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."
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