Day 12

I have a complaint. It seems to me that Doxology has focused for some time on the same thing that a lot of the emergent churches focus on, which is a good thing: the Christian life is about more than just waiting until we die to go to Heaven or Hell, but that Heaven (and Hell) exist right here, right now, and that we are searching for "the life of the ages", a phrase used by my father frequently over the past few years. As the Doxology website puts it: "Faith is a journey, not a guilt trip." This is supposed to be a shift in the focus of the church as important as the Reformation.

It is incredibly freeing idea: that we should not fear death, nor should we fear to truly live! It is a powerful idea that faiths which work should create people who love to be a live, who live good lives! We do not then judge people either by whether or not they believe the same thing as us or whether they appear to do the good deeds that will get them to heaven (and good deeds is the same thing as believing what we believe), but simply by whether the faith they profess is evident in their lives: whether they are full of joy. Of course, as the slogan goes, it is a journey, so the fact that someone does not seem to show the faith that they profess does not mean that the faith is bad, just that THEIR faith is immature.

All of this is good, and I cannot complain about such a wonderful hope for the life of the ages. However, I'm afraid that Doxology (at least, for I cannot speak directly about any other churches) runs the risk of staying too long in the phase of rejoicing in our newfound freedom! Because there is one single correction that I would give to the sentence: "We are each meant to live heaven on earth, the life of the ages." And that correction is this: "We are all meant to live heaven on earth, the life of the ages."

All of us. Together. And while the joy should be evident in our individual lives, it is impossible to live our own lives to the fullest if a part of our body is unable to live its life to the fullest. And by our body, I mean our individual communities (in my case, Doxology) our regional communities (Austin) our faith community (the body of all Christians) and - significantly - our WHOLE community (the entire group of humans). To quote Aerosmith, "None of us are free, if one of us is chained."

Also, as an aside, we cannot live life to its fullest if we are irresponsible with the gifts (like the environment we call home) that have been loaned to us.

So the error I am afraid of is that we might become so focused on living our lives well that we become hedonistic, abandoning all for the sake of pleasure. That is a very American religion, and doesn't ever even bring real happiness.

The fact is that I believe we are called to love to a degree that I am not currently living my life, and I'm afraid the Church as a whole is not currently living. I was thinking about my name today, Seth, which means "annointed", and amusing myself as I realized that Messiah was the title given to the early kings of Israel who were annointed by the people to lead and save Israel, because Messiah also means "The Annointed One." The title that was given to King David was later given to Jesus, who was to save and lead Israel again. The word "Christ" is a Greek translation of "Messiah", also meaning "The Annointed One". I laughed at the thought that, in another language, I am Christ. And yet, at the same time, it is not a bad parallel! "Christian" means "little Christ", I'm told, and so it seems like we are all annointed by God to be the saviours of the world!

I'm not saying anything new, but I'm saying something I haven't heard in a while.

All in all, I have come to realize what my parents have been telling me for years: that my name wasn't given to me for no reason. I am annointed by God to accomplish something awesome, and all I have to do is be ready and let God do it!

I don't know what awesome thing God has in mind for me, and I hardly want to spend too much time imagining it. Maybe I will simply help someone through a tough time, and they will be the miracle our broken world so desperately needs. Or maybe I love so that in a few years, I can jump in front of a moving car and save the boy who will bring comfort to the girl who will grow up to save a people.

I keep thinking about "Lady in the Water", in which an epic struggle is raised to allow one girl to touch a man so he can write a book that an unborn boy - elsewhere in the world - will read and grow up to change the world. And even though the plot seems so distant from that transformative effect, there is no doubt that everyone in the movie was called to that moment, placed at that place, at that time, and all of them are heroes. I think of this and know that in God's master plan, I certainly have an epic part to play.

And lest I set my sights too low, it is entirely possible that at some point down the line, it is I who will stand up to evil in the world and say, "Enough!" and those who yearn for good will hear me, and come together, laying aside our petty doctrinal and political squabbles.

This kind of language reminds me of "The Lord of the Rings", which is entirely appropriate. These too are dark times, and for death and destruction to stop, everyone who truly values goodness - be they conservative or liberal or quaker or agnostic or Muslim or currently apathetic and asleep - needs to fight together, with humility and passion. I do not know if I am called to play Frodo or Samwise, Aragorn or Merry, or just a boy in a line, afraid, white knuckles gripping a shaking blade, comforted to stand beside giants and heroes of faith.

I do know I am called to a struggle, and in that fight, when I am where I am supposed to be, I will find joy and life, the life of the ages that some call Heaven.