No one has it right.
Recently, I heard the remark that many who are leaving evangelical, fundamentalist religion are leaving because today’s generations are looking for more authentic spirituality than former generations. They are looking for “wholeness rather than holiness.”
When we use words like “holiness”, we may think that what we mean is obvious and universal. It’s important to remember that every word is a metaphor and every one of us means something unique – even though we think we are saying the same thing.
That being said, even with the variation that certainly exists between persons when we use the word “holiness”, it is more than likely a state that just doesn’t exist. So from that perspective, I can get on board with the notion that it’s a vain pursuit.
But what about authenticity and wholeness?
Authenticity
I grew up in a very legalistic, but lifeless church tradition - the Church of Christ. No hand-raising, no clapping, no “amens” from the crowd, DEFINITELY no speaking in tongues or healings – heaven forbid!!! So, as a young adult, I left to go to a more evangelical church. It seemed like forward movement. It seemed more “authentic.”
This new thing I was involved in was full of life and spirit. People were putting their money where their mouth was. No more dry, hypocritical lip service to following Jesus. This was real! People actually sold possessions and goods and gave to those in need like in Acts chapter 2. There were miracles and healings!! The spirit was moving!!
It was Authentic!!
But as time went on, the underbelly was exposed. It wasn’t as pure and authentic as I had originally supposed. I moved on to the next, more-authentic thing. But it wasn’t. And the next thing wasn’t. …and the next thing…and the next.
I’m 53. I am at that age where I can look back and see that many, many things I did seemed authentic, enlightened, and WHOLE at the time, but were in fact, still lacking in many ways.
Many, MANY things.
In fact ….. all things.
And that’s OK. That’s the journey. Every step we take in life contains something good and something lacking. Every move we make is a move away from something and toward something else, only to find out what is missing with this new place. And hopefully, we move one step further. We never arrive at this so-called authenticity.
In fact, what’s actually authentic is the fact that everything we do is lacking.
EVERYTHING
Wholeness
Wholeness is not an individual endeavor. I cannot be whole and be separate from my fellow man. Your pain is my pain. Your joy is my joy. Your mistakes are my mistakes. Your victories are mine as well. We are one body.
Much of the new progressive, emerging church is getting this right where the marginalized are concerned. Churches and non-church communities are opening and welcoming the outcast, the LGBTQ community, the racially and socio-economically marginalized, the foreigner, the refugee, and other religions.
But what about those abusive evangelicals? The conservatives? The group(s) the new progressives have left behind? What about them? Do we continue our welcome to even them? Those that we deemed unworthy and inferior as we moved on to our more whole and authentic place?
Are we just building a new and in-our-opinion-improved wall? Rather than shutting out and judging the marginalized and the downtrodden, are we simply changing the drapes to shut out and judge the religious and the conservatives.
“Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”
Right?
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve cast my fair share of stones.
Over and over.
It’s human nature. We NEED that stone-throwing energy to break away and process. I don’t know about you, but I needed it to break away from the church I grew up in. I needed it to break away from an emotionally abusive husband. Without that sense of outrage and indignation, we might just stay stuck. But once we have left and moved on, let’s not forget the next step. Forgiveness. Love.
Wholeness.
Remember that when we speak of wholeness, we are not whole until we learn to love everyone. We have to take down the walls that separate us from not only the marginalized, the oppressed, the sinner, BUT ALSO the obnoxious, the judgmental, the misguided, the religious and the bigot.
Loving your enemy isn’t easy.
So, don’t kid yourself into thinking you’ve finally got it right and are doing something authentic and whole.
No one has it right.
Real authenticity and wholeness is the acknowledgement that we are no more authentic and whole than anyone else out there. We are all imperfect and just muddling through. We are all one body. The hand can’t say to the foot ‘I don’t need you’.
“Let him to thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall.”
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