Thoughts from Culhwch

I find I have a great deal of difficulty labeling my faith. I guess I used to just not say anything at all, or go with the flow. Then I labeled myself as Christian… but tagged on a long apology about how that word is inadequate to express my faith. But I’m feeling convicted lately that such apologies are too divisive. I guess I’ve known it for awhile.

I think the first thing I noticed was the problem with “born again”. You see, while I could probably describe myself as “born again”, the term is often prefixed to the word “Christian,” and thus the expression of faith becomes, simultaneously, an expression of division in the body of Christ, an expression which expressly divides the body of Christ by differentiating itself from those Christians (whoever they are) who are not “born again.”  But I believe that there are no Christians who are not born again. And by saying that I’m including those who would not, if even for the reason just mentioned above label themselves as born again. In my view, the prefixed term is ludicrous. It’s as if I were to say, “I’m a Christian Christian,” Or “I’m a loving Christian,” or to bring it home, I am a “Reconciled  Christian.” It seems as if the moment I apply that label to myself it ceases to be true.

Now I wonder if even the apology which I use to differentiate myself from the simple term “Christian” faces the same problem. If I am a Christian of the kind whose faith cannot be summed up in the word, what about those who feel that the term is adequate?

I think it’s time for a new theology of names. I’m not sure what that entails, but maybe something like this. I can accept the shortcomings implied in a system of language, because Christ suffered for all of creation, all that is flawed, all that is broken. Perhaps he suffered also for the distractions of a semiotic system that constantly defers us, that constantly points us on to something other. Perhaps he was working on the cross to reconcile language too, to give us a language which might ultimately refer to Christ. (And I’m sure the Derrida’s of world are cringing.)

This does not mean that the label Christian is perfect, but it means that through Christ we have access to what the label is truly meant to signify, that Christ’s atoning sacrifice is at work in my life, and that I acknowledge Christ as my Lord and Savior.

Certainly others may find other meanings in the word, they may see the historical problems that have plagued the church, they may see all those who have also been flawed individuals like myself, who have done terrible sins, like myself, who are not able to be called saints, except and only in Christ, like myself. But maybe that is the power of Christianity. It is the power to be reconciled, which starts in Christ’s having suffered for all of us.

We cry out for redemption with one voice, and we proclaim the gospel with the same. That one voice is the living proof that the ministry of reconciliation which Christ has given us is true. Christ associated with the sinners, so should I, even more so, since I myself am a sinner. There is no above-the-rest kind of Christian, we are all humble sinners reconciled through Christ.

~David