Giving Authentic Love a Try
Part Two

(This is the second in a series. You can find all of Part One on our website here in the January 2022 folder)
 
(This brief summary touches on our discussion yesterday about Anglican theologian Alister McGrath — A few years back, I was fortunate to spend a few hours with Anglican theologian Alister McGrath in an interview I conducted with him for the Anglican Digest. Of the many things I remember that he said, he thought it unfortunate that the early designations of “liberal” and “conservative” had lost their original meaning; and really, how unfortunate that was. Using their original meanings, he thought that it was quite possible to be a “conservative” and a “liberal” at the same time.)
 
Nowadays, McGrath pointed out, if one claims to be a “conservative,” others will interpret that as meaning harsh, close-minded and judgmental. In addition, if one claims to be a “liberal,” then that one is deemed loose, without ethical or moral anchors, and naive regarding the release of tradition.
 
There are some matters about which I am conservative, others about which I am liberal and others where I fall somewhere in between. I do think it is quite possible to be “too” conservative (as we understand it today). I do think one can be “too” liberal as well, as we understand it today. As a friend once said to me, “How open-minded do you have to be before your brain falls out?” That is why I am continually drawn to the Episcopal/Anglican ethos of the via media — the “middle way.”
 
Embracing the “middle way” does not mean embracing “wishy-washy” or “nebulous” spirituality. Instead, it means that we seek to live out our Christian lives, morals, ethics and views in the context of prayer, tradition, interpretation of Scripture and our God-given reason. In other words, we “work out our faith with fear and trembling,” (Philippians 2:12) not simply based upon our own personal preferences or knee-jerk reactions.
At the same time, “via media” Christianity guards against my embrace of one thing or another based upon following the mindset of the prevailing crowd. And both conservatives and liberals have been guilty of both knee-jerk reactions, as well as crowd mentality, religion over and above careful and thoughtful spirituality.
 
That is why often, when I share through the pulpit or lectern about Christianity, I resist the temptation to base it upon dogma, doctrine, creed or formula. Christianity finds its core in a relationship with Jesus Christ as the Head of our Church, the Author of our Salvation and The Lord of our Faith. This is, in a very real sense, the “non-negotiable” element in Christianity. If one finds the wholeness Christ offers, then the rest will fall into place. When Jesus called His disciples, He said, “Follow Me.” He did not say, “Follow this book…” or “Follow these instructions…” In fact, Jesus did not even say, “Get your life together and then follow Me.” No, He simply said, “Follow Me.” The rest, He assumed, would fall into place.
 
My mentor, the Anglican theologian John Stott, likes to talk about the “BBC” (Balanced-Biblical-Christianity). It is important that our Christianity is Biblical — but also important that it is balanced (and vice versa). Those few instances where we see Jesus being “extreme” in the stories of Scripture are usually when He can no longer tolerate a religious institution built not on love and relationship, but on dogma and laws. It was the “empty religious” that Jesus often condemned, and the “repentant sinner” that He most often embraced.
 
To embrace diversity in the Church, to live out the via media, to be a balanced Christian, takes tremendous humility — always that ability to look first to the need of the “other” over the “self.” St. Augustine strikes a blow for this when he once wrote, “If you should ask me concerning the precepts of the Christian religion, I should answer you: nothing but humility.
 
So, let me go back to where I began. All creation seems to shout the message that God loves diversity. He did not create one kind of “bird” with one kind of “song,” but hundreds of varieties. The same is true of every aspect of life, including our spiritual journey. What a boring place St. Martin’s would be if we were all the same! I prefer “31 flavors” over simply vanilla.

Keep in mind, there are times when only vanilla will do (hot apple pie comes to mind!), but more likely than not, we need to learn to live with others that think differently than us, look differently than us, live differently than us, and even experience Christianity in ways different than us.
 
No…one step further…we need to do more than learn to live with others — we are (if memory serves me) commanded to “love them,” Matthew 22:37-40. In fact, as Paul says, when it comes to Christianity, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself as love,” Galatians 5:6.
 
Why not give it a try?
The Rev. Dr. Russell J. Levenson, Jr.
Rector
If you know someone who would like to receive our daily devotions,
please forward your copy to a friend.
If you would like to reply to this devotional, please email