Before We Were A Religion--September 2, 2024

 

Before We Were A Religion--September 2, 2024

[Paul said:] "But this I admit to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our ancestors, believing everything laid down according to the law or written in the prophets. I have a hope in God--a hope that they themselves also accept--that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. Therefore I do my best always to have a clear conscient toward God and all people..." [Acts 22:14-16]

Before they called us "Christians," and before even the books of the New Testament were written down, we used to be known as "followers of the Way."  And while the name "Christian" also made sense as a name when it arose, I also think we lost something important when that name change came along, something vital from the time before we were a religion.

Throughout the book of Acts there are references to the followers of Jesus as "the Way," as both a reference to Jesus himself and the community of disciples who practiced the Jesus-Way of life together.  Of course, the title for Jesus hearkens back in the church's memory to Jesus' saying in John's Gospel, "I am the way and the truth and the life." But it's fascinating--and really significant--that the community of followers were known by that name, too, at least for a while.  It suggests a movement, a trajectory, and a shared way of life.  It points back to a time before we had buildings with steeples and stained glass, before we had fights about the color of the carpet in the parlor or the "style" of our worship services.   It calls to mind the stories of Jesus, the itinerant rabbi, as his circle of apprentices followed him down the roads and streets of Galilee, learning his unexpected table-fellowship with outcasts and his example of foot-washing.  Calling the disciple-community "the Way" suggests that those first followers weren't stuck in place waiting for people to come to them, but knew they were sent into the world.  And maybe most of all, when we were known as people "who belonged to the Way" (Acts 9:2), it was clear that followers of Jesus were learning to live like Jesus... to act like Jesus... and to love like Jesus.

I mention this because it has been easy to lose sight of Jesus and his own peculiar way of being in the world now that we see ourselves as "church members" or "practitioners of a religion called Christianity."  It is easy now to believe that "being a Christian" is a matter of singing particular songs out of a hymnal (or on a screen), celebrating a certain set of holidays, and owning a Bible.  But it has been terribly unpopular in some circles (yes, some explicitly "Christian" circles!) to focus on how Jesus actually engaged with people as a pattern for our own way of life.  "We can't 'love our enemies'--that will make us look WEAK!" you'll hear folks say.  Or it will be things like, "Washing feet is for WIMPS--we have to plan to take back the reins of power!" Or even, "We have to get them before they get us--we can't repay evil with good, or else we'll be LOSERS!" And all too often, those kinds of sentiments are held by folks who think they are defending Christianity, when in truth they are betraying the way of Jesus.

Before we were a religion, it was clearer that the community called "church" was committed to a certain way of life, shaped by and led forward by Jesus himself.  And while I know we can't un-ring the bell and go back to a time when we didn't have organs and candles and robes and church committees or constitutions, it is worth remembering what those first disciples still held at the forefront of their minds: we are learning a way of life, not merely participating in a Sunday-morning hobby.  We cannot turn Jesus into our mascot who endorses our agendas, but rather we are gathered to learn Jesus' way of being in the world, even when (or especially when!) that means letting go of our old way of being in the world.

Today, what would it look like to see ourselves as part of a movement, rather than paying customers or an audience of a religious pageant? What if we allowed Jesus' way of being in the world... to become our way of being in the world?

Lord Jesus, break free from all our attempts to make you into our mascot, and equip us for walking in your ways.