Richard Rohr's meditation this morning opened with this observation. "In recent elections one would have thought that homosexuality and abortion were the new litmus tests of Christianity." I should add that Rohr is a Catholic priest who I presume does not like the idea of abortion. But he also recognizes that focus on sexual purity and morality tends to distract us from the bulk of Jesus' teaching (Rohr says 95%). Jesus is much less worried about personal purity and more concerned with "issues of pride, injustice, hypocrisy, blindness, and what I have often called 'The Three Ps' of power, prestige, and possessions," says Rohr.
I read today's lectionary texts after reading Rohr, and the absence of sexual morality or purity issues was striking. I'm not suggesting that the Bible has no interest in such issues, but they are hardly primary, although one might think they are after hearing political candidates talk about their faith-based stances. But today's texts included more typical biblical concerns. The psalm talked about the prisoner, the blind, the stranger, the widow, and the orphan. And Jesus proclaims nearness of God's kingdom, which is then demonstrated by calling some fisherman to follow him, teaching, and restoring a tormented soul to wholeness.
If you dropped open your Bible anywhere in one of the gospels, there's a very good chance Jesus would be healing, or talking about how greed and money causes us huge problems, or telling us to love enemies, or reaching out to those that religious folks found repulsive. So how is that Christianity often ends up looking so little like Jesus? How is it that a casual observer of American culture could easily conclude that Christian faith is obsessed with what happens in people's bedrooms?
I'm not sure why this is, but people's religious views often seem to get stuck in a very childish state. In many traditional churches, religious education is almost entirely for children, and it seems that our faith often does not advance much beyond those rudimentary Sunday School lessons. Much of Jesus' teaching does not translate easily into a third grade Sunday School class, and so all too often, Jesus' message gets distorted into, "Be good little boys and girls."
I can't seem to stop mentioning Rohr today, but he has an interesting observation about immature faith. Speaking of the aforementioned focus on sexual purity he says that "early-stage religion has never gotten much beyond these 'pelvic' issues." I kind of like that one. And I think it is a helpful measuring stick as well. If your faith spends a great deal of time on "pelvic issues," that's a pretty sure bet that it is ignoring the core of faith, that it is rarely following Jesus where he calls us to go.
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