The Gospel as infectious dis-ease
Faith in Jesus in its earliest days was something more like an infectious disease. Disease, because those who came to see the world as Jesus saw it were put at dis-ease with the world as it is. Infectious because the sense that the world was upside down and needed to be turned aright spread effortlessly from person to person, rapidly taking over families, communities, and in time the whole Roman Empire with a subversive message of all being worthy of God’s love, the last being first, and the least in society-the widows and orphans-should be the concern of all.
A Mild Case of Christianity
It is easy to get inoculated with a less virulent strain of the dis-ease with the way the world is. One can catch a mild case of Christianity and so end up immune to a more virulent strain as if by a vaccine. We can get a mild dose of “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so” and end up feeling that I am okay and you are okay and the way the world is, is probably more or less fine. But I am not okay. And while you might be okay for all I know, our society is not.
We don’t have an opioid crisis by accident.We are surrounded by people wounded by people who were wounded by wounded people. We need healing. The pain can come from sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, sometimes suffered even in the church itself. The pain can also come from feeling like they never measured up, having disappointed themselves, or acting in ways they know to be wrong. Jesus offers the antidote to a destructive way of life as he calls us to repent, turn toward God, and gives us the grace, the power, to amend our lives. In this, we find the healing and wholeness that come from God alone.
Anxiety Over Church Decline
I write this because as I am in contact with people in our Episcopal Church across the country and here in the Diocese of Georgia as well, I hear concern for the church. Our congregations are aging. Membership is declining. This is true, of course. But I worry that focuses on decline in Sunday attendance could lead to quick fixes that hurt rather than help. It is my experience that when a church focuses too much attention on the finances, giving drops. When we talk about attendance numbers, the numbers go down. That is when these data points become the focus of our life together.
At left is Chinese Christian artist, He Qui’s painting, The Great Commission.
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What One Can Do
Our churches are to be places of worship where lives are transformed for good by the life-giving good news of Jesus. And I know that I can’t change others. I can only change myself. So it has dawned on me more and more that the main way I can work toward transforming lives is to focus a bit less on the church and a lot more on staying connected to Jesus in reading scripture, praying, worshiping, and serving. So I am working on my own spiritual practices and the beam in my eye instead of worrying about others and the speck in their eye.
The world needs more people who are not just at dis-ease with how things are, but who are open to God transforming them to be more like Jesus. While I want to see changed lives across all our churches, the best way I find at present to work on this is by working on me. I suspect this might apply to you too. I also figure if we do so, we might just find our faith more infectious.
If you are looking for resources for this work, try The Way of Love. Today a video series premieres from the Episcopal Church created with my friend Chris Sikkema as host: Traveling the Way of Love.
Peace,Frank
The Rev. Canon Frank Logue, Canon to the Ordinary
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