HABIT OR HOBBY?

Bishop N. T. Wright, former Bishop of York, makes the statement near the conclusion of his book After You Believe that church going used to be a habit of the many but is now a hobby of the few. After reading the statistics of church going in the United Kingdom where about 5% attend church on any given Sunday, I can agree with his observation and certainly understand his concern being a “professional religious” myself.

Church going, however, has never been the habit of the majority in this country, at least for the last fifty or more years, certainly in the 56+ years of my ministry. And while we in this country attend church more than those who live in Europe, attendance is far from what it used to be even on the traditional two high holy days, Christmas and Easter. We simply do not attend worship services as much as we used to. 

Diana Butler Bass, a sociologist of religion, entitles one of her books Christianity after Religion: The End of the Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening. In a way it is a follow-up to Wright’s observation about what has happened to the practice of our Christian faith, one aspect of it being that most Christians attended church on a regular basis certainly out of habit, most, hopefully, because doing so was very meaningful for their very lives.

Now there are those who would applaud the fact that church going is no longer a habit because they would argue that church going should come from the head and the heart. That would be true. However, we all have habits, good and bad. The good habits, like our daily regimens, are very helpful in keeping us healthful and sane. The bad habits, which we need to eliminate, do the very opposite, which is why we need to rid ourselves of them. As we have all learned, getting rid of bad habits is often more difficult than learning good ones.

Be that as it may, back to Wright’s observation, I suspect he was and is a little piqued because what is very important to him both as a bishop and as a Christian he finds so unimportant to the people he is called to serve. I get that way sometime when attendance is down especially when the weather is good or bad or for whatever reason church goers go somewhere else on Sunday morning, if the only place they go is to the breakfast table.

What Bass has learned from her sociological observations is that the situation is not as bad as Wright thinks it to be. Yes, church attendance is down and people do not come as regularly as they once did. Where once, certainly when I was a youngster, Sunday morning meant going to church whether you felt like it or not. It was an obligation become habit. Whether I got something out of the worship was not the issue. What was was that I was there, period.

Church going on a regular basis needs to be a habit, a habit of the heart certainly. Where else can we go to find a community of love and support, an opportunity to think about and pray for those we care about and who care about us and an opportunity to collectively and individually give thanks to God for blessing received, both deserved and undeserved?

IT HAS TO BE REAL

The old adage informs us that a picture is worth a thousand words. Whether or not anyone ever calculated how many words it would take to describe what is in a picture is probably beside the point. All any one of us has to do to prove the point is to hold a picture in hand and try to describe exactly what ones sees. Whether that description takes ten words or a thousand words, the point is made.

A picture, of course, is not real. It is only a depiction of something that is real. There is a difference between seeing a photograph of a sunset than seeing the sunset itself. And while one may use the same words to describe both the picture and the reality, there is still a real difference. For something to be real, it has to be real. It cannot be a description or a picture of something that is real.

This is especially true when it comes to our faith. We can expend thousands of words explaining what it means to be a Christian. I have quite a few books on my shelves that do just that. Yet none of those books do anything but explain what it means to follow Jesus even if they are loaded with examples of Christianity in practice. While those books give a real explanation of faith in practice, nothing is being practiced.

For our faith to be real, it has to be real. We can talk a good faith. We can preach a good faith. We can give examples, multitudes of them, about how Christians the world over have put their faith into practice. All that is well and good. We all need to understand and even visualize what it means to live a faith-filled life, a life that Jesus commands us to live and one he showed us how to live by his own life.

But no example and no amount of words replaces a real lived faith. Nothing. A real live faith has to be truly alive, a living, breathing life. Our faith demands that we feed the hungry and clothe the naked and visit the sick. We know that. Our faith comes alive, however, only when we actually feed hungry people and clothe those who are without and personally visit those who are alone.

It is wonderful and good and even necessary to have a working knowledge and understanding of what it means to follow Jesus. We need to have a clear picture in our mind, if you will, what all that means and entails. Those words and pictures, while necessary and essential, go only so far; but, in the end, they are inadequate because they do not go far enough. They need to become real, really lived out in our daily lives.

We know all that, certainly. Yet, it seems, we are often convinced that we are good Christian’s, devoted followers of Jesus, simply because we can paint a good picture of what it means to be such. We can explain what it really means to be a Christian without really being one, without actually living as one.

That is not to say that we do not live such a life. It is to say that all too often it is all too easy to talk a good Christianity without actually having to live out a good Christian way of life. Our faith to be real, has to be real and not simply a picture of the real.

TAKE TIME TO RESPOND

We live in a world, or at least in a country, where consumption seems to be the calling card. We eat more than we should, certainly eat more of the wrong foods and not enough of the right ones. We consume more of the world’s natural and dwindling resources than we have a right to while, at the same time, making it more difficult for the rest of the world to obtain its fair share.

We seem to be so preoccupied with getting, obtaining more and more. Perhaps the word “seem” is incorrect. Perhaps the truth is that we are preoccupied. We tend to think, or seem to be convinced of the truth that more is better rather than realizing that less is more. Who hasn’t eaten so much at a wonderfully delicious and even nutritious meal that the stuffed stomach mitigated against our being able to really enjoy the meal. Too many of our children have more toys than they can possibly enjoy any one of them.

All that is bad enough; and even though it is a guilt trip, this reminder that we spend too much time, energy and money in obtaining and consuming that which we deem will make us happy or happier, there is another point to all this. It is an important point and one that we all too easily overlook, take for granted or, even worse, do not recognize at all as being something of which we should be aware.

The point is quite simple: when we allow ourselves to be preoccupied, even at times consumed, with getting – getting food, getting possessions, getting money, getting – we become unable to respond to what God gives to us, freely gives to us at no cost and asks nothing in return other that we appreciate what we have been given and to not misuse that gift in any way.

One of the reasons why more is less is that when we have little, we always appreciate what we have. The more we possess the less we seem to appreciate and enjoy those possessions. We sometimes have so many possessions that we have to store them in the attic, the cellar, the garage or even rent one of those storage facilities somewhere across town almost to the point where we even forget what we have and certainly have no way of enjoying them.

Then, too, one of the reasons why we seem unable to respond to what God gives us is that we either have taken for granted what those gifts are or we can’t grab hold of them and store them away for future enjoyment. They are meant to be enjoyed all the time but can only be enjoyed when they are recognized for what they are: God’s free gifts to us. Once recognized, then and only then can we respond appropriately.

What are those free God-given gifts? They are too numerous to mention, but consider some: life itself, each day, the sunshine, nature in all its glory, the fruits of the earth, God’s total love for us and the ability to love God and others and be loved in return, God’s forgiveness and the ability to forgive and be forgiven. Each of us can add to that list of the gifts God gives to each freely, unasked, with the only request that our response is to recognize these gifts, to be thankful and never, ever take them for granted.

GOING ON A FAITH DIET

I have been on a diet all my life. But, then, we all have whether we realize it or not, which we probably do not. The dictionary’s first definition of diet is “one’s usual food and drink.” Our diet is what and how we usually eat every day of our lives. If you are like me, however, because my “usual food and drink” is not usually healthy, sooner or later I have to go on the second definition of diet, namely, “a regulated selection of foods prescribed for medical reasons,” those reasons being that I am unhealthily too fat.

The Lenten Season, which we are now in the midst of, has often been used by many of us who find ourselves overweight as an occasion, even an excuse, to go on a diet. Thus, whether with or without medical supervision, we go on a diet. We give up certain foods, like desserts – always desserts – and other too-fattening goodies in hopes that we will lose enough weight so that at the end of Lent we can go back to our normal diet – which will mean that come next Lent we will have to do it all over again.

Fasting from (that is, giving up) desserts for Lent can be a spiritual, faith exercise, if done as a means of spiritual and physical discipline rather than as an excuse or reason for going on a much-needed diet to lose weight. To call giving up desserts for Lent a spiritual discipline when it is really a medical demand is a misnomer. And it is wrong. And I am just as guilty as others in misnaming what I am doing when I decline that piece of apple pie with ice cream my someone sets before me by claiming that I am giving up desserts for Lent rather than being honest and telling that person I am too fat and am on a diet, but thank you anyway.

That said, all of us, skinny and fat, in shape or out of shape, can go on a diet during Lent that is a faith diet and that will be beneficial even if it does entail giving up desserts completely or, on the other hand, if we eat desserts in moderation – as we should with all food groups. In fact, a faith diet should be a way of life, in the season of Lent and out of the season of Lent and throughout the whole year, throughout or whole life.

To paraphrase the definition of diet, a faith diet simply means the way we usually live our lives and not something that we do on occasion because our lives, spiritual lives here, are out of shape. If we kept our faith lives in shape all year around, there would be no need to spend a certain period of time, like Lent, to get them back in shape, to get back on a regimented and disciplined faith diet.       

But we don’t, most of us; and so we, hopefully, use Lent to get our life of faith back on track. We try to get back to living a faith diet during Lent and hope that we will remain on it once Lent is over and the rest of our life goes on. In what does a faith diet consist? Well, the admonition on Ash Wednesday says that “self-examination and repentance…prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and…reading and meditating on God’s holy Word” are all part of that faith diet.

That diet is not just for Lent, of course. It is to be part of our daily lives during Lent and all year long, all life long, not to lose weight but to become strong(er) in our faith.

PAIN AND SUFFERING

As lent begins, our hearts and minds traditionally, perhaps even naturally turn to thoughts of pain and suffering, although not always in those exact terms. Lent is a time when we are called to be even more penitent than we are called to be throughout the rest of the year. Penance, penitence, you see, is a daily obligation of every Christian. Lent is the time when we are asked to be a little more focused on the subject.

The truth, sadly, is that for most of us penance is mostly an afterthought, if we even think of it at all. Thus Lent becomes (has become) a time when we are least are reminded that we think should about such practices as self-denial or doing for others what we might not normally do. We even think about doing for ourselves – and then even do. We give up some of life’s little pleasures for Lent, engage in some chosen pain and suffering or other form of penance and hope that in the process we might become steeled when pain and suffering come our way on their own.

Perhaps if we perform some form of penance throughout the year, we might not have to do during Lent – or at least make such a big deal out of it as we often do. Perhaps. Yet the fact is that pain and suffering are part of life. There are no exceptions and no one is immune. It goes with the territory, as they say. There is no escape.

How we deal with such pain and suffering is the issue. Being penitent as a way of life, doing penance of some sort on a daily basis, helps us deal with a sudden and unexpected sorrow, or at least deal with it better than we would had we always avoided pain whenever possible. That is not to say that we become masochists. It is to say that self-imposed pain, penance, is good for the soul and is a preparation to deal with a pain and sorrow that we would choose to avoid if we could but cannot.

We are never ready, of course, when such sorrows arrive. Never. No matter how strong we are, no matter how penitential our lives, when deep pain and sorrow come into our lives, we hurt and we hurt deeply. And again, no one is exempt from such pain and sorrow. Everyone, every human being experiences suffering and sorrow that is not chosen but comes from without.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once observed that “if we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.” We are all brothers and sisters when it comes to sorrow and suffering.

What we have learned, as Danish writer Isak Dinesen notes, is that “all sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story or tell a story about them.” One of the great ways to deal with the death of a loved one is for family and friends to tell stories about them. Doing so eases the pain, which is all we can hope for at such times.

But it is those daily, and not just Lenten, acts of penance that help us through those times of pain and suffering that come unawares and unwanted. If such are not part of our daily lives, Lent is certainly a good time to begin to make them so.

THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS

The message and teaching of the cross is anything but conventional wisdom. Those who die to self are the ones who truly live? Those whom the world deems as losers will be the real winners? Who would believe such foolishness? Jesus was killed because he would not conform to the world’s standards. Wasn’t that abundantly clear to all? Hasn’t it been clearly to all?

Well, no, it was not and has not been.  But, then, the standards of the world are not our standards. If and when they do become our standards, then we will no longer accept the teaching of Jesus. For the world relies on human wisdom to set its standards, its operating procedures, even if it does not always follow those procedures. In fact, the world is in the mess it now is because we, as a world, have not even obeyed conventional wisdom. We waste and squander the world’s limited resources and make the same mistakes over and over again century after century. To be wise means that we learn from the past and learn from our mistakes, which we most assuredly have not.

Perhaps what the world needs is a real dose of unconventional wisdom, which, of course, is what the teaching and life and example of Jesus are all about. Even more, the world needs to take that dose of medicine if it wants to be healed and then to become the world God created it to be and to become. But that is a hard sell, a very. very hard sell because that medicine does not taste well and certainly goes down even worse, given conventional wisdom.

We know, as Isaiah reminds us, that God’s ways are not our ways nor are our thoughts God’s thoughts, which is why we have made such a mess of the world God gave to us and continues to give to us. Our thoughts center on ourselves, on “what’s in it for me?” rather than “what’s best for everyone even if it does not seem to be best for me?” It would be dishonest to suggest that putting God and others first is easy, that it does not come without a struggle. It does.

We truly have to fight with ourselves to do what we know will be difficult, to make the sacrifices that will sometimes be necessary so that everyone will benefit in the long run and not just ourselves. Conventional wisdom, unfortunately, and as history has proven over and over again, only seems to look at the short run, the quick fix. And where has that got us?

Jesus’ death on the cross was no quick fix. It was a reminder that sometimes great sacrifices have to be made for the common good, the good of all, and that we, as Christians, are often called upon to make such sacrifices. We may never have to make the ultimate sacrifice, but we will have to make smaller ones, even on a daily basis. Conventional wisdom may disagree but not Christian wisdom.

That wisdom helps us to not only know what to do but, but just as importantly, knows that God will give us whatever grace and strength we need to do it even if it may be costly and painful, which, as the cross reminds us, often will.

FAITH WITOUT FEAR

In his letter to the Philippians Paul encourages them to always “rejoice in the Lord (3:1) even when their faith is being tested. That, perhaps, was easy for him to write because he was a man with a very, very strong faith, even writing these words from prison. Speaking from experience, I have to admit that my faith is not so strong that I can – and do – always rejoice in the Lord.

I don’t think I am alone. No matter how strong, no matter how secure we feel we are in what we believe, we are never strong enough or secure enough. As Paul reminded the Philippians and as he reminds us, there will always be those who would test our faith. There will always be those who deliberately do or say things that tempt us to question not only what we believe but why believe in the first place. And they succeed.

And that’s okay. As someone once said long ago, the unexamined faith is not a faith worth living. In fact, when it comes to our faith, it is not those who would test our faith who are the enemy. They may not have our good in mind, but at least they are doing us a favor. They are forcing is to take a close look at the operating principle of our life. Rather, we may be our own worst enemy when or if we do not intentionally examine our faith on a regular basis.

When we do so, we really have nothing to fear. Again, we may think we have to be afraid of those who question our beliefs. While it is true that we will never fully understand God, or God’s Son; while it is true that examining our faith always leaves us sometimes with more questions than answers; while we never like to live not knowing, what we do know is that God’s Spirit is always with us to help us. The Spirit enables us to understand all that we need to understand and give us the grace to live out our faith even as we do not fully understand.

That is why we can always rejoice, as Paul encourages us – even after we have been called to task, even after our faith has been tested, even if we have failed the testing for the moment. For no matter what the obstacles to our faith, no matter what the temptations, no matter what, we will never lose that faith because – and this is the real reason why we can always rejoice – faith is God’s gift to us. God who gives us this gift will never allow our faith to be so tested that we lose our faith.

We are reminded about how real those tests of faith can be. I suspect that every minute of Jesus’ life was a true test of his faith and not just in the Garden or on the cross. He knew what awaited him and he knew how much he would be tempted to simply walk away and be done with. As Paul says elsewhere, Jesus was tempted in every way as we are. The reason why Jesus’ faith did not fail is the same reason ours will not: God’s grace – a reason to rejoice and to rejoice always.

We need to thank God for giving us the gift to believe and for the grace and strength to live out our faith in the face of all adversity and temptation. No, that will talways, if ever, be easy. But with that same grace, we can.