October 8, 2009
This letter started as a communication to various people we have had some contact with. It expresses what Grace Fellowship stands for, and some of the history behind that stand. I am also making this my October member letter because it is important for us at Grace Fellowship to be reminded of our faith journey – where we came from and where we are going and what we hope to accomplish.
As I discuss faith journeys in this letter, realize two important things. First, you who read this letter are on a faith journey. Secondly, when I say “faith journey” it is best to think of this as a map of a faith journey. Real journeys are filled with issues and complications that cannot be expressed on a map.
Grace Fellowship’s faith journey somewhat parallels my own journey, so I will begin by telling my story.
By the mid-50’s, during my grade school years, I had already realized that I liked science – and I was good at it! By a natural chain of events I ended up as a college physics major, after which I spent thirty five years as a high school science and computer teacher. I like physics because it has a certain beauty to it. With just a few simple principles you can explain the entire visible natural world. It is the kind of beauty that says God must have had a hand in it.
During my senior year in high school I heard a radio preacher who seemed have the same cockiness for understanding God as I did for understanding physics – Garner Ted Armstrong. His glib daily radio broadcasts confidently gave solutions for every human problem – from war to the common cold – and that is no exaggeration! He and his father, Herbert Armstrong, headed the Worldwide Church of God (WCG).
After a couple of years of studying material from the WCG, I had the same sense of “knowing all the answers” about God as I did about physics. Despite “knowing it all” I saw no real beauty to WCG theology like I experienced in physics. It was a hodge-podge of doing things that we thought God commanded or avoiding things that we thought He said not to do. So I spent thirty years keeping the Saturday Sabbath, the Old Testament Holy Days, and avoiding Christmas and Easter – just to name a few of our exclusive doctrines.
Herbert Armstrong died in early 1986, and the new WCG leadership tried to maintain Armstrong’s empire, but with the passing months more and more of Herbert Armstrong’s understandings proved to be misunderstandings. In 1995 church leaders announced that the church could no longer stand on Armstrong’s theology. Membership and income plummeted; lifelong relationships were broken; most every member who stayed in the WCG experienced a period of mourning as if a close family member had died.
I made my decision quickly to begin a new direction in my faith journey – but I was no closer to seeing the beauty of the hand of God in His plan for us here on earth. “What is God really up to?”, I wondered.
The answer came in a simple way – by a student handout passed on to me from the Church college: How we live life – what we do or refrain from doing – comes from believing in Jesus. Behaving comes from believing.
So now let’s turn this discussion to your faith journey. Below is my map of a faith journey.
If God exists, then the end of the path (on the right) is God – there can be no other destination. Then what is the start of the journey? The faith journeys described in the Bible tell us that humanity’s “default mode” is to trust in ourselves – our brains, our brawn, our money, our success, our education, our religion, etc. A faith journey is from believing in ourselves to believing in God.
Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son contains the most complete description of a faith journey. In the beginning the son asks for his share of his father’s inheritance. The father grants his wish, and he leaves his father with full self-confidence (faith) that he can make a better life than his father can give him. That’s Plan A – faith in self. When life goes sour he comes up with Plan B – to make a deal with his father. He will work for the father in exchange for a better life. On his way back home, the father gives him some good news – the father will not make the deal. He is still the son of his father, and always has been.
So this story gives us three additional ways to describe your faith journey and mine. It is a journey from being clueless about God’s Good News to believing God’s Good News. (The words “Good News” are translated “Gospel” in most Bible translations.) It is a journey from not knowing God to knowing God. It is a journey from behaving as part of a deal to behaving from the heart. The parable doesn’t say so, but the listener hopes that prodigal son, because of coming to know who the father really is, will now begin to behave – to live the life of a son. I spent thirty years in the WCG mostly dealing with God, and missing the beauty of the Gospel and its power in my life.
What is the Good News from God – the Gospel? God became a human being – Jesus. He entered into your faith journey and mine – every human being’s faith journey. He willingly allowed His loved people to abuse Him and murder Him. There can be no greater misbehaving than to abuse and murder God. There can be no greater pain for God to endure than to be abused and murdered by the people he loves. This event shouts the Gospel to all humanity – THERE IS NO MISBEHAVING THAT YOU HAVE DONE, ARE DOING, OR EVER WILL DO, THAT WILL MAKE GOD DISOWN YOU AS ONE OF HIS CHILDREN. And that’s true for every human being who has ever lived and who ever will live. Anything less calls to question the love of God for all humanity or puts us into the position of dealing with God. You can decide to be a runaway. You can disbelieve the Good News and try to implement some form of Plan B. But God the Father will not disown you. You will always be a loved son or daughter.
Jesus’ first words to all humanity were “The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news.” Let me translate that into faith journey language: “The time has come for Me to show you who I really am. The way is open for you begin living in the Father’s house now – and it can continue forever. Change your whole way of thinking about Me – I make no deals – what I offer you is free of charge. I have done unbelievably great things for you. Believe it.”
Is the faith journey only for church people? I’ll bet that if I asked you for a definition of behaving and misbehaving, you could give as good a definition as I can. So can many Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, or Atheists. Everyone is on a faith journey, but many don’t know the destination and are on some form of Plan B – trying to deal with God, or some god, or our friends, or that mysterious thing we call “fate”. I really doubt that anyone is totally sold on Plan A – faith in self only.
It is in the Christian Church that we practice living the Gospel. What does that mean? First it means loving people inside a church community. That is not as easy as it sounds because everyone’s faith journey is unique and everyone is at a slightly different place. We need to keep our eyes on the Gospel, listen to the Holy Spirit and be in regular attendance to love people even within a church congregation. Outside a church congregation, we encounter faith journeys that are even more divergent, and we need our in-church practice and the Holy Spirit to know how to love them. Churches don’t do this perfectly. Grace Fellowship doesn’t do this perfectly. But with our experience in years and years of Plan B, we are better equipped than most to avoid that common pitfall and all its side effects. It is every church’s mission to make the Gospel clear by words and actions, so that more people will believe the Gospel. Believing leads to behaving – loving God and our neighbor.
When confronted with such good news, questions are natural. We want to hear them. Tell us about your faith journey. Our phone numbers and e-mail addresses are on this letter. We do not keep regular office hours, but we can meet with you by appointment most any time or place. We can even meet for a few sessions in a midweek small group if enough of you want to do that. And, of course, you are most welcome to worship with us at 10:30 am on Sundays at the Community Action Building in Wisconsin Dells.
Happy journeying!
Pastor John Torgerson