I can't quote it exactly, not having the book in front of me, but in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard relates a conversation between an Eskimo and a missionary. My impression is that this conversation takes place after the fellow's conversion, but regardless, he asks whether his soul was in any danger before he knew about God and sin. The missionary replies that it was not. To which the convert replies, "Then why did you tell me?"When I first read those words, they gave me great pause. At least in that conversation, Christian conversion ended up sounding more like a loss of innocence than any great prize. And I couldn't help but wonder about the image of Christian life that this missionary had imparted, and that we in the Church typically demonstrate, if it would make a convert long for the former life he had lost.
"How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God." So begins Psalm 84. Loveliness, longing, and joyous song springing from the heart pour out from these two verses. I wonder if the Christian life imparted by that Alaskan missionary had much of Psalm 84's feel to it. And more to the point, what about the Christian life that I demonstrate?
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