The religious Right has successfully programmed a whole generation of Christians to believe that we are in an End Times struggle against Evil, represented by a Satanic Democratic Party. It’s the good conservatives against the evil liberals, and our very salvation is wrapped up in which team we’re on. When my wife and I decided to vote for Obama this last election, we lost friends and found a family relationship seriously strained. It was as though we were murdering babies ourselves. It doesn’t matter that in voting we were following our pro-life convictions, choosing a candidate and party we felt might finally change the conversation about an ethic of life in America. It doesn’t matter that as followers of Christ, we felt convicted of the need for change, for balance…for a different direction. I don’t write this to make a political statement, but simply to illustrate the point that as people of God, we are not defined by our relationship with a political party or system of thought within the Church…but by our relationship with Christ Himself. Who are you to say that I’m not following His voice, even when in doing so I vote differently than you?
It’s a very interesting time to be a young Christian in America, for there are many others who find the old divisions and stale arguments largely irrelevant. I think there is a movement toward contemplative spirituality within the developing church. In some ways, this movement is apparent within the Emerging Church, the term given the interesting change within the church in recent years…across denominations. But really, it’s bigger than that. There is a fundamental difference between a spirituality based on relationship with God (grace-based) and spirituality based on rightness before God (shame-based). In grace-based spirituality, we become intimately aware of our own smallness, and the largeness of God’s capacity to love. In shame-based spirituality, we are caught in the cyclical struggle to maintain control of where we stand with God, to maintain our position as keepers of knowledge about God. The former can accept unknowns and gray areas. The latter is often defined by black and white thinking.
In the early years following my lifestyle conversion I became a fan of Francis Schaeffer, whose logical arguments for Christianity and large vocabulary appealed to my pride. I wanted knowledge. I wanted to convince and be convinced, to be sure and to be able to communicate that to any who would doubt me. I adopted the defensiveness that defined the evangelical mindset, and become drawn into a need to defend God. Schaeffer’s writing and the following it drew played a part in creating the conservative backbone of modern evangelicalism. What’s so interesting is that his son, Frank Scaeffer, who played an important role in his father’s work, is now a fed up, fired up critic of the modern evangelical church. Once active in the movement, he’s now a voice warning of the dangers of fundamentalism of the Christian kind. Check him out at The Official Website of Frank Schaeffer.
In my long-winded way, I guess what I’m saying is that contemplative Christianity…a spirituality of Christ defined by prayer and mystical union…is an answer to fundamentalism and it’s shame-cycle. I read an article a while ago about conflict in an Islamic country, where the fundamentalist Muslim majority was seeking to silence and control the Sufi minority. Sufis are the contemplatives, the mystics, of the Islamic worldview, and have historically (in this context at least) been peace-seekers, where the majority has continued to wage war and control. Its interesting to see the same dynamic play out in so many contexts. Mysticism challenges black and white thinking, just as Christ challenged the black and white thinking of the religiously certain of his time. The reaction to Christ was violence. We see the same today.
When your world is built upon tightly controlled rules and systems, then you fight to protect your control. The story of the prodigal son illustrates the dynamic beautifully. The oldest son had his world fairly well under control…he had earned his fathers love and respect with hard work and dedication. When the prodigal son returned home and was received with such joy…the love given away for free…the brother’s response was anger. We cannot control God. Yet, when the worldview of conservative Christians is challenged, even if challenged by undeniable logic (such as proof the earth is older than 5000 years) the response is anger and defensiveness…if you’re not with us, God is not with you.
Its a difficult time and an exciting time to follow Christ in America. There are hints of change, hints of new life beginning to emerge as a new generation comes of age. The last election sent a message, as did the public disgrace of some powerful Evangelicals, that the vote-getting machine of the Religious Right is losing steam. There is an opportunity for a new Christian voice to emerge, one that truly seeks to be “peacemakers”, to recognize those that are hungry and hurting among us, to call out for an ethic of life across circumstances…one rooted in devotion, not control…wisdom, not knowledge.
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I was so glad to read this. I have many Christian friends to whom I have become a heretic politically, and it’s lonely out here. Why do we indulge in the mental laziness of labeling? If I don’t believe in literally seven 24 days of creation I’m a liberal Christian. If I think we should provide health care for poor people, I’m a liberal American. If I say God is beyond our ability to comprehend with our three pound brain, I’m a Christian mystic. Having filed me into a box, they then assign all the other attributes in the box to me as well.
Is there intelligence life on earth? Is there love in the body of Christ?
Je’
Bless you, Je’,
I have never before replied to anything nor have I even read too many blogs…I am not even sure this will get to you but I hope it does. Yes, there is love in the body of Christ! Please know this! I walk in your shoes and have been stunned to learn that I “can’t be a Christian because I voted Democratic” as I never read that in my Bible or that because I believe that Christ loves us equally, because I don’t believe God discriminates I am discriminated against: it hurts. I am sorry that you hurt, too.
One of the biggest gifts I received this year was reading the Rohr quote found in this blog: God does not love you because you are good; God loves you because God is good. God does not love you because you are good; you are good because God loves you. ”
Wow! What a concept and how true! I am nothing but, because I am open to God, I can receive that which can never be earned: grace! We are so lucky and blessed!
My lovely and lively friend Annette gave me a very special little book for an Advent study by Joan Chittister who is an R.C nun….I want to share what she wrote today on this year’s end with you:
“The old year is over. Whatever we waited for this year, either it came or it did not. One thing is sure: if what we wanted did not come, something surely came in its place. The temptation is to count the change as loss. Julian of Norwich, the 13th century anchorite, wrote that even sin, “was behovable”-necessary, important in life, part of our growth and an opportunity for union with God. And, not to worry, she says, for “all shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.” If we are still waiting for something, we must remember that the New Year is waiting for us, too, with fresh challenge, virgin promise, rude discovery and confirming triumphs. Open your hearts to life’s new hurdles and simmering victories now. Life is waiting for your gift.”
Isn’t that lovely? And it can’t be a coincidence that, like the Virgin Mary who said “yes” to God this virgin year asks us to say the same. It can’t be a coincidence that I found you tonight,confirming my belief that life is waiting for our gifts!
I am very grateful to God that my new church, our piece of the body of Christ is truly filled with love and it is named for Julian, herself! Yes, there are a few…but honestly, I am very blessed and I wish the same for you and soon! I look forward to sharing 2010, the challenges, the triumphs and the many everyday moments it will bring us both as individuals and as members of the body of Christ, never as separate from one another or from God!
May 2010 surprise us daily with God’s grace!
Colette
“Contemplative Christianity” great term! I came upon your website during my own personal spiritual journey that has taken me from C.S. Lewis (one of the greatest minds to have ever put pen to paper, never mind his incredible interpretation of God) to John Piper, to Rob Bell, to Dwight Pryor, to Ken Wilbur. I know a roller coaster ride to say the least!
I am a 36 year old man who grew up in a conservative home; my father is an Independent Baptist Preacher. My parents were not oppressive but did have stout convictions of faith, some of which were based on their experiences, some based on what they heard or were taught during and immediately after their adult conversion to Christianity. I was “saved” at the age of 7, and I continue to hold to that conversion today. It’s my interpretation of what that event truly meant, and means that has sort of changed in the last 4-5 years.
I too have sensed a change in how “being saved” has been discussed and interpreted in the modern church. It is definitely an exciting time to be a Christian. I think if we look at Christianity with a wide angle lens instead of focusing on the last 500-600 years we can get an idea of where the true model of Christ following exists. I also think we need to be mindful of how the pendulum Christian Interpretations can swing in both directions. Yes we are starting to see it shifting from a right minded black and white “evangelical” dominated view to a more “Grace Centered” approach. But that pendulum if not check can shift entirely to a mystic New Age only interpretation of Christianity, and of life in general. Both extremes are flawed due to their dismissal of the other quadrants (Ken Wilbur). As a Christ follower who is striving to find the all important middle ground, I want to accept Grace; embrace my freedom to choose, and attempt to interpret what the Spirit is leading. At the same time I want to have a foundation built upon truth.
I agree with you about politics, I don’t think Christianity is synonymous with Republican, or Democrat. I do believe we are the salt and light of our society and with that comes the responsibility of making choices and encouraging choices that are reflective of a God centered life. That being said, I personally find that the conservative candidate which is usually Republican best exhibits these traits. I think a Christian voter should be socially conservative, and fiscally responsible. Of course the debates could go on as to what fiscally responsible really means, and how it is achieved.
Thanks for providing a blog for me to put my thoughts on paper…
Thank you.