THE CHURCH IN FLUX
Chapter 8
How can we live holy and godly lives?
The Apostle Peter (2 Peter 3:11) urges us to “live holy and godly lives’. I connect this admonition to an old-fashioned concept: the Covenant, which my dictionary defines it as “An agreement, usually formal, between two or more persons, to do or not to do something specified.”
The most everyday form of covenant is a marriage, where two persons agree to do something specified, in this case, to keep troth, to remain faithful to each other, whatever the circumstances.
Believe it or not, but every living creature, both human and animal in the world are part of God’s covenant, something we hardly ever pay attention to. Since the concept is so seldom explored, yet fundamental to our relationships to all global creatures, I will explore this quite extensively, devoting the next three chapters to this special relationship.
The idea of Covenant has intrigued for a long time. As a youth I often heard the word. My parents called themselves ‘Covenant Children’. I grew up in the Netherlands when, during the war 1940-45, within the Reformed Churches a serious theological dispute erupted concerning the Covenant and Baptism. This ecclesiastical controversy was so severe that families split, congregations were torn apart, and brand new denominations emerged. I had a first-class seat in all this, as in the Christian College I attended, the sons and daughters of the ministers most intimately involved in this hair splitting, were my classmates. This experience gave me an early taste of religious intolerance when teenage boys refused to be exposed to the prayer of teachers who attended the church whose synod had not approved of the actions of the dissidents. I found that nothing is more vicious than Christian intolerance.
In my time Covenant applied only to baptism, and thus was a concern to church-goers only. I remember that in my church, whenever a child received that sacrament, we would automatically sing after the ceremony Psalm 105: “Jehovah’s truth will stand forever. His covenant bonds he will not sever… The Covenant made in days of old, with Abraham he does uphold.” That covenant had a meaning beyond generational significance never entered into the picture.
Yet, although the Covenant is the key to understand both God and His Kingdom, the concept itself is seldom explored. It reveals some of God’s characteristics that the church hardly ever points out. Since understanding the Covenant is vital to understanding the church, some elaboration is need, of which two of the most striking are the care God has for the entire creation, and the great sense of humor God has.
First it is significant how God expresses his utmost love for all his creatures. Immediately after the flood, when Noah and his family and all the animals had emerged from the Ark, God made a solemn declaration, (Genesis 9:9-11), “I will establish my covenant with you, and with your descendants after you – which means the entire human race – and with every living creature that was with you – every living creature on earth, the birds the livestock and all the animals.” The prophet Hosea picks this up in Hosea 2:18-20, where the Bible says, “On that day I will make a covenant for them, with the beast of the field and the birds of the air, and the creatures that move along the ground.” These passages show that God’s covenant is all-encompassing, and will find its full expression in the Kingdom to come, because Covenant and Kingdom are two sides of the same coin.
That God has a real sense of humor is not a trait that the church has discovered. If ever it does, the church might become a more saleable commodity. Perhaps I should call this chapter “The Comedy of the Covenant.” Why? God made a covenant with Abraham and the first child born under the Covenant God made with Abraham, is called “Laughter.” Laughter sets the stage of the Covenant. It means that we, as children of the Covenant, are also children of Laughter.
And we have a lot to laugh about. Suppose that Queen Elizabeth, reputedly one of the richest women in the world, worth perhaps 20 billion dollars, would tell your extended family, all 20 of them, including spouses, children, and grandchildren: “I will have a contract made up, a Covenant. All my possessions, my castles, my land holdings, my stocks, shares, and crown jewels, everything I own, I will share with you. One condition I will make however, you must also share all that you own with me.”
Not a bad deal, we would say and we would be utterly foolish not to take her up on it; because suddenly each one of us would have a net worth of $1 billion. In addition, we all would be princesses and princes and wherever we went we would travel free and others would pay our hotel bills and meals.
This unlikely situation would certainly be a cause of great merriment and laughter.
Well, that is the Comedy of the Covenant. And it is no fiction but reality. God made such a contract with us, with all of us. He first made it with Noah, extended it through Abraham twice, then with Moses, David, and finally renewed and sealed it in Jesus Christ. In this contract with us God promised to share with us, as rightful heirs, as his daughters and sons, this whole universe, the entire creation, the gold it contains, the diamonds, the lakes and rivers and sea front, the
mountains and meadows, the houses and forests, the birds and the animals: all that the world contains, a gift much more valuable than the Royal $1 Billion. And in addition, things the Queen cannot give: perpetual peace of mind, eternal life amidst loving people, a life without disease or death, no dead lines, only life lines to pursue. The only condition on our part is that “We do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with the God Creator (Micah 6:8).” Those conditions also are comprehensive, they include doing justice to animals, treat them with respect. That today it becomes more and more dangerous to eat meat has everything to do with the way we handle animals. That we have Global Warming has everything to do with the way we do injustice to the air, the soil and the water on which our lives depend; showing mercy means to help those who need help, who are destitute and hungry; walking humbly with our God means living in awe of his greatness as revealed in creation. Doing all that – something Jesus calls an easy burden – means keeping our part of the Covenant and simultaneously preparing ourselves for the Kingdom to come.
In other words, keeping God’s Covenant is a sort of bonding, a welding together of lives to each other and to all living matter, a promise to be faithful no matter what comes, just as a marriage, which, ideally, is a life time arrangement between two persons to stay together, whatever comes, to share the good and not so good times, in riches and in poverty, till death part them.
Curiously, the word ‘Religion’ also means ‘binding together.’ Thus, in essence, Covenant and Religion, are one and the same thing, and both find their fulfillment in The Kingdom.
And is Religion like a comedy? You must be kidding! It’s more like a tragedy the way we witness it. The religion we usually experience is solemn and serious, a matter of death and sickness more than life and enjoyment.
Yet, both Covenant and Religion are like a comedy.
More about that in the next chapter.