ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
August 27, 2022
I’m sure a good historian would say I’m over simplifying things, but throughout Christian history, there have been two kinds of Christian movements. Those seeking to follow Jesus with greater commitment and those seeking to use the name of Jesus for their own self-serving end. There are many historic movements that would have been placed in the first category, including our own. There have been some that were successful and others that sort of stumbled, but they were trying to figure out the best way of following Jesus within their historic context. The latter group has no resemblance to Jesus but sure likes to toss around the words “Jesus” or “Christian.” I see this in the movement called Christian Nationalism (lots of groups under the larger umbrella). Christian Nationalists are very quick to speak of Jesus, how they love Jesus, and how they are just uplifting the Bible. Yet it is clear that the Bible they are upholding has not yet been read. In 1st John 4:20, we read: “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.” Christian Nationalism is a movement born out of fear and uses fear, yet as 1st John 4:18 reminds us, “Perfect love casts out all fear.” Christian Nationalism has one purpose, and that is power—a power they achieve by creating fear and anxiety about the other, the immigrant, the stranger, the person who doesn’t look like you. They attack and scapegoat the very people Jesus made central to his ministry, yet their power grab is made to sound so religious, so Christian… until you spend a little time reading about Jesus, the one who suggested that true power is found in humbling oneself and serving the least among us. And of course, the Jesus whose name they want to use is the Jesus who broke bread and embraced the very people who society at the time attacked and scapegoated. Don’t be naive and assume that if some group uses the words “Jesus” or “Christian,” it must be fine. Neither one of those words is copyrighted, and so they are used and abused by many. There are plenty of folks who are clearly trying to follow Jesus, and though I may disagree with some of the details, I can appreciate their attempt. Others are very good at marketing and rhetoric but have little actual knowledge of the person they are claiming to be important.
Continue to instill within me a wisdom of what is happening in your name, O Lord. May the Jesus who welcomed the outcast, healed the despised leper, and ate meals with troublemakers and heretics be the Jesus I continue to emulate in my daily life. Amen.
