By JIM NICHOLS

Every human activity or discipline has a set of words or concepts that operate to shorten communication. Using this jargon is efficient; users of it can communicate in a shorter time with more clarity. Plumbers have such a set of words and elementary teachers have another set; it is common in life. Sometimes, the jargon can be understood by those outside the discipline. In fact, in some situations the jargon can be adopted by outsiders and applied in parallel ways that are helpful.

Two contrasting concepts from music are the terms “staccato” and “legato.” Both refer to the duration of a musical note. When one plays or sings notes in a staccato fashion, the notes are shortened; they are crisp and separated from one another by silence. This is only a fleeting period of silence, but clearly different from notes played or sung in a legato fashion. In this latter version, the notes are clearly “tied together” and smoother in connection. Neither of these is preferable to the other; they are simply different versions of the musical notes and may have a different effect on the listener.

It is not too large a jump to apply these two terms to religious faith, even to the Christian faith. Could there be staccato Christians and legato Christians?

I can think of individuals who I would describe as staccato Christians; I probably was one when I was younger. This approach sees faith as a series of clear decisions that have generally reasonable outcomes. Getting to the end involves maximizing the best decisions and minimizing the worst ones. Faith matters are straightforward and mostly understandable. There is little mystery involved.

As happens, however, many of us find that this staccato approach begins failing as we encounter more ambiguity in our lives. Age and experience tend to do that. Looking at others or in the mirror at ourselves, we can see that stances and beliefs that were once fundamental to our faith seem cloudier now. On a larger scale, we can even see this occurring at a societal and political level as time goes by. The original old Michael Fox movie Back to the Future humorously illustrated that. Marty McFly’s brain was spinning trying to drop back to the time when his mother and father had not yet met.

Moving to a more legato form of faith has more positives than negatives, but we need to be clear about each. Leaving a staccato faith is a bit like a ripening event. It involves a transition to slower, patient learning and appreciation. We develop more patience with accepting the way things actually exist. In fact, it allows us freedom to let go of some pieces of our lives, perhaps even happily. We improve at accepting contradictions. We get better at speaking our truth without needing to be right; we move from “either-or” positions to more “yes-and” positions. Do you not feel that you have transitioned in this direction in life?

This is occasionally unnerving for us. We rightly have basic stances and beliefs that have helped make us the people we are now. Backing off from our strength of beliefs or (even worse) giving up on them is like tearing out a part of ourselves. If we were right with God then, why do we feel uneasy about a change? It is all a mystery.

Indeed, it is. Experience and age have brought us back to admitting that we are existing in a place of God’s mysteries. We have ripened backward to the way a child wakes in the morning. A child opens its eyes and expects to learn, to enjoy, to experience something interesting and, perhaps, fun. The child works from a position of feeling protected and guarded as we are by God. As we have grown from childhood, we have learned to be afraid of the unknown rather than move under God’s protection and grace.

I am practicing living in a legato world of faith. I do not always have to act quickly and once-for-all. I can live with slow realizations, resistances, and denials. As followers of God, you and I are safe to live with God’s mysteries because we live with God’s grace also.

Jim Nichols is a retired Abilene Christian University biology professor and current hospice chaplain