In Search for Joy and Power?

"The Church, In Search for Joy and Power?"

Probably life has been too good to you to the extent that you no longer cry? I doubt if there is anyone who does not cry at one time or another in the course of this life? We cry for many reasons, some of the reasons are self-induced others are by others or by circumstances that come our way. Is crying essentially wrong or negative?

In this dialogue we will not delve into discussing about crybabies – those who cry without a reason - good or bad or those who cry as a profession? Here we will be discussing about cry induced either by pain or joy. Pain brought about as a result of a broken relationship, pain emanating from a tragic event or incident. Joy emanating from sublime unforgettable experiences for some reason or the other also does induce tears or cries of joy and ecstasy.

Our current world is filled with painful and regrettable pockets of cry's of pain and sorrow and for some reason or the other, our media seem to be giving more space to crybabies and especially political crybabies who cry whenever and wherever cameras face them. The media also seems to thrive in tragedies and pain of those who suffer than those who cry for sheer ecstatic joy. This is probably so, for pain reminds all of us what we face in our common human destiny? Maybe so, or maybe we do this for insidious self-cathartic reasons?

That joy and happiness are states and processes culminating from choice is not the issue here. The issue should be, where and how do we attain happiness and joy? It is sad to note that apparently, true joy and happiness as expressed in most of the religious literature can only be attained in the after life or in ecstatic religious state of being.

Most teachings and religious philosophies going around for some reason or the other are loaded with the impression that happiness cannot be attained here on earth. These esoteric teachings are meant to drive a man to the limits of his life as he or she searches for the ultimate. These philosophies and doctrines also are the ones, which presume that all pleasure is sin and therefore happiness and joy can only be gotten through various forms of asceticism.

This is why we have individuals who will go through self-inflicted flagellation and torture stoically in the name of religion. And probably this is what led Karl Marx to write in his preface to his 1843 Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right:

"Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sign of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."

This then brings us to the current political move by both the major Abrahamic Faiths. The Christians under the Evangelical banner well captioned in the philosophies of prominent Tele-evangelists in the USA and much more visibly in our local scene by Hon. Onesmus Kihara Mwangi. The Islamic faith through its various leaders both in politics and in the religious circles, is seeking and fighting tooth and nail in order to be integrated in the larger social political caucus of the country and the world at large. This is what is now being referred to as the clash of the cultures, or rather the clash of the cults.
A case in point is the voting against the proposed constitution in Kenya last year's national referendum? The marginal defeat was as a result of the inclusion of religious clauses in the now rejected proposed constitution. The other political undertones were mere incidentals, from a religious perspective.

Why the clamouring for political power by the religious leaders at this time? What is the social impact of the involvement of the religious leaders in political power struggles? Is religion losing out to politics or is Karl Marx after all right?

The disciples of the Nazarene two thousand years ago asked a very political loaded question: "So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel." . . . He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:6-8)
It seems from the above mentioned verses that it was not in the interest of the early church to get involved with the political system at the time.

Of course three hundred years later after this incidence, 'the Edict of Milan 313 AD when Emperor Constantine, "converted" to Christianity a radically change occurred. The persecuted church became first the tolerated church, and eventually the official religion of the Roman Empire. In consequence of the church, which until then was composed mostly of people from the lower echelons of society, made headway among the aristocracy.'

The purpose, the role and the mission of the 'church' and the role it plays in personal fulfillment of individuals is critical. Personal satisfaction in the western world used to be pegged on what is known as the GDP index of a country. This then meant that comfort and fulfillment or happiness as it were was determined by the monetary index.
Today as we speak a new index to measure social and personal fulfillment or happiness and joy is being rolled out, in the economic circles, and it now includes other factors than monetary based indexes alone, that are needed or required in order to measure, explain and bring about fulfillment?

The secular humanist world has found out that the monetary index is not the panacea for happiness or fulfillment. And raw political patronage does not give answers to the eternal human quest of purpose and fulfillment that brings about happiness or joy. On the contrary, the higher the economic index the higher the level of unhappiness and emptiness.

This is what the imminent European sub-continent Psychoanalyst Carl G. Jung many years later refers to as the 'loss memory of God' in the sub-consciousness of the European. This loss with it brought about emptiness and social restlessness.
Could this be what the Nazarene thought when he said, "You cannot serve God and mammon."?
True joy and happiness is as a result of voluntary and non conditional self denial that drives an individual to willingly give up everything while embracing the Ancient of Days as his only source and ultimate satisfaction. Those who loose gain while those who seek to gain loose everything in turn. The paradox of joy and fulfillment lies in between contentment and self-discipline. In other words, those who follow me, the Nazarene urges, must carry their cross and willing die to self-daily.

Of course the Nazarenes' paradigm for happiness and fulfillment was subversive then, and now seems contemptible and intellectually incongruous especially in these times when the so called 'gospel of prosperity' is rife and the 'in thing' as it were. In fact, poverty is becoming synonymous with evil and sinful.

In our dash towards political empowerment, we have lost everything that made us, 'the salt of the earth and the light on a hill.' This is because in our pursuit for contextualizing the gospel as it were, we have lost the center and now are grappling with the forms and symbols. In fact time is fast overtaking us and it is just a question of when? We will cease saying, 'silver and gold have I none.'

How far can the church interpret the concept of 'the salt of the earth' in terms of its relationship with the larger society? Can the church dabble in politics and remain the same? The Edict of Milan started off what we now refer to as Christendom, Christendom and its thousand year as a purveyor of politics failed miserably in the European Sub-Continent. This failure is not only the preserve of Christianity, it is a preserve of all religious based political systems.

The reason being that intolerance which is inherent in religion becomes the order of the day, especially when finite man usurps the position of the creator, while at the same time observing that absolute power to whomever and more so to a human being, absolutely corrupts. 'Power to the people', probably yes, but 'power to the church or religion' in our case, I doubt. The church should not loose its workers to raw politics as it were. They unfortunately never leave unscathed. The imminent religious reformers of the sixteenth century could not resolve the socio-political issues of the day. They could neither comfortably marry the religious and political issues of their times, simply because, they did not understand secular-humanism philosophy that was in the offing. Five hundred years later, we are yet to fathom secular humanism; despite it being an offshoot of Protestantism?

The church leadership should seek to involve its parishioners in positive social involvement, which leads to social re-engineering that transforms lifestyles.
Our search for happiness and joy as it were while mysteriously entwined with our social systems; unfortunately is divorced from the encumbrances that go with our social systems. 'We are in the world but not of the world' is the foundational concept that drives us to ultimate happiness and joy. (Interactive: [e-mail]).
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