Category: Jesus

Honest to God I

12/8/2010

I was reading John Robinson's Honest to God on the train to work today. I confess I'd never read it as a whole before - dipped into it yes - but not started at the beginning and carried on. It is interesting to see how much is still topical and how much seems dated.

Christianity is a faith founded upon Jesus of Nazareth understood as the Christ. Otherwise it is nothing. However, the Jesus of Honest to God is an unconvincing figure. He appears as an empty vessel, lacking personality or any humanity, into which 'Godness' is poured. It is a Christ as a cold, theological construct, manufactured to meet a doctrinal need. It is in fact less satisfactory than the 'Godhead veiled in flesh' of Wesley.

Of course, we all have to understand Christ and his significance using concepts with which we are familiar if we are to find meaning in his life. So Anglo-Saxons could portray him as a warrior, Victorians as a muscular Christian, Bishop Robinson as an idealised Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and some contemporary progressive theologians as a left wing Democrat and anti-Iraq war activist.

What matters is whether we are trying to understand Christ as he was and accepting where that leads us today, or whether we are reconstructing him, intentionally or not, to suit our own agenda.

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Everyday holiness

11/8/2010

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Jesus’ teaching is that holiness is not to be found apart from everyday life, not in retreat or separation from the world, but in our normal, day-to-day living alongside other people. He gives no instructions on how to live other than loving, forgiving and repenting. It is the simplest and clearest way there is, yet following it consistently, the most demanding. We are, however, not asked to succeed; we are asked to try.

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The Way that works

9/8/2010

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The line 'hell is other people' is about as unchristian, even anti-christian, a phrase as you can find.

In the teachings of Jesus how we relate to other people is an essential theme. The 'care of the self' figures little. It is the concern for others, loving your neighbour, that is central. It is true that Jesus does say we are to love our neigbour as ourself but this is to emphasise the depth of concern for others, and he does not expand on what loving ourselves might mean.

The reason for this is that the self is not important to Jesus's idea of salvation.

Yet, it is love of others, not as a charitable duty or for hope of reward in an afterlife, but regarding them as fellow children of God and hence as brothers and sisters, that is the way to overcome alienation and to live at peace.

The closer you can be to fulfiling this, the more content you will be. To some this seems to come naturally, others have to struggle. Some arrive at a similar attitude through following other religious or philosophical teachings. But it is the only way.

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Wayfarer spirituality

6/8/2010

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There is a distinctive, though not by any means exclusive spiritual outlook that is associated with the Free Christian position.

It is a spirituality that is rooted in the conviction that, as Teresa of Avila's wonderful words put it,
Christ has no body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which He looks compassion on this world
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

This focus on the humanity of Jesus of Nazareth and the implications of that for us, although it follows from the particular theological outlook of Free Christianity, is something shared by trinitarians, unitarians, agnostics and even atheists.

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Sydney Carter - Free Christian?

3/8/2010

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'Faith is more basic than language or theology. Faith is the response to something which is calling us from the timeless part of our reality. Faith may be encouraged by what has happened in the past, or what is thought to have happened in the past, but the only proof of it is in the future. Scriptures and creeds may come to seem incredible, but faith will still go dancing on. Even though (because it rejects a doctrine) it is now described as "doubt". This, I believe, is the kind of faith that Christ commended'.

‘I see Christ as the incarnation of the piper who is calling us. He dances that shape and pattern which is at the heart of our reality. By Christ I mean not only Jesus; in other times and places, other planets, there may be other Lords of the Dance. But Jesus is the one I know of first and best. I sing of the dancing pattern in the life and words of Jesus.

Whether Jesus ever leaped in Galilee to the rhythm of a pipe or drum I do not know. We are told that David danced (and as an act of worship too), so it is not impossible. The fact that many Christians have regarded dancing as a bit ungodly (in a church, at any rate) does not mean that Jesus did. The Shakers didn't’.

'Your holy hearsay is not evidence
Give me the good news in the present tense
So shut up the Bible and show me how
The Christ you talk about is living now'.

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What's here

A quick look at the 'blogosphere' shows that the nature of the medium means it is all too easy for a 'blog' to convey the impression that its compiler is, at best, self-indulgent and verbose, and at worst, a narcissistic bore. Religious blogs are by no means immune from this.

However, while I shall try to avoid sharing my each and every passing thought with you, there is a use for a space for shorter, more ephemeral pieces of writing, and on this website, that's here. These pieces are likely to be frequently revised, sometimes rewritten and occasionally removed.

ewayfarers@gmail.com

Honest to God I

Everyday holiness

The Way that works

Wayfarer spirituality

Sydney Carter - Free Christian?

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