Sojourners and Settlers

Every Sunday morning I wake up early and travel to tiny churches in rural areas of middle America. On these drives I drive past tiny little towns, old abandoned communities, and places I could never see myself settling down in. They are places I am simply passing through.

For all those who travel, these places along the road are a common experience. Whether it is on my way back home to Phoenix, when I pass towns like Tucumcari, NM or Hugoton, KS. Or those little communities on the the way to California like Indio, CA or Yuma, AZ. And although I could never see myself residing in these places, there are people that do. There are people content in dwelling in, and living in towns and places that are just places where others just pass through. Places that are by no means the destination.

I use this analogy because it illustrates an interesting trait that characterizes the human experience. There are some who are settlers, who reside and exist in one place for a long time; and some who are sojourners, always on the move. Sojourners are movers, can never stay put, can never rest, and never can call one place home for very long. Settlers stay put, they are planted and the roots run deep. For each type of person, there is considerable comfort in each way of seeing the world, and interacting with it. Neither is better or worst, they are just different. We have all experienced both the security and stability a settler provides, and the adventure and turbulence caused through interaction with a sojourner.

There are settlers and sojourners when it comes to belief as well:

• There are atheists who are wholly settled and concrete in their atheism.
• There are agnostics who float between all different types of theologies.
• There are those that are completely settled in their belief in Jesus and the Bible.
• There are sojourners who journey between all different types of eastern philosophy.

I think this distinction rings true within Christian faith as well. It seems that churches for the most part are full of settlers. People who dwell and reside in their beliefs, often times the beliefs they have always had. They are "pillars of faith," who seem to fully know and understand their beliefs, and unchangingly remain in them. This type of faith is celebrated and sought after, and most churches do a great job of facilitating and maintaining these types of people. This is not a criticism of people who are inclined to this, it is simply an observation.

However, there are the sojourners of faith and belief as well. They constantly are rethinking, questioning, challenging, and adjusting their beliefs; they seemingly come and go between doubt and security, knowing and unknowing. They are open to new ideas and new ways of thinking. Yet, there seems to be little to no room in churches for these sojourners; often it seems that these people are the enemy. You have a better chance of meeting one in a university library, at some coffeehouse or a bar than sitting in a pew, or even a more contemporary, hip and progressive church. These sojourners are often embittered and even hostile to the thought of church. When they do end up in faith communities, they are often shunned or silenced, as they are disruptors of the peace and comfort that settlers thrive in.  Again, neither is better or worst. It is just my experience that the Church is only sufficient for the settlers. Perhaps that is the way it should be.

I see this all the time at the Bible college I attend. Some students are firm in their belief; they have their answers, they know for sure that they want to do vocational ministry as their job, and their faith is unshakeable. And then there are the sojourners. Some struggle between even some of the basics, like whether there is a God or not, whether the Bible has any authority. They do not know whether or not they want to work in some Christian ministry or not. Their beliefs fluctuate, and sway. Sadly, they sometimes fall in the cracks.

Maybe there is there no room for sojourning within faith. Perhaps our beliefs must be concrete to follow Jesus, and to participate in church community.

Or perhaps, over the last two thousand years Christians and churches have removed most, if not all of the wonder, mystery, adventure and sense of journey that can exist from following Jesus. Perhaps there is room for people on the metaphoric journey of faith.

What type of person are you? Are you more of a sojourner or a settler? Do your beliefs reflect more of journey, or more of a confident understanding and certainty?

The cHERch

Augustine once said, “The Church is a whore, but she is my mother.” When I first heard this quote, it pulled a heartstring. It was at a point where I was angry at the established church as I had known it, I was angry at what I thought was an institution that was no longer was really seeking God's heart and pursuing God's people. I saw churches and heard about churches that were irrelevant and outdated. I was hurt, angry and cynical at the Church.

Paul called the church a “body;” a unified and undivided group of people on a mission, each using their abilities and gifts to further advance the peace, love, and grace characterized by the kingdom of God here on Earth. But the Church, since it’s founding, has often been nothing more than a dismembered body; it’s been broken, confused and dismayed. And sometimes it even promotes the darkness of selfishness, power grabbing, oppression, and violence instead of penetrating the world with true light.

The Church traded in a grass roots subversive movement in for the Imperialism of the Constantinian Roman Empire. It traded peace for a crusading slaughter in the Middle East. It traded true uninhibited grace for the seizure of power in the middle Ages and during the Spanish Inquisition. It traded justice for colonialism, and in the “name of God” ordained the slaughter of native “pagan” tribes. Today it trades the sharing of the gospel, social justice, and our mission to save the world in for Jesus t-shirts, Jesus radio stations, privatized religious experiences between believers and of course the American flag.

But sometimes I think further, and I wonder why Jesus left us this task of saving the world until He returns? I wonder why Jesus left the practical impossible and uphill battle to the messiness and brokenness of humanity.

What if today’s Church was focused on its mission? What if everyone who belonged to this body lived and loved just like Jesus, the head of the body, lived and loved? There are pockets and grottos of communities that embody what the Church should look like, that are serving the Lord, neighbors, and enemies peacefully and proclaiming the truly best news non-violently. These communities are freeing the oppressed among them, feeding the hungry and hanging with the lowly. These types of churches embody what it means to be on “mission.” They truly are on board with God’s redemptive plan for the Earth and all that inhabit it.

I have a friend who just like Augustine talked about the Church like it was his mother. He would say, “The Church is my mother, it gave me my spiritual birth. You can tell you’re mother when you disagree, you can cry and weep with your mother when she messes up. You can even get mad and hurt by your mother. But she’s still your mother.”

As we struggle, and wrestle with what it means to be the body and the bride of Christ we have always got to remember that the Church is our mother. Even when she is not acting right, we feel like she is hopelessly loss, when she is whoring herself out; in the end as followers of the Head of this church, we are hers and she is ours. The Church is dirty. It’s got a past that it ought not be proud of, but she is a by-product of those who manage and care for her.

A lot of people, especially in my generation are disenchanted and fed-up with the current expressions of church. The historic outdated-ness and irrelevance of the Body, along with its failures to do the things it ought to and its resistance following Jesus ahead of everything else has resulted in this disengagement with the Church.

A lot of people at the Bible College I attend are perfect examples of this. They come to Bible College passionate about the body, fired up about it, ready to serve and work within it. After four years, education and disappointment they are burned up and burned out and they have yet to even work in a local congregation! The disparity between what the Church is and what it could and should be weighs them down until they want nothing to do with the Church at all. Instead they want to do the biddings of Jesus, but in a non-church atmosphere whether it be as a social worker, or by starting a non-profit or something of the like. They haven’t given up on the principles and the things that Christian communities should be doing. Instead, they have just given up on the way things are currently being done within the Church.

But see, the Church is our mother. We can’t give up on her, just as our Jesus didn’t give up on her. A guy that I really respect and admire not long ago told me one of the simplest, but also one of the most profound things I have ever heard. He said that the people that are the angriest, bitterest, and the most cynical about the Church are the ones that need to be working within it the most. You can run, and even hide behind the great and useful things you are doing, but God’s mission here on Earth starts and stops at His body. We need more influential and passionate individuals to stop turning their back on the Body, and instead start healing her, refining her, and recreating her to be relevant, holy and reverent again.

Run as long as you want, hide as long as you can but the Church needs more people that truly care about it, and who want to see her fulfill her mission. You can’t abandon your mother, especially when she needs you most. It matters even more so when the fate of the world rests upon her shoulders.