Fat faith

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The church must stand against the way politics has become a religion and religion has become politics

                     Russel Moore

 

…this religion:  too thin to provide meaning and morals to culture, and thus to reliably support democratic society. A result is what I call a cultural trade deficit…   If, instead [of supporting civic virtues] the church is in cultural deficit – if it becomes a net importer of values from the secular world – then it becomes morally derivative rather than morally formative

           Jonathan Rauch, Cross Purposes

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I want a fat faith

A faith that makes a difference

A faith that shapes and transforms

 

I don’t want a faith that lets the world

Squeeze it into its mold (Paul)

But a robust faith that determines

How we live

 

It’s complicated

For in these days, confused souls are not sure

what is faithful and what is not

 

Issues such as abortion, gender,

And immigration

have caused faith to become politics

 

to the point that politics has become a matter of faith

where political ideology

and political leaders

 

have replaced the core values of scripture

and Jesus, yes, Jesus himself

 

and a faith thus made thin

is shredded and destroyed

collapsing under the weight

of the earthly

 

the heart of faith

that which needs to bear the weight

of shaping our world

our nation

has been lost

 

and so we have a collapse

politics and religion falling in upon each other

becoming rubble

a Gaza-like wasteland

 

pummeled continuously

by those who would use faith rather than live it

 

we have let the world squeeze us into its mold

into the shape of fear, hate,

racism

oppression

suppression

 

it is not just MAGA that is responsible

for flash bang grenades

and rubber bullets

and looming martial law

 

it is thin faith

a center that cannot hold

and so our world collapses and

“The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere  

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst  

Are full of passionate intensity.”  (Yeats)

 

Forget the economic trade deficit

The spiritual trade deficit is what is destroying us

The powerful surge of fear, judgment, and greed

The need for power

Pouring into the church

Unbalancing it and leaving it impoverished

thin

 

Instead of a powerful surge of

Compassion, kindness, welcome, generosity

And love

Pouring into the world, shaping it

 

I am tired of a thin impoverished faith

I want fat faith

A faith that causes me to welcome the stranger

Love my enemies

Bless and not curse

Give and not horde

 

I know that such faith is usually assailed by the world

It is hung up on a cross to die

It is crucified by a religion that has become politics

And politics that have become religion

 

I know that there may be pain, and what looks like failure

I know that collapse may be inevitable

And that this country, this world

May become a wasteland

 

The powers of the earth

“…have made it an empty wasteland; I hear its mournful cry.

    The whole land is desolate, and no one even cares.”  Jeremiah

 

But Love can create streams in the desert

Until the dry land is glad

And out of the rubble of human hate and deceit

Joy, hope, peace, and love

Will blossom (Isaiah)

 

I believe

Lord help my unbelief