October, 2007 Calendar In This Issue: Conversion: Shared Traditions, Faithfully Observed Advent The Susan Tree A Journey Through Prayer Episcopal 101 Steps for a Meditation Liturgical Silence

by The Rev. Hartshorn Murphy

I've been thinking a great deal lately about "conversion." Conversion, in the ancient world, meant to shift belief from one god to another. Part of the genius of the Roman system − and one of the factors which contributed to the Pax Romana (Roman Peace) − was its strategy of incorporating foreign peoples' gods; just as long as the Roman Emperor was understood to be God above all gods. People could believe in as many gods as they could afford to sacrifice to. Indeed, "covering ones bets" often meant sacrificing to multiple gods. Judaism and later Christianity asked believers to convert to a belief and allegiance to the one, true God: Yahweh for the Jews and God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit for the Jewish and later Gentile Christians. Belief, in pagan religion, meant sacrificing to a god in order to get him or her to do what you wanted to be done for you. It's not entirely unfair to call this religious system "superstitious."

What was unique about conversion to Christianity was that, in keeping with Jewish religious practice, it involved a change of belief and behavior. And it was arduous and comprehensive.

Comprehensive in that the converts were expected to forego all other gods and to cling to the Trinitarian God of Christianity. This was non-negotiable. There is but "one Lord, one faith, one baptism." (BCP pg. 299)

Arduous in that the process also meant adopting the behaviors which belief in that God required. And to incorporate those behaviors meant learning what was permitted and what was prohibited and that by both instruction and apprenticeship. Belief, in Christian religion, entailed sacrificial worship and a commitment to walk in "the Way" of Christ. It is appropriate to call this system "true spirituality" in which the goal is to allow God to do what God wants through you.

The process was known as the catechumenate, so named after the catacombs where the initiates and their sponsors met. In it, novice Christians were taught the stories (scripture and its explication) and lived with a seasoned Christian family to learn by example the customs of the faith. Thus there was both a letting go of old behaviors and the establishment of new ones. For example: Christians were prohibited from killing and thus could not serve in the military. A soldier-convert − in Rome more mercenary than citizen soldier- would have to change professions. This apprenticing process could last from one to three years and often involved the whole family.

Once the process was completed - the converts demonstrating both knowledge of the catechism (Greek: "thoroughly sound") and a willingness to live within the bounds of their new faith − they then would be baptized. In the first century, baptism typically happened at the conclusion of the Great Vigil of Easter after the community had recalled the whole of salvation history (God's mighty acts as recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures) and prayed and sung all night. At dawn the new convert to the faith would strip naked and be fully immersed (watery grave). Rising with the sun of Easter, they knew that they had been buried with Christ and had risen with Christ. Their old life was ended and a new white garment given symbolized a new life begun. Baptism was about dying to one set of beliefs and behaviors and being re-born with a new set of beliefs and behaviors. Often this meant a loss of ones family and friends (including disinheritance), and the adoption into a new family and the receiving of new friends.

When Christianity became the formal state religion of the Roman Empire, over time the process was, in a sense, reversed. Since to be a citizen of the "Holy" Roman Empire meant also to be a Christian, Christian morals and ethics were presumed to be transmitted by interlocking cultural/religious systems of formation (church, family, school, law, literature, music etc.). Baptism became more and more a rite of celebration of a new birth and after Augustine in the 4th century, more importantly, a rite which protected newborns from the damnation reserved for unregenerate babies because of the stain of "original sin." As such, baptism which formerly signified and sealed the adoption of living into a new life had taken on an aspect of superstition and "magic."

In time, in societies where Christianity was the sole or at least dominate religion, baptism was privately performed for infants and their families and catechetical instruction − more about doctrine than discipline − was transferred to the newly created rite of confirmation in which young people at the age of reason (12-14) made an adult pronouncement of faith. Confirmation (to "make firm") today continues to serve that function. What has been lost then is a consistent track of Christian formation. Where do folk learn about outlawed or welcomed behavior? In a former age, Roman tradition taught about sin: mortal, venial etc. Fundamentalists have tended to obsess about sexual sins. But how does behavior, positive or negative, get changed?

One of the most effective models we have for amendment of life is the 12-step support group model, which is, historically; a spiritual program. One key element of the program is surrender: to admit that one is powerless over the substance they are addicted to and to recognize that a "higher power" can help. The presence of a community of fellow addicts provides a supportive and nurturing environment in which destructive behavior is corrected, damaged souls healed and positive behavior towards others committed to; which in time leads beyond abstinence to new life (serenity). An additional feature is the appointing of a sponsor to provide support and encouragement along the way. Such a mentor often functions like a "shepherd" to use biblical imagery. The wisdom of the 12 steps is the recognition that a change in activity often precedes a change in identity.

An example from secular history: During the civil rights era, conservatives often argued that morality could not be legislated and that prejudice was a matter of changing people's hearts, which would take time. Be patient. Go slow. Indeed, too hastily enacted laws would only lead to a backlash and more violence. However, civil rights legislation went forward − most especially anti-lynching regulations and federal hate crime legislation. Now, two generations later, we find that racial attitudes have improved because a change in behavior does lead to a change of heart. An old saying is: "sow a deed, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny."

A second formation model is the monastic movement in which the novitiate consists of a series of life professions which moves the novice "religious" through steps of being formed into a new identity as monk or nun.

Are there learnings from the spiritual formation as practiced by the 12-step support groups and by monastics that could help the Church in learning how to better impart Christian virtues (i.e. faith, hope, charity, prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude) and thus bring people to "conversion"?

In this post Christian age, some have suggested that the Church needs to recover the catechumenate; that baptism needs to be much less indiscriminate and that instruction needs to be more extensive. The basic flaw in this approach is that much of it is knowledge based, in the mistaken assumption that conversion of the head (intellect) will lead to conversion of the heart (affections) and the body (actions). But education and information does not necessarily lead to a changed life: our beliefs and actions are often compartmentalized and inconsistent. (The businessperson who says that their family is the most important thing in their life and yet habitually works 60-70 hours per week.)

Perhaps the church needs to be more self-consciously aware of the need to model Christian community by rewarding virtuous living and discouraging, through sanctions, vice. For example: the Quakers shun people who violate their community norms. The Benedictine rule of life is intolerant of "murmuring" because it destroys community. In what ways might contemporary churches discourage backbiting, gossip and innuendo in church community life so that such behavior is rare and even aberrational? Conversely, how might the Church hold up as exemplars those who are generous of spirit, sacrificial of nature and reconciling by affect? Who do we make heroes and who villains?

Leadership in such "emerging" Christian communities would be earned not through worldly success (wealth, education, social status, family history, appearance) but by spiritual maturity. And, of course, the greatest mark of spiritual maturity is the ability to love as Christ loved.

People who come new to churches come seeking a transformed life. Mistakenly they believe they will receive it passively as a reward for participating, even minimally. In this, the Church in our day is often treated like another consumer item and people often move from church to church (or religion to religion) because their old congregation "just wasn't working for me." (Sort of like laundry stain removers). It's not their fault. "Commercial Christianity" is mass marketed on television like any other consumer good but without a money back guarantee.

But what these seekers need to know is that there is a "conversion road" and that it is only about one foot in length − it is the distance between the head and heart. Christianity was not about knowing about Jesus; it was about knowing Jesus. The future church will need to be clearer about this and will need to be more honest about the tolls along the road. There is a cost involved: in order to receive a new life, one needs to let go of the old one. We will need to be more intentional about the road signs as well; those spiritual and behavioral disciplines that must become habitual for growth to occur. A shepherd who can act as a spiritual mentor (what the Celts called an anam cara or soul friend) could serve in a similar role as a sponsor in AA. (Jesus' sending the disciples out "two by two" suggest that such "partnering" should be normative.) We are blessed to have two licensed lay spiritual directors here at St. Augustine's who are available to this community. (Gretchen Haight and Judy Peace).

For the future emerging church, talk will be more about an individual rule of life for each disciple grounded in the classical Monastic Rules; and less about church doctrine, theology or politics. Theological reflection may replace theological theorizing. And finally, the emerging church will understand that process always trumps product. We are a "becoming people" in which day by day, year by year, Christ is being formed in us (what we once called "sanctification" or becoming holy). Or in the language of the street:

"I ain't what I ought to be,
And I ain't what I'm going to be,
But I ain't what I was"
(A sign over a bar in a western town as reported by Erik Erickson)

Copyright © 2007 St. Augustine by-the-Sea