This past year I’ve become an avid reader of Scandinavian crime fiction. I’ve always loved a tantalizing ‘whodunit’, and I’ve developed an interest in the laid-back and polite Scandinavian culture, so this genre is a perfect match! Many other Americans would agree, as the growth of Scandinavian crime writers here such as Stieg Larsson, for example, attests to. Maybe since we in the U.S. envision Scandinavia as a well-mannered and peaceful collection of cultures, a gruesome murder in a sleepy Swedish town seems so intriguing. Maybe the relative peace in Scandinavia, when compared to American crime, entices Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, and Icelanders to imagine and explore this dark world in their own backyard.
Recently I finished Camilla Läckberg’s riveting novel, The Ice Princess. In it, Erica investigates the mysterious murder of her childhood best friend, Alexandra, in a remote Swedish town. Erica and Alex’s friendship had been cut short in childhood when Alex’s family moved away, and sadly the next time Erica saw her was floating dead in a bathtub, half-frozen with slit wrists. At Alex’s funeral in Fjällbacka Church, the narrator remarks:
“Erica still hadn’t embraced any type of religion; for her a church was a beautiful building steeped in traditions, nothing more. The sermons of her childhood had prompted no desire to accept a faith. They often dealt with hell and sin; they lacked the bright belief in God that she knew existed but had never personally experienced. Much had changed. Now a woman stood before the altar, dressed in a pastor’s robes, and instead of eternal damnation she spoke of light, hope, and love. Erica wished that this view of God had been offered to her when she was growing up.” (p. 83)
I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness for this fictional character. If I remember correctly, Erica is around my age, 29, in the story. I have almost no memories of the Sunday sermons preached in my Catholic church growing up, so I don’t know how often the fires of hell were brought up. But I know people who have experienced sermons like those, and have met my share of those whose faith is characterized by that mindset; whose first thought, upon hearing of someone’s death, is: “Well, I hope they repented.”
This excerpt from The Ice Princess made me recall a few articles I came across years ago on “feel-good Christianity”, a term used often in a derogatory way by, for example, Christian fundamentalists, but sometimes also by Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians. Their argument is that many Christian denominations (usually mainline ones: Episcopalians, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists) have traded in holy truth for worldly peace, and have changed God’s pure word to suit man’s sinful needs. Having a woman before the altar, as in The Ice Princess, might be considered such a betrayal; so might performing same-sex unions, or being tolerant of abortion, teaching evolution, etc.
Here’s how one writer summarizes this observation:
... most Christians in the West have been cutting deals with the world - continually swerving to avoid any sort of conflict with it, any clash that would violate the unwritten cultural peace treaty. We all know the terms of the treaty. Everyone can do whatever they want, and no one is allowed to so much as speak out against it... Someone might feel bad.
Christians should be the first people to recognize the “treaty” as a variant on the devil’s bargain: “You shall be as God, knowing [defining for yourself] good and evil.”...
[People expect] to hear about a tame deity who would give them a feel-good faith filled with warm fuzzies...
But it’s not our job... to make people feel good. It’s our job to be faithful.
“Feel-Good Faith” by Matt Kaufman.
In order to get the full context of these quotes, I encourage you to read the full article here.
It is the job of a Christian to be faithful... but is that our only job?
I find the answer to that question, of all places, in the New York branch of the Swedish Church, where I had the pleasure of being invited to this Sunday. The church is very simple, not just in architecture, but also in ministry. Only one priest officiated. A lady from the congregation helped minister the wine. My friend’s friend played the small organ. I love the procession of choir and clergy that my church has, but there is a refreshing beauty in the simplicity found in the Swedish church here in New York, as if things have been trimmed down so you can concentrate on the message of the day.
And this was the message of the day - yes, in translation:
[Jesus said:] “You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven. Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full - pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.” (Luke 6:36-38, New Living Translation)
While this message of reciprocal respect alone answers the question above, it’s not why I find this passage interesting. The opening exhortation to be compassionate mirrors a similar line found in a similar context in Matthew:
“... you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48, NLT)
(In fact, the Swedish pastor made the same connection during his sermon.)
These two sayings of Jesus themselves echo one from the Book of Leviticus where God tells the Israelites:
“...You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” (Lev. 19:2, NLT)
These changing passages are what interest me more. To me, they testify that, although the divine essence of God does not change, the human experience of God can and does, and changes often have to be made to compensate. We fallible human beings need to be able to relate to a message if we are to understand its meaning. Let me put it into perspective...
A band of Israelites has just left Egypt, a land where they were exposed to cruel slavery and made to worship foreign gods. Now they’re determined once again to become their own nation and worship their own God. What do they need to hear from God? That they are called to be “set apart” (the Hebrew meaning of the word ‘holy’), just as God is “set apart” from the world.
A sect of Jewish believers in Christ has just witnessed the destruction of the beloved and sacred Temple in Jerusalem. They ask themselves how they are to worship God now, and anxiously wonder if ahead lies the coming of Jesus, or the wrath of God. What do they need to hear from God? That they are to be “perfect” (the Greek word is more like being “completed” or “perfected”) just as God is “perfect”.
A growing group of Greek Christians breaks away from traditional Hellenic culture in the exclusive devotion to some foreign deity named “Jesus”. Their earthly suffering is great - so much so that, while Matthew remembers Jesus’ sayings as general blessings, Luke recalls them with a personal and poignant sense of urgency. Instead of Matthew’s “God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice”, Luke has, “God blesses you who are hungry now”; instead of “God blesses those who mourn”, we read, “God blesses you who weep now.” (Matt. 5:4, 6 and Luke 6:21, NLT) So now what else do these people need to hear from God? That they need to be “compassionate” (or “merciful”) just as God is “compassionate”.
What good what it would have done to tell the Israelites that they need to be “compassionate” to one another? Most likely they already were; shared pain often brings about a sense of compassion. Their goal now was to “set themselves apart” to worship God in the way given to them.
What good what it would have done to tell the Jewish Christians to be “set apart”? Most likely they already believed they were, since they had remained faithful to Jesus, their Messiah. Now, despite the destruction around them, their goal was to “perfect themselves” for Christ’s second coming.
What good what it would have done to tell the Greek Christians to “perfect” themselves? It’s hard to “perfect” yourself when you’re weakened by the pangs of hunger or the tears of despair. No, their goal now was to take the compassion they surely learned through their mutual suffering and extend it in love to their enemies. (cf. Luke 6:35)
If we Christians believe in the guidance of the Holy Spirit, then we must recognize that this same Spirit has already tailored divine truth - even within the pages of the Bible itself - in order to best reach our forebears, and now does the same for us. So then I ask you:
What do you need to hear in church? Or in synagogue, mosque, or temple? In a world where the news overwhelms us 24/7 with reports of natural and human-caused disasters, senseless murders, crimes against human rights, poverty, disease, I confess that what I need to hear from God is that “light, hope, and love” that Erica wished she had heard in church as a child. And I don’t need to hear it only on Sundays - I need to hear this message every day! I need to “feel good”, not out of materialistic selfishness, but because the message of goodness in this world often seems sadly rare.
I’ve learned these truths over the past few years in church, and I believe this is what most of us need to hear from God.
We are NOT okay as we are...
This certainly is not ‘feel-good’. If you seek a spiritual practice, it’s because there’s something missing that the world can’t give you, and thus you feel incomplete.
...but we are loved as we are...
The main religious message throughout history is how much the Divine loves the finite. You have been loved since you were born, and you will be loved through eternity.
... so we are okay as we come.
Whether you come knowing how to observe the complex Christian religious calendar, or you just say a short prayer before eating or sleeping, the divine love will move your sincere heart into this awareness.
And I’m deeply glad that this message already is being proclaimed across so many different traditions.
I leave you with the refrain of a beautiful hymn we sang in the Swedish service. It says:
God’s love is like the beach and the grass.
It is wind and breadth and an unending home.
Compassionate words like these overcome hell and sin any day.
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