Talking about Religion…

I’ve had six phone calls today. More than half were from friends wanting to share something with me, something they’d liked and believed I would like, too: one told me about a movie I had to see (he’d just seen it), another about a place I had to eat (they knew I’d enjoy because they’d enjoyed it). Two people recommended books.

We share the things of our lives with each other: things we like (and things we don’t), things that matter (and stuff that doesn’t), things that happen to us (and things we hope won’t happen). When we do this, we’re doing more than just talking. We’re telling others (and ourselves, too), who we are, what matters to us, how we understand and define ourselves.

We tell each other about our gall bladders, the grades our kids make in school, and where we want to go on vacation next summer. If we don’t know somebody well, we talk about the weather. If we know them too well, we don’t talk about politics.

Religion is a peculiar topic, especially in the world you and I live in. It’s not polite to talk about it very much, or very deeply. We may know what the religions of our co-workers are, and that Guillermo and Susie, who we play bridge with on Thursdays, go to the Lutheran Church every Sunday, but it’s usually not the done thing to ask much more.

That’s understandable. Our society is on edge about religion, and we don’t quite know how to handle it. It’s supposed to be a private matter, like what we keep in our nightstand drawers, but what we believe about these things cuts close to the bone of who we are. Religion is about What Matters Most—who I am, what my life is about, why I live it the way I do. We are a talkative culture. Ours has been called the Communication Age. But as individuals and as a culture we’ve been trained to evade life’s most basic questions when we talk to each other.

This notion is bolstered when we consider what passes for “religion” in our culture, and religious communication. Televised religion is mostly pathetic and stupid: sentimentalized, money-grubbing, shallow and often heretical. I was stunned a few weeks ago to hear on the news that an oft-quoted television evangelist recommended to a man whose wife was deep in the clutches of Alzheimer’s that divorce was a Christian option, to enable the man to live a more sexually-fulfilled life. With such miserable “representatives” of Christ mouthing such grotesque parodies of the Gospel, it’s no wonder many Christians are unwilling to speak about their faith—or even let it be known.

And yet—St Peter says: “be ready always to give an answer to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you.” Why do you believe in God? Why do you come to church? Why are you willing to get out of that comfortable bed on Sunday morning? What do you get out of it?

Every man and woman, even some teen-agers!—at some point in their lives ask the same Basic Questions: “Why am I here?” “What am I supposed to do with my life?” “Why do bad things happen to me?” “Why did I do that to her?” “What’s wrong with me?”—or, to be succinct—“Why?”

Our Faith is given to us to help us come to terms with these questions. The Church is given to us to help us live out the answers—and as we struggle with them, to share them with each other. Not by shouting on street corners or knocking on doors to tell people about Jesus—but by first knowing yourself what your faith is, and why it matters to you. Christians are to be evangelists—those who share the Good News. The street-shouters and door-knockers are sincere imitations of the real thing. Those who are willing to “give an answer” when it matters—when a friend is hurting or a crisis is looming—this is talking about religion—sharing our faith—in the way that endures. –Fr Gregory Wilcox