Aj Schwanz

It’s a wonderful time in my house right now:¬† the toys are picked up, the cracker crumbs are mostly gone, the neighborhood kids have made it safely home from their bus drop-off in front of our house, the dog is snoring, and the child is safely unconscious upstairs.¬† It’s . . . . quiet!¬† These times come few and far between:¬† yes, Judah takes a daily nap, but oftentimes I spend those not-having-to-constantly-REact moments being PROactive:¬† responding to emails, working on Bible Study lessons, cleaning (a.k.a. tidying and making things appear clean, but please don’t pick up that rug or look under my toaster oven).¬† There’s the old adage:¬† sleep when the baby sleeps.¬† I believe this was said by a man.¬† Who worked outside of the home.¬† And whose wife had a house cleaner.¬† And cook.¬† And dog trainer.¬† And personal counselor.

But for the moment, I’m choosing to enjoy the silence, and it seemed only appropriate to look at one of my most favoritist books in the entirewire world (I really like it):¬† Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L’Engle.¬† It’s like a spiritual Elizabeth Arden spring spa day put in portable (and affordable) fashion.¬† Madeleine, one of the wisest kindred spirits I’ve encountered, has such a way of putting things that reach right to the core of the situation without preaching or judging:¬† she simply is.¬† AND she has quite a way with punctuation - taught me many tricks of the colon/semi-colon/dash nature (yes, we’re grammar geeks - I bet you don’t know how to make a sentence that flows, makes sense, and it seven lines long).
Apparently at some point in time during a read through I thought it would be fun to write notes in it, I suppose as a record of my inner-ponderings at the time.  One section I underlined *and* starred caught my eye today:

Something odd and sad:¬† I originally wrote that many of my favorite mystery writers were practicing Christians, and two people whose opinion I respect told me that the word “Christian” would turn people off.¬† This certainly says something about the state of Christianity today.¬† I wouldn’t mind if to be a Christian were accepted as being the dangerous thing which it is; I wouldn’t mind if, when a group of Christians meet for bread and wine, we might well be interrupted and jailed for subversive activities; I wouldn’t mind if, one again, we were being thrown to the lions.¬† I do mind, desperately, that the word “Christian” means for so many people smugness, and piosity, and holier-than-thouness.¬† Who, today, can recognize a Christian because of “how Christians love one another”? (97-98)

She wrote this in 1972 or before:  and we thought the whole emerging conversation was a new thing. 
Today in Bible study I read a quote from C.S. Lewis about Christianity - that it would make you a lot better or a whole lot worse.¬† If I practice “doing Christianity” without the right heart attitude, I become like the Pharisees - try to set myself apart from others by showing that I’m more holy or righteous.¬† If I don’t practice “doing Christianity” at all, I remain as I am, a sinner with human qualities.¬† But if I put myself in a place where God can transform me, if I recognize that God’s in control and I’m to respond, then I can be transformed into being more like Christ - humble, gentle, etc.

The next paragraph I doubly-starred:

No wonder our youth is confused and in pain; they long for God, for the transcendent, and are offered, far too often, either piosity or sociology, neither of which meets their needs, and they are introduced to churches which have become buildings that are a safe place to go to escape the awful demands of God (I wrote next to this:  clean, comfortable - sit, no action). (98)

I would say that doesn’t just go for the youth, but for those who are truly seeking this revolutionary, transforming message of the Kingdom of God.¬† I remember as a youth loving camp:¬† it was engaging, experiential, and it wasn’t there to serve itself - it was temporary. ¬† We came together because we were youth, and we celebrated that.¬† And then we went back out into our lives.¬† We didn’t come together to become youth and then go out as youth.

The church is called to go out; we *get* to celebrate that fact as a corporate gathering.¬† We don’t come together to become the church in a clean, safe place so that we can handle being out in the dirty, scary world; we come together because we are out in the world, responding to God’s call share God’s light and life and love with others.¬† It’s not a safe thing God calls us to live; it’s not clean or glorifying or easy, especially when we’re trying to do it of our own power; but it’s simple (to respond to God), it’s healing (to be transformed by God), it’s beautiful (to love God and to love others with the love God pours upon us in super abundance).

Youth.¬† Seekers.¬† Folks who are truly following Christ know that wholeness, that dangerousness, that radicalness, that joy that comes with being a Christian.¬† “You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him‚Äîwith laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation.” - I Peter 1:8.¬† That’s the life we’re called to as Christians - joyful living; and, as Madeleine says, “joy is always a promise.”