So you think I am Catholic huh?
So
you think I am catholic huh?
I
have been in ministry for quite some time now and I must say I am definitely
used to people bombarding me with questions about my faith. A few years ago
though, after my ordination into the priesthood, it felt like a tsunami of
questions came after me. What I noticed was they were all based on one
question, are you catholic? At first it was quite hysterical but after a
while I felt like everyone who was asking wasn’t really accepting my answer
because they were already fixated on their own assumptions.
I’ve
always been around this type of behavior because I was raised in the
Pentecostal denomination where we were all infected by what I like to call
“cathophobia”. Cathophobia in my own
dictionary is an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to the Roman
Catholic Church. In my childhood years more and more Roman Catholic Church
members were becoming evangelicals as this infection of cathophobia kept
growing. Evangelicals all over the nations were flooding the streets with the
gospel and pulling out anyone who wanted to be “born again” the right way
because to us if it wasn’t our way it wasn’t the right way. I remember when I
first enrolled in the Bible institute of our denomination in my teenage years,
one of the first classes I took was “The
History of the Church”. As I reflect back on this class and remember the
foundational information of the book they used for this course (which I still
have), I noticed that it was mostly based on the era of Protestantism and not
the actual Church. When I say the “actual Church” I mean the Church instituted
by Christ which was first referred to as “The Way”. Hey, I learned a lot about
the Protestant denomination but I didn't know much about the history of the
Church.
Even
though I have strong Evangelical and Pentecostal roots that make me who I am
today, connecting with the convergence vision helped me see the Church as
Christ sees it, One Body. It helped me to see how sectarianism is a sin and how
serious Christ is about His Body being one. Paul writes to the Corinthian
church and says; Now I plead with you,
brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same
thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly
joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For it has been declared to me concerning
you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions
among you. 12 Now I say this, that each
of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I
am of Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was
Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 1st Corinthians 1:10-13
The
meaning of the word catholic is simply of, relating to, or forming the ancient
undivided Christian Church or a church claiming historical continuity from it
and it is also another word for Universal. This is what the apostle Paul is
referring to, that even though we may be diverse, we must remain speaking the
same thing. The Convergence Movement grabs
the history of the Church making an inclusive participation of all three
streams of the Church which is Charismatic,
Evangelical and Sacramental & Liturgical to continue to give the world the
River of the Church. Psalm 46:4 says, there is a river whose streams shall make
glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. There
are many streams but only One River and that is the Church Jesus established. I
know, you understand the charismatic and evangelical part but have no idea what
I mean by Sacramental and Liturgical, right? Well, here is a brief explanation
and if you would like to learn more you can read my next blog on
sacramentality. The adoption of the sacraments vary according to denomination
but we can all agree on atleast two: baptism
and the Lord's Supper. A Sacrament is
a rite or ceremony instituted by Christ and observed by the church as a means
of or visible sign of grace. In other words, a sacrament is a visible sign of
an invisible reality. Liturgy is a communal response to and participation in,
the sacred. The vesments you may see me wear at times are liturgical vesments.
The Old Testament idea of wearing a special kind of clothing in the performance
of liturgical rites influenced the Church. If one was to ask me why I wear my
vestments, my response would be because each garment reminds me of an invisible
reality. Not only that but when I wear my vestments, the attention is no longer
on me but on Christ himself.
I
know most of you are waiting for me to answer the main question, am I catholic?
The answer is this, I am not a Roman Catholic but I am an
Evangelical who loves the move of the Holy Spirit and has a growing a passion
for Sacramentality & Liturgy. If you ever visit our church Livingrace, you
will find that we love the Spirit,
the Word, and the Table. Our church will give you a
glimpse of what the primitive church looked like in a modern day world. If you
show up on a Sunday you might see me in liturgical vestments or you might find
me wearing jeans and a t-shirt but whatever it is you find me wearing, I
promise you that God’s heart will be visible because we are a church that loves
God and His Church.
Rev. David Nunez +
Resources
about convergence:
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