The Trappings of Religion

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

- Galatians 5:1

I just finished reading a book called, "When We Were on Fire," by Addie Zierman. The book is a memoir, chronicling Zierman's journey growing up in the Evangelical church of the 90s, with See You at the Pole and WWJD bracelets and DC Talk and purity pledges. Every page resonated with me and my own youth. It was like reading my own story.

Zierman shares the pressure of being a young woman in the church and being pushed towards the role of a missionary wife. Not a missionary, mind you, but a missionary wife. She shares the pressure of staying pure and holy and always doing and saying the right thing. She writes about never feeling as though she truly fit in. She writes about her tailspin into depression, and the overall unhelpful responses from her church community as she fell.

So much of her story is relatable. Her doubts, her questions, her watching on the outside looking in. I've walked that same journey. The end of the book - spoiler alert - leaves her in still a very precarious position. Improving, but not altogether recovered. In church, but still uncertain.

I tried to look her up, but it seems as though a few years ago she fell off the map. I hope she is well. I hope she found her way.

Her story is not unusual. So many of us were raised in strict, conservative, legalistic churches, full of lists of to dos and not to dos, while not nearly as full of grace. As girls, especially, the list was incredibly long of all the ways we had to protect not only ourselves but our brothers, too, from falling. Boys were boys and would fall easily, apparently, so girls had to be the strong ones. We had to dress appropriately and speak demurely and be respectful and hold our boundaries, so we wouldn't tarnish the boys of God. We were prepped to be wives of Godly Christian men. Wives and mothers.

Regardless of whether or not we wanted more. Regardless of whether or not God wanted more for us.

The Evangelical Church in America has its own micro-culture. We - I guess I am still part of the we - have our own language, our own expressions, our behaviors and mannerisms. We have unspoken rules, as well as all the spoken ones. The only sermon I've ever heard about swearing was during a college chapel service, but everyone in church knows you don't speak that way. The church I was raised in had strict beliefs about how women and girls should dress coming to church. It was never verbalized, but if you came bare-legged without nylons, even at age ten, you certainly realized rather quickly you had committed an unspeakable offense.

These cultural rules - the spoken and the unspoken - are part of the trappings of religion. Other trappings of religion include any ritual, rite, ceremony, or practice that is centralized. 

To the Jewish people in the Old Testament, the temple and the routine sacrifices had become the trappings of religion. They wrongly believed that following the rules, going through the motions of the required sacrifices, would save them. God sent prophet after prophet to tell them to turn their hearts back to Him. Then, finally, He sent His Son.

Jesus' words in Matthew 23 towards the religious teachers of the day are harsh. He calls them "blind guides", "hypocrites", "white-washed tombs", and "sons of vipers"! Ouch. His main charge against them is how they've embraced the trappings of religion so fully, they've made it difficult for people to come to God. In fact, in many cases, they've completed blocked those they deemed unworthy or "unclean" from coming to God at all!

See, religion saves no one.

God is pretty clear about that throughout the Bible. Jesus is pretty clear about that in the Gospels. Paul - a former religious teacher and hypocrite - continues the same idea. We can go through all the motions of religion we want but it means nothing if our hearts are not involved. 

Jesus never called us to a religion. In fact, quite likely, He never intended to start a new religion at all.

Rather, Jesus calls us to faith.

Religion is about rules and punishment for breaking those rules.

Faith is about a relationship with the one true God.

Religion trades the chains of sin for the chains of trappings.

Faith sets us free by the gift of God through faith in Jesus.

Religion is concerned with judging others and finding them lacking.

Faith is concerned with love. Love for God and love for others.

Religion can easily be intermixed with culture and politics and power and privilege.

Faith transcends all of that. Faith is focused on Jesus above all else.

We have a right to be wary of religion. In fact, we should run from it.

We should run from religion - straight to Jesus.

Not all churches are religious. Not all churches are legalistic and judgmental and political and consumed with trappings.

Find one that focuses on a relationship with Jesus.

Find one that believes in loving God and loving others.

It won't be perfect. No church is, because no human being is. 

But there is an incredible sense of freedom in letting go the trappings of religion and embracing faith. And that freedom should be celebrated within a community of believers. A community who, together, can help set others free, too.