Faith Means Being Alone

Fusing the existential acuity of Kierkegaard with the wisdom of the Old Testament, Boston Orthodox rabbi Soloveitchik has produced a timeless spiritual guide for men and women of all religions. In this soaring, eloquent essay, first published in Tradition magazine in 1965, "The Rav," as he is known to his followers worldwide, investigates the essential aloneness of the person of faith, whom he deems a misfit in our narcissistic, technologically oriented, utilitarian society. Using the story of Adam and Eve as a springboard, Soloveitchik explains prayer as "the harbinger of moral reformation" and probes the despair and exasperation of individuals who seek to redeem existence through direct knowledge of a God who seems remote and unapproachable. Although the faithful may become members of a "convenantal community," their true home, he writes, is "the abode of loneliness" as they shuttle between the transcendent and the mundane. Sudden shafts of illumination confront the reader at every turn in this inspirational personal testament.

from the Editorial Reviews section at Amazon.com for the book
The Lonely Man of Faith
by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik

No, I haven't read this book and it's not on my "soon-to-be-read" list, though I'm probably going to put it on my wish list as it seems compelling. I came across this book while I was searching for other books on Amazon and it was the title that grabbed me: "The Lonely Man of Faith"

While I can't comment on Rabbi Soloveitchik's book, I can comment about loneliness in the "community" of faith. I put the word "community" in quotes, because, depending on your perspective, there isn't very much fellowship going on.

Most of us worship in a congregation of some sort. Some of us worship in more than one. I know a number of the folks I worship with on the Shabbat also worship in local Christian churches on Sunday. There are a lot of reasons for this, including having a spouse who is more traditionally Christian, needing a traditional Christian environment to supplement Messianic/One Law worship, and wanting to be a bridge between the church and the Hebraic worship context. However, I've also recently come across a blog that advocates non-church attendance in favor of an individual worship paradigm.

If you mean that time alone with Yeshua replaces community, I don’t think I can agree with that. While I can agree that time in prayer is enormously valuable, we still need close community to keep our focus as believers and to avoid self-deception. A person who is perpetually alone in their faith, unless they are extremely self-disciplined and focused, will eventually start to “drift” in their perceptions and over time, will start to create an internal “theology” that does not have much resemblance to the larger community of faith and accepted understanding and scholarship.

That was my response to blog writer Mike Gantt on Derek Leman's blog when discussing the topic of large "outer" faith communities vs. "inner circles". Please feel free to go to Derek's blog post to read the complete conversation as well as to Mike Gantt's blog to get his views on the matter.

It occurs to me that, whether or not we are a "community-based" believer in the Jewish Messiah, we are in some sense alone and isolated. Yes, we may have our congregations around us, but consider how we are understood and received outside of our communities. Being "Messianic" in whatever shape or form you conceive the practice, is "neither fish nor fowl" as far as both the Christian church and the traditional (non-Messianic) Jewish synagogue is concerned (let alone the secular realm). For all Messianic Judaism's protestations and claims of "community" with both the synagogue and the church, we (they?) aren't well understood by either. Churches tend to see Messianic Judaism (MJ) as being "under the law", while Jews see MJ as "Christians" and thus not "really" Jewish. There may be certain exceptions, but that's the general rule.

Splitting hairs further, calling yourself "Messianic" doesn't automatically mean you belong to everyone else who calls themselves "Messianic". One Law congregations call themselves "Messianic" but they don't have a lot in common with MJ congregations who associate with organizations such as the Messianic Jewish Theological Institute. The same goes for Two-House believers, and in-between those three camps, are a lot of individual people, home fellowships, and loose associations that, while claiming to be "Messianic", don't fit anyone else's mold except their own.

As has been previously pointed out to me, Jesus (Yeshua) didn't spend a lot of time complaining about being lonely or not having a sense of belonging, but no one denied that he was (and is) Jewish, either. While he was criticized and even nearly stoned a couple of times, he was (and is) part of Israel and a Jewish worshiper of the Father. His disciples didn't stop being Jews and didn't stop being Israel just because they were his followers, and they maintained most or all of their relationships with friends, family, and in the larger religious community throughout their connection with the Master.

I've been to churches where the people didn't really seem any different than in the rest of the world. When I was a kid, my parents took me to a Lutheran church and in my catechism class, I can tell you that the kids didn't treat me any better than the kids I went to school with. I'm not saying all churches are like this, but it seems that the church is making a great deal of effort to blend in with the rest of the community rather than allowing their values and principles distinguish themselves from the secular world around them.

Maybe being a person of faith is supposed to be lonely. But where do you strike a balance...or do you?

Messianic Judaism, MJTI style, emphasizes the distinctions between Jewish Messianics and Gentile Christians (especially those Gentile Christians who call themselves "Messianics"). This is done, at least in theory, to promote a greater association and community with the rest of Judaism (which for the most part, doesn't share the desire to have community with MJ) so MJ does and doesn't have community with groups outside of itself. One Law has associations with itself, but to the degree that they have a hard time (some of them, anyway) what the "apostasy" of the church, they don't have fellowship with Christianity. If One Law disdains the (non-Messianic) synagogue for its devotion to the Oral Law and it's denial of Jesus, then community doesn't exist in that direction, either. Plus, many One Law congregations have very specific theologies such that they don't have agreement with many other One Law congregations.

This is getting really complicated. What are we supposed to be doing again?

Oh yeah!

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

“Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” -Mark 12:28-33

Ironically, we all say we're obeying these commandments and I believe each and every one of you when you say it. It's just that we all have such many and varied ways of trying to obey the Master. We tend to pursue our chosen method of obeying God and following the Jewish Messiah with such zeal, that when we stop for a moment and look around, we can find ourselves very much alone. Sure, we are obligated to go through the narrow gate (Luke 13:22-30), but can you honestly say you alone are the only one who will be passed through?

Where do we strike the balance between our principles, values, and understanding of our role in God's kingdom, and having a life we share with others? Are we to hide in our ivory towers with only the select few who think and feel exactly the same way we do, or can be find a way to connect to others? Is there room in our hearts and theologies for people who don't believe precisely in the same manner as ourselves? Which is the sin, to admit others who aren't quite like us and risk "polluting" the community, or to stand firm and deny entry to anyone who doesn't pass the conformity test?

I don't know. I do know that I often feel isolated and alone in my faith. I can express such feelings online, but my Internet "community" is "virtual" at best. I haven't the faintest idea who I could share all this with face-to-face and who wouldn't be completely blown away by my revelations.

I suppose that's why prayer is so important.

And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. -Friedrich Nietzsche

The road is long and we travel alone in the darkness.