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Much of nominal Christianity is practical atheism. Much of this practical atheism arises from what is called mentalism: religion has become an idea, an ideology, an intellectual theology, a strict biblicism, rather than a practical theology, which is a lived, open, changing, and risking intimacy with the living Christ, which entails ongoing adjustments and transformation. Even the relationship with Scripture in practical atheism is not dynamic and ongoing, changing, but persons address the Scripture as a prescriptive document, a simple source of simple answers to every problem, and the answers sit, motionless and fixed, on a piece of printed paper. In contrast, our relationship with and use of Scripture can become, as well as the whole of the life of a church and Christian, what I will call Trinitarian.
A fixed revelation violates the Trinitarian nature of God and, thus, the Trinitarian nature of being a Christian and Christian communion. For the Trinitarian Presence, for one thing, cannot be contained within even Scripture, even as it cannot be contained in any approach to the Scripture or school of theological thought. The Scripture cannot become a closed box of Trinitarian revelation, even though it is a means of ongoing revelation, arising out of the context of the very community which was instrumental in its creation in time: the Judeo-Christian communion.
Likewise, the Trinitarian Presence, as taught by traditional Christianity, is a dynamism, inter-relationship, dancing communion, more like the images given us by modern particle physics than the science of the middle ages. Therefore, the entire Christian life, the life of the Church, and the experience of revelation must model the Trinitarian dynamism or such is not Trinitarian. To be a Trinitarian Christian, then, entails more than believing in the Trinity, which may be for many only another so-called orthodox mentalism. The entire way of being and interpreting, all life, reflects the change, organicity, communion, and dynamism of the Trinitarian Presence in Trinitarian communities.
Therefore, much disunity in religion results from different images of revelation and the means of that revelation. Central conflicts over the very processes of the role of Scripture and the larger issue of divine revelation, often can be divided among those who approach Scripture, indeed the whole life of the Church, in non-Trinitarian ways and those who are truly, not just ideologically, Trinitarian. Some are dogmatically Trinitarian; some are experientially Trinitarian. To be Trinitarian means to approach revelation with a model of the dynamism of the Trinity, rather than like a static source of providing answers apart from the ongoing Trinitarian life of the community, a communion, or communion-ing body, which changes in its interpretation due to its changing relationship with the Source of revelation.
Religious rationalism is, one can claim, practical atheism. This is little more than someone debating and theorizing about a rose, without smelling it, experiencing it. Here, seeking answers is a step from the immediacy of dropping the questions altogether, to experience what leads one through the questions and, yes, beyond them. Our clinging to our mentalism is a self-defense, or self-interested mechanism, which protects us from the radical call to let go of even our theories and beliefs to come into the Presence of God, and, likewise, the community of God meeting in the Spirit. This is the Beyond that we are called to experience, and is possible for every sincere seeker of the Ground of Being.
Contemplative prayer is a way to learn to trust and enjoy being in the essential certainty but instability, or dynamism, of the Trinitarian Presence among us. A threat of such prayer is, while such letting go is within a theological context and prepared for by a historical setting, the practice itself entails letting go to enjoy the Presence before, beyond, and after context and setting. This process of Pure Faith in contemplation is implied in the words of Melvyn Matthews, in Making Room For God:
You have placed yourself deliberately in the ongoing but ignored presence of God [cf. practical atheism]. Passing time correctly or getting the agenda right now becomes very much less important. Allow your inner eye to work, sensing God’s presence.
Here, enjoying being in Christ, in Love, rightness recedes in importance and loving, or sensing God’s presence, becomes priority in communion with others. This is why contemplation, even across religious lines, is a unitive experience. Mentalism can never create communion, and much religion that appears in communion is conformity and often entails a lack of honesty about the true confusion and doubts that are not given loving attention in religious groups. Again, the ideology of the Trinity cannot provide the essential basis for religious communion, and conformity will masquerade as communion. Rather, communion can always embrace diversity in a greater inclusion than conformity, when the communion is Trinitarian.
Therefore, that much of the Church does not attend to the necessary ego-taming process of silence and solitude may speak of its refusal to give up the control essential to a lively theism that is Trinitarian in processes and open to the inclusiveness of a Trinitarian Love.
Thus, OneLife contends for a revelation that is, while set within the context of history, can only be lived through a Trinitarian Presence that is about creating a context of invitation to change and inclusion, which means a dynamic, lively process. Indeed, without this lively strategy of lively theism, a faith group hones its skills at killing off any perceived intrusion of openness to ongoing revelation and relationship to revelation in flux, even as the interpreting person and community itself is in flux.
So, to be faithful, Trinitarian, and even biblical is to abdicate the human propensity to make revelation static, fixed, and settled once-and-for-all. Such reductionism is not being faithful, rather, it entails shaping our relationship to revelation to fit our felt-needs and fear of change and, likewise, our seeking to control revelation, finally, rather than to remain shaped by revelation unfolding itself in an evolving relationship with the person and faith community.
Put simply, God will not fit in our boxes. Put clearly, God will not fit in our ideology, by whatever name we call our ideology to justify our taming it and, thereby, killing off the vitality of the living faith in a faith that seeks answers apart from the pain of living the questions. Thereby, the whole Christian life, as well as its Scripture, and the Trinitarian Presence is not available to provide us always the static answers to difficult theological, moral, and life questions, but to energize us to continue in the painstaking, patient, and faithful process of living our questions through to an intimacy with God in which the answers themselves lose the original urgency in the certainty arising from living in the flow of the divine energies, or Holy Spirit. Indeed, the urgency to have to have the answers, have others agree with your answers, and not let go into Pure Faith can evidence the operations of the False Self, or ego, trying to remain in control and, thus, not undergoe the death to itself that opens to the greater Life.
Spiritual Exercises
1. Contrast the view of Trinitarian above with what often goes for Trinitarian.
2. How do we humans use mentalism in religion as a defense against the awe of immediacy with God?
3. How would being Trinitarian, not just believing in the Trinity, change your approach to revelation, Scripture, church life, relationships with others, your relationship with God?
Prayer
Confuse me enough to teach me True Faith.
*Brian K. Wilcox
OneLife Ministries is a pastoral outreach and nurture ministry of the First United Methodist Church, Fort Meade, FL. For Spiritual Direction, Pastoral Counseling, spiritual formation workshops, Christian meditation retreats, or more information about OneLife, write Rev. Dr. Brian K. Wilcox at briankwilcox@comcast.net.
Brian's book of mystical love poetry, An Ache for Union, can be ordered through major bookdealers.
Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors
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