Well, Obama had his Jeremiah Wright, and now McCain has his John Hagee. Seems like pastors are getting sucked right into the vortex of political intrigue and controversy these days. Hagee's comments about Hitler and the Jews, in light of his endorsement of McCain, has raised a maelstrom of seemingly epic proportions, sucking the rest of Christianity into it's powerful whirlpool of inuendos, misrepresentations, and distortions. It just goes to show you that words are powerful, that perception is reality today, and that we need to be exceptionally careful in our conversations with others. It is a huge challenge, I have to admit. Every Sunday, when we prepare to lead worship, I have to come face to face with my own comments. I have to discern what is right and appropriate to say. We need to encourage, exhort, challenge, excite, teach, and motivate the congregation. But we cannot, and must not, distort Scripture. We cannot, and must not, misrepresent the Word of God. And we must always carefully stick to the basics of leading people into a deeper relationship to God and to the work of spreading the good news to every corner of this globe.
Hagee's comments raise the inevitible question. . . how far is too far, even if the comments are based in truth? Hagee has said the the Catholic Church is "the great whore" and "an apostate church". Another McCain supporter, the Rev. Rod Parsley, has stated that Islam was "an antichrist religion that intends through violence to conquer the world." I have to tell you, I do not envy Pastor's Gay's job, or the job of any senior pastor today who must get up in front of his congregation each and every week and make difficult choices about how to communicate the Word effectively and efficiently without condemning, without judging, and without maligning others. It is a tall order, and one that I am happy to defer to him!
However, as worship leaders the lesson in this for us should be obvious. . . and that is that words are powerful. They can hurt, divide, make enemies, and destroy lives. They can shade, tweak and cover the truth. They can divert, challenge, change and misrepresent the message. They can arouse emotions, they can sway the masses, and they can influence the weak. They can inflame, create enmity, and incite a mob. All this with just. . . words.
As those involved in worship ministries, I challenge you to pray for those that lead the worship services at Central. Not just Pastor and I, but anyone who participates - anyone on stage, any soloist, anyone who prays publicly, anyone who shares through drama, or Scripture Reading, or testimonials. Pray that each one would be truly Spirit-led in what they say - that the words that are spoken, sung, read, or dramatized would reflect only that which God would have us to communicate.
What do you think about all this? Have we gone too far? Or have we not gone far enough in what we say? Are we avoiding saying things because of wanting to be "politically correct", or do we avoid them so that we can make inroads in leading others to Christ? Weigh in on the discussion by posting your comments!!
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2 comments:
I think there's always a way to speak the truth in love, as we Christians are called to do. We can tell someone that they are wrong because what they believe goes against the Word of God, but rhetoric such as "the great whore" is unnecessary and only draws attention to the comments in and of themselves instead of pointing to the Truth. Pastor Gay speaks with such great conviction while delivering messages that not everyone might agree with. While he does not mince words, he doesn't go out of his way to offend people either!
This is a real toughy, isn't it? With our recent series in Breakaway, dealing with everything from Homosexuality to Abortion, I really found myself going back to that truth over and over again... that our task as followers of the Way is to "speak the truth in love."
I think this is an area where Christians today are really struggling. There is this one side that wants to say that everything is absolutely okay, yet as I read Scripture, I refuse to accept it. On the other hand there's this group of people claiming to be Christians screaming hateful language at an already broken world. I equally refuse to accept that Jesus is honored by a "Jesus hates __________" or a "_________ burn in hell" sign. It seems people either default to love or truth, forgetting that both are equally essential.
Christ offers us a third option, rising above both of the others. He doesn't allow us to throw stones, but at the same time he says to "go and sin no more." Love. Truth.
That's my Jesus.
The old phrase "hate the sin and love the sinner" has often been quoted, but it is rarely put into practice.
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