Christianity: a lens and a window onto other worlds

Men-an-Tol  (lit. holed stone) is an enigmatic megalithic structure in the far west of Cornwall. Sadly for us its original meaning and significance are forever lost and irrecoverable in the dead silence of the oral traditions of our prehistory, as is the case with the Rollright Stones and Northumbrian prehistoric rock art. A2M, the online guide to Cornwall's archaeological heritage, says this about Men-an-Tol:

a recent site survey identified a number of recumbent stones lying just beneath the modern turf which were arranged along the circumference of a circle 18 metres in diameter. ...If this is indeed the origin of the site, the holed stone would probably have been aligned along the circumference of the circle and would have had a special ritual significance possibly by providing a lens through which to view other sites or features in the landscape, or as a window onto other worlds.

It is that last provocative sentence which triggered my train of thought in this post. Christianity is a religion in which the original meaning and significance of the life and death of Jesus is known and recovered through the passionate praxis of contemporary disciples every bit as much as it is through the scriptures, doctrines, traditions and theology of their predecessors in the faith. Looking at Mel-an-Tol today we are left in the dark about its ritual and sacred value in the culture of its time, as the flow of praxis was broken and the story lost. Not so with Christianity. We have 2000 years of richly diverse spirituality to inform our understanding; two milennia of theological reflection, discipleship and ecclesiology to consider. The line is unbroken and the story is still strong.

The world may sometimes look with puzzlement at what we do and the things we say, a bit like modern tourists looking at the stones of Mel-an-Tol and thinking "what is this all about, what does it mean, why is it here?", but we are here, and here to stay. The down to earth realities and truth of our faith are as strong and vibrant and pertinent now as they were when Jesus broke bread with his friends. Jesus was a  lens and a window onto other worlds: the roman imperial world of political violence and socio-economic oppression, the Jewish religious world of power and exclusion, the ancient world of sickness and death, the cruel world of hunger and poverty, and most of all the living world of God's presence and love for all.

The challenge to the church of today is to avoid becoming an enigmatic monument disconnected to the story, experiences and needs of contemporary humanity.  To remain in touch and connected it is imperative that we continue to offer what humanity seems to value highly, that lens and a window onto other worlds of meaning and significance. Surely it is vital that we continue to offer and live out alternative ways of seeing each other and the world in which we live; framing for ourselves and others the world as Jesus sees it. One thing is certain, looking through the lens and window of Christianity there are many worlds to be seen: the world of gross economic inequality and social exclusion, the world of racial hatred and ethnic violence, the world of mental illness, the world of gender injustice, the world of loneliness and despair, the world of climate change and environmental degradation, the world of exploitation and trafficking, the world of HIV/Aids, the world of war and terrorism. And there are so many more besides.

Not least the worlds that Jesus saw so very clearly: the world of political violence and socio-economic oppression, the religious world of power and exclusion, the world of sickness and death, the world of hunger and poverty, and most of all the living world of God's presence and love for all.

We look at these worlds through the lens and window of Jesus Christ, whose God-story is always and forever our story too.