Today I was confronted with a comment on social media that reminded me just how much mystics are in the minority. The individual said, “Modern worship music is garbage. I miss the old hymns and stuff that made Christianity great.”
Now, I know what they probably meant. I get it. I am not immune to “the old stuff was great” mindset. I mean I favor the Victorian, Thomas Aquinas, Greek Lit, stained glass, liturgy, the rosary, etc. This person probably didn’t mean that those things actually were what makes Christianity great. That would be borderline idolatry.
I responded very kindly (for my way of doing things). But, this line of thinking and my rebuttal led me down quite a loverly line of thinking about what is actually essential and necessary in Christian practice.
Can you worship without your preferred music style? Can you be engaged and involved with fellow believers that you don’t prefer or who make you outright uncomfortable? Can you make your church home with people who don’t have all the points of Calvanism? If there was only one church in your community and they weren’t your denomination would you get involved or just take your ball/bible and stay home?
We live in such a consumerist Christian culture where the available options make it more like choosing between Wendy’s and McDonald’s and Arby’s and Taco Bell. Some of them are even ostensibly “drive-thru” now with COVID restrictions, but I digress.
“This is what made Christianity great.”
So, without those A la Cart options does that make Christianity not so great?
We are so focused on individual preferences and individual tastes that we are willing to drive 30-60 minutes out of our way rather than get our hands dirty in a community that does music differently or might be more charismatic than we like.
I once, decades ago, did a thought experiment that asked, “Who are you? Naked. Alone. In a cave. Without anyone to impress or put on a facade/mask for. Who are you in that moment?” Because that’s who we really are. The “Me” I can’t run away from but can only distract myself from encountering and keep people from seeing at all costs lest they shun me. But that “essential me” is who/what I have to deal with in order to make any real change in my life. And now I’m asking that of my Christian life. The two lives aren’t the same. Why not?
But beyond that, and more to the comment that sent me down this rabbit hole, is your faith such that naked, alone, in a cave, in a foreign land where you are the only Christ follower, are you able to still function as a Believer? Does your faith still hold?
In preparing for our trip to India, somewhere in the next five years…thanks COVID…, I started looking up information about the Apostle Thomas. I think I’ve mentioned before that Thomas is my absolute favorite because he questions even the work of God and I can relate. The resurrection was just too good to be true and he didn’t want to be deceived so much that he refused to believe those who had become the closest to him. He wanted TRUTH above all things.
Recently I got to the episode in “The Chosen” where Thomas is introduced and when Jesus says, to him “I don’t rebuke you. It is good to ask questions.” I lost it. My daughter literally said, “Could you PLEASE not die during every dang episode?!” It’s just too beautiful a series that speaks to my heart so, dear child, the answer is NO. It will happen every dang time.
Some of the things I noted as I watched that scene: 1) how the actor’s very face is a question mark. So perfect. 2) I reveled in the notion that I was “seeing” Thomas and he has no idea what is coming.
He has no idea that he will be maligned by generations of future believers for being a “doubter”…but he also has no idea at that point in the story that he is going to go the farthest out of any of them. The apostles, even Paul, stick to the general Mediterranean area. The known world.
But Thomas…he will cross Asia and find his final resting place in a foreign country on the edge of the Pacific Ocean in Mylapore, India. He literally went to the part of the map that says “Here There Be Dragons”. He will live in a cave and walk daily to the beach 5 miles to pray at the edge of the water, eat with any, learn the language from any, and tell the story of Jesus to anyone who responds to his greeting of “hello” or “good morning”. The customs will be different, the language, the music. They will take his verbal Gospel without the background of the Torah familiar to us all and hold it close to their hearts.
When the English missionaries got to that part of India they were shocked to find that there were people who were Christians already there, buildings with odd little crosses. The encountered a people who knew Jesus and told them of the crazy man of a different faith their fathers had never heard of before who began changing lives and doing miracles in the name of the son of God. Of course, the English missionaries taught them the “right” way to do Christianity and the “right” songs to sing. They stamped out the different expressions of faith that had organically risen from the seeds Thomas planted and God watered.
But to the larger point, Thomas was far from home with none of the “supports” to lean on. He was alone, in a cave, just him and Jesus. And his faith and relationship stood. Why? Because it was based on what truly makes Christianity great. Not a music style, not a theological framework, not a method, not “approved” expressions. Simple faith and an actual relationship with the Divine King of All the Universe. These core things were his foundation.
When I look back on church history and Christian expressions of faith I see a pendulum swing between Orthodoxy and Mysticism. The periods of mysticism taking the fore are short but beautiful and color the Orthodoxy that comes quickly after it with indelible ink. We have to be careful to remember that Conservative Orthodoxy and Liberal Mysticism are not enemies. They are not the basis of our faith. They are not what makes Christianity great. It is just as easy to make an idol out of either and miss where our allegiance truly must lie.
When I look to the future given the states of unrest in our country and the encroaching darkness and madness, I am confused but not gloomy. The foundations of many people’s faith is about to be shaken. The chaff is about to be thrown into the fire, I’m convinced. The earthquake will test whether we have build on the Rock or sand or even quicksand. The winds will kick up and the oceans will swell and if our faith is in our traditions, our preferred music style, our biblical translation of choice, our petty denominational differences, our “just how things are done and have always been done” (which never takes into account the full 2000 year history of the church) then we will be left with nothing but ashes and splintered wood. Sometimes we quite happily substitute our relationship with Jesus for a relationship with the surroundings of Jesus. There are those who would rather just touch His garment rather than be touched by Him. There were many who worshiped the Temple rather than the God who put His name within it.
If you managed to scroll all the way down here I want to thank you for reading. More than seeing how many people read what I’ve written I love having people engage. As trite as it has come to be considered: If you like what you read please feel free to like, comment, share, and subscribe. Even if you don’t…thanks for reading. You’re still awesome.
Finding Narnia 
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