Some years ago, I needed to reflect on Christianity. It was disturbing to me that the coming of Christ to earth didn’t make a more dramatic difference to the way we live. I ended up putting my thoughts into book form, as in the image above. I wrote the following in the forward:
“As I considered my own faith tradition, I began to ponder the whole experience of Christianity down through the ages. If Jesus the Christ is the Incarnation of God, the Messiah, the Anointed One of God come into the world, why is the world still a mess, and so far from God? If billions of people throughout the world claim to be followers of Christ, why do people, including those who call themselves Christians, still rampage, terrorize and storm about this world, killing each other? Why do people care so little for Creation, even to the point of destroying it? Why is getting rich still a primary value, even as the poor get poorer? Why do people work themselves to death, live in fear and trembling, and continue to be exploited by the powerful? Why is the world full of hungry and homeless people? Why do people still spend vast amounts of time and money creating ever more horrid weapons of mass destruction? Why is war still glorified, and why are society’s preferred heroes men of conquest, war and violence? Why is it more heroic to be killed in war than it is to die giving birth? Why are the little ones of society constantly exploited, demeaned and thrown away, with barely any notice or protest? Why is there still violent abuse toward women and children? How is it even possible for slavery to still exist, and in fact involve greater numbers today than prior to our nation’s Civil War? Why…why… why?”
As you can see, I was full of questions. I guess I am still full of questions today but am more convinced than ever that the coming of Christ Jesus to planet earth is meant to transform us, transform society, and transform even our planet. It is just that only a small number of people are willing to follow the ways of God that Jesus, the one who shows us what God is like, revealed to us. I am determined now to go back to what I wrote and see how I have changed and what I would write today.
I wrote this, too: “This particular venture of writing is a very organic process, and as I write, I am not myself sure where this reflection will take me. I know myself as indebted to many, many voices. I know myself as continuing to learn, grow and become. I understand that even as I complete this writing, I will have moved on. ”
I have definitely moved on in my life. Since the publication of this book, I was ordained a deacon, a priest, and a bishop in the Ecumenical Catholic Communion. I did not foresee making such a clear commitment to the ECC when I was writing this book. In fact in many ways, I was standing outside of any institutional or organized religion, questioning. This being on the outside gave me great freedom.
Now that I am so clearly inside a religious organization, I wonder if I am as free to explore this thing we call Christianity as I was back in 2009 when this book was published. I guess I will find out as I once again take time to reflect on our experience of Christianity.
I am hoping that others will be willing to go along with me on this journey of exploration because I still believe that the promise of Christianity is unfulfilled when it comes to the transformation of our world.
The book I wrote included reflection questions after each chapter, and I am going to re-read the chapters and consider these questions anew. I may come up with new questions in light of what is going on in our world today. In any case, I feel this deep need to reflect once again on what it means to be a Christian.
My beloved ones in Christ, let us reflect together.
Bishop Kedda
Bishop Kedda 