Onward, Christian Soldiers

Sarah Hey, a regular contributor to the StandFirm web site, recently published a book called Little Stone Bridges, which is available at Cafepress.com. The subtitle of the book is "A Battle Plan for Christians in A Faith under Siege." The synopsis at Cafepress reads:

Little Stone Bridges is Sarah Hey's collection of remarkable essays on the crisis in the Episcopal Church. First published at the web site Stand Firm, Sarah's essays on holding your ground in the increasingly apostate Episcopal Church have strengthened thousands of readers.

The series of essays began with "Little Stone Bridges & Why We Fight For Them" and progressed with a series of "Strategy 101" pieces. I understand some changes were made when the essays were edited for the book, but I doubt they were major. They are worth reading and can be found on the StandFirm site with a little digging (their search engine isn't always easy to use and sometimes tells you there is nothing matching your request when you know darn well you have seen it on the site).

Since reading the first essay, I have been pondering the military imagery used by many conservatives as they speak and write about the ongoing squabbling in the Anglican Communion. Of course, we liberals are prone to use military imagery ourselves. After all, it is part of our Christian heritage. Military images and scenes of warfare are tragically familiar to every human being. Since we understand them so easily, we are often quick to use them as shorthand to describe contentious--and not so contentious--conversations in which we are engaged.

The problem is that using the language of warfare in our conversations and writings can quickly bring us to a place where the issues are seen as matters of life and death. From there it is a short step to religious heresy trials, civil lawsuits over property, and even real violence. Remember, the very first Crusade was not to "free" Jerusalem from the Muslims. It was against other Christians in Europe whose beliefs were seen as threatening and declared heresy by powerful secular and religious leaders.

None of us in the church has the whole truth, the whole image, or the whole story when it comes to God and the faith that binds us together, whether we like it or not. The question is, how do we learn to live together in the Community Jesus gave us without tearing each other's, hopefully metaphorical, throats out? At this point I am not sure if we can step back from the brink, because we may already have fallen over it. And if so, are we headed for divorce court or Armageddon?

Peace,
Jeffri