The Church in the World

My summer reading list included the latest from Barbara Brown Taylor.

In Learning to Walk in The Dark, she writes: 

In many ways this book is the third in a trilogy dedicated to scooping up the bottom halves of things, or at least the words used to describe them—first the world, then the flesh, now the dark—not only because those words have been libeled long enough but also because there is so much life in them that has been rejected on bogus grounds. If there is any truth to the teaching that spiritual reality is divided into halves, it is the truth that those pairs exist in balance not opposition. What can light possibly mean without dark? Who knows spirit without also knowing flesh? Is anyone altogether good or altogether evil? Where is the church that exists outside the world? People of faith who are committed to fullness of life have our work cut out for us, if only in changing the way we talk.¹

I experienced some of what Taylor is writing about because during July I was away from TV and radio and newspapers. On vacation, I relied on the Internet for news. Even in the middle of Yellowstone National Park you can still get a satellite signal. Listening to the rhetoric of politicians one hears an unrelenting stream of words intended to grab headlines and attention. Maybe that’s the way politics works these days since we’ve been told that fifteen seconds is the lifespan of fame.

What grabs me is the strange silence of the church on subjects that cry out for leadership. As expected denominations, including the Presbyterian Church, issued statements in the aftermath of the hate motivated attack that left nine dead in Charleston, SC. And after gunmen attacked in Chattanooga, TN, and Lafayette, LA, leaders in both government and the church expressed outrage, offered prayers and sent condolences to families of the dead and injured. Prayers, while appropriate, if not accompanied by action are not solutions. Condolences are expected, but they are not leadership. Leadership means making a difference. Leadership is involvement. Leadership is more than saying we ought to do something. Leadership is taking action.

We’re not the church outside the world. We’re the church in the world. We’re not called to separate ourselves from the world. We’re called to be representatives of the new heaven and new earth God has already created through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We’re ambassadors of Good News and Christ’s peace. And to the world, to our community, right now, that’s a powerful word indeed! That all the people may live...let it be so.

~Harrell

¹Learning to Walk in the Dark, Barbara Brown Taylor, 2014, HarperCollins, p.12.