Welcome all

Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarrelling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgement on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgement on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honour of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honour of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honour of the Lord and give thanks to God.

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Why do you pass judgement on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgement seat of God. For it is written,

‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,

and every tongue shall give praise to God.’

So then, each of us will be accountable to God.

- Romans 14:1-12

Today's gospel reading from Luke is the story of the Gerasene man so occupied by demons that they pronounced their name as "Legion." I have written a commentary on this story when it was in the readings from the gospel of Mark here. A friend of mine who is partly responsible for inspiring me to write this blog really enjoyed that particular post, so others may enjoy it too.

However, today I decided to focus on this remarkable passage from St. Paul's epistle to the Romans. Paul illustrates here the need for us to understand that as Christians we should not be practicing any form of "legalism." A beloved priest used to tell me, "We have tools, not rules," and I think that fits Paul's reading today. That is, we must welcome all and learn to love one another despite our differences. What makes us related to one another is our relationship in the Lord. If all is done in love of the Lord, we must then learn to love one another despite our differences. It is the weak in faith - for whom conscience and wisdom are not highly developed - who must attach the greatest importance to secondary matters of practice. However, Paul goes on to counsel against scandalizing and alienating such individuals from God and the church.

Certainly one can imagine situations where this is a hard teaching indeed. There is no end to the fights we can all be engaged in, each feeling that he or she is on the side of the Lord on one topic or another. I have no doubt of the strong feelings of absolute correctness that are possible on either side of an issue, and we can think of many that are the case today where people who consider themselves devout Christians will disagree vehemently with one another. Historically, the church convened universal councils for decisions on matters of the greatest importance such as Christian doctrine. Although Paul doesn't address himself to matters of dogma or doctrine here, the universal council is the great example, I think, of the spirit of what Paul is preaching.

But Paul says that we must welcome all. I would hope, personally, that each of us could begin to recognize the things that are good in one another's practices. But more importantly than that, we can each choose our practice while remembering that it is a relationship to Christ that is to unite us in love. As a practitioner of contemplative prayer myself, this relationship - within me - is probably the most important thing that tells me what my conduct must be to others. This relationship comes before any other loyalty in terms of faith, whether that be a political party, social conventions, or the means by which I worship. It is that deep internal relationship of faith that tells me, hopefully, how I should relate to others in that faith - and outside of it as well.

Paul says that Christ is both the Lord of the dead and the living. These are indeed as opposite as possible, yet both are united in the Lord. Therefore if our focus in faith is on such a Lord, we too should be capable of embracing all of his kingdom. We know what it is to follow in faith, and I'm not embracing corrupt leadership or abuse or any of the practices that in effect deny Christ's word; this is not to say that "anything goes" if it's done nominally in Christ's name. We must always remember Christ's warnings about false prophets and wolves in sheep's clothing. But Paul here is leaving the door open for our legitimate differences in practice and devotion, and we must remember Jesus' final, new command, to love one another as he has loved us.