Wringing Our Hands

One of the books on my summer reading list is Congregational minister Robin Meyers’ Saving Jesus from the Church. Right in the middle is a line worthy of considerable pause and reflection, and a bit of laughter and tears, too.

When Britney Spears’ navel gets more media coverage than millions of uninsured children, the church is not called to serve tea and wring its hands.

My first reaction was uncontrollable laughter! The comparison contains an innate absurdity; it must be a joke when two such polar opposites are joined. And after all, absurdity is an old and well-honed form of humor. Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and the car keys to teenage boys (American writer P. J. O’Rourke). Woody Allen is master of the absurd: What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I overpaid for my carpet. Absurdity raised to an art form.

Part of my laughter, I think, was triggered by the notion that a truth might be discovered within an absurdity. That’s where reflection begins. One of Meyers’ points in his book is that we Christians need to recover the true Jesus by following his example of active compassion. Jesus’ ministry was characterized by activism among the people, not tucked safely away in a sanctuary once a week. He was touching the lepers, lifting up women, healing, comforting, teaching, kicking business out of religion, and more, always with people in need, and never giving comfort to the wealthy and powerful, but calling them to account for their lives.

In the past two months, I have participated in actions related to marriage equality, immigration reform, employment discrimination and justice for Trayvon Martin. In each, I have come face to face with people at the margins, suffering from exclusion from and by the mainstream. By walking with each other, we can empathetically walk in their shoes for awhile. I’m not unique and by no means a saint. I’m just someone trying to live their faith.

I want to invite other people of faith to stop serving tea and wringing hands, and instead get up and out of the pew and come out into the streets, to the places where Jesus went, out of the comfort of your homes and businesses and into the real lives of our fellow human beings. To be an activist is to retrieve the real Jesus into our lives, by imitating him, by following him and his Way. Who will follow?

Rev. John Ransom is Pastor of Living Faith Community Church in Dunedin (www.livingfaithdunedin.org) and host of the Emerging Spirit internet-based Voices of Justice (www.emergingspirit.info).