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November 17, 2005
Allegories , Faith : The Journey of Christianity
In the first century, Christianity was known as "The Way" in some circles. Since then allegories like "Pilgrim's Progress" and "Hind's Feet on High Places" have built on the idea of the Christian life as a journey we take. As metaphors for our individual progress in the faith, these allegories are fine; but I always felt that these stories implied that we all took the same exact journey and we each took it isolated from each other. I believe neither of these facts are quite true, so let me propose a different allegory.
I tend to think of the Christian experience as a vast land with varied terrain – mountains, forests, hills, deserts, swamps. Scattered throughout this land are altars which we must travel to. As we reach each altar, we are asked to sacrifice some part of ourselves on the altar; but for everything we sacrifice, God gives us a piece of himself to take its place, so that as we progress from altar to altar, we start to look more and more like Him. Some altars we must visit several times, giving up small pieces of ourselves with each visit, while others represent larger steps in our transformation.
The altars are all connected by roads of various kinds, where each road leading to a given altar is designed to prepare the traveler for the sacrifice they must make. A road through a dark and spooky forest leads to an altar where we must sacrifice our fears. A steep climb up a mountain leads to an altar where we release those things which burden us. A path that leads across several narrow boards serving as bridges lead to an altar where we must sacrifice those things that unbalance us.
There is also a maze of other roads in the land, all of which lead to nowhere, looping back on themselves or ending abruptly.
Each of us is called to travel to each altar; but not all in the same order, nor by the same routes. Each of us has a unique and individual route through the altars which God has planned for us. We each must look to God to discover the route we personally must take, and we must follow his directions lest we get lost in the mazes.
In our travels, we don't always succeed. Perhaps we start up the mountain trail and become too tired and turn around before we reach the altar. While God is saddened by such failures, he continues to work with us, sending us to some other altar next instead, only to bring us back to the road we turned back on at some point in the future so we can try again. Some of us know the feeling of being brought back to the same road time and time again until we finally make it all of the way to the altar.
In all this, the church is a kind of wayside inn - a place for us to gather, rest, and be refreshed; but most important it is a place where we fellow travelers share the stories of our travels. I picture the dinning room at the inn to be filled with large communal tables that allow us all to sit together as we eat and share stories.
Sometimes we tell stories of victory – "It took me four tries; but I finally made it to the altar at the top of the steep mountain road!" – giving the others at the table a chance to rejoice with us and (for those who have not made it yet) be encouraged that it is possible.
Sometimes we tell stories of defeat – "I got so scared in the forest, I could help myself, I ran back out before I reached the altar." – giving the others at the table a chance to comfort us.
Sometimes we tell stories of experience – "I discovered when taking the winding road through the swamp, that if I stayed in one place too long, my feet sunk into the muck, making it harder to move. To get to that altar, you really need to just press on, no matter how weary you get" - giving the others at the table who have not made it to that altar yet some help when their time comes.
All of us have the responsibility to tell our stories as we gather at the table, and to listen to everyone else's stories as they are told. The easiest way to become lost and discouraged in our travels is to spend all of our time at the inn hiding, alone in our rooms. That is bad for us; but it is also bad for our fellow travelers. You never know when your stories (even unsuccessful ones) are just what someone else needs to hear in order to succeed in the next leg of their journey.
The inn, by the way, has no staff. Some of the travelers, as they stop at the inn in the midst of their own journeys, take turns cooking the food, serving it, changing the sheets on the beds, doing the laundry for everyone. In doing so they give others a chance to focus more on their own travels; but we mustn't forget that those who serve are fellow travelers too, still making their way through the sequence of altars God has prepared for them. We must also remember that theirs are not the only stories to be told or listened to, they serve in order to give us all more chance to share our own stories without being distracted by the chores.
Posted by Steven at November 17, 2005 05:20 PM
Comments
The problem with allegories of this kind is the implied presumption that each of us has a long life to achieve the desired visits. Unfortunately, that is far from true.
People die young (e.g. military) or foolishly (e.g. racing cars). Many die before such journeys can even be started, let alone finished, because of no fault of their own (e.g. childhood disease or malnutrition).
So while your concept makes me warm and fuzzy, the scientist in me says it can't be thus. I'd need to understand why the irresponsible hellion or the innocent child might be taken with their journey unstarted.
Posted by: Roland at November 18, 2005 08:35 AM
Roland,
First, I failed to make clear in my post that I do not think anyone has the ability to visit but a small subset of the altars in their life, no matter how long they live; and therefore the process of transformation is inevitably incomplete. What matters is not how far you get; but how you made the journey.
Also, this was intended as a metaphor for the Christian Life, not for Life in general. Those who have not embraced Christianity are not on the journey I describe; their fate is not included in this story. As you suggest, allegories are by nature limited in their application. I write this as a way to express my own experience of God - to explain how being a Christian "feels" to me, nothing more.
What happens to the irresponsible hellion or the innocent child is perhaps a subject for another post, although to be honest I have my own questions about "those who have never heard" which would make any such post incomplete and inconclusive; but perhaps acknowledging that my own understanding of Christianity is incomplete is a good thing in its own right.
Posted by: Steven at November 18, 2005 09:45 AM
All of our understandings of Christianity are incomplete. Acknowledging that makes you more enlightened than most...
Posted by: Roland at November 18, 2005 01:24 PM
