Meacham On Sacramental Faith

John Meacham from Newsweek - possibly the smartest and most generous mind in our national media - has an article in a feature section from the Washington Post's website called "On Faith". In it he writes lucidly about the difference between a God revealed and experienced though sacraments - and all of the doubt, mystery, and historicism that are bound up in these rituals - and the more Evangelical notion of a "personal relationship" with Jesus Christ.

Rituals have been with us from time immemorial. But Christian sacraments, in particular the Eucharist, are largely constructed on a passage in the bible from the Last Supper, in which Christ tells his followers "do this in memory of me". Meacham observes:

It is this constancy that I hope to give my children, this habit of heart and mind to be disposed always to give the testimony of what the epistle to the Hebrews calls the “great cloud of witnesses” the benefit of the doubt. I do not want them to live an unexamined faith. I want them to question and poke and prod, to doubt like Saint Thomas—but, in the presence of convincing evidence, to fall with Thomas to their knees, and be thankful. For what, in the end, is my religion, but love for one another, and belief that once, long ago, upon a cross, a father committed the ultimate, unthinkable act of love, giving his son’s life for all others?

For him faith and doubt are closely related in our human experience, and our universe evolves with uncertainty as an integral component. We won't quite know God directly, or constantly, or in the same type of "personal" relationship with which we know our fellow men and women. But it's that love for one another - and consideration of that ultimate, unthinkable act - this is how we get close to transcendence. And this, too, is what I believe.

Meacham also cites Flannery O'Conner, one of my all-time favorites, who once described sacraments as the "center of existence". And her short story, "Revelation" is a supremely crafted examination of the mind of one who has certain, fundamental faith in a God who also, conveniently, mirrors her social attitudes and convictions but angers her, sometimes, with contradictions. Our society has become quite familiar with that mode of Christianity in politics and public discourse - and it's good to know folks like Meacham are speaking up on behalf of another kind of tradition.

Tags: Christianity, John Meacham, Newsweek, Faith, Sacraments, Flannery O'Conner