I've quoted this before. The late southern comedian and devout Southern Baptist, Jerry Clower, has a chapter in one of his books entitled "Some People are so Heavenly Minded, They Ain't No Earthly Good." In his folksy way, Clower identifies a common problem with religious life, at least some Christian versions in modern day America. Many Christians seem to think that faith's sole purpose is to get people into heaven when they die.
Viewed in this way, Christian faith becomes about checking off the right boxes so as to get on the heavenly guest list. Exactly what is required can vary from one group or denomination to the next. For some it's "accepting Christ as personal Savior." For others it is "having faith," which may or may not mean "believing the right things." For still others it is about living a good enough life. There are doubtless many variations on this, but they all proclaim some version of what Brian McLaren labels "a gospel of evacuation," meaning that Jesus came to get us from here to some place better.
Trouble is that the Jesus we find in the gospels almost never speaks this way. He much more routinely speaks about the kingdom that is drawing near, a day when God's will is done on earth, when earthly life conforms to God's design, as is already the case in the divine realm. Consider the Lord's Prayer if you think I'm making this up.
And so when the Apostle Paul calls us to offer ourselves to God, not being conformed to the world but transformed so we can do God's will, he has in mind something other than making it to heaven. This is, after all the same Paul who speaks earlier in Romans about creation waiting "with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God," and also how "the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now." (8:19-23) In Christ, God is not planning an evacuation but the redemption of the entire creation. In the meantime, the followers of that Christ are called to model that new day for the world.
But all too often, those in the Church appear more conformed to the world than transformed. Observed at work or play, they are indistinguishable from the rest of the culture. Some decades ago, when there was something of a general agreement that ours was a "Christian nation," this could be viewed as unimportant. If we claimed that our culture was in some way Christian, then there was no real need to worry about being conformed to it. But it has gotten more and more difficult to say our culture is Christian. Indeed I doubt that it ever was in any sort of deep and meaningful way, but to claim that today's prevailing culture of consumerism, narcissism, and greed somehow embodies Christ's commands borders on the absurd.
And so to follow Christ, to be transformed in the manner Paul recommends, is to be different and odd in ways that show the world around us a new possibility. To a world obsessed with looks and appearances, we are called to value all people as beloved children of God. In a world obsessed with money and wealth, we are called to measure worth in the manner of Jesus, who was so often found among the poor and the outcast. In a world obsessed with status and prestige, we are called to honor "the least of these" and to live as servants who offer ourselves for the sake of others. In a world obsessed with performance and efficiency and busyness, we are called to take time for prayer and worship, to keep sabbath, and to "Be still."
In short, we are called to live in ways that make us very "earthly good." We are called to a peculiar style of life so that others who might peek into one of our congregations would get a palpable sense that we know something about earthly life, relationships, and community that the world does not. They should see us living in ways that offer a clear model for a renewed and reborn society, something that only happens when we are not "conformed to this world" but instead transformed so that our lives conform to God's will.
As we seek to live such lives, we have a template provided for us, a clear model to emulate. Jesus has already shown us what it looks like to live according to God's will. But it seems that we are still not quite convinced that he got is right.
Click to learn more about the lectionary.
No comments:
Post a Comment