Christian Discipleship In Difficult Times

Dear Friends In Christ,

 The heart of Christian discipleship: to seek Jesus, to follow Jesus, and to learn to live like Jesus.

 Yet we are taught by our culture to seek other things. Wealth. Power. Security. Influence. Dominance. Protection for “our kind.” Being a winner. 

 When we seek those things of the world we cannot ultimately be satisfied. We are looking for the wrong thing. Sometimes we might be able to convince ourselves that we are looking for the good, but we do so in the wrong way, expecting something other than Jesus to be our salvation. What we seek will ultimately shape not only our choices, but our identity. 

 When our deepest hope is placed in power rather than in love, in dominance rather than in service, in winning rather than in faithfulness, the result is fear and division. We begin to see one another not as neighbors to be loved, but as threats to be managed or enemies to be defeated.

 There is a lot of anger, division, and distrust in the world right now. There is a lot of what I believe is best named hatred. Some are saying publicly they hate those who oppose them. Some are saying publicly that their goal is to destroy the opposition. Some are publicly happy to justify violence and are gleeful at destruction.

 These are not the words or actions of a follower of Jesus. 

 I have written before about the danger, and indeed, heresy of christian nationalism and white supremacy. We are facing the danger of the rise of authoritarianism and fascism. How can a follower of Jesus respond, and resist these dangers?

 In Episcopal theology we hold together Scripture, reason, and tradition, and we understand faith not as escape from the world but as engagement with it. We pray for our elected officials whether we agree with them or not, we participate in civic life, we care about justice and the common good. And, as we do so, we also insist that our primary allegiance is not to any party, ideology, or nation. Our primary, highest, most complete allegiance is, and must be, to God known to us through Jesus Christ.

Jesus does not ask, “Which side are you on?”

He invites us to follow him.

 To follow Jesus is to allow our desires to be re-shaped. We acknowledge our own sins and strive to amend our own ways. We begin to look for compassion instead of conquest, truth instead of triumph, reconciliation instead of revenge. We look for the presence of God not only in places of comfort, but in places of suffering. We learn to recognize Christ in the breaking of bread, in the cries of the poor, in the stranger at the door, and even in those with whom we profoundly disagree. To follow Jesus is to always and forever seek not violence but peace, not hate but love, and to refuse to accept violence and hatred as acceptable.

 Living like Jesus means refusing to let fear have the final word. It means practicing humility in a culture that rewards outrage, patience in a world addicted to speed, and mercy in an environment that thrives on judgment. It means telling the truth, but always in love. It means remembering that every person we encounter is made in the image of God, not in the image of our opinions.

 We are called to ask the right questions, to orient ourselves to the right seeking, to form ourselves in the way of Christ, and in doing so help others seek and see Jesus. In our worship, our sacraments, our prayers, and our common life, we are continually being re-oriented toward Jesus—so that our loves may be ordered rightly, and our lives may reflect his.

 Resisting christian nationalism, white supremacy, authoritarianism and fascism as a follower of Jesus cannot be through actions that are inconsistent with the Jesus way. Our actions must be expressed through visible love, by compassion, by mercy, by humility. We cannot insist on our own way, for we do not follow our own way, we must follow the Jesus way. Resistance must not be violent, and it must not be passive. Instead, the best way for any follower of Jesus to “resist” the way of the world is, as always, to live the Jesus way.

 Ours is not the first generation of Christians to face difficult times. Ours will not be the last. What our spiritual ancestors teach us is that no political or economic system is the “right” one, and that the powers of this world will always resist the Gospel message of love. We can also take heart that Jesus is with us always, that this world is not the ultimate end, and that we live the Jesus way in communities of faith, never alone. So as follower of Jesus each one of us can support each other in our life of faith, challenge each other when needed, and stand together in action for the Gospel of Christ.   

 Faithfully,