Cheap Grace, Part 2

Cheap Grace

So, what does that mean, do you think, for us 'Piskies today?

This question comes from Robert in reference to the above meme.

This is the second part of my response to the question.  In my last post, I talked about civic responsibility and being a Christian - how we as Christians need to speak out when people in power use the Christian name but do not follow Christian doctrine and discipline.  

As the old expression goes, "When one finger is pointed away from you, there are always three pointed back."  If we are to demand that others follow such things and call for authenticity in public religiosity, then we ourselves are compelled to the same standard.  Otherwise, we would make ourselves out to be hypocrites.

So really, what about us Episcopalians?

For us as Episcopalians, this is also a call to keep our own house in order.  This quote really is directed at Christians (not just Episcopalians) and our practices.  I suspect we as Christians have always failed at such things, and today we continue to struggle with Cheap Grace.  

As a life-long Episcopalian and a priest for a dozen years, I have seen and struggled with how to balance charity and accountability.  I am a firm believer that all baptized Christians are ministers of the Church.  The Lay Order is the first mentioned in the Episcopal Church Catechism.  However, I have long said that our institution struggles with discernment, formation and discipline of the Lay Order.

There are a number of factors outside of our control that are at play in church decline. There is nothing we can do about kids having sports on Sunday.  There is nothing we can do about people being angry at religion because of another denomination's bad behavior.  There is nothing we can do about longer work hours cutting into volunteer time and energy.  

There is, however, a lot that we can do to empower our primary order of ministry.  If we are to take seriously the ministry of the laity, then we must do a better job of discernment, formation and discipline.  

A Culture of Discernment

This is not a direct commentary on Bonhoeffer, but it is related to the concept.  In general, building cultures in a church is more helpful than simply doing once.  A culture of gratitude, a culture of openness, and a culture of generosity are all clear things that churches need to thrive.  These are probably more of an obvious need.  A further culture that the Church needs is a culture of discernment.  

Discernment is a word that most often is used when talking about a person entering holy orders.  There is a great deal of intentionality given when someone feels called to become a priest or deacon.  This does not mean that the process is always (or often) done well and can't be improved in many ways.  However, when we deal with the ministry of the laity, there is virtually no discernment process on an institutional level.  Some congregations and dioceses have some means in place for lay discernment, but it is not the norm.

Typically, what happens in a congregation is that there is a need for something: reader, usher, vestry member, etc.  And the leadership puts out an appeal.  Rarely, does a church do work to find out what people's gifts might be and then find a ministry for them.  

This relates to Cheap Grace because it is "baptism without Church discipline", and "communion without confession".  "Confession" in this case, meaning a statement of faith.  Our teaching is that baptism is that which empowers us for ministry.  Often, though, people are baptized or confirmed without having much sense of what it means to be a part of the Church.  If the Church truly believes that all baptized Christians are minsters of the Church, then we must take seriously what it means before having our baptized, the vow: "Will you be responsible for seeing that the child you present is brought up in the Christian faith and life?" (BCP 302)

Formation

I have heard over the course of my ministry many people say, "I don't believe in the Nicene Creed".  What I have often found is that few people actually know what the Nicene Creed means and why the lines of the Creed say what they do, or what are the implications of the theological statements that we say week after week.  

In many denominations, there is a multi-year formal catechetical process.  The Episcopal Church has no standard on forming disciples.  Some congregations will have a multi-year or at least multi-month process to cover what it means to be a Christian as expressed through Anglicanism.  Others, however, do maybe a few weeks and only skim the surface of what it means to know one's faith.  This is "grace without discipleship".  

The goal of the Church is to form disciples.  But often, things like Baptism, Confirmation, or Marriage are done with little preparation.  The Sacrament happens but then people are cut loose without a sense of the weight of what they are doing.  

We do have such programs for ordained ministry, whether it is a formal seminary process or diocesan school for ministry.  For lay people, there are programs available, but like with discernment there is not a culture of formation built into the church.  

Discipline

The Church needs to do some reflection on why people leave.  The culture wars around social issues get the most attention, and perhaps affect those who are outside the Church more than those inside.  However, people also bounce from church to church depending on their beliefs about one thing or another.  

My hunch is that the bigger issue around why people join or leave is around the kindness and stability that they experience.  Of course, no one can legislate or enforce kindness, but the Church is a human institution and like all human institutions, struggles with sin.  

Before I go any further, I need to point out that while this is less of an issue in the Episcopal Church, churches often equate sin with something sexual.  Unless we are dealing with some sort of misconduct, boundary violation or abuse, this is usually not a helpful viewpoint.  More often than not, it is a distraction from dealing with much more toxic forms of sin.  Yes, we need to deal swiftly with abuse.  We don't need to be peeking into people's bedroom windows to find out what their sins are.

My concern with sin has to do with conflict and power.  Power struggles are a real problem in churches that often tear them apart.  Spending my life in the Episcopal Church and watching controversy after controversy, I have long said that the Devil laughs at our conflicts.  

Jesus gave us a clear approach to dealing with disagreements: "If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector." (Matthew 18:15-17)

There are many ways that people literally do the opposite of every part of this teaching when dealing with conflict and power struggles.  Where is "forgiveness without repentance" and "absolution without personal confession"?  I also wonder where the church lets someone be as to us a "Gentile and a tax-collector".  While clergy discipline is laid out clearly in the canons, there is very little mechanism to manage these kinds of issues with laity.  The only formal process for lay discipline is through the Disciplinary Rubrics (excommunication), which are complicated to use and a bit extreme in most cases.

Now, I need to issue a word of caution with all of this.  I would not urge any church to find a formal process of discipline and use it liberally.  The Church does not need any more witch hunts.  Heresy can be dealt with through proper formation, not discipline.  Nearly all conflicts can be managed through Jesus' first two steps of speaking directly and then bringing witnesses.  Where it does go further than that needs to be clearer to both be effective and not abusive.

Avoiding Cheap Grace

Bonhoeffer's quote was laying out a system from conversion to grace.  He was speaking to a specific time, circumstance, nation and denomination in his writings.  Those are all different than my context. However, Cheap Grace is an issue that all Christians in all times and places should reflect upon.  The underlying question is whether we belong to a social club or are forming ourselves as disciples.  This is what the Church needs to be asking itself as it raises up ministry in all orders.