Why Try?

The church has confessed for centuries that in Christ all the fullness of deity dwelled in bodily form and that Christ was tempted in every way, just as we are – yet He did not sin.

The church itself is another story.  Protestant and atheist, believer and unbeliever, devoted and cynic attest to our shortcomings.  So we are left pondering the question, “If we are such a poor representation of Christ, why try?”   Phil Yancey gives us a thoughtful answer:

“The church fails in its mission and makes serious blunders precisely because the church comprises human beings who will always fall short of the glory of God.  That is the risk God took.  Anyone who enters the church expecting perfection does not understand the nature of that risk or the nature of humanity.  Just as every romantic eventually learns that marriage is the beginning, not the end of the struggle to make love work, every Christian must learn that church is also only a beginning. 

“I remember hearing an…illustration from Earl Palmer, a pastor who was defending the church against critics who dismissed it for its hypocrisy, its failures, its inability to measure up to the New Testament’s high standards.  Palmer, a Californian at the time, deliberately chose a community known for its cultural unsophistication. 

“‘When the Milpitas High School orchestra attempts Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the result is appalling,’ said Palmer. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if the performance made old Ludwig roll over in his grave despite his deafness.  You might ask, ‘Why bother?’  Why inflict on those poor kids the terrible burden of trying to render what the immortal Beethoven had in mind?  Not even the great Chicago Symphony Orchestra can attain that perfection.

“‘My answer is this: The Milpitas High School orchestra will give some people in that audience their only encounter with Beethoven’s great Ninth Symphony.  Far from perfection, it is nevertheless the only way they will hear Beethoven’s message.

“I remind myself of Earl Palmer’s analogy whenever I start squirming in a church service.   Although we may never achieve what the composer had in mind, there is no other way for those sounds to be heard on earth.”