We are called to connect

*This post is the aforementioned assignment for the class I'm taking online.*

I was listening to a podcast recently called Bullseye with Jesse Thorn where the host was interviewing comedian Guy Branum. The guest, an openly gay man whose comedic work largely centers on issues in the LGBT community, was discussing his latest show, Talk Show The Game Show – a talk show in the format of a game show where guests receive points for doing “talk show” things. Branum offered an insight into his goal behind the show when he said, “Talk shows at their best are people having a real conversation with the utmost of themselves.” I would say that church is at its best when real people are having conversations and listening to God with the utmost of themselves.

After an incredibly polarizing election season that has only progressed into a contentious period in our collective, secular lives I feel that it is critical for communities to have places where people can come together to rise above the party politics and divisive rhetoric. Church should be that place. Indeed, it is the only place where all should be able to set aside their affiliations and join in worship of the Almighty. In his letter to the Romans, Paul didn’t write that only some had erred but rather that “…all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). To take it further, neither republicans nor democrats, right nor left, conservative nor liberal have monopolies on the need for the free justification given by Jesus Christ (Romans 3:24).

A recent study by the Pew Research Center shows that even our religious lives are increasingly polarized as well. Types of churches have become de facto designations of ideology and affiliation with beliefs in secular society. Evangelical Protestants are distinguished from Mainline Protestants who are, in turn, distinguished from Catholics. But Jesus did not call us to group up in these ways according to ideology or belief. Instead, he called us to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). Paul also got in on the act of calling for ignoring these divisions in that same Romans passage mentioned above when he rejected his equivalent group designations, “There is no difference between Jew and Gentile…” (Romans 3:22b).

Churches often agree with these statements in principle but don’t necessarily live them out. The same Pew Research Center study found a striking disparity between race and ethnic composition in various sects of religious groups. It should come as no surprise that there is a diverging between black and white Christians into historically Black protestant denominations and Mainline Protestant ones given the relatively recent (and some would say on-going) racial oppression in this country. As Cone said, “African slaves found white churches socially unacceptable as places of worship. Therefore they created their own church structures that would more accurately represent their affirmations of faith in their struggle for freedom.” (Cone 533) That being said though, will our issues around race in this country really be solved without inviting brothers and sisters from different backgrounds to join with us in relationship, friendship, and community? Can the church really call for reconciliation without affecting this reconciliation in our own sanctuaries?

I believe that this sort of reconciliation across boundaries in the Church will not occur thanks to deep-thinking theologians. Rather, much as Cone identified regarding white theologians’ response to black theology (535), theologians beholden to denominational polity are likely to ignore conflicting views. It is the armchair theologians sitting in the pews who need to engage with people of all backgrounds so as to more accurately understand the fullness of the image of God.

McNeil advocates that our engagement should emulate Jesus who made an intentional effort to “reach across the human boundaries of culture, class, ethnicity, religion and gender” (56). It is not enough that we would “ask them to come to us” (McNeil 52) or to “plan special evangelistic events and invite them” (McNeil 52) as churches so often do. Instead, we as Christians must “leave our comfort zone and intentionally go to places where we will meet people who are different from us” (McNeil 52). Indeed, John Wesley himself preached early on in the Methodist movement about the need for all to experience the grace of God regardless of where we might encounter them (Logan 29).

I’m reminded of a hymn, “For the healing of the nations,” that has always struck a chord with me. Most of the hymn discusses overcoming all of the issues that humans encounter when we group together into various factions. The hymnist Fred Kaan calls on us to battle against war and famine and status in favor of peace, hope and goodness. It is the last stanza though that convicts me:

“You, Creator God, have written
your great name on humankind;
for our growing in your likeness
bring the life of Christ to mind;
that by our response and service
earth its destiny may find.”

While the world continues to polarize and become more tribal day after day – spurred on by fake news, alternative facts, and threats of violence on a global scale – the grace of God still calls all to God’s fold. A Christian community should be the place where brother can sit with brother, sister with sister, transwoman with coal miner, California democrat with Kansas republican, and all agree on one thing, “Christ is risen indeed.”

Want to learn more from the media, studies, and theologians I referenced? Here’s a rundown:

Thorn, Jesse (Producer). April 10, 2017. Bullseye with Jesse Thorn – Guy Branum [Audio Podcast] http://www.npr.org/podcasts/510309/bullseye

Religious Landscape Study. Pew Research Center, Accessed: April 24, 2017. http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/

Cone, James H. (1979). Evangelization and Politics: A Black Perspective in Wilmore, Gayraud S. (Ed.), Cone, James H. (Ed.), Black Theology: A Documentary History, 1966-1979 (pp.531-551). Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books

McNeil, Brenda Salter (2008). A Credible Witness: Reflections on Power, Evangelism and Race. Downer’s Grove, Illinois: IVP Books

Logan, James (1989). How Great a Flame! Contemporary Lessons from The Wesleyan Revival. Nashville, Tennessee: Discipleship Resources

Kaan, Frank (1989). For the healing of the nations in The United Methodist hymnal : book of United Methodist Worship. Nashville, Tennessee: United Methodist Pub. House