Christianity has a problem

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I have been thinking

Facetiously I often say

I am therefore I think (with apologies to Descartes and “cogito, ergo sum”)

 

I have been watching with a kind of wonder

for it does inspire awe (not the good kind)

to watch the Christianity

the religion

 

I see some good!

I see compassion for the vulnerable and oppressed

from some

I see welcome (of those often unwelcome)

from others

I see people standing up for love

And people standing with those who have no others

 

I see people fighting for equity and equality

and for Justice

(have you ever stopped to think how central Justice is in the

Judeo-Christian scriptures?)

 

But

I also see a lot of stuff that makes my heart hurt

and my stomach ache

 

I see a plethora of things done in the name of Jesus

that are truly antithetical to everything he taught

I see injustice perpetrated by people overtly claiming Jesus

I see Christians siding with the way of domination and accumulation

The way of fear and hate

Racism and exclusion

Guns

Untruth

Cruelty

 

I see Christians choosing to trust and follow

Liars

Not the One said I am the way, the truth, and the life

 

And because of that, there is so little life

In Christianity

 

I know

The apologists will tell me I am wrong

They will point out the good the Christian faith has done

And sometimes still does

 

But in doing so they will often ignore and deny a long history

of deadly collusion with the powers and principalities of the world

the crusades

the inquisition

the slaughter of indigenous people in the name of Jesus

the perpetuation of slavery

 

I think Christianity has a problem!

and think (thank you, Diana Butler Bass)

that we have to move beyond Christianity

into a new kind of spiritual awakening

which can be centered around

the Cosmic Christ

the creative power of Love

a Spirit that empowers

 

But what has gone wrong?

Or rather, how do we recapture the original power

of the Way (the movement founded by Jesus)

 

I think about it this way

There have been two major points of focus in the church

(and I can pretty much only speak for the American Church, after having been an ordained PCUSA minister for 46 years)

 

First, there has been a focus on individual sin and individual salvation

This is, to oversimplify, a movement focused on personal piety

And personal salvation

 

Accept Jesus.  Live according to the cultural and social norms the church has established

Go to church, do all the right stuff (pray, read the Bible, be pious)

Keep your nose clean, repent a lot,

And then, at the end, you are personally saved!  You get to go to heaven

Yay!

 

This is fire insurance faith

You live in the mess, but for the most part, you ignore the mess

You try to keep your own head spiritually above the mess

You try to “rescue” as many other people as you can

And then you get your reward!

 

You don’t get eternally tortured by a God of Love

You get to walk the streets of Gold

 

But for some churches, there has been instead a focus

Not on individual sin and individual salvation

But on corporate, systematic sin, and the transformation of said systems

The focus has been on the need to make the world better

To bring the kingdom (which some cleverly call the kin-dom) of God

Into being here and now

 

So as a Church and as Christians, the job is to fight for

All those good things!  Equity, justice, equality.

The job is to feed the poor, clothe the naked, comfort the afflicted

(perhaps afflict the comfortable), house the homeless

(all the Matthew 25 stuff, all the economic and social justice stuff from the prophets)

 

Which group is right?  Which is wrong?

Both?

 

It is not simple

There is a place for piety and a place for looking at individual sin

And individual redemption and transformation

But not if that path leads to a narrow, rigid, fear-based religion that seeks

To coerce and control, and ends up excluding most of humanity.

 

There is a place for a focus on corporate sin

For we are in fact to transform this world (thy kingdom come)

and make it a place where love wins

and where all are valued

and where true justice reigns

 

But not if this leads to a disregard for personal transformation

 

The fact is personal transformation should lead to a thirst for justice, equity, and equality

But the fight for justice, equity, and equality will not ultimately succeed

If it is not carried out by transformed people, empowered by the Spirit\\

 

Personal piety goes off the path if it is not informed by the need to address corporate, systematic sin (like racism, gun violence, economic and gender injustice)

The fight to transform the world fails those attempting this important task are now fueled and empowered by the Spirit.

 

A vital faith exists at the intersection of personal transformation and societal transformation

 

It comes when our personal faith, and our personal, intimate relationship with Love

Meets a drive to change the world, and create the peaceable kingdom

 

This, I think is where Jesus lived

And this is where Jesus died

And this is the place where Jesus started a movement with the capacity

To make the world the kingdom of love

 

We need to be changed

We need to change the world for (and with) love

 

If we seek personal salvation but ignore the ills of the world

(or identify the wrong thing as ills because… the church)

We are not following

 

If we try to change the world

But try to do it using human power alone, and human tactics

We are going to fail (we become crispy critters, burned out and frustrated)

 

It is time to meet at the crossroads

Of personal transformation and empowerment

And social justice and corporate transformation

 

Because (in my humble opinion)

That is where Jesus waits for us