Dreaming Without the Drift

There are lots of ideas and dreams floating around.  We have been asking members and attenders about their ideas for the future, and that request has tweaked some of you.  Others have just rolled along, content to compartmentalize 'church' in a place where it doesn't get too out of hand.  Only you can ask and answer which of these might describe you.  It can be fun to dream, but we, societally, seem to drift pretty easily.

How can we dream, vision, and keep from drifting off course?  One way is to plant our feet on the solid, the strong, the faithful, and the true.  The early Church experienced a number of challenges that caused people to 'drift' and become caught up in doctrinal issues and divisions, threatening orthodox faith.  One theologian (Thomas Oden) said that all heresy and all 'drifting' from orthodoxy happened in the 1st 300 years of the Church (Scripture says "there is nothing new under the sun").  Paul Simon wrote (in The Boxer), "after changes upon changes, we are more or less the same."  

In 325 AD at the Council of Nicea (and refined in 381AD at the Council of Constantinople) Church leaders adopted a creed which clarified the nature and person of Christ and of God the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Arianism (the belief that Jesus was a created being, a "good man," and not part of an eternal Godhead) challenged the Church of that time.  Arianism held that Jesus was a created being with a beginning and an end ... not "from the beginning" and not "forever."  This Arian view is currently shared by believers of certain faith streams in modern culture.  To be concise, this belief states that Jesus is not who Jesus and God the Father said He was.  The early councils knew that this belief diminished (C.S. Lewis said, negated) the authority of both Scripture and of Jesus Himself.  So ... here's what they wrote:

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father; through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father [and the Son,] who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy catholic* and apostolic church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

I love it when we (the Church) get clear on who we are, who Jesus is, and where we are going (our mission, "Make disciples of Christ who worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly").  We keep from drifting when we know who God is, know who we are in relation to God, and hold those beliefs as solid, strong, faithful, and true.