Conformity

Mat set for breaking the fast

We’ve heard this week that the island president is calling for more religious conformity.  Apparently there have been some variations in how islanders pray. This is no longer to be tolerated.  All islanders must pray in the exactly the same way. (We haven’t heard yet what the penalty will be for not complying.)

The island national anthem proclaims that they are one people, one blood, one religion.   It announces with pride and delight that they are all the same and that this is the source of their strength and unity.

It is a verifiable fact that the islands are one of the least diverse countries on the planet— culturally, ethnically, and religiously. That doesn’t mean there is no diversity, but it is more subtle, small differences rather than major contrasts. Still the president is calling for even more conformity.  And by so doing he is presenting to all that he is a man of faith, who takes his religion seriously.  The religion of the islands, which is followed by millions of people around the world, calls people to conformity.   It provides lots of rules and guidance on what that should look like.  It instructs you in everything from how to pray to how to enter a bathroom.  It is legalism of a very high order, and though it is dominant in dozens of countries and dictates the lives of people from thousands of languages, it demands conformity.  Islanders and millions like them, think that conformity is what ensures their unity.  But conformity is not unity.  True unity does not happen when people conform but when people truly agree.  Conformity brings about the appearance of unity but it is only a shadow.  Yet islanders, and millions like them are fooled.   In fact, they are often puzzled when we try to explain what true unity looks like.

In America, we champion non-conformity (although most of us still conform to many unwritten rules of our culture, like everywhere else).  But in movies and literature, we often praise the rebel, the outsider, the one who doesn’t fit in.  We see value in the things they can teach the establishment and believe they add an important check to our society.  But neither is this unity.  And so we see in America the glorification of independence.  We don’t believe in being told what to do and we respect the man who wants his space.  We believe it makes us strong and in some way, unites us.  But this is not unity either.

Our daughter & neighbors waiting for sunset

But there is another way.  It looks both as wild and various as the “non-conformist” culture of America and as uniform and consistent as the “conformity” of island culture.  It is the way of the Spirit.  For what the Spirit offers that no other system, religion, or philosophy can is true unity—unity in diversity.  Heartfelt agreement expressed in a myriad of forms.  Whenever you see unity in diversity you can be sure the Spirit is at work.  And this unity is tenuous—it is so easily lost, as we have seen in two thousand odd years of history, but time and time again it appears.  Unity of heart that is spell-binding.  Diversity of expression that is mind-blowing. 

How can you teach this?  How can someone understand it?  How can someone raised in a culture of conformity or non-conformity expect to appreciate this?  One will look on the unity of the Spirit and reject it as chaos.  The other will see that same unity and imagine it to be a prison.  But the person with eyes to see…  The person who has been searching for something more…  They will look on it and see it for what it really is—harmony, peace, and freedom. 

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We’ve had a great response from our invitation to pray for the islands this month. It’s not to late. Send us an email if you want to get the daily guide/emails to help you pray. Prayer is powerful so we’re encouraged to have people lifting up the islands. We were able to gather with many local brothers and sisters for a meal on Saturday and prayer afterwards. It was encouraging to have so many together. The women gathered for prayer on Thursday, sharing a story with some who are seeking. Megan’s parents’ both had unexpected surgeries (her dad for his blown out knee and her mom for kidney stones that she didn’t know she had). Both surgeries went well!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Continue to pray for the islands during this time of fasting that those who seek would find and that more would seek! Pray for Megan’s parents that they would both recover well and quickly from their surgeries and that Megan’s mom would be able to go see her own mom (whose health is failing) before too long. Pray for this call for more religious conformity by the president— pray that it would create a conversation among islanders about religious freedom. An island brother we know is seeking religious asylum on the French island. We’re not sure if this is the right decision for him. We pray for guidance and wisdom for him and others.