Wandering with Reckless Abandon

So a few weeks ago I saw someone plugging a book by John Howard Yoder called Body Politics. I say someone, because I have no clue whose blog I saw it on, and I tried to track it down, but let’s be honest… my Google Reader is incredibly full, and I read too many blogs to keep them all straight.

I will tell you that Yoder’s writing is not for the faint of heart, and I have found myself having to read aloud a bunch of times to help myself better comprehend the book, but thus far it has been a good read. The book’s subtitle is Five Practices of the Christian Community Before the Watching World, and the book walks through Binding and Loosing, Baptism, Eucharist, Multiplicity of Gifts, and Open Meeting.

Last night I dug into the chapter on Binding and Loosing… and it was good. Really good. Yoder explains that binding and loosing relate to the process of reconciliation laid out in Matthew 18.

It is kind of ironic that I read this when I did since just before I started I was in the midst of a conversation with a dear friend of mine who asked me how I would define church discipline… and what the purpose of it is. I think that in this day and age, with all the scandal and conflict that we have seen in churches of late that the idea of church discipline may have been lost.

Yoder is very clear that the point of church discipline is NOT to protect the image of the church, but it is to regain relationship with a brother or sister. It is not set in place as a punishment, but it is to restore community. It is not something that is to be enacted on larger issues, and let slide on smaller ones, but it is to be put into practice on all transgressions.

As I read through this, I am tempted to say that we use the wrong word when we speak of church discipline. The word discipline has a very punitive connotation in this day and age, and the process that is intended to be enacted is redemptive in nature. It is not meant to be a smack on the wrist, but a welcoming embrace back into community. I think that rather than calling it church discipline we need to call it what it is meant to be… restoration.

As we put together a process of restoration, we need to be mindful that there will be those that are unwilling to enter into, or journey through the process, and while it pains us to do so, it is those whom we allow to go about their lives outside of the body. It is sometimes at this point where people recognize their need to reconcile themselves both with Christ, and the body to which they had been a part of. Even in this most drastic of steps, the door is still open for restoration to occur.

Reading through Matthew 18, I have always loved how Christ specifically commands that these matters be dealt with privately, and gives a step by step process towards restoration that involves more people only when necessary. First, you need to recognize that you were wronged. Many times in this day and age we try to sweep conflict under the rug, and avoid confronting it at all costs… Christ dictates that once we recognize that we have been wronged that we must confront the one who wronged us.

Walking through this with Yoder brought two things to my attention. First, the process of restoration is not one that is limited to those that hold the office of Pastor. Christ commands us all to be active in this process when we recognize the need for it. Secondly, Yoder made me realize the absolute importance of the restorative process, regardless of the size or weight of the infraction. Even the most minor of wrongs against a person begins to fester if it is not dealt with… and that has the potential to hurt not only those immediately involved in the incident, but the entire community in which they are connected with. We see so many churches where passive aggressive games are played, wrongs are counted, and gossip and slander fly freely and unchallenged. It all starts somewhere.

Christ outlines the next step of restoration as bringing in a second party, giving them knowledge of the event, and asking them to help mediate a solution. If this is refused, the entire body is called upon to weigh in on the situation. It is only after this major step that a person, if unwilling to enter into restoration and reconciliation is disavowed.

One of the points that Yoder makes in his book is that these are the practices that we are ordained to live out in the world around us… allowing us to model for others that which God has designed for us to use in our daily life. The unfortunate thing is that in this day and age we tend to be conflict avoidant… doing all in our power to avoid confronting people. What is even more unfortunate is that many of us in the church are even more conflict avoidant than others… we shy away from making a fuss about something. While we are not called to be searching for the smallest offenses against us, we are called to point out sin and be reconciled with our brothers. It is time for us to suck it up, and do that which we are called to.

As I pursue this end, I hope to be often reminded of Yoder’s closing paragraph of his first chapter:

In sum: To be human is to be in conflict, to offend and to be offended. To be human in the light of the gospel is to face conflict in redemptive dialogue. When we do that, it is God who does it. When we do that, we demonstrate that to process conflict is not merely a palliative strategy for tolerable survival or psychic hygiene, but a mode of truth-finding and community-building. That is true in the gospel; it is also true, mutatis mutandis, in the world.

And so we go forth knowing that we will offend people, and others will upset us… but we go forth with the intent of dealing with conflict quickly and in a dialogue whose intention is restoration and reconciliation.

Father, make it so…