Conservative and liberal church

- and the radical faith


I go to church every sunday, as most other christians, in the hope of hearing the Word of God boldly preached, fervently prayed to and gladly praised in hymns and songs. Most of the time that wont happen, maybe some pieces of worldly wisdom of varying quality will be offered, but the Word revealed to His congregation? All too seldom.

So why go there you may ask, aren´t there plenty of “Bible churches” around with empty seats in their benches? There are. But the Church isn´t there for my amusement, it´s a part who I am as much as I am a part of its life and ways. So even if the devil himself preached from the pulpit, I´d go there faithfully every sunday if that should be Gods will, if only to resist. But there is a balance to the argument, that I am in need of the Church MORE than it of me. So had I not another community of saints to fall back on, I´d stay well clear of the wolves den (harshly speaking).

There is without a doubt a sorry state of affairs prevalent in much of contemporary christianity. My congregation is not even closely an exception in Sweden, or in Western Europe as a whole. Which leads many (conservatives) to put an “equal to”-mark between liberal and wordly and between conservative and godly. Which can only be countered with that godly is godly and both liberal and conservative are worldly, labels of this world. Yes, God is ever the same, but also supremely free. The God of liberation AND preservation, ever renewing and reconstituting. So don´t come and try attaching labels to God that are just earthly rags. God wants to dress US in linens of righteousness, not the other way around.

All this is very well, speaking rightly of the Lord, and most believers would agree up to this point. But what of the believer herself, should she count count herself in the “oldie” camp of conservatism, within the walls so to speak, or in the liberationist gang of trailblazers and wallbreachers? A bit more contentious issue, no doubt.

Let´s have a look at St Peter, one of the great disciples, a pillar of the Church even by St Pauls admission. Now it happened that Peter was given quite an assignment by Jesus, maybe a responsibility no human could or should be asked to fulfil. But it was given none the less to Peter to be the rock on which Jesus would build His church. For a rock to be any good as foundation, it must of necessity be unshakeable. Should Peter fall, the Church falls with him. Now Peter took this very seriously, and watched, and prayed, and admonished the Church, down to its very least disciple. One can imagine the anxiety at loosing or adding even the slightest dot or comma in the Gospel of Christ, handed down for his safe keeping. Then one day Peter had a revelation from God to leave behind a huge part not only of his, but Jesus and the rest of the Church´s spiritual heritage, the Jewish laws of purity. These weren´t merely abstract concepts, they were everywhere present in society and everyday life. Any decent person followed them to the letter. Quite naturally, he refused. How could he, little Peter, take such a step? Jesus had not said one word in this direction, and now Peter is asked to not only rock the boat, but overturn it and sail upside down. Still God insisted: it is time to leave those things behind, they are no longer necessary, you´re meant for greater and better things. And Peter eventually assented to the will of God, and put it before the Church. The Bible (Acts, chapters 10 and 11) tells us of this the very first in the long line of discussions/battles between conservatives and liberals, that eventually all accepted Peter´s revelation, invited the gentiles to partake of the Gospel, held their peace and glorified God.

A better word for Peter´s attitude is “radical”, a word whose root (sorry for the pun now) we can trace back to the latin radix, meaning just root. Radical people do get noticed, but not on account of them showing off or especially seeking attention. They´re simply radically different, as a pine growing on exposed rock is different to one growing in rich soil. They do other things, not really because anyone tells them to, but because it´s what´s coming natural to them. It is evident and manifest, simply because it is there. Radical faith then is one that always roots itself on God through the grace and discipleship given by his Son, Jesus Christ. Thereto help us the Lord.

Why the old man with a beard ain´t so bad

Hockey

“I believe in God alright, but not like an old man with a beard!” Sounds familiar? I have yet to meet someone who actually believes in the bearded deity, still quite a lot of people wants very strongly to disassociate themselves from any belief in Him (with the beard). A more popular confession these days would be: “I believe in Something Very Vague With Bright Tinkling Lights Like In Close Encounter Of The Third Kind”.

Tried chatting to a concept? Not very talkative I´m afraid... Images of God are something we love to disagree on. Some prefer to go with the abstract strategy, with a lot of big words buzzing about; other will have very concrete gods indeed, even to the degree of the girl a friend of mine helped move recently. She had her own altar with idols, which of course no one else was permitted to carry about. We wouldn´t want any gods broken or handled carelessly now, would we?


Jesus and Basketball

“Religious” movies faces similar questions in trying to visualize the spiritual realm. The devil is of course quite photogenique for the cinema, as well as on cathedral walls. The “grotesque” is a bit more fun portraying artistically it seems, in the Middle Ages as in the dream factories by Sunset Boulevard. Incidentally, the best devil portrait in my humble opinion, is Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) in Wall Street, rather than whatsoever Exorcist movie have you. I think he´s someone who, if you met him casually on a dinner party, you wouldn´t find wildly disagreeable. An eternity is naturally a different matter altogether...

So I kind of like the Old bearded man, he´s someone I can talk to, maybe with some sense of trepidation in front of such appearant wisdom. Still, I can relate to him, which is the point of the whole execise. It´s not all the truth about God, very limited actually, but as to the time hope will be turned to real “hanging” in the mighty presence of the Lord, you could do worse.


...handling the ball

You think that sounds like an instrumental view on God? I shape the idol I´m most comfortable with? That´s because it is instrumental, the image of God that is, not God per se. Images as objects of worship is forbidden, at least where I´m coming from. There´s nothing anyone could do with a cross or a bible what would shock me. I know this because performance artists love to “push the envelope” a bit with these symbols, in fact knowingly or unknowingly, very much doing the work of God. I´ve heard of prisoners who´ve used the Gideonite´s Bible as toilet paper, when nothing else was available. Good for them, and a whole lot better than catching diarrheas, cholera or typhus. The book in itself is just paper and print, not a sacred object or graven image. I can´t resist sharing a morsel of related ethymology now, just recently acquired from the excellent Swedish pastor Peter Halldorf. Symbols were tokens used by Greek cities, when they made pacts they split a clay disc between them, so whenever they sent ambassadors they would bring their half with them as credentials. If the piece fit, you´re the real McCoy. Symballo, the greek root, signifies ”bind together” or “unify”; it´s opposite is actually diaballo, from which we´ve received the name of you-know-whom.

The images of God in the Bible are always connected to encounter of some kind, it is in the meeting with humanity the form and appearance of God becomes an issue. There´s very little of speculation like: “Exclusive – God: How He Really Looks When No One´s Watching”. Quite a shapeshifter actually: wind, man (bearded or otherwise), cloud and burning bush among others. In fact the only image we´re supposed and encouraged to make in the likeness of God, or more specifically Christ, is our own selves, our very lives and souls. Jesus is very different from all these images and manifestations, He IS the Real McCoy, Man AND God, hence our friend, brother and mediator. He is the reality we can base our image on. Thereto may He help and guide us.


My personal favourite...