We could do with some rules around here

Compared to other denominations and faith traditions, Baptists can be rather antinomian. Like many things religious, that can be a blessing and a curse. Dealing with other denominations on matters related to theological education and academic administration can leave me feeling caught in a bureaucratic twilight zone of Kafkian proportions. Faith traditions often have their own internal logic that makes little sense to outsiders. Seeking understanding from insiders inevitable yields mumbled talk about “tradition” followed by a coda of a shrugged shoulder that communicates a helpless “What can you do?” At those moments I prefer my free church roots that will as likely yield a response of “Yeah, sure, we can do that. Why not?” as a “We’ve never done it that way before.”

William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (1942-19440), offered this helpful meditation on rules:

. . . we want our rules—rules about our prayers, rules about our worship, about our use of the Holy Communion . . . .You want rules about these things because if you leave yourself to drift, you always drift the wrong way. You do not drift into public worship; you do not drift into the service of Holy Communion, You let it go by, unless you make up your mind to use it; and you make your use of it comparatively future unless you think out in advance how you will go, and what your preparation will be. We want rules; different people want different rules no doubt, but we all of us want rules. We shall drift into futility unless we have rules; we rightly break our rules when we are convinced that we can serve God better by breaking them, but it must be because we are serving God better and not pleasing ourselves better.

What got me thinking about rules is another dreadful experience of communion at a church I was visiting. You can read my (illustrated) rant on this matter in a previous post. Suffice it to say that the rambling, unfocused, scattered and non-sequitor “second sermon” before communion left me wanting for some rules about the practice of Holy Communion in Baptist churches.