I hear your words, and I see what you write. You, like all of us, are trying to cope with the deep pain and suffering that seems all too commonplace in our society. More people are dead with no good explanation, and as we are trying to have a collective moment of deciding where to go from here, you want to participate. There are many voices, all talking about different possible futures, so your voice is welcome. There should be no limits to who gets to participate in how our society forms its tomorrow.
It is good that you are speaking.
I want you to speak.
You offer that the real problem is that the Gospel is lacking. You recognize that the Church is not as prominent in our culture as it once was. Attendance is down. Churches are closing. Money is tight. We are graduating seminarians into a world where there are not ministries for them to serve. It does not look good for the future of the Church in America. I get your apprehension of what the future may hold.
To address our collective pain, you offer that what we really need is more Gospel. I hear you when you say, “Evil is real presence in this world, and only the Gospel can correct that,” or, “This kind of evil can only be corrected with the return of Jesus. Until that happens, nothing will change.”
And you know what? I agree with you.
I am a believer in the redeeming work of Jesus, and the healing power of God’s grace. I have staked my life and my financial future on them. You are absolutely correct that these things make a real difference in the world. I defend my faith with all the strength I have because I believe it is life giving. I have seen how God can make people whole, and can change the world for the better.
But do not let this belief in the healing power of the Gospel be an excuse to do nothing.
I get that there is fear about how to address our collective future, and I agree that it can be difficult to wade into the controversial waters of gun control. While I affirm that the world would be better with more Gospel and not less, pushing off any attempt at social correction in preference for an eschatological reset is not the answer. Such sentiments sound as a way to wrap your unwillingness to confront social injustice in Jesus and bury it beneath the alter of indifference.
That is not a Christ-like response.
When Jesus was confronted with the woman caught in adultery, his response was not to as for her to make a personal commitment to Christ.
He didn’t walk past the leper or the man born blind because disease is just a condition of a depraved Creation.
He didn’t leave Lazarus in the tomb for the Second Coming.
Maybe it is because we have developed a new definition of the Gospel that focuses on prayers and decisions instead of action. We have decided that is more important for people to walk the aisle and be baptized in order to put money in our offering plates than to go out and work for “the Kingdom come.”
You are right that we need more Jesus in the world. It does make a difference in people’s lives, everyday. It was the Social Gospelers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that brought us the Progressive Era of the 1930s-1940s, giving us Social Security so the elderly would not live in poverty. It was the Gospel which motivated Dr. King to work tirelessly, until he was assassinated, to help not only African-Americans, but all Americans see a world of justice and equality.
While you are right that we need more Gospel, I will not accept such a Gospel that allows inaction.
Both Isaiah and Micah have the image of “swords into plowshare and their spears into pruning hooks.” There is something about these images from the prophets we must capture. It is the people themselves who lay down their arms. God doesn’t take them away. In those prophecies, when people come to God, they are the ones who destroy their weapons.
So, I still agree.
We need more Gospel.
We need one with enough power to put us to work.
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