The Haxtun-Fleming Herald - What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope

Defining personal boundaries and borders can be a daunting task on the best of days, yet we know that life is generally better when we understand our limitations and constraints. For some, simply being clear regarding those boundaries is helpful; this is where I am, where I intend to be, or where I hope to land. Removing gray areas allows us to function more objectively in decision-making processes. Right is right, wrong is wrong. No sense muddling up the choices in between.

Learning to live with our convictions can be admirable but such convictions can also become stumbling blocks that prevent us from experiencing something more expansive. As church folk, we are quite good at manufacturing boundaries that keep us safe and secure from the rest of the world. It is a position antithetical to the ways of Jesus.

Some of the boundaries are of our own making. We first encounter them from previous generations replete with attendant bias and prejudice. That’s not all bad because there is at least a relatively secure foundation to work from, even if the above ground structure must be razed to begin anew. One key is in understanding that religion is much more nuanced, challenging, and profound than what landed in our laps in earlier years.

What boundaries and biases have changed as we have gotten older? Are they better or worse? It would be nice to imagine we have learned from experience and grown wiser in the process. Instead, it feels as though we treat religion as some kind of merit badge that we wear prominently on our sleeves so that everyone will know what good Christians we are. How many people have been inoculated from religion by just such projections and attitudes?

Instead of building ever higher walls to preserve the faith, our challenge is to discover the sacred in the profane and tear down the walls between the two while taking our clues from the plainspoken work of Jesus who served others without condition or reservation.

In the meantime, we have opportunities each day to change the nature of the boundaries that keep people out or invite people in. What may have worked in the past will be vastly different in the future. Can we draw relevancy from ancient manuscripts pieced together by a multitude of authors and copyists without reverting to lowest common denominator analysis?

“Secularism” is regaining popularity as the most despised word in Christendom. It’s a wakeup call for the church to get out of its pew and move with intentionality toward a larger more inclusive definition of who God desires us to be. Are our parameters clear? Are we honest enough to admit what works and what doesn’t as we bind ourselves to Christian principle?

As we travel together, we must acknowledge and respect each other’s journey, each other’s path, even when it might be divergent from our own. The prophet Micah asks, “What does the Lord require?” How about less bluster and more action, less bickering and more reconciliation, less fealty to paint-by-number religion and more compassionate spirituality? Holster your scriptural swords and references to vengeful gods, they are not welcome here. It’s time to reexamine borders and boundaries that constrain and begin taking responsibility for who we are rather than who others are not.