Sarx

Commenting on my earlier post, announcing the death of Jerry Falwell, Fr Ernesto said, “I will trust to God’s mercy that he sees clearly now. In fact, he now probably sees significantly better than I do. I sometimes shudder when I look forward to that day when all my pretensions and false beliefs will be unmasked in the eternal light of his countenance.”

Amen, and Lord have mercy on all of us. I tried to make no real point about his death, no more bitter one, anyway, than quoting the departed’s own words post-9/11 (although he later recanted them, like most of his more-controversial remarks). I confess I was more than a little… um… not joyful… but, maybe, smug? I don’t know: happy I was still alive to live some time without Falwell’s future words hanging over my religion, although I’m sure there will continue to be the words of others, now with us and yet unborn.

The comment called to mind a story line in Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land: as the Martian named Smith grows to maturity on Earth, and comes into his fullness as “fully Martian and fully Man” he founds a religion – the Church of All Worlds – and, naturally, comes under fire from the religions that already exist on this planet. Heinlein’s foresight was masterful. Writing in the 1960s he foresaw the rise of Megachurches, more corporations than worshipping communities, and he wrote the Church of all worlds as a more-loving and inclusive idea opposite them. Their leader was Supreme Bishop Digby, of the Fosterite church. When I first read Stranger in the late 1980s I thought Digby rather like Falwell in a number of ways: his deep faith was evident, but so was his cynical manipulation of “the masses”.

And so, when the book closes, it is revealed that Digby was faithful enough to become an Angel in heaven. The irony being that the Martian has become an Archangel – and is “in charge” of the new Angel Digby.

I thought of this again with Fr Enresto’s comment. We are all working out our salvation in fear and trembling. We may choose to judge one for the damage we perceive him to have done – but none of our judgements come with the finality of death or the Great Judge. Those who reject the idea of deity at all may have more ground on which to value the secular worth of Falwell (or any other human). Those who accept the idea of deity – and may even venture to live their lives in that light – may be wise to focus on what good can be found.

When waking up yesterday, I caught the tale end of this essay on All things Considered (thanks to Adam for linkage and the transcription), and I think it’s a good quote for going forward:

The nature of the Christian faith is hope – hope in the unseen, hope in the goodness of God, hope in resurrection. So here, now, with his passing, there is the chance to begin again the discussion of what it means to be a Christian, what it means to follow Jesus, what it means to sacrificially love others. If out of that, more people come to know the Jesus of the Gospels, rather than the Jesus of the GOP, Jerry Falwell’s ultimate legacy may be that he helped lead people back to God, and that, I want to believe, is what he wanted in the first place.

Amen. I want to believe – beyond the politics and hate that I often felt in his words – it was getting people to know Jesus that was Falwell’s point. Jesus being a person in his own right, no matter what Jerry said about him – or his Father! – that might have been untrue, I want to believe that, ultimately, good can come of it as of anyone who tries (and even fails) to act in faith.

May God have mercy on all of us.