A Difficult Message

I'll be leaving for Romania in a few weeks on a mission trip. It's my first one and I'm pretty excited about it; about the chance to be placed where God will stretch my abilities and gifts and force me to rely on him more than I probably ever have. As part of our team's preparation for the trip we are doing 30 days of Bible studies and journaling our thoughts.

Since beginning this process about 9 or 10 days ago a lot of what I've read and contemplated has drawn me back to the idea that God has something for me to do that I either haven't figured out or haven't been listening closely enough to hear. Consequently, I've approached these studies as not only a way of getting ready for our mission, but also as a possible way that God plans to communicate to me what the next part of my journey will be. I think I may have gotten a glimpse of that this evening.

Our reading was from Jeremiah 1:4-10. It's the passage that describes Jeremiah's commissioning for his mission as well as God's equipping of him for that mission. The comments about the passage talk about how Jeremiah was being assigned the task of giving the Israelites a message that they did not want to hear and to which many of them were not going to listen. In fact, as you read on through the book you find out that they tried to kill him on more than one occasion because of his unrelenting proclamations. I see in this somewhat of a parallel to where my passions have turned over the past couple or 3 years--the church's abandonment of the cause of social justice in exchange for political clout.

When I talk about the church in this context I am well aware that there are still many people involved with programs and ministries that help the outcast and downtrodden, but the vocal leaders of the conservative evangelicals in America have consistently and stridently preached the gospel of conservative politics in the name of some of the most divisive issues in the history of this country: abortion and homosexuality among the most volatile. And because the Republicans have given loud and consistent lip service to the conservative stance on these issues the evangelical leaders have fallen into lock-step behind them and endorsed their candidates and their agenda carte blanche. They have preached this agenda from the pulpits of their churches and touted it on every national media outlet to which they could garner access. They have told us that to vote against this party is to vote against Christ. In fact, I have heard church members say that anyone who votes Democrat is not really a Christian. As I have studied church history I believe we must go back many centuries to find such complete and utter idolatry and sin within the church.

I don't care which party's candidate you vote for, but how dare you have the audacity to tell me that the veracity of my faith resides within a voting booth! I will prayerfully vote my conscience regardless of a candidate's affiliation and I hope to be damned (literally) if I ever allow anyone to convince me otherwise. I made that mistake once and it shall never happen again.

The Republicans lie about their intentions in order to rally our votes and the Democrats have for decades (until quite recently) dismissed us as incapable of having real input on issues that they have failed to realize do have moral implications.

Jesus Christ did not deal in half-truths and pompous judgmentalism. He spoke quite plainly and vehemently about our responsibility to care for the less fortunate and to deal with everyone from a position of love--the unconditional kind. The people he chose to follow him and represent him were not the powerful and political, but those who would stick the biggest bur in the saddles of those very types. If he were physically present on earth today I believe he would spend his time in the inner cities and in the towns devastated by corporate greed. He would be in the homes of people who were dying because the have no insurance and therefore cannot be treated for their diseases. He would wander the villages of third world countries where boys not old enough to date are kidnapped and forced to commit genocide; where young girls are gang raped and killed because they belong to the wrong clan or tribe; where people are beaten to death because they did not support the current dictator. I can see him in the middle east tending to the wounded Palestinians and Jews in the West Bank and Gaza; or in Baghdad cruising the alleys for those in need, both spiritually and physically. I submit to you that these are the places where the real acts of terror are being committed. I do not believe that he would ever set foot in the White House--regardless of by whom it was occupied--unless it was to chase out the 'money-changers' with a braided whip.

This message is not popular with those who hold sway within evangelical circles. But I believe they see the approach of their demise. They see a generation of Christians rising up who will think for themselves and will not be swayed from the cause of Christ by the lure and promise of political clout. I think that God is calling me to this cause. I also believe that it will cause me pain in the places where I have normally felt safe and welcome. My heart breaks for the poor and abused and it fills with anger at those who ignore or exacerbate their plight. I believe that a new journey begins for me tonight.

Pray for peace--real peace.

Mike