What shall I rant about?
Last Sunday the Rhode Island State Council of Churches (RISCC)
hosted its annual Unity Service. It is supposed to be a time for all different
Christians from different traditions to get together, hold hands, and sing
Kumbaya. We are supposed to show the world that we can get along for at least
one hour or so.
This year the service was held at the Providence Assembly ofGod Church and was in the Pentecostal flavor. This meant that many people were
uncomfortable. They were uncomfortable because the majority of Christians who
are involved with the RISCC and other ecumenical groups tend to come from the
more progressive traditions with classical services. They also tend to be white
and this was a primarily African-American church. I’m not saying that white
people are stiff and awkward, but…
So picture the Lutherans, Episcopalians, Catholics, and some
frozen Baptists trying awkwardly to sway to the music, clap on the off-beats,
and looking again and again at the one page worship bulletin and wondering
where the prayers and prayer books were. And we didn’t sing Kumbaya.
I think the most uncomfortable part of the service was the
sermon. It was not a “fire and brimstone” sermon with shouting and such, but it
still held to a more evangelical strain. In the sermon the pastor asked when
was the last time we directly told someone about Christ using words.
Such a question shouldn’t be too challenging, but remember
the audience. The majority of people there were from the progressive, mainline,
make everyone comfortable, aspects of Christianity. It is in the DNA of those
movements to look to feed people, advocate for people, and help people first.
Those are the most important things that Christ calls us to do – or so these
Christians would suggest. If you were to push them about evangelism they would
answer that it is through actions, through showing the love of Christ that they
are sharing the good news of Christ. Someone might even share a trite phrase or
two:
Go and share the gospel using words if necessary.
Christ came to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the
comforted.
Say those phrases out loud and enjoy the smug sense of
superiority that is a happy by-product of liberal, progressive Christianity
(that isn’t to suggest that conservative, charismatic Christianity does not
have their own smug sense of superiority – maybe the grace of God is to give us
all a smug sense of superiority).
With this in mind, maybe you can understand why the pastor’s
sermon could have been heard as challenging and uncomfortable. If your number
one priority is to feed, clothe, visit, help, and advocate for, then telling
someone about Jesus does not often enter into someone’s mind. In fact many do
not talk about Jesus because there is a fear of turning someone off and losing
a connection. So for at least fifty years a large portion of Christianity has
been practicing a passive, silent Christianity, sharing the gospel with
actions.
It has been working so well, right?
The pastor of the Assembly of God church did stress that it
is important to feed, clothe, help, etc., but he continued to stress the importance
of sharing the gospel with words. I think he has a point.
When was the last time you actually told someone, who was
not a part of your church community and who was not an active Christian about
your faith and why you are a Christian? Or better yet, do you think you could
tell someone about your faith and why you are a Christian? We have been lulled
into an assumption that everyone knows about Jesus, that we are living in a
Christian-saturated culture, but here in New England, and elsewhere, I do not
think that is the case. This means we cannot assume that people will pick up
from the oddities of our actions the different nuances of our faith. This means
we will have to tell people why we are Christians, and then do the shocking
thing – invite the individual to follow Christ.
Obviously you should do this in a kind, relational way – put
down the bullhorn and have a seat. Listen and then talk and share and invite.
I know, it is not comfortable, it is not something that we
like to do, me included. You may end up offending someone, or making things
uncomfortable. You may end up being ostracized, labeled, and looked at in a
weird way. It may make your life slightly difficult. I understand. All Christ
did was suffer and die on the cross, so go back to the incognito Christianity
so you are not made to feel awkward. I’m sure Jesus will understand.
