I was at a party, holding my plastic cup of beer and talking to a stranger in a crowded house. She was in thirties, like I was. "So, what do you do?" she asked. "Where do you work?"
I smiled because this part of the conversation can become really interesting. I'm a five-foot tall woman who's part of a generation that considers itself "spiritual but not religious," so people don't usually expect my answer: "I'm a pastor."
"Oh my God," she responded. "I never knew why anyone would go to church. But last year, my mom got sick. She's divorced, and I'm living hundreds of miles away from her, so I didn't know what we were going to do. And her church totally took care of her. They brought her meals. They drove her to the doctor. They called me when anything out of the ordinary happened."
"Yeah. That's what the good churches do."
"Really?" She looked completely confused as she continued, "I had no idea. You should really advertise that." I laughed, and we talked for a bit more about her career. But, her initial comments stuck with me as I walked away and snagged a rare empty space on the couch. I looked at the crowd of mingling people, and the loud music triggered my thoughts. It never occurred to me that people wouldn't know that churches care for the sick. What had church become in the minds of most people?
I wondered as I traced the condensation drops on the side of my cup. Do people only know our faith by what they see on Fox News? Has church become synonymous with the Religious Right? Has Christianity become known as a "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" kind of religion? What about our progressive congregations who are serving the poor, caring for the environment, and helping each other out? What about those who love our neighbors, even when they're going through difficulties? Do people even know we exist? And how would we advertise that, anyway? It's not like we are an elderly care service, someplace where you can drop your parents off so that we can take care of them and you don't have to worry. No, it's different from that. We're a community, which, I suppose, can be an alien concept in itself these days.
Our society rewards autonomy. In our educational system, the most important tests are the ones we take alone. We move away from our hometowns in order to get an education or a job. Then we keep relocating for every career opportunity. People would rather rely on high-interest credit cards than borrow money from their own family. Young men and women who are trying to enter an extremely difficult job market are considered losers if they live with their parents while they pay off their student loans. People put off marriage and parenthood, because there is a societal expectation that we must be financially independent before we become married (which is increasingly difficult when it takes two incomes to maintain household stability). In these days of economic turmoil, the young have been hit with student loans, high housing costs, and stagnant salaries. Older people have been smacked with increased medical costs, prolonged retirement plans, and diminished savings. As we realize how threadbare our societal safety net has become, it is becoming clear how faulty our notions of financial and emotional independence are. We need each other. We need communities.
While many civic organizations have become relics of the past, spiritual communities still thrive in our society, as a place of solidarity in all stages in life. In our sanctuary, there is a space where CEOs and homeless people sit together in the same pew. We're a gathering where people from diverse ethnicities work with one another. It is a setting where the young and the old support each other when we're in spiritual, emotional, or physical need. It is a place I can go to in times of faith or in doubt. When I'm too weak to hold any belief in God or myself, I know that a community holds it for me. And I can be strong for others when they falter. It is a sanctuary, in a broad sense of the term, where people can question and work to make the world a better place.
I don't mean to say that our community of faith is perfect in any sense. None of them are. We fight over silly things and we have expectations that far exceed our human capacities. There are some churches where people can just be downright nasty to one another. But in the right space, it is a place to build community, with all of our human messiness. It is a place where we can struggle alongside one another, helping one another in times of strength and weakness.
In this society where we are becoming weary, anxious and depressed with our struggle for autonomy and independence, there is a place where we still gather. We take each other to the doctor. We make food for one another. We care for each other. We see each other as neighbors and we still create community.
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I would like to know what kind of community still has loads of unencumbered people, people with loads of free time and few responsibilities so that they can devote to looking after sick people in their church community, including taking these people to doctor appointments.
(Preparing meals for the sick is easier as they are done on a rota, and can be prepared anytime.)
God has been good to us...blessing our efforts beyound the wildest dreams on an old man and woman. We have always given 10% of our gross earnings from our corporations, and then given another 10% for personal earnings. We believe that money IS NOT OURS and we surrender it to the Church as a matter of "faithfulness". We give an additional 10% from both as "obedience" to the instructions of Christ. In doing so, we have donated part of those gift dollars to several different denominational churches in our community. Two years ago we learned that one of those churches had turned down a request to provide lunch for poor children in our town. They said, we HAVE TO SUPPORT the XYC PAC (Political Action Committee) and the GOP to DEFEAT the Sinner Democrats in 2010. We now give those gifts to local shelters for the homeless and less
And because of the religious makeup of the country, 80% or so Christian of all denominations, a large percentage of that charity work is done and financed by Nascar-watching, tea-party attending, Boy Scout supporting, church-going people who would fall squarely in the Religious Right category.
So the group that you demonize so freely is demonstrably the most generous with its own money and time to help the poor.
That is really something to think about, isn't it?
After reviewing the book, Bishop Will Willimon (North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church) sadly observed, "No church that expends 90% of its money on itself is a faithful congregation."
Your thoughts?
The point is, while you can never look into someone's heart, and I'm sure many donations are made with less than pure intent, you could make some general conclusions about the motives of someone who tithed, and expected nothing in return, as opposed to someone else who spent their money on frivolity or selfish pleasures.
I have never been a part of the kind of "community" you describe here, nor would I ever be part of that kind of "community." (I believe those quotation marks are required, as frankly what you describe sounds nothing like a true community to me.) But I am part of a Christian community that cares for people no matter who they are, that helps those in need (no matter what kind of need), that supports people in difficult times, and that challenges the assumptions people make about themselves, others, and the world. That's what a good community does, and there are churches out there doing it every day--and obviously not making a big deal about it since no one seems to believe we exist. It's just the way we are, who we are, and what we do. No guilt, no fanfare, no arrogance...just doing what we do.
1. Mostly, albeit it's not just Fox News.
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Fox News does not report on anything to do with Christian charity.
5. Read answer to 4.
It does not help that certain "catholic charities" extend equality of treatment in terms of civil rights to a select prism of people they approve of and lobby governments against much needed programs.
Nor does it help that most churches do not publicly decry the religious right, either individually or as church bodies.
Nor do most churches speak out against the 'religious right' televangelists whose noise and influence is deafening.
Until churches speak out against them, publicly and loudly, they portray what churches are about, and what they portray does you and everyone gross injustice.
I have no problems with anyone practicing their faith. I do have problems for a vocal minority which endlessly speaks out as if it speaks for all Christians all of the time while having completely distanced itself from Christian teaching.