Thursday: Blending the Conservative and the Radical
WEEK 20
THURSDAY
BLENDING THE CONSERVATIVE AND THE RADICAL
Matthew 5:17-20
We continue our study of the marks of Christ upon the church at Antioch. Another mark—the church held together in a living blend the radical and the conservative. The account says, “The church at Antioch included prophets and teachers” (Acts 13: I). Teachers are usually the ones who conserve the values of the past and pass them on to future generations—they are the conservatives. Prophets are the ones who demand that those values be applied to wider and wider situations in the present and future—they are the radicals.
Each has a function in human society. All progress is made between the tension of the two. If we were all conservative, we would dry up. If we were all radical, we would bust up. But between the pull back of the conservative and the pull ahead of the radical we make progress in a middle direction.
The church should hold both within its ample bosom and cherish and appreciate both. Its very life depends on keeping both in a living blend. The reason we have not been doing that is because we have felt that life could be interpreted in terms of one or the other. It can’t. Life is bigger than conservatism and bigger than radicalism, but it includes both and goes beyond each.
The tragedy in American church life is that we have allowed a split to run straight through the denominations on this issue. We are fast dividing up into two camps: the conservative and the liberal. We are becoming two camps instead of one fellowship of the Spirit. Each needs the other. Each must spiritually cross-fertilize the other. For each is weak without the other. The conservative is weak, and the radical is weak. The strong person is the conservative-radical and the radical-conservative.
But the Christian faith leans toward the radical; the prophet was named before the teacher. Jesus said the disciple of the kingdom of God “brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old”—the new was first (Matt 13:52 RSV). The Christian faith leans toward the radical, for it is the ought-to-be standing over against the is, and demanding change. It is the Great Change.
O Lord God, help us to tip our lives in the direction of change, for we believe your heart is tipped in that direction. Help us to keep step with you. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I shall conserve all values, but I shall apply all values to all situations.