No Conviction
Throughout this summer, I gathered Sunday nights with the Jr. High and High School students of Good Shepherd to construct a story based on the teachings of Jesus, in hopes that it would be transformed into a parable that would, ultimately, transform us.
We also gathered Wednesday afternoons to go out into our surrounding community to engage in acts of service, in hopes that the Kingdom parables we had sought to create would join the ongoing work of the restoration of all things.
Last night, at our End of Summer Pool Party, we concluded both summer-long projects, in a sense, by hearing a parable written by Peter Rollins, entitled “No Conviction.”
One of the students put it best, when, following the story, he simply remarked, “ouch.”
In his book, The Orthodox Heretic and Other Impossible Tales, Rollins comments on this reflection:
This reflection was written after I happened to see a car speed past with a bumper sticker that read, “If Christianity were illegal would there be enough evidence to convict you?” At the time, I didn’t pay this little saying much thought, but over the course of the day it began to take root in my consciousness and play on my mind. So that evening I took some time to imagine such a world and what would happen to me if I lived in it. I was not interested in imagining a world where Christianity as a mere tradition of belief system was illegal but rather in a place where a life that reflected the acts and teachings of Jesus was prohibited.
Yet, in the process of reflecting I began to wonder whether we actually lived in such a world. Rather than reading, “If Christianity were illegal would there be enough evidence to convict you?” – I wondered wether the bumper sticker I had seen that day should actually have read, Christianity is illegal: is there enough evidence to convict you? For if I were really to take the teachings of jesus seriously, would I not sooner or later, find myself being dragged before the authorities? If I were really to live a life that reflected the subversive and radical message of love that gives a voice to the voiceless and a place to those who are displaced, if I were really to stand up against the systemic oppression perpetrated by those in power, then would I not find myself on the wrong side of the lawmakers?
The above story simple exposes the reality of Christ’s subversive teaching by imagining that those who exist in the place of power today are both aware of the fact that they oppose the way of Christ and willing to openly admit it. The story thus has two primary points. First, I used it to express the idea that authentic faith is expressed, not in the mere acceptance of a belief system, but in sacrificial, loving action. Here I reject the inner/outer distinction in which one can fool oneself into thinking that private beliefs are somehow more important or reflective of one’s essence that public actions. Second, I wished to draw the reader into the reflection that perhaps this larger-than-life scenario, in its imaginary description of an alternative universe, is actually merely a reflection of the universe that we already inhabit. By creating a fictional world, we thus come face-to-face with our own world. (The Orthodox Heretic, 7-9)
Tags: Church, Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic
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