Wearing my bishop’s purple clerical shirt, collar, and pectoral cross, I was ordering lunch at an Austin restaurant with my friend Sharon. The Episcopal Church’s triennial General Convention was underway in the Convention Center across the street. Since no tables were available, we sat at the bar.
When our twenty-something server asked for our drink order, I asked for sweet tea. Tongue in cheek, I added, “I’m not sure Jesus will love you if you don’t have sweet tea.”
Without missing a beat, she smiled warmly and said, “Well, I’m an atheist, so that really doesn’t matter to me. But we do have sweet tea.”
I immediately liked this woman. More for her response than for the sweet tea. And she seemed to enjoy the brief exchanges with Sharon and me each time she stopped by to check in with us.
If time had allowed for a serious conversation, I might have said something like this: “You know, sometimes I’m an atheist, too.” Sometimes, I’m an accidental atheist.
Most people think that atheists reject the idea that God exists. When they say that there is no God, atheists put the notion of a divine being on a list that includes unicorns and faeries. By contrast, faith places God on the existing-being list with stars and alligators and Dachshunds.
This is not the sort of atheism I stumble into. I suppose that’s largely because I don’t think of faith primarily as giving assent to or rejecting this or that set of ideas. Instead, faith is believing. And believing is following a Way.Â
The late Marcus Borg once made the point that believing in God—or believing in Jesus more specifically—would best be thought of as be-loving. Putting that in a slightly different way, following Christ means to walk the way of love. The way that Jesus embodied, exemplified, and inspires.
The way of love is a way of intentional response. We experience God’s love for us in various ways and respond to that love. As the theologian Karl Rahner once said somewhere, the Christians of the future will be mystics or there won’t be any Christians at all.
Jesus taught everyone that we are God’s beloved children. He wouldn’t have had to tell us this if it were obvious. The world kicks plenty of us around, tosses us aside, and treats us like something on the bottom of somebody else’s shoe.
People go hungry, go homeless. Get fired and get abused. People languish in jail and know cruelty at the hands of those who should nurture and protect them. We all face challenges and disappointments and wrenching heartaches. Moreover, an elite group of rich and powerful people (called by some Oligarchs) seem intent on establishing once and for all that they are the winners and some people are just losers.
The Way of Jesus is a radical alternative. We are God’s beloved, and so is everyone and everything we encounter. However bruised and battered and disfigured by circumstances they may be. Each step we take is response, response to the love we’ve been given as gift. Pure, unearned, unachieved, unconditional love.
We love because we have been loved. We feed the hungry, mend the wounded, comfort the suffering. But we don’t stop there. We ask a clarifying question. In a world of abundance why is anyone hungry? Why is there so much needless suffering? The Creator did not have such a world in mind. And so love moves us to realign the world with God’s dream.
And this is where I slip into atheism. I don’t reject creeds or scoff at Scripture or argue with theologians. I slip into cynicism. I grow discouraged. My heart sinks when I read in the media of one more political outrage, one more hate-fueled attack, one more economic measure aimed at privileging the few at the expense of the many.
I stumble. I forget, mostly only momentarily, that love is calling me to courage, boldness, and perseverance. God is acting. What seems impossible is not impossible. And that Holy One has done and will do the impossible through frail and fragile hands like ours.
My occasional atheism is accidental. I stumble and fall on the way. But because I’m not alone, friends help me to stand again, to dust myself off, and to take the next step. The Way is always about just taking the next step. No matter what.
Love this: “The Way is always about just taking the next step. ”
Well said!
Be blessed. God is in a good mood.
Thank you!
My favorite words as well, really jumped out at me.
Thank you for the message. A great time to me for a reminder. It’s not easy to be patient and keep on, keeping on sometimes.
Peace, Sam
Thanks, Sam! One step at a time……
You give us loving challenges in so many ways! The way you share yourself with us is particularly powerful. Your message really helps as we struggle with all these hard things! Thanks! Belle
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Blessings Deacon!
I agree . Many thanks ! He gives his readers food for thought often .
With every outrage, God is giving us a chance to act. It is when we despair, that we can fall into accidental atheism. We become blessed when we do not stay in despair but act according to God’s will.
Love your message. Stay blessed. Father Wayne
Reblogged this on Pastor Michael Moore's Blog and commented:
Well stated, Jake!
Thank you.
Dear Bishop, the call to courage, boldness, and perseverance. Yes. What you wrote about love is wonderful to read. You know where I’m coming from when I write that on Sunday I shared with a small art gallery audience a few core facts of my family background within the context of my Colour journey and blogging experience over the last year. It had become clear to me that I’ve been a nobody without a story (well, an untold one). I decided to confront that head-on. Invite you, if possible to look at my latest post Giving And Receiving. What you’ve written previously about the importance of stories has made an impression!
Good on you, Liz! Your story is a grace story. Telling it helps others experience that grace. Thank you for your courage!
Its surprising how long it takes to absorb the lessons you share and find how to apply them to one’s own life. Also, one is often not ready to apply those lessons immediately. Progress is happening though! Thanks so much Bishop Jake!
The good stream and your light are blessings for our Way. Like Bono wrote, “Love is bigger than anything in way.”
Thanks for the good words, Mary Pat! (Yours and Bono’s!)
*its way!
I hope you found a way to share this with the young waitress.
Alas, not.
Reverend , you should retitle this “The Accidental Cynic ” because nowhere in the text did you renounce your belief in theism . But you did admit to being occasionally frustrated by the perpetual contrariness in the world . Secondly , I am inclined to agree with your quote from Karl Rahner : ” The Christians of the future will be mystics or there won’t any Christians at all ” , because every time I read ,see or hear about
a church being destroyed by arson , I wonder what that congregation plans to do to stay junctioned with the creator until another meetin’ house in built .
Nice essay ! You keep me thinking .
For better or for worse, I write to support my readers in sorting out their own thoughts for themselves instead of handing out conclusions I expect others to accept. It does my heart good to hear that you appreciate that.
Always enjoy your posts Jake. They make me stop and think.
Thanks, Shane. Hope you’re having a great summer