Jim Cogley: Reflections – Tues 12 Nov – Mon 18 Nov

Tue 12^th Nov – Christianity – The Golden Period

The golden period of Christianity was the first three hundred years before it became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Much of what Jesus taught seems to have been followed closely during that early period after his death and resurrection. As long as Jesus’ followers were on the bottom and the edge of empire, as long as they shared the rejected and betrayed status of Jesus, they could grasp his teaching more readily. Values like non-violence and non-participation in war, simple living, inclusivity, and love of enemies could be more easily understood when Christians were gathering secretly in the catacombs, when their faith was untouched by empire, rationalisation, and compromise.

Wed 13^th Nov – Early Writings

Several writings illustrate an early commitment to Jesus’ teachings on simplicity and generosity. In Acts of the Apostles, we read how the early followers shared everything in common and no one claimed anything simply for his or her own use. All those in the community who were poor were regarded as equals as each one shared form his or her abundance. Another example comes from the Didache, compiled around 90AD, where it says: ‘Share all things with your brother, and do not say that they are your own. For if you are sharers in what is imperishable, how much more in things which perish!’

Thurs 14^th Nov – The Decline

The last great formal persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire ended in 311 CE. In 313, Constantine legalised Christianity. It became the official religion of the Roman Empire in 380. After this structural change, Christianity increasingly accepted, and even defended, the dominant social order, especially concerning money and war. Morality became individualised and largely focused on sexuality. The church slowly lost its free and alternative vantage point. Texts written in the hundred years preceding 313 show it was unthinkable that a Christian would fight in the army, as the army was killing Christians. By the year 400, the entire army had become Christian, and they were now killing the pagans.

Fri 15^th Nov – From Catacombs to Basilicas

Before 313, the church was on the bottom of society, which is the privileged vantage point for understanding the liberating power of Gospel for both the individual and for society. Within the space of a few decades, it had moved from the bottom to the top, literally from the catacombs to the basilicas. The Roman basilicas were large buildings for court and other public assemblies, and they became Christian spaces for worship. The early Christians had little focus on rules and regulations and were primarily interested in divinisation or becoming like Christ. With a massive influx of new converts becoming like Christ was no longer the main focus as the need for rules and regulations took precedence. This was where the spiritual path began to give way to religious practicewith the latter being seen as the way to salvation.

Sat 16^th Nov – The Religion of the Pharisees

When the Christian church became the established religion of the empire, it started reading the Gospel from the position of maintaining power and social order instead of experiencing the profound power of powerlessness that Jesus had revealed. In a sense, Christianity almost became a different religion! It could be argued that it became the religion of the Pharisees with the focus being on external observances and keeping the law as the primary means to salvation. Conversion came to be understood more as to a church rather than as to the person of Jesus Christ. This meant that the centrality of having a personal relationship with Christ got lost and for the vast majority he became a remote historical figure.

Sun 17^th Nov – Knowing God

There’s a woman I happen to know whose father fought in Gallipoli during the First World War. That was one of the big campaigns fought on the Black Sea where over 20,000 Irish men were engaged. It was one of the truly great military disasters that was ill-conceived and doomed to disaster from the beginning. Nearly all the men who fought lost their lives, so her father was one of the very few lucky ones who survived, came home and raised a family. Given that background she was very lucky to ever have been born.

Some years back while acting as chaplain on board a ship I had the chance to visit the area of Gallipoli and was completely overcome by the thousands upon thousands of names inscribed on walls around the place and the suffering each one represented. In the museum they showed bullets that had pierced each other in the air so great was the intensity of the fighting. It was just pure carnage. A good film was shown later by RTÉ called Gallipoli. Having been there I really couldn’t watch it as my mind kept going back to the epicentre of the conflict overlooking quite a large bay where the main landings took place and the guide telling us that the slaughter was so great that the sea went red for two miles out and around the coast.

I sometimes think of those men who fought in those wars and those of the present day who are caught up in the horrors of war and how difficult it must be to either believe or to hold onto any kind of faith. Yet in the most mysterious of ways, it is often in the very worst of circumstances that many experience an awakening of faith. One example was of a young soldier who having spent the night in a shell hole wrote a prayer that was found on his body a few days later. This was what he said.

‘Look God, I’ve never spoken to you before, but now I just want to say, ‘hello’. They told me you didn’t exist and like a fool I believed them. But last night I looked up at the sky from a shell hole. When I saw the beauty of the stars, I thought how big the universe is and I knew they were telling me a lie.

I wonder if you will shake hands with me when we meet? Somehow, I feel you will understand all my failures. It’s amazing how I had to come to this horrible hell hole to get to know you. What was I doing before this?

There isn’t much more to say, but I’m sure glad I got to know you today. I feel the zero hour will soon be here. This is going to be a horrible fight. Who knows but I may come to your house tonight.

Now I’m crying. Fancy me crying! I never thought this could happen to me. I have to go now. Strange since I met you, I’m no longer afraid to die.’

In one sense it was sad that the soldier got to know God so late, with just hours left to live, and yet it was just so important that he did so.

Many people have an awareness of God in their childhood but lose it later in life. How easy it is to become careless about what is important, like our spiritual life, and to get caught up with the urgency of everyday concerns. One well-known author said: ‘When I was young, I was religious in a non-thinking way but now I am not but am very conscious of that vast space where God was.’

Perhaps the greatest form of human loneliness we can experience is the absence of God in our lives because it’s then that in relation to the vastness of the universe we are not even a drop in the ocean. Our lives come and they go without even a trace of significance. Yet when we do have a God awareness, our lives do have meaning and significance, we are here for a purpose and this brief sojourn that we call life is just part of a much bigger picture.

In the absence of the God dimension there is a very definite emptiness in our lives. It’s like a pain that we desperately want to distract ourselves from. So, we seek security in wealth, possessions and relationships. All to make us feel good about ourselves and in the end it just doesn’t work. There remains a God sized vacuum in the human heart that nothing apart from God can fill. As one spiritual writer has said, ‘To the one who has God all things are important while to the one who does not have God no amount of things or people will suffice.’ The human heart is restless by nature and in the end, it can only find peace in God.

Mon 18^th Nov – Love of power – Not power of Love

The failing Roman Empire needed an emperor, and Jesus was used to fill the power gap. In effect, we Christians took Jesus out of the Trinity and made him into God on a throne. An imperial system needs law and order, and clear belonging systems more than it wants mercy, meekness or transformation. Much of Jesus’ teaching about simple living, nonviolence, inclusivity, and love of enemies became incomprehensible. Relationship—the shape of God as Trinity—was no longer as important. Christianity’s view of God changed: the Father became angry and distant, Jesus was reduced to an organising principle, and for all practical and dynamic purposes, the Holy Spirit became the forgotten paraclete.