Religionless.

If religion is only a garment of Christianity…then what is a religionless Christianity?… I often ask myself why a "Christian instinct" often draws me more to the religionless people than to the religious, but which I don't in the least mean with any evangelizing intention, but, I might almost say, "in brotherhood."

~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Give up your good Christian life and follow Jesus

~ Garrison Keillor

The great German theologian and pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote several letters to friends in 1944, just before he was executed by the Nazis, letters in which he used a provocative phrase, “religionless Christianity.” It seems he was grappling with, and grieving, the complete failure of the Christian church to resist the evil being perpetrated on the world by Hitler. And he seemed to imagine a world in which people would love and follow the person of Christ without the trappings of religion. That vision seems to be fast approaching.

Many Christians I know bemoan a post-Christian America (and cling to the fiction that America was originally Christian), conflating the fall of public confidence in the organized church with the fall of our faith. I can appreciate that sense of loss because even though our founding fathers were not technically Christian, we did inherit a cultural and political dominance that has steadily eroded as our country becomes more diverse and as Christians increasingly exodus the organized church. But is this change a good thing or a bad thing? Bonhoeffer was pondering the same question…

If our final judgment must be that the Western form of Christianity, too, was only a preliminary stage to a complete absence of religion, what kind of situation emerges for us, for the church? How can Christ become the Lord of the religionless as well? Are there religionless Christians?… In that case Christ is no longer an object of religion, but something quite different, really the Lord of the world. ~ Bonhoeffer to Eberhard Bethage, April, 1944

So is a post-Christian world better or worse? I could make an argument for either, but ultimately, I believe this move will benefit the cause of Christ and is a sign of hope rather than despair. I don’t want to misinterpret Bonhoeffer, but I wonder if he too anticipated a world in which the trappings, the misappropriations, and even the abuses of our faith would fall away and we might be left with something simpler, more trustworthy, more organic. Something more akin to the early church in its powerful powerlessness.

The early church was certainly not hamstrung by its lack of political largesse or social clout; in fact, it thrived in that environment. I’m not asking for persecution, don’t get me wrong, but if the ten commandments cannot be posted in government buildings, I’m not sure that’s cause for distress. Maybe if we simply start living out the ten commandments, we might make better progress.

What is bothering me incessantly is the question of what Christianity really is, or indeed who Christ really is, for us today, Bonhoeffer confided vulnerably to his friend. Is it the buildings, is it the cultural heritage, is it the body of dogma… are these the container of Christ? Or is it the living, breathing Spirit who animates us, who bestows belovedness, and who extends healing through our compassionate touch?

I invite us to wrestle with this question of a “religionless Christianity.” In what ways might this vision call forth the best from today’s church and allow us, like the first church, to thrive in this season? Don’t be too quick to assume that your faith practice is already “religionless”; we all carry our own baggage and blind spots. Where do our unexamined habits, structures, and beliefs actually hinder us from living out the life of Jesus and bringing his hope to our neighbors?

growing the soul

Religion isn’t inherently bad; it’s Latin root draws from the word “ligament,” meaning to re-ligio or re-connect us with God and one another. What is reconnecting you these days?

serving the world

And how is Christ-in-you reconnecting you with the needs of the vulnerable around you these days?

takeaway

Powerful & Powerless.