Home Improvement, Rich Mullins, and Sanatana Dharma

Today I was texturing the walls of my bedroom while listening to Rich Mullins. I also listened to Steely Dan's Aja album, and the Dave Wilcox album Headless gave me. But oh yeah - back to Rich.

I love that Rich set the Nicene Creed to music. The ancient basics of my Christian faith set to song - wow. As I splattered my walls and myself with joint compound, I thought about those simple tenets, how old they are, how many Christians from all over the world in so many different languages have repeated those words over hundreds of years.

I believe in God the Father, the Almighty...

I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord...

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life...

I believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church...

I believe in the communion of saints...

Forgiveness of sins...

Resurrection of the body...

Life everlasting...

Amen.

I believe. With all the saints, living and dead, I believe - and that is the heart of our religion, the only thing we can contribute to the gift of grace given to us by God. I believe.

I'm studying world religions and the system du jour was Hinduism, or Sanatana Dharma. When I was a kid, I dabbled in it a little - read a few books, worked it into my view of God and the world. And that's totally fine with the Hindu way - it's a path to the divine that is tolerant of all ways, and thus over time has become diverse in its expression and disciplines.

At the end of the textbook chapter, I read that in recent years a movement has begun in India to restore Hindu culture, which has been affected by Christian missionaries, Muslims, British occupancy, and secularism. The irony of this move toward restoration of the old is that it is contrary to the Hindu concept of inclusion. It's quite possible that by attacking outside influences, India may suffocate the belief system it is trying to save.

Which brings me back to the creed.

When we as Christians forget that we are sojourners in this world, ambassadors of our Lord, we place ourselves in danger of extinction. Yes, God is Lord over all the earth, and we have alligned ourselves with Him through Christ. We have a rich heritage full of battles won and loves proclaimed. It seems right that we should wave our banner high and show the world that our God is the Lord, and if they disagree, then...yeah, then what? Boycott their products? Debate them? Take them to court? Beat them in politics so we can bring the kingdom of God to earth?

Wow. Where did Jesus go?

The correlation as I read the Hindu story was too close for comfort. The simplicity of our gospel can only be kept intact through our humble belief in it. We lose it when we lose our humility. By attacking our outside influences by our own pride, we may suffocate the very faith we seek to defend. Our Savior was rich, but for our sakes He became poor. All he asks is that we believe - the kind of belief that trusts completely, with no added muscle.

Muscle - which brings me back to texturing my walls. They're finished, with thoughts of Sanatana Dharma and the Nicene Creed rolled into them. Thinking again. You never know what a paint roller and a cd will drudge up in my beany noggin.