Decision for Christ / Decision for the Church

[Scott]

This is an excerpt from an interview with Richard John Neuhaus, a Catholic and ex-Lutheran, that relates to the new pope. Neuhaus has been visible in the media with the recent election of Benedict XVI. I was curious about how people respond to the observation below.

Q: How does the Eucharist play a part in the New Evangelization?

Father Neuhaus: It does more than play a part. One learns from, for instance, the encyclical "Ecclesia de Eucharistia" that evangelization and re-evangelization are inescapably Eucharistic. Evangelization entails not just a personal decision for Christ by individuals but incorporation into the Eucharistic community that is the Church.

Cardinal Ratzinger has suggestively noted that, for Protestants, the decision for Christ and the decision for the church are two decisions, whereas for Catholics the decision for Christ and his Church is one decision.

The survey I did of common evangelistic literature produced by evangelicals inidicated that the "closing the deal" part almost invariably exclusively concerns a decision for Christ. Discussion of the visible church is typically an afterthought, if addressed at all. And then it is usually limited to something like "have fellowship with other Christians" or even "join a Bible believing church."

 

[Me Died Blue]

Ratzinger is unfortunately accurate with respect to so much of contemporary evangelicalism, but that is certainly not representative of historic Reformed--and even Protestant at large--belief and practice. A song of Derek Webb's comes to mind as particularly relevant to the need to reform the contemporary Protestant church's individualism, especially the chorus, as well as the two-line verses preceding each chorus:

The Church
(words and music by derek webb)

i have come with one purpose
to capture for myself a bride
by my life she is lovely
by my death she´s justified

i have always been her husband
though many lovers she has known
so with water i will wash her
and by my word alone

so when you hear the sound of the water
you will know you´re not alone

(chorus)
"˜cause i haven´t come for only you
but for my people to pursue
you cannot care for me with no regard for her
if you love me you will love the church

i have long pursued her
as a harlot and a whore
but she will feast upon me
she will drink and thirst no more

so when you taste my flesh and my blood
you will know you´re not alone

(chorus)
there is none that can replace her
though there are many who will try
and though some may be her bridesmaids
they can never be my bride

(chorus)

http://www.derekwebb.com/lyrics/the_church.php

 

[Scott]

Good thoughts, Chris. I was not familiar with the song either.