let's pretend...

C.S. Lewis suggests, that entering the Christian life has to start - not literally (or maybe?) by pretending.

When we pretend, our mind is in control, it sets out the various options then reasons as to which one matches our idea of what it is to be Christian, our ‘will’ then wills us to choose this option, and thus a deed is done, a word is spoken, a prayer is offered. As time passes, we soon recognise a shift from our constant conscious reasoning and willing and choosing, we see that the basics of Christian life have somehow been set in place by God and have become second nature to us, and indeed, we begin to be transformed that our very nature itself is more Christ-like. At this stage, we set our sights on something higher, something of God that we have yet to attain, and the process begins again.

But it began by pretending. With make believe.

Now, for some, if not all of us we will find that a little uncomfortable, and not something we could outright agree with, theologically, or even philosophically. And indeed it does not account for the spiritual dynamics involved in salvation, or God’s part in bestowing his grace upon us. But the idea is quite interesting…We cannot speak a new language unless we pretend that we can, by making the first few steps in imitating the words and sounds. Practically speaking, for most of us, we cannot just start being a new Christian if we haven’t ever experienced what that is; we cannot act like it unless we choose to, unless we pretend...But, we choose these things to honour God, and prayerfully he will come alongside us, and work in us the impossible changes that need to occur, so that we can live and speak, and see, and do as he does…

Collectively as the church, it may be similar.

We don’t yet know what it is to be the church, so we look for examples that seem to match our idea of what it is to be the church. We look so we can imitate. We look at traditions, institutions, and we look to scripture, we look at stories in history. The result is quite simply, a mess. So we look at our past experiences; Nine times out of ten, the result is, regretfully, a mess.

Time roles by and a new generation questions the examples given to them. They yearn for something more. Something pure. The way it was meant to be.

They recognise that they are the church, but just like the new Christian who recognises that he has become a Christian, they do not know how to be the church, or what they should be doing.

This is where a great danger comes in. Everyone in the community comes ‘in’ and brings with them their own ideas of what it should look like. When the community gathers everyone has an idea of what should happen. Bonhoeffer defines these ideas openly and honestly as our ‘wish dreams’, motivated involuntarily by our desires for either an easier life, or dominance, or acceptance. The community where I get what I want. The church of ‘me’ is established. He goes on to say the sooner these ideas are killed the better for everyone, not least for the individual who has to let go of their own take on things, to embrace something else of God, whatever that may be; but it will assuredly be something particular for that time, that place, that community of believers.

It is a great danger to keep on talking and creating the lost example of church as a hypothesis, a theory. We get lost in our own wish dreams, in our own preferences, in our rebellion to past experiences, in the things that make it easier for ‘me’ to get in touch with God…

The result will most likely be, once again, painfully, a mess.

Maybe, it’s better to pretend.

Maybe, we could let go of our wish dreams and the ‘trying to figure out what it should look like’ discussions and just begin. You cannot tell what a finished painting will look like before you start, you just have to paint, and keep painting. The end result may look very different to what you expected before you began…

We say it’s all about Jesus. Then let’s start there. We say it’s all or nothing; then let’s us start there. We say it’s about being Jesus to other people, yet at the same time, to see in others the Jesus we want to serve, then let us begin there. If the church is about bringing in the kingdom of God into the every day happenings of the world, then let’s pretend that we are that church, let us begin and give it a go.

It will probably be good to gather together once in a while; to honour God with our life stories and encourage one another in ‘the way’… let us learn from traditions, be enthused by the saints and heroes, and be wise against the traitors and abusers of our faith, let us be inspired by the past, but let us never want to go there. As long as it is called ‘today’, let us enter into what God is doing right now…

And maybe, as we pretend, we may yet be transformed, we may find ourselves being the church, as a second nature, and not just an idea, not just a practise to be performed, not just a sacrament, not just a song to be sung, not just a silence, not just an act of kindness, or a prophetic challenge to injustice – prayerfully, with all our heart, God may come along side us and work in us the impossible changes that need to occur, for the real life of Jesus, seeping and flowing in and through our nature, to consume our very being, and shine a light to the world.

Every step that you take
Could be your biggest mistake
It could bend or it could break
But that’s the risk that you take

ooh, that’s right
lets take a breath,
jump over the side
ooh, that’s right
how can you know it
if you don’t even try?

How can we know if if we don’t even try?
(lyrics from Coldplay song: ‘what if?’ x&y album)