Wisdom has to work in secret, whispering her words, moving like a spy through the humble places of the world, while the courts and palaces are occupied by her enemies…
– The Amber Spyglass, Philip Pullman
Wouldn’t we all go to a church that believes in ordinary fools and ragamuffins and whose gospel is actually good news? I’ve grown to admire the humour of a God who uses foolish things to shame the wisdom of this world, and weaklings to remind the strong that they may not be as might as they think they are (1 Cor. 1:27). And in an era of smart bombs, maybe the world needs more fools. There have always been ‘fools’ in imperials courts, but it’s an interesting age when folks trust the court jesters more than the court itself.
– The Irresistible Revolution, Shane Clairborne
Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.”
– Luke 17:20-21
The theme of the student week I attended on Iona was “Freedom”, and the phrase “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”, with questions such as “Whose truth? Yours or mine?” posed. (The answer as I see it being “Neither – it’s God’s truth that liberates”).
In one of the sessions, we discussed what “freedom” actually means. Something that came up was the idea of giving up your freedom for the sake of a cause. It would be right, for example, to go to prison because you were campaigning against injustice, for example, or if you were imprisoned for your faith.
But is that all that freedom is about – not being physically restricted? That’s an external freedom, but in the course of the discussion my group distinguished that from another type of freedom. If we understand freedom as being the ability to choose what is right and good, then it is not going to prison for your beliefs that takes away your freedom, but being intimidated by the fear of prison so that you do not do what is right is the real robbing of freedom. In short, there is an inner freedom that no-one can force from you unwillingly, even if you are imprisoned or tortured of killed.
Which brings me to a wonderful insight by Dan Edelen over at Cerulean Sanctum: there are “The Two Christianities“, the Externally-Motivated and Internally-Motivated. Here are a couple of quotes:
Externally-Motivated (EM) Christianity sees the Kingdom of God existing in systems and institutions “erected by God” or by Christians faithful to God. The essence of what it means to be a Christian dwells in hallowed monolithic icons, largely existing outside the believer. We see the expression of EM Christianity whenever we encounter Christian groups and individuals seeking to preserve or defend some aspect of the truth they see encapsulated in a system, institution, or organization…
Internally-Motivated Christianity, in sharp contrast, invests little time and energy in externalities. Its hope is not in systems and institutions because it understands that those succumb to entropic forces. To the IM Christian, the Kingdom of God cannot rest on externalities prone to decay… the Kingdom of God cannot be destroyed from without because the Kingdom of God is within us. When attacked, IM Christianity responds with grace and love. It continues to offer Christ to all, even to those who oppose it.
Check out the full post on his blog. It really gives shape to some of the things I’ve been thinking about recently. The flavour of the student week on Iona was rather more ecumenical and liberal than, say, Christian Union events, with Jo Merrygold from the Student Christian Movement (SCM) doing some of the sessions, for example.
(A quick side note: SCM is the liberal counterpart to the theologically conservative UCCF, which is the national fellowship of Christian Unions. Basically, UCCF split off from SCM around 100 years ago over the issue of penal substitutionary atonement – that Jesus died in our place to take the punishment we deserve – not being held as central to the Christian faith by SCM. The same issue has just led to Word Alive, the student conference which UCCF has a big part in organising, parting company with Spring Harvest, who have declined to disassociate themselves with Steve Chalke, who controversially attacked that particular doctrine. It’s interesting to see the same issues coming up, and I may well comment on them soon.)
Anyway, much of the focus on the student week was on things like social action, responding to consumerism, how we can work for a fairer world and so on. All of which is important and I agree with, and was very challenged by. But what I found significant was what wasn’t said. There was very little rooting of this in our personal relationship with God, of being reconciled to him and transformed by him, and that then flowing out from our changed hearts into changed lives, and so towards a changed world.
But even though evangelicals can often be much better at emphasising that we relate to God personally, evangelicals can often just be motivated by a different set of external agendas. Rather than, say, fair trade, community action and social justice, you get a set of concerns like preventing the erosion of religious freedom, opposition to gay clergy, protecting the institution of the family.
Dan doesn’t say, and I’m not saying, that working out our faith practically and externally is wrong. But that shouldn’t be our motivation, our starting point. It begins with lives indwelt with the Holy Spirit, being changed from our hearts outwards. Our concern should not firstly be the politics of church or state or other institutions, but living lives of love in the grace of God. That should then be worked out holistically in every aspect of our living, but the kingdom of God begins by individuals and communities seeking to live life under him, being transformed by love, of change coming from the bottom up, rather than the kingdom being a political agenda imposed from the top down.
This is one of the lessons I’ve begun to learn through my involvement in CU, and my sometimes frustration at not seeing it be as on fire as I’d like, or improving as quickly as I’d like. Not that I mean to be down on CU. There’s loads that’s great about it, and loads of people passionate about God and his Gospel. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its weaknesses or that we shouldn’t long for it to serve God more and better. I’ve had to learn to content myself not with trying to change things by the exercise of power, but in being involved with people, loving them, and seeking to build others up, and to see that this is the way to real change, not pushing of a political agenda of what I think CU should be about.
The natural habitat of this internally-motivated Christianity is in the fringes, on the margins, outside the seats of power and political influence. Let’s pray that our faith will be rooted in a revolution of love in our hearts.