Faith and Service

My junior year of college is over. I made the drive home from Georgia yesterday and arrived at the house that I grew up in around 8:15pm, after leaving at 4:00am. The lengthy drive allowed for some good time to reflect and anticipate the coming summer. Today, as I walked through the forest behind my house, the forest where I played as a child, I pondered my upbringing. Walking those familiar paths, smelling those familiar smells, has a way of making a person reflect.

I was raised, and was privileged to be raised, by Christian parents in a loving, safe environment. Faith came easy to me. I had a loving church gamily, positive Christian role models and a knack for learning. In our blessed American home, freedom of religion and economic affluence (at least compared to the rest of the world) seemed to come hand in hand. All in all, my faith cost me nothing, and I saw no problems with this fact. My limited experiences with service—a pair of short-term, two-week trips to Central America—were positive, and perhaps formative experiences, but they did little in effecting life change in me or those of whom I was allegedly serving.

It wasn’t really until last summer at the age of 20, that I realized the cost of Christian discipleship. In Aliquippa I found myself needed, challenged and overwhelmingly in-over-my-head. Here there were children deprived of safety, education and ultimately childhood itself. Here were people without hope, economic stability, or a future. Here, for the first time in my life, I was confronted with the holistic and tragic effects of sin on human life. It was from this I was spared and saved as a child, and by the grace of God alone.

In addition to this realization, I found that as I stepped out in the faith and Christian service that Christ calls us to, something profound began to happen inside of me. The faith that I’d claimed as a child became real to me, as it manifested itself in action and service. I’d believed what the Bible taught, for sure, but it meant nothing to me until it was acted on. Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously said, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” I’d believed in the call, but it was not until Aliquippa that I began to die.

Christians and Government

Today in my History of Theology class a discussion concerning the separation of church and state came up, in the context of an introduction to dominion theology. It was an incredibly interesting discussion, and the subject has been on my mind for most of the day. I found myself disagreeing with my prof and about half the class. Overall I would guess our class was 50/50 on the issue, half thinking that Christians in the government can effect morality via the governing authority, the other half rejecting that notion.

To me, the notion of affecting a nation's morality via the ruling authorities is a proposterous idea. This "top-down" mentality doesn't work with morality any better than it does with economics! (The trickle-down theory just doesn't work practically!) The movements that have had lasting effects on our country's politics and morality have been bottom-up, grass-roots movements. Look at the temperance movement, the women's suffrage movement, and the civil rights movement...In each case, it was the little people making the change.

When I pointed out in class that the Jesus and his disciples, and the early church for that matter, were grass-roots, I had a classmate try to tell me that the incarnation was a "top-down" approach. Maybe what he meant by this was that Christ came down to the nothingness of humanity from his place as God, but I don't think that is what this classmate meant. Christ did make himself nothing, and his example is the PERFECT example of effective change from the bottom up!

Jesus of Nazareth had every opportunity to set himself up as the emperor of the world. The Jews of his day, including many of his followers, were expecting the messiah to come and start an earthly kingdom, a "top-down" kingdom that would change the world. They were looking for political liberation and self-determination. But that is not what Jesus had in mind. Instead he turned the tables, and flipped things upside down. How did he start a movement? With an eclectic group of uneducated peasants from a captive nation! And what was his method for changing the world? Dying. Christ and his gospel are the antithesis of a "top-down" approach.

It was a great day when Constantine made Christianity legal in the Roman Empire. I imagine many Christians were joyful and thankful that they could serve God openly at last. The centuries of persecution were finally over. That peace was a great thing. But, didn't the church thrive under such persecution? Look at the book of Acts... What about today? Isn't the church thriving in China and other places hostile to the gospel? Is the church thriving in our present day Constantinian empire (the USA)?

I am not sure that I have fully resolved this next idea in my head, but it seems to make sense to me. The ability for Christians to live and worship freely is a great thing, and not something to be taken for granted. It has not always been this way, and will not, most likely, continue to be this way. But, at the same time, persecution is good for the church. It forces the church to rely on God, it weeds out the nominal, and it is a powerful witness to the world. Maybe tranquility for the church is nice for this world, but maybe it is not beneficial for our spiritual condition. Do not trials develop perseverance, character, and hope?

Apostate churches are not born out of persecution, but are born out of the church growing comfortable. I think there is plenty of evidence for this with the Israelites in the old testament. The entire narrative of the Old Testament seems to be the Israelites sinning and doing evil in the eyes of the Lord, being taken captive (much like persecution), and then repenting and serving God again before the cycle begins again.

So what does this mean practically? I'm not sure... Should we pray for persecution? Maybe... at the very least we need to be careful not to take our comfort and prosperity (read laziness and obesity) for granted. Days of comfort often end abruptly.

When its Hard to be a Pacifist

Its days like today that it is not fun to be a pacifist. I received an email yesterday and this is what it said:

"On Thursday, May 3rd at 10:25 AM a young soldier from Franklin County will be coming home.

Ryen was killed serving our country overseas and will be arriving at the Toccoa Airport on Thursday. The college is asking our students who can gather on Big A to support his family and show the community our support for one who was willing to sacrifice his life for his country."

When push comes to shove, I believe Ryen died for nothing. I believe that Ryen's life had value, but he was a soldier commanded to fight in an unjust war and the loss of his life for the "defense of this country" is meaningless. But that makes me sound as heartless as a war-hawk...Ryen's death is a tragedy, as is the loss of all human life. I don't know why it happened and I wish that it hadn't. His death was as senseless as those that have died in Darfur, or the shootings earlier this year in Aliquippa. Death, wherever it happens is a tragedy. My honest condolences go out to Ryen's family. It is the individual lives affected by war that make it so tragic. It is not nations that feel the pain of these losses, but fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers. It is the weak--children, poor, and marginalized--that suffer the most.

There must be a better way to peace.

"Sure as a hammer finds a nail, death is the only way to peace" ~Derek Webb

It is Christians dying for others--socially, emotionally and yes physically-- that can bring the world peace. Jesus inaugurated the kingdom through his death, and we are called to follow suite. Only through radically associating, and relating to the hurting can we effect peace in this war torn and restless world.

It is not guaranteed to be successful, but a human history of war has never brought peace: the "war to end all wars" (WW1) led to the "war to make the world safe for democracy" (WW2) which has led to more war, and a world hostile to human life (including democracy!). When will we learn?

“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” ~George Santayana