Just Visiting

Last Sunday I had the chance to visit a church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida while I was there on business. I chose a church in the denomination I worked in for 22 years. The message was delivered by the vicar (a seminary intern) who appeared to be a second career guy. I imagine his heart's in the right place but the message was very unsettling...and not in a good way.

I think his point was that, in the end, Jesus is the only way and he will triumph. But the way he got to this point was to give some statistics and history on the advance of Islam. He talked about battles and war and the dominance in the world of Muslim thought and political control. I think he was trying to demonstrate the ways in which Christianity has come under attack as a way of addressing concerns people might have so that he could assure all of us that, in the end, Christianity wins. It seemed very militaristic to me. I kept thinking that this kind of war rhetoric didn't seem to sync up with what Christ intended.

Language is so important. The words we use have incredible power. For decades, perhaps centuries, the church bearing Christ's name has used militaristic and war language in ways that are wholly inappropriate. Yes, we are at war. It's a spiritual war, however, not a war against other human beings. Jesus called his followers to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. It seems to me that pointing to Islam in a sermon about who wins in the end makes it much, much harder for Christians to love Muslims. It makes it even more challenging to reach out in loving service to those who are not Christian.

I believe we who follow Christ should be loving, serving and helping fellow human beings regardless of what they think of us, how they treat us, whether or not they ever come to a relationship with Jesus. Our service to other human beings is driven by our love of Jesus and his love for all human beings and should be absolutely unconditional. Expecting someone to come to Jesus, join your church or stop hating you are all conditions!

What would happen if Christian leaders, pastors, preachers and teachers completely abandoned battle and war metaphors? What would happen if all our talk was beneficial, loving, service oriented and encouraging when talking about those who don't believe in Jesus? What if our hearts ached for all mankind, even...maybe especially...those who hate us? I wonder.