The eCrozier

As a Church, we face many external challenges from an increasingly post-Christian culture. Those challenges include, but are not limited to, a growing ignorance of just what the Christian Gospel means. A generation ago, if someone referred to another as a “Prodigal Son,” then many people would’ve known that term referenced Jesus’ parable about a father who forgave his son. I don’t think we’re there anymore as a culture. I believe, however, our internal challenges are even greater.  It’s also more pressing that we address them. Besides, we have very little influence over the larger culture. And we can deal with how the Gospel is taught and lived out in our Church.

Ann Tyler, in her book, Saint Maybe, tells the story of Ian Bedloe, who as a 17 year-old mistakenly tells his older brother that his brother’s wife is having an affair. His brother angrily drives away recklessly in his car. Soon after, Ian learns that his brother has died in a car wreck, apparently from being so distraught over the accusation. His brother’s widow is shattered by the loss and a few years later, consumed by the grief, she dies leaving three young children. Ian is racked with guilt over what he seemingly caused. Seeking forgiveness for his sins, he visits a storefront church called the “Church of the Second Chance.” There he learns there’s no such thing as cheap forgiveness. He must do something particular about the lives he has devastated. The church’s pastor counsels him to take responsibility for raising his dead brother’s three children.

Ian does this. The story comes to an end when he’s middle-aged and all three children are grown. As he reflects on how his life turned out, he wonders if he’ll ever experience forgiveness and absolution for what he did. As a young man, he sacrificed his own dreams in order to raise his brother’s children. In an apocalyptic moment, he realizes he hadn’t been doing penance all along. Having the privilege of raising the children into fine adults was a gift he never could’ve expected. As this comes to him, he experiences the forgiveness he has longed for. It was in the actual practice of the Christian faith that Ian discovered the truth of what he was taught at the “Church of the Second Chance.”

Tyler’s book calls into question some of the misguided assumptions many people have about forgiveness, grace, and what it means to live the Christian life. And that continues to be an internal challenge for us as a Church. The Church needs to be abundantly clear about Jesus’ Gospel of forgiveness and grace and then preach and teach it consistently. Jesus’ Gospel demands a response from us not passive assent or thoughtful intent.

Many people in the Church today want to be tended and serviced, not served and led. We don’t lead and serve them truthfully if we somehow convey to them that being a disciple of Jesus can be reduced to church attendance, a few bucks in the offering plate, and just saying we’re sorry when we sin. Discipleship must engage our whole being. It’s who we are, what we do, all the time, even when no one else is looking. Internally in the Church, we must teach people that. Rather than bemoan what our culture has become or seek to use it as an excuse for passive resignation, let’s get clear on what the Gospel demands of us and then let’s respond.

+Scott