These are strange times for religion in America, and its not just because of the pandemic and all of its attendant social, legal, organizational, and spiritual challenges.
Looking around the landscape of Christianity I see these things: Pentecostals fixated on prophecies about Trump as president. Evangelicals watching bellwether congregations struggle with racial reconciliation. Catholics pushing back against Democrats (in Philadelphia) that what to limit who can adopt children and Republicans (in Texas) that want to limit which immigrants can be served. Christians everywhere witnessing a rapid decline in affiliated members. And the two largest denominations (United Methodists and Southern Baptists) navigating severe internal conflicts.
Who knows what kind of Church, what version of Christianity, what sort of Beloved Community will survive and thrive in the years ahead?
I know this: I want to be part of a community blessed with gospel clarity.
A pastor from Tulsa called me with this question, not knowing it is THE question that has been circulating in my mind for weeks.
When I was growing up, people were sure the gospel dealt primarily with world evangelization, the four spiritual laws, and the hour of decision. Churches and organizations that focused on these things (Campus Crusade, for instance, now Cru) were at the forefront of this version of the gospel. So was my dad and most of the churches in which I was formed as a believer.
But Martin Luther King, Jr. and his ecumenical cohort of gospeler turned the tide with a global movement, bringing social justice and corporate righteousness to the fore. Much of the passion of the Millennials and Generations Y and Z is directed toward this goal.
I’ve been searching for just the right biblical text to encapsulate my convictions on this matter of gospel clarity. I like the words of Jesus: “The Kingdom of God is at hand!” I embrace the summary of Simon Peter spoken on the day of Pentecost: “Evil men killed Jesus but God raised him from the dead.” I resonate with the vision of Paul the Apostle: “In Christ, God was reconciling the world.” And I love the three-fold declaration of the great Hebrew prophet Micah: “Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.”
But when all is said and done, the insight of John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, still resonates with me: “God loved the world so much, God gave the only son Jesus ….” It combines the love of God, the gift of Jesus, and all the people of the world (and maybe even the fishes in the deep blue sea!).
Out of our gospel clarity flows our gospel work.
The litany of godly work that needs to direct the energies and resources of godly people is long and varied: providing food and shelter; caring for the sick and suffering; ensuring life and health for those conceived; combatting climate change; promoting economic and legal justice; addressing wealth disparities; and certainly, collaborating for public health worldwide.
And there is hospitality.
It is, I am convinced, the first and foremost of all the Christian practices needed in the world today. Too often the sign reads: “No Room in the Inn.” More often the sign needs to quote Jesus: “Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden …who are lonely and alone…who are weak and in danger…who are sick unto death…who are refugees from many of the world’s danger zones…who are praying ‘deliver us from evil’ … who are seeking life, and hope, and a community of peace.”
The world is awash with wave after wave of people seeking a promised land; and Christians are called to welcome them in the name of Jesus. A few years ago, Pope Francis stood on his small, sixth floor balcony and called upon every Catholic parish in Europe to provide hospitality to at least one family fleeing death and destruction in the Middle East. There are 120,000 such parishes in Europe.
Hospitality can be the good gospel work of every congregation in the world. What a difference it would make!
Which brings me to gospel hope.
We all need gospel hope, especially when voices are demanding that we put our faith in the United States, or democracy, or capitalism, or any number of would-be saviors, political and otherwise.
There is only one Savior, only one hope, only one future that grips me deep down: and that is what Isaiah described as “the year of the Lord’s favor;” what Paul envisioned as “a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth;” and what John in exile saw as “a new heaven and a new earth” with “the river of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God…”
It is God’s future, which we catch a glimpse of in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, that is my hope. And I trust, yours as well!
(July 2021)
