After we rebuilt our deck this year, I spent some time deciding on new furniture. Out with the rusty old stuff. In with the new. I got a bigger umbrella to cover more area that gets a lot of hot mid-day sun, and I love the wider diameter.

Although we try to close the umbrella if we know a storm is coming, I hope the table and umbrella base are heavy enough to keep it upright if a rogue 60 mph wind catches it. Even weaker ones sometimes toppled my old table. Bigger isn’t always better. So far, it has remained vertical.

I started this blog post in October 2019. Not the first two paragraphs you just read or the closing, but rather the central concepts that will follow here. I never published it because the time didn’t seem right. After four years, I’ve tweaked and edited, adding what I felt was missing.

 I’m a member of a Christian denomination that has always taken pride in its theological pluralism, referred to as a “big tent” for diverse understandings of the Christian faith. That’s what I was taught in Sunday school and youth fellowship when I was growing up in the 1960s and early 70s. That’s what our denominational publishing house printed in the approved curriculum. We never seemed to talk about specific ways Christians differ. It was never that deep.

I doubt whether my Sunday school teachers or youth leaders knew much about it. They were good Christian volunteers and stuck to the literature provided to them. The preacher said, “Jesus was Jewish, and that’s okay. All the disciples were Jewish too.” He said, “It’s okay for people to be Baptist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Catholic, Church of Christ, Lutheran, and Pentecostal. We’re all children of God and brothers and sisters in Christ.” I think he drew the line at snake handlers.

We said the Apostles Creed every Sunday in worship and learned the basics of the Bible and some church history. If that’s all you know, then that becomes the norm.

We didn’t hear sermons that criticized the church across town. We didn’t have a spirit of competition with the church down the street. We didn’t really understand that folks in our own denomination often have radically different ideas from one another. As I said, we never got that deep. That’s what pluralism was for us fifty years ago.

Many blissful church picnics happened under one big, happy circus tent.

There are a whole lot of folks sitting in pews every Sunday morning who, until recently, still saw things pretty much the way we did back then. They’re not theologians. They’re just good church-going people who don’t get that deep. They accepted the “big tent” or “big umbrella” idea of pluralism without much question. That’s how they loved and accepted those people who seemed to lean further to both the right and left than they did. They were entitled to believe what they chose to believe, as long as we still maintain the basics, which weren’t adequately explained.

At best, it was a generous and gracious tolerance. At worst, it allowed insidious heterodoxies to take residence under the tent and have a powerful influence.

Acts 20:29-30  I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

Now a storm has blown our big tent away. The glaring sunlight has exposed the differences. Some are putting up new tents, and church folks are just beginning to understand the repercussions.

Rather than imagining one big tent, my idea of our individual theological umbrellas began to develop over forty years ago, when I learned specifics about what other denominations tend to believe and how widely members of my tribe differ.

Forgive my use of the term denomination. We tend to need labels to define our categories of belief. Even using the term denomination is not as suitable as it used to be, now that we live in a post-denominational era. And many folks like me, who have sampled from various tables, have chosen to become “Cafeteria Christians” and do not see that as a derogatory term. I also self-identify as a Mongrel Methodist. And yet, we can all be seduced into beliefs that don’t align with scripture, whatever label we have.

2Timothy 1:13-14  Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me—a pattern shaped by the faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus. Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you. 

Some people have never had to think about how big or small they want their umbrellas to be. They’ve never considered who stands with them and who stands “outside the drip line.” Who shares their shade or stands in the sun and rain, needing their own umbrella.

Our diversity is a beautiful thing when we see it in terms of skin color and cultural heritage. But when it comes to a functional body of believers, how diverse can we be in our beliefs and behaviors and still love one another enough to stand under the same umbrella and fulfill our mission?

And when the differences become the focus, it distracts from the main reason we exist in the first place. We have to have enough cohesion that we don’t come apart at the seams. It has little to do with external characteristics but everything to do with spiritual like-mindedness and keeping our eyes on Jesus.

The sizes of our separate umbrellas may vary quite a bit. That’s okay. Some folks have tiny umbrellas. Some still stand under the big top tent. An explanation of what constitutes Christian orthodoxy vs. heresy might be in order here, but that’s a discussion for another time.

Pluralism is dead. We can’t return to the sleepy, shallow way we did church years ago. We can’t afford to be that naïve anymore. The divide has become so vast that it is necessary to identify the “deal-breakers” that require a “no” from us. Where do we say, “this far and no further”? It’s past time to go deep in our understanding.

Jude 1:3  Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

Yes, there is one Body. One Universal Church. One Bride of Christ. But He has placed us in diverse places and positions to function in our unique giftedness. We are called to fulfill His will in our distinctive ways. We give names to our congregations. They help us identify who we are and what kind of vibe we have. We also support other members of the body in mutual collaboration.

But we can’t do that when we’re working at cross-purposes. When we align with any group, we say we believe and support their organizing principles and activities – words and actions. It becomes necessary to correct the contradictions or find a new group.

I’m still in process, as is the local congregation where I belong. Better minds than myself are studying new legal complications and options. In the meantime, I’m holding my own umbrella to stay dry in the storm.

I’m looking forward to the resolution of our Methodist Mess, however, I don’t see an end in sight yet. How big does this tent need to be?

How big is your umbrella?

But in my backyard, I’m enjoying the new deck and furniture. It has cost us time, money, and effort, but we met our goal, and I’m happy with the final product. Of course, there’s always more work to do, but in the meantime, I can sit under my big umbrella with some protection from both sun and rain. And hopefully, the wind won’t blow it over.

Matthew 7:24-25 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

Have a great week, everybody.

Dottie