Following yesterday's worship, a church member spoke to me about my sermon and how it related to some difficulties he was having with church. His comments combined with recent research showing the continued decline of religion in American, and with today's reading from Jeremiah 7:1-15, to make me reflect on the way religion gets perverted.
The prophet Jeremiah speaks to the people of Judah on behalf of Yahweh, wondering how they can live in ways contrary to God "and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, "We are safe!"' The prophet tells the people that they will be safe, "if you truly act justly one with another, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt."
It strikes me that American Christianity often looks disturbingly like Jeremiah's Judah. Many who claim to speak for religion seem to think that invoking God's name, keeping the 10 commandments displayed on the side of the courthouse and the nativity scene set up in the town square, will somehow keep us safe. But some of these same folks turn a blind eye to alien and the oppressed, or worse, incite hatred of them. It's no wonder that religion and Christianity are declining in popularity when they are so often defined by people like those Jeremiah confronts.
I suspect that one of the great spiritual challenges of every age is to rescue religion and the church from itself. I wonder what that might look like in my life and in the life of the congregation I serve.
Click here to begin receiving the Daily Lectionary via email.)
No comments:
Post a Comment