This post is a very rough sketch of ideas and may include unfinished, incomplete, or erroneous ideas that will later be corrected. This post will be part of a series that will form the basis of a new book I’m writing following on the themes of my last book, Thoughts From Reconstruction. All of these themes center around the New Covenant. You can find everything published so far in this series on the Highlights page under the My Most Important section.
Ethic and Ethos
The relatively recent phenomenon of the ‘Protestant work ethic’ has instilled in those of us of the West an abiding sense of pride in work but also shame and guilt in rest. We are well into the post-Christian era of the West and some feel this pride and shame to greater or lesser degrees. Yet, in Christian circles, particularly Protestant, we continue to value some vocations and some life paths over others. This is good, of course, for some life choices are unwise but there is a risk of the costs of forgetting what you’re giving up in focusing attention on only those vocations that have the appearance of being the most righteous.
There are many life paths to choose from and the question is which one should you pursue? Some lucky number of us will sense a “calling” but, I suspect, most of us simply go with what we enjoy and what we’re good at as long as it doesn’t seem obviously un-Christian. Some will experience great trepidation, especially in youth, about finding the “right” way.
It is a great temptation to look to the spiritual leaders of our times and create role models out of them but only some people have the gifts of a Billy Graham, a C.S. Lewis, or a Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Yet, we still can at least place the vocation on a pedestal, the Christian Evangelist, the Christian Pastor, the Christian Author.
Stars and Lights
I remember attending a Billy Graham concert at the Skydome, as it used to be called, in Toronto, Canada. Everyone was always blown away at the response from the crowds and the lives committed to God at those events. My father always said, though, to remember those who prepared the way: The local pastors who preached messages of repentance, the local “Crusade Committees” who arranged buses to get those people to the event, and the friends and family who encouraged everyone to go. There is an infinite web of social connections that lead up to those singular Crusade “Come to Christ” moments. I think Billy Graham would admit that it was no more about him than it was about the contributions of the regular people who came together and made it all happen. The Gospel was preached to prepared hearts and the Holy Spirit convicted those ready to receive.
Likewise, there are people in the milieu of culture and history that have helped and, in some cases, continue to help prepare the hearts of the people. I am particularly fond of wryly raising the name of J.R.R. Tolkien, who died in the mid-20th century, as perhaps the greatest evangelist of the 21st century. Recently, I was pleased to see some commentary on YouTube about Gen Z, notorious in their generational aloofness, point to none other than Tolkien’s fictional King Theoden as a model for their lives: King Theoden represented to them the opportunity to rise to the circumstance in which they found themselves and be considered worthy of those who passed on before. It is noteworthy and admirable that it was King Theoden and not more obvious choices, such as Aragorn, Faramir, Gandalf, or even one of the Hobbits who proved their own mettle, but it was King Theoden, a man who’s greatest fear was meeting death unworthy of having lived up to the examples of his forebears.
Issac Newton, one of the greatest scientific minds in history, was also devoutly Christian. Many scientists during the Enlightenment would not have understood the modern assumption that faith and science exclude each other. To this day, there are many scientists who maintain their faith and help provide the scientific resources for Christians to have confidence in their faith. Then there are the Monastics, the Monks to this day who practice their faith in such a way that people must seek them out yet Monks have been the heirs and caretakers of Christian knowledge for thousands of years. They are not evangelical yet they have played a crucial role in preserving Christianity. The modern Orthodox are, at least for now, receiving an influx of new members in the West at a time when more contemporary practices of the Church are receding. And there are the teachers, the church aisle ushers, the fathers and mothers, the brothers and sisters, who by simple faithful living have influenced unawares those around them more than any of these other very important, high status heroic figures of our history.
Monks and Monasteries
The monk’s in their monasteries, the authors in their studies, the artists in their studios, the scientists in their labs, the preachers, deacons, teachers, and helpers faithfully serving in their small church every Sunday, the fathers and mothers raising their children, and the children being examples to their siblings. What is it about their influence that plays such an important role, evangelizing without evangelizing? This is what the Bible said all along,
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. -1 Corinthians 3:5-9
God is using everything to His purposes and His strength is shown in our weakness by turning what we think is small and of little account to great things.
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. -2 Corinthians 12:8-9
It is a quirk of this life that we never truly recognize how we were influenced by the small players, at various unnoticed times and places. Sometimes, only much later, do we come to realize their impact. There is another curious twist of life, that sometimes we never realize exactly how we came to think what we think or hold the views and opinions that we hold. That is as it should be for it at once right-sizes us in humility and yet curiously glorifies even the smallest of us. For it is Christ, through the Holy Spirit, who leads and guides us and God deserves the glory.
Commandment and Commission
When we consider what life we will choose, however loud or quiet it may be, we should not look down on some work as less than others but instead judge only as it manifests in relation to God and neighbour. A mother is not less than a father, and a father not less than a mother. A plumber is not less than a musician, a musician not less than an engineer. For you are called only to Preach the Gospel and Make Disciples whatever you choose to do and these things can be done anywhere by our lived example.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. -Collosians 3:23-24
As Jesus said, “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” There is a way in which life works that raises up the low and lowers the high. It is to the glory of God that we can honour all whether an honoured profession or a common profession for God brings the growth.
Remember the curious example of Tolkien, who, at once, wrote something not Christian at all but perhaps also the most Christian thing of all. When we live in the principles of the New Covenant, rather than the rules of the Old, life opens up before us, for good or ill.
“I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.”
“So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
-Frodo and Gandalf, The Lord of the Rings
This series will continue. Please check back from time to time, if you’re interested in reading new parts as they become available. The entire series will be made available on the Highlights page under the My Most Important section as each part is published.