Would a united Christian church bring us out of this mess?

It’s been suggested before. I don’t see for this time in history.

I was reading Erling Olsen’s meditation on Psalm 124 this morning which begins, “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side . . .” Olsen had a Sunday afternoon radio broadcast in the mid-1930s on the Psalms, which was so popular it was later published and has been through many printings. In 1937 he wrote:

“The entire world is now being swamped by a tidal wave of materialism and the hearts of many are filled with apprehension concerning the future.  The whole earth appears to be in a state of turmoil as some of the nations of the earth seem bent on war, while the unrest in other nations resembles a war scare.  It seems as if all the world is seated upon a keg of dynamite, with everybody playing around the keg with a lighted torch.”

He moves from the Depression era and war threats coming from Europe in 1937  back to ancient Israel and when it did not through its own power make it to the promised land, and that’s what Psalm 124 celebrates.

Than back to 1937.  It seemed, he said, that we had turned the corner, that we were on the road to prosperity (that wasn’t the case—the economy was heading for a recession with the Depression), but he lamented that men hadn’t ceased to be materialists and doubted they had learned any lessons.  One prominent Christian, very wealthy (he didn’t give his name) suggested that only a “united Christian world could stem the rising tide of materialism, of selfishness, of broken traditions and crumbling moral standards and point the way out.”  He lamented the failure of the church visible, with its sects, still clinging to its denominationalism “in a drifting, disillusioned, discouraged world which sees in the church confusion rather than hope.”

That certainly describes the church today, so I’m thinking the proposal of that rich and influential Christian didn’t work. Olsen goes on to say, . .

“I wholeheartedly endorse the comments which that gentleman made and I agree with him that the world is on the brink of disaster as its very foundations are being shaken.  I agree with him that the only thing for the church today is to bear a united testimony, so that she may be a bulwark against the raging storm.  But let me be clear.  There can be no united Christian church except it be founded on a solid rock.. . . I am wholeheartedly for Christian unity if that unity is based on the deity of Christ, on the impregnable rock of Holy Write, on the cardinal truth of the Christian faith revealed at the cross of Jesus Christ which towers ‘o’er the wrecks of time.’ I am for unity of the Christian church in bearing an effectual testimony to a world of moral failure when it invites the individual members of society to come to the ‘fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins,’ . . . What power the Christian church would have in this world if it would give faithful testimony concerning these verities of our faith.”

The church is no more united now than 80+ years ago. And during our present national and world crisis, it seems to have closed its doors and settled for the title, “non-essential.” Although individual congregations went to court to keep their doors open, most just quietly folded and turned to their technology staff, if they had one. A few used their parking lots and speaker systems.  Various religious voices brightly proclaim the church is moving into the community via technology like Zoom, Facebook, Tik Tok and on-line services, but I hardly think that replaces the hundreds of ministries that have closed which evangelize, feed, clothe, build, educate and visit the millions who need the church.

Olsen suggested that in the 1930s the failure of the church was the responsibility of those that have not been faithful to the Gospel of Christ, who have undermined faith in the scriptures and stripped Jesus of his Glory bringing him down to a life devoted to a principle.  That Jesus can transform lives and is not a mere social message is a message lost in today’s (1937) world, he said. That might be part of it, but I know some Bible-believing, gospel preaching churches that were just too comfortable and lukewarm to Stand up for Jesus. They looked to the government, to science, to social media and the confusing advice of the experts to see them through.   Prayer, worship, fasting, service—well, they can wait on a vaccine, or a new president, or a less virulent mutation while we hunker down in our homes.

The anger problem separating us

IBM Watson does polls--including health and in 2018 surveyed Americans on "anger." I heard Al Kresta (radio talk show, Ave Maria, MI, Oct. 14) discussing this, but can't find the details at the poll website, so I'll quote him. And I assumed he used newer material not available to non-subscribers. Also, I couldn't find the wording of the questions, which makes a huge difference in my opinion.

Kresta said, Americans are angrier than ever. In the 2008 election 43% of Democrats were angry about McCain; and 46% of Republicans were angry about Obama; in 2012 56% of Democrats were angry about Romney, and 75% of Republicans were angry about Obama; and then in 2016 the wheels fell off and 90% of Democrats were angry about Trump, and 89% of Republicans angry about H. Clinton. The problem, Kresta pointed out is bi-partisanship is almost impossible when everyone is angry. Which is why Obamacare had no support from Republicans, whereas all social safety net programs in the past were bi-partisan.

He also commented that in 1958 (when I was a freshman in college) 73% of Americans trusted the government and in 2019, only 17% did. (Maybe it was all those WWII movies.) With the advent of the pandemic in 2020 and the tremendous amount of misinformation, cherry picking of which "science" to believe, and the politicization of the virus, I'm sure those 2018 figures are now off the charts.

Anger is a bigger problem for Christians than the rest of you as it is one of the 7 deadly sins, and Paul chastises first century Christians who apparently also had a lot of hard feelings as Greeks, Jews, and pagans all tried to work together. Most of the people on my FBF list are baptized and confirmed Christians who, at least until the churches closed on order of their governors, were attending a recognized Christian sect, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, Catholic, etc., regularly or semi-regularly. Paul quotes Psalm 4:4 and says Be angry but do no sin. We feel the anger in response to something we perceive as wrong, so the feeling isn't the sin. Righteous anger is OK, but needs to be channeled to action. However, politicians and the media are using our anger knowing it can motivate or bring more to their side. Like the moderators of the debates and townhalls. They are making both sides angry--first, the ones who believe the lies become irate and second, the ones who are wronged are angry about the lies.

Pastors and priests who think they need to jump on the racism or climate, or income bandwagon for their sermons should probably switch gears and think about the anger seething in their congregations. They can't win, but by avoiding the clashes going on under their noses isn't a winning strategy either.

Who locked the church doors?

The entities in our society who've disappointed me the most during the pandemic are the public libraries and the Christian churches—particularly  the large ones with healthy budgets and large staffs. Both are evangelists, although for different causes. One for information and learning and the other for Jesus Christ and a life style that includes worship, charity, and good works.

I was a librarian for many years (Slavic studies, Latin American studies, cataloger, bibliographer, Agriculture, Veterinary Medicine) and have worked in libraries since I was a teen-ager, I know what they mean to people seeking health information, assistance with school work, leisure activities, access to computers, and mind-numbing recreational reading--all of which should have been considered essential during a pandemic. It's just not difficult to "social distance" in a library, or for the staff to keep a library clean. One summer my assistant Sarah and I moved our entire 50,000 volume library across the hall to an empty lab so painters could give it a fresh look. And no, heavy, back breaking labor wasn't in our job description. I don't know a librarian or para-professional who hasn't done something outside the standard guidelines in order to keep her job. And usually, willingly because they love what they do and see their work as a service to society.

I've been part of a Christian faith group for as long as I can remember--from the days when I wrapped my little arms around my mother's leg as she chatted with friends after the service to the funeral of Ann Hull in February 2020 when we all hugged and cried with her family and friends. Do you know that half of the churches in the U.S. have a congregation below 75 (the median)? The average congregation has about 185 people--and that was 10 years ago--it's probably less now. They do a lot, those little churches--food pantries, hospital visits, volunteering at the local nursing home, after school classes in the faith, preparing the youth for confirmation, serving at all the funerals of the "old folks" who didn't move on to something with more glitz and glam, gathering the faithful 10 or 12 for a choir, and some don't have a full time pastor--they have sort of a circuit rider like the 19th century rural churches.

Those churches of less than 200 (many elderly or ill) probably didn't have enough people who could put together a task force or committee to drive to the state house and convince the governor that churches are just as essential as Lowe's and Walmart to the community. And do you think those little old ladies who have served at a thousand funerals and weddings don't know how to keep a church clean?

But where were the big brother churches who could have shouldered that burden? Playing with their computers, Zooming and Skyping and listening to confessions in the parking lot of their cathedrals. I don't like Teledoc and have never been one to watch TV preachers, although I am fond of old reruns of Bishop Sheen and Billy Graham.

Years ago--probably the 1970s or 1980s, an era when churches really began losing ground to the culture--my mother wrote an essay about how discouraged she was after a lifetime of service in the church to see so few young families in her small town church. I wish I could find it—never one to promote herself, she may have written it as fiction. She'd taught Sunday school, Bible school, sewed the curtains for the fellowship hall; she'd been the Christian education director, she'd birthed and raised the church organist, she'd decorated and served in the church nursery; she'd made thousands of casseroles and Jello salads for church dinners, she volunteered for 30 years in the local nursing home; she donated her garden produce, she taught sewing to migrant workers, she led a Friday morning Bible study in her home for years, and used her own funds to create and manage a religious retreat center. She may have even had a stint running the church library because she loved libraries. And I might add, she did it all (except for gardening) in a dress, hose and heels.

I think her essay was directed at my generation, or maybe just me. I wasn't doing a fraction of what she and her generation did. My generation  gathered to sit on the floor in focus groups and have consciousness raising discussions on what it meant to be a woman in the 20th century. We were petitioning for more power on the male dominated church boards and going to the state house with signs to demonstrate for the ERA. We went back to work in droves until a second income was essential for all families, as was a 2nd car and a bigger home.

As we women discovered who we were, went off to seminary and joined the boards back in the 1970s, our children just walked out of the church after confirmation or after baptism depending on the denomination and became the "nones." Somehow, I just can't see the women who struggled through the Great Depression and WWII, whose husbands and brothers had gone off to defend our religious freedoms and assembly and speech freedoms putting up with the government making rules that would cause the pastors and church boards to put a lock on the church door.

Spiritual resources for the pandemic

In the Ohio State Health Beat newsletter (on-line) today there is a section for well-being resources during the lock down/culture shock for the pandemic.  https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/features/covid-resources/staff/well-being  There are a number of links featuring ideas or publications for mental health, well being, coping and spiritual helps for employees. So I clicked on "Spiritual Resources" (listed after Mindfulness which actually IS a practice well within the eastern religions) and after Chaplin services, telephone support, audio spiritual pause, a prayer request link and poems, I came to "Faith specific prayers." Here's how they are listed. 1) Islam, 2) Buddhism, 3) Judaism, 4) Christianity, 5) Hinduism. Isn't that odd? Christians are the largest faith group in the world, and approximately 75% of Americans claim some connection to Christianity even if they are just Chreasters and only attend baptisms.

So I continue down the list to a link for "Sacred Texts" which is four links below poetry-- 1) Buddhist Scriptures (13 are listed), 2) Holy Bible, one verse from the NIV is listed, with a link to Bible Gateway keyword feature, 3) Holy Quran, individual links to 114 chapters that link to Meccan references 4) The Tenach (Jewish), with detailed links to the Torah, the Prophets, etc. Whoever put this together threw a dart at the internet religious resources and came up with a politically correct list, all turn key, assuring that no OSU employee would find anything Christian as a resource in this difficult time.

Let's hope they all are attending Bible studies on Zoom or something. Maybe they won't notice our government is shredding the First Amendment in a dangerous precedent while the Christian churches are silent because they can still shop at Walmart.

What is even more anti-Christian is a whole link https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/features/covid-resources/staff/well-being/daily-breathing-practice  devoted to "5 minutes of Mindfulness" on CarmenZoom, with links for each day by video. EACH DAY. Imagine (it's impossible, but try) if there were all those digital resources and planning from a state agency devoted to video links of a pastor or rabbi reading from the Psalms, or offering instruction for the devotional practice, The Rosary.

"Mindfulness" is a religious practice of Hinduism/Buddhism (you can find instructions at both Buddhist and Hindu sites), using an English term that sounds like it isn't religious since the brain doesn't need to be engaged. Well, my brain is engaged, and I'm calling foul on the state for advocating for one religious group over another and pretending it's something else. And shame on Christians for having your babes so poorly catechized that they go off to college and get "evangelized" for eastern religions at almost every turn.

Gabbe Health and Wellness which provides these breathing techniques daily is part of the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State. Today's topic is “Hope as a state of being,” and if you click on it the pleasant woman will provide instructions for the religious techniques.

How Christians contributed to sexual confusion

New York now has an x plan for birth certifications.  Baby can be male, female or nothing.

Birth control and abortion are basic tenets of feminism which is rooted in Marxism and anti-western values. Women must give their lives to the state, not to family. American Christian churches began accepting birth control around 1930 after the Anglicans decided it was OK. The result was surging divorce rates, living together without marriage, and same sex marriage, because once marriage no longer includes procreation, it too has lost its value. In a very short time we now have a culture that doesn't even recognize biological sex, let alone God's plan for marriage.

Francis Asbury, 1745-1816

On August 7, 1771, Francis Asbury answered John Wesley's call for Methodist preachers to go and evangelize the colonies. In 45 years he covered about 300,000 miles on horseback and crossed the Appalachian mountains more than 60 times; he ordained more than 4,000 Methodist ministers and preached more than 16,000 sermons.

How old is your church?

Recently, our church has been cooperating with a rather new congregation/church called Rock City.  I'd never heard of it until about 5 years ago when I went to an early movie at the Lenox Center, and found that the church had rented the theater and had about 5 services before noon! It was created in 2011 from a Bible study group. They were so loud, we could actually hear them in some of the other theater spaces.  Now they've grown, and are also having services on Sunday at our local high school and expanding to other suburban locations.  So, as far as I know, this is a pastor-based, rock music service, Christian church, not tied to classic Protestantism like Lutherans, or Presbyterians or Methodists, and not having any authority but its pastor and his advisors, but I'll do a bit more research.  It's the everyone's a pope phenomenon of American Christianity.

Here's an interesting outline--I'd seen something similar on Facebook, although not as complete. Of course, all Christian churches/sects will say they were "founded" by Jesus Christ, and for some reason God let the church go dark (his word says this can't happen), and then their particular founder or group (whose names are not given in the Bible) rediscovered the various truths of the church. This list doesn't include groups like Vineyard or Mormons or the various Wesley off-shoots.  But then, there are about 35,000 just in the U.S., so I suppose it would get too complicated. I've added some in italics that are not part of the web site.

Name: The Catholic Church
Founded in: 33 AD
Founded by: Jesus Christ

Name: Orthodox
Founded in: 1054
Founded by: A separation from the Catholic Church

Name: Lutheran Denominations
Founded in: 1517
Founded by: Martin Luther and his disciples

Name: The Church of England
Founded in: 1534
Founded by: King Henry VIII

Name: Presbyterian
Founded in: 1560
Founded by: John Knox (in Scotland) and John Calvin

Name: Congregationalist (most now UCC)
Founded in: 1582
Founded by: Robert Brown

Name: Baptist
Founded in: 1605
Founded by: John Smyth

Name: Dutch Reformed
Founded in:1628
Founded by: Michaelis Jones

Name: Quakers
Founded in: 1652
Founded by: George Fox

Name: Amish
Founded in: 1693
Founded by: Jacob Amman

Name:  Church of the Brethren/Brethren Church
Founded in: 1708
Founded by: Alexander Mack

Name: Methodist
Founded in: 1744
Founded by: John and Charles Wesley

Name: Unitarian
Founded in: 1774
Founded by: Theophilus Lindley

Name: Episcopal
Founded in: 1789
Founded by: Samuel Seabury

Name: Disciples of Christ (Christian Church)
Founded in: 1804
Founded by: Group of Presbyterian Ministers (Campbell movement, Restoration movement)

Name: Seventh Day Adventist
Founded in: 1860
Founded by: Ellen White

Name: Salvation Army
Founded in: 1865
Founded by: William Booth

Name: Christian and Missionary Alliance
Founded in: 1865
Founded by: Albert Simpson

Name: Assemblies of God
Founded in: 1914
Founded by: A group of Pentecostal preachers

Name: United Church of Christ
Founded in: 1957
Founded by: Union of several groups (including those birthed by the Puritans)

Name: Calvary Chapels
Founded in: 1965
Founded by: Chuck Smith

Name: Vineyard
Founded in: 1975
Founded by: Kenn Gulliksen, John Wimber

Name: Rock City Church
Founded in: 2011
Founded by:  a Columbus Bible study group