The Snyder Family Space

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me...

~ Matthew 28:18

 

The American presidential election is coming up.  Who will Americans vote for?  The choices are fairly clear: McCain or Obama.  And most of us know who is in the lead...from the perspective of man.  But before Christians go to the polls to make their choice in the ballot box, they must choose the next president in the prayer closet.  And who must they choose?  Not Obama.  And not McCain.  Then who?  God.  Who will have more authority after the presidential election: the newly elected president or God?  Don't let that be a hard question to answer.  Our prayers must put God in the Oval Office...and in the Senate...and in the House of Representatives.  Prayer brings the presence of God into the high places.  God alone has ultimate authority.  And he has entrusted to us the task of enforcing that authority through prayer.  So, elect God for president.  Starting now.

 

I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot.  Would that you were either cold or hot!  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

~ Revelation 3:15-16

 

"Cafe Mocha or Frappucino, Lord Jesus?"  Jesus would take both, I'm sure.  The Cafe Mocha is hot, the Frappucino is cold; both bless him.  Surely Jesus would have had coffee in mind had he spoken these words in our day of Starbucks and Coffee Beans.  There is one kind of coffee Jesus does not want to receive from us: that leftover coffee sitting on a table in the center of the coffee shop, neither hot nor cold...but room temperature.  Were Jesus to walk into the local coffee shop, the hostess would serve him the best, either the hot or the cold.  The bum off the streets she may give the leftover coffee.  But not Jesus.  How about the coffee shop of our souls?  Are we serving him the Cafe Mocha, the Frappucino, or the leftover coffee reserved for the bums.  What's the difference between the leftover coffee and the Cafe Mocha and Frappucino?  The leftover coffee doesn't bless him.  He doesn't like it.  Does Jesus like what's flowing out of us?  Is he blessed by our love or put off by our apathy.  There is only one cure for serving him the leftovers: throw all the leftovers in the trash and get the coffee-maker brewing and the ice-grinder grinding.  And, don't forget, bless him some more with whip cream on top.  I'm sure he'll enjoy it.

Protestant Individualism and Eastern Orthodox Collectivism.  This distinction seems fair, to a degree.  Protestants are more comfortable with the priesthood of all believers, encouraging the individual to think for himself about the Scriptures and decide for himself the Word of the Lord to him.  Eastern Orthodox believers are more comfortable trusting in the Tradition of the church.  One "thinks for himself", the other looks to the group to think for him.  At least, that is how I understand it.  The two need not necessarily be terminally separate.  The challenge, however, is finding that unity.

 

 

 

During a discussion of the different church traditions, Roman Catholic and Protestant and Eastern Orthodox, I pondered the difference between the structural unity that can exist in a church tradition and the state of the common mind, which may or may not be in unity with the structure.  In this context, the structure can be a theological perspective and agreement.  But the mind of the people may have more in common with the surrounding culture, which at heart is not in agreement with the theological structure.  The challenge is to unite the common mind with the theological structure.  When this is not done, nominal Christianity becomes normative Christianity.