Integration, not compartmentalisation, is the key to Christian life.

A common feature of modern western Christianity, or English Christianity at least, is the tendency for Christian people to compartmentalise their faith.  What do I mean?  I mean the boxing off of that faith into an hour on Sunday mornings, into a slot which may or may not be inextricably related to the rest of life.

You may wonder what’s wrong with that.  Isn’t it better than not bothering at all?  Well, of course it is; and yet it’s a severe impoverishment of how the faith should be lived.

The Christian faith is unique is that it is an ‘incarnational’ faith.  What is meant by that is that, in the person of Christ, God entered this world, his created order, as one of us.  Our veneration of Our Lady reminds us of this truth.  God deigned to be born of a woman and live a proper human life; he was brought up in a human family and, in his human nature, endured a fully human death.  In the Incarnation, God identified with us; he didn’t simply look like us or appear to be like us; rather, he shared our life in all its facets, except our sinfulness whose hold over us he came to break. 

When we think of this, it seems strange that people should think it reasonable to box things off as we tend to do.  The challenge for us is to allow our faith conviction to permeate and affect every aspect of our life and being, precisely because God is there, everywhere, and in every situation of our lives through the mystery of the Incarnation.

In this part of the world, it’s common for Christian people to absent themselves from the altar at significant moments in their lives.  If I had a quid for every time someone told me that they won’t be at Mass (on a Sunday or weekday) because (for example) it’s their birthday (or someone else’s), a wedding anniversary, some other celebration, or because someone has died or it’s the anniversary of a death, I could book a very nice weekend away somewhere.  If we took the Incarnation seriously, and didn’t compartmentalise our faith, each of these instances would provide an extra motivation for being at the altar.  Whether it is ‘good news’ life events or times of upset and difficulty, God is there with us in Christ and we witness to this truth best by immersing ourselves in the practice of our faith.  If our faith isn’t a way of life, then it is nothing.

Another example of where many people could revise their approach to the practice of the faith is when family or friends visit.  Again, I have lost count of the times people have said, over the years, that they cannot be in church because they have visitors and there is too much to do.  I can never understand why visitors cannot be told that they are very welcome, but that we have a duty on Sunday to worship.  That’s what I have to say to visitors (yes, I have family and friends, too – people often speak to me as if I don’t!).  What a wonderful way to witness to the faith; and what an opportunity is lost when we yield to the easy option.  Then people wonder why the practice of the faith is on the wane and numbers of people in the churches are down.  It is so easy for us to undermine our own faith whilst at the same time regretting why more people don’t ‘come to church’.

Ours is the faith of the Incarnation, and there is not a single aspect of life where we cannot witness to it, quietly and effectively.