Sales, Not Management
My Dear People,
Epiphany: an appearance, a manifestation, a revelation, a showing forth.
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"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun is risen, not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else." So said C. S. Lewis. And I gladly claim his words for myself. I too believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun is risen. Like the shining sun, I have seen and do so see Christianity, in the faces and lives of Christ's followers, in his Church, in his People; and in Christ's own life. And, like Lewis, I too see everything else by it, by and through the Gospel. That is, my faith in Christ is the prism through which I view my life and the world: by Christ, and by my faith in him, I see everything, all of life:
I see and hold my newborn son, and I thank God, for, as our faith teaches, God is the one from whom all blessings flow. I see and experience the suffering in my life and in the world, my mother's Alzheimer's, for instance, and I sense and believe in God's grace and presence and hope through it all, as our faith assures us. I hear, again and again, the stories of Jesus, and meditate on his teachings and ponder the events of his life, and, as our faith affirms, I see God manifested, God revealed, God shown forth in our world. I see God defined by and in Jesus. Jesus shows me who I am, and who you are; and Jesus shows me who God was, and is, and always will be.
In a word, I am a Christian.
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That said, however much I would want another person to know Christ as I have come to know him, I do not believe that it is for me to presume to say that someone else should become a Christian. I believe that I must leave that up to them and to God, just as it was left up to me, and just as it is left up to all of us. "Knock and the door will be opened to you," as Christ said.
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In a rather different spirit, it seems to me, Brit Hume volunteered the following on Sunday, speaking about Tiger Woods, "The extent to which he can recover, seems to me, depends on his faith. He is said to be a Buddhist. I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. My message to Tiger would be, 'Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world.'"
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Something that Huston Smith, a religious scholar, has said comes to mind, "God is defined by Jesus, but not confined to Jesus."
I am also reminded of something Jesus himself said, "I have other sheep not of this fold."
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Who are we to say how God can operate? Who are we to say how forgiveness and redemption might be known?
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I am a Christian,
and I know (to a certain extent, anyway) how God operates in my life. And I am
happy to share my faith with anyone; and I believe that I am called to do so.
However, as a wise friend and fellow priest once said to me, "We're in sales,
not management."
On the Feast of the
Epiphany,
your brother in
Christ,
Wallace+
