Welcome to #ATLT, At the Lord’s Table: A Conversation, a series of over 50 posts from varying authors about the beautiful, mangled Church. Look for at least two new posts every Monday through Saturday between January 25th and February 22nd. Join us in the conversation? See you in the comments.
The story of the Tower of Babel goes like this: All the people of the world are in one place, the land of Shinar. They have decided to build a tower for the purposes of reaching the heavens and making a name for themselves. In their self-sufficiency, these individuals are rejecting the will of the Lord for the sake of their own. Even with all their human and group strength utilized in the building of this tower, the Lord still lowered Himself to see their work. Because He knows the potential for self-destruction in pride, God confuses their common language and disperses them into nations. (Genesis 11:1)
Babel is the same word used in the Old Testament for the city of Babylon. The city of Babylon became known as a symbol of power and godless effort. This story demonstrates — along with life — that striving without dependence on the Holy Spirit betrays and exhausts us. The work of the Holy Spirit is often overlooked by independence, in our attempt to build the Church apart from a humble desire to seek the Lord’s guidance in action.
And yet still God loves us. In the story of the Tower of Babel, God demonstrates His love for His people by loving them too much to allow their plans to succeed. He knows of the emptiness that will come from their getting their way.
And we still live in a sort of confusion. More of the mystery has been revealed, but the pursuit of theology often yields (at some point) a frustration that the Divine is much more confusing than we were taught in Sunday School. Here differences spring up and we must decide how we will treat our brothers and sisters within this versatility. But if the focus is placed back on the Holy Spirit, if we return to a dependence on the Triune God, unity within the church becomes both possible and necessary. It is this dependence that makes it possible for the Church to be unified; it is this dependence on the Holy Spirit that, too, points us to why it is so structurally integral that the Church be unified. Differences within the body contain the potential for conflict, but also contain the power to demonstrate the glory of God made manifest.
“The Christian is called, not to individualism, but to membership in the mystical body.” –C.S. Lewis
Within this Tower-of-Babel struggle to reach the heavens, Christ came down to us. It is His love we delight in, it is His love we pray people see.
If we are truly dependent on the movement of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the work of the Church, then all the differences of denomination and gifts and style fade to the background. If the Triune God is the Who we claim above all else, we do not feel competitive or angry toward our brothers and sisters in other congregations. A unity based on a love for God and for His people must be the foundation upon which the bride of Christ stands. However, unity should not imply uniformity. May we, as members of the Body, be unified in a fervent desire to pursue the will of the Lord and yet allow an unusual amount of grace to those who do not look and work as we do. May we be deeply-rooted in Christ and still beautifully diverse.
In fact, in 1 Corinthians 12 Paul writes that he hopes we will not be tempted to raise one gift above another, because they are all lovely shadows of the same Holy Spirit. He continues in the chapter to say that all these gifts point to the same God. This is what we celebrate in the Church. All the many different and varied gifts paint a more whole picture of the Creator God. (1 Corinthians 12:1-11, 27-31)
So, here, at the cross we fall on our faces, recognizing those times we have acted without grace and without humility, those times we have misrepresented the very thing we hoped to herald. Here we all fall. Together. In dependence on the God whose Love covered it before we began. I do believe in the Church. I do believe that she can be diverse and life-giving, accepting and nurturing, convicting and welcoming, seeking justice and loving mercy.
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read the post before this one, here.
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Brittany Hardy
My name is Brittany. I graduated from Baylor University in May 2011. I am now in my second semester at Dallas Theological Seminary, getting a master’s degree in Biblical Counseling. I love reading, writing, and spending time with people.
© 2012, Preston. All rights reserved.
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