May this message find you with a soft heart and open ears.
We have found ourselves, as a body of believers, facing a challenge that has weakened not only our unity, but also our witness.
We appear to those who watch us for hope and guidance (or even with a critical eye) as foolish, lustful for power, and selfish.
Too many will think this is about some “culture” war outside of the church, when it is precisely the culture of the church that is in poor condition. It is about our own hearts, that have relied upon power grabs and have excused the inexcusable. We have fallen prey to words of trickery and to the temptations of our heart’s desires for a kingdom different than the humble, subversive kingdom of Christ. We know this is a trick that evil has used in the past, but we have fallen for it anyway.
Some of us won’t see this. We have on blinders and are unwilling. Some of us won’t admit this right now. We are too proud. Some of us see this for what it is, but are too ashamed. Some of us are seeking and listening and repenting. Some of us are saying it out loud. Our families shake their heads and roll their eyes at us. They look at us with pity or contempt or maybe worse, with dismissal.
But we know God is love. The gospel is a story of sacrificial love and we are called to sacrificial love. It is the greatest command of the Divine. We know the evidence of the Holy Spirit in our lives looks like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. Yet, we have honored and exalted many who openly and proudly display the opposite traits. We make enemies of those in need. We put ourselves before our brothers and sisters. We don’t trust the power of the Holy Spirit or the provision of the Creator and instead seek power and provision in earthly goods at the expense of the earth itself and others we share this earth with. We make allowances for the powerful and oppress or dismiss the weak.
We can acknowledge and celebrate all the good and kind and helpful things we do while also acknowledging and accepting the significant need in our world and the various ways we have turned a blind eye. We are not living our purpose as the bringers of light, justice, and mercy. We are not holding one another accountable or encouraging one another to move away from earthly idols and practices. We value our comfort over all. It is our greatest idol, most likely.
When we reflect on the life of Christ, we know he was most critical of corrupt religious leaders and systems. He showed the most grace and compassion to those outside of religion and to the oppressed. We do the opposite and justify it to one another and to all our critics. We have allowed and engaged in spiritual manipulation.
If we want revival, we need to be honest with ourselves and one another.
We need to be willing to see that perhaps we have actually fallen prey to the “culture” and it has nothing to do with LGBTQ persons or reproductive rights. It has to do with greed, comfort, selfishness, and idols within the church body and among fellow believers.
If we want revival, we need to be willing to be vessels of the Spirit and willing to let that wreck things a little. For the good of the Kingdom. For On Earth As It Is In Heaven. Good trouble, as some before us have said. We need to let God be big and expansive and out of all the boxes.
We have to be open to the destruction of the status quo and of what is not of God – and that will never be other people; people created in God’s image along with us. We will not despise what God has created. We will not treat God’s creation callously or dismissively. We will not disrespect one another, even when we don’t understand one another.
If we want revival, it won’t come loud and proud. It won’t be on a train blowing through our towns or a wave crashing over us. It will be each of us committing to individually and collectively be the good news and to do the work we are called to. Jesus wept, and so do we. We ache for the ways we have been complicit in the harm of those God created and of the Church.
We have been soft on the wrong things and hard in the wrong ways.
If we want revival, we can’t keep going like this.
There will be joy and rejoicing. There will be dancing and singing and outrageous peace when we strive together for liberation from the chains that oppress us as one people. When we see one another as image bearers of the Most High. When we allow ourselves to be broken open and filled with the Light. There is so much good before us. When we taste it, when we even imagine it, we want our people to be there with us, in this goodness, so we turn around and reach out and invite one another. It’s not a call out, it’s not even a call in. It’s a call up. To rise.
If these words don’t resonate, maybe they aren’t for you.
And maybe they will be, when the time is right.
I release them to Divine timing. A word that is seed that comes through me but is not of me. Sometimes, I am just myself; but other times, I am a vessel of the Spirit. May these seeds flourish where they can. And lastly, may we remember we are not to seek to destroy or dominate one another. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.” Ephesians 6:12 CEB
