Young when asked what her mission was said this,
“… But I want the world to be a better place, I want people to try harder. I want to strive for radical earnestness and sincerity. I’m trying to do the best job I possibly can and to put my abilities into projects I believe are sincerely endeavouring to make the world a better place.”[1]
On meeting three students, all of whom professed no faith, no interest in church, understood spirituality and wanted to give God a good telling off, there was a profound shift in my perception of this generation; the older amongst the population like to call snowflakes. The consultation was arranged by a new person of peace in Anderby college, not to be confused with Handerby college. There is an interest in Anderby College, which is really an ancient seminary, the oldest of its kind in this country and I am drawn to the grounds of the college most weeks, in the summer to watch the playing of cricket by colonial types and in the winter to watch unbreakable young people sit on cold, damp grass, (did their grandmothers tell them nothing).
And so, it was on a November Tuesday at noon, we met in the coffee shop adjacent to Aldi, sitting on the comfy sofa banquettes. In my head I had the four headings, and after introducing myself and the headings I left them talk, with little direction apart from moving to the next heading. They spoke of this God that I didn’t know, but perhaps I, in the past, when they were going astray I may have been in the same place as them. This God allowed suffering; domestic violence, starving children and egregious acts of terrorism. This God was distant and not interested, for one student “he doesn’t exist but when I die, I hope it is not just darkness.”[2]
Church had no relevance to them, and they articulated this well. One student explained, “my friend had a baby and when I visited she was all about the christening. My friend and I stopped going to church together when we were like 13, so I asked what she was about getting the child christened, and her friend replied, ‘that’s what we do.’”[3] I pressed them a bit into the word church, and they talked about their grandparents’ faith and religion. There was a true admiration for their faith, which was mingled with an on-going grief. Again, it was perceived as God’s fault that one of the student’s mother had lost both her parents and three siblings in two years. One of the students came from Greek Orthodox background and their mother still attended church regularly. ThCharon’s obol
e student would go with the parent but professed no faith, but the other two students from rural Ireland would only go for close relatives’ anniversaries, month mind masses and funerals.
They all professed to having no faith in God, they had faith in their best friends, parents and had faith in their grandparents’ faith. They had less to say about this than anything else. Faith appeared to be a female characteristic, aware that the society of Ireland now has absent fathers, divorce, co-habiting and other forms of relationship I was wary of asking about grandfathers and fathers but felt compelled to do so. The female relatives one generation removed for the two rural dwellers, professed to faith but not to church. One said, “church is not a building,”[4] and they went onto to say it is how you treat people. The men had left the church in all but culture a generation before, they kept the rules of the church but for all generations they knew nothing of the love. Indeed if I was to encounter this distant God who smote at will, had church leaders who were depraved sexually (not all), and where the cloak of secrecy was shrouding any person in public life, (and this continues today), I would be offended, holding secondary offence like a flag as I retreated to locate the God of love I know in my core exists. Frost, although talking from a Protestant point of view does describe church well, when he says, “quaint, old-fashioned church culture of respectability and conservatism.”[5]
I expected and therefore was not surprised when the majority of the conversation was around the word spirituality. Yes, they were spiritual. The Greek Orthodox student was beginning to get interested in crystals. There others were interested in Buddhism and specifically meditation and mindfulness. Interestingly, the nuance of the conversation shifted, and it was into this space I felt called to listen closely and double listen. In Christendom the only religion taught in most schools was the state religion, post-Christendom the curriculum has changed. World religions are taught, the teachers of religion do not need a faith to be a teacher of religion and “anything goes” as long as no one is harmed. Many years ago, a preacher delivered a sermon on the four types of ground in the parable of the sower and when describing seed on the path said, “there is no need to waste time here, they are atheists, let’s move on.” With this attitude listening to the students talking about their seeking (take either the country and western “looking for love in all the wrong places”[6] or indeed the rhyme of the Scarlet Pimpernel, “We seek him here, we seek him there, …seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven? — Is he in hell?… elusive Pimpernel”)[7] would result in the person of faith walking away to more instant success. The conversation changed when I asked about ‘thin places[8],’ a Celtic, (pre-Christian and Christian) phenomenon described thus, “They probe to the core of the human heart and open the pathway that leads to satisfying the familiar hungers and yearnings common to all people on earth, the hunger to be connected, to be a part of something greater, to be loved, to find peace.”[9]
Firstly, they all outrightly stated no, never heard of or been to a thin place. But then the space was created for further discussion. The robins came first and by robins I mean robins, butterflies, feathers and bluebottles. These creatures or items appeared just after the point of death for a relative, or when the person was feeling sad, or when they thought of the departed loved one. For example, “the robin appears at the windowsill of the room I am in every time and I think grandad is just checking in to see that everything is ok.” The butterfly appeared in a pub when the student was on a night out but still grieving for their gran. A butterfly fluttered behind the bar and the student was able to join in with the frivolities of student bar life. The bluebottle was in the room of the deceased and remained near the dead body, the wife of the deceased would not allow the blue bottle be destroyed as she believed it was her husband. Folklore faith and inherited faith are what is left in Ireland, in the main.
This fills me with hope because there is faith, they cannot articulate it, it is directed erroneously in reincarnation, Buddhism, new age spirituality, a cornucopia of syncretism but underpinned with the hunger and thirst all human beings have for something more.[10] Duffett is quite right when he talks about the creativity of sharing the message, “such a message must be embodied in our very lives, and needs to be communicated in a myriad of different ways, not just through preaching.”[11] Students are not going to rock up to a church building at 10 am on a Sunday morning to hear someone proclaim any news, never mind the Good News. Evangelism and mission have to be about building human relationships whilst sharing Jesus by the way a life is lived[12] no matter what the circumstance.
Paul’s call to us rings out, through the centuries of misuse, to win souls for Christ, not through coercion, threat of violence, slavery, employment but through becoming a social chameleon like Paul.[13] Although Paul begins this passage with preaching there is a wider context that was expanded on by Francis of Assisi who quite rightly said, “Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words.” An interesting take on this is found at herculture.org which encourages the use of sloganed clothing and owned possessions such as a car, visibly carrying a bible, praying in public, listening to Christian music and using social media to get others curious about faith.[14] Duffett conversely uses street gimmicks (giveaways, praying bench, free hugs {not in Covid}) but also uses his immense gift as an artist and prophetic painter to reach the lost, lonely and afraid. In one account he painted a sailing boat with the number nine and gave it to a bloke in a pub. The bloke was touched because 9 represented the house he shared with his deceased wife.[15]
Sharing the good news is not difficult, it is amazing, good news and everyone needs to hear it but we have lost our ability to do so effectively, perhaps by professionalisation. Added to that fear of the unknown response to the sharing of the good news. Addison[16], has a very simple and effective evangelism tool that can be used by anyone who is given the confidence to use it. The methods and the words matter but not as much as the confidence of the person delivering the good news. It is not the tool but the craftsperson and their confidence in their ability. Young, describing a pandemic panic thought perhaps she was a poet rather than an actress[17] and perhaps that is where Christians and the Church are at present they could live missional lives but choose to live insular lives, they could share how Jesus has transformed their life but choose the safer route of an hour on a Sunday.
How will student like the three that were met in a coffee shop ever going to hear about Jesus if the Church remains close-lipped and exclusive? Singlehurst is kinder to the past generations adding, “we are now in a new day, so we need to think in a new way and act in a different way.”[18] One of the churches I served tried something different having a seisean instead of a traditional harvest thanksgiving service. The reasons were to make it comfortable for seekers and to have a celebration in the middle of the pandemic. However, the old school evangelists of the congregation were horrified at Irish music, clapping, swaying (dare I say dancing), whooping and shouting. They would agree with Singlehurst’s “In the old way of thinking, evangelism was about telling people the ‘truth[19]’. The seekers loved it and have returned, as Singlehurst puts it, “What we in the church desperately need is love – to be touched by God’s love for this world.”[20] Claiborne asserts that it wasn’t the healings that drew people to Christ, when he healed the leper he not only healed but he touched – he added the personal touch, unconditional love and compassion, “Más que sanar al leproso, el hecho significativo es que Jesús lo tocó ya que en ese tiempo nadie tocaba a los leprosos.”[21] Hirsch helpfully (in Covid-19 times) describes Missio deo as a ‘sneeze-like[22]’ influence that allows movement, much like Addison describes the movement of the gospel from Paul through named people, then reliable people to others.[23]
The students with their folklore faith that touched on many aspects of religion from a variety of sources have seeds planted within them by relatives, teachers and friends. A path can sometimes look barren but in the inch or so below its surface it is teeming with life. These articulate, funny, brilliant students have the proverbial God shaped hole in their lives, it is filled with junk of myths like Charon’s obol and flitting visits by robins but as we meet again over this coming year, maybe they will hear and see something of the lavish love that comes from God.
[1] Young, O. interviewed by Hermione Hoby, https://on.ft.com/3FlXJHG 15/11/2021 retrieved 16/11/21
[2] I see the glimmer of hope here, the opposite of darkness is light and Jesus is the light of the world.
[3] church is seen a place in society and culture, nothing to do with relationship or faith.
[4] amen to that
[5] Frost, M, 2006, Exiles: living missionally in a post-Christian culture, Baker books, Grand Rapids.
[6] Mallett, W., Morrison, B. and Ryan, P., 1980, [song] Looking for love, Full Moon New York.
[7] Orczy, E., 1905, The scarlet pimpernel, Greening, London.
[8] “Thin places are places of energy. A place where the veil between this world and the eternal world is thin. A thin place is where one can walk in two worlds – the worlds are fused together, knitted loosely where the differences can be discerned or tightly where the two worlds become one.” from the website https://thinplacestour.com/what-are-thin-places/ accessed 16/11/2021
[9] Burgoyne, Mindie, 2021 https://thinplacestour.com/what-are-thin-places/ Hag Tours, Maryland
[10] John 3 – Nicodemus comes searching for answers.
[11] Duffett, C., 2013, Smack heads & fat cats, Gilead Books, Malton.
[12] Titus 3:14, 1 Peter 2:12
[13] 1 Corinthians 9:16-23
[14] https://www.herculture.org/posts/2019/12/18/ways-to-share-the-gospel-without-saying-a-word accessed 16/11/21
[15] email from Chris approx. 5 years ago when we were discussing pub prophetic art. I don’t have the email anymore but this folklore faith of finding meaning in a painting. Not that it wasn’t there but the sailing boat, the sea, the weather none of that was relevant, so is it dispensed to robins and bluebottles or because a Christian painted it and it evoked a response does that make it of God. It is what happens afterwards that wins the soul for Christ. As I write this a butter fly has appeared in my locked study and is fluttering at the window – folklore faith or a message from God!
[16] www.movements.net and workshop audio files from NewWine:United 2016.
[17] https://on.ft.com/3Fl3OUz accessed 16/11/21.
[18] Singlehurst, L., 2006, Sowing, reaping, keeping, IVP Books, Nottingham. p. 9
[19] Singlehurst, L., 2006, Sowing, reaping, keeping, IVP Books, Nottingham. p.9
[20] Singlehurst, L., 2006, Sowing, reaping, keeping, IVP Books, Nottingham. p.9.
[21] Claiborne, S., 2011, Revolución Irresistible, Vida , Florida (apologies the copy I have is in Spanish) p. 72.
[22] Hirsch, A., 2016, The Forgotten Ways, Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids. p. 105.
[23] Addison, S., 2012, What Jesus started, joining the movement changing the world, IVP Downers Grove. p. 153.
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