The Wilderness Way #35

There is a story that has circulated for a number of years. I do not know who the original attribution goes to, but it is a telling story which is instructive as we travel through the theological wilderness.

“You probably do not remember the name Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin. During his day he was as powerful a man as there was on earth. A Russian Communist leader, he took part in the Bolshevik Revolution 1917, was editor of the Soviet newspaper Pravda (which by the way means truth), and was a full member of the Politburo. His works on economics and political science are still read today. There is a story told about a journey he took from Moscow to Kiev in 1930 to address a huge assembly on the subject of atheism.

“Addressing the crowd he aimed his heavy artillery at Christianity hurling insult, argument, and proof against it.

“An hour later he was finished. He looked out at what seemed to be the smoldering ashes of men's faith. ‘Are there any questions?’ Bukharin demanded. Deafening silence filled the auditorium but then one man approached the platform and mounted the lectern standing near the communist leader. He surveyed the crowd first to the left then to the right. Finally he shouted the ancient greeting known well in the Russian Orthodox Church: ‘CHRIST IS RISEN!’ En masse the crowd arose as one man and the response came crashing like the sound of thunder: ‘HE IS RISEN INDEED!’”

This story resonates so well with us because it brings us back to the heart of the Christian gospel. As the Apostle Paul so succinctly put it: “When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”[1] Vague notions of God will not do. Neither will fuzzy intonations of ascending the heights into feel-good synchronistic spirituality. We must once again firmly plant the flag of our faith. We encounter God in Christ reconciling the world. It is the forgotten ways that transcend the tired categories of liberal and conservative that we must once again fully and boldly embrace.

“For authentic missional Christianity, Jesus the Messiah plays an absolutely central role. Our identity as a movement, as well as our destiny as a people, is inextricably linked to Jesus – the Second Person of the Trinity. In fact, our connection to God is only through the Mediator – Jesus is ‘the Way’; no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6). That is what makes us distinctly Christ-ian.

At its very heart, Christianity is therefore a messianic movement, one that seeks to consistently embody the life, spirituality, and mission of its Founder. We have made it so many other things, but this is its utter simplicity. Discipleship, becoming like Jesus our Lord and Founder, lies at the epicenter of the church’s task. It means that Christology must define all that we do and say.”[2]

Dietrich Bonheoffer, the great German Christian martyr of World War II, anchored his critique of Christianity and empire worship in the conviction of Christ the Center. Christ, he would write, “is not only the head of the community but also the community itself.”[3] John Stott offering the London Lectures in Contemporary Christianity in 2000 published them under the title The Incomparable Christ. At the close of the Introduction he states his hope and prayer “that many readers will acknowledge Jesus Christ as the proper object of our worship, witness and hope and as deserving the description incomparable. For he has neither rivals nor peers.”[4]

We will make our way through the spiritual wilderness of our time only in full embrace of Christ as Lord and Savior. In a grace-full and graciously uncompromised embrace of Christ lies the path to a faithful and fruitful future or not at all. There is much to unpack here. Only as we with Thomas and the others boldly proclaim, “my Lord and my God,”[5] will we make our way through the wilderness. Such a path will on multiple levels help us integrate both orthodoxy and orthopraxis (right think and right living). It will at minimum involve a rediscovery of the ancient truths and Trinitarian formula found in the great ancient Ecumenical Councils (Nicene, etc.). It will at a minimum both norm and trump our allegiance to party, state and race. It will at a minimum involve a reintegration of genuine spirituality with the radical practice of justice & evangelism.

There is more to be said, so much more, but for now let this be where we stand. Let Christ be the leader on our march through the wilderness. “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word.”[6]

[1] I Corinthians 2:1-2

[2] Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways, p. 94

[3] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Christ the Center, p. 61)

[4] John R. Stott, The Incomparable Christ, p. 13

[5] John 20:28

[6] Hebrews 1:1-3a

By: Bishop Mike Lowry On 4/23/2010