Sinners in the Church
Title II, Canon 6 of the Canons of the Celtic Catholic Church deals with church doctrine and includes this subsection:
We offer ourselves as a church home to all who confess and believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, regardless of their state of Grace; and we would not exclude anyone from our fellowship, for we are committed to the principle that all are the children of God and that 'while we were yet sinners Christ died for us'. Saint or sinner, we would exclude none from the joyful response in which we embrace the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the life to which we are called. We witness to Christ who lives and loves; therefore we are free to commit ourselves to each other and live and love.
The more I think about my personal ministry and the ministry of the Church, the more these wonderful words call me into new strength. There are so many who have been excluded by the churches. The churches have inflicted great amounts of pain in the name of Christ, and His care and integrity have been compromised by the self-righteousness of these so-called Christians.
The fact is that there are bodies everywhere! Countless numbers of people have been thrown away because of their lifestyle, psychological or physical health, indiscretion and mistakes in life, sexual orientation, skin color, age or sanitary habits. We now find churches excluding people because they are poor and homeless! The list goes on and on and on and on! The comfortable, middle class, and "normal" Christians excluding people because of who or what they are; not wanted because they don't, or can't fit into a mold - thrown away and rejected by "cookie cutter" type Christians.
The Celtic Catholic Church has attempted to pick up the pieces and restore hope and faith in the lives of those people so cruelly rejected. It is the ministry of the Church to witness to the worthiness God has given us through the wonderful gift of His Son, Jesus - the wonderful gift of His divine Grace!
I am proud to be a part of a church that worships and breaks bread with drunks, prostitutes, hustlers, thieves, and the like, for there, but for the Grace of God go we all.
Jesus seems to try to say that over and over. So many Christians don't seem to get it: "You have heard it said that you should not commit adultery, but I say..."; "You have heard it said that you should not murder, but I say to you..."; "All have sinned and fallen short...."
When I say that I am not a sinner or not as great a sinner as the next guy, the Lord mocks my attempts at service. Hypocrite! Do I no longer think I need the Grace of God? Do I no longer require the gift of Jesus Christ upon the Cross? Am I beyond all of that? If we believe this about ourselves then we commit the most heinous of sins; we no longer need the Holy Spirit and fall into that state of sin beyond forgiveness.
The nice part of Title II, Canon 6, is that it keeps me, and all of us in the Church from falling into the mistake of forgetting that we ALL are in various states of Grace.
God have mercy upon me, a sinner!
+ Bishop Dwain E. Houser
