Christianity,  Current Events

Trust

About the only television I watch is, occasionally, The Newshour on Friday nights. I like it because it is the least partisan newscast I know of. They hold tenaciously to the model of civil discussion on the issues, expanding several sessions in each newscast to include an actual conversation among people of different views on a given issue. On Friday nights, David Brooks and Mark Shields discuss politics, and of course last night they talked about the Affordable Care Act — the spectacular incompetence and political gamesmanship of its history, the false promises that were made, and the train wreck of its implementation.

Among the most arresting lines of discussion was the way this affects public trust in institutions. Both men agree that if this initiative goes down it will carry in its wake the whole idea of liberal government. They talked about the record-breaking plunge in social trust and faith in institutions, and the disillusionment and distrust Americans feel for their government.

As I listened, I realized that my feelings toward church parallel my feelings toward government. I’ve seen enough to have lost trust in the institution. Granted, in our fifteen years here, we’ve attended only two churches, and my experience is very limited. But the leadership of both churches displayed the very same nonsense: control games; politics; nepotism; preaching rather than shepherding.

Who needs it?  For many Americans, these are the characteristics of their work culture 5 or 6 days a week. A Sabbath rest is more truly represented by simply staying home on Sunday rather than reporting for duty at an alternative corrupt institution. The only difference is that you’re paid for your gainful employment; the church asks for your money in God’s name, most of it going to building maintenance and staff salaries rather than feeding the hungry and healing the sick.

And so another parallel is suggested between church and the recent health care debacle. If the church were not so desperately self-absorbed and focused on its own maintenance as an institution, and if it in fact focused on helping people in need rather than shoving all the responsibility off itself and onto government, we would not have reached this low point in our public institutions. We have assigned moral and spiritual roles to government rather than keeping them where they belong in the church. Or churches. Let’s be ecumenical. Many faiths profess social responsibility, not just Christianity.

Certainly my church experience and our shared public policy experience in recent days tend to reinforce each other. And I’m not alone. It’s been amazing how many other church refugees there are out there — not shallow people searching for experiences, but deep Christians looking for integrity and honor in the body that bears Christ’s name. Mark Shields gives voice to what both he and David Brooks believe about government:

If this goes down… if health care, the Affordable Care Act is deemed a failure, this is the end — I really mean it — of liberal government…

Time and again, social programs have made the difference in this country. The public confidence in that will be so depleted, so diminished, that I really think the change — the equation of American politics changes.

I think that the same kind of thing can be said about the institutional church. If the preaching-centric, program-driven, hierarchical, Sunday-concentrated institutional church goes down, the equation of American Christianity changes. And that will probably be a good thing. If a human government collapses, we don’t have hope of resurrection — merely of change. But if Christ’s body is broken and scattered, we have plenty of precedent to hope for resurrection.

Tivetshall St Mary
Tivetshall St Mary

9 Comments

  • audria

    I’ve felt the same way about the church for a while now. If the church (all denominations) spent more time reaching out as Christians to the people around us and less time trying to influence government and policies…well I think the country would be in better shape than it is now morally.

  • DebD

    I’m so sorry you’ve been hurt and disillusioned. I have strong feelings about the church, which I tend to tamper down in public/online places. Most of my RL friends don’t want to hear it anyway. But, I’m so, so sorry you’re suffering. Two scriptures come to mind when I was reading and pondering.

    “When the son of man returns will he find faith on the earth?” and “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

    I don’t know, perhaps they’re not help to you, but it was what came to mind.

    You’ll be in my thoughts and prayers.

  • DebD

    I wanted to come back and clarify something I said. In the wee hours of the morning I realized it could have been misconstrued.

    When I was thinking about that first scripture I shared, I was specifically thinking about the leaders you’re referring to -not you specifically.

  • Janet

    No worries, Deb. I appreciate your perspective and your prayers! They’re good verses — I may post the second one someplace prominent to remind me of it.

  • Ruth

    I’m sorry – it sounds like this has been a painful journey. I hope you can find community even if it isn’t in a traditional church. Thinking about you!

  • Janet

    Thanks, Ruth. I’m thankful for the good experiences of community and friendship (like yours!). It keeps me hopeful.

  • Barbara H.

    One verse that came to mind while reading this is Ephesians 5:25b: “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” I know that’s talking about the people, the body, rather than the institution, but the institution is made up of people Jesus loved and gave Himself for.

    Someone pointed out to me years ago that Jesus attended the assemblies of His day even though they were rife with problems. For those two reasons I don’t think I could personally forsake the church, even as an institution.

    But we have had a couple of situations where there were problems in a given church and we were almost to the point of leaving, yet unsure and cautious about whether we should, not wanting to cause division or hurt feelings (in neither case could we have just quietly slipped away without anyone noticing). Both times my husband’s job situation changed, giving us an “excuse” to leave because we had to move. I am thankful for that while at the same time wondering if it would have been better to “make a statement” by choosing to leave. I don’t know. In both cases my husband talked with the pastor about some of the issues we had concerns with. In one situation the pastor was defensive; the other listened and agreed, but nothing changed and things seemed to be going more the direction we had problems with.

    The one we are in now has its good points and bad points. I know that no church will be perfect, but the problem areas still rankle. That Ephesians 5 passage goes on to say, “that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” Though the church won’t reach that completely until heaven, we can pray, work, and hope for it in the meantime.

      • Janet

        No problem! I appreciate your thoughts.

        We were really hoping we might be moving away for some time before we made the decision to leave. So many things would have been easier! But it didn’t work out that way.