Day 140l: Bringing the Good News to the already saved … (September 16, 2019)
I walked on & on & on that day, and eventually made it to the town of Blountville and the modern-molded buttresses of the Life Point Church, where pastor Bryce was very kind to me – giving me some water to drink and offering me some nonvegan granola bars (which I gently yet resolutely refuse) and allowing me to sit awhile there to rest. I remember chatting with him a bit about what the church was teaching its youth vs what Jesus asked us all to share with them – about patriotism vs boundary-less Love, about the domination of dogma vs the ultimate victory of Love, about fighting for freedom vs forgiving for Peace. I don’t know if anything I said resonated with Bryce on any longer-term level, and yet he seemed to be a sincerely kindhearted & earnestly well-intended Man of God, so maybe it did after all …
“People who are starving and dressed in rags don’t want to hear someone read a list of propositional ‘good news.’ They want to see the Good News – Jesus’ Good News – in action. The proper church doesn’t merely hold revival meetings and call it a day — it must feed the hungry and clothe the naked and dig wells and staff medical clinics. Social action isn’t an optional part of heartfelt religion; it is the sheerest essence thereof. And this is a crucial correction to the hyper-spirituality that dominated evangelical Christianity not even a generation ago. For even the most holistic mission still misses the heart of Christ if we don’t see that the church needs the poor far more than the poor need the church. Jesus didn’t embrace the poor because he pitied them or even because he knew he had the resources to help them. Jesus embraced the poor because they were destination of The Way; because they were already rushing into the Kingdom way ahead of all the righteous scribes and pious Pharisees — those who quite incorrectly called themselves ‘God’s people.’ Those in today’s more modern churches would do quite well to remember the same – to refocus their lives on judging less and loving more; on serving rather than being spiritually served; on caring for the world’s downtrodden in their midst more than tending to the more comfortable flocks perched in their pews.” ~ inspired by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
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