 November/December 1999 (XXXVII 5) |
y the time this column comes to Friends' mailboxes we will be coming up on Christmas again. Every time I experience Christmas among unprogrammed, "liberal" Friends, I am reminded of how ambivalent we are as a group in our feelings about Jesus. His birthday is (as some say) "the reason for the season." Yet many Friends, being uncertain about what they believe about Jesus, and uneasy about what others believe about Jesus, are unable to really celebrate anything here.
Indeed, this ambivalence has led to a situation where there is often only the most timid talk among our kind of Friends — if there is any at all — about who Jesus was and is, and about his place in our spiritual lives and tradition. The reasons for this are several, but a couple seem most important.
First, in this Yearly Meeting half of our members have joined our Religious Society in the last 25 years. Many come from upbringings in other Christian denominations. Many had unpleasant experiences in those churches where they felt asked to believe things about Jesus and the Bible that simply made no sense, or were even offensive. They encountered attitudes, behaviors and approaches to faith they found distasteful or oppressive. So, they left those churches rejecting all things associated with "being Christian."
Some of these folks find almost any talk about Jesus or the Bible off-putting. They reject any focus on Christian Quaker faith and practice; or at least would prefer to ignore it. Often the people in our Meetings for whom Jesus and the Christian tradition are important see this, and then are reluctant to share honestly about their spiritual experience for fear of offending those who are not comfortable with "Christian language."
Second, many Friends who grew up as Quakers seem also to have little sense of who Jesus is or was. They grew up in a tradition that has (recently) talked a lot about "the Spirit" or (maybe) about God, but not much about Jesus. Many grew up in Meetings where there was no regular curriculum in First-day School, and little teaching about the Bible. For many in this group there was little chance to be offended by Jesus. They were never really taught enough about him to be put off.
Thus we have come to a place in some of our Meetings, and to a lesser degree across the 'liberal' branch of the Religious Society of Friends, where one can experience a kind of "Christless Quakerism." This is tremendously ironic, given our origins.
But what better occasion than Christmas to take a fresh look at Jesus? This is true even for those of us who think of ourselves as Christians.
A few years ago Marcus Borg, a wonderful New Testament scholar, wrote a book called Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time. In it he describes Jesus as "a spirit person, subversive sage, social prophet and movement founder who invited his followers and hearers into a relationship with the same Spirit that he himself knew, and a community whose social vision was shaped by a core value of compassion" (p. 119).
If Jesus was and is as Borg describes him, then wouldn't it be great to know Jesus and learn from him personally? How many of us who are truly spiritual seekers would not welcome the chance to sit at the feet of a "spirit person" — Borg's phrase to describe a master and teacher of spiritual matters. How many of us who really want to make the world better would not welcome the opportunity to converse with "a subversive sage"? The Spirit that Jesus invites us to a relationship with is the Spirit of God. Is that not the relationship we seek to root ourselves in, and give expression to, in our faith and practice? Is a "community shaped by a core value of compassion" not the community we all want?
This is our legacy as Friends! George Fox experienced an encounter with the Jesus whom Borg describes, with the living Christ and the Inward Teacher. It was that encounter, and Fox's insistence on sharing its meaning and possibility with others, that led to the creation of the Religious Society of Friends. Fox and the other leaders of the early Quaker movement knew the living Christ as a "subversive sage, social prophet and movement founder." That is what (or who) led them to take life-giving and culture-defying stances about how to worship, how to live in faith, and how to treat other human beings with dignity, compassion, justice and respect in all matters.
Borg says this is the Jesus we will find if we read the Gospels carefully enough, with an open heart, and recognize the real possibility of having a living relationship with the living Christ. If we hear and follow the teachings of this Jesus, Borg says, we will be led to a vision of the life of faith as a "journey whose central quality is a deepening and transforming relationship to God," which should be shared with "a community of compassion."
So now we come upon the season when many celebrate the birth of this person, Jesus who is known as "the Christ." A good time to get acquainted with this person, or to "meet him again for the first time" as Borg puts it? We also come soon upon the start of a new year — even a new millennium. For all of us who are serious about living a life of spiritual depth and power, it could be a great help and a great joy to know Jesus as an Inward Teacher and companion on the journey. In this sense I, for one, hope to get to know Jesus better in the days ahead, and years ahead; and find reason to celebrate Christmas with great joy.
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:18 AM