"What are Christians For?" (Jake Meador)

TITLE: What Are Christians For?: Life Together at the End of the World
AUTHOR: Jacob R. Meador
PUBLISHER: Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2021, (192 pages).
 

In a self-driven, self-seeking, and self-centered world, it is common to ask questions about one's identity, purpose, and significance. Who am I? What am I called to do? What is my purpose in life? These are all familiar questions about the self. What if we take some time to think about our role in the community we are in? What if we take it even further to think about our role as believers in Christ? What if more of us recognize that the individual is incomplete without the whole body of believers? What if we begin not with the self in mind, but with the people, the very people that God has called us to love and to be a part of? That changes everything. In a powerful reminder of how interdependent we truly are, author Jake Meador shares with us the simple but powerful effects of simply being faithful to our calling no matter where we are. Called the "whole life approach," Meador draws our attention to the need for believers to be active in social justice and everyday spirituality. Like how Father Ted played his part in supporting the persecuted during the apartheid in South Africa, or how Frederick Douglass helped battle slavery in the 19th Century. Why are not more people stepping up to do the good that they ought to do? Why are we not seeing more of such radical practices in our modern world? Why are we increasingly disenfranchised with society, with political divisions, and isolated? Meador uses the title of the book as a veiled challenge to all Christians to do something about authentic discipleship. This book is a guide to help us understand the reasons why we fail to live up to the expectations of our callings; to remind us once again of our need for interdependency, and the courage we need to step up. 

Meador points out several reasons for our failure to live out our calling. He says that many believers have been so conditioned to "wealth, comfort, and prejudice" that they have neglected the practice of Christian discipleship. This has lulled them into a false sense of satisfaction which prevents them from seeing outside the box. They have forgotten the great inheritance that we had from God. They are also constantly on a crusade to cut all forms of apron strings, such as debt-free living. This popular notion believes that debt is bad and the goal is to get out of debt. The trouble is, when we are truly living debt-free, we unwittingly cut off the formal relationships that form the basis of interdependency. This desire to uproot ourselves from anything that binds us also gives us a new problem: loss of identity and eventually a loss of faith in humankind and in God. That is not all. He urges us not to fall into either of the two extremes: Neither the overly simplistic accusations that society has declined nor the "over-optimistic theories of cultural progression." Instead, he argues for the position of relational integration, to connect with one another. That means the technologies we use should be used with interdependence in mind. That is not all. He observes that the root of the sexual revolution is not about feminism or discrimination. It is a reaction against the historical separation of the sexes and the stigmatization of sexual roles in various places. It is also a result of Industrialization. Even the deprivation of our natural sense of wonder has become a factor behind our disenfranchisement. Humanity has exiled people from one another under false presumptions. 

Thankfully, the author does not leave us hanging on the segregated pieces of analysis. He calls for a new beginning of what he calls a "Christian social doctrine." It is about re-establishing a sense of belonging. He describes this using the Christian hospitality lived out by the L'Abri organization. In fact, this organization opens its doors not only to familiar people but also to strangers, as long as they too are willing to accept the rules of the community. He discusses some approaches in our society and political circles: "defensive against," "relevance to," "purity from," and "faithful presence" before urging us to consider adopting the latter. 

My Thoughts

Meador covers a lot of ground in this book about the need for co-existence and interdependence. I wonder about what was the trigger for this book. Is it the political divisions happening in North America these days? Is it a lament on how few role models we see nowadays of radical Christian discipleship? Is it some cultural critique to show us how we arrive at the mess we are in? Or maybe it is a desire to shine a path for us to adopt so that we can practice a faithful presence wherever we are? It is fair to say that it is a combination of all, and especially the last aspect. All of these are attempts to answer the very question he poses as the book title: What are Christians for? Let me summarize three general thrusts? First, it is a wake-up call to our normative mode of living. Learn to question our commonly accepted presumptions. His example of our never-ending quest to reach a debt-free lifestyle is worth pondering. This is food for thought in a world that seems to assume negativity on all kinds of debt. The truth is, we are all in debt. Most of us owe our parents a great amount of debt, for how they freely brought us up. Gradually, Meador shows us that we are all indebted to God. Thus, we should not see the liberation from debt as our final landing pad. We need to challenge philosophies like this and critique our normally accepted practices. Second, Meador shows us that if we fail to change, we lose more than we gain. Like the politics that have divided the Christian community. On the one hand, everyone agrees on the path of peacemaking. On the other hand, they cannot tolerate dissent or alternative viewpoints. The political scene is one big problem altogether. Even the separation of Church and politics could be overplayed into some form of abandonment of political activity altogether. We need a constructive way to think of these matters and learning to live faithfully in spite of these differences is a key motif. Finally, I appreciate the vision of hope. We need to learn to see one another as neighbors that God loves rather than enemies that our human instincts hate. Recognizing the roots of our separation is important so that we could mend our broken fabrics and restore relationships. This calls for community involvement, not just individual. It calls for a greater sense of interdependence rather than isolated independence. Whether it is a place, a vocation, a position, or opportunity to reach out to a human neighbour, our true identity cannot be found alone. We need people. We need to bring back community life. We need to learn the rules of engagement and actively engage. Make room for people. Carve out time for one another. Care to belong by starting to belong to a community of care. 

This book is an excellent call to action. It is a challenge to remember what Christianity is all about. 

Jake Meador is the editor in chief of Mere Orthodoxy, an online magazine covering the Christian faith in the public sphere, and a contributing editor with Plough. His first book was In Search of the Common Good: Christian Fidelity in a Fractured World. Jake's work has been published in First Things, National Review, Books and Culture, Commonweal, Christianity Today, Front Porch Republic, and the University Bookman. He lives with his wife and children in his hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska.

Rating: 4.5 stars of 5.

conrade

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This book has been provided courtesy of InterVarsity Press and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.