A way to live: the shape of Christian existence

Christian Century, Feb 24, 2004 by Trudy Bush

The question takes me back, in a way, to the opening question about defining a practice and why the practices are so important. Christian practices as I understand them are multifaceted. In each there's a spiritual, liturgical, biblical, doctrinal, historical and public policy dimension. Each has implications for personal, domestic, congregational and public life.

Does a focus on the practices suggest anything to help churches that are wrestling with a difficult issue such as homosexuality?

I hope this approach will help churches build up a more positive culture rather than being so intent on tearing each other down. One of the things we made explicit in Way to Live is that we as authors weren't primarily interested in giving readers a list of dos and don'ts. We wanted instead to help them see the positive life that is open to them--to see how satisfying a life lived with integrity, honesty and mutual care can be.

Practicing Our Faith took a similar approach. The authors wanted to encourage reflection on how Christians can help each other embrace a life-giving way of life. When we were deciding what practices to include, we suddenly realized that we were probably the first recent group of church types who had met for several days without discussing sex. We knew this was a significant gap, but we had to wrestle with how to identify the relevant Christian practice. We came up with "honoring the body."

It seems to me that the challenge for the church is to capture a larger vision of the goodness of human embodiment and of the brokenness and sin in which we all participate. In her lovely chapter on "honoring the body" in Practicing Our Faith, Stephanie Paulsell writes about the deepest Christian beliefs concerning the human body. She encourages ns to practice these every day in caring for our own bodies and the bodies of one another with tenderness and respect. In her book of the same name she offers some powerful examples of how same sex partners do this. This more positive approach may not settle the questions in many people's minds these days. But I do think that more attention to how we as church can better honor the body would provide a helpful context for present debates.

You've written a book on keeping the Sabbath. What has been your own experience with that practice?

I turned to it almost in desperation when I was a seminary professor and a new mother of twins. I was frantically busy and not very happy. It was a relief to realize that there is a commandment devoted to resting, to not working all the time. Attempting this unusual practice not only by worshiping but also by disengaging from the market economy one day a week gave me a respite and a weekly reminder of a more intentional way of living. But there are different stages of family life, stages in which keeping Sabbath has been more or less possible for us. It's act ongoing negotiation.

As my children have become teenagers I've realized that this practice is especially hard for young people. Schools are not very sensitive to their need for rest. Many teenagers work too bard, whether it's because they're taking demanding courses or are working at fast-food places. It's very difficult for them to have any control over their time. We can encourage them to reflect on this and support them as they try to find a way to have some Sabbath time.