“Almost-Christian”: Finding the Thicker Life in a Thin World

Kenda Creasy Dean, in an article for Christian Century, describes the “almost-Christian” religion that plagues many churches and limits our ability to form a “consequential faith” in people of all ages, especially children and youth.  This “almost-Christian” religion is called “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” (MTD), and it  basically boils down to “nice.”  The “creed” of MTD is something like this:
  • A god exists who created the world
  •  God wants people to be nice and good
  • The goal of life is to be happy 
  • God is involved in my life only when I need God to fix something
  •  Good people go to heaven
This religious outlook is, indeed, “nice,” but it is barely Christian. It is also “easy” - it takes very little to learn it or practice it.  And it is “safe” - because God is only active in our lives when we ask God for a favor. Otherwise, God leaves us to go about our business.  Since this brand of religion is so nice, easy, and safe, we don’t have to work very hard to pass it on to our children.  So we don’t.  Dean writes:  “We ‘teach’ young people baseball, but we ‘expose’ them to faith.  We provide coaching opportunities for youth to develop and improve their pitches and their SAT scores, but we blithely assume that religious identity will happen  by osmosis and will emerge ‘when youth are ready’ (a confidence we generally lack when it comes to, say, algebra).”  Contrast this picture of faith and faith formation with the Way of Christ and His Cross, and a clear divide occurs.  Faith is a gift, but it is not “easy.”  Christ calls us to love, but love goes way beyond “nice”; it’s often very uncomfortable (i.e., loving my neighbor is hard when my neighbor does not share my culture, my values, or my worldview).  And God’s grace indeed guarantees my future life in Christ, but traveling the Jesus Road is far from “safe.”  Breaking the grip that MTD has on our life of faith is hard. It means that Christianity is not something we do in our “spare time,” but rather something that governs and directs all our days.  It means that “church” is not a place we go, but a life we live.  It means that God is not a Pez dispenser or vending machine we can direct or consume; rather, it is God who consumes and embraces us—and that changes everything.  Beneath the surface of this thin, nice, easy life is a thicker, more meaningful, more lifechanging faith.  As we gear up for another program year in the church, I pray for ways to find that thicker life together—in all that we do.  In this issue of the Good News, there are a few opportunities to thicken and deepen our life together in this place: 

  • I invite you to consider Mary’s invitation to strengthen the ties that bind us together as a community of faith.
  • I invite you to join us on Rally Day to discover the opportunities to serve and grow in faith.  I especially hope that people without young children will experience the joy of walking with young people in their life in Christ.
  • I rejoice that our Sunday morning schedule will allow more time for connecting to each other and meeting new people.  The close of a Fiscal Year and start of a new one offers a fresh invitation to consider where God fits in our financial lives—perhaps the place where what we value and believe is most clearly revealed...and challenged.  And I am excited to invite you to join me on a retreat this Fall about finding the “thicker life” in the often thin world in which we live.  Our tradition affirms that God is a living, breathing presence that pursues us, claims us, embraces us, and carries us into a risky, foolish, beautiful life in Christ.  We meet this God in worship and education, to be sure—but we are met by this God in every corner of our lives.  Join us as we journey deeper into the heart of this living God, deeper into the mystery of the cross, and deeper into the life that God has given us in Christ.  Gather around the Table, the Bath, and the Cross as we learn the Way of Christ. It’s not easy.  It’s not nice.  It’s not safe. But it will change your life.  And thanks be to God for that.
Peace,

Pr Jay