A Fire That Binds

This past year, my home state of Texas, along with much of the Southwestern United States, has been suffering from a drought of crippling severity. Farmers have abandoned their crops and ranchers have been forced to sell off their herds. The dryness has led to several wildfires, burning many homes, forests, and bringing about mass destruction throughout the region. Despite this damage, a few biologist friends of mine have been quick to remind me how natural and necessary fires are. In fact, some plant and animal species are actually dependent upon periodic fires for propagation and survival. From this phenomenon, I am reminded of lyrics from a Leonard Cohen song entitled “Anthem.” They read, “Ring the bells that still can ring, forget your perfect offering, there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in.”[1] Here Cohen points to both the imperfect, often broken, state of things in this world, as well as the potential for redemptive healing that is sometimes borne of such brokenness.

It is this very same potential that I believe the theologian Rowan Williams highlights in his article, “On Making Moral Decisions.”[2] In it, he discusses the nature of inter-Christian disagreement and the need for Christians to temper their differences with an overarching commitment to that which bolsters Christian unity, but he also speaks of how an awareness of past failures can become a fertile foundation for future growth.[3] As an example of warring Christian values, Williams cites his own struggle to understand how Christians of yesteryear condoned slavery.[4] He also stresses the need to remain in relationship with fellow saints, seeking understanding one another, rather than attempting to sever ties.[5] Williams grounds this assertion in St. Paul’s notion of the Church as the Body of Christ. As is implied by the metaphor, some amount of cohesive unity is necessary for effective bodily function.

Given this need for unity and the fact that all Christians, by the very nature of their identification as such, share in a scarred, unsightly past, Williams reminds us to be gracious to one another, remembering that our perspectives and values are flavored by the “local accent” of the society/culture to which we belong.[6] By saying this, he reminds us that the variables of status, location, class, etc., do influence our perspectives on moral issues. As such, we would do better as a body to focus on the common themes binding us together. He adds that, “To remain in communion is to remain in solidarity with those who are wounded as well as wounding the Church, in the trust that within the Body of Christ the confronting of wounds is part of opening ourselves to healing.”[7] By holding fast to the Christian story from which we draw our common identity, we press our roots deep into history’s rich, fertile soil. Thus, as the lyrics of Cohen’s song allude to and much like a fire whose heat is useful for opening the seed-bearing cones of a Lodge-pole pine tree, the imperfections and destructive choices of our Christian forbearers can provide us with a fruitful place for self-examination and mutual discovery. But for these rewards to be possible, we must learn to see these shortcomings in ourselves and come together in a spirit of humility seeking to glorify God.  

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[1] http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/leonardcohen/anthem.html

[2] Williams, Rowan. “On Making Moral Decisions.” Anglican Theological Review 81:2 (Spring 1999): 295-308

[3] Rowan Williams, “On Making Moral Decisions,”p.299

[4] Rowan Williams, “On Making Moral Decisions,”p.302

[5] Rowan Williams, “On Making Moral Decisions,”p.302

[6] Rowan Williams, “On Making Moral Decisions,”p.300

[7] Rowan Williams, “On Making Moral Decisions,”p.302