Tonight I’m going to be meeting with something called the “Spiritual Growth Committee” at St. Barnabas. Now, I’m not really sure why this committee was originally formed. I guess I’ll find out later. I do know that the Bible study that I have led for the past few months is somehow under the auspices of that committee. So, there’s that.
Those who know me can maybe understand my apparent ambivalence to this. First off, I’m not a big fan of ‘committees.’ They are usually formed for some arbitrary reason like, “Gee! Maybe we should form a committee for that!” (Whatever “that” is.) There rarely is a need for them. Then, once formed, they tend to exist for the singular purpose of ‘existing.’ In the rare event that there truly is a need and a mandate for a committee to form, the mandate seems never to be met and the committee just lives on and on and on……
I also really hate meetings. Another example of existing for the mere purpose of appearing to do something. Anything. At all. Even when nothing of any real substance is, in fact, taking place. “Hey, Bill! Let’s get the committee together to have a meeting.” “What do we need to talk about,” Jim? “Oh, I don’t know. But, at least we’ll look like we’re accomplishing something.” “Good call, Jim!” Yeah, meetings…not a big fan.
So, you ask, why am I involving myself with these two things that I really don’t hold in very high esteem?
Well, sometimes I think that we must entertain some things that appear pretty much useless in order to add legitimacy to something that IS important and NEEDS to be addressed. In this case, appearances are pretty important. People seem to really like it when something appears to be important and official. I don’t know, to me it seems pretty silly, but hey, there are “People.” You know?
Ok, so what’s so important that it can get me to leave my house and miss Jeopardy!?
Spiritual Growth and Formation. That’s what.
I’m convinced that the only thing that separates the Church from every other social justice organisation on the planet finds its source in those few words. In fact, most of those secular organisations can do the work far better than the Church. They can mobilize a larger slice of the population and, far and away, they can fetch the financial resources needed far more easily. I’m not implying that the Church should abdicate this vital work and allow secular groups to own all of that work. No, no, no. The Scripture is clear, and our hearts concur, that justice for those who are in need and who are ostracized by society is part of what God desires us to pursue. All I’m saying is that on the ground these other organisations are really well-equipped to do that work. (In fact, it’s usually a good idea for the Church to partner with them. Together much good can be done.)
Back to Spiritual Growth.
The Church is unique in that she can help people find a path that leads to the Source of Life.
Yeah, that’s what I said. A pathway to the Source. That alone is not necessary to do good works. But, it is necessary for the Church to be the Church. It is our Raison d’être. Awareness; Presence; Communion is the fertile soil in which ALL other expressions and acts of faith sprout and grow. This produces good fruit in the life of the Church and in the lives of the people.
I am convinced that attention to Spiritual Formation is the ONLY thing that can make the Church the Incarnate Body of Christ. The living, breathing Gift of God to the Cosmos.
Listening
to the news and current events can be disheartening.
Conflict
rages all around the globe.
Corporations
fight other corporations and governments in order to guarantee
themselves a bigger slice of the economic pie.
Religious
groups wage holy war against other religions and even factions within
their own religious communities.
Conservatives
and liberals line up in battle lines much like our ancestors did.
Firing rounds indiscriminately hoping to hit someone on the opposite
side.
It’s
an understatement to say that we, as fellow inhabitants on this
planet, have become polarized.
What
is even more disheartening for me is the way in which those of us who
chose to follow Christ are divided.
We
kick and claw at one another.
“No,
you’re wrong!” says one faction.
“How
can you say that? The Bible is clear that YOU are in error!”
screams another.
“I belong to Apollos!”
“I follow Paul!”
“No,
you’re both wrong! Peter has the true way!”
It
seems that this thing called the Church is not only vulnerable to all
of the forces of human nature, it is also quite fragile.
It
breaks and fractures easily.
The
broken pieces crash to the floor and scatter every which way.
It’s
almost impossible to not become discouraged and lose hope.
So,
I did the only thing that I could think of in order to wrap my head
around these things.
I
prayed.
I
asked God to put those of us who follow Christ in the shadow of God’s
wings. Not to protect us. But, to empower us.
For
what?
I’m
glad you asked!
To
empower us to be the Royal Priesthood and Holy Nation that the
Scriptures claim that we should be. To be harbingers of the Reign of
God in this world. Here. Now. Just as Jesus of Nazareth was 2
millennia ago.
Not,
however, as so many people who lay claim to christianity do.
Recently,
I’ve been studying Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia. In it,
Paul had some interesting things to say about the state of affairs in
that church. After Paul and his friends had established the young
community and moved on to other places, it appears that some other
folks came in to stir things up a bit. These others were, according
to the text, teachers of the Jewish Law who also followed the Jewish
Messiah, Jesus. They claimed that in order to be Real True
Christians, the people in Galatia had to conform to Jewish rules that
set them apart from other people. These so called works of the Law
were male circumcision, dietary restrictions, and observation of the
Sabbath and other Jewish Holy days.
The
Galatians were confused. But, they listened to their elder brothers
in Christ and began to embrace these requirements.
When
Paul got wind of what was happening he just about burst a blood
vessel. He wrote a rather pointed letter in which he called these
later teachers, “Accursed!”
No,
he wasn’t happy at all.
He
then spent the rest of the letter explaining what the problem with
these practices were and why they were so dangerous.
The
underlying point to all that he wrote was, “What makes you think
that what was started in the Spirit could possibly be completed in
the flesh?”
To
clarify, Paul’s usage of the term “flesh” in this entire letter
refers to conforming to the Jewish rules of purity that those other
teachers had insisted be followed.
And,
to be equally clear, one of the most egregious results of following
those rules is that they erect barriers that separate people from one
another. And, in Paul’s argument, they can also separate people
from God.
Ok,
so what does any of this Paul stuff have to do with why I feel
disheartened and in need of God’s empowering?
Because,
many in today’s church follow the example of those Jewish teachers
way back when. They say that they follow God and God’s Spirit. But,
in reality they lay obstacles in the path of people who need God in
their lives.
“You
can’t follow God if you’re gay!”
“If
you don’t stand for the national anthem, you can’t possibly be
Christian!”
“Abortionist!
Murderer! Not Christian!”
I
could go on and on with the works of law that many people require of
any Real True Christian.
That’s
not what I see Paul saying to the people who were trying there best
to follow the Way of Christ.
“What
was begun in the Spirit must be completed in the Spirit.”
While
that seems a simple statement, it requires the empowerment I wrote
about earlier.
It
requires people who take the idea of Royal Priesthood and Holy Nation
seriously enough to realize that the rules and laws that so many
people try to enforce simply have no place in the Kingdom of God.
Since June 2 I’ve had the opportunity to lead an adult Bible study at the church I currently attend. The priest here had started a similar study in the weeks before Lent. It was set aside as we all entered into the Easter season. It happened that several people thought that the study should be resurrected, (pun intended). So, Fr. Alex asked me if I would be open to help. So, here we are.
We are currently following the Revised Common Lectionary reading for each Sunday. Fr. Alex stated that it might be helpful to take a closer look at some of the passages that would be read that morning. So often these are simply read during the service without a great deal of reflection. This Bible study could help to provide tools with which they could reflect more fruitfully.
That all sounds ok.
I’m glad to help out with this. Especially, since I have the training and education to take on this role.
As we started things I knew that at some point Fr. Alex and I would touch on a common text. And, we would have divergent ‘takes’ on that text. I wondered how the folks who sat in on the Bible study and listened to Fr. Alex’s sermon might hear those different views. And, how I might address them.
Well, this past Sunday we did just that. We both spent time on the same passage from the Gospel according to Luke. And, yes, we looked at the passage from two distinct perspectives.
The text was from Luke 8:26-39. It’s the story of a man who was possessed by many demons. He lived among the tombs in the region of the Gerasenes on the eastern end of the Sea of Galilee. The story tells of how he could not be restrained by any means as he ran naked through the tombs. When Jesus and his disciples showed up, the man confronted Jesus and begged Jesus to not torment him. Jesus asked his name. The man said, “Legion,” for many demons dwelt in him.
The story goes on to state how “Legion” begged Jesus to send them into a local herd of pigs, who subsequently ran down a slope into the sea where they drowned.
Now, there’s a whole lot in this passage. People a lot smarter than me have argued about who the man was; where exactly did this happen; why pigs?
Fr. Alex shared from the pulpit how this passage demonstrated a clear political message that would have resonated with the original hearers of the story. He explained how Roman troops, who at the time occupied Israel and the surrounding territories, could be assembled in a group of about 6,000 soldiers called a Legion. Also, around this time a particular legion known as the Legio X Fretensis occupied Jerusalem and had on their banners the image of a boar.
You can begin to see where Fr. Alex was drawing similarities between the story and actual events.
His point was that the people who heard this originally would have understood the references and seen the story of Jesus overcoming the evil forces brought by Rome and “bringing justice into the midst of human suffering.”
He then reminded us of a message he gave on Pentecost Sunday in which he explained how we, as the Body of Christ, are the very hands and feet of Jesus in our world today.
If we are that, then we have the obligation and task to be the bringers of justice and deliverance to the oppressed people that we encounter. He cited the grave humanitarian catastrophe that is currently happening on our southern border. He challenged us to consider how we might each respond to the mounting injustice.
AMEN! Preach it!
But, then…there was my take on the story.
You see Fr. Alex had been inspired to share his liberationist understanding by news articles during the week that exposed what was happening to people. People made in the Image of God. People for whom Jesus gave his life.
I, on the other hand, was inspired by another of our Sunday lections. This one from Is. 65:1-9. The first couple of verses in this text reveal God desperately seeking God’s own people. God cries, “Here I am, here I am,” to people who ignore God. Isaiah wrote that God was sitting at the city gates with arms outstretched. This would have been how a beggar acted.
Certainly not God.
Yet, here we have an image of God revealed as a servant in order to help the people God so loved. I saw God allowing Godself to be seen and known by a people who had no interest.
The bottom line there was that God DESIRED to be seen and found. God was open for business. Come on in!
Similarly, at least to me, in the Gospel text my mind zeroed in on Jesus’ encounter with the possessed man. Jesus said,
“What is your name?”
Wow!
Here was a man who was obviously tormented. He had been chained and tied. He lived among the dead. He was naked and cast out.
And Jesus looked into his eyes and asked, “Who are you?”
Jesus, like God in the Isaiah text, made himself vulnerable to someone who was in desperate need. Someone who was potentially violent. Someone who had been cast aside and rejected.
Someone who was made in the image of God and for whom Jesus was willing to give His life.
Yeah, Fr. Alex and I came at the same text from two very different places and came to two different conclusions.
But, are they really that different?
Fr. Alex saw the text and gave us an actionable charge. As a pastor, that’s what he’s called to do. He energized us to get involved to help however we can with time, money, prayer.
I came to the text as a contemplative and revealed, I believe, a piece of God’s heart that will also lead to action. Albeit, a different flavor. I desire people to see, feel, touch, and know God intimately. To live and experience God’s deep love for all of the Cosmos. Then, to share that with others. Perhaps, especially with those who are suffering at the hands of a strong oppressor.
So, different takes on the same text. Both speaking God’s Word to those who can hear.
How long has it been? 40 years? 45? Such a long time to be alone. Yet, not alone. Or, was I simply lost in a crowd? Maybe that’s closest to the truth. Lost in a crowd of people who claimed to be family. Yet, they weren’t quite. Am I alone? Or, am I part of something larger?
In our Western, particularly U.S., culture an odd creature was birthed. This creature had no apparent need for anyone else. No nature; no nurture. It just sort of “appeared” in our collective popular mythos.
Over time this creature became known as “The Rugged Individual.”
Those of us old enough to remember will recall this creature
seated atop a strong horse with mountains in the background. He was smoking a
Marlboro cigarette.
Perhaps this creature was born out of our nation’s desire to cut ties
with ancestral homelands and make a go of it as a New Nation that needed no one
else. No king or pope or other “authority” was going to tell us what to do. We
are an Individual Nation.
Or, maybe the whole idea of the Rugged Individual has always
been somewhere sleeping, latent within our individual psyches.
I really don’t know.
What I do know, now, is that while this creature surely exists,
it is surely a lie.
It is a dangerous lie, to boot.
Now, I can take this idea in several directions.
I could make it a defense of Socialism. After all, isn’t Socialism ultimately a
critique of individual accomplishment? Doesn’t it strike at the heart of MY
will and well-being having preeminence over the will and well-being of the
collective?
No, I’m
not going there. Maybe some other time.
I could touch on Hillary Clinton’s 1996 book “It Takes a Village” to
discuss how we must work together as a “village” to properly raise our
children.
While that is an excellent topic for discussion, it’s not what I have in
mind here.
No, I think that I want to touch on something a bit more
personal. Something that has impacted me, my family, and my community at a
visceral level. It has chipped away at my soul and my mind to create something
that doesn’t
quite resemble the Rugged Individual. Nor, does it quite fit as a piece of some
ethereal ‘Whole.’
It actually quite resembles the confused person described at the beginning of this post.
For quite a long time I’ve tried to discover my place in life. You
know, trying to answer those unanswerable questions like “Why am I here”? What’s
the meaning of life? Why is there air? (Uh, no, that’s not one of them. The
answer to that is obvious: to fill soccer balls.)
When I first came to faith in Christ as a 16 year old idealist, I was taught that God loved ME. In fact, God loved ME so much that if I had been the only human on earth, Jesus would still come to give His life so that I could live. I participated in a Billy Graham event where he preached a message that claimed that I could not be saved unless I made a confession of MY PERSONAL sin and received Jesus as MY PERSONAL savior. It was all about ME and MY and MINE. Graham wasn’t the first to explain faith in this way. The concept he preached has been around since at least the time of John Calvin. But, it found fertile soil in this nation of Rugged Individuals who saw God vindicating their Rugged Individualism. God didn’t save a collective. No! That was a communist plot! God saved ME!
But, then I met a bunch of hippies who believed in God. I
started to hang with them. We were part of a larger movement that became known
as the Jesus Movement. (Profound. I wish that I could have helped them come up
with a better handle. Anyway, I digress.) Together we began to play around with
the concept of Community. We tried to model this new thing after what we
understood about the early Church as described in the first few chapters of the
Acts of the Apostles. These prototype Jesus People sold their belongings and put
the proceeds in a community account that all could draw from as needed. COOL!
They cared for one another as sisters and brothers in a large extended family.
STILL COOL! They shared all things in common and lived together in peace and
harmony. WAY COOL!
We found out that the Bible talked a lot about how we should
live together in love. We were a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation. This is
the language of community and togetherness. And, this all came at a time in our
nation’s
trek through history when we desperately needed such a concept. We had become
fragmented as a people. Race; War; Politics. It seemed that all of the powers
of the Universe had conspired to break our world into little pieces. We needed
to try and find some cohesiveness. There was something embedded deep in our
human DNA that cried out for an end to the splintering of our world. So, these
ideas from the Bible resonated with us.
But, we still held on tightly to our identities as Rugged
Individuals. After all, that concept had been drilled into us for generations.
It would not simply sit back and say, “Oh, right, community. That’s cool. I’ll
just pack up and leave.”
No. We still, after all that we were learning about our
interdependence, militantly held on to our independence. So, we changed the
story a bit. We started to preach that God made us for one another. To live
together in true Christian community. But, to join you needed to confess YOUR
INDIVIDUAL sin and accept Jesus as YOUR INDIVIDUAL savior. Hmmm…not much of a difference
there.
Eventually, we made some emendations. We elevated Family to the
place of an actual individual. So, now our community could be called a Family
of Families. Isn’t
that sweet? This became a point of contention with me at a former church. The
church leadership insisted that the Eucharist, the celebration of Communion,
should be celebrated within the confines of the family unit. So, the head of
each ‘household’ came up and received the bread and wine. They then took the
elements back to their INDIVIDUAL families to share. For me, this practice was,
and is, antithetical to the whole concept of the sacrament. But, that’s a
subject for another post.
So, why have I spent this time and more than 1,000 words to say all of this?
A week ago the priest of the church I now attend talked about a parable that Jesus taught. It was about a certain shepherd who realized that one of his sheep was missing. Now, he still had 99 sheep that were safe and sound. But, being the dutiful shepherd, he left the 99 and sought out the missing sheep. This story has been used over the years to show how much Jesus cares about the INDIVIDUAL. He will abandon 99 and leave them to the elements and go off in order to seek and save the lost ONE. Wow! I’m really pretty important to Jesus!
And, that my friends, is the point that people using this text
want to make. It appeals to our emotions in a deep way. It paints the portrait
of No One Left Behind. It appeases our Rugged Individual.
Is that what God intended for the story?
Well, maybe. In part.
But, perhaps there is another take away from it. A way to
understand it in the light of one of the overarching themes of the entire
Bible.
Throughout the Scriptures there is the idea that God is forming
a People. He is in the business of Nation building. Images of sheep, (plural),
and goats and lambs and flocks abound in its pages.
What if the story of the lost sheep is more about the condition
of the flock than the lost sheep?
What if it’s
the flock,restored to wholeness, that is the point of the story?
I think it is.
I think that unless we can get beyond ourselves as individuals
and drive a stake into the heart of the Rugged Individual we, as people, will
suffer. Unless we can reach even beyond that and somehow see that we are not
just a single species, but part of a greater community made up of all of the
Cosmos, we will suffer.
God, in the beginning created Adam. He created THEM. And, then
graciously placed THEM in a Garden full of their fellow creatures to live and
thrive TOGETHER.
One of the basic tenets of Western Christianity is that only those people who believe in Jesus as the Son of God can be saved or accepted by God. They cite especially the text in the Gospel According to John where Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by me.”
That does sound pretty exclusive.
So, missionaries and colonists took their understanding of God and the Gospel and went out to the uttermost parts of the world in order to make disciples of all people.
It looks like the right thing to do. From a certain point of view.
A point of view that I no longer find tenable.
As I walk among friends from diverse cultures I find that God has already shown up to them. No, not like with Jesus. But, truly the influence of Creator is not the personal property of Christians or Jews. Creator has touched the hearts and lives of billions of other souls in ways that we in the West just don’t seem to understand.
And, THAT’S OK!
We don’t need to understand. We do, however, need to love and encourage each of these cultures to cultivate their relationships and understand of God. We can do that without imposing our Western culture on them.
So, I have no problem sharing this link to a group called, the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers. These women have a heart for Creator, Creation, and all those who call this big piece of space rock home. I believe that they have truly experienced God. Their Way, Truth, and Life may look different than mine. That doesn’t mean they are wrong.
So, I invite you to click on the above link and check them out. Who knows, we may all learn something!
Today, as I sat quietly, I remembered how I felt Sunday morning. Emotions rose within me as I considered the injustice of the “ruling class.” I held back tears as my I saw those who live privileged lives ignoring the pleas of those that they consider “Other.” Especially, those who profess to have faith in God through Jesus Christ.
How can they just stand there and do nothing? Less than nothing!
They are complicit in moral crimes against their fellow travelers on this Third Rock from the Sun!
This morning I reflected on that a bit. I realized that my emotions, my tears were
not directed toward those who are the victims of injustice. They weren’t poured out
for the poor and the needy.
No.
My emotion was kindled by those who instigate the injustice. My tears shed because
of their unbelief and unfaithfulness.
How can people stand by and actually feel that they are justified in their injustice?
It’s truly quite easy. As long as I can feel good about ‘Me’ and ‘My’ accomplishments;
‘My faithfulness’ and ‘My exceptionalism,’ I can separate myself from those “Others” who
don’t quite match up to ‘Me.’
A couple was visiting New Orleans. As they walked around the French Quarter,
a woman, smiling, approached them and said that she could tell immediately that they were “saved.”
She continued, “Isn’t it wonderful? Don’t you just fell the Rapture is coming?” For the next several
Minutes the woman talked to them about growing tension in the Middle East that would
lead to the end of the world. At that time the ‘elect’ would be whisked away to heavenly
glory forever and ever.
Of course, this presupposes that there will by “Others” who will not be so fortunate.
How is it that this woman was apparently quite giddy about leaving most of humanity
behind while she and her like-minded friends would escape into the “Sweet By and By”?
And, I weep over her hardness of heart. Her uncaring attitude toward anyone and everyone
who doesn’t think and believe as she does.
Then, a couple other stories came to my mind.
In one, Jesus is standing on a hill looking over the city of Jerusalem. His heart, breaking with overwhelming emotion he said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. “Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! “For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
His lament was not for the victims of injustice. He shed no tears for the murdered prophets and those who were stoned to death.
No. His sorrow was directed at those who perpetrated the injustice…the murderers.
In another story, Jesus went to a village called Bethany. A few days earlier he had been informed that one of his dear friends was very ill. By the time he reached the village, his friend had died. The text indicates that Jesus was aware of the condition of his friend, Lazarus. He was even aware that the man had died. When Jesus reached the village, Lazarus’ sisters came to him and said, “If only You had been here, Lazarus would still be alive.” Jesus looked and saw all of the mourners who had come to console the sisters over their loss. Now, what’s interesting, is the writer made it very clear that Jesus knew what he was going to do. Jesus had even told his followers on the way that Lazarus had died. He told them that he was glad that he had not been there to heal Lazarus. It was better for them, “So that you may believe.” Even with this foreknowledge, the text states that when Jesus saw the mourners, when he listened to the sisters as they knelt tearfully before him, the writer recorded these words…
“Jesus was troubled.”
The language that was used indicates that Jesus was “agitated; in great distress.” That his emotions were “stirred up.” This was followed by the shortest verse in the entire Bible,
“Jesus wept.”
The only record of Jesus shedding tears.
“Jesus wept.”
But, why? The mourners all thought it was because of Jesus’ great love for Lazarus. They thought that, like them, Jesus was moved with sorrow for the loss of his friend. For the loss of a brother. That doesn’t make sense to me. Jesus knew what had happened and what he was going to do. Why did he weep? I think it was because of the unbelief of those gathered. Jesus had performed many miracles in and around Jerusalem. Many of these people were witnesses. For sure, the sisters were. Yet, they still did not believe. They did not have faith.
“Jesus wept.”
The only two times where it was recorded that Jesus wept or lamented there were people who lacked lacked faith or who were faithless. He did not lament the prophets. He did not weep for Lazarus. So, I weep. Not for those trying to escape death by journeying a thousand miles to seek refuge at our border. Nor, do I weep for the millions of people who may find their health care plans eliminated. I don’t shed tears for those trapped in addictions or who struggle with the fact that their own brain is their worst enemy. My tears…my lament…are offered for those in power, for those who aren’t trapped in systems that dehumanize and degrade them. I weep for those who can make a difference. Yet, choose not to.
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“Star Wars – A New Hope.”
Remember that?
It was called Part IV.
Part 4? We didn’t have Part 3, yet!
(Or, parts 1 & 2).
Interesting place to start a story. Right in the middle.
But, I digress.
I do want to touch on the idea of a “New Hope,” though.
In recent posts I was pretty hard on most organized religion. Especially, Evangelicalism. That’s where I came from, so I’m most familiar with it. But, I don’t want to leave everything up in the air. There must be a better way to live and express the Faith that has been passed on from the beginning.
Many, (most?), have tried to box faith up in some kind of systematic way. People pore over the ancient texts trying to find common thoughts and ideas. They look for patterns of behavior in the characters who live within the pages. They try to separate the “Do’s” from the “Don’t’s.” Then, they package it up nicely and place a bow on top. This System is then presented to the faithful as the True way to Truly live Truthfully. What this ‘truly’does is enable people to do something, then pat themselves on the back for having done…it…whatever ‘It’ is.
I think that this process skews the truth rather than revealing it. It distills the Truth into bite-sized bits that people can munch on. But, in truth, it dilutes the Truth rendering it pretty much useless.
I share all of that so that maybe I can offer an alternative.
DISCLAIMER: I really don’t know anything. I just want to toss this out there for consideration.
Ok, back to the alternative.
A couple of weeks back I wrote a kind of self-portrait in my journal how I felt that I had become hard. Descriptors like ‘granite’and ‘ice’ came to mind. I reflected on how I had built walls to keep people out. The walls had parapets from which I could cast down rocks and burning oil to keep folks away. After all, weren’t they all foreigners? Invaders? Enemies who desired to suck my life from me. Then…
“Take, eat. This is my body broken for you.”
“Take, drink. This is my blood poured out for you.”
WHAT?!
What kind of nonsense is that? That’s what Jesus said before He was crucified! What does that have to do with me?
I sat on that. Reflected on that. Chewed on that like a cow chews on cud.
I began to realize that as a person called to follow Jesus, I shouldn’t be surprised by the thought of self-giving. After all, isn’t that what God did?
“Take, eat.”
But, God?
“Take, drink.”
Really?
As Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem for the last time, he took the Twelve aside to tell them for the third and final time what was going to happen. He said to them, “We are going up to Jerusalem.” Previously, Jesus had only told them that “He” was going to Jerusalem. Now, he said, “We.”
“We are going to Jerusalem where I will be mocked and whipped and crucified.”
The story continues and Jesus promises two of his disciples that they, too, will share the cup that he was about to drink.
Where am I going with this?
The Church has created a place where people can feel good about themselves. We are glad to be a part of the ‘chosen few.’ We look forward to living forever, resurrected to new life. Yet, we forget that we have been asked to walk with Jesus to the bitter end.
“Take, eat. This is my body broken for you.”
Not just Jesus’ offering. It must be mine as well.
“Take, drink. This is my blood poured out for you.”
Jesus blood gives life. So, then, should mine.
This is the better way. This is not a ‘System’ that people can follow and feel good about themselves. There is certainly no “Us” or “Them” here. This is how granite is crushed and ice melted.
Here is an excerpt from a book by Brian Zahnd. Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God. I have not read the book. Zahnd did share one chapter that I have read. It follows on what I shared here yesterday and today. The God I follow is not the judgemental, hateful god of fundamentalist evangelicals, (fundagelicals for short). The God I have committed to follow is One Whose name is Love. Period.
“Insisting that Abraham Joshua Heschel, Anne Frank, Albert Einstein, and all other Jews are condemned to hell is an arrogant and malevolent doctrine that is responsible for the creation of countless atheists. I am sympathetic with the atheist who cannot believe in a god who is so petty and cruel that he defends his so-called honor by torturing billions of souls for eternity. I don’t believe in that god either. But I’m no atheist. I believe in the God who is the Father of Jesus and who relates to sinners in the very same way that Jesus did. I believe in the God revealed in Christ, the heaven-sent Savior who harrows hell to rescue sinners…sinners like me.”
Yesterday I wrote a piece about how Evangelicals embrace something called Penal Substitution. They believe that this is foundational for the Real True Gospel, (RTG). I also said that along the way people who really don’t care about religion or theology would be able to take from it. After all,who really does care what a bunch of religious folks think? As long as it doesn’t affect me, let them believe whatever nonsense they want.
Ok, fair enough.
In 2016 a person was elected president of the U.S.This person is at best unqualified for the office. At worst, he’s a danger to the Republic. How did this happen? Social scientists, anthropologists, news pundits…everyone has a theory. And, they all make sense.
One thing, though, that sometimes gets overlooked is that 81% of White Evangelical Christians voted for this person.
Eighty-one Percent!!!
And, some recent polls indicate that support has remained at or near that level throughout the last two years.
How is that possible? Seriously. How can an entire demographic that has historically touted its moral superiority over the immorality of “the world” support a known liar, adulterer, womanizer, misogynist, thrice married, ignorant buffoon? It boggles the mind.
Unless…unless you understand the Evangelical mindset.
The simple answer is a single issue.
Abortion.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Evangelical position swung from being OK with abortion to one of vicious opposition. That one issue became the rallying cry for all who followed the likes of Pat Robertson and,especially, Jerry Falwell, Sr. So loud was the cry that the Christian Right made it the litmus test for any political candidate. If a candidate’s platform included the words, “anti-abortion,” then they were a good choice.
The Republican Party sensed that and made abortion a part of the party platform. Now, when Evangelicals went to the polls their decision was made easy. Vote Republican! Easy-peasy!
So, when the current president embraced the Republican platform, including the anti-abortion plank, Evangelicals saw their savior.
Ok, that’s the simple answer.
But, it’s not the only or even best answer.
To find that we need to look deeper into the heart of Evangelicalism.
Yesterday I wrote that many in the Evangelical camp sincerely believe that God is so Just that it’s impossible for God to be in the same room as sin. (Whatever that is.) In fact, God hates sin, and by extension, those who practice sin. Hate, hate, hate! Over time this has been hardwired into the hearts of the faithful.
God Hates!
This has enabled those who embrace this picture of God to also hate. They, by Divine example, now have a binary that they can follow. They can know in their knowers that they are righteous and oh so good with confidence. There is a line. On one side the righteous followers of God; on the other is Everyone Else. There is no gray.Everything is black and white. They can even go to their Holy Book and find all sorts of texts to prove just how righteous they are and how worthy of their hate everyone else is.
This is where the danger lies for us and for the world. By dividing everything and everyone into Us and Them they can in all good faith destroy what they don’t like or agree with and tell themselves, “Well, it’s what God wants us to do.”
Are you reading this starting to see the picture form?
Evangelicals in the U.S.have and agenda. And, it’s not simply a religious agenda. It is entirely political. Falwell and friends decided that there could be a political solution to a very Spiritual issue. Their Evangelical followers then sold their collective soul to the devil in order to see their twisted and misguided theology become a physical reality.
The U.S.,to them, was a Christian nation that they could reclaim and, through political means, force their idea of God and righteousness on everyone. (This is the main reason that I think that Mike Pence is more dangerous than our current president.)
Now, I admit that this is an oversimplification of a very complex issue. Evangelicals are not monolithic. There are sincerely faithful people who hold to the tenets of historical Evangelicalism. I know many personally. They are good people who really want to follow Jesus faithfully.
But, the truth of the matter seems to be that the root of Evangelicalism that has been passed along from the First Great Awakening until now is rotten. It has grown into a macabre caricature of the Church that started as a result of Jesus Christ’s life.
It is dangerous.
It is foul.
It must be resisted at every front vigorously.
Hopefully, this is something that you can take home with you.
There are a lot of people who grew up in Evangelical churches that followed a kind of Calvinist path. They now call themselves ex-vangelicals. Or, Exvies for short. While their stories are varied, they allshare certain similarities. They speak of authoritarianism, patriarchy, and the abuses that go with those. Purity culture and sexuality are mentioned a lot.Especially, those who are LGBT people. And, they share how difficult it was for them to leave the Evangelical bubble. (I would add that it’s just as difficult to remain within that bubble.) One thing that underlies their concerns, however, is the toxic theology that props these Neo-Calvinists up. What is it about Evangelical theology that is so toxic?
I’m glad you asked that question.
Most Evangelicals, at least in the U.S., grow out of the rich soil of what historians call, The First Great Awakening. This was a religious phenomena that swept the New England colonies in the early to mid 18th century, (1730-1755). One of the leaders of that movement was a man named Jonathan Edwards. He was basically a Puritan who held to a kind of Reformed, or Calvinist, theology. Now, I know that this doesn’t mean a lot to any of you who don’t study these kinds of things. But, stick with me here. I promise that you will find something to take home with you.
Anyway, Edwards and others preached a message that people must be born again in order to receive God’s salvation. That meant that each individual person must make a personal commitment to ‘receive’ Jesus into their heart as personal Savior. They were called the ‘New Lights’ of the Church. And,what they said resonated with people who lived in the Colonies. Life was hard. Things were changing at an unheard of pace as the world rushed through the Enlightenment. To many, the world looked as though it was spiraling out of control…going to hell in a hand basket.
Enter Edwards and friends. They preached a message that condemned the world. All things that were not explicitly FOR God were necessarily Against God. These would all burn in hell. That “all things”included people. They taught that any person who did not choose to follow God THEIR way was already the object of God’s wrath. God was portrayed as a great Judge who was prepared to slam the Divine gavel down and pronounce sentence…eternal,physical torment in the unquenchable flames of hell. Edwards preached a sermon in 1741 that still influences Evangelicals today. It was entitled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. I’m not going to link to it because I believe that the sermon is false and, by the estimation of some, heretical.
The gist of the sermon, and Edwards’ theology, is that the wicked are under God’s just wrath here and now. If they don’t ‘repent’ and accept Jesus, the God will have No Choice but to send them to their rightly deserved judgment in hell. God, in Edward’s opinion, was oh so pissed with humanity because of sin. One in particular. Yeah, that one that the first humans, Adam and Eve, committed. Because they ate the forbidden fruit, all humanity lived under God’s curse. Because of their disobedience, all humanity was disobedient. And, as a result God’s righteous anger was kindled.
Scary stuff!
What’s scarier is that this is what modern evangelicals still think and believe. In the church that I was a part of for about 30 years, Edwards and others like him, Billy Graham, Tim Keller, et al. were held up as formidable spokesmen for the Real True Gospel, (RTG). Some of the leaders ofthis church would speak about Edwards wistfully. “If only I could preach the RTG like Edwards. Ahhhh….” They thought it was a good thing that when people heard Edwards read that sermon originally they were grabbing onto the church’s pillars and crying out in fear, “What must we do to be saved?” These people were deathly afraid that the ground beneath them was about to open up and swallow them at the very moment! Yeah, this is the kind of response that many, including the leadership of my old church, wish they could garner.
One of the associate pastors there has a stock phrase tha the pulls out of his gospel holster regularly.
He states, “God hates your guts!”
Please. Let that sink in a bit.
God.
The Father of Jesus Christ.
Hates your guts.
In fact, if it wasn’t for Jesus stepping up to the plate and sacrificing himself to appease this God, we’d all be on our way to eternity in a burning garbage dump.
To him, and all of the other Evangelical people who hold to this belief I have but one thing to say…
I’m sorry. But, you are mistaken.
Now, I could take a lot of time to explain my position. And, really, who cares outside of a small circle of friends?
And, so what? Who cares what these Evangelicals think anyway? I mean, let them blow steam all they want. It doesn’t affect me at all.
Well, maybe it actually does. But, that’s a topic for another post.
Below is a link to a short video by Brad Jersak. While I don’t necessarily agree with everything he says in it, for the most part I believe he is spot on. I encourage you to take a few minutes and take a look/listen to what he says.
