FROM THE BOUNDARY
From the door behind the mind the SPIRIT WHO SPEAKS whispers through dreams and visions to old men and young that the time is NOW, that there’s no need for dread, for fear, that in “dreams begins responsibility”. Do you hear Him too? He speaks to all rebellious hearts like Jesus’ own, and knows for them He’s irresistible. He’s not for priests in chains set in cement – not even for bishops – not for wishful-thinkers, not for tepid, half-day, half-pay limping figments. He’s for Luther, for Pussy Riot, maybe even for you, for me.
So: let’s write our Theses. Let’s join Pussy Riot. Let’s dance in a church in the name of women’s rights and the virtues at the heart of every pure religion – the readiness to give ourselves away, to sacrifice ourselves, lustfully in the name of truth, justice and compassion. Let’s learn to scorn the comforts of institutionalised religion, the status quo, the masquerade which keeps you in your place with threats and promises, the power which leaves us chained too.
The reformation of Christianity: yes, but whose Christianity – the Global South, GAFCON, the Church of England, the US Episcopal, Canadian Anglican, and Scottish Episcopal Churches, the evangelical Southern Baptists who kiss Trump’s coat tails, the Inclusive Church, Pope Francis, the Quakers? They’re all different. Take your pick. But listen. “How many ears must we have before we hear people cry?” Hold on though. Do any of them actually define God outside of the power of love? And what of the Kingdom within and the whisperings of the SPIRIT WHO SPEAKS? Sure, listen to what these different God-clubs are saying – for we want to be listened to too. Maybe we’ll begin to understand that despite all their posturing, their mouthing off, even against those things we hold most dear, they’re all composed of unique personalities, ultimately forged as an image of God. Our struggles may also be theirs.
But when all else fails be prepared to be as Jesus was. Wasn’t Christianity spawned in rebellion and the call to repentance – a new way of looking at the world, a world of new Life and hope for all those needful ones, which actually means every one of us? It’s always been that way. Did the world stop turning in 36 AD? Must it always turn on the principle of sin rather than love? This Christianity of ours has always been an evolving story told through brave hearts like Jesus’ own. The light has ever shone in darkness.
In more modern times, think of theologians like Rudolf Bultmann busy demythologizing the Gospels, or Paul Tillich confronting God as the “ground of all being”, or Bishop John Robinson debunking the ‘old man in the sky’ and finding Him in all things, or Bishop David Jenkins flirting with trouble by suggesting that the word ‘virgin’ simply means ‘a young girl’, or Bishop John Holder relentlessly setting the abominable biblical texts on gayness to rights. Or, again, think of the visionaries who’ve pushed across the boundaries of religion. like Bede Griffiths and Tony de Mello. And then remember the fountain heads of the Church, like Pope John XXIII for giving us the Second Vatican Council, Pope John Paul I for that smile which moved this heart of mine, and Pope Francis for giving us himself. Think too of those who gave their lives in the name of love, like Archbishop Oscar Romero and Martin Luther King. Yes, think of gay priests like Henri Nouwen and Harry Williams who taught us not to be ashamed of our humanity. There’s a galaxy of great ones. The foundations have indeed been shaken, accompanied by the rumblings of the ‘ologies’ – creation theology, liberation theology, death of God theology.
How wonderful to have lived through some of it.
For myself, with Bishop Spong as mentor, I’ve begun to understand that though the traditional church may be dying, it’s also being born; that it belongs not to a privileged priestly caste stifling us with oppressive, out-of-context biblical texts, mouth-tapes of fundamentalist literalism fed by fear, greed and superstition, but to all humanity - and especially those who’ve been ‘called out’, of prejudice, from tribal identity, from gender and sexual orientation definitions of superiority. I’ve begun to understand that Jesus is not about saving people from their sins, but expanding our understanding of what it is to be human, that it’s not something to be ashamed of. Jesus lifts us beyond the survival mentality into a humanity which gives itself away in love.
Yes – we go to all the world beyond the boundaries of our fears, to the unclean, the unworthy in the world’s eyes. Teach them all that God is love, that that love embraces all that God has made, that love has no boundaries, that love rejects no one. Remember this. Jesus wasn’t murdered by anything other than law and order strapped to religion, by those who claim to know the mind of the Lord, those prepared to use force to make others conform. Yes, most certainly, beware those who can’t tell God’s will from their own and want to push that down our throats!
Go safely then – until the next time.
Premature death, from the boundary: “A man dies when he fails to stand up for that which is right… just…and true” (Martin Luther King).
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