Christianity is less a journey and more unrest

In college I had a notebook that I kept with questions and quotes. The blue ink contrasts with the yellowing paper and in college I had legible enough handwriting to make out the following question:

I am tired of the metaphor of a journey. Is there any other metaphor that can be used to describe the life of faith?

Even then I found the idea of Christianity as a journey to be somewhat accurate but also boring and overused. Clearly the metaphor works, but it also is limited. It suggests that we are always moving in our life of faith. I have not experienced. I have experienced long bouts of stagnation and even moving backwards. The journey metaphor not only suggests that forward or deeper is better, but also that the journey is a means to an end. It suggests the destination is more important or valuable than the journey itself. Who goes on a trip and talks about the journey unless the journey to get there was fraught with trouble, delays or mishaps.

We want to “arrive” and “get there”, and when there is a delay, it is something to bemoan. No one beholds a delay in a journey.

I just about gave up on the searching for an alternate metaphor when I came across a gem from Soren Kierkegaard who said:

The Celtic Christian tradition imagines the Holy Spirt like a wild goose. Talk about unrest!

“Christianity is the most intensive and strongest form of unrest thinkable. Christ’s coming is intended to disturb life. Where one want to become Christian, there will be unrest; and where one has become a Christian, there unrest follows.”

Christianity is unrest. That sounds more true to me than a journey.

Often times people turn to religion when they experience unrest. The idea is that religion will provide a sense of control or comfort. If I say the right prayers or go to worship then things will work out better for me. The reality is that in Christianity, unrest is a feature and not a bug. It is the unrest that follows Christian conversion that is key and different from other religions.

Other religions (and even shallow Christianity) suggests that the faithful will be able to remove unrest from their life. But authentic Christianity puts unrest at the center of the tradition. It is the unrest that drives us to reach out into the world to care for others. If we were content and “rested” we would not go out into the world and possibly upset our ease and comfort. Unrest comes with Christianity because Christianity forces us to confront the internal and external sin in our lives.

The unrest of Christianity is the itch. It is the very thing that pulls us to our knees in confession that we are not God and that we are in need. As the Amma Synkletike said, “Just as a vessel cannot be built without nails, so it is impossible to be saved without humble-mindedness.” The gift of unrest provides access to humility.

And so, if you are among the unrested of the world, give thanks for this gift from God. And if you are rested, then let us pray that God may give us the gift of unrest. As the desert story goes:

Abba Poemen told a story of Abba John the Short that he asked God for his passions [struggles] to be removed from him. God granted this prayer and Abba John became one without a care. Going to a teacher, John said, “I see myself satiated, with no battle to fight.” The teacher said to John “Go and beseech God for the struggles to come upon you because it is through struggling that the soul makes progress.” The struggle returned, and John no longer prayed for it to be taken away. Instead Abba John prayed, “Lord, give me patience in the struggles.”

Christianity is Unrest

There are a lot of us who look to religion as a source of comfort and security. It makes sense because we all feel a sense of dis-ease in our lives. We all are looking for stability and an anchor. We all need a steady foundation to jump off from into this world of adventure.

The problem is that Christianity is not, despite what it looks like, a traditional religion. It is the one religion that attempts to dismantle religion by undercutting the notion that religion saves. It is, as Christians say, Grace that saves us - not our own actions or works.

If Christianity is not a traditional religion that attempts to get people to do the right things in order to save themselves, what is Christianity? Søren Kierkegaard called Christianity a state of unrest. That may only be mildly surprising. Perhaps you have heard it said that Christianity comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable? Hearing that Christianity is really a state of unrest is not what is necessarily notable here.

What is notable is what Kierkegaard points out to us: this unrest is initiated by God: “Christianity is the most intensive and strongest form of unrest thinkable. Christ’s coming is intended to disturb life. Where one wants to become a Christian, there will be unrest; and where one has become a Christian, there unrest follows.”

Here we are confronted with the idea that God is the one who gives us this unrest. But why? Why would God initiate a state of unrest in us? I thought God was in the work of rest and peace not unrest and restlessness.

It is this state of unrest that is the engine of our lives. The unrest is the point. The point is to see that in all of life, the thing that gives energy to us all, is an unrest or what we might call a contradiction. No matter where you look, outside or within, contradiction is woven into the fabric of creation. We are busy trying to root out this unrest/contradiction all the while the fabric frays. The more we try to root out the unrest or contradiction in our lives, the more it will explode in the world and many times it explodes in unhealthy ways. You see the unrest is the very engine of our lives, it is the thing that gives us energy. Until we come to peace with the unrest in our lives then we will erupt with violence.

The Insufficiency of Loving People in Ministry

It is a common thing to imagine that people go into ministry because they love people. I had a number of experiences with a variety of people in my life that led me to see the beauty of the human race. I love how creative people are. I love how people are able to create rules for society, and I am amazed how people skate right on the edge of such rules. I am humbled by the mystery and singular universe that is a human being. I really do love people.

This love for people is a common driver for people going into the helping professions. And while I cannot speak for other professions, I can address that many clergy go into the ministry because they love human beings. It is a noble and admirable reason to go into vocational ministry. However, it is also insufficient for ministry.

If pastors only loved people then there would be a shortage of clergy. The pay and benefits are not always great. The work is taxing. The emotional roller coaster that is being a pastor is relentless. Plus many pastors have as many bosses as they have people who attend the church. Loving people is a prerequisite for ministry, but it will not sustain you in ministry. Loving people is difficult to do. People are flawed and will fail you. People will bring to surface the best and the worst of life. People annoy and delight, stress and support. People are a mix of sinner and saint and sometimes a little cussing and coffee.

Loving people will is good but insufficient because no one can love people all of the time. However, if you go into ministry knowing that Jesus loves you, then you may come to find the source of strength to endure the best and worst of humanity. Just because it is a cliché does not make it any less true.

There are a lot of clergy that love people and knows that Christ loves them. However the clergy that I admire are the clergy that discover a third love, and that is the love that transforms a job into a calling. This is the love that the clergy person has for the Christ that lives in another person. The most faithful clergy I know love you and the Christ that lives in you. The most faithful clergy I know serve the Christ that lives in you so that even if you are a real jerk, their loving kindness does not cease.

Learning to love the Christ that is in the other requires that we come to see that Christ lives in each other - even the enemy, the other, the Democrat, the Republican, etc. Which brings us back to Kierkegaard’s idea that the ideal neighbor to love is a dead one.