THE ROAD TO ROME: A THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION

I'm going to say up front that this is a long one.  Grab a cup of coffee, get comfortable, and hang out with me for a little bit.

For 26 years I've been a theologian, actually a practical theologian.  Systematic theology exhausts me.  I focus on the gospel stories instead of arguing semantics over Paul's eschatology, or what he thinks about the end times.  Personally, I think the Church in America puts entirely too much emphasis on Paul and not enough on the teachings of Jesus; i.e. feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, proclaim release to the captives, heal the sick, those kinds of things.  

Having said that, though, I've noticed lately how some folks focus on one particular thing to the exclusion of many of the things Jesus actually taught about.  It's no secret that we are a divided nation, and unfortunately, also a divided Church.  One of the things that divides us as the Church is human sexuality.  

Now, before you stop reading, I'm not going to get into that whole discussion, because it's exhausting, but what hit me this morning was the one chapter in our Holy Writ that folks love to use when they are discussing it; Romans 1.  It starts out innocently enough.  

"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through who we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all Gentiles for the sake of his name, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ."

Dang, though.  Paul wears me out.  That's all one long sentence.  Take a breath every now and then, brother.  But, then we start getting into the good stuff.  He goes on, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is God's saving power for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.   For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith, as it is written, 'The one who is righteous will live by faith.'"  It's the next section, though, that hit me this morning.  Verse 18 is where it starts.  

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of those who by their injustice suppress the truth.  For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  Ever since the creation of the world God's eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been seen and understood through the things God has made.  So they are without excuse, for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless hearts were darkened.  Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human or birds or four footed animals."  Ok, let's stop right there for a second.  

Now.  in that section, Paul has laid out the sins of the Church.  We may not think that to be the case, and may choose to believe that the sins in Romans 1 are actually in the next section, but they're not.  It's right there.  Without excuse.  Knew God but did not honor God.  Futile thinking.  Darkened hearts.  Exchanged the glory of the immortal God for other images.  The sin in Romans 1 is idolatry.  The next section, the one folks love to quote, lays out the results of that sin.  

"Therefore..."  One word that speaks volumes.  "Therefore God gave them over..."  

Not to be cliche'd, but any time you see a word like "Therefore," in scriptures, you have to stop and look at what it's there for.  

For years, the church has argued sexuality and became divided over it, while the world burns down around us, totally ignoring (in some cases) the commands from Jesus to love God with all we are and to love our neighbors as ourselves; to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give drink to the thirsty; to fight the oppressor, to stand up for the vulnerable; to flip over some danged tables.  We have allowed our stand on sexuality, or our politics, or our favorite candidate or politician, to become our god, and that's putting us in a dang tight spot.  We are in dangerous times, my friends.  If you don't believe me, let's keep reading. 

Verse 28, "And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind and to do things that should not be done.  They were filled with every kind of injustice, evil, covetousness, malice.  Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  They know God's decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die, yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them." 

Paul is about to make me cuss.  Dang.  That's rough, but does it sound at all familiar? 

Our Constitution is clear that we are not a Christian nation, although a great number of our population say we are.  The problem is, we have become a Romans 1:28-32 kind of Christian nation, a "therefore" kind of Christian nation.  

Listen, I'm not here to cast stones, Lord knows I have to drop mine.  All I'm saying is that we are headed down a very dangerous road.  I don't know at what point it will be too late for us as a nation and as a Church to turn back, but my guess is that we're getting close.  

So, as a theologian, I'm thinking it's time to sound the alarm, to be a prophetic voice, calling the Church back to her one true love.  It's time to take a stand, and I don't care if you're red, blue, or neither, if we claim Christ as our captain, it's time to fall in rank.  

But... we do not grieve as those without hope.  We have read the end of the book and we know how the story ends.  It's the right now that worries me.  How will the Church behave in the right now?  How will we stand up to the systems that are literally taking food off people's tables next week?  How will we defend the vulnerable and/or fight for the oppressed?  Will we say, "As the nation goes, so goes the Church?"  Or will we say, "As the Church goes, so goes the nation?"

It's time.  May the "therefore" in the next chapter of the Church's story in America lead to repentance and be the answer to our own prayer, "Thy kingdom come on earth, as it is in heaven."

Still, I hope...

 Have you ever had one of those days when you woke up and thought, "Nope.  I just cannot do it today.  There is nothing left."?  (I'm not sure how to punctuate all that)

That was me this morning.  For the last three months, it has been one gut punch after another.  Nothing huge.  More like a water boarding session, where you're strapped down and that one stupid little drop of water keeps hitting your forehead.  Drip... drip... drip...  You can't move.  You can't stop it.  You can't do anything but lay there.  I can handle the big things in life.  It's the little, minor inconveniences and frustrations that send me over the edge.  

I needed to work.  I needed to go look at a couple jobs.  I needed to do some things on the house we have on the market. (Don't get me started on that one.  See minor inconveniences and frustrations reference above.  Ok, it's not all been minor, but still.) I needed to do all those things, but I just didn't have it in me anymore.  This week, I am at my limit.  My breaking point.  One more text or phone call that is less than stellar and I may just disappear into the woods.

Which is exactly what I did.  

Hiking is my escape, my sanctuary.  It's one of the few places in my life where I can get away from the noise and stress.  It's also where I find hope, and I'll get to that in a minute.  I hiked last Wednesday, and it was wonderful.  Somewhere between 6-7 miles over right at 4 hours, but it's never enough. Today, I didn't know where I was going to go, but I knew I was going somewhere, so I tossed some snacks in my day pack, filled up my water bottles, grabbed my socks, (My hikers stay in the car) and took off to Land Between the Lakes.  

I didn't actually hit a hiking trail, like I usually do.  I've hiked almost every trail in LBL.  Instead, I walked Jones creek for a while, came back to the car, drove down the road a piece, and walked an old abandoned and gated road.  I knew the odds of running into any other humans back there was next to zero and that was exactly what I needed.  I needed some fresh air, some quiet.  I needed to hear the wind in the trees and listen to the birds and squirrels.  I needed to just be alone.  

Funny thing is, even when I am, I'm not.  My thoughts never go completely quiet, and I'm never really alone.  Pink Floyd was playing the soundtrack in my head, "I wish you were here," "Dark side of the moon," songs like that.  Other worldly.  Ethereal.  Music like that can transport me to another place and time.  Unlike some songs that make me want to drive fast, this made me want to slow down, and I just walked.  I'd never been back there before, which is odd, since I feel like I've hiked pretty much every trail in LBL.  This one road, though, I hadn't.  There's an abandoned campground at the end of it, Cedar Bluff campground, and I spent some time wandering around it, as well.  It was a beautiful walk.  I can't really call it a hike because the road was paved all the way back, covered in leaves at times, but still paved.  

And here is where the hope comes in.  Don't laugh.  I hike for the fresh air, yes.  And for the solitude, exercise, quiet, and the sounds of the forest.  But I'm also looking as I go.  

See, here's the thing.  With the world, and our country in the shape they're in right now, we all need something to hope for, to look for.  We all need something to believe in, something bigger than we are.  Maybe even something as yet undiscovered.  Don't laugh.  You have to promise.

For me, that's Sasquatch.  You promised you wouldn't laugh!  I know, I know.  "But Jamie, be serious.  You cannot believe that's real."  Oh yes I can, and I do.  At least I hope it is.  How cool would it be to find out eventually that there is a species in our world that has existed just outside the range of discovery?  Just living its life, totally unconcerned about the news, or social media?  Just being... unstressed, unbothered?  And that at a time in our history on this planet when we think we have all the answers and have it all figured out, there is this entity just hanging around in the background, saying, "Nah.  You don't."  I have to admit, I'm kind of jealous.  I think that's why I love to hike so much.  

I'm always looking as I go, watching the ground, looking up into the trees, checking each shadow, listening to every sound, hoping that there is a creature out that who has actually figured out what living is all about.   Just be.  Let the world do what the world is going to do, come with me, and just be.  Damn, that sounds heavenly.  

I guess, maybe, I could say I'm living vicariously through a mythical creature, but still I hope that one of these days, I'll round a curve in the trail, and there he'll be.  Tall, stinky, unkempt, and not really caring about anything other than finding something to eat and a place to take a nap.  Doesn't that sound nice?  

I mean, since the Fall, humankind has had to work to eke out a living in this ol' world, but what if?  We bust our tails for 40-50 years at work, finally get to an age where the government says we can stop working (even though they're trying to raise that age again,) but by then we're too dang tired to enjoy anything.  Meanwhile, this mythical creature has spent the same number of years tromping through the woods, snacking on mushrooms and berries, and just not caring about governments, or pensions, or Fridays.  It gives me hope that maybe I can figure out how to do that, too.  

Yeah, I have the "Believe" stickers on the back of my car.  I've experienced things in the woods that I can't explain.  I've heard sounds that I've never heard before, and I've found bare footprints 6" longer than my boot, but I've never seen one.  I may not.  They may not exist.  But what if?  

See?  It's not just about Sasquatch, Bigfoot, Yeti, whatever you want to call it.  It's about anything that we don't understand but hope for anyhow.  Waking up not stressed in the morning.  I hope for that one of these days.  Going to bed and not hurting all over.  I hope for that.  Seeing folks start being nice to each other again (Actually, it's easier to believe in Bigfoot than to believe that will ever happen.). All those things I may never see, but I still hope for them.  

So, I hike... and look... and listen... and hope.  

Last weekend, we were anchored out on the boat, and just as the moon came up over the trees, we began to hear these long, low howls in the distance.  Maybe a mile away.  My first thought was there were Bigfoot hunters afoot, making calls.  Then we heard a second one, about a half mile away from the first one.  And these creatures, whatever they were, one would howl and then the other would answer.  For 20 minutes we listened to this in the dark.  It was pretty cool.  What was it?  I don't know.  I know what I hope it was.  I know what it wasn't.  It wasn't a coyote, or an owl, or a wolf.  It wasn't a bear, or an elk, or bison.  It wasn't a big cat.  I can tell you what it wasn't, but I can't tell you what it was.  I will say that I know what I hope it was, because, if it was, then my hope for all things is bolstered.  

Laugh at me, if you want.  I don't care.  Then go hiking with me.  You'll see.