An Immensely Formidable Unity

Last updated on: August 28, 2018 at 4:01 pm by Kathleen Mulhern

An Immensely Formidable Unity 2018-08-28T16:01:58-06:00 Kathleen Mulhern

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

So, I’ve tried to listen well to the comments provoked by my last post. Some think that I’ve proved the vacuity of the Christian message. If it can mean anything, it obviously means nothing. Another thinks I’ve uncovered the Rorschach nature of Christian faith. “What do you see in the clouds, Charlie Brown?”

So I revisited my palette of Christian voices—rock stars, philosophers, Puritans, and ascetics—to see if indeed there is anything purely and singularly Christian about them. Take off the costumes and what do we see?

Despite our differences—and they are challenging in every way, not to be dismissed or diminished—we who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 1.2) are just that. Callers on the Name. We who call on the Name believe that there is a Name, and a Person behind the Name, and that all things hold together in that Person (Col 1.17). In our great need, recognizing our brokenness and his compassion, we call on that Name. And that alone gives us what C.S. Lewis called “an immensely formidable unity.”

“They are, you will note, a mixed bag, representative of many Churches, climates, and ages…. The divisions of Christendom are undeniable and are by some of these writers most fiercely expressed. But if any man is tempted to think—as one might be temped who read only contemporaries—that ‘Christianity’ is a word of so many meanings that it means nothing at all, he can learn beyond all doubt, by stepping out of his own century, that this is not so. Measured against the ages ‘mere Christianity’ turns out to be no insipid interdenominational transparency, but something positive, self-consistent, and inexhaustible. I know it, indeed, to my cost. In the days when I still hated Christianity, I learned to recognize, like some all too familiar smell, that almost unvarying something which met me, now in Puritan Bunyan, now in Anglican Hooker, now in Thomist Dante. It was there (honeyed and floral) in Francois de Sales; it was there (grave and homely) in Spenser and Walton; it was there (grim but manful) in Pascal and Johnson; there again, with a mild, frightening, Paradisial flavor, in Vaughan and Boehme and Traherne. … It was, of course, varied; and yet—after all—so unmistakably the same; recognizable, not to be evaded, the odour which is death to us until we allow it to become life.” (“Introduction to St. Athanasius’ The Incarnation of the Word of God)

According to Lewis and St Paul, we smell something, and to us it is sweet, the fragrance that comes from knowing him (2 Cor 2.14). To others, it stinks of death.

According to the psalmist, it’s a song we sing. “He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God” (Ps 40.3).

According to Peter, it’s something we taste. “You have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Pt 2.3).

According to Jesus, it’s something we see … or don’t see. “Blessed are your eyes, for they see” (Mt 13.26). It’s something we hear … or don’t hear. “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” (Mk 4.9)

It’s Bread and hallelujahs and defiance: “though the fig tree does not blossom…yet I will rejoice in the Lord” (Hab 3.17). It’s a light and a trumpet and a touch and a Voice. It’s a dead man living, a God with us, a certain victory, and a vision of the end.

It’s crazy with diversity and differences that drive us far from each other, but then again, our Lord never called us to uniformity, just unity. And yes, it’s also fraught with confusion and failures and great, great grief that makes us gasp with pain. It’s uncertainty and groping and frustration and mystery. And still. We call on the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, “both their Lord and ours.”

Image via Pixabay

Uncategorized

spirituality

unity

Previous Post

August 14, 2018

One of These Things Is Not Like the Other: Real Christianity?

Next Post

October 26, 2018 On Discouragement and Trusting in God: Readings from a Puritan

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Ascetical Theology Book Reviews Children and Parenting Easter Epiphany Friends of God Lent Life in the Spirit Ludolph Pascalian Spirituality: a series Politics Prayers Six Neo-Christian Myths Spiritual Formation Tales from My Father Trinitarian Spirituality: a series Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 July 2024 June 2024 December 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 January 2023 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 April 2022 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 October 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 November 2016 June 2016 April 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 March 2015 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 October 2011 August 2011 July 2011 February 2011 October 2010 September 2010 July 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 November 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many books are in the major prophets section of the Old Testament?

Select your answer to see how you score.

4 7 3 5