I know. I’ve been silent for too long on this binary page of server space. I could say that I’ve been busy. But you don’t come here for excuses, no matter how convincing they are. You come for the mediocre theses doused in attempted humor. So, all I can offer is my apology for making you wonder why you weren’t receiving a GLIM post in your inbox, and put one in there for you. I can only hope that what I’ve been busy with this past year will make your experience In Mirkwood that much more enjoyable.
Much has happened in the world since we’ve last interacted. From the old guy in the White House falling out of the President’s chair, to the woke vermin at Twitter being stomped out by the new alien owner, the last few months haven’t been worthy of our yawns. And to make things more exciting, we’ve entered another promising Presidential Election Season – that is, promising to be full of headlines. Trump is actively on the campaign trail. Which means that all the cameras are as well. Watch out for Chinese curses.
So, yes, much has happened without GLIM’s flickering. And, as is usual for the human race, much has already been said about it – some judgmental things and some boring ones. Sure, not everything that’s been discussed on the inner circles of the interwebs has been helpful, but an adequate amount has been. There have been good things written and said to help us peasants process and pivot through these pivotal processes.
One such topic trying to gain momentum throughout the Christian Twitters is the idea of Christian Nationalism. Originally that name might have been an attempted smear job by those opposed to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ over every sphere. But some Christians have provocatively took it upon themselves to tattoo the label on their foreheads. Well, I guess they haven’t gone that far. They are Christian Nationalists after all. But the trendy slur has been added to many Twitter Bios. With the release of Stephen Wolfe’s book, Christian Nationalism by Canon Press, followed up with Doug Wilson’s Mere Christendom, talks about not just Christian communities, but Christian nations, are once again in the spotlight. Rushdoony would be proud. Somehow dualists keep being caught with their spiritual pants down. All good things.
Now, talks of nations bowing the knee are, of course, controversial. I may be a young, hopeless romantic, but even I’m not naive enough to think these ideas will be heralded in like a victor’s procession in a deserted city. I’ve read a little history. Opposition is expected. Like any exciting controversy, it’s a mixed bag of lettuce. It all gets convoluted and confused really quick. I’ll leave it to the experts to sort out the mess and serve the salad. I will add weight to the side that proclaims Jesus Christ is in fact Lord of the entire cosmos, which means I am pro-every-sphere-submitting-to-Christ. The more the merrier.
With that said, there is one point in all of this debacle that I think hasn’t been emphasized as much as would be good. Since I have your attention for a few more minutes, perhaps I can flicker this glim onto it. Many Christians are excited about serving the Lord in the public arena. Their zeal is commendable. And their actions align with their words. They aspire to serve the Lord, and to do so in community. They talk about what a government that submits to Christ should look like. Excellent.
But because the current thought-police are, in fact, in opposition to free grace creating free men, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence. So much so, that the Christian saint from times past that continues to be brought forward as our champion to emulate is none other than Saint Boniface. Christians commemorate him on June 5th – the day of his martyrdom – but his name is brought forward much more frequently. His famous appearance is that of felling Donar’s Oak – the sacred tree of the Germanic idol-worshipers whom Boniface was a missionary to. Old Donar’s Oak was an untouchable relic of the pagan religion. Boniface, following the steps of Elijah before him, didn’t hesitate to mock the false religion and put an axe to the system. When he wasn’t struck by lightening for his iconoclasm, but was assisted by a great wind in toppling the lumber, many converted to Christianity in fear and trembling.
This is a great story. It’s definitely one to emulate and utilize in our Kingdom-building efforts. It is true that too many Christians are so brittle in their demeanor that even snapping a hay stem wouldn’t be an appropriate tactic for their contextualized cultural engagement, let alone chopping down some timber. Some more stories like that of Elijah and Boniface, read with a glass of smokey Islay Single Malt, are a desperately needed addition to our post-modern nutrition plan. Go ahead and ignore the Instagram dietitians and have a gluten-filled snack to compliment the peaty fire going down your throat. It’s good for you.
What I do think would enhance our sensory experience, though, is if more people read and aspired to not just what Boniface destroyed, but what he built up. Boniface was a missionary, church-planter, and pastor to an area that lacked not just any church organization, but any Christians to organize. He went out to tame the wild for the Kingdom. Yes, he felled Donar’s Oak. And then built up the church. He helped form working relations between ruling families and “politicians” of the area to enable the gospel efforts of the church to go forward. Through his efforts as a courageous and wise founder, not a loud and obnoxious wrecking ball, Boniface blessed Europe with the gospel message that Christ is Lord – helping to solidify an era of Christendom made up of Christian European nations, whose moral capital we are still spending to this day.
Fervent zeal for the Lord is praiseworthy (as are 2 ounces of Lagavulin 16). Sometimes zeal for the Lord looks like toppling idols. And sometimes it looks like planting in the ashes. Yes, we should want and work for Christian communities to serve the Lord. But Scripture’s call to serve the Lord is transitive. We don’t serve the Lord with our grievances and misery. We serve the Lord with joyfulness and gladness of heart.
“Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.” – Deut. 28:47-48
God cares about our attitude and our tone. Douglas Wilson does a marvelous job not only emphasizing this point, but authentically living it out in his own community. His jovial spirit full of gratitude to the Maker is what makes up the peat that attracts so many Christians to share a glass with him. My wife and I had the honor to host Doug and Nancy Wilson around our dinner table earlier this year with a group of saints from our church. It was a pleasure. The Wilsons’ kind, meak, and fun demeanor helps me understand why Jesus kept being invited to parties, even by his enemies.
But it almost seams like many of Wilson’s followers, who are authentically eager to see the name of our Lord praised in the public square, are too eager to break something, and not as quick to build something up. If Christian nations will taste like what many Christian Nationalists show us on their Twitter feed, we will have communities full of indigestible swamp water instead of glorious Islay Scotch. Clashing cymbals that praise the Lord turn into clanging gongs that dishonor Him when what unites our Christian communities is grievance and misery, instead of gladness and mirth. After we successfully topple the idols, we will turn to topple one another, once again imitating the sins of European Christendom. The goal of a Christian community, of a Christian nation, of a Christian world, is to serve the Lord with joyfulness and gladness of heart. And, of course, drink good scotch.
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