I attended the funeral of a colleague and pal of 20+ years early this afternoon. Jewish funeral, very short notice. Just took him and his wife to dinner ten days ago. Massive stroke. Second close death for me in one week. They played Louis Armstrong. The last year of his life was probably the best he had ever had. Recently retired (wife still working), biking through Asia with his lovely Mrs - who is a doctor, a month in Cabo, visiting kids in Lake Como and in California. Loved four things the most: deep thinking, bicycling long distances, his family - and good meals with good wines. Always cheerful, except when stupidity or dishonesty pissed him off. So modest, I never knew he was a Harvard grad til today at the funeral. Full scholarship, worked as a janitor for spending money. Tough for me to lose two special pals who loved life so much, in one week: I am not old yet. It connects to this "passing through" theme for me right now:
The issues around being a Christian in the real world are a regular topic for Bible study groups - and likely for students and followers of any religious discipline. "In the world, but not of it" is the way a part of John 17 is often paraphrased, viewing this life as a swift passage to another version of existence.
Anchoress posted this well-known (but new to me) second century letter to Diognetus, presenting an ideal version of A Christian In The World, in her Paradoxes of Christianity:
Christians in the World
Christians are indistinguishable from other men either by nationality, language or customs. They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some outlandish way of life. Their teaching is not based upon reveries inspired by the curiosity of men. Unlike some other people, they champion no purely human doctrine. With regard to dress, food and manner of life in general, they follow the customs of whatever city they happen to be living in, whether it is Greek or foreign.
And yet there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but labor under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country. Like others, they marry and have children, but they do not expose them. They share their meals, but not their wives.
They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the flesh. They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven.
Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that transcends the law. Christians love all men, but all men persecute them. Condemned because they are not understood, they are put to death, but raised to life again. They live in poverty, but enrich many; they are totally destitute, but possess an abundance of everything. They suffer dishonor, but that is their glory. They are defamed, but vindicated. A blessing is their answer to abuse, deference their response to insult. For the good they do they receive the punishment of malefactors, but even then they, rejoice, as though receiving the gift of life. They are attacked by the Jews as aliens, they are persecuted by the Greeks, yet no one can explain the reason for this hatred.
To speak in general terms, we may say that the Christian is to the world what the soul is to the body. As the soul is present in every part of the body, while remaining distinct from it, so Christians are found in all the cities of the world, but cannot be identified with the world. As the visible body contains the invisible soul, so Christians are seen living in the world, but their religious life remains unseen. The body hates the soul and wars against it, not because of any injury the soul has done it, but because of the restriction the soul places on its pleasures. Similarly, the world hates the Christians, not because they have done it any wrong, but because they are opposed to its enjoyments.
Christians love those who hate them just as the soul loves the body and all its members despite the body's hatred. It is by the soul, enclosed within the body, that the body is held together, and similarly, it is by the Christians, detained in the world as in a prison, that the world is held together. The soul, though immortal, has a mortal dwelling place; and Christians also live for a time amidst perishable things, while awaiting the freedom from change and decay that will be theirs in heaven. As the soul benefits from the deprivation of food and drink, so Christians flourish under persecution. Such is the Christian’s lofty and divinely appointed function, from which he is not permitted to excuse himself.
From a letter to Diognetus (Nn. 5-6; Funk, 397-401)
We at Maggie's love this world, including Rudy's - while fully acknowledging that we we modern Americans have it better than just about anybody in human history, and better than anybody else in the world. However....
