Living in the Gap

I caught myself again. I've been doing some reading, some philosophy and some critique on Christian faith. I realized how my training and work experience has ingrained in me the use of reason, analysis and logic to explain the world and what happens in it. But this is only one stream of thought I use!

As a Christian I have also taught myself to allow aspects of mysticism, the notion of a Superior being and the idea of faith to dominate my reason in many cases. What amazes me is my inability to integrate the two. I find myself making arguments for or against philosophical slants from either one or the other stream of thought. It's another example where I feel like I talk out of both sides of my mouth, yet, the truth is, as I live in the real world, where things just aren't the way most people think they should be, logic and reason are not enough to help humans cope. We can use logic or reason to state absolutes that describe how we perceive reality, but under all that calculated analysis remains the questions, "WHY? and what can we do about it?" That's what I think many people are really seeking and where my Christian faith gives answers.

John D. Roth has so many pointed quotes in the last chapter of his book, Beliefs: Mennonite Faith and Practice. "Somewhere deep down we are always aware that the world is badly askew--that there is a stubborn and persistent gap between the world as it is and the world as it ought to be." "To be human is to walk a continuous tightrope between hope and frustration." (daily experiences of disappointment, fear of death, etc.) Roth outlines three responses to this disconnect which our culture offers and then points out the Christian alternative to how we can live within the gap.

1. Pursuing a life of pleasure - "seize the day" - living for yourself/your personal happiness, accumulation of material wealth, recreational shopping, food, addictions, etc.
Christian Alternative: truth-telling, naming things for what they are i.e. a "society full of illusions"
The Bible "invites us to see beneath the surface, to step out of the crazy-mirror appearances of our culture, to a life that is authentic and honest." Christianity points us to a God who gives a life of hope and wholeness in a world of brokeness.

2. Giving up all together - "life is rigged against us" - living in a culture of cynicism, "expressions of hope are illusions, . . . that simply will not stand up to the cold facts of reality." Cynicism leads to a private understanding of truth and lives lived cut-off from others; sees broad ideals, ideas of common good or sacrifice as naive or self-serving.
Christian Alternative: "Life energized by hope and sustained by the support of a broader community" which is the visible picture of Christ -- not against us, but GENUINELY caring and loving.

3. Coersion and Violence - "raw power" - we become desensitized by constant exposure from the media, "By exercising coersive power, we create the impression, if only temporarily, that we can reshape reality according to our own wishes." "Violence offers the fleeting illusion that we can transcend our own mortality. It allows us to think that we are actually in control of our lives -- that we can guarantee the outcome of our desires by bending the will of those around us to our command."
Christian Alternative: "Like the pursuit of pleasure or the lonely fog of cynicism, the intoxicating logic of power is deeply imbedded within our cultural reality." "In the midst of a culture drunk on the twisted logic of violence, Christian faith invites you to a life of compassion, forgiveness and love . . . to incarnate God's love into daily life so that the world might be transformed."

Like many philosophies today, Christianity, "with unflinching insight," describes the human condition. But it goes on to offer meaning to life beyond ourselves, one of joy, hope and healing. "The gap between what is and ought to be remains" but Christ offers a way to live in the gap . . . to live "in a hope that keeps calling us back to the messiness of a fallen world" where, through Christ and the Christian community, power and the messy realities of life can be redeemed.

Though I really enjoy looking at the way people think and react to situations in life based on their philosophical bents or their cultural backgrounds, I cannot deny the fact that my faith has a huge impact in my ultimate interpretation of WHY things happen. And WHY am I here? As a Christian I believe my calling is to transcend the cultural and philosophical explanations for the gap and actually "live in the gap" as one of Christ's agents of peace, hope and reconcilliation.