Objective Faith

I was listening to a podcast about A Nightmare on Elm Street when I had one of those further moments of realization for why I stopped being Baptist. Wes Craven created many horror films but most famously Freddy Krueger and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Part of his story is that he was raised a strict no fun Baptist (to be fair there are plenty of fun Baptists, that drink, smoke, dance and play cards, but his family wasn’t like that) and he was taught that Jesus was something you had to find and sort of get inside you. Faith is subjective in this sort of Bapticostal worldview, it’s you and Jesus and really how you feel about Jesus. If you have bad feelings then your faith is weak, good feelings your faith is strong.

To be clear there is nothing about being a Baptist that inherently leads to this kind of psychological faith. The anabaptists and Reformed Baptists historically didn’t have this problem. But I think a problem that does come from rejecting a sacerdotal or sacramental view of the church is that moralism usually replaces the sacraments. Being good is how you get close to God. This is a very difficult place to be in, especially as a little kid. Especially as a little boy. Little boys almost can’t behave, it’s like God built them to be hairless raccoons, just getting into everything. That’s part of the tragedy and wonder of little boys, their constant trouble making is also what makes them so endearing.

But there’s not a great roadmap for intimacy with God in a moralistic framework. You can read your Bible and pray, and maybe fast and a few other things. One thing you really can’t do is value the sacramental life of the church because ritual is seen as inherently dangerous, its mere religion. Rituals are not portrayed as holy but as another opportunity for temptation. That’s why they do the lord’s supper in remembrance of, because they are resisting the temptation to see this ritual as effective for something.

But as an Anglican I know how to be intimate with God. The prayer book and liturgy. Is there more? Yes absolutely, but there is not less. And that’s the key. Our communal life is built upon common prayers and a common ritualistic meal where we all equally partake of Christ together, as His bride and body. Moses knew where God was: the tabernacle. The Anglican likewise knows where God is: the people, the sacraments, and the life of prayer. And our prayer life is basically organized scripture, we get scripture in our overt prayers, and the Psalms, and lessons from the Old and New Testaments.

It’s not magic and it’s not empty ritual, it’s the basis of our discipleship to Christ. We confess sin every morning and evening. Acknowledging our constant need for our High Priest to be our mediator in this New Covenant. But the point is we have a roadmap. We know how to find God every day. It’s not nebulous. It may lead to a cloud of unknowing and very confusing things in our lives, but we have that anchor in God holding us steady all the time. Our discipleship isn’t based on how good I can be but how much I’m willing to be faithful to the way of life handed down to us. And that may sound like works righteousness but it’s not, it’s simple obedience, trust, and reliance. It’s faithfulness to God, which isn’t fundamentally about morality or even who we are but who God is. The sacraments are where we meet God objectively, not subjectively. It’s a method for relying upon Him, not upon our own devices and emotions. And yes the danger of ritual and mere religion is always there, but that danger isn’t mitigated by being non sacramental. And if we’re right that God has ordained these things for our good as methods of drawing near to the throne of grace then faithfulness in this scaffolding of faith moves us toward Him especially when we’re failing.

When I’ve failed again, when I’m in despair, I have simple and straight forward tools to get me back into the fight. We live in subjective times and a subjective faith is not going to be enough. The human heart needs sacrament and prayer. We need things we can depend on in our daily life. That may sound boring but it isn’t. This liturgy of faith is a battle and a joy and a deep adventure.

I look at Bapticostal life and I see a lot of chaos, especially for little boys. For mature adults it has more to offer. But structure is good. And Holy Structure is even better.

When our Lord walked on the surface of this planet he had a strict religious observance that he was faithful to everyday. He prayed three times a day. In the morning He put a blue and white prayer shawl on, then tied a piece of leather around His arm and said specific prayers and read specific scriptures. Our God is a God of order and meaning not chaos. Our God is objective not subjective and we have means of drawing near to Him, means that have always been available to those who wanted to follow Him. He commanded us to drink His blood and eat His flesh. The Anglican knows how to do that, we have a method for communing with Jesus based on scripture and the traditions of the Church. Our faith isn’t dependent on us but on the means or grace God ordained in the church for us.