How far away from Jesus?

After visiting the Crystal Cathedral in California, he said, "it's a long way from a Jew in Palestine." Will Willimon was reflecting with me over a cup of coffee during a visit to Duke University some years ago. I told Will that the cathedral where he worked was also a long way from Palestine.

Now, years later, I find myself on a national commission reflecting on the Nature and Mission of the Church. I've also been asked to write a document for a group of Presbyterian leaders on the way I think about the church in light of Christian faith and tradition.

My association with the Waldensian Christians of Italy over the years has shaped some of my thinking about the church. In particular I find myself struggling to frame the call of God with the accretion of structures we've inherited over the centuries. I've recently been reading a book called "The Ruin of the Roman Empire". Here are some excerpts:

".. before Constantine .. Christianities were everywhere, but a force to be reckoned with nowhere. I use the surprising plural "Christianities" to speak of this religious movement .. Yet, by 395 .. Theodosius 1 left behind .. an empire-wide leadership of Christian bishops and their wealthy supporters and associates. Christianity flourished, was privileged, and did its business. In cities all over the empire, bishops and wealthy Christians took decisive control."

I can remember hearing a Waldensian friend named Franco Giampiccoli quoting French philosopher Paul Ricoeur as he spoke to the Roman Catholic Bishop of Turin about the dangers Christians in the use of power in the world. (Italian Bishops had just instructed the faithful not to vote in a recent election.)

It seems to me that the church has been afflicted time and again by the temptations to power. As a Presbyterian in the United States I must confess this as vigorously as any other Christian in power. I've been fascinated to read about how long and deep this assertion of unwieldly power has hindered our witness and distanced ourselve from the wandering Galilean.