Placid vs. Transformative Church
written by Rev. Dr. Scott Paczkowski
“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? ”
I don’t know that a magazine title has ever moved me before. John P. Weiss wrote an article I will not read until after I write my devotion based on his title. Weiss’s title is “Being Good Is Easy, What Is Difficult Is Being Just.” The title was an “aha” moment for me because it defines the difference between a placid church and a transformative church. Sadly, too many Christians throughout history focused more on “being good” than “being just.”
I was born (1962) into a world where many churches focused on “being good,” with its focus on morality. No sex before marriage, be charitable, etc. Yet, many of those same churches publicly turned away from the Civil Rights movement and privately cursed people of color for being “ungrateful” and “disruptive.” They knew how to follow societal rules but remained spiritually deaf to the divine requirement: “To do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Our technology advanced dramatically since 1962, but for many, our faith development remains stilted. We struggle with the idolatry of Christian Nationalism, with its ideal that American Christians are more worthy than people from other countries and other religions. Their American flag is equal to Christ’s cross. Still, other Christians smile and play nice with people lower on the economic wrung while using their political vote to advance their economic superiority at the expense of those they treat with charitable kindness. Still, others are even more selfish, focused only on their personal salvation by appeasing a mean-spirited God who is constantly looking to damn those who chose unwisely.
God wants us to be good, but that is not the end of our faith story. Our goodness should call us to make systemic changes so all might experience goodness on this earth. Systemic change is hard because those who have much may have to give a little for others to have even a little. Justice is how those on the outside find enough value, meaning, and care to experience hope. Our God is a God of hope. We are God’s tools, used to provide hope to those in need of opportunity, respect, and compassion. If we are good, but not just, our faith remains stunted, and our lives are diminished. When we respond to a broken world with justice, God’s light shines, and despair loses its grip on others and ourselves. Stand up and be part of a just world, in Jesus’ name!
