Just Sing Along

Frank Schaeffer reflects on his childhood as an evangelical:

By the early 1970s the evangelicals had come up with a whole alternate America—"Christian" education, radio, rock, makeup, publishing, schools, weight loss, sex manuals, and politics. It wasn't about being something but about not being "secular," about not having nudity, sex, or four letter words. What it was for no one knew.
[…]
What is so strange is how evangelicals learned to use all those worldly tools that I was once forbidden from even seeing. As a young child I was living in a strict "separated-from the-world" environment. By the time I was in my late teens my parent's rejection of the culture changed. My parents and other fundamentalists took to calling themselves "evangelicals" and began to use the culture's methods against the culture. We went from no "jazzy music" (let alone rock!) to Christian rock, and from no "worldly politics," to taking over the Republican Party.

In effect we became Muslims. We went from preaching the Kingdom-Of-God as being in heaven, to proclaiming Christ as the King of this earth. It was our mirror image of a radical Islam that proclaims God's law as earthly law.

Later in this story, he tells about visiting his mother, now 93 and without sight because of macular degeneration. She lives in Switzerland. When they go out, a favorite destination is a hotel with a resident pianist.

When the pianist sees Mom he starts playing Cole Porter tunes. Mom—diminished and frail—stands by the baby grand and dances a freeform old lady version of the Charleston. Everyone in the bar watches and applauds. Breathless and happy, Mom doesn't talk about the music as something that might be "used for the Lord," let alone denounces it as "worldly," she just sings along, somehow remembering the words.

I wish Mom had danced when I was a child. During my early childhood she always said: "Real Christians don't dance. It isn't pleasing to the Lord." I never knew how sad that belief must have made her.

[excerpts from: Frank Schaeffer, "This Blood's For You!", Huffington Post, 4 December 2006.]

Posted on December 4, 2006 at 18.43 by jns · Permalink
In: All, Common-Place Book

One Response

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  1. Written by S.W. Anderson
    on Tuesday, 5 December 2006 at 01.22
    Permalink

    This brought to mind that, "to every thing there is a season, and a purpose under heaven."

    I've heard it said that faith isn't a destination but a journey, and people who fail to realize this make of their faith and themselves something diminished.

    This also brings to mind that faith can be like a good, stiff drink. Done right, the drink can lift the spirits and brace the body against cold or pain. Done wrong, it's just the ignition for a runaway ride toward self-destruction.

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