The House passed the highly controversial health care reform act today.
Many people in America, particularly Christians, view this bill as extremely unpopular citing it’s cost and federal funding for abortion in some cases. Others view it as an expensive necessity which delivers health care to millions of uninsured and which forces insurance companies to accept citizens with pre-existing conditions.
I watched almost the entire House floor proceeding on C-SPAN. Each representative came to the mic, had their 60 second speech, and sat down. Talk about a good Nyquil substitute.
Republicans shouted ‘baby killer’, Democrats quoted Scripture as if 1 Timothy was written specifically to support the future laws written on a continent that wouldn’t be discovered for 1,400 more years. Before hand, some activists shouted racial and derogatory slurs at democratic lawmakers. Jessie Jackson responded by making fun of them publically.
Both side we’re just plain ridiculous.
But I couldn’t shake the fact that many people who protested the bill didn’t see this coming as a result of their own inaction. If you think about it, and look past the political aspect of it all, this healthcare deal is a long time coming.
Of course the government feels the need to take care of its people – the church hasn't been doing it for centuries. If the American church paid serious attention to the poor, I am willing to bet there wouldn’t be such a bill in existence today.
This really is more of a matter of American Church apathy to the poor which has accumulated over the years and now the government feels they must step in and do the Church’s job for them. And rightfully so. (Do I agree with the bill? No, not necessarily. But I do agree that the poor aren’t getting taken care of and someone needs to do it.)
It seems that the American Church today is more concerned with presenting a pristine facility and model community for Christians to gather in and hang out than they are with actually being Christians.
If you spend millions to build a mega awesome worship facility and then invite some people who can’t afford new clothes, a bath, and are socially awkward, it would taint an otherwise perfect environment for hanging out in. It would probably make wealthier Christians uncomfortable and they might leave.
Good. Let them leave, because that’s not how the Church is suppose to be run.
Scripture tells us that we are to;
1. Preach Good News to the poor (Isa 61:1)
2. Trim excess wealth to help the poor (Mt 19:21)
3. Help the poor, because they’ll always be here (Mt 26:11)
4. Learn from the poor because they are rich in faith (Jas 2:5)
5. Assist the orphans and widows (Jas 1:27)
6. Do good to all people, especially to those in our church (Gal 6:10)
7. Show hospitality to strangers (Heb 13:2) and not to simply wish the poor “good luck” or “God bless” because it’s absolutely worthless (Jas 2:16).
Also, Jesus cared so little for the accumulation of wealth and fancy worship facilities that he had to ask for the equivalent of a quarter (Mt 22:19) because He didn’t have one and He told the disciples that Herod’s Temple was worthless to the Kingdom (Mk 13:1-2).
Am I saying we should all sell every possession and live in a communistic community? Of course not.
And am I saying that the Church should be a free-for-all social program? No way, Scripture also teaches that if people aren’t willing to chip in to help out, they don’t deserve anything (2 Thes 3:10).
But I am saying it is high time the Church pay more attention to the immediate missional needs in their own communities.
Single moms wouldn’t need the government’s health care program if the Church covered her and her children. The elderly wouldn’t even need Medicare if the Church they often times invested their entire life into would care for them in return.
This view could probably be best summarized in a quote; “If every church and synagogue in the U.S. would adopt ten poor families beneath the poverty level . . . we could eliminate all government welfare in this country.” That was Ronald Reagan.
But when put into practice, Reagan’s philosophy (which is fairly biblical) falls flat on its face. Former New York City Mayor Edward Koch asked 350 churches and synagogues in NYC to shelter ten homeless men and women each night. He received seven responses.
Perhaps some of the churches were ill-equipped for the Koch’s request, however A.) they should be equipped to help the poor and B.) surely more than 2% of the churches could have assisted in serving their city and their local mission.
Now, considering the NYC example, I’m sure some may say that taking in the poor is dangerous in some places of the country. My response… yea, that’s true.
But where in the world does Scripture teach that the Church is a place of safety? Why, after reading the Bible, do Christians believe that the Church should be a safe place to hang out free from having to deal with the poor? (In fact, the office of deacon was specifically created with the poor in mind! (Act 6:1-6)
Obviously, common sense tells us that registered sex offenders should probably not be assisting in children’s ministry and the poor with criminal records should probably be watched, but this is all in the context of Sunday mornings. The Church is more than the Sunday service -- why can’t men of God in the Church handle touchy situations like this throughout the week?
Now, of course, I’m not placing all of America’s social woes on the Church. I’m not scapegoating the Church for simply existing. There are people and even pastors who stand in the pulpit and openly call the Church lazy, no good, hypocritical, and loose. Less they need a reminder, the Church is the Bride of Christ. If you called my bride anything like that, we’d have a problem.
However, some brides do need a wake-up call that the world does not revolve around them. Every once in a while, they need to step back from the situation and realize that there is something bigger than their own comfort in life. There’s something bigger than this political healthcare debate.
They need to take a break from planning the wedding, finding the right dress, the right shoes, the perfect flowers, the best food. They freak out over ever little nuance surrounding their wedding day, are overly controlling of their environment, and generally displeasing to be around. Bridezilla, I believe, is the term.
I think the American Church has let herself become a bridezilla. She is overly concerned with herself and not with the wedding day. She is more concerned with the way she looks than the sharing of the wedding day with her groom. She cares more about her perfect shoes, cake, and flowers rather than her groom, family, and the meaning of the wedding.
The bridezilla church is more concerned with building her multi-million dollar church facilities so they can reach the world rather than diverting money to the poor living in their own backyard. She is so overly obsessed with her perfect ministry programs, youth groups, adult groups, church picnics, worship styles, preaching styles, and interior decoration that she neglects to realize that her groom has a few requests of His own – namely that she takes care of the orphans and widows and brings good news to the poor.
I am definitely every bit apart of this bridezilla church as anyone else. I only realized how inward focused we are in American churches when I met a Nigerian Christian in Germany. He was poor and moved to Germany from Nigeria in December. He didn’t have a winter coat, only a hoodie.
One day, he straight up said; “Kyle I need a winter coat. Can you buy one for me?” Needless to say, my initial reaction was bewilderment that he would ask such a thing. A few days later, we bought him his coat.
He understands how the church should work. Those with help those without. Period. No government program, no socialism, no health reform… just the Church being the Church.
We wouldn’t need the healthcare reform bill if the Church took care of it. First, for its own people, then anyone who needs. Of course, some churches could contribute more than others. Of course, it wouldn’t be black and white as to who gets church-provided health care assistance and who doesn’t.
But aren’t those added aspects to the Church better than having the government doing it?
It would be amazing to see the Bride of Christ more concerned with what her Groom has to say about their wedding day than what she has to say.
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