Ecclesiological Etchings: 12-20-12

Ecclesiological Etchings

Scripture: Luke 6:36
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Thought for the Day: There is plenty of theological talk these days that I can only define as pretty frightening. This specific talk of God is coming in response to the tragedy in Newtown last Friday. Some ministers and other Christians (often in emails and Facebook posts) have manufactured ways of depicting God that are neither helpful nor Christ-like. People have written things that insinuate God caused these horrific events to happen as punishment for a lack of prayer in school. This is insane, and I appreciate what Steve McSwain, a former Baptist minister who is now a nationally known interfaith activist, said on the subject, “With such remarks, you not only show little regard for those broken by this tragedy, but you make God into some kind of a cosmic psychopath — vengeful, sickeningly repulsive, one who takes out his madness on innocent little children.”

Building on Steve’s comments, I believe this naive talk of prayer is insulting to all the students, teachers and administrators of Newtown who were people of deep conviction. Remember, prayer is not to be understood as some sort of protective shield. Look at all the amazing saints in the history of the church who were martyred while praying. And finally, let us always remember that when prayer was a part of the daily routine in public school, the prayers were often used to justify one’s righteousness over and against the evils of other forms of Christianity (Protestant vs. Catholic or other intra-Protestant fighting that often led to violence and even murder). Public prayers were also used to uphold slavery, give blessing to the killing of Native Americans, and to justify the subservient role of women in society.

Today, many of these emails or Facebook comments may sound comforting on the surface, but their pithy thoughts present a dreadful understanding of God. The murder of 26 people has no logical explanation, and putting the blame on a lack of prayer guarantees another generation will run away from Christianity faster than the previous one did…for they want nothing to do with the god people are portraying in those overly simplified and poorly thought out answers. Instead of blaming others for not praying, maybe we should spend more time in prayer for those who have been deeply wounded by these events. Think through what you are saying about God and the implications of those ideas.

Prayer: God, assist us as we struggle through these painful events, and keep us from fabricating superficial answers that will hinder our ability to explore and discern what is needed for real transformation. Amen.