The best life ever

I’ve been with the Christian Courier for a year now, and it’s been such a joy. Looking back on this year of columns, including the one the editors wisely rejected, I asked myself what common thread runs through them. It is, simply, the Christian life. It’s a wonderfully inexhaustible topic, if there ever was one!

The Christian life is the best life ever. To say this directly may sound immodest, but I believe it is true. The best life is a life that is happy in spite of every hardship, even death. At the dawn of the modern age, J.S. Bach’s famous motet Jesu Meine Freude still sings of the life that is joyful and worth pursuing in the face of scorn and suffering.

Faith fusions

Just before Christmas I talked to a Muslim friend who has a Nativity set in her house. (A google search for “surah Maryam” will explain this.) As a Muslim, she feels free to explore different faith traditions just as many Christians do. It brings joy and good cheer to her life as a migrant, working a survival job she’s vastly overqualified for.

The discovery of the faith of others is part of the Christian life, I’d say a necessary part. One simple reason is that others do some things better than we do. Observant Jews know and love the Old Testament better than most Christians do, and committed Muslims have more dedication in fasting and prayer than the majority of Christians. None of that moves me away from the core, which is the Christian life. A happy life, in spite of everything the world throws at us.

What makes Christianity unique

What I find the most distinctive and valuable in the Christian life is not just that we follow Jesus. Jews and Muslims have access to Jesus from within their faith traditions. Hindus and Buddhists do as well, through their rich philosophy and practice; Jesus truly is universal. The most distinctive feature of Christianity, by contrast, is the life of the faith community, the Christian church. None of the world religions has any institution similar to the church, the home where we welcome Jesus and delight in his presence. Where we are empowered to change the world for the better.
Now there is a bit of a rub, since our church communities are not always – perhaps not generally – fully happy places, and that situation has been with us for a while. It helps, though, to be aware of more than one Christian church tradition. As I said earlier, some churches tend to do some things better than others, and that can be encouraging and uplifting. We are not as alone as we think.

Is the Christian life still the best life? To me, loving the question and understanding it better is as important as answering it. That said, I look around me and the answer is a resounding yes: It is the life we are created for. I wish there were fewer challenges, but that is for another year of columns.