Spirituality for Social Engagement

The opening of an address I gave recently to the Church of the Nazarene Eurasia Region’s international conference ‘Walk the Talk’ on conflict resolution.

THE TWO WAYS
One of the earliest Christian documents the Didache, begins with the following words:

“There are two ways, one of life and one of death, and there is a great difference between the two ways”

In this the writer is reflecting the ideas of the writer of Psalm 1 who remarks on the two ways, the way that leads to rootedness, and fruitfulness and health, and the one that leads inevitably to being directionless and self-destructive.

The way that leads to life, and the way that leads to death. Progress on either way is comprised of a whole series of life choices and habits which are either life enhancing or death inducing. And these choices, made over time result in a life and a character.

Those of us who engage in peacemaking and reconciliation, who bring a passion for social justice to bear on our life and work are surprisingly prone to walking the way that leads to death.

Let me explain.

Those of us who are part of the wider evangelical tradition have a rich heritage, much of it stemming from the work and life and ministry of the Wesley’s. They sought to rescue a moribund Church of England from the deathly hand of tradition and hierarchy, and part of their strategy in so doing was to re-introduce the principle of METHOD to the spiritual life. Growth in holiness was not simply a matter of the work of the spirit but it required the active participation of the individual. Thus there developed careful patterns of living and new habits which transformed the experience of faith.

It produced communities of vigorous, enterprising believers with the energy and conviction to change the world; leading missions, building hospitals and hostels, feeding the poor, repealing slavery, etc. etc.

Over time, the activism which drove these Christians affected every area of life and thinking. In very real and obvious ways they were spiritually formed by their practice, and not always in positive ways. As the inheritors of the legacy today, we carry the family resemblances. The likenesses have shaped our church communities and ministries. Of all the Christian traditions the evangelical one in all its forms is arguably the busiest. We have shaped our congregations around this activism and when we have felt our church communities were not up to the mark we have formed a plethora of para-church agencies to do the work of changing the world.

Even our spirituality has become activist in nature. This is exampled in our prayer lives. It appears to me, at least here in Ireland, that the bulk of our experience of prayer is intercessory in form—recruiting God to our side in our endeavours to get things done. We talk all the time of bible STUDY and we marshall around us a host of books and supports to help us wrestle meaning from the text. Even fasting we view as a method of proving to God how serious we are about an issue, rather than the traditional view of mortifying the flesh. We are activist to our core but so often we lack the spiritual resources to sustain this life and work into the long term, and the roadsides of faith are littered with former partners in the work who have fallen, sometimes fallen away from faith entirely.

Pastor and Theologian David Fitch said recently about the American church, in an address to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, that,

“..we have organized church life around the busy lives of Americans living the dreams of capitalism and democracy that leave little time for mission, community and worship. I fear the “church” for evangelicals has, in George Hunsberger’s words, become “the distributor of religious goods and services.” As a result, I fear we evangelicals are becoming less and less noticeable and barely distinguishable as a people from the rest of our society who live as if God does not exist.”

This relentless, evangelical drive to transform the world is our great contribution to the Christian church, but it is at one and the same time, corrosive of health and relationships, and often destructive of faith.

It is killing us and our tradition.

This morning I offer less a critique or analysis and more of a pastoral call. If this disappoints you, then I apologise and ask your indulgence. I am concerned to lay the immensity of the task of acting justly and loving mercy in the world, alongside the engagement in a style of life which is sustainable into the long term. It is, perhaps, a reminder to us to pay more attention to what we are becoming than what we are achieving. To chose, with deliberate intention, the way that leads to life, rather than to stumble into the way of death. To chose before God to be in this task of peacemaking and reconciliation for the long haul, rather than for the temporary glory of shining brightly but briefly before being forgotten. To live lives in such a way that when we leave the stage we are known more for what we became in the course of our life, our character, than what we have achieved.