter said, "I have
no silver and gold, but I give you what I have; in the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, walk." And he took him by
the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made
strong. And leaping up he stood and
walked and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.”
Two thoughts
flowed from my recalling this Sunday school song.
The first
thought was about the tremendous value of those Sunday school classes. I can remember so many bible stories today, precisely
because of my Sunday school experience.
The singing of songs, dancing, acting out the bible stories and hearing
the bible stories told to us, all led to these being embedded in my
memory: Jonah and the Whale; Zacheus
being called down from the tree; and many others.
In comparison,
my wife’s experience is that she does not remember these bible stories as
readily as I do. Why, well she did not
have Sunday school classes like this.
She remembers more formal Catechism classes. She was born, baptised and grew up
Catholic. Is there a lesson here for us?
My second
thought is on a completely different track.
I sometimes get
the impression that the Church has just become one big charity
organisation. The Church is being closed
out and side lined. The world is pushing
the Church, and Christianity as a whole, into focussing on doing works of
charity…
Sadly, many
Catholics seem to share this view, though they may not explicitly say it. The primary mission of the Church, for many
Catholics, it seems, is to make people feel that they are part of a loving
community. A community that accepts
people for what they are, without any prejudice. A community that comforts those who suffer,
takes active measures to help those less privileged individuals, treats all
people as equals and with dignity.
For many the Church is a community that empowers individuals to achieve their objectives and defends people from oppression, while also encouraging and enabling self-actualisation. You can see where else this could and does all lead… ordination of woman, gay marriage, acceptance of divorce, Holy Communion for non-Catholics, IVF, euthanasia …
For many the Church is a community that empowers individuals to achieve their objectives and defends people from oppression, while also encouraging and enabling self-actualisation. You can see where else this could and does all lead… ordination of woman, gay marriage, acceptance of divorce, Holy Communion for non-Catholics, IVF, euthanasia …
The problem with
this approach is that, while the Church must do works of charity, for reasons
we all understand only to well, such as the fact that faith without works is dead, the primary mission of the Church is to introduce
people to Jesus. The Church must lead
people into a close personal relationship with Jesus. The Church must get people to repent and believe
the good news.
The Church must,
first and foremost, help individuals to save their souls! Everything else is secondary! Like St Peter, the Church must be saying
continuously: Silver and gold have I
none, but I have JESUS who I lovingly give I unto thee, to heal you (read spiritual healing)!!!
But the world,
and sadly many Catholics along with the world, don’t want Jesus anymore… they
want the silver and gold…
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