I talk a lot on this blog about how Christianity in the United States has been infiltrated by white supremacy and Christian nationalism. Today there's another influence I want to focus on: the "American way."
I don’t think we always realize how much American individualism and independence has influenced our faith.
Remember that Christianity didn’t start as its own religion. It was birthed out of Judaism. It started more as a Jewish sect than as its own separate thing. Jesus was Jewish, the disciples were Jewish, the early church was Jewish. They believed Jesus was their long-awaited Messiah, prophesied about in their scriptures, which we call the Old Testament.
The important thing to remember about that is that Jewish culture is highly communal. Decisions were made together as a community. Sins were repented together as a community. Festivals and holidays were celebrated together as a community.
This is very different from the way we see community. And it has tainted the way we view our theology.
Instead of communal theology, we believe in what "feels right" to us as individuals.
Instead of communal repentance, we have individual repentance.
Instead of communal faith, it’s personal faith - private, even.
Instead of celebrating in community, we celebrate our faith at home, on our own.
It is not unusual for believers in the United States to say that they don’t need church because there’s is a private faith. This is very contrary to the message of the Bible. Even the New Testament writers are constantly saying, do not stop meeting together. The many letters of the New Testament overall largely address communities as a whole, not individuals. It is assumed that faith is something you live in public within your community.
We lose something when we individualize faith apart from community. We lose the support a community provides. We lose the growth opportunities a community provides. But perhaps more importantly, we lose justice.
In one of my classes, we've been examining the difference between righteousness and justice. Righteousness is a state of inner being and character that meets God's standard. Justice is communal action lived out in society to establish fairness and equity. Cornell West once said, "Justice is what love looks like in public." Justice is not charity, but rather actively defending the poor and marginalized and making sure all in our community are taken care of. Justice is making sure that everyone has what they need. Justice means everyone is invited. Everyone is welcome and everyone is loved.
The Bible talks a lot about justice. Yet we have so individualized our faith here in the United States that we often ignore justice, or worse, we dismiss it as "woke nonsense," not realizing it is all over Scripture. This is not only a huge loss, but also, the Bible calls it sin.
Consider Jeremiah 9:23-24: "Thus says the Lord: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom; do not let the mighty boast in their might; do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; but let those who boast, boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the Lord; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the Lord."
Consider Micah 5:8: "He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?"
Consider Zechariah 7:9-10: "This is what the Lord Almighty said: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor.'"
Consider Matthew 25, where those who don’t care for their neighbors are cast out of God's sight... forever.
To ignore the call to justice is to ignore a great portion of the Bible. It seems to me that when we lost our sense of community, justice went out the window, too. American society is very much about me me me - what's best for me, what's true for me, what I want, how I get ahead.
But the gospel is not about me, and it’s not about you.
It’s about us. A community of believers. The Church is the people, not a building. And we are called to love and care for one another, so no one is in need. We are called to call out systems of oppression and injustice, just as Jesus did.
Faith is not meant to be a one-man show or a solo ride. It's meant to be lived out together. Because only together can we truly be instruments of justice in an unjust world.
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