- Our own little voices will not save a nation headed to the disaster befitting a country forgetting God. And so, what does the Voice of Scripture counter with? Perhaps getting back to the basics we have long departed from.
I read an article this week that doubted America could ever return to a civil religion – that is, an agreed national consensus that the Judeo-Christian God is essential to our current and future fortune and we better darned well act like it.
The premier reason the author’s doubt is reasonable is our prosperity.
Israel was warned that when “you eat and are satisfied, then watch yourself that you do not forget the Lord…” When there is tremendous need, there is a yearning for a God that can meet that need. When needs seemingly subside a nation can be spiritually hollowed out with… satisfaction. Having your wants and desires fulfilled can, in fact, dilute gratitude, dependence and humility. As the prophet Amos later said, “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure in Samaria.” Ease and even security are roads that can lead to indifference. In many ways, we have more of these – satisfaction, achieved wants, ease and security – than ever before in American history. And thus we are far less likely to experience an agreed upon reverence for God.
In his parable of the soils the seed is choked by worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth. Later, in John’s Revelation, the church at Laodicea bragged that “I am rich; I have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.” Jesus rebukes them: “You do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” Apparently, you can have the robe and crown of a king and nonetheless be embarrassingly undressed.
The capitalism and consumerism of our country too often asks “What can I get, what can I afford, what do I crave, what will finally satisfy me?” The faith of Christ asks “What does God require of me?” Those are two radically different paths. And a nation built on a pursuit of happiness over holiness will find itself either rejecting the sterner of these options or creating in their own personal theologies what this God should be like to them. Robert Bellah, in his seminal volume Habits of the Heart, held out the possibility that this would create a nation with as many gods as peoples. In his volume Sheila could therefore describe her own belief with this: “I believe in God. I am not a fanatic. My faith has carried me a long way. It’s Sheilaism. Just my own little voice…”.
Our own little voices will not save a nation headed to the disaster befitting a country forgetting God. And so, what does the Voice of Scripture counter with? Perhaps getting back to the basics we have long departed from:
Sabbath – it is a step of faith to commit yourself to no purchasing and no working one day out of the week. But practicing Sabbath is a way for us to say to God, I trust you for provision even though every impulse in me wants to get out there and work my way to solvency, even affluence. Israel found, every people will, that resting from work and knowing that we are more than what we produce is a formidable step towards a nation respecting God.
Generosity – a giver will always please God more than a taker. And all the way back to the Old Testament generosity was seen as a way to keep your own proverbial checkbook honest, and a life-giving flow current in individual and national life. It will be noted by some that America is incredibly generous in world offerings, but when that is seen as voluntary philanthropy the amount per household is – even the vast majority of Christian households – not very impressive at all. The realization that we are fundamentally stewards and not owners is key to godliness.
Fasting – the Church of today in North America is not a fasting church – saying no to food for extended and regular periods of time. The early Church (see the Didache) fasted twice a week apparently in an effort to ritualize “deny yourself, take up your Cross and follow Me” and make it a steady emphasis for a people that thought more and more is the only way to live. We need to control our stomachs lest our stomachs control us.
Serving the less fortunate – regular works of mercy has always been seen by disciples as a powerful way to get in the room with the less fortunate and thus get perspective on what is really important in life. As we found in our book The Doctrine of Good Works very few churches take regular (weekly, monthly) works of service seriously at the level of their individual parishoners. Pity – it’s one of the key ways in Jesus’ ministry to teach His disciples that yes, the poor you will have with you always and, yes, it is important that we regularly engage them.
Here is the point – the way back to some semblance of a civil religion or, more fundamentally, a respect for God through a Judeo-Christian worldview, isn’t the hope of a full-scale embrace of the four antidotes above. It is reviving these things in our own lives, by His grace. And, then, by miracles, seeing these things catch fire in a nation with a spiritual damper.
Matt Friedeman
