The title of this post is the title of a book by Dave Burchett. The subtitle is “Where we have failed each other and how to reverse the damage.” This is such an apt description of what goes on in the church and within Christian organizations repeatedly and often.
I have a few fresh examples of this dysfunctional style of “living out our faith.” This past weekend my daughter graduated from a college that prides itself on its faith and freedom. That term “faith and freedom” is a post in and of itself for another day. At most church related and/or Christian colleges (I draw a distinction) it is still common to hold baccalaureate services; a religious service to commemorate the occasion of commencement. Friday evening hundreds of parents and grandparents, soon-to-be graduates and faculty filed into the large arena for this service of celebration (at least that is what I think a baccalaureate service should be—a celebration). You probably know the drill, a few opening comments, some prayers and a preacher delivering a celebratory, marginally didactic sermon to the graduates.
Well, we got beyond the opening welcome and one of the senior students who had been selected to deliver the opening prayer stood up. Eight long minutes later with his eyes clenched tightly this student ended his prayer. Unfortunately, someone had not taught him that it is RUDE to hold people hostage to your sermon when it was only meant to be a prayer. Literally, he assumed that God needed some help in bringing the “unsaved” to saving knowledge by quoting each of the “key” salvation verses and walking them through the steps to salvation through Jesus Christ. I guess he assumed that this was an opportunity to pray some of the “invited guests” into the kingdom. OK, I chalked that one up to immaturity as did my graduating daughter and my invited guests/family, three of whom are ordained pastors.
Then the preacher was introduced. Let it be noted that in the introduction it was made clear that the speaker’s brother is on the “short list” for vice president on the McCain ticket (that is the “freedom” side of “faith and freedom”….btw, can anyone tell me who decides what the “short list” is??). This preacher, pastor of a 3,000 plus member church from an affluent part of the country, proceeded to lay an evangelistic sermon on the audience. Mind you, I have nothing against evangelism. Yet, this was not the time nor the place for a sermon that should have been followed by three or four rounds of Just As I Am and an alter call. Twenty or so minutes later my family and invited guests scurried out of the arena feeling like the victims of a religious or maybe it was a political cult. There was nothing celebratory about that experience and once again bad Christians had happened to a lot of good people.
How do we reverse the damage? I am honestly not sure how to reverse this type of damage. Maybe it goes back to listening and trying to understand what Jesus was telling us about God and about loving others as you love yourself. What kind of masochist would do this to him/herself? Maybe it is about celebrating others and not being so concerned with our agenda. Maybe it is about acknowledging that God is OK with us celebrating an occasion and does not want us to use the good news of the gospel as a weapon to literally beat people over the head with our “good news.” Maybe it is about not being so concerned about who God wants to be the next vice president and recognizing that, like Rome, we too shall pass.
Oh well, it was good for a laugh and reflection on how badly we (I include myself in this category) often use our faith on good people. Let’s pour our effort on following Jesus and doing what He would have us do rather than playing Jesus and using Him for our own pathetic purposes.
