from Babel to Pentecost / Hope in Failure

One thing about Hauerwas that's refreshing to a beleaguered Christian in the UK is his assertion that Christ is the 'Way, the Truth and the Life' - a universal truth, but not at all a triumphalist one (or 'universalist'). Somewhere in his lecture he said something like 'before getting too involved in conflict resolution you need to get your Christology right'. This was for the sort of bleak reasons that Lou Reed, Morrissey or Nick Cave might cite : "Because you may have to watch the innocent suffer for your convictions. Violence may in the short term get worse as a result of your action." Hmm.

But it occurs to me the point made several times in his lecture is not so different from the central assertion in my address for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (full text at www.urctemplecowley.org.uk), given at St James Church of England, Cowley. Our starting point, each day, is a broken and divided humanity, whose Babel attempts to unify society seem to be frustrated by a God wary of losing his universal authority (Genesis 11:1-9). Jesus's crucifixion means many things to many people, but it seems to me that if nothing else it suggests that the hope of unity — unity of all things, not just the Church — begins with a recognition and acceptance of brokenness and division, and an embracing of this apparent failure in humility, love, obedience and hope.

In short, Unity begins — daily — at the foot of the cross. There can be nothing triumphalist or imperialist about such a message. The Christian vision of 'holding it all together' seems to be a paradox. Unity and reconciliation will only come when we recognise what a dangerous vision it is, and act as if we're building 'the kingdom' from scratch each new morning.
Lou Reed kind of - well, kind of - had it right in his 'Busload of Faith' (on the New York album):

You can't depend on your family
You can't depend on your friends
You can't depend on a beginning
You can't depend on an end
You can't depend on intelligence
You can't depend on a god
You can only depend on one thing
You need a busload of faith to get by.