What Can We Do?
What can we do?
We live in a world of cultural distractions. That is not said as a cheap way
of turning society into the scapegoat. There are plenteous pursuits that ennoble
the citizen, broadening our horizons and humanizing our visions. However, our
culture’s voyeuristic preoccupation with celebrity misdeeds or the self-absorbing
cycle of weight gain and miracle diet, although not news, are the lead stories
taking our eye off the bloodshed perpetrated and malnourishment plaguing our
world. In that world, depending on who you read, there is either an uptick in
the number of people who believe in God or a continuing decline in the number
of people who go to church. Either way, if at the center of life is not our
concern for neighbor and alien—the same concern we hope God has for us—then
we have denied Jesus many times.
We live in a worldwide church of ecclesial presumption. This is not to discount
the sainted procession of faithful Christians throughout history or to forget
the litany of actions that have given praise to God and benevolent comfort to
countless people in need. Yet, throughout our two millennia history, and on
any given day, our denominational fractures and schismatic seizures are blows
delivered to the Body of Christ—the suffering of disunity that grieves
the heart of God. We pray that “we do not presume to come to this table,”
but, oh, we do presume, and mightily so. Those who would gather for the meal,
only with the like-minded—be they conservative or liberal, traditionalist
or progressive—are not embodying faith but ghosting a phantom fantasy.
Withdrawing and moving away, or saying goodbye to those churches which do, contributes
to a spiritual ghetto not to the needs of the saints.
We live on a planet of persistent imperialism. The violence between Jews, Muslims
and Christians—whether perpetrated through the weaponry of words or the
arsenal of war—still makes Jerusalem a battleground. Jerusalem? Jerusalem
should stand as a city symbolic of our hope in God and for each other. But how
can there be such a skyline when the ground of that city and too many others
are littered with ignorance, suspicion and hatred.
Cultural distraction, ecclesial presumption and religiously-fueled international
contention take our eyes off Christ and render us blind to those who live in
darkness and the agony of isolation. No wonder then, when we look up again,
Christ is crucified; and we, as were the disciples at that site of The Skull,
are here and now weighted down with failure and sorrow, tempted to give up the
way of the cross.
Here and now, we are at a crossroads—a place and time where fear is fortifying
boundaries and when blaming overtakes trusting. What can we do? On our own,
we can do nothing but dig each other and ourselves into a deeper hole, booby
trapping the chasm with barbed vitriol and razor-edged reactions. But pray God,
for what can be done has already been done for us and for all people. God so
loves the world that God gives all to the end that all who believe in Jesus
Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life.
Yes, we are living in a world where people have lost trust in institutions and
are instead, a number of them, beginning to engage in a kind of vigilante trust—trusting
in themselves or transferring that trust to a charismatic figure—a dangerous
demagoguery if you start pledging allegiance to someone who fans your flames.
For history before and after Christ shows sad evidence that when a talking head
comments it could be good that one man die for the nation, it is not long before
the crowds are shouting “crucify, crucify”.
What can we do?
The apostle Paul, writing to the church at Philippi, speaks out loud to us.
Once he became a Christian, all of Paul’s life was about uncovering life’s
meaning by discovering Christ’s life, who at the moment of his death on
the cross exhales, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
At the moment of his death, Jesus gives God his life. Paul, with his life and
in his writing, is demonstrating over and over: Just as Christ Jesus
commended his spirit to God, let us be the same in commending Christ’s
spirit to others. Jesus did not seek immunity from this human life
by any courting of privilege. Rather, he emptied himself. He lived and died
humbly and obediently. His humility positioned him on the same level with all
people. His obedience opened him totally in listening to people and to God.
For obedience, at root, means to listen. And the Cross at its root grows into
the tree of life. For God so loved the world, even to the point of death.
Does that imitation of Jesus, our being of the same mind that was in Christ,
mean we are supposed to put our bodies on the cross too? No—not ours,
or anyone else’s, ever! However, we are called to put our whole selves
on the line—to get in the way of the bashing and demonizing, and to have
the courage and honesty to work openly for the gospel truth as agents of reconciliation,
so that God’s will may be our common life.
Our common life is the Body of Christ.
Our cross is to bear the life of Christ.
We are at a crossroads—on bended knees, tongues confessing, so that the
grace of God, the love of Christ and our fellowship in the Holy Spirit might
quiet the distraction, correct the presumption and quell the contention.