Yesterday I asked the following question on my Facebook page: I have heard it said by some that they admire Jesus, it is religion they cannot stand.What about you? I was surprised to get a variety of responses -- from members of the First Congregational UCC, from people in my United Church of Christ denomination and from folks seemingly not interested in religion, yet respectful of Christ. So, I thought I'd blog a bit about this.
When asked a similar question about Jesus by a Christian missionary, Ghandi responded, "Oh, I don't reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ." We Christians are giving Christ a bad name. So, what about the question?
In her response, Mary suggests that it is difficult to discuss politics and religion -- that she prefers not to do it. Fair enough, one can run into major problems as one discusses these things -- wars have been fought, people have died. Yet, is there anything else to talk about -- really. When I talk religion, I am talking about the deeper things in life. As I talk politics I am talking about how I hope to live with the rest of humanity. When it comes round to it almost all conversation is political and religious. AND such talk is dangerous.
If I talk about my religion as if it is the only take on the truth, or my politics is the only answer to our common life, I will get resistance, and conflict will ensue. So, open conversation about these things, dialogue, is important. However, such conversation mostly gets us into the realm of our opinions and ideas about things. At thier best, these conversations lead to understanding, and sometimes change in our common life. However, I have a need to move more deeply into my life, into an experience of love, grace, compassion. So, for me it comes down to what another one of the respondants on points to when he quotes Jesus', "Who do you say I am?" That is for each one of us to contemplate. Interestingly, as we contemplate this we also come to a deeper appreciation of the age-old question, "Who am I?"
So, for me my approach to this question is a christian approach. This does not mean that I will make anyone or anything infallible (Pope or Bible). It does not mean that I swallow it all, hook, line and sinker - the virgin birth, etc....I think it means that I have entered a relationship (which I am not even sure is personal) with Christ. In one way of thinking, I have hitched a ride on the "Jesus Train." That is that the stories and the teachings of Jesus offer me a journey into the depths of life, into the the key perceptions that will lead me to a sense of identity (It is not I who live but Christ who lives in me -- Paul in Galatians), which will dispose me towards more loving and compassionate actions in the world.
To have a living community of people on a similar path helps me a great deal, we support each other as we live our lives in the direction that Jesus has set forth. All of a sudden, because of the need for community we have a church (a community of people) and we have politics and we invite the full catastrophe that is our human life together. But, this too is a spiritual practice: how do we move into the world and community with love, grace and compassion? How does our identity form our community so that it is the Life of the Universe that lives in and through us? How do we, in community, foster our collective humanity rather than becoming a hypocritical embarassment to our deepest selves.
So, that's a bloggy ramble.
Blessings,
David
