Rome to Rumi: The Historic Last Gasp

I am going to admit that this post is largely based on my limited experience. I have not conducted a thorough analysis and justified my conclusions through years of extensive research. But I do have enough professional exposure to know that what I personally experienced as both a pastor and a church executive is being mirrored across the country in mainline Protestant denominations (and possibly beyond).

Photo by K. Mitch Hodge @kmitchhodge

I have titled this particular blog post, “The Historic Last Gasp.” I am writing on the rapid disintegration of something we call Christendom. I had a friend who asked about what exactly that was. I gave the simplest answer which is:  Christendom is the combination of the words “Christian” and “kingdom.” It is what we have been living in in the United States for most of our history and goes back centuries in our European roots when political power was held by both the King or Queen and the Pope. Christendom is essentially what you get when you marry Christian identity with power.

I believe we are experiencing the very awkward and uncomfortable “last gasps” of Christendom. One world is crumbling away and another world is struggling to make itself known. In between these two worlds is the frightening cultural anxiety of crossing a deep chasm on an unfinished bridge. Why is this an awkward time? Because it feels a lot safer to stay on this side of the bridge than to cross that unstable scaffold into something unknown. Its feels safer to stay put in something that is unsustainable and certain than to venture into a new world that is uncertain but promises new vitality.

After nearly forty years of professional ministry I have witnessed essentially three primary responses to the decline of Christendom in the church culture. I am going to call them Living with Faith, Frozen in Faith and Defending the Faith. I write this just so can get a better understanding of the cultural dynamics currently on display in our country as the world of Christendom dissolves away and makes room for a new national spiritual identity. Here is what I have discovered:

Photo by Noah Grossenbacher @ravni

Living with Faith—Over the course of my career I experienced a handful of congregations who seemed to have a good grasp of the historic transition that we are in. They seemed to intuitively know that “how they were practicing church” had a limited future. They seemed to understand that their role as a church was not to expect the community to adapt to them, but for them to adapt to the changing values, lifestyles, and beliefs of their community. I will say that it was a rare church that was able to say, “We need to evolve and let some things die even as we remain open to where new life might show up.” In a word, I experienced these churches seeing themselves as part of “ushering in the new world” while also allowing the comforts of Christendom to die away among them.

Photo by Peter Robins @prphotography262

Frozen in Faith—This is hard for me to write about. I will admit that I carried expectations that most churches would adopt the former description of allowing some death in the service of making room for a resurrected faith that mirrored the evolving values, lifestyles and beliefs of the community around them. After nearly forty years in ministry I watched as church after church wrung their hands over the decline of their congregations, but who also could not make a pivot to better reflect the community around them. These were congregations who had gotten used to the power and influence of Christendom and who wanted more than anything to simply turn the clock back. I often had a very harsh, but true counsel for them, “Either change who you are or gracefully accept the eventual closure of your church.” The hardest part of my work with these congregations was seeing how painful it was to choose either option. I was surprised by how many allowed themselves to feel like victims of our societal shifts rather than choosing a path of intentional action or graceful acceptance. It was hard to see that these congregations, rather than helping to usher in a new reality were going to allow by default the new reality to be dictated to them. Bob Dylan’s song often came to mind. The fourth verse says it well: 

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'

Photo by Taiwangun @taiwangun

Defending the Faith—I was fortunate to serve in mainline Protestant congregations that tended to be somewhere between moderate and progressive on theological, sociological and political issues. What I believe we are seeing now in the movement toward white Christian nationalism is the last gasps of those who will die “defending the faith.” Said another way, “These are the people and churches who are least comfortable with the end of Christendom.”  The first group recognizes that Christendom is ending and are choosing to help usher in the new world. The second group is experiencing the end of Christendom, but are frozen in their tracks like a deer caught in headlights. The last group, “Defending the Faith” are those who have drawn a line in the sand. They would rather die than be forced to live in a new world not rooted in an exclusive Christian narrative of supremacy and influence. I saw a Facebook post last week that said it well:  “MAGA isn’t a political party. It’s a last-stand for people terrified of losing White Dominance in a Multiracial Democracy.”

Christendom, the marriage between Christianity and cultural and political power is definitely dying. I am thankful for the bold people and congregations who “Live in Faith” and the uncertainty that comes with that. I grieve for the people and congregations who are “Frozen in Faith” and who have their futures dictated to them by outside forces. And I pray that the bloodshed will be minimal as those who “Defend the Faith” make their last stand. January 6, 2021, the attempted insurrection, was just the beginning.

It is a last gasp. But those last gasps of a dying dominant culture are the scariest.