Column by Mary Lee Talbot
“My hope for the world is tempered with realism. I want to build a world where humans flourish, but I have to squint and look hard to see if the garden is growing,” said Michael Chan, Ph.D. Chan answered questions posed by the Rt. Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton at the 9:15 a.m. Thursday morning ecumenical service of worship in the Hall of Philosophy.
Chan grew up in Kingman, Arizona, at “the crossroads of Route 66 and I-40.” His family were members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and he was baptized, went to Sunday school and church services regularly.
“God became alive to me when I started reading Greek mythology. When I was a camp counselor at the Lutheran camp, the Bible became less a book and more of a mirror. It was a gift to be able to read texts — the Bible, Shakespeare, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn. The Bible helped bring me to faith,” he said.
Sutton talked about a song from the opera Porgy and Bess, “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” and asked Chan if a story has to be factual to be true. Chan used the parable of the prodigal son as an example for his answer. “Is the truthfulness of this story dependent on there being a real father or a real son? This genre is parable. There are some biblical stories grounded in fact,” he said.
Chan described a world map of Christianity and his place in it. “Christianity is very diverse, and I find myself at the edge of the map because I have a lot of questions. Those in the core seem to assume answers to questions; I find the questions more interesting,” he said.
He described himself as someone who relates more to Abraham in Genesis 18, who asked God lots of questions about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and sounded like “he was in a Middle Eastern market trying to get the price down.” Chan contrasted this story with Genesis 22, the story of the sacrifice of Isaac, where Abraham asked no questions.
“Genesis 18 is more like me. I have moved from certainty to curiosity,” Chan said. When he was in college, Chan joined a charismatic cult looking for social safety and certainty. He avoided the religion department at his college because he considered it a threat to his faith.
Sutton asked how he was able to leave this group. Chan said, “With great turmoil, because these groups prey on your anxiety. But I had a mentor who gave me unconditional love plus my liberal arts education. I became more comfortable with my doubts.”
Chan continued, “I find myself in Ecclesiastes, with its two voices. One is a voice that embraces the gift of life, and the other is a voice that says all is meaningless, we are all dust in the wind. Lutherans believe that personal faith frees you for something. I want to build a world that is more joyful, more trustworthy and more just.”
The Rt. Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton, senior pastor of Chautauqua, presided. Trish Braga, a 15-year all-season resident, read the Scripture. The Scripture reading was Jeremiah 31: 31–34. Flutist Barbara Hois and pianist Joseph Musser, Motet Consort members, played movements from Handel’s Sonata in C Major. Sonya Subbayya Sutton accompanied the congregational prayers with music from Taizé.
