CALVIN AND THE SHAPE OF THE CHURCH. Joseph D. Small Director, Office of Theology and Worship, PCUSA

Transcription

1 CALVIN AND THE SHAPE OF THE CHURCH Joseph D. Small Director, Office of Theology and Worship, PCUSA [An address given at the Calvin Jubilee Conference, Montreat, July 2009] It may seem odd, in a time of mainline churches and sideline churches, mega churches and emergent churches, new paradigm churches and Orthodox churches, to look back nearly a half millennium for insight into the shape of the church. Is it mere anniversary curiosity that causes us to look at Calvin, an exercise in Reformed nostalgia? Or is it desperation... because the contemporary North American reality is the conspicuous absence of a cohesive, shared understanding of the shape of the church. Beneath the variety, polarization, fragmentation, separation, and litigation besetting North American churches lies a deceptively simple question: what do we mean by the word church? What in the world do we mean by the word church? Our everyday speech encompasses a variety of meanings that are maintained kaleidoscopically, with ever-shifting changes in pattern and hue: buildings, people, congregations, organizations, judicatories, communions, and more, all with innumerable variations. The situation is only marginally better when the word church is used theologically, necessitating qualifiers such as local and universal, visible and invisible, congregational and connectional, and alternates such as ecclesial communities, denominations, communities of faith, and para-church organizations to specify what we mean by our use of the word church. What we mean by the word is important because the church is central in the reception, preservation, and transmission of Christian faith and faithfulness. Following Cyprian and Augustine, John Calvin spoke of the church as the common mother of the godly. 1 There is no other way to enter into life, said Calvin, unless this mother conceive us in her womb, give us birth, nourish us at her breast, and lastly, unless she keep us under her care and guidance... until we have been pupils all our lives. 2 That is why ecclesiology was a point of sixteenth century dispute between Calvin and the Catholic Church, and between Calvin and Anabaptists. And that is why ecclesiology remains an ecumenical impasse between conciliar and episcopally ordered churches on the one hand, and between conciliar and congregationally ordered churches on the other. Dissimilar understandings of church are also at the root of current clashes between Pentecostal and classical churches. Perhaps most distressing for Presbyterians is that disparate conceptions of church are at the heart of our current fragmentation. Underlying all of these tensions are differences in understanding the essential meaning, nature, purpose, and structure of the church. Benedict XVI, when he was merely Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, recognized that the difference in the ways in which Church is understood... has proved to be an insurmountable barrier. 3 John Calvin was a second-generation reformer, or perhaps it is better to say that he was part of the 1.5 generation of the Reformation. Central theological trajectories of reform had been laid out by the time the young John Calvin experienced his sudden conversion to the Reformation cause. Among the unfinished tasks that remained, however, was giving a shape to

2 2 Christian communities that could ensure the proclamation of re-formed faith and the nurture of re-formed faithfulness. The church was central in all of Calvin s writing, and central to his labors in Geneva was the task of giving new shape to the life of the church. In our time of ecclesial disarray, it may be worth renewed attention to Calvin s reform of the shape of the church not because Calvin is a privileged authority, but because his distinctive approach to the church and its ministry may provide a useful angle of vision on the current state of our church and a suggestive path toward our central task of re-shaping the life of our churches. Three aspects of Calvin s thinking about the church are especially pertinent to our situation: his understanding of Word and Sacrament as essential marks of the church, his insight into the unified plural ministry of the church, and his conviction that the church is called to be a unified communion of congregations. A Church of the Word and Sacrament We Reformed Christians have a particular approach to the nature and purpose of the church that begins, not with the church itself, but with Christ. In the words of the early sixteenth century Ten Theses of Berne (1528), The holy Christian Church, whose only head is Christ, is born of the Word of God, and abides in the same, and listens not to the voice of a stranger. 4 What we mean by church begins with the Word of God, Jesus Christ, revealed to us in the word of God, Scripture. As the creation of the Word in the power of the Holy Spirit, the church comes into being continuously through the real presence of Christ in Word and Sacrament the real presence of the living Christ in proclamation, Baptism, and Eucharist. How do we know this creature of the Word when we see it? Word and Sacrament proclamation, Baptism, and Eucharist are the ways in which, said Calvin, the church comes forth and becomes visible to our eyes. Wherever we see the Word of God rightly preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to Christ s institution, there, it is not to be doubted, a church of God exists. 5 The Word of God rightly proclaimed and heard... Baptism and the Lord s Supper celebrated in fidelity to Christ... these are the clear indicators of the one holy catholic and apostolic church. Where we see faithful proclamation and sacramental life, we see the church. These marks are not the only things that churches do, of course. Churches engage in many other forms of ministry and mission. But at the heart of it all, shaping and animating everything else, must be God s Word in preaching and teaching, Baptism and Eucharist. So central are these two marks, Calvin continued, that we must embrace any church that has them, even if it otherwise swarms with many faults. 6 Calvin s two marks of the church center on lived faith within congregations. He does not speak in the first instance about a church s orthodox doctrine or its sacramental theology, much less about its structures, but about faithful proclamation and reception, and faithful sacramental practice, within gathered Christian communities. Calvin s marks of the church point us to congregations, not academies; to assemblies of people, not libraries; to worship, not books. Doctrinal purity and sacramental precision are not the primary issue, as if the marks serve only to provide us with standards to critique others. Calvin s marks concern our fundamental ecclesial faithfulness that allows the gospel to be received, believed, and lived by ordinary men and women.

3 3 Calvin s placement of Word and Sacraments together at the core of the church s true life is a visible expression of the church s existence as the body of Christ. He takes it as a settled principle that the sacraments have the same office as the Word of God: to offer and set forth Christ to us, and in him the treasures of heavenly grace. 7 Baptism and Eucharist have the same function as Scripture and preaching: to disclose the real presence of the living Christ, uniting the church to him in the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus the church, born of the Word made flesh, abides in the risen Christ through Word and Sacrament. Proclamation and sacraments are more than liturgical activities, and certainly more than the memory of a long-ago and far-away Jesus; they are the principal means by which we are united to Christ. Reformed churches have sometimes added a third mark ecclesiastical discipline uprightly ministered as God s Word prescribes, whereby vice is repressed and virtue 8 nourished. There is no doubt that Calvin appreciated the centrality of discipline in the church s life, but he did not elevate it to the status of an essential mark, for discipline s purpose is to ensure that Word and Sacraments have free space within the church. Where there is unconstrained room for the Word of God preached, heard, seen, felt, tasted there is the church. Where Word and Sacraments are suppressed, distorted, veiled, or marginalized, there is a deformed church even if ordered structures endure. Discipline is important, not in itself, but because it seeks to establish a community capable of hearing the Word and prepared to celebrate the Sacraments. Discipline (what we might understand today as a combination of order, formation, and pastoral care ) is the church s systematic effort to cultivate the Word, providing conditions for growth in Christian faith and life. Perhaps it is because Calvin s marks of Word and Sacraments center on the lived faith of actual congregations that they do not work well if they are used only as boundaries to determine who is in and who is out. After all, how could we determine whether the word is purely preached, let alone heard, and whether the sacraments are administered in accordance with Christ s institution? Calvin s marks of the true church do not really function as boundaries, however. They are better understood as directional signs that point to the core of faithful church life. Any community claiming to be a Christian church must place proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ at the heart of its life, both through preaching/teaching and hearing the Word and through faithful celebration of Baptism and the Lord s Supper. Word and Sacraments are not precision instruments for measuring orthodoxy. In addition to the reality that churches of the Word and Sacraments may otherwise swarm with many faults, Calvin acknowledged that some fault may creep into the administration of either doctrine or sacraments yet he went on to say that this ought not to estrange us from communion with the church. He continued by observing that not all the articles of true religion are of the same sort. Only some are necessary, Calvin said, and these are God is one; Christ is God and the Son of God; our salvation rests in God s mercy; and the like. Three affirmations followed by et cetera? Calvin was not a sloppy theologian, content with vague generalities, but his chief concern was the living gospel in the life of the church. Of course, we should agree on all points, said Calvin, but either we must leave no church remaining, or we must condone delusion in those matters which can go unknown without harm to the sum of religion and without loss of salvation 9 Calvin s marks of the church are not intended to look outward in judgment of others, but to look within, at the life of our own worshiping community.

4 4 The continuing application of Word and Sacraments as marks of ecclesial faithfulness is not mere nostalgia for Reformation clarity. Word and Sacraments provide the church with foundational identifiers of ecclesial faithfulness. The question to be asked of any congregation or denomination is whether Word and Sacraments are found at the heart of common life. When we look at a Christian community, at our Christian community, do we see at the center of its life spoken and enacted proclamation of the gospel? Proclamation in Word and Sacrament is not the only thing churches do, of course. Congregations and denominations engage in a wide variety of activities that go beyond preaching and celebrating the sacraments. However, designating Word and Sacrament as marks of the true church means that other church activities must not bury Word and Sacrament, or push them to the periphery of church life. Furthermore, the whole range of church programs must remain subject to authentication by Word and Sacrament, for these crucial realities are the embodiment of the gospel in the life of Christ s women and men. Word and Sacrament stand as the controlling core of church activities, the marks of a church s true life. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) acknowledges this reality by calling its pastors, Ministers of the Word and Sacrament. Our Book of Order states that in the ministry of pastors, primary emphasis is given to proclamation of the Word and celebration of the sacraments. 10 Too often, however, this primary emphasis is overlooked as pastors devote their time and energy to managerial and entrepreneurial tasks, multiplying programs to meet every need and marketing the congregation to accomplish successful expansion. It is a sad irony that when pastors do take seriously their responsibility as ministers of the Word and Sacrament they often place themselves at the center of proclamation, leading to the dangerous supposition that Word and Sacraments proclamation, Baptism, and the Lord s Supper are the pastor s business, with the congregation as mere consumers of religious goods and services. Remember Calvin s formulation. A true church is where the word is purely preached and heard. Congregations are active participants in proclamation, for hearing the Word requires discernment, response, and faithful action, within both the church and the society in which the church lives. A true church is where the sacraments are celebrated in Christ, and members of the congregation are central to the gospel s sacramental enactment, in worship and beyond the church. The really interesting question, then, is what it would mean for a congregation to be, truly and fully, a church of the Word and Sacrament. What would it mean for a congregation (or a presbytery or a denomination) to place proclamation and enactment of the gospel at the very heart of its life as the controlling characteristics of all that it says and does? Reformed Christians are relatively comfortable talking about a church where the word of God is purely preached and heard. We have been conditioned to think of sermons as the most important thing in worship, central to the Sunday service. Yet most Reformed churches neglect the sacraments, relegating Baptism and the Lord s Supper to the fringes of worship. Reformed churches tend to be, not churches of the Word and Sacrament, but churches of the word alone. (Eucharist on the first Sunday of the month is better than once a quarter, but its mechanical scheduling betrays its institutional rationale.) Ignoring the sacraments while exalting the word, we have become obsessed with words. James White says of Reformed worship that it is the most cerebral of the western traditions... prolix and verbose. 11 Similarly, Brian Gerrish notes that the wordiness of the Reformed tradition can result in an arid intellectualism that turns the worshiping community into a class of glum schoolchildren. 12

5 5 The danger goes deeper than abstraction or even boredom. A church of the word alone is always in danger of becoming a church of words alone. And words are what we fight about, words are what we fight with. Reformed churches, so neglectful of the sacraments, so tied to words, are the churches that have divided and split more than any other ecclesial tradition, more than Lutherans, or Anglicans, or Methodists, or Catholics, or Orthodox. It may be that our history of schisms, always growing from disputes about words, fought with words, is a result of our deficiency as a church, our failure to be a Church of the Word and Sacrament. If Word and Sacraments together are the heart of the church s true and faithful life, neglect of one leads inexorably to deformation of the other, for when either Word or Sacrament exists alone it soon becomes a parody of itself. We Reformed Christians are aware of how the sacraments can become objects of eccentric piety in churches where sacraments are exalted and preaching is minimized. But we may be less aware of how easily preaching and teaching can deteriorate into institutional marketing, or human potential promotion, or bourgeois conformity in churches that magnify preaching while marginalizing Baptism and Eucharist. Reformed neglect of the sacraments has led to a church of the word alone, a church always in danger of degenerating into a church of mere words. The need for a church of the Word and Sacrament is not just a cure for our terminal wordiness. It is not a matter of supplementing left brain thinking with right brain feeling, or replacing sharp words with warm communal affections, or suppressing the Word s judgment in favor of creating group ties that bind the church together. Word and Sacrament are not contrasting aspects of church life: brain and heart, abstract and concrete. On the contrary, Calvin placed word and sacrament together at the core of the church s life because he took it as a settled principle that the sacraments have the same office as the Word of God: to offer and set forth Christ to us, and in him the treasures of heavenly grace. 13 Calvin s view is remarkable in two ways. First, the purpose of the sacraments is the same as that of the Word. Baptism and Eucharist have the same function as Scripture and preaching: to proclaim the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, giving us true knowledge of God. Second, the purpose of both is to communicate the presence of the living Christ to us, uniting us to him in the power of the Holy Spirit. The word is not for imparting information and the sacraments are not for imparting feelings; both are occasions for the real presence of Christ in our midst, and our union with him. Calvin was confident that word and sacraments are effective: they give to us precisely what they portray. Preaching God s word imparts Christ himself to us, maintaining Christ s living presence among us. The sacraments re-present the person and work of Christ, making real among us the very presence of Christ. I say that Christ is the matter or (if you prefer) the substance of all the sacraments, says Calvin, for in him they have all their firmness, and they 14 do not promise anything apart from him. Thus, the Lord s Supper and Baptism are not occasions for the Christian community merely to celebrate its own life. The sacraments impart to the community the substance of its life in Christ. Word and sacrament together are instances of the real presence of Christ. In Baptism and Eucharist, Christ is present to the community of faith. In a way that is not dependent on the ability or predilections of preachers and teachers, the sacraments proclaim the gospel, depicting the good news in bold relief. Thus, Reformed neglect of the sacraments has muted the gospel s proclamation, both by an absence of Christ s sacramental presence and by a sacramental gap in union with Christ.

6 6 Overlooking the sacraments transparent proclamation of the gospel is particularly harmful to the church when a meager sacramental life is coupled with an odd North American scarcity of the word written and preached. In far too many congregations the Scriptures have become strangers to church members. This strange silence of the Bible in the church is particularly dismaying when coupled with preaching that is too often about the people of the congregation and their activities instead of the One who is Head of the body. In a church that experiences a famine of hearing the words of the Lord, the absence of Baptism s water and Communion s bread and wine is perilously enfeebling. Reformed movement toward the fullness of word and sacrament depends upon the recovery of a vibrant sacramental theology and the grounding of that theology in vibrant sacramental practice. Thinking properly about Baptism and the Lord s Supper is not celebration of the sacraments. Splendid liturgical texts for Baptism and the Lord s Supper are not celebration of the sacraments. Thoughts and words are necessary, of course, but their sum is less than faithful sacramental practice. Pastors and elders must think deeply about the sacraments, and they must be discriminating in the selection of liturgical texts. Then, pastors and elders must shape congregational celebration with great care, for it is the practice of Baptism and Eucharist that either discloses or obscures the presence of Christ, that either deepens or deflects faith and faithfulness. Unified Plural Ministry Churches of the Word and Sacrament do not just happen, and their faithfulness does not continue automatically. John Calvin was clear that the necessary, continual reform of the church is based on the three pillars of doctrine, administering the sacraments, and governing the church. 15 (Calvin employs doctrine and preaching interchangeably a usage worth pondering.) He was also clear that ministry the pastoral office is essential to the revival and maintenance of the church s faithful theology, worship, and order. For neither the light and heat of the sun, nor food and drink, are so necessary to nourish and sustain the present life, Calvin asserted, as the apostolic and pastoral office is necessary to preserve the church on earth. 16 Along with other sixteenth century reformers, Calvin held ministry in highest regard because he was convinced that the church s fidelity to the gospel depends on proclamation of the Word in preaching and sacraments, worship that glorifies God, and church order that honors the Spirit s leading. It was by virtue of its vocation to preach the Word and teach the faith that the ministerial office was the chief sinew by which believers are held together in one body. 17 In Calvin s understanding of the church, ministry is not confined to pastors, however. It is well-known that Calvin commended four offices of ministry: pastors, teachers, elders, and deacons. It is misleading to think of them as a differentiated quadrilateral, however, because Calvin understood them as plural offices within two ecclesial functions: ministries of the Word performed by presbyters (pastor-teachers, and elders) and ministries of service performed by deacons (distributing alms and caring directly for the poor, sick, and dispossessed). In turn, these presbyterial and diaconal ministries are plural expressions of the church s one undivided ministry. Calvin s distinctive approach to the church s ordered ministries is clearly seen in his transformation of the office of deacon. 18 The Catholic Church s deacons were assistant ministers (future priests), and thus part of the clergy as distinct from the laity. In the emerging Lutheran churches, deacons were no longer clergy, but laity usually civil servants charged with care

7 7 for the poor. But for Strasbourg-Geneva Reformed ecclesiology and practice, deacons were church members who held ecclesial office as an essential component of the church s ministry. Diaconal functions care for the poor, sick, widows and orphans, refugees, and others in need are the responsibility of all Christians, of course, but for Calvin, ordered deacons were charged with leading the whole church in these works of love. Deacons were no longer a sub-set of another order of ministry nor were they removed from the church s orders of ministry. Instead, deacons were persons with dual vocations, secular and ecclesial. They were members of the church called and ordained as one of the orders of office instituted by our Lord for the government of his Church. 19 Calvin s understanding of the deacon reflects two key features of his approach to the church s ordered ministries, features that endure in formal Presbyterian polity, although they have been emptied of much of their substance. First, Calvin resists clericalism. Most continental Protestants rejected the Catholic Church s teaching on holy orders, replacing the Catholic pattern with a pastoral office centered on proclamation. Calvin, on the other hand, constructed a pattern of ministry that breaks down the distinction between clergy and laity by instituting two socalled lay ecclesial ministries deacon and elder. Second, the church s various ministries are corporate, not only within each order of ministry, but among the orders. No person can exercise an ordered ministry independently, and no order of ministry can function apart from its essential relationship to other orders. The corporate character of Calvin s orders of ministry is evident in the exercise of ecclesial discipline. Pastors are called to proclaim the Word of God, to instruct, admonish, exhort and censure, both in public and in private, to administer the sacraments and to enjoin brotherly correction along with the elders and colleagues [emphasis added]. 20 Discipline, the sinews of the church, is a corporate responsibility shared not only among pastors, but within a council of pastors and elders. Indeed, pastors and elders are but two kinds of presbyters: those who labor in the Word, and those who do not carry on the preaching of the Word yet rule well. 21 Thus, shared presbyterial responsibilities include proclaiming the Word and administering the sacraments, instructing the faithful in true doctrine, and administering discipline that ensures free space for Word and Sacrament to take root in the life of the church and its members. Pastors fulfill all three presbyterial functions; teaching is sometimes shared with elders who give formal instruction in school settings; sacramental life is the shared responsibility of pastors and elders; and discipline is always shared with elders who, like deacons, are ordained to ecclesial office. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), following Calvin and the development of Reformed ecclesiology, has two kinds of presbyters: ministers, traditionally called teaching elders, and elders, traditionally called ruling elders. 22 Identifying ministers by their teaching role emphasizes the primacy of the Word and the centrality of the pastoral office within the ecclesia docens. The designation ruling elder is easily misunderstood, however. It is essential to note that the historic understanding of the ruling exercised by elders has far less to do with managerial governance than with ruling out or measuring the work of ministry, the fidelity of communal and personal lives, and the progress of the gospel in the church. 23 Elders responsibilities for measuring the Word of God, sacraments, and discipline within the body of Christ place them squarely within presbyterial functioning ruling elders are canon presbyters. The ruling/measuring ministry of elders is liturgically evident in their essential responsibility for ensuring that Scripture is read and proclaimed, and for ordering and participating in celebrations

8 8 of Baptism and Eucharist. Elders ruling/measuring goes far beyond formal structures, however, deep into the heart of congregational faith and faithfulness. Calvin s plurality of ministries seeks to break open the ministry of the whole people of God. His ordering of ministry in the church gives visible form to the priesthood of all believers while protecting the church against the potential abuses of clericalism. Distinctions between clergy and lay are so deliberately broken down that the very terms clergy and laity are ill-suited to Reformed ecclesiology. All of the ordered ministries are exercised in, with, and for the whole church, and all are bound together in the common task of ensuring the church s fidelity to the Word. Furthermore, the church s ministries remain undivided. When a minister pastor, elder, deacon performs any ministerial act, it is performed on behalf of the whole ministry; no one may act alone as the representative of Christ. This indivisibility of the plural ministry is a theological principle made concrete in the corporate functioning of pastor and elder presbyters in the councils of the church, as well as in their joint oversight of the ministry of deacons. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) preserves these Reformed convictions in its Book of Order: All ministry of the Church is a gift from Jesus Christ. Members and officers alike serve mutually under the mandate of Christ who is the chief minister of all. His ministry is the basis of all ministries; the standard for all offices is the pattern of the one who came not to be served but to serve Matt. 20:28).... While the ministry is one, specific forms of ministry may emphasize special tasks and skills and the ordering of the offices of ministry shall reflect this variety 24 Unfortunately, recent decades have seen the diminution of all three ordered ministries, accompanied by their captivity to secular models of managerial organization. The degrading of the diaconate came first. By the middle of the twentieth century, most deacons were organized into boards that were confined to carrying out compassionate tasks within the congregation, or restricted to stewardship of congregational finances. While these ministries are valuable, they are a constriction of John Calvin s originating vision for the diaconal ministries of the church. For Calvin, ordered deacons were charged with leading the whole church in ministries of mercy, service, and justice. Care for the poor, sick, widows and orphans, refugees and others in need required both the alleviation of pressing need and sustained action to address the causes of need. Today, many Presbyterian congregations have dispensed with deacons altogether, and few congregations have noticed the Book of Order provision that enables congregations to call and ordain persons to specific diaconal ministries without having a board of deacons. 25 The diminution of elders and the attenuation of ministers have proceeded hand in hand. It is both a symptom and a cause of their reduced roles that the church has abandoned the traditional titles teaching elder, and ruling elder in favor of minister of the Word and Sacrament and simply elder. The first loss in this terminological switch has been the fading away of the essential inter-relatedness of these two ordered ministries. The second loss has been the marginalization of the pastoral calling to be a teacher of the faith. Identifying ministers by their teaching role emphasizes the primacy of the Word and the centrality of the teaching church. The saddest loss, however, has been the bureaucratization of the ministry of elders and the loss of their primary role of discerning fidelity to the gospel in the church.

9 9 Today, in far too many congregations, pastors act as managers of an organization, working to rationalize mission, enhance efficiency, and increase market share. Elders act as a board of directors, reviewing and approving management s strategy and programs, and monitoring financial and property assets. Our current situation in the church is light years removed from the originating vision. In the Reformed tradition, presbyters teaching and ruling elders meeting together in consistories/sessions, are to act as good stewards of the manifold grace of God (1 Peter 4:10). Their mutual calling is to ensure clear proclamation of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, and to nurture congregational fidelity to God s new Way in the world. A Communion of Congregations It is a fundamental conviction of Reformed ecclesiology that the congregation gathered by Word and Sacraments is the basic form of church. It is also a fundamental conviction of Reformed ecclesiology that the congregation is not a sufficient form of church. The congregation gathered by Word and Sacraments and ordered by a unified plural ministry is the one holy catholic apostolic church, but not of itself alone as if it were a solitary, self-sufficient ecclesia. The gathered congregation is the one holy catholic and apostolic church only in its essential communion with the Lord and therefore its communion with other gathered congregations. What is true within congregations is also true among them: Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.... Now you [all] are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it (1 Cor. 12:12,27; TNIV). What is true of persons within congregations is also true among congregations within denominations. In the words of the sixteenth century French Confession, largely drafted by Calvin, No one should withdraw from the church, satisfied to be solitary. The whole community must preserve and sustain the unity of the church, submitting to common instruction and to the yoke of Christ. 26 The church is communion, relationships of mutuality that are deep, intimate, and abiding. In its basic form, church is the communion of saints in the local congregation, called by Christ and gathered in Word and Sacrament. But communion is not confined to the local church. The many congregations do not stand side by side as autonomous, mutually independent entities. As communion, the church cannot take comfort in so-called invisible unity while devolving into a juxtaposition of self-sufficient congregations and denominations. There is one Christ and so there is one body of Christ and so there is one holy catholic apostolic church, yet the church s unity, holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity are fully expressed only in communion among churches. What do we mean by church? Church signifies the gathering of the local community of faith, the communion of churches in progressively larger geographical areas and, finally, the communion of the whole body of Christ across space and through time. There is a continuous transition from one meaning to another, because all of them hang on the christological center that is made concrete in the gathering of believers around Word and Sacrament. For Calvin, the communion of the church communion among churches is held together by two bonds, agreement in sound doctrine and brotherly love. 27 Clearly, in Calvin s time, the communion of the whole church had been broken on both counts. Yet the division of the church was not a reality that he was prepared to accept. A young Calvin s reply to Cardinal

10 10 Sadolto concluded with the hope for ecclesiastical unity that would come through Christ, who would gather us out of our present dispersion into the fellowship [communion] of his body, so that, through His one Word and Spirit, we might join together with one heart and soul. 28 Over a decade later, in a letter to Archbishop Cranmer, Calvin called division among the churches among the chief evils of our time. He went on to observe that human fellowship [communion] is scarcely now in any repute among us... Thus it is that the members of the church being severed, the body lies bleeding. 29 Calvin worked tirelessly for the restored unity of the whole church. As late as 1560, he wrote to the Reformed Churches of France, To put an end to the divisions which exist in Christendom, it is necessary to have a free and universal council. 30 Calvin advised that the council include both bishops and reformers, and he even noted that the Pope could preside (but not rule). The full communion of the whole church was beyond Calvin s reach, as was full communion among the Reformation churches. However, it was within possibility to ensure the unity of the Geneva churches. Calvin understood that some form of organization is necessary in all human society to foster the common peace and maintain concord. He went on to say that This ought especially to be observed in churches, which are best sustained when all things are 31 under a well-ordered constitution, and which without concord become no churches at all. Thus, the organization of the Church in Geneva included ecclesiastical ordinances, provision for the visitation of churches, a common catechism, liturgy, and Psalter, the Geneva Academy, and two quite remarkable institutions, the Geneva Consistory and the Venerable Company of Pastors. The Consistory, composed of elders and the pastors, was responsible for church order and discipline. Through the Consistory, church affairs were freed from exclusive control by clergy, and progressively liberated from the jurisdiction of the magistracy. The Venerable Company of Pastors was responsible for examination and ordination of ministers, continuing biblical and theological education, mutual theological and ethical encouragement and admonition, and 32 missionary work in neighboring countries. The shape of the Company of Pastors was set out in the Draft Ecclesiastical Ordinances of First it will be expedient that all the ministers, for preserving purity and concord among themselves, meet together one certain day each week, for discussion of the Scriptures. 33 Geneva s Venerable Company of Pastors embodied a commitment to collegial leadership. The Company held a public meeting in the Auditoire each Friday morning at 7:00. Portions of Scripture were discussed in systematic order, led by one of the pastors. The weekly Bible study may have been ordered according to Calvin s lectures on Scripture, but leadership was shared by all pastors in the Company. The Company of Pastors weekly Scripture study was a public meeting. Persons came, listened, and were themselves instructed. If there appear differences of doctrine, let the ministers come together to discuss the matter. Afterwards, if need be, let them call the elders to assist in composing the contention. 34 Following the public study of Scripture, the Company of Pastors met in private to discuss theological and ecclesiological matters. These discussions were not a polite academic exercise; the search for truth sometimes required vigorous debate and mutual critique because the issues

11 11 were not merely private matters of personal opinion. The Company s theological work mattered for the life of the whole church. To obviate all scandals of living, it will be proper that there be a form of correction to which all submit themselves. It will also be the means by which the ministry may retain respect, and the Word of God be neither dishonoured nor scorned. 35 The Venerable Company of Pastors was a disciplined community. Its meetings were more than conversation about abstractions, for their purpose was to encourage pastors to grow in faith and faithfulness. Once every three months the Company engaged in a session of mutual support and correction. Among the faults that required correction were lack of zeal for study and an undisciplined life. All of this was for the sake of the gospel its proclamation, reception, and fulfillment. As heirs of Calvin, it is worth pondering the contrast between Geneva s Company of Pastors and the current reality of pastoral life. Weekly meetings of pastors for prayer and study are almost unimaginable in the contemporary church. (Lectionary study groups, while valuable, are too narrowly focused on sermon preparation.) Difference of doctrine is not in short supply among us, but coming together to discuss the matter is too often reduced to exchanging slogans and voting in an essentially political context. Historical experience shows that the practice of mutual affirmation and admonition can become personally dangerous, but ministers as theological and ethical free agents presents a clear and present danger to the whole church. In theory, our means of living out communion among churches and among the church s ministers both teaching and ruling elders is the presbytery, with synods and the general assembly as the means of communion among presbyteries. For us, these councils are the product of influences coming from Calvin s Consistory and Company of Pastors, by way of Knox s Scotland, through the colonial American experience and the westward migration, to the twentieth century institutionalization of the church. Time and interaction with American individualism, free enterprise, and the managerial spirit have weakened the originating influences, even as their language and forms remain. The Company of Pastor s responsibility for ordination and mission have joined the Geneva Consistory s order and discipline as major responsibilities of modern presbyteries, but sustained theological work and mutual encouragement are no longer central to the life of what we call, tellingly, governing bodies. George Orwell, in his classic essay, Politics and the English Language, makes the provocative point that language becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. 36 Orwell s observation illuminates what has happened to modern presbyteries. Foolish thought transformed consistory, a council of pastors and elders, and company of pastors, a covenanted gathering for study, prayer, and mutual support, into a hybrid legislature and regulatory agency. Foolish thoughts produce ugly and inaccurate language; thus, our church decided to call presbyteries, sessions, synods, and the general assembly, governing bodies. Quite apart from the gracelessness of the term, it emerged from and reinforced the warped notion that the purpose of these gatherings of presbyters was to govern the church to direct, regulate, and manage the affairs of the institution. The language is ugly, and it both reflects foolish thought and makes it easier for foolish thought to persist and to shape behavior. True to their new label, sessions,

12 12 presbyteries, and the general assembly have fulfilled their calling as governing bodies. The result, as both cause and effect, is an institutionalized, bureaucratized church. Calvin and the Shape of the Church The distance between sixteenth century Geneva and twenty-first century North America is more than chronological. And yet, the wisdom of those who have lived and died the faith before us can prompt in us a measure of honesty about the nature of our ecclesial life. Our father Calvin and the church he formed had their share of defects; we may be more aware of them than we are of our own defects. Yet Calvin thought deeply about the shape of the church and acted faithfully to embody his insights rather than simply succumbing to prevailing models, both Catholic and Reformation patterns. John Calvin may help us to think more deeply about the church in our time and place, and act more faithfully. What would happen if we worked to shape a church that was, truly and centrally, a church of the Word and Sacrament? What would the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) look like if we recovered a collegially ordered ministry of teaching elders, ruling-discerning elders, and deacons gathered in council? What shape would our denomination take if we lived out the Godgiven promise of full communion among all the saints? Calvin s answers may not be directly translated into our time and place, but his questions and answers may prompt our own questions and lead to our faithful answers. May it be so. 1 John Calvin, Commentary on Ephesians 4:13 2 John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion. John T. McNeill, ed., Ford Lewis Battles, trans. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960) , p Joseph Ratzinger, with Vittorio Messori, The Ratzinger Report (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1985) p The Ten Conclusions of Berne, Creeds of the Churches, Third Edition, John A. Leith, ed. (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1982) p Calvin, Institutes, , p Calvin, Institutes, , p Calvin, Institutes, , p The Scots Confession, The Book of Confessions (Louisville: Office of the General Assembly, 2002) 3.18, p Calvin, Institutes, , p. 1025f. 10 Book of Order, G (Louisville: Office of the General Assembly, 2007) 11 James F. White, Protestant Worship (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1989) pp B.A. Gerrish, Grace and Gratitude (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993) p Calvin, Institutes, , p Calvin, Institutes, , p Calvin, The Necessity of Reforming the Church, in Calvin: Theological Treatises, J.K.S. Reid, trans. & ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1964) pp Calvin, Institutes , p Ibid. 18 For a fuller treatment, see Elsie Ann McKee, John Calvin on the Diaconate and Liturgical Almsgiving (Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International, 1986) 19 Calvin, Draft Ecclesiastical Ordinances, 1541 in Calvin: Theological Treatises, p Ibid. 21 Calvin, Institutes , p References to the dual presbyteriate can be found throughout Calvin s writings. Note especially commentaries on Romans 12:8, 1 Corinthians 12:28, and 1 Timothy 5:17.

13 13 22 Calvin s fourth office teacher is usually incorporated into ministry of the Word and Sacrament. 23 Geddes MacGregor, Corpus Christi: The Nature of the Church According to the Reformed Tradition (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1958) p. 216f. 24 Book of Order, G Book of Order, G b. 26 The French Confession of 1559, Ellen Babinsky and Joseph D. Small, trans. (Louisville: Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 1998) XXVI, p Calvin, Institutes, , p. 1046f. 28 Calvin, reply to Sadoleto in A Reformation Debate: John Calvin and Jacobo Sadoleto, John C. Olin, ed. (New York: Fordham University Press, 2000) p Calvin to Cranmer (1552) in John Calvin: Tracts and Letters, Jules Bonnet, ed., David Constable, trans. (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2009) Vol 5: Letters, Part 2, p. 347f. 30 Calvin to the Reformed Churches of France in John Calvin: Tracts and Letters, Vol. 7: Letters, Part 4, p Calvin, Institutes, , p For a detailed discussion, see Robert M. Kingdon, Calvin and Presbytery: the Geneva Company of Pastors, Pacific Theological Review, XVIII.2., pp See also David Foxgrover, ed., Calvin and the Company of Pastors. Calvin Studies Society Papers 2003 (Grand Rapids: CRC Product Services, 2004) 33 Calvin, Draft Ecclesiastical Ordinances, 1541 in Calvin: Theological Treatises, p Ibid. 35 Ibid. 36 George Orwell, Politics and the English Language, in A Collection of Essays by George Orwell (Garden City NY: Doubleday & Co., 1954) p. 163.