That is the problem. We have made the Gospel humble and normal by reducing it to some idea of love or some principle of compassion or some act of charity. We have tried to tame Aslan and in so doing have washed out the skandalon from the that which is meant to be scandalous. Jesus insists that this Gospel of His death and resurrection is a stumbling block, a rock of offense, and by smoothing its rough edges and making it seem normal we have effectively disarmed it of any real power or authority. We preach nearly everything but Christ crucified and risen and in so doing have made people forget the skandalon of the Gospel and made it easier for them to swallow the scandalous ideals of modernity as replacements for the cross and empty tomb.
So it is curious that we presume the skandalon which prevents people from joining the Church or coming to worship is the sound of music different from their playlist or the arcane rituals that have served Christianity since the get go. People will not be scandalized by the real Gospel because we have rendered it tame and harmless so they can be scandalized by architecture that is different from other public spaces or liturgy that is timeless but untimely or vestments that seem like ancient dresses or incense that offends the sanitary smell of lemon or clorox or music that does not sound like what their Spotify favorites list. Really? Are they as shallow as that?
Oddly enough, Lifeway surveyed those who do not have anything to do with the Church and found they prefer to have churches that look, act, smell, and sound like church. They do but we don't. We are so afraid of offending anyone that we will dream up the foolishness of chosen pronouns of men who think they are women or same sex marriage the same as the estate God created but we will not allow for worship which is not contemporary (whatever that means) or music that does not sound like today? People don't care a whit about that stuff. We do -- those inside the Church (or who claim to be) care about it and so we lie and cheat in order to make it seem that people are not flocking to churches because of music or vestments or reverence. Those outside the faith know the real scandal -- God incarnate, Christ crucified, the dead raised, and life forever bigger and better than life now. Even Genesis pales in comparison to these things guaranteed to choke everyone who is not swallowing it all by means of the Spirit.
We say it all the time and so we have come to believe it. We do not legislate music or liturgy because we are afraid of offending those who know the real offense is not the style but the substance of what is believed. We do not smoke up the chancel because we are fearful of offending people who no longer find the real skandalon Christ and Him crucified. We have tamed the preaching to make it seem like forgiveness is nice enough for those who need it but the rest of us are here for the camaraderie. God gave us meat to chew on and we put it all in a blender and ended up with nothing recognizable at all. We have decided that mother's milk is better than hearty food and so we have turned the solid food of God's Word into mere sentiment or pious platitudes but still people are not coming -- not even those who insist they are still Christian. So we have to blame something. It must be the architecture or the music or the reverence or something like that. I know what it cannot be -- it cannot be that we have failed to preach the scandal of the cross or live it out. The Gospel has become trite and easy and so those not yet of the Kingdom have rightly decided it is not worth it to swallow or to believe such mush. Let us hope that the new pope knows the truth that sets us free and that the rest of us also know it and are not afraid anymore to preach it, worship in unworldly ways, and keep it a skandalon. I seem to recall that it is the lukewarm who received the worst from Jesus -- chewed up and spit it as not even man enough to disagree and certainly not man enough to believe with all their heart, soul, body, and strength.
2 comments:
There is a great deal of emotion in what is being said here, and if I might add, some cynicism, even though the sentiments are true for our species. Indeed, unbelief will always poke the rebel heart, and even our best efforts to identify what we believe, speak about our faith, and share it to a lost generation will be done imperfectly. We often judge our own failures with more strident condemnation than Our Lord, who is well aware of our spiritual infirmities. Paul tells us in Ephesians 31, “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” We cannot even hold onto righteous indignation over the failures of ourselves and our brothers and sisters in Christ for too long, lest bitterness takes root in our attitude. We already have the world system against us, and Christ desires we “be kind” to one another in Christian fellowship, or we increase our own divisions. This does not mean we are hyper tolerant or ignorant of things we ought not do as believers, but it does tell us to hold our anger and strive for the mindset of Christ as we walk our earthly journey. Imperfection and sin stains our journey, but grace lights the way. Soli Deo Gloria
Just as some find taking Genesis literally a skandalon, some find taking Matthew 23:9 literally in context a skandalon. Instead they consider Matthew 23:9 to be a hyperbole.
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