Over the years, I have been criticized by some fellow Christians for being critical of other fellow Christians. In the 1980s, it was the attempt of the Catholic leadership to cover up what seemed to be an epidemic of pedophile priests. The vast majority of priests were keeping to their vows, and a number of them who I knew were really upset that they were being painted with the same brush. In the 1990’s it was the mega-church TV preachers pushing the heresy of prosperity as an indication that God favored some people over others – nations too – if they were financially well off. Not all of them were charlatans, but enough were ripping people off – and committing grave sins – that it was verging on criminality. After 9/11 it was the hateful rhetoric symbolized by a cross wrapped in a flag (Christian Nationalism) that promoted Islamophobia and nurtured anti-Semitism. The last 20 years it has been the slow demise of the Mainline Protestant churches, largely fueled by our own member’s lack of interest.
Many years ago, during the Catholic priest crisis, a friend (who is Catholic) asked me why I cared what his church did. What business is it of mine, since I am not Catholic. I found the question astonishing; first, we might be different flavors, but we are supposed to be the same religion. Second, I was telling anyone who would listen that these perversions of our faith that I listed above would someday come to destroy us. If we didn’t speak up and call ourselves to account, the world would lose respect for the faith we practiced. This has come true – Christianity, mostly on its own, has become a laughingstock. We are to blame for our demise.
I remember the first time I read Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “Cheap Grace.” I was struck by his integrity – his ability to overcome his fear and return to Nazi Germany so he could join the resistance against Hitler. I marveled at his willingness to put his life at risk and wept as I read of his death in the same gas chambers that took over 6 million Jewish lives, as well as countless Roma’s, LGBTQ people, and others unnamed. A large portion of Christians and churches in Germany remained silent as their leaders sucked up to the Nazis, fearful for their own lives, but not cognizant of the peril to their eternal souls. The words of Jesus echoed in my head: “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?“
If I – if we – if you could have even a small portion of the courage of those who faced down the Nazis, what might happen in America? If we spoke truth with love to power, how would the world see us and the faith in God we proclaim? We have worked so hard to privatize our faith that we have become silently complicated, afraid to speak out for fear that we might be called judgmental or political. I am not saying that we all must agree on everything – that would be impossible and ridiculous. What I am saying is that we need to embrace the words of those who came before us, so eloquently summed up by Augustine of Hippo, John Wesley, and others: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”
Prayer – Holy God, we all need to check our spiritual values regularly so that our lives are guided by love, not vengeance. Amen.
Today’s art is called “God’s Love Around My Heart” by an artist who goes by Love Art Wonders God.