My New Year's Resolution Considering the War on Christianity is Self-Inflicted

My New Year's Resolution Considering 
the War on Christianity is Self-Inflicted

Rev. Douglas Olds

December 31, 2013

We've just gone through the annual season where certain factions allege a "war on Christmas"-- a proxy skirmish in the so-called larger "war on Christianity."  Now, I don't believe such is the case that a battle exists between me and mine and some mass of outsiders and aliens in this most Christianity-besotted of nations.  I believe instead that this struggle for acceptance that Christians undergo is part and parcel of our claiming a privileged relationship with the One God.  Such an outrageous claim--not meaning untruthful--cannot be passed by easily by the said One God.  If one claims a special, communicative relationship with the Creator of the Universe, it comes at a cost. It cannot be earned cheaply.  Divine grace and salvation is free, but divine friendship and divine closeness in order to speak for the deity is hard won and constantly being re-negotiated on the Sovereign's terms.  The Christian Spiritual Life is characterized by struggle, where the ultimately holy and good infinitude is presumed spoken for the by the limited and sinful finite. When we claim to speak for God, absolute sincerity and accuracy is necessary, and any hypocrisy or error is met with stern correction by our God. God's correction may come from the scoffing and reproofs of outsiders: it is our own Christian presumption and hypocrisies that are in the dock, not God. Preachers have long noted the risks of spiritual injury from lack of diligence to the witnesses of the Holy Spirit operating Biblically and in history.

Therefore, one of the reasons I try to read from the Psalms daily is not to succumb to the propaganda from many of the same culture warriors that the Christian spiritual life is consistently joyful, peaceful, or without struggles. Life in Christ is for me, as for the Psalmist, a struggle for understanding and holy action leavened by consolation, wisdom, and joy. There's no pretending otherwise.

Representative of this scrutiny and relationship struggle is expressed in Psalm 139 (NIV):

      1 You have searched me, LORD, 

         and you know me. 

      2 You know when I sit and when I rise; 

         you perceive my thoughts from afar. 

      3 You discern my going out and my lying down; 

         you are familiar with all my ways. 

      4 Before a word is on my tongue 

         you, LORD, know it completely. 

      5 You hem me in behind and before, 

         and you lay your hand upon me. 

      6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, 

         too lofty for me to attain. 

      7 Where can I go from your Spirit? 

         Where can I flee from your presence? 

      8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; 

         if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 

      9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, 

         if I settle on the far side of the sea, 

      10 even there your hand will guide me, 

         your right hand will hold me fast. 

      11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me 

         and the light become night around me,” 

      12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; 

         the night will shine like the day, 

         for darkness is as light to you. 

The social life of those connected to the God of Abraham is also often absurd.  I am not alone in tending to speak loudly of politics and religion, two taboos in "polite" company. Thus either we tend to be outliers in neighborhood networks, or outcasts.  We likewise tend to be idealists in some historical frame, noting that reality can't possibly be what a good God intends. Thus we tend to be contrarian, suspicious of at least some dominant cultural narratives.  Finally, we can be intellectually cruel when kindness is called for, for example when speaking of rank unknowables--life after death and the inner spiritual life and motivation of others.  

Accordingly, since the War on Christianity is self-inflicted--because it is our outrageous claim to understand and transmit God's will accompanied by God's stern acceptance and correction--my resolution for 2014 is to jettison the certainties while embracing my absurdity with the conviction of kindness. I will fail at times, but I hope all of you will be as ultimately forgiving as the One who in Jesus makes all things new (Rev. 21.5).  May our New Year be the time where the One in our lives and our world triumphs more and more.