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Great Thinkers in the History of the Church (no. 8)
“And this in my opinion is the falsification of which official Christianity is guilty: it does not frankly and unreservedly make known the Christian requirement—perhaps because it is afraid people would shudder to see at what a distance from it we are living, without being able to claim that in the remotest way our life might be called an effort in the direction of fulfilling the requirement…."
*Soren Kierkegaard, b. 1813, Attack Upon “Christendom,” Trans. Walter Lowrie
(see April 20, 2006, “A Christian or Christendom,” for article on Christendom)
Story and Comments
There lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a crystal river. Each creature, in its own manner, clung tightly to the twigs and rocks of the river bottom. Clinging was their way of life; that is the only way they knew to try to live. Their lives were survival, day to day. Each had learned from birth to resist the current. They were told it would mean certain death, if they released and let go into the current.
Finally, one creature said at last, "I trust that the current knows where it is going. I will let go and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom. There must be more to life than this."
The other creatures laughed, saying, "Fool! Let go, and that current will throw you tumbled and smashed across the rocks, and you will die!" After laughing at him, they did all they could to persuade him to stay with them.
But, the one heeded them not. Taking a breath, he let go. Immediately, the current tumbled and threw him against the rocks. Yet, the creature, alone and not knowing what would happen to him, refused to cling again. The current, then, lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more.
The creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger, cried, when they saw him, "See a miracle! See the one come to save us all!" And the one carried by the current said, "I am not here to save you, while you cling to the twigs and rocks. The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare to let go. Your true work is this adventure. You must trust and let go. Apart from this, you will remain lost. Denying it, you deny freedom. The river wants you to be free and flow with it. No one can give you want you choose not to receive. Please, let go.”
But, they cried more, "The one has come to save us!" They remained bound to their clinging. They made stories about this one come to save them, and they worshipped him. But, he moved on, and they never followed him on downstream.
The above story, adapted from Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Illusions, has a number of important lessons about life and faith. One is the powerful influence of community. We are each situated in group contexts, whether the group contexts are healthy or unhealthy. Early on, especially, these social contexts shape us in noticeable and subtle ways.
Due to the subtle and powerful influence of cultural traditions, it is a rare but mature person, usually one daring and brave, who decides to let go and move on with the tradition. Indeed, most groups have a built-in clear or unclear mechanism to discourage anyone growing beyond the group. These mechanisms include threat, persuasion, criticism, ostracism, intimidation, official excommunication, amassing group pressure to dissuade, and using religious conviction to threaten one or speak of her as unfit, damned, heretical, or, in much of our culture now, liberal: liberal has become a catch-word for “you are wrong, period.”
However, the opposite of conformism is reactionism. Radical pluralism is, then, a reactionary movement. What is radical pluralism: radical pluralism is the extreme opposite of fundamentalism. Radical pluralism says, with a look of assumed intelligence and human pride, “Oh, it does not matter what you believe. Everyone has a right to believe what they want.” Radical pluralism appears like love. But, is love saying to someone, “Well, it does not matter what you eat. There is no difference, really, between eating cabbage or lentil soup and eating a double burger from the local fatty-food drive through”? Even if one could argue, for example, that all great religions are partly true, no logical evidence is found that all are equally communicating the essentials of faith and morality. Radical pluralism cannot be proven, for it contradicts basic everyday common sense.
However, conformism is a reactionary extreme, likewise. And, like radical pluralism, it is fed by fear.
Jesus provides us a living model and inspiration for letting go of tradition, while honoring tradition. See, letting go is not abdicating tradition, it means, rather, not worshipping tradition. Letting go frees tradition and those related to tradition, placing them in a life-affirming, growing, changing, and adventurous relationship. Jesus respected and advanced tradition. He never spoke wrongly of the essentials of the tradition of his ancestors. Jesus chose to model letting go and freeing the tradition from its encasement in the past.
Jesus sought to breathe new life into a tradition that was dying, and the Spirit of Christ still does that same inspiring work. Spirit is progressive; that is, Spirit is always moving and emerging, creating a new thing we have never seen or experienced before, in just the way we can in this moment.
But, what have many done with Jesus Christ? They have used a devotion to Jesus and his life and work, which worships him without following him. They have talked of him being Savior, while not accepting that freedom comes only from our participation in obedience to the way of Christ. Yes, we are given Grace, but there is no cheap Grace. Grace is free, and Grace is costly. There is no spiritual healing and emergence to wholeness without the cost of our surrender to place Christ first in our lives. Did Jesus, in the Gospels, ever say he wanted us to worship him? No, he said, “Follow me.”
Reflections
What does tradition mean to you?
Is it possible to be open to changes spiritually and honor tradition, too?
Do you ever struggle to be open to change and, at the same time, respect the history of your faith tradition?
How does Jesus model a healthy relationship to the past and present?
Consider, if you are not already, sponsoring a child through Compassion International. You can find out more about Compassion International by going to www.compassion.net to read about sponsoring, in the name of Jesus, children living in poverty. Thanks! Brian K. Wilcox
To contact Brian, write briankwilcox@comcast.net .
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