These are dark, difficult times in which to be a follower of Jesus.
Not because, as in some times past, we are persecuted by Pharisees, or by Roman emperors, or by those who would suppress heresy, or by Nazis, or by imaginary demons.
Rather, these are difficult times in which to be a follower of Jesus because so many who claim to be our fellows have moved so far, so publicly, from our faith's teachings, and in doing so have tainted the rest of us, in the world's eyes, with the same poison they themselves have succumbed to.
As a North Carolinian in this new Dark Age, there are two fellow North Carolina Christians I increasingly often turn to for comfort and inspiration when I find myself sickened by and despairing over the actions of some of those who call themselves my brothers. One is Rev. William J. Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP and a giant among men:
My other source of solace is John Pavlovitz, a Christian and self-described "flawed, passionate, work in progress" who turned away from conventional church-based ministry to pursue a more personal evangelism, freed from the need to hew to any confining conventional orthodoxy - a classic 'voice crying in the wilderness' except that he's a perfectly normal guy with a wife and two kids, and a blog: Stuff That Needs To Be Said.
Pavlovitz's blog is a blessing, and I commend it to you wholeheartedly...but not out of some misguided urge to save your soul. Truth be told, I'm not at all sure if you have one, or if I do, although I am pretty sure that if we do then our souls are already safe and perfect in every way -- rather it's our other parts, our hands and arms and hearts and minds that worry me.
If you find yourself wondering how the hell sensible, progressive people can possibly be Christians, then you probably aren't familiar with Pavlovitz's (and my) take on Christianity, which is why I bring him up here.
You can find Pavlovitz at his very best in his most recent essay, A Letter To Christians In Indiana, From Jesus (and, no, he doesn't think he's Jesus; this is what we writers like to call a literary device). Both copyright law and common decency bar me from reproducing the essay in full here (this hard-working guy deserves all the pageviews he can get), but here's a taste - which, hopefully, will send you in search of more:
Dear Christians In Indiana (and those elsewhere, who might read this),
I’ve seen what’s been going on there lately. Actually, I’ve been watching you all along and I really need to let you know something, just in case you misunderstand:
This isn’t what I had planned.
This wasn’t the Church I set the table for.
It wasn’t the dream I had for you, when I spoke in those parables about the Kingdom; about my Kingdom.
It was all supposed to be so very different.
It was supposed to be a pervasive, beautiful, relentless “yeast in the dough” that permeated the planet; an unstoppable virus of compassion and mercy spread person-to-person, not needing government or law or force.
I have placed you here at this exact place and time in the history of creation, not to defend me, as I need no defense; not to protect me, since I have already willingly laid my life down; not to judge others on my behalf, as this is far beyond your capacity and my instruction.
My beloved, I placed you here, not to defend or protect or replace me, but simply to reflect me.
I particularly love the fact that Pavlovitz goes on to allude to the single most important sentences in the Bible...the Quick-Start Guide for users...Matthew 22:34-40:
Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Give Pavlovitz's essay a read. It's well worth your time. But don't stop there. All the uplifting reading in the world won't actually solve any problems. For that, I also commend to you the spirit behind annieli's diary,
Voting with your dollars - not watching CBS during the Final Four in Indy. #BoycottIndiana