Tuesday, April 3, 2007

More romantic than the Romantics

I hope some will understand me when I say that Christianity has lost a lot of its "mysticism."
By "mysticism," I mean what Wordsworth meant when he wrote "Tintern Abbey" (a good poem to read). The sense of the mysterious, numinous presence of the Living God in our lives is lost to Contemporary Christendom. Everything done today (worship, preaching, church planting, etc.) is done only in the sphere of the here and now, i.e., the physical. Who cares about the voice of God calling to me through the hills, the sea, the laughter, the pain? And who cares about the change that answering such a call would mean in my life? I just want God to improve my stock-portfolio, send my kids to college, keep my heart rate up, and bless me with a bassboat; and of course make us all (how did Master Jenkins put it?) "well adjusted and amiable."
Dr. Callis (another great professor at Crichton College) and I were talking a few days ago, and both agreed that Christianity (in its truest sense) is "more Romantic than the Romantics," that Christianity has always believed there is something greater than us that calls us to itself from the rocks and rills and the daily humdrum of life, that that "something" is God, and that God and our response to His callings are more important than our stock portfolio...or a bassboat.
Perhaps Christians would grow more in Christ if they read Wordsworth...or actually read their Bibles.

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