Jesus Cropped from the Picture

The Satisfying End of My Journey

The Great Tradition is like the great hall that C.S. Lewis mentions in Mere Christianity , a hall having many doors opening into different rooms. 116 These rooms represent different church traditions, denominations, and expressions. Each expression of the Great Tradition should be varied, creative, and flexible, but only within the confines of what the Holy Spirit has given the Church in the Great Tradition. The Protestant, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic branches of the Church all came after the Great Tradition, and each branch has continued to affirm it for the last 16 centuries. Therefore, Christians are not free to disagree with, or reinterpret, the identity and Story of Jesus. His followers must represent the Story as he revealed it, happily submitting to the documents of faith that have been handed down through the Church. Once anchored to the Great Tradition, a church is free to express itself culturally, liturgically, or theologically, exemplifying the creativity of God himself. Each room, connected to the great hall, is free to design their layout and furnishings in a way that helps them bring glory to Jesus. God’s promise to Abraham to include members from every tribe, language, and nation (see Chapter 12) should prompt this kind of joyful pursuit of free expression in Christ. The results could be hundreds of new movements and expressions of faith, each having an appreciation for one another, rather than living in competition and suspicion. The enemy desires division in the Church, but God desires unity.

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