BLOG 6/29/18. THE END OF AN ERA? OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE?

How do you know whether we are observing the end of an era, or the demise of the American empire? We do know that no human institutions are forever. There is an old familiar hymn that goes: “O where are kings and empires now of old that went and came?” But to any astute observer there are those disturbing evidences in both government and in many church institutions that we are watching the twilight of an era. In our government, there is dis-function at so many levels, and the seeming absence of a priority on those purposes of peace, order, and justice which should be the hallmarks of any viable governmental authority. Political parties also are now in confusion, and so often seem captive to the principalities and powers exhibited in lobbies, wealth, and the self-aggrandizement of the politicians.

But then again, so much of the visible church institution in the nation seems also ill-focused and having so little to do with the radical justice and love that Jesus both demonstrated and taught. One wonders if the governmental institutions, its courts, its legislatures, or its administration have any concern for those principles upon which they were founded, that of seeing to the welfare of all its citizens? The power of wealth/mammon/Wall Street, or the gun lobby, or other hidden forces make it look often like it’s totally out of control.

How do the people of God, the followers of Jesus Christ, see their role in this turbulent time? The church was birthed in the midst of an all-powerful empire in which Christians were often outlawed, taken into slavery, having to meet clandestinely, never assured that they would survive, … and yet the church of Jesus Christ permeated the empire and its like leaven, and so transformed the culture for those first centuries from the underside. The church  understood that it was composed of aliens and exiles, and that it was to be obeying one Lord in his missionary design for his people. They knew that they were to be salt and light in the midst of corruption, in all the evidences of inhumanity, in the face of the impossible, … and they prevailed. They were transforming the empire notwithstanding their lack of status. But then … they were offered security and status by the Emperor Constantine (which seemed so irresistible after centuries of persecution). And things “went south”. The church’s irresistible growth slowed, and it became focused on its security and status and on the creating of church institutions, what with sacred buildings, with clergy, and with all those accoutrements of other religions. How to explain this?

A.W. Tozer, a colorful and effective preacher of a couple of generations ago, explained it this way (as I recall his words): “Jesus called into being his church to live in faithful obedience to his teachings and missionary mandate, and so long as it obeyed that calling the church grew irresistibly. But,” Tozer went on “… when the church ceased to obey its calling, and dug in to secure its gains, … like the manna in the wilderness, it bred worms and stank.” I love that imagery.

That is the danger that those of us in the church face here and now. To be faithful to the costly teachings of Jesus and to be constantly refining ourselves to be the “dwelling-place of God by the Holy Spirit” comes at a cost. Our present situation has been likened to the experience of white-water canoeing in which we have left the security of one place and are now at the mercy of the turbulent forces over which we have little, or no control, and not knowing where all this will lead us. We may indeed be witnessing the twilight of both forms of government, and of the traditional church institutions, but our calling to faithful obedience to the word of Christ in the realities of our day to day lives is unequivocal.

Hang on!