I am a Christian and have been so as long as I can remember. I was baptized when I was two weeks old and I was Confirmed when I was in the 6th grade. We attended church on a regular basis and when I turned 18 I went to the seminary to study to be a priest. I spent the next seven years in school studying and praying and serving and doing all the things one does in a seminary. Instead of becoming a priest in the Roman Catholic Church I became a minister in the United Church of Christ, a denomination I continue to love and serve.
Like other Christians I read the Bible. I had great seminary professors who taught us to read the Bible with a critical understanding of what we are reading. Over the years I’ve listened to lectures and read an awful lot. Compared to the average person, I know a lot about the Bible. When I listen to Scripture scholars speak, I realize how little I know. I approach the Bible with great humility; it is often an enigma wrapped in a mystery. I actually greatly appreciate that.
Over the years I’ve seen Christianity approach the Bible and somewhere along the line Christianity began to morph into a faith that is hard for me to recognize. I hear expressions that “Jesus did this for you,” or “God did this for us.” I hear people talk about their personal relationships with Jesus and I am troubled-----and that’s what troubles me.
It’s not that I don’t believe Jesus did and does things for us and I also believe we are called to have a relationship with God. I’m good with all of that. Very good, in fact. The part that troubles me is that these, at least to me, seem like low bars and seem to be about us instead of God. It strikes me that Christianity has morphed into a product or service that is good for us and I’m not really sure that was the point of the Bible or Christianity.
The Bible has this progression. It begins with creation and everything is in total harmony. God created goodness and harmony and….
And then people came along and sin came into the world. Sin is, by its nature, destructive. People get hurt. People steal from each other. People kill. People lie and cheat. People destroy one another’s property. People trash creation. Over and over again we see how the rich and powerful take advantage of and abuse the poor and the weak. That is a Biblical theme that plays itself out over and over again and frankly, we watch it play out in history time and time again.
Act I. Creation.
Act II. Sin.
Then comes the New Testament. Jesus comes and dies on the cross for the sins of the world. People are forgiven their sins and their transgressions and when our lives come to an end we die and go to Heavent with God.
Act III. Salvation.
And this is, to me, what Christianity has morphed into, a three act drama. There is harmony, then sin, and then salvation and we go to Heaven in the end. WE get Heavenly rewards and all is well.
To me, this is an unsatisfying ending. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in an afterlife and I believe in Heaven. I think God put us in this world, however, more than to just to hang out while we wait to die and go to Heaven. It strikes me that God wants us to do something while we are here and I strongly suspect the answer hearkens us back to the beginning of the Bible.
If we read the teachings and actions of Jesus and the words of St. Paul, well the entire New Testament, they seem to be telling us what to do while we are hanging out. It’s this, “Hey, remember the creation story and all the goodness and harmony? Remember that? That’s your job. Change the world. Create goodness and work on bringing harmony into the world.”
Act IV. Change the world.
It starts with a bunch of little things. Working at Soup Kitchens or food pantries. Giving away old clothing and blankets and toys to people in need.
Old, but good. You know what I mean. Maybe it’s offering your seat to an elderly person who is standing while you’re sitting. Maybe it’s getting someone a pair of shoes that fit because their feet hurt from wearing shoes that no longer fit them.
When we are compassionate toward others we change the world. The world is a hostile place. When I read all the feeds on Facebook there sure is a lot of meanness that goes around. I keep reading about how we need to be more effective and efficient in killing one another than I do reading about how we can be more effective and efficient in feeding one another.
All of this goes on and Christianity is represented by…..
Well, in terms of press coverage, Westboro Baptist Church probably gets the most press and it pretty much represents a vast minority of Christians. There are lots of small churches that dot the countryside doing amazingly good things and they never make the news…
There are lots of churches and lots of people out there changing the world. They are doing for others instead of waiting for God to give them a reward.
Christianity is a four act play. Change the world----or at least your little corner of it.
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