ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
March 16, 2022
We should always be suspect of a religion when it uses the weak, the marginalized or the oppressed as a scapegoat. We follow one who sacrificed himself for the sake of the people who have long been used as scapegoats. For that reason, I see it as a red flag whenever a religion (religious leader) throws a powerless group under the bus by saying, “Those folks are the cause of all your problems.” At first, I didn’t want to believe what I was reading in regard to the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, thinking his words were being spun or taken out of context. I’ve now read four articles, and they all seem to say the same thing. The Patriarch has provided a blessing upon the war in Ukraine, citing the liberal agenda of Ukraine, specifically the Western values that allow for gay pride marches. He scapegoated the LGBTQ community, using them as the pretext for war. I’m not naive enough to believe we are all of one mind on same-sex relationships, but a leader of a religious movement that claims to follow Jesus just suggested war is the best response to those whose belief system does not align with his. Jesus met a lot of people whose opinions did not align with his, yet a no point did he say to his disciples, “Arm yourselves because the best way of changing their minds is to kill them.” The Patriarch has promoted a very secular understanding of power and given blessing to violence all in the name of Christianity. In Sunday’s sermon, I talked about the church losing confidence in the capacity of love. At so many points in Christian history, when the church felt like it was failing with the proclamation of the Gospel, it turned to the State and its military to help people in their conversion process. ‘Join us or die’ has been successful assuming you’re only looking at numbers, but I don’t believe very many hearts have really been changed with the use of a threat. Christianity must always be incredibly cautious when it comes to who it climbs into bed with, and how much of Christ’s mission it is willing to surrender in its own search for worldly power. Whenever religions scapegoats the vulnerable and marginalized it the moment religions loses all credibility.
May love be my goal, my greatest hope and the instrument by which I seek to live into my calling. Guide me, Gracious One, so the path I choose might be the path that will honor you and the way of Jesus. Amen.
1 thought on “03-16-22”
Thank you, Bruce, foe being so succinct and continuing to remind we readers of the practice we have committed to in our beliefs. We stand with the Ukrainian people as they strive to survive individually and together. Love. Period.