Standing in the Middle

There is an old Hassidic tale of a student who asks the rabbi, "Teacher, why does the Torah say, 'place these words upon your hearts'? Why does it not tell us to place these words in our hearts?" And the rabbi responds, "It is because, as we are, our hearts are closed, and we cannot place the holy words in our hearts. So we place them on top of our hearts. And there they stay until, one day, the heart breaks and the words fall in."

Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan said much the same thing: "God breaks the heart again and again and again until it stays open."

The way of Christ—the way of keeping the heart open—is, in its own way, quite simple. But never, ever, ever make the mistake of thinking it is easy. As G.K. Chesterton once said, "Christianity has not been tried and found lacking. It has been found difficult and left untried." And it is difficult because it demands that our hearts be willing to be broken and yet to stay open as Mary's, to be wounded and yet forgive as the prodigal father, to be fearful and yet face Pharaoh with the courage of Moses, to give all we have yet live in abundance as the impoverished widow, to fail miserably and yet try again as Peter, to proclaim life and yet die as Jesus, to walk the wrong path, and yet turn around as Paul. It is to love in and into the cruciform way of life, and to resolve that we will be part of the world's needed healing and not part of its continued wounding. It is to stand in the gap between a world that glorifies power and violence and in response to proclaim a message that is perceived as weakness and to walk a Way that is understood to be unrealistic. Christianity has not been tried and found lacking. It has been found difficult and left untried.

If we are to be a church where no one will look at us and see the impression of what has hurt us but rather the image of the one who called us, then we must be willing to stand in the gap: to stand in the gap between the world's violent reaction to its pain and God's loving response to that same pain. We must be willing to stand in the gap between fundamentalist beliefs that violently condemn others as wrong and a faith of light and love that teaches that the Way of Christ is more about behavior and less about creeds. We must be willing to stand in the gap between a world that glorifies the tomb of shock and awe and the God that offers the womb of grace and awe. We must be willing to stand in the gap between our own fear-based reactions and our faith-based responses, and have the courage to be, and to choose, and to walk with Christ and all faithful pilgrims who choose life over death, love over fear, generosity over scarcity. The Christian Church must ever be willing to stand in the gap between the ways and values of the world, and the Way and Value of Life.

May it be ever so.