A friend e-mailed me a sophisticated electronic picture this week. As I moved the cursor from face to face in the painting, a sidebar opened explaining who that individual was and why he or she was in the scene. The theme was patriotic, and I won’t take time to describe the varied characters, not all of whom were “patriots.” The center of the picture was a regal Jesus holding in his hand a copy of the Constitution of the United States. What constitutes a Christian heritage is bitterly disputed today, but I believe that we are heirs of a thousand years of choices by mostly ordinary people who, because of their personal faith, chose to look at politics and business as avenues of expressing their moral commitments to the dignity of human beings rather than ways of enriching themselves. Someday I’ll have to expand on that, but now back to the point.
Image by: repres
A subtext of that picture is that the United States is different from all other civilizations, set apart for divine purposes, a moral light to the nations, or, as a 17th century Puritan father put it, “a city set on a hill.” This special relationship implies that America is a safe place for Christians to live, raise their families undisturbed, earn a living, prosper through divine blessing, and build churches, schools, and civic institutions. The American dream of individual autonomy and material prosperity within a framework of Christian government and Christian society sounds heavenly, right? But that is not the heritage that we have received.
Still with me? Our culture, with its emphasis on personal fulfillment and material abundance, is not a safe place for Christians. Let me repeat, Christians are not safe here! Authentic discipleship has never been supported by the powers-that-be. In this modern world believers have been seduced by a civil, political, and economic religion that has a thin veneer of Christian terminology. So when St. John warns in his first letter that we must not love the world, or the things that are in the world, American Christians are seriously confused about what the “world” is. It is the advertising-saturated, sports-oriented, security-conscious, well-educated, car-crazy, fashion-sensitive, God-language culture we call home!
As long as we see the society in which we live as supportive of, or even just neutral towards, authentic relationships with Jesus, we will never understand all the things He said about denying ourselves, taking up our crosses, being hated by the world, or not fearing the one who can kill only the body. Christians who do understand the power of self-interested hawkers around them quickly realize that they and the people they love are at great risk. Isolated believers will be at least compromised, likely overwhelmed. Christians who realize the spiritual risks will instinctively band together.
Now, the point: I have described formative relationships as a defense against overwhelming threats. Something very interesting happens, however, when Christians build relationships. The Holy Spirit steps in, and believers find that they are energized. Love (another term for God) sends them out into the world around them to transform it. Read the Book of Acts to see this in real-life action!
Reader Remarks