Musings - or On Reflection 

30th August
One of the differences between inexperience and maturity in the Christian discipleship journey is the gradual acquisition of nuance and the muting of simplistic binary categories.

An example of a binary trope or category can be found in John Newton’s famous hymn, Amazing Grace, in the phrases,

“I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.”

I am not questioning the reality and necessity of Christian conversion, though admittedly for some people it’s more of a slow burn than a one-off explosive moment, such as featured in John Newton’s classic evangelical conversion experience. However, as we travel, there comes a point when we cross the border between unbelief or ambiguity to firm commitment and discipleship.

But whilst Newton’s insistence on a miraculous, momentary restoration of full sight from blindness may echo Jesus healing miracles, it doesn’t sit well with Paul’s statement about the human condition of committed disciples when he says:

“For now we see only a reflection, as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face.”

First-century looking glasses did not have the industrial polishing of contemporary mirrors and only permitted a cloudy and indistinct reflection of reality, and Paul is helping the factions in the Corinthian Church who claimed to be speaking for God without being godly, to realise that their perceptions would remain partial, cloudy, and incomplete until their earthly pilgrimage was completed and they saw with the clarity of heaven.

Paul’s reflection in 1 Corinthians 13 is aimed at tempering the unhelpful certainty of the warring factions in the church in Corinth by helping them realise the limits of human knowledge and perceptions about spiritual things and things to come.

It encourages the recognition that though we are given new insights and experiential clarity at conversion, we may not yet see the whole picture or grasp much of the subtle detail of reality.

The simple binary clarity of Charismatic: good; Liturgical sacramentalism: bad or vice versa, Prodestant good, Catholic: bad or its reverse; and Conservative or Fundamentalism: good, theologically aware Biblical literary awareness: bad (simple binary categories) ignores a more nuanced and subtle reality.

Whilst the experiential dimension of charismatic worship can be life-giving to the young, the latent fundamentalism in Charismatic circles, requiring a simplistic, literal reading of scripture, can prevent the nurture and growth required to maintain a lifetime of discipleship and engagement with scripture, blinding us to the Bible's literary and theological riches.

An exclusively Catholic spirituality may prevent us from spiritual engagement through an excessive sacramentalism, whilst a purely puritanically low church Protestant path may blind us to the nurturing power of liturgy, sacrament and beauty in worship.

As we grow, we begin to see the subtleties, the shadow side of every Christian tradition as well as its benefits and realise with a godly humility the provisionality of our perceptions and knowledge.

Far from making us ineffective, wishy-washy, or compromised, this gives us a depth of spirituality, a wisdom and catholicity that enables us to sustain a lifetime of discipleship and growth.