The Cross and the Grail by Robert Ellwood

Author:Robert Ellwood
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Quest Books
Published: 1997-02-23T16:00:00+00:00

5

TWO OR THREE GATHERED TOGETHER:

THE NATURE OF

CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY

Christians, like any other group of people, are very ordinary and imperfect. Whether in church or prayer group—or even monastery, convent, or house of bishops—and regardless of denomination, Christians are mere human beings who can be sick, cantankerous, petty, and temperamental but then sometimes amazingly understanding and loving. The church and human society in general are really “mixed bags,” capable of a wide range of moods, attitudes, and actions. We may glibly say, “Nobody's perfect,” especially when that sentiment conveniently excuses our own lapses. We hasten to direct attention to the faults of others and even to divide the world into saints and sinners: “Christians versus unbelievers,” or some other social, political, economic, racial, or nationalistic categorization of “good guys versus bad guys.” But in reality there is good and evil on both sides of these divides and indeed within each person on each side—including ourselves. It thus makes sense to think of the church as a hospital for sinners, not a museum of saints.

On the other hand, it would be folly not to recognize that some people, causes, and actions are closer to the love at the heart of the universe than others. Activities based on hatred or greed are clearly more responsible for large-scale evil than those founded on the pure sentiments of compassion and peace. The real point is simply that all of us need as much help as we can get, and must, in the words of Jesus’ parable, be slow to point out the splinter in someone else's eye while ignoring the beam in our own. There is virtually no one in whom God does not have something of value with which to work. The role of the church in this regard is to be a schola caritatis, or “school of charity and love,” rather than a court of judgment. And herein is a great mystery. In the world as it is, the church is a training ground in love precisely because it is composed of highly imperfect persons: it is easy to love those who are already perfect, but the real test and training comes in loving the unlovable and bearing with the unbearable.

Esoteric Christianity is a way of initiation, and favoring the ill-favored is an initiatory ordeal, just like the test passed by the princess when she kissed the frog or by Beauty when she embraced the beast. Undergoing this initiation expands our hearts and vision and allows us to see God in new places. It is a triumph over self. In this school of love, the church is guru and classroom.

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