ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
March 5, 2022
For the last few days, I have been putting down some thoughts in regard to how and where faith and politics dance together and occasionally squabble. I was not intending to convert anyone to any specific opinion on this topic. The last few days have had more to do with the discomfort often felt by those who claim to follow Jesus. The discomfort appears in those moments when we try to determine what Jesus-like living looks like in a world with growing diversity, and with questions not really asked by a first century Jewish Rabbi. We need to ask these questions, listen to other voices, be challenged, all with the intent of exploring what it means to hold dual citizenship – the Kin(g)dom of God and whatever country one currently lives in. I hear the faint voice of Jesus saying, “You cannot have two masters…” That is not to say these two worlds will always be at odds, but what happens when they are? What authority has the final say in our lives? Again, I’m not pretending to know the answer to the question or think Jesus would fully approve of exactly how I’m currently doing it. But there is one approach that guarantees a failure, and that is to act as if there are certain questions or concerns that are outside Christian beliefs. I was told a number of years ago by an individual that it was important to ask those questions, but not out loud. “Keep it to yourself because faith is a private matter.” Actually, there is nothing further from the truth if one understands the message of Jesus and the historic context in which he lived. Everything was communal, and debate was the norm. Opinions were to be challenged, and defending an opinion did not necessarily suggest you supported the opinion. The moment we place something outside the realm of faith is the moment we begin to live a fractured faith, followed quickly by a fractured life. This happens when we claim a Christian faith without knowing Jesus. Lots of people never feel the discomforting tug because there is no Jesus to pull them in the opposite direction. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – spend time in the Gospels, with special focus on those with whom Jesus enjoyed eating his meals; the Sermon on the Mount; the Upper Room story from John’s Gospel; the three parables of lost things in Luke’s Gospel; healing stories; the many ways the Kingdom of God/Heaven is discussed. It can be scary, but go ahead and let Jesus tug on you; let him present a wildly different view of life in this world; let him become a part of who you are and how you think about the challenging questions of life.
Holy Spirit, let Jesus dwell more deeply within me, and then allow his vision of Kin(g)dom to engage the important and discomforting questions being asked all around me. I want to be in a place where I bring all of who I am, and not simply the de-faithed part that will always be the ‘Yes’ voice to the least demanding answer. Amen.
