Jesus, Galileo & Giving Thanks
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Hindsight is 20/20, or so they say. Thinking that we are somehow better or would have done anything differently because we know better now is an exercise in futility. I've heard some call it "chronological snobbery."
Well, that is not what I intend to do here. But, I do intend to offer a few observations about what we haven't learned from the story of Galileo. The essential question I'm putting on the table is who the Church thinks they are in light of what Jesus said and did.
THE CHURCH'S CONDEMNATION OF GALILEO
Do you remember the story of Galileo? In addition to inventing the first telescope, he was the first to see the 4 moons of Jupiter. And in 1632, he published his groundbreaking argument that instead of the sun orbiting the earth, the earth orbits the sun.
…in 1632, [Galileo] published his groundbreaking argument that instead of the sun orbiting the earth, the earth orbits the sun.
The Roman Catholic Church (at this point already separated from the Eastern Orthodox Church and 115 years after Luther nailed the 95 Theses) held to their doctrines in such a way that they could not grant Galileo's claims. They saw him as clearly and diametrically opposed to the witness of the Holy Scriptures.
So, the Inquisition (essentially the legal arm of the Roman Catholic Church tasked around the Middle Ages with fighting and dismantling heresy) condemned Galileo as a heretic and sentenced him to life in prison. He lived out his life on house arrest because he was already quite old. If he had not recanted his views, he'd have been executed, or at least tortured.
Due to political motivations and Church commitments (among other things), this man's presentation and defense of his discovery were insufferable. He was convicted for disagreeing with the Church and the Scriptures.
[Galileo] was convicted for disagreeing with the Church and the Scriptures.
It's easy to be critical of all of this, especially in a time when we've sent thousands of satellites into orbit around the earth. But have we really changed? Are things all that different now?
THE PERENNIAL PROBLEM OF THE CHURCH
I'm not sure much has changed besides details like who's in charge and how they got there. To get to the point, many still seem to think that a big part of the job Jesus gave the Church is to defend doctrine and only associate with people who agree (or "believe").
That may be a crude way to say it, but the rate at which people are dissociating from the Church is at an all-time high. And the Church seems to see that as everyone else's problem, not their own.
…the rate at which people are dissociating from the Church is at an all-time high.
Thankfully, the Church isn't discrediting scientific discovery as much anymore. But, people are leaving so much faster than people are joining because the central claim of the Gospel is not the central aim of the Church. The Gospel says Christ has reconciled all things, forgiven all sin, and invited all people to trust in this truth. But the Church still appears to be working on reconciling all things.
WHEN THE CHURCH TRIES TO FIX THE WRONG PROBLEM
Just like in Galileo's day, churches and Christians can mistakenly take it upon themselves to preserve the purity of the bride of Christ. They make paramount something Jesus seemed only to challenge - the integrity of the true people of God. The most confounding part is that Jesus didn't condemn people but instead invited them to admit their corruption and trust his confession about what God is really like.
Just like in Galileo's day, churches and Christians can mistakenly take it upon themselves to preserve the purity of the bride of Christ.
When churches hang onto a sense of obligation to get it right, get people right, or get the world right, they nullify the entire story of the suffering Savior. We convert the news about what Jesus accomplished into a way of life he admonished us to live. But we wind up with no way to explain the never-ending list of moral failures expelled from the pulpit.
We perpetuate the lie that to be included in the family of God, we must hold up some version of our end of the bargain. This only ever serves to separate the Church further from the world - a deeply saddening reversal of what could be.
THE CHURCH OF GETTING IT RIGHT
Let's not be too quick to judge the people who condemned Galileo. Today's ways of doing Church can look like a spiritual rat race. People may only be allowed to belong if they hold to whatever beliefs and behaviors the leaders deem essential.
The 4 walls of a church building can be a proverbial house arrest. Like a separated life where you have to recant what you believe in the deepest part of your heart for the sake of preserving your standing and safety. But exclusion is not the work of Christ. And following Jesus is not primarily about correctly carrying around a particular body of doctrine.
…exclusion is not the work of Christ
THE CHURCH HAS A MESSAGE, NOT A MISSION
The Good News for those of us with a critical spirit about who is and isn't authentically part of the Church is that Jesus planned for our confusion. He knew well all the ways we would disfigure and misunderstand the work he finished on the cross. As written in Reclaim, "church is first and foremost who we are, not what we do."
Thankfully, Jesus gave us the ministry of reconciliation instead of doctrinal preservation. He promised us his presence and sent us with a message. He didn't propose a deal and send us with a mission. We don't have to kill Galileo or depose the Pope. And we probably shouldn't anyway, given how hard it is to believe something that goes against everything we thought we knew.
We don't have to kill Galileo or depose the Pope.
I'm willing to bet that most astronomical discoveries reveal more about what we don't know than new information. If that's true about the cosmos, how much more true is that about the Creator? Maybe instead of trying to master the ineffable God and his Gospel of grace, we are free to raise a glass and revel in friendship.
Maybe the Church is people who give thanks instead of people who get it right.
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