01-31-24

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
January 31, 2024
Yesterday at the church staff meeting, we had a really interesting discussion on what I will call Quid Pro Quo Christianity. First, let me say very clearly: I believe my faith gives me great joy and peace and other blessings beyond measure, and I am not suggesting that is a bad thing. What I mean by Quid Pro Quo Christianity is faith that is looking at the religion in terms of not only what a person can get from the religion but also how to specifically get what is wanted. If I pray enough, then I should expect certain results. If I attend church a specific number of times each year, I can expect to get certain personal requests satisfied by God. If I…, then… There are plenty of scriptures, though many of them are taken out of context, that seem to imply a sort of quid pro quo within Christianity. I can understand how someone might draw that conclusion, but I don’t believe it really happens. Oh sure, there are folks who pray and win the lottery, though I would suggest that another 20 million people who prayed did not win the lottery… and some of those who lost prayed a whole lot more than the winner.

When Jesus was preaching what we call the Sermon on the Mount, he said, “..desire first and foremost God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you…” This comes immediately after a section on worry and how people of faith should not worry. Instead, put your focus on God’s kin(g)dom and God’s goodness (righteousness), and then all these other things you worry about will fall into place. That is the way the passage is often interpreted, but too often, we forget that Paul was not writing to an individual but to a community. And when a community with many different gifts, talents, resources, and insights focuses its attention on the ways of God’s kin(g)dom, which include self-giving love, mercy, compassion, and kindness, then some of the most basic worries of life will begin to slip away. For Paul, he sort of had a ‘stone soup” approach to living in community. Every person gives what they have, and where scarcity once existed, a sudden abundance appears. Where fear of not having what one needed to survive seems to give way, within Christ-centered community, to both joy and peace. 

God of all things, help me to view my life and everything I have in it as gifts through which I can bless others. You did not call us to live in isolation but to live selflessly with others for the purpose of representing your Kin(g)dom here on earth. Amen.