Christianity A La Carte

One of the reasons I became involved with the emerging church was that it was a community where I found people who cared about the whole message of the gospel. That is certainly not an exclusive claim about the emerging church, but what I found there had a profound impact on me because of the gospel message I found there. Having long studied and lived in strongly Evangelical circles, I had begun to struggle with the true nature of the gospel. Every where I went I increasingly found those who believed the gospel to only be a spiritual message, a message that is about eternity. But, when I read the scriptures I saw a gospel that demonstrated eternal realities in the here and now. As Jesus sent out his disciples to preach the good news of the Kingdom of God, he also sent them out to heal those who needed healing. As Jesus brought about the coming of the Kingdom of God he did not do so with mere words but with actions that demonstrated God’s design to bring justice and healing to all people. Jesus preached about a kingdom that would turn upside down the realities of our kingdoms. In his kingdom the poor would be rich, the blind would see, the rich would more often than not find themselves excluded, and the wise would be made to appear foolish.

Why am writing about the nature of the gospel? Today in yet another story about the battle over homosexuality in the Anglican Church, there was a really interesting sentence. It reads, “Supporters of ordaining gays believe the Bible’s teachings on social justice take precedence over its view of sexuality.” This sentence struck me because it seems to be a microcosm of the ailment of the much of the current church. We have decided that we like or believe in or value one part of the gospel more than the others and allow that part to take precedence over our faith.

There have been  encouraging signs within the Evangelical church the last 5 years that many are trying to reunite the gospel with Justice. There have also been signs among Mainline traditions that many are trying to reunite Justice with the gospel. How did they ever get separated to begin with? Some where along the line our faith began to compartmentalize and become A La Carte Christianity.  We go along the cafeteria lines and we pick and choose what we want. Like a Renaissance painter, we shape Jesus into our own image, and mold His gospel into our liking.

This has worked to strip much of the church of the power that resides in the gospel. Isn’t it amazing that so many churches could proclaim the gospel without ever impacting their world or seeing lives transformed. Our faith is rich and complex and mysterious. It is a faith that is rooted solely in the gospel of Jesus Christ. That gospel is the good news of the coming of the kingdom of God for all people. We don’t get to pick and choose what we want from it. We can’t dismiss holiness and sexual standards because we are supposed to feed the poor. We can’t abandon God’s creation and watch as the world is destroyed just because we think it is less important than having a Bible study. We can’t cease to proclaim Jesus as Lord and call people to submit their lives to him because it offends our modern sensibilities and ridiculous ideas of tolerance. God became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus came into this world to bring about its total transformation. And he gave us the power, as his body on earth, to see the power of that good news each and every day.

During this Lenten season join me in asking  hard questions about our faith. Ask yourself, as I will, if you have been practicing A La Carte Christianity. As you read the Gosples and study Jesus’ proclamation of and demonstration of the Kingdom of God, how do your ideas of the gospel match up? And as you do, may you go back into the cafeteria line and load up your tray with all the wonderful gifts of God that seemed too bothersome or overwhelming or less significant the last time you went through. May you live into the beautiful fullness of the good news of the coming of the Kingdom of God.