What happpened to Stephen does seem remarkably similar to what had recently happened to Jesus. He declared the truth, and for it he was hated and persecuted. Is that still true today? Tell the complete truth about any significant matter, and they will get you one way or another. Why is that? Check John 3:19-20.
It wasn't the original followers of Jesus who made trouble; it was people who came in later. Apparently people had flooded in without preparation.
Churches later came to have standards for admission; new people went through some sort of preparation for membership and met certain qualifications.
In the 19th century Quaker standards for membership were extremely high: one woman lost her membership because she had attended the wedding of a daughter in another church.
In the 20th century (the unprogrammed) Quakers swung back to the opposite extreme. In many cases people were given membership with no preparation. People flooded in like they did in the first century. Many had no Quaker background; they brought their own (spiritual and ecclesiastical) values with them. Sometimes they were given important offices; some of them attempted (often successfully) to impose their foreign values on the Meetings and also to disown some traditional Quaker values.
Inclusiveness is an important value, but it can lead to loss of the integrity of a religious group in various ways. Speaking in general whenever a large body of people come into a church, the church may suffer a loss of its original focus. It's easier to make converts than it is to instill in them the principles for which the church exists. Inclusiveness has a high cost, but most of us still make it a priority.
Quakers believe there is that of God in everyone, so anyone who comes in has a gift to share with the others. Still we have to discern and evaluate their gift to determine if it brings value or disvalue to the community and just how permissive we can afford to be. A knotty issue!
I believe Quakers have dealt with the issue in a creative way. Membership is not emphasized in many Meetings. It's possible to attend for a long time without knowing who are members and who aren't. Quakers have a horror of 'proselytizing'. People are not generally invited to join the meeting. Those who want to take part in the organizational activities have to request membership.
3 comments:
Hi Larry. I think the catholic church is like the meeting of Friends, in that anyone can come to church, whether they're a member or not. To join, you have to attend "Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults" classes,.
Right, Crystal, and they're also alike in another particular:
The liberal ones don't much care whether you're a member or not. At least they treat everybody alike.
I think I've heard of Catholic churches that serve "open communion", although they may be "underground Catholics".
Well in my experience Catholics make very good Quakers. Actually the two communities have a lot in common.
Our youngest son married a Catholic girl; it doesn't seem to have hurt him.
Secondly when I visit the heart patients they seem just as receptive to my prayers as any other group.
Hurrah!
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