Church and Community while important are—ultimately—unavailing

As usual,, listening to a PZ podcast leads to mediation and reflection.  In PZ’s most recent, he talks about William Inge’s novel, Good Luck Miss Wyckoff.  Miss Wyckoff is a spinsterly woman who has no one in her life--no one.  Given her desperate need, she winds up in an abusive relationship and then becomes a social pariah. At the end of the book, she still has no one, and the prospects of having someone are virtually non-existent given her infamous notoriety.  Yet, PZ finds this hopeful.  PZ says that religion has been unavailing for her—that community has been unavailing for her.  Yet, PZ finds hope in this.  Is PZ right or wrong?

Once, in a sermon, PZ said that we are islands when we die, directly contradicting that famous poem.  Yet, Miss Wyckoff will not only be an island when she dies, she is an island now.  Zahl says that this leaves her open to the possibility of Oneness.  What is he talking about?

As Jesus said, and Stephen King demonstrated in his wonderful novel: “There is only one needful thing.”  There is only one thing that will satisfy the deepest longing of our hearts for relationship.  With that one thing, we can face life.  Without that one thing, no matter how good our church is or how loyal our friends are, we are to be pitied.  Without that one thing, we are hopeless.  Without that one thing, our lives are ultimately meaningless.

That one thing is the Friend of Sinners.  That one thing is the god/man who came to set the world right, is doing so now, and ultimately will in all respects.

With that one thing in our corner, we have our expectations for our lives satisfied.  We have our expectations for our relationships satisfied.  We can then turn to our lives and to our relationships in a non-needful fashion.  Once our needs are met in The One, we can live our lives with peace, joy, and happiness.  Once our needs are met in The One, we can love others in an availing fashion.

Recently, I offended a pastor when I wrote that some, if not many, churches point people towards the wrong god.  They point people towards a god who places us under the burden of having to earn His pleasure.  They are even underhanded (although usually not intentionally) about it—“you are saved by grace, but if you are saved, this is what you will be doing.” This has the exact same psychological impact as telling people that they have to earn their salvation.  The result is that we then place those around us under these same burdens.  This leads to broken marriages, broken families, and suicide—yes suicide.  Accordingly, I suggested that attending those churches could have negative consequences for one’s life.

The truth is that no church, even good ones, can give us what we need in Christ.  Church is important, but our relationships at church, (home, work, or the neighborhood) while important, are ultimately unavailing.  There is only One relationship that is ultimately availing.  There is only One relationship which frees us from the bondage of “doing.”  Once freed from this bondage, we are free, not required, to love others.  This generates acts of beneficence, kindness, and grace—acts not based upon the “ought to do” but upon the “want to do.”

At the end of the novel, Miss Wyckoff is poised to find this—she is poised to find this relatively early in her life, long before she faces death.  So, Miss Wyckoff has the possibility of living a life with The One, a far greater chance than most of us.