I think I know how doctors feel… well sort of. You know how when someone in a group meets a
doctor, someone (usually me) blurts out some question seeking free unsolicited
medical advice. I have found that when I
tell people I work for a church I usually end up with a lap full of unsolicited
church baggage.
Now my purpose in writing this isn’t to invoke sympathy. It’s actually quite interesting to hear the
very personal yet very common story about how God, Jesus and the church was
terrible to you. However, what does
bother me is the caricature of the church I find myself defending in these
conversations. I often want to stop the
conversation and say, do you really think we are all a bunch of delusional
fundamentalists who hate women, the gays, and science. Are we still going with the narrative that
says the church is only interested in condemning people to hell if they don’t
adhere to a strict moral code?
This is what evangelism has become for me. Instead of spreading the ‘good news.’ I find myself at social gatherings answering the same series of questions about what I/the church think(s) about homo-sex, drinking, and hetero-sex. What disappoints me is that I rarely get to share why I’m passionate about the Gospel and the church.
So here is my question: Is the overarching consensus about
the church really that bad or has everyone just gotten too lazy to see the
forest for the trees?
It feels like every time there is a situation like
Chic-Fil-A Day it only adds fuel to the superficial anti-church fires. Come on, we are a brilliant generation of
people, clearly you can see Chic-Fil-A Day was a political stunt and had
nothing to do with the bible or church doctrine (if a man lies with another
man, thou shalt eat chicken? Come on).
My point: If I were a
nurse or a school teacher, no one would ask me to apologize for their childhood
experience of going to school or the doctor.
Jesus nags this culture. Why
else, would people so voluntarily tell a stranger such personal
information? (It’s not uncommon for a
stranger to cry in front of me about the subject)
For many in my context of the American South, I believe that
Christianity is a dormant part of their identity that eats away at their soul. I wonder if Jesus hovers around reminding
people that there is life outside of this ridiculous rat race of hollow
achievement and insatiable consumerism. However,
I believe people are mad (and people like me are left to apologize for it) because
they believe the institutional church stands in the way; It’s too corrupt, too
rigid, too anti-intellectual.
But you have to be smarter than that… right? Every institution fails, every human has
flaws, every person disappoints. So why
can’t the church? Why can’t we simply
discern that the church is the road that leads to the divine and not the divine
itself. Who told you the church was
anything different, that you are left with this unrelenting disappointment? Why can’t your own experience of your own
shortcomings offer a perspective that understands this? 
So to everyone, my challenge to you is this: make a
choice. This way of ambivalence and
bitterness will not lead you to wholeness.
Yes, the church in modern America has baggage. But to everyone in their twenties and
thirties, I write this to invite you to consider beginning a dialogue about how
we are actually going to heal our planet and restore our humanity. You know, something beyond good ideas, bumper
stickers and conscious consumerism. The
church’s mission is to join God in healing the broken creation by living and
loving as Jesus did. You may not agree
with a particular parish’s interpretation of that message but, I’m certain
continuing to deconstruct the church won’t get any of us any closer to wholeness! So either join the church or call a truce
with Jesus because these conversations are a distraction!
