…Nor do I know if it is liberal or conservative to claim that the first social task of the church is to be the church, which entails being a community capable of being a critic to every human pretension
Hauerwas certainly makes it clear that there are certain things that “makes the Church the Church”, so clearly expressed in the
“the first social task of the church is to be the church”
BE the Church. The “difference”; the unique community that lives under a different ethic from that of the world; where ethics of empire and ethics of “common sense” (the latter of which will fall prey to the prevailing intellectual structures and assumptions). The war question is one that seems to have become so assimilated into the “assumed order” of things, implied in such phrases as “That’s war”, which makes my blood boil and also saddens my heart when I hear it repeated by Christians. Here is where I find the biggest hurdle to an ecumenicism that seeks a cross-discipinary agreement and an affirmation of a “common faith” in Christ. Well, in terms of making the claim to follow Chirst, I guess it can be said that we share that stated goal. But when it comes to the changing of heart that derives from Christ, the war question remains difficult to reconcile with the call of Christ. Here is where “being a critic to every human pretension” is most glaringly absent in what passes as “Church”. Live nativities and put lucks aside, the Church is being the Church when it places itself in the the role of being critic of the human habits which run contrary to the ethic of a Community which calls itself the Body of Christ.
Yes, this is very important. What happens it that Christians forget, or don’t want to acknowledge that their first task is to be the Church. Instead, they think it is the task of the Church to confront the world. This becomes very dangerous because it inevitably involves compliance with wars and all sorts of other unjust and un-Christian practices. It makes it easy for our brothers and sisters to think that a Federal Marriage Amendment is actually a “Christian” thing, because they think that homosexuals and what they are doing “must be confronted and stopped,” instead of obeying the command first to love them. There’s an order to things in being the Church, and it’s rather simple:
1.) Love God first.
2.) Love your neighbor.