by Glenn Hager
It is so easy to enumerate what I am done with when it comes to religion. It is profoundly more difficult to figure out what to hang onto. I feel like I should occasionally ask myself this question to see if I am total heretic or just a free spirit.
Less and less, is an accurate description of what I am hanging onto, but I am hanging onto those things tighter and tighter.
I could make a massive list of stuff I let go of and another massive list of stuff I don’t know. But this list will be short.
I am hanging onto Jesus.
He is my model for how to live and it’s a model I very often fail to live up to.
He loved outcasts, the diseased, the foreigner, the poor, and the hated.
He rebuked the corrupt and powerful, especially, the religious power brokers.
He was humble, but shockingly truthful.
He told stories that people related to. He was not a theologian and did not preach an expository sermon.
He occasionally confounded and challenged people to go deeper in their understanding.
He was a healer. Though I do not possess divine ability, I can still be a healer of hearts.
He gave people hope for now and for eternity.
I am hanging onto love.
It’s hard to do when people are unlovely.
It’s hard to remember when we get consumed with ourselves and forget about others.
It’s hard to figure out what loves means for an individual.
It’s hard to be nice, or even decent, at time, let alone loving.
But love really works to touch people deeply, like nothing else.
It’s our primary responsibility here on earth.
I am hanging onto truth.
I do believe in objective truth, but what I am referring to is belief and behavior that is so true, it works its way out in regular life. It is real, raw, and not academic, esoteric, or theoretical. It doesn’t require its own subculture. It works in life with all its celebrations and challenges, achievements and disappointments, and triumphs and tragedies. It’s integrated not separated.
I am hanging onto hope.
I believe we can live in peace in this life. I believe we can become more loving. I believe we can live gracefully, gratefully, and joyfully. I believe we can reset to living life this way, even when we get thrown a few curve balls.
I believe there is hope for this life and the next and the next, though we have only a scant few clues and promises about that.
I don’t have any ideas about how to “fix church” or make it more relevant. I often wish I did because after all those years of church, that slot is still not completely filled.
It seems like it gets messed up when we begin to organize it and institutionalize it.
This is a pretty strange statement of beliefs, but it is mine.
Glenn Hager is a former pastor, newspaper columnist, magazine contributor, blogger (glennhager.com), and author of two books. He also designs lighting (http://doo-dads.com/). Glenn and his wife, Patty live in northeastern Illinois.
Done with Religion 