The deep divisions in evangelical Christianity are more than disturbing; they threaten the very heart of what it means to be evangelical. My teenage years were spent in a suburban Maryland Southern Baptist church, certainly evangelical. Its limited idea of the social gospel was to give Christmas baskets to the “less fortunate.”
The origin of the word evangelical is the Greek evangelion, meaning “gospel” or “good news.” The Jesus of the canonical Gospels calls us not only to care for the poor, but to end poverty. Some so-called evangelicals disavow this part of Jesus’ message on how we are to live. They are the ones who want a world they have nostalgia for.
The problem is, of course, that world never existed. The world of our youth simply turned a blind eye to injustice. Sin is not just individual; it is corporate and societal. The One we follow understood that. He was crucified because he called out the corrupt system that existed in his time. The so-called evangelicals should read Scripture a bit more closely. They might learn something.
Prayer for the Day
Fearing the light of your Gospel, O Lord, we turn our faces,
To offer only reasoned hopes and measured faith;
Serving the spirit of timidity, we build shrines of isolation, And we shade possibilities offered us and others.
Turn us around to see the light you offer,
Transforming us into bold new images of your face.
In the name of the One who calls us to the light,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Whoever uncouples the religious and the social life has not understood Jesus. Whoever sets any bounds for the reconstructive power of the religious life over the social relations and institutions of men, to that extent denies the faith of the Master.
- Walter Rauschenbush, theologian and pastor (1861-1918)
To feed the hungry, clothe the naked and shelter the harborless without also trying to change the social order so that people can feed, clothe and shelter themselves is just to apply palliatives. It is to show a lack of faith in one’s fellows, their responsibilities as children of God, heirs of heaven.
- Dorothy Day, Catholic Worker (1897-1980)
God has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly;
God has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
Luke 1: 52-53