I have been attending a church for about two years now, and I
have really enjoyed it. Until very recently.
I love the music, the worship service. The pastor is an excellent theologian, there
are many exciting guest speakers. There
are many opportunities there, classes and activities and productions. I helped with the youth program in the summer
and seriously want to do that again. I
was baptized there, the church led me to my school which it is connected
with. We attend classes in the building
they outgrew five years ago. And I
became an official member this summer.
And then Donald Trump happened. What does he have to do with church? Well, the answer should be nothing
whatsoever. But that isn’t the answer.
I can handle the fact that my political views are in the
minority. That I get. I can handle the fact that this is a very
conservative congregation, but until now, I thought that even though they were
conservative they had room for other people.
Now I am not so sure.
I know that Evangelical now means a political movement. It used to mean a person who proclaims the
Good News, it comes from a Greek word, and this is actually the meaning. A person who tells the world about
Christ. It also came to mean a person
who believes in being saved by grace and faith, rather than by sacraments and
good works. It doesn’t mean that
anymore. Okay, fine.
But then I watched a whole lot of people who should have
known better vote a monster into office on the vague promise that he might
appoint a Supreme Court judge who might vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. Even though Roe v. Wade isn’t an issue right
now. Even though by the time any cases
went through the court system for it to be an issue, this president would
probably be out of office. Even though
the Supreme Court acts on legal grounds, not moral issues.
Okay, fine. You guys
don’t understand the judicial system, and you’ve made an emotional decision,
and you’ve made a mistake. You have
ignored every other issue about this horrible person because you are passionate
about one issue, and you say God can use an imperfect vessel as your write
off. God could have used the other
imperfect vessel just as well, but okay.
But then that excellent theologian stood in the pulpit and
proudly announced that he had been on the Spiritual Advising Committee for
Donald Trump with several other religious luminaries (at least one of whom I
now know for a fact is frigging nuts) and they had been on conference calls
every Monday for the last three months, and he hoped to continue to do so.
And the crowd went wild.
I felt like the whole church, and it’s a very large church, was rising
up, folding in half and coming down on top of me.
For the last three months, while that man was spewing hate
and lies, you excellent devout fellows had his ear. What good did it do? And
now this excellent theologian was proudly leading over 20,000 people down the abyss
with him. Someone was in bed with the
devil, I just wasn’t quite sure who it was.
It was a hard week after that. I loved this church, but I just didn’t feel
like I could be there anymore. I can’t
completely cut off from it. Twelve hours
of my degree plan come from working there.
They are gifting me money to attend the university. I didn’t want to believe bad things about the
pastor. I didn’t want to.
So I went to a different church the next week. It was like returning to an old friend. The music isn’t as good. They aren’t as joyfully worshipful. But the message was exactly the message I
needed to hear.
When I started school, I didn’t really know what I was after,
except knowledge. But it didn’t take
long to figure out that my focus was going to be some kind of mission
work. I want to be with those who are
really struggling, who really need help.
And that my job would probably not be at a megachurch. Now it’s possible, I could work at a church
in some capacity and do other work outside, at a homeless shelter, or a women’s
shelter, or with a prison ministry, or dare I say it, with the LGBT
community. See, there’s the
problem. I don’t have a group of people
I will not minister to. I don’t have a
group of people who are outside my realm of possibility, and that puts me at
odds with the conservative church business.
And it shouldn’t. And
that’s what Craig Groeschel of life church talked about on Sunday. That some people draw the line and they put
the good people on one side and the bad people on the other, and Jesus crossed
the line, and so should we.
So I will be attending life church from now on. At least for a while. I won’t cut myself completely from the other church. And I will go forward knowing that God does
use imperfect vessels, and that if things do get tough for Christ followers in
the coming years, then I am busy being armed for the fight.
And Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" -- Mark 10:51 (ESV)
