#SundayCoffee A quick rant based on today’s Gospel reading.
God Hates “American Christianity”
These days, it doesn’t take much to get my blood going. Everyday there is one more provocation, one more obscenity, one more outrage by the presidential administration. Whether it’s the Gestapo tactics of his imperial guard, ICE and DHS, or the callous and coldhearted behavior of Congress cutting the health care of millions of citizens, taking food out of hungry children’s mouths, and imposing even harsher work standards on the poor who already have difficulty finding employment, or just the people standing by applauding these outrages — there is always something new to push my blood pressure into the red zone.
Sometimes I try to take a step back. Take a deep breath. History repeats itself. Humanity has gone through countless cycles of tyranny and oppression. And we get through it. But always at a great cost.
And I think of the role of the Christian Church in the past 2000 years, and am ashamed that often it is at the very heart of some of these vicious cycles. A religion which pays lip service to “love” and “peace” is so often the agent of such violence and human destruction. A quick list of phrases is enough to bring that history to mind: Crusades, Inquisitions, heretic burnings, Witch Trials, slavery, segregation, oppression of women, of people of color, of LGBTQ hate, and transphobia. Add now, Christian nationalism and the hatred of brown and black immigrants and “illegals.” Yeah, the church is often right in the middle of these things — and usually not standing up for the weak and vulnerable, but the ones instigating the brutality, often in the name of “law and order.” All the fruit of dominion theology, and the “Seven Mountains Mandate” — to influence and control key aspects of society.
(My friend Patrick would be quick to point out the opposite side as well: all the times Christians and the Church have stepped up in compassion and mercy to care for “the least of these,” to fight for abolition, to be a refuge to the refugee, to feed the hungry and help the poor. And he’s right, of course. But it seems it’s the loud voices of the angry self-righteous that most often steals the spotlight.)
That’s how I’m reading this week’s lectionary Gospel reading, about a Pharisee and a Tax-Collector Praying (Luke 18:9-14). It’s a quick parable about two men going to pray. One filled with a confident sense of his own religious virtue, and the other — the tax collector (dare I update the role to ICE agent?) — who is all too aware of his sin and the harm he has caused people. The first stands proudly before God, and the second hangs his head in shame, asking for mercy. Jesus says it is only the second, the hated ICE agent, who walks away vindicated before God.
Ouch. That’s painful. Painful for me to see that God has mercy big enough to forgive the hated government agent (though the parable portrays this man as repentant, aware of his offenses and therefore, at least theoretically, ready to change his ways).
But it’s also painful in that it’s a clear indictment of much of the American Church which still supports the current regime (by some 72% according to April polling by Pew Research). The Church that stands with head held high, waving the American flag and wearing crosses around their necks. The Christians standing for morality and law and order who embrace the Lawless One, who stand against the “moral decay” of our country — against abortion and against gays and against open borders allowing drug-smugglers and murderers into our great country — but who turn a blind eye to the cries of people on SNAP and Medicaid, whose hearts are cold to those fleeing hardship in hope of a new life in America.
I can’t but help to see American Christianity as the living embodiment of that Pharisee in Jesus’s parable. How many churches this Sunday will salute the flag, maybe even recite the Pledge of Allegiance, in their holy sanctuaries dedicated to God? “My house shall be called of House of Prayer for All Nations,” Jesus quotes from the prophet Isaiah. Yeah, maybe not so much anymore in MAGA America. How many will thank God this week for his “Chosen One” sitting in the Oval Office?
Nobody wants to read themselves in the role of the villain. We all want to see ourselves as the heroes in bible stories, the ones favored by God. But so much of the bible (like the Hebrew prophets) try to remind us that so often we are not. That’s meant to be an eye-opener.
Jesus’s parable was about the self-righteous religious person versus the humble, repentant sinner, about which one God actually favors. The lesson is not just about slamming the self-righteous, but also reminding us that God is always inviting us to change our ways. That a changed heart is worth so much. It’s not too late. It’s not too late for us to stop endorsing oppression, and to open our hearts with compassion for those who need it. It’s not too late for us to change what the history books will say of us 30 years from now. It’s not too late for us to regain our humanity.
But which role will we cast ourselves in?
Lord, help us see ourselves clearly. And help us change our hearts and our actions to be worthy of the mercy you’re praised for. Amen.
photo: No attribution; free for use under the Pixabay Content License