The Edwardian writer, E M Forster, spoke disparagingly of “poor talkative Christianity.” His point was that in the midst of so much suffering and trouble all that Christianity offered was words. Does he have a point?
Look around you:
· Over there, you can see a Christian, and he has been a member of the church for years and years – his has been a simple faith, but faced with personal loss he is beginning to wonder whether his faith has all been a delusion.
· Then just there, you see another dear man – his life broken, his dreams shattered, his marriage a sham, unemployed – and he wonders all night, sleeplessly, does God care?
· Behind you, you turn and notice a woman, whose depression has wrecked her life for 15 years; her friends dismiss her with a tart, ‘it’s her nerves, you know!’ But she has gazed so long into the abyss, the abyss has started to gaze into her. And where is God?
· Just in front of you is one who has struggled and struggled with besetting sin. His shame is so intense that it feels like a permanent bruise on his soul. He cannot worship convincingly; the Bible, left unread, mocks him. And he has almost given up on God not giving him the victory.
· Here is another whose fear is death – such finality! Such a faith-destroyer!
· And there, just there, is a dear woman whose hope has died. And now her soul is sick. Too many expectations crushed! Too many tears shed in her loneliness!
In the famous Greek legend of Prometheus we read of him being chained to a rock in the Caucasus Mountain. He cried and cried bitterly and no answer was given him except this: ‘Expect no answer to your anguish, unless one of the gods themselves be willing to go down for you into unlighted Hades and through the gloomy depths of Tartarus.’ Poor Prometheus! You see, the gospel declares this is exactly what happened – Christ descended into hell for us. So that now “in every pang that rends the heart/the Son of Man has a part.” Or as the Bible says, “in all our afflictions he too was afflicted.”
But there is more to the good news than we are never alone …
Athanasius said of Christ and his incarnation, “that which Christ did not assume [take upon himself] he cannot heal.” So the gospel of Christ is the gospel of the Kingdom in which the living Lord seeks to free us from what binds us, desires to heal us, and loves to touch us afresh with his mercy that we may have hope and healing and forgiveness and restoration. The gospel, properly shared, doesn’t leave folk where they are – in the mud and the mire of the pit. Rather our testimony of the Saving, Warrior-King Jesus is with the psalmist: “He drew [us] up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set [our] feet upon a rock, making [our] steps secure. He put a new song in [our mouths], a song of praise to our God.” (Psalm 40:2,3a, alterations mine)
So was E M Forster write when he talked about “poor talkative Christianity” - all words and bluster and no action?
I don’t think he was – and I doubt he really understood the gospel. Yet, we must face the challenge of his words and ask the Lord for his love in action – the power of the Holy Spirit – to flood our lives that we may not only speak of Jesus, but do the things that Jesus did.
And were we to commit ourselves in word and work and walk to be like Jesus there would be less brokenness in the lives of those we live amongst!
Oh joyous thought! May we see God’s Kingdom come through us this year!
With my love and prayers,
Rev’d Canon David White
