“May there be kindness in your gaze when you look within….  May your compassion reach out to the ones we never hear from.”

John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us, p. 44-5

Pulsating at the core of every human being is the longing for love — to love and be loved. To perceive this core, and to strive to relieve the suffering that hinders love, is the purpose of human life. The purpose of religion is to draw forth this essential core, to shape, mold, and channel human energy in the service of Love. When this happens the dignity of humankind is revealed.

It is a lofty goal that Christianity has often failed to live up to, as a growing number of books, blogs, and movies unveil. These failures leave deep pain embedded in the institutional psyche of Christianity. It is pain that drains the energy and life out of faith and quietly grows like a cancer. Often today’s churchgoers are haunted by thoughts like: “Why am I sitting here? The service no longer has any meaning…” or “The priest says that I’m welcome but it’s not true…” or “So much talk about death, but there’s no room to mourn, not really.” Many conclude: “I believe in God, but I can’t go to church anymore.” They walk away silently, leaving hundreds of once-filled parishes empty.

This is the pain of separation — from God, from ourselves and one another. Ironically, Christianity has fostered this sense of separation in portraying a God who remains in a distant place, separate from His creation; and a view of human beings as being inherently flawed, forgivable only through an act of grace. Life is viewed as a journey of struggle which ends in physical death — at which point the human being is released into heaven, another dimension separate from “this world”, where suffering is absent. While theologians would argue that this characterization of Christianity is not theologically sound, such theological arguments ignore that this is the experience of many sitting in the pews.

This sense of separation has deep roots in Christian theology and doctrine. The birth of Pentecostal Church (known as the “Black Church”) in the 19th century was one attempt to bridge the gap between self and the “otherness” of God and neighbor. For the first time since the Enlightenment, Pentecostal services encouraged Christian expression of faith that included the depth of human joy as well as the pain of grief, rage and fear. Human emotion was poured out in “gospel hymns”, like “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”, bringing into modern consciousness the energy of the Psalms.

Pentecostalism brought tremendous life and energy into Christian worship by opening the door of human passion and emotion, and sharing those depths with God. This was a major turning point in the evolution Christianity and has inspired many other styles of worship, including “Charismatic” and other forms that integrate upbeat music and encourage emotional expression.

But while Pentecostalism and the movements that continue to evolve from it bring forward human passion, the sense of God as distant and separate from human beings remains firmly in place. This sense of separation ripples through most forms of Roman Catholic, Protestant, and non-denominational worship services. Cloaked in the language of Original Sin, there is a deep belief in the “essential badness” of the human being — that you and I are, by nature, not good enough. This is a perspective that traps Christians in a shame-based view of themselves, others, and the nature of humanity. It leads to a life rooted in fear and desperation, and keeps God and others distant and unreachable. The cycle leaves many Christians feeling alone and ashamed.

Christian teaching is marked by a “we/they” perspective. The “other” may be practitioners of other religions, or other denominations within Christianity, including “non-denominational” groups. The “other” may be based on sexual identity, gender, geography, musical or liturgical preference, or a variety of ways to name “other-ness”. Christians are so accustomed to living in this “we/they” perspective that it is hard to imagine another. If we dare to scratch the surface of the “we/they” perspective, we find many who crave intimacy with themselves and others, and with God, and who struggle to find that intimacy in the Church.

Christians have lost touch with the simple truth that human beings matter. We matter because each person, Christian or not, is a magnificent creation of God. We matter because we are made of the divine perfection that ripples through all space and time, known and unknown, in mysteries revealed and unrevealed. God is “in charge”, not as a punishing tyrant but as the spiritual reality who weaves creation out of love. We are living breathing molecules of this creation, not separate from it, not separate from one another. We forget how much we matter. Maybe we never knew. Or maybe we feel so lost in shame that we doubt our very right to matter.

If religion can make a positive difference, and I believe it can, it must show us how to live the reality of mattering. Religion can only make a positive difference if it demonstrates how to integrate the mystical, theological, and the practical into daily human life. Christians have a long history of reaching out to those in need, establishing schools, hospitals, orphanages, and helping those who are hungry and homeless. This is wonderful work. But Christianity has lost touch with a healthy sense of self and is unable to appreciate that “you” and “I” are two sides of an essential unity.

Christianity, for all its flaws, holds essential truths. The story is not over. Jesus continually points to the Greater Reality, called “kingdom”. “Kingdom reality” requires that we shift our perspective. This is the reality of interconnection, in which all aspects of Life belong to an unbroken web. We shift from “I” to “we”. Jesus encourages his disciples to trust, let go of fear and worry, to love neighbor as self. Spirit is not the possession of the Church but the fabric of existence. When we open to the experience of this Greater Reality, we touch Life in a new way, pulsating in every moment. We awaken to the essential goodness of human beings and of Life itself.