“What does remain from our Christianity and our faith if we remove the structure, visible symbols, the liturgy, the tower, etc? Or what would we want to remain? What is that thing what makes Christianity the true Christianity and we cannot afford to lose.“
During the uneasy meditation and even more difficult discussion about this topic I have remembered time when I found the screw driver and pliers as a small boy. May be you went though this (if you are a male). The insistent longing to explore things came to my life. For me personally it was my dad’s radio, small transistor radio. At the stealthy moment I started to take it apart with the hunger to utter the essence of its life. The heart or soul, what gives it the life and makes it the excellent companion at any time. I expected to find the very little, secret piece that is evidently alive and pulsating. Simply put – the big secret of the transistor radio. I had the feeling, that I understood the string and pulleys that were switching the stations during the rotation, but the other parts were mysterious to me. I disclosed them. They did not resist, the condensers seemed unimportant to me and the inside of them was really boring. When I bent to the speakers I found just piece of paper, magnet and some kind of coil. I was disappointed. No real life. I did not know what to expect before I started to explore, but the result was poor. Then I remember my father sometimes change the batteries so maybe there is the essence of the life. But I did not find there anything mysterious either.
At that time I have learnt something about the difficulty of the life and that it is not something easy to grasp or to be caught. And also that life goes badly out of the structure. The life, to be able to play, need to lean on something, to meet somewhere, to touch someone, to expand, to breath by something, to be able to recharge somewhere, to connect. Maybe that is why it is surprising that the apostle Paul is organizing even the spiritual affairs of the church. Even the spiritual life of the first church has its structure which is not just spontaneity. The collections are organized in advance (1. Cor. 16:1-2), the spiritual life is regulated. Also the spiritual activities as prophesying in community or usage of the speaking in tongues (1. Cor. 11:5-7). Apostle is helping the life to be in some reasonable and helpful form to serve for development of the spiritual life. The ability how to arbitrate demands certain maturity. Because we do not want the structure to bound the spiritual life but to help it toward expansion. It is the same with the skeleton. Without it we cannot move forward, it would be our end. Life needs this organic structure. But we need to grow according to our body’s needs. (It is not like with the plaster. It is fine, but just for a time, when we are hurt and the bone needs to be reunite, later it is just a burden.) Let’s be alert not to go to the extreme “plaster from concrete”, or longing to be unbounded. In the spiritual life it would be tragedy.
Dad’s radio lost its life and it was not able to work anymore and I have learnt needed lesson. That is why the wise thing we can do before taking something apart or demolish is to consult with the One who understands the life much better and who has the answers about the essence of life. So the music does not glide from our life.