Something else I've noticed about the early Christian church is its sheer urgency when dealing with the problems of the day. It's a language that echoes the bible so clearly. It's a language that makes it so clear that the kingdom of God has broken into the present age. Be careful or you might miss it. The old ways of living are no longer acceptable. It's a mindset that completely broke down all socioeconomic barriers, that had slaves and masters, men and women, all worshiping the same God side by side (I know that second one is a bit controversial, but the fact that men and women had different roles in the early church says nothing about their relative status in the eyes of God).
Now, I can see why in the present age this mindset has been all but lost. People are rightly skeptical of the form that Christian urgency has often taken throughout history - "do you know where you would go if you were to die tomorrow?", or "repent or we will have you executed" - and of course such tactics should certainly be abandoned. Most people today don't like having faith thrust upon them, and as a former Atheist I can both understand and very much sympathize with this mindset. However, this loss of urgency is far more pernicious in influencing the way the community behaves. As Jon Tyson is constantly pointing out, the spending, media consumption, and sexual behaviors of Evangelical Christians in this country are pretty much identical to those of the the non- (or nominal-) Christian population. What this says to me is that there is, even among a population that calls itself devout, something going badly wrong.
There seems to be a fundamental disconnect, in other words, between the power of the message, and how the church community is living out that message. And I see it in my own life. As I mentioned in my last post, despite the fact that I KNOW that the kingdom of God has broken into this world and that the power of God is very real, I still have a difficult time with prayer. The cares of the world intrude. We deal with societal problems, such as homelessness and hunger, that simply seem impossible to solve. We worry about being "taken advantage" of, of our well-meant gifts being misused and abused. And yet, that is exactly what the gospels tell us to do: to be generous to a fault, to allow our gifts and even ourselves to be abused, so that through our good actions the kingdom and Word of God might be spread.
I brought this issue up at my life group the other night, and the leader (who is also the pastor at my church) pointed out that in this world there is and always will be resistance. As he says, we live in "contested space". And this is of course true. But still, I think much of the church's failure to really live the message that we are so intent on spreading is a failure of our will to really change things as much as anything else, our love of personal comfort, of not wanting to endanger our circumstances. Or sometimes it's just plain old, simple fear. The other night on the subway I saw a man on the train wearing no socks. His outfit was dirty and he had a somewhat unpleasant odor - odds are quite high he was a homeless man, although I could not entirely tell for sure. I felt a strong urging inside me, to go talk to him, to offer him a couple pairs of socks. It is, after all, getting cold out. I can't change his circumstance, but I can at least help to keep his feet warm. And yet, I was too afraid. It galls me, honestly, that I can't even do something as simple as to offer help to someone with an obvious need.
So this post is not an accusation, really, or if it is, I am as much or more guilty of it as is anyone.
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