Observant. . .

Although I grew up without the term in my vocabulary, observant was very much a part of nearly every church in my small Nebraska town.  On Sunday mornings, the Methodists made their way to the Methodist Church, the Evangelical Covenant folk to theirs (we called them Mission Covenant back then), the Swedish Lutherans to theirs, and headed out of town were the German Lutherans and the Roman Catholics (their congregations not having a facility in town).  It was expected.  In fact, I hardly knew anyone who did not go somewhere to church.  If you believed, you observed this belief with attendance; if you did not believe you just might be seen in church as well since it was a good thing to do.   

Serving on Long Island I encountered the distinction between observant and unobservant religious affiliation primarily in terms of the Jews very well represented there.  In addition to discovering that Jews also had denominations (Reformed, Conservative, etc.), I discovered that Jews routinely distinguished their Judaism in terms of those observant Jews who attended synagogue somewhere and those who did not (or only at the high holy days).  It also revealed the depth of the religious practices of the home (from kosher diets and kitchen appointments to none).  For a long time it was the only thing I thought about.  Now it seems so common I hardly ever think about it at all.

Our culture is in love with those who break the mold and are distinctive -- at least in so far as they are out of step with the generations before and traditional anything -- including religion!  We are a culture of unobservant people with respect to the social mores, morals, values, virtues, institutions, and beliefs of those who came before us.  At one point this was reflected in those who insisted that whatever it was, it was not your grandfathers!  How cool.  In reality, of course, it is not cool to be unobservant or non-practicing.  It is thoroughly pedestrian and group think to refuse not simply to believe but to find any value to the values and piety of the religion of your ancestors.  Biden is a good Roman Catholic precisely because he is not all that Roman Catholic -- in doctrine anyway.  It is the same for most people who have a practice but distance themselves from the kernel of what is believed.  Nobody should blindly follow anything or anyone, right?  Except that this is exactly what is being done.  When out of fear of what others might think or judge we distance ourselves from the body of doctrine and from its practice, we are being very traditional (in a different way).  Being observant is the new and real radical thing to be and to do.

Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson had little time or use for traditional religion and did not waste their time showing up.  On the other hand, George Washington (who could have been King) was known for his faithful presence in worship (Anglican usually).  Unlike the loudmouths of Franklin and Jefferson who routinely shouted out their contempt, no one really knew what Washington did believe but they did see how he worshiped.  Now some might call Washington a hypocrite.  That would be a false and harsh judgment unless someone actually knows what was in his heart.  Let God be the judge.  What Washington refused to be was a loud mouth bore.  We have too many of them today.  Some of them are the religious who find fault with everyone and everything as if God had made them judge and jury.  Most of them, however, are media folk and the educated elite in America who use their power to disrupt the religious beliefs and practices of others (mostly orthodox Christians!).  Curiously enough, even those who claim adherence seem to enjoy some distance -- after all, less then 40% at best and 20% at worst of those who belong even shop up on Sunday morning.  Biden the Roman Catholic who celebrates Trans Day instead of Easter is an example but he is hardly different from those who insist they are, say, Lutheran, but seldom show up.  Observance is the companion to belief and if a few more of us practiced what we say we believed the world might find it harder to use their loud mouths to condemn us.  We have enough peer pressure against faith and practice.  Let us use a little peer pressure for it.