Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
When Your World Unravels

When Your World Unravels

Last updated on: October 12, 2020 at 10:29 am by C. Don Jones

When Your World Unravels 2020-10-12T10:29:00-06:00 C. Don Jones

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.

I taught a class after the world ended. On this day, 28 years ago, I spoke to a class in the State University Named for Taras Shevchenko in Kiev, Ukraine. I received an invitation because I was an American Christian teacher. The Soviet Union had collapsed 11 months earlier. The world and the life of these students had ended…and begun. Ukraine was an old nation but a new state. It was part of the Commonwealth of Independent States that Russian leader Boris Yeltsin and the leaders of the other Soviet republics formed to replace the USSR. Nobody knew what that was, really. One professor told us, “We are independent. Rather, we hope we are independent.”

The Old World Ended

“America won the Cold War!” President George H. W. Bush declared in the State of the Union address earlier that year. The ban on independent religious organizations and gatherings was ending in the former Soviet Union. And so, in October, I went there as a “Youth” minister to work among students.

There were some signs the old world continued functioning. Elementary school students wore the red ribbons around their collars. You could purchase Soviet memorabilia. I have a soldiers hat made from rabbit fur. I once wore it while walking in a blizzard. It was warm. Soviet emblems of red and gold stars were everywhere in the city.

I met some of the people who made the old world too. These were old men and women wearing military medals including the Order of Lenin on their civilian clothes. I sat on the subways and park benches listening to their stories of the siege of the city by German forces during “The Great Patriotic War.” They were happy to tell this young American how they had won the war. In their minds the Western allies helped out some in the victory.

One other misconception I had corrected was that the Soviet Union had been officially atheistic. But the elderly women – the babushkas – kept the nation Christian. “If you were a Christian,” one grandmother told my interpreter, “you would not be wearing western clothes, or all that makeup, or associating with Americans.”

The World In Limbo

Old worlds do not end by new one’s beginning. The people were teaching me about my world ending. American fundamentalists are “true Christians.” All you had to do was ask us. We would tell you. I could not keep thinking that after my experiences in Kiev. Where is the logic of a denomination centered in the American South claiming to represent real Christianity to all of the worlds “corrupted” churches? I suspected we were not using the Bible, our primary organizing document, correctly. It was difficult to find the shoe on the other foot. My foot this time.

My world was ending in other ways. What was the remaining superpower, my country, going to do? The Gulf War had been completed quickly. Was some sort of pax americana on the rise? Can the churches that identify with first century Christianity support imperialism. Had we been doing so all along?

Answering such questions is difficult. The assumptions that lay behind one’s claims have to be discovered and examined. 28 years later, I am still doing that. I know when my world began unraveling. It seems so trivial. But I was talking about a new world.

Talking About The New World

“Be prepared for questions about today?”

“Why?” I asked the professor. “What has happened?”

She looked at me sternly and asked, “what country are you from?”

I had completely forgotten it was the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ landing in the new world. I didn’t think the students would be interested in Columbus Day. It is a holiday most Americans forget about. But Columbus was already controversial. I didn’t want to think about that.

Thankfully, I never answered any questions about Columbus day. But the thought had recast my entire presentation. We were from the New World visiting the Old World. What do those terms mean?

“Who is your favorite Russian author?” A student asked me. “Nikolai Gogol,” I responded quickly. He was surprised. “Gogol was Ukrainian, you know.” A new world was forming. Gogol had been a proud subject of Imperial Russia. Now, like Taras Shevchenko, was joining the new pantheon of Ukrainian artists.

“Who is your favorite American author?” Another student fired the question to me. “Kurt Vonnegut,” I replied. “Have any of you read him?”

One student answered with a title I did not know. “Tell me the plot.” I prompted. “It was about the future when people destroy machines.” “Oh,” I said. “The title in America is ‘Player Piano.’ I had to explain what that was. “It is one of my least favorites.” I admitted. “Why?” I explained the idea of dystopia. A utopia that didn’t function as it should was something they knew plenty about.

Unravelling

My fundamentalist world ended that day. I began thinking about what I was doing. “Is it really who I am?” I asked. “Is anything I am saying true even to me?”

I now se old worlds must end before new ones begin. A period of exploring what we do and where we go next must take place. The limbo has been going on for a generation. It effects churches, nations, and the physical world. We are in it. And looking for our way through it. At least, the unravelling is over. What churches do now cannot return to the past. We should not attempt to preserve the present. We can only live in the present and weather the changes.

It is hard to accept this, I know. I always want to fix machines and make them run like they did before breaking down. Civilization has never worked in that way. Ask Julian the Apostate who wanted Rome to return to the old gods.

Old Worlds functioned. New Worlds do or will do. Now is the hardest of times.

Biblical Interpretation

Previous Post

October 8, 2020

Is Christian Faith Dying Or Changing?

Next Post

October 15, 2020 The Shelf Life of Pastors

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Addiction Advent Afghanistan Anxiety Ascension Sunday Baptism Barack Obama Biblical Interpretation Bigotry Book Banning BSA Buddhism Choice Christmas Church Discipline Community Conscience Conspiracy theories COVID-19 Culture Wars death cults deconstruction Devotional Divine Judgment Donald Trump Earth Day Election Day empathy Environmentalism Evangelism Exploitation of the Poor Faith False Claims fascism Fear Forgiveness Genocide government Grace Gun Violence Halloween Hate Health Hillbilly Elegy Hindu Holy Communion Holy Week Homelessness Hope Identity Integrity Islam Joe Biden John Hagee Kamala Harris Labor Lent Liberation Theology Lies Love Love as action Neurological disorders Non-Christian Religions Online Worship Original Goodness Pandemic Peace Pentecost Philosophy Preaching Progressive Christianity Racism Redemptive Violence Myth Resentment Saint's Days Satire Sobriety social media Spiritual Self Care Spirituality Technology The Kingdom of God The United Methodist Church Theology Transfigurations Sunday Transgender persons Truth Uncategorized Violence Wesleyan Working Class

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 March 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 January 2025 October 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 October 2018 September 2018 July 2018 February 2018 January 2018 August 2017 May 2017 November 2016 July 2016 June 2016 November 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 January 2015 November 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 June 2013 March 2013 February 2013 December 2012 August 2012 July 2012 May 2012 February 2012 December 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

According to James, what should you do if you lack wisdom?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Seek counsel from elders Fast and pray for seven days Study the Torah diligently Ask God, who gives generously