05-21-24

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
May 21, 2024
This past Sunday, Pentecost Sunday, I began a new series entitled Exploring the Totality. I have chuckled a few times, as it might sound arrogant to suggest that we are going to explore all of the totality. Let me be clear: we will not search even a high percentage of the totality, as we will only be spending a few weeks on the topic. At the same time, my hope is that we will allow some broader perspective and additional questions to be put before what is often described as some of the gotcha passages. A verse or two are taken out of context and used as a hammer, attempting to intimidate or beat people into submission—the hammer often takes on the form of guilt, shame, fear, or general browbeating. It was C.S. Lewis who wrote,

“The Bible, read in the right spirit and with the guidance of good teachers, will bring us to Christ. We must not use the Bible as a sort of encyclopedia out of which texts can be taken for use as weapons.”


Sadly, people too often shrink and cower simply because someone says they are quoting the Bible, but I can connect three out-of-context verses of scripture and make some pretty unhealthy things sound holy. The question that needs to be asked is: how does some idea presented as “Christian” align with the Jesus story of scripture? I’m not naive enough to suggest there won’t still be some disagreement, as certain people will emphasize the miracles of Jesus above the crucifixion of Jesus, while others will focus on the teachings of Jesus above the resurrection of Jesus. With that said, recently, I was told that if Jesus went into a “bad part of town,” he would definitely be carrying, and he wouldn’t be concealing it. We can have a serious conversation about gun rights and how best to approach security, but there is absolutely nothing in scripture that suggests Jesus would be packing. I think about the story of the Good Samaritan and how it begins with a man who was on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho, and he fell into the hands of robbers. Jesus did not then say, “But you know, if he had been carrying a weapon, he could have taken out those thieves.” We always need to allow a religious-sounding claim to be placed against the larger Jesus story as a starting point for measuring whether or not it is something we grapple with or not.

There is a request I make of you, Lord God—whenever I am confronted by a religious declaration that seems unloving, empty of compassion, or entirely self-serving, provide me the time and curiosity to weigh it against the Jesus story, the one whose life personified love, compassion, and self-giving. Amen.