Dear friends

As we move through the familiar season of Lent we are encouraged to make it a time of prayer and reflection, an opportunity to `take stock' of our lives and the direction they may or may not be taking. Lent affords us the opportunity in an otherwise busy life to stop and ask some very important questions. Why am I here? What am I doing with my life? Where am I going? As a Christian, what do I believe?

The need to know our faith, have a grasp of Orthodox Christian Truth is important if we are to be effective Christian disciples. I recently read a book by Professor John Macquarrie entitled 'The Faith of the people of God'. There are three important quotations I liked –

"Every intelligent Christian has an obligation to understand as clearly as they can the beliefs to which their faith has committed them."
"Christian theology is the attempt to state as clearly as possible the beliefs and doctrines that belong to the Christian way of life."
"But it is disastrous for the church when theology becomes a purely academic study and is divorced from the everyday life of the Christian community in the world."

These quotations should help us to start from the right position. They recognise that the moment a person has faith in, and experiences of God in Christ, then they must begin to express that faith and experience in words. If they are to bear witness to their faith and answer other peoples questions, then they must be able to explain what it is they believe, what it means to them, how they have understood it, and they must do this articulately and in words which are meaningful and true to life. This is the origin of Theology-words about God – "God-talk."

Thus doctrine arises from faith and experience, indeed, without a living experience there can be no clear understanding and nothing to share. A person confronts God in Christ personally first and then has to interpret, with the help of the Holy Spirit, that experience.           

When doctrine is thought of as the product of theologians sitting down at their desks to devise a scheme of doctrines to be imposed on us all, it becomes nothing more than an academic preoccupation which is condemned in the third quotation. This sort of thing has sometimes happened in Christian history with disastrous results, because insistence on forms of words and dogmas has replaced the priority of having a personal faith. This, of course, doesn't mean that the church can do without theological foundations. When the faith is being undermined by false-teaching and syncretism, attacked by all kinds of other faiths and philosophies, it is vital for the Christian to be given a clear statement of their faith. But they must not be given such prominence that being a Christian tends to become intellectual acceptance of certain doctrines, instead of a living personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

The first quotation stresses another danger we face – to decide that faith and the 'simple gospel' are enough and there is no need to be bothered about doctrine. The truth is that to some extent spiritual growth depends on understanding. Effective Christian witness also needs a well thought out faith. Faith will only stand up to life's demands if it is well grounded and able to cope with doubt. All this presupposes the need for doctrine. Yet many people in the churches of our land are appallingly ignorant of Christian Doctrine, and in its place we find cherished views and opinions that bear little resemblance to Christian Truth. Therefore, not only must we have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, but we must make every effort to get to know our faith. Bible Study Groups at the Vicarage every other Tuesday morning and Wednesday evening is precisely for this purpose, so why are you not there?           

Let me close with another quotation from John Macquarrie's book —

'It is strange that so many Christians think that theology is some kind of luxury which they can leave to the specialists or those who happen to like that sort of thing. But theology is no luxury. It is a necessity if there is to be a true people of God. Theology is the peoples' understanding of its own raison d'être, and without such an understanding there is not a people, but only an uncertain, drifting, spineless mass of human beings. If the church sometimes appears to be such a jelly like mass, one reason for this (though not the only reason) is the lack of any clear theological understanding."         

Lent is a time for reflection and taking stock of our spiritual lives, a time to get back to basics. Why not make the time to attend our Lenten Ecumenical Meetings at St Catherine's every Wednesday evening during Lent starting at 8.15pm, or why not make it your Lenten resolution to come to one of our House Groups at St Mary's.           

May this Lent be a time of refreshment and renewal for all of us and may God deepen our faith and love and grant us the gifts we need for each day.