A Ladder and a Jungle Gym

I was introduced to Christian spirituality as something like a ladder. You start off as a "baby Christian" (which is rather condescending to tell someone) and then you mature to bear fruit. As you "journey farther with Christ" you arrive at your destination (perfection, heaven, afterlife, etc). Even the classic "Pilgrim's Progress" is a story about spirituality as a ladder getting closer and closer to a goal. 

Eh. This is okay if you are into that sort of stuff. But it never really resonated with me. I am constantly finding that a ladder just is too limited in spirituality. I would much rather think of Christian spirituality more of a jungle gym. 

There are many different options on the jungle gym all of which require a different type of practice. Sure there is a ladder, but there is also a slide. You don't use the see-saw like you use the merry go round. You have to practice them all and each one may be fitting at one stage but not another stage. If you cannot reach the tall bars then you have to wait to grow until you can. Until then, there is the climbing wall. When you are too old for the tall slide then you can practice the swing. 

Christian Spirituality is a workout that requires more than just the ability to climb up. Not everyone is ready for the ladder and that is okay. You may never be ready for the zip line. You may get hurt while practicing. Your knees may get scuffed up. You may get tired, hot, and hungry. 

But I can tell you also there will come joy when you did not expect it. There is imagination and friendship and anticipation of what new equipment you may discover. 

Teaching Christian Spirituality as a ladder makes it one dimensional and boring. So if you are on a spiritual ladder, jump off and join me on the swings!

Middle Class Spirituality

Question: If you were asked to use one of these commonly used names for the social classes, which would you say you belong in? The upper class, upper-middle class, middle class, lower-middle class, or lower class?
Source: The University of Connecticut/Hartford Courant survey of 1,002 randomly selected adults nationwide, Jan. 22-Jan. 28, 2013.

Even those who are not actually in the middle class like to identify with the middle class. Sometimes you get qualifiers such as I am "upper-middle class" but it is all in relation to middle class. We demonize the highest 1% (and even more the .01%) of wealth holders and talk about how the lowest 1% are freeloading the system. We are frustrated when the economy does nothing for the middle class and if play a drinking game during a presidential debate only taking a sip when you heard any candidate say "middle class" then you would be passed out by the end of the first question. 

Jesus was not middle class, and yet we want to make him fit there. We pacify the hard messages of Jesus and down play his anti-empire and political positions. We give him good looks in movies and we ensure he looks well fed in art. He comes from a family that gave the sacrifice of the poor (pigeons) but we recreate the upper room feast like that of a Norman Rockwell painting. We are quick to "understand" his teachings and speak of them like he is directing them toward us in the middle class rather than to those on the margins. 

In fact Jesus was not the only spiritual leader that was from the margins. I don't know every story of every religious leader, but I am willing to bet that most religious leaders came from the margins and not the middle class of their time.

Christians give thanks to God for the incarnation of God in the life of Jesus. Perhaps it is worth further consideration that yes God was not born to a rich family, but also that God was not born to a middle class family.

Jesus is not middle class spirituality.

Rent, Stream, Experience - New Values and the Church (3 of 3)

You may want to catch up to speed by taking 3 minutes to read part two here. 

It seems silly to me that we have to have science to tell us that experiences bring greater satisfaction than material goods, but thanks science. It is part of the reason why people will go see Santa every year just for a photo. An annual picture with Santa is cute, but 6 decades of Santa pictures is a story.

And this is what makes experiences superior to objects. The story. A story we can tell and share. A story never gets rusty or fades. It is the story that is the result of the experience and while people are seeking experiences, we are all really seeking stories. 

This is where the Christian faith has much to offer with the value of experiences. Christianity at its best is a religion of experiences. Experience God in the birth of a child, experience the transcendent in the corporate singing of a song, experience the Spirit with inspiring preaching, experience the still small voice in prayer. Karl Rahner said, "The Christian of the future will be a mystic, or he will not exist at all." Mysticism is the part of Christianity that values the internal experience of God and it is a part of the faith that is being rediscovered (see St. Mark's in Seattle). 

Christianity is a faith tradition that is not only built on experience of God but also a tradition of story. This is why Christians tell the same stories every year. Much like you would do at your family or friend gatherings, telling stories of the past and using those stories to shape the present. The stories of Jesus shape our present. The stories of God shape our now.

I mentioned in the first post in this series that if Christianity can get our stuff together Christianity can help cultivate these values of rent, stream and experience. Or perhaps we might call them - Stewardship, Justice and Story.