Where is our hope?

Psalm 71: 3-5 (a misguided paraphrase) 3. Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go; give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. 4 Deliver me, O my Country, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of evil and cruel men. 5 For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Land, my confidence since my youth.

Blasphemous? Yes. But do these horrendous edits to Scripture express an uncontested shift for many U.S. Christians? What really is our hope?

In most churches today gay marriage, abortion, posting of the 10 Commandments, and prayer in schools are all political hotspots. But I want to know if they ought to be. Is that the arena in which to address these issues? After all, what will it accomplish? What if we were successful in banning gay marriage and abortion? What if we reinstated corporate prayer in schools and posted the 10 commandments in every public building? What then?

Will banning gay marriage stop homosexuality? Will banning abortion completely stop infanticide? Will instituting prayer in schools make children into believers?

My church recently put on a production of You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. They opened up auditions to the congregation and to the community. In the end, the role of Charlie Brown was played by a man from the community who happened to be gay. He and another non-Christian cast in the production were always invited to stay for prayer after rehearsal. They were also told that they may feel free to leave should they choose. They always stayed. When the production was finished the actor playing Charlie Brown remarked that he was surprised that he had been welcomed and treated like everyone else despite his lifestyle. He then added – “but then again you are theater people so that makes a difference.” The director was then able to share that it wasn’t because of being a part of “the theater crowd”; instead this is actually how our church is. To which the man responded, “Yeah, but you’ve never had anything that you felt you had to keep from the church.” She was then able to tell about her painful experience of confessing to the church pastors that she had proceeded with an abortion years before and that she did not feel that she could go on ministering in the church as a result. She then talked about the loving and accepting response she received from the pastoral staff and the resulting ministry she has been able to do in the church since.

That is the church doing what it was called to do and that is what is going to change lives. Let’s spend a bit more time being the church and a lot less time being political lobbyists. We might actually see some change in this country.