Let's talk about Idolatry: Lectionary Reading for October 11th

 One of my favorite parts of being a Pastor was nearly always the novelty... you never knew what any individual week was going to bring to the table and it was pretty darn fun. Still, sometimes it's good to have a rhythm, and for me, the process of Sermon writing was my favorite rhythm. It would start with reading the texts on Monday, taking a solid guess at what the Holy Spirit was up to and then submitting my bulletin based on that guess.

Then, the real fun would start.

For the next couple of days, in the midst of the other work of being a Pastor, I would live in those texts, often walking to the Sanctuary to walk around, trying out phrases, reading the text aloud (which can REALLY change how you read) and seeing what ideas would jump up. Often, those ideas followed the initial line of thought for the bulletin somewhat... but occasionally, the impulse would go in another direction entirely.

I usually started those sermons with an apology that what the people were about to hear would NOT be following the expected course they'd read in the bulletin. Some of them would roll their eyes at me, others would lead forward. Typically, if the Holy Spirit interrupted my usual rhythm to take me in a different direction, the result was pretty good, at the very least, they knew it would be interesting.

Here are the texts for October 11th!

Exodus 32:1-14

 The Text:

With Moses delayed coming down from the mountain after receiving the 10 commandments, the People of Israel assume that he is dead and get started with the idolatry, with Aaron melting down the people's gold belongings (many of which were probably "gifts" from the Egyptians when they fled Egypt) and making a golden calf. God informs Moses of this and decides to wipe the people out, and start over again from Moses. Moses then pleads on the People's behalf and changes God's mind.

The Take:

It's worth pointing out here that Israel's seemingly shockingly quick descent into idolatry probably was not MEANT by the people as an abandonment of the God who saved them. You have to remember that only Moses had really spoken directly to the LORD at this point, and the storm on the mountaintop when he received the Ten Commandments gave them more than enough reason to believe that Moses was dead. In the loss of their previous reminder of the presence of God, they turned to another... in admittedly a way Aaron at least should have seen was a really bad idea, but you also have to remember they had to this point in their lives been second class Egyptian citizens,  and in the chaos since their exit from Egypt, it's reasonable to assume that they hadn't been caught up on details such as how THEIR God, unlike others they had known, was not about idol worship.

God and Moses then descend into what can only sound to us now like a pair of parents arguing over their children. If you are a parent (and have a partner in that endeavor) you likely WELL know what it is to go home and have your partner inform you of what YOUR child did in your absence. That context is worth remembering... I have occasionally muttered to my wife "That's it, this time I kill her," about our daughter, but that is never the meaning, and my wife never has taken it as such. It's frustration voiced in hyperbole, not murderous rage. (Let me step away from the keyboard to confirm that she knows that... yup, confirmed!)

This isn't to say the LORD is above violence according to the authors of Exodus... we're just a few plagues out of Egypt, after all, but huge mistake I think a lot of people make in interpreting the Old Testament is the fact that the Hebrew people were funny, liked jokes (especially puns) and in general had nuance... it's stodgy old white people who've done everything they could do to drain all humor and color from the source material.

So while it is certainly POSSIBLE that God was just about to go down the mountain and wipe out the Hebrews once and for all, it's at least worth a second to consider that something else might have been going on.

Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23

The Text:

This is a psalm about our previous text, and skipping right over the parents quarrel it goes straight to the sins of the Israelites and gives praise to God for being Merciful. It cuts straight to the quick of the Hebrews as well, naming their calamitous misrepresentation of God as the sin it is, and taking a moment to again praise God for patience in the face of such a colossal mistake. 

The Take:

 This is another text that you probably read in a very serious way, thereby missing out on a lot of the tone that is just screaming out at you if you allow yourself to hear it. 

 

You. Mistook. Your GOD. The one who SAVED you. From EGYPT. You mistook that GOD for a gold Bull. A creature that eats GRASS. YOU THOUGHT YOUR GOD WAS A BULL.

 

I mean, if you allow yourself to hear the incredulity the psalm, it can totally shape how you read the whole text, and as the psalmist sings on behalf of Israel, it reads somewhat like a VERY apologetic spouse thanking their partner for the forgiveness offered when they had done something incredibly stupid.

 

Philippians 4:1-9

The Text:

So the middle part of this text probably rang familiar for a number of readers, it's a fairly famous text, and often ends up in "memorize these texts" collections. Focus on the good. Do not worry about the bad, but raise your concerns before the Lord. Always rejoice for what has been given, and hope for the good of all. This famous text is then couched in the midst of some closing exhortations, two members of the church in Philippi have been quarreling and Paul asks them to get along, and urges the people of God to focus on the truth, and to push for it, to push for the good.

 

The Take:

 It's easy to read this is a Biblical "don't worry, be happy"  but there's a bit more meat to it than that. It takes work to find the positive, it takes work to seek the truth. It takes work to bring a quarrel to a close and it takes work to remember to give praise to God in the midst of hardship and toil. The joy, truth, and peace being extolled here is NOT a passive acceptance of the status quo but instead a work of discernment, identifying the good, the pure, and the true, and holding THEM up as the model for your life, rather than whatever happens to be at hand.

 

 

Matthew 22:1-14

 

The Text:

 

The parable of the Wedding Banquet, where the Master of the House prepares a wedding banquet (hence the name) and invites guests, only to receive a number of excuses, and so throws wide the doors to let everyone in to be sure the banquet is well attended, but then still requires a certain decorum from those in attendance.

 

The Take:

 

This one sure can be a doozy, eh? Widely seen as a parable of the slow expanding of the phrase "The People of God" this text has taken on some anti-Semitic baggage over the years,  often used by Christian Pastors as a sort of "taking of the torch" from the Jews by the Gentiles. It's worth pointing out that the original invitees are never UNinvited, their refusal to commit is simply shown as a reason to throw wide the doors. Anyone with qualms over such a reading may feel free to take it up with Jesus in John, where he says plainly, "Salvation is of the Jews."

Matthew itself is widely called the Gospel to the Jews, intended as a Christological apology to the Hebrew people in a time of chaos and transition, so you're not making wild assumptions when you say that Matthew's intention likely was NOT "Oh well, no more Jews" in the kingdom.

The end is telling, though. Here the doors are, open wide, but then the Master sees an invited guest who did not dress appropriately, and has them bound and thrown out. Here IS an invitation lost... you can't just show up, you need to make an effort.

The Takeaway:

 

I find myself struck here by a running theme of calling out the "People of God" for inappropriate behavior as it relates to God, namely, mistaking our God, creator of Heaven and Earth, for something that God is not.

When we look at Idolatry, we often see it as this dumb thing. What are those people doing, worshiping a lump of metal! We looks especially at the sin of the Hebrews in Exodus in such a dismissive way. "Hah, God had JUST helped them escape from Egypt and now already they're making up a new God to follow and giving that God credit? How dumb can you be!?"

But when we treat the sins of the People of God that way, we minimize the risks. They were dumb, we are not, and so we fail to take the warning of the text at face value.

Some might have been surprised at my minimizing of the sin of the Hebrews in the Take on that particular text, but I did so because it is important to keep in mind what really happened. The Hebrews had reason to believe that Moses was dead, and Moses, to that point, had been their most visible reminder of the presence and commandments of God. In their minds, they probably weren't replacing God... they were replacing MOSES.

But Moses was a flesh and blood guy who spoke with the LORD and could tell them when they were going right or wrong, a Prophet. An Idol had no opinions, had no agenda, was an empty object upon which the desires and biases of the people could be projected, and thereby deified. They took the living, breathing God and replaced God with an inanimate lump of gold, in the image of a creature which, while powerful, was also non-threatening.

I think that sin is one that is not only understandable in our modern context, but also prevalent. Many of our older representatives of the LORD have moved on and in their place we have placed Idols. We tell ourselves we are still worshiping the same God, but in place of a God with desires, drives, and commandments, we have started worshiping something inanimate, something unchallenging, something that permits us to project our own angers, fears, and biases upon it.

In North America today, that idol is often Americana, a rose-colored glasses version of an old America which was once "great." We lionize our old morality, our old religion, our old social structure as a better time, and as that gilded material starts to harden in the mold we start to see any deviation from it as a deviation from the will of God, even when God's scriptures again exhort us to seek out what is good, true, and pure, we instead cling to the status quo, to what is familiar. We say the word God, we sit in buildings we call Churches, but all the while we worship nostalgia, rather than the God announced in the scriptures.

And because we have learned to worship what is familiar, what is comfortable, it never occurs to us that we might be called upon to CHANGE ourselves as we answer God's call. And when God sees us, no different at the banquet table than we had been at any time in our lives and asks why we didn't even think to wear our Banquet robes, we have no answer.

Because the idols we worshiped never told us to change, it never occurred to us that we might need to.

When You Just Can't Pray for Trump

 A lot of my colleagues, some of them good friends, have posted their prayers or calls for prayers over the health of the President and the First Lady on their walls today. I want to acknowledge that this is, in fact, a Christian response. We should always hope and work for the well being of any member of God's creation, and not let their actions dictate our own.

That said, today, the going on that count is not easy. For me, and I know for others as well. There is distrust (Is this real, or just another lie from the pathological liar?) there is worry (How many more people will he endanger with his reckless behavior?) there is anger (Well, well, well, if it isn't the consequence of your own actions.).

We're supposed to show empathy, sympathy for him and his family, wish them well, and pray for them. And well, I... as a sinner, it is true... I just can't.

Part of it is compassion fatigue. 2020 has been a royal mess. I've lost good friends this year for a myriad of reasons. I know of good people who have been hurt and are continually being hurt largely by Trump's decisions. And so for Trump's utterly irresponsible and frankly criminal response to Covid to land so thoroughly in his lap... I find myself utterly unwilling to spend my energy praying that the man be spared the consequence of his repeated and ongoing actions.

And yeah, it's hypocritical. After all, Salvation itself is Christ saving us from our repeated and ongoing actions. It's not particularly healthy, either... much like his taxes, Trump has repeatedly failed to pay rent for the space he's occupied in my head for the last 4 years. Forgiving him, praying for him, letting him go might be a mentally healthy decision on my part, but I'm not there yet. (It's also worth remembering that his crimes have most affected the poor, the immigrants, the people of color, which makes them absolutely not mine to forgive.)

So I look now to those like me. You've heard it from me... praying for your enemies, for those who hurt you, can be freeing, liberating. It's a way to let them go (and, as Jesus adds, pour some hot coals on their heads in the process) and let your actions not be affected by such negative influences.

But if you can't, you need to know that you are covered, as well. A full third of the Psalms are Psalms of rage at the enemies of the People of God, rage at those who hurt them, who persecuted them, who tore them down over and over and over again. Those Psalms did not mince words, did not back away from the rage, did not spend six paragraphs on the need to forgive and pray for the health of those who hurt them.

Your rage, your hurt, your fear, your desperation are all real. And they are not invalidated by an inability to spare much sympathy for the author of our current crisis who is assured to get the very best of medical care that he permits his doctors to administer. Our tax dollars will pay for his wellbeing, so its okay if you're not ready to spend your mental energy on it as well. We're in a Pandemic, and spoons are limited.

So if you just can't pray for Donald Trump, pray for those who also suffer due to his action and inaction, but who lack such a comprehensive safety net. Share your love with those around you, give aid to those who truly need it. And if your anger demands to be heard, to be vocalized, remember that not only does the Bible understand such actions... it helpfully provides a script, should you need one.

A New Plan: Lectionary for October 4th

 Hey there, everyone! A LOT has changed since the last time I posted, for me, for the world at large.

2020 has been a real dumpster fire of a year, though it hasn't been without some bright spots. The biggest bright spot for me right now is that my family has recently purchased a house, making us homeowners for the very first time, which is very, VERY exciting!

The bad news is the reason why we NEEDED to buy a house... for the last couple months, I have not been the pastor of a church. My call at First Presbyterian Church of Weyauwega ended a while back, not too long after my last post, due to a number of reasons. This has worn on me over the last couple months, and while I was given a fairly generous severance package, it has been hard, over the last little bit, to think of myself as a PASTOR in the midst of all of this.

One of the things I miss most about the Pastor life was the regular routine of working Lectionary Texts while doing other things during the week. The other things will be different now, more raising my daughter, fewer committee meetings, but I think, on recommendation from friends and my therapist, that I am going to try to reactivate Ask Pastor Dan as a home for such musings until such a time as I am doing it professionally for a church again.

Now, I've stumbled on this kind of thing before... there are probably at least six or seven Pastor Dan "reboot" posts over the course of my timeline, but hey... let's give it a shot, and see what we can come up with, yeah?

So let's get started. These are my gut-reactions to the lectionary texts for October 2020. If you'd like to read the texts I am reading, you can always find them here.

Exodus 20: 1-4, 7-9, 12-20 

The Text: 

The Ten Commandments! You've probably heard of these before, either in Sunday School or on a stylized image of stone tablets on a sign in a yard to show someone just how serious about Biblical Law somebody is.

 

The Take:

Not a whole lot to be said about the Big 10 that hasn't been said before, though I do feel that these days they are almost more interesting in what they omit than in what they forbid. "Thou Shalt Not Be Gay" isn't on here, you'll notice. "Thou Shalt Not Have Abortions" is also absent, though of course so-called Pro-Life Advocates would try (VERY erroneously) to group that under the murder bit. So often, the Ten Commandments are used as this shorthand for classical Christian Morality, but when you look at them, and then at the "sins" the Evangelical church concentrates on, you see the two have very little in common.

Psalm 19

The Text:

A Psalm of praise that focuses a full third of its length to the praise of the Law of the LORD. It gets quite effusive, and while Ancient Hebrew did not have punctuation, if they did, you would expect this to be full of exclamation points.

The Take:

As a younger Biblical Exegete, texts like this always got me nervous, but these days I find I take a great deal of comfort in them. So often, I find people bending over backwards to show how hateful actions are, in fact, loving actions, and this text reminds me that the law of the LORD is actually very straightforward. It says what it says, it doesn't say what it doesn't say, and if you're gonna spend all your time beating around it, do you really love the Law as much as you claim to?

Phillipians 3:4b-14

The Text:

Paul being Paul! This is a solid brag from the Apostle, but a brag with a point, pointing out that as a Pharisee and a Zealot, if ANYone could claim to have achieved greatness through the law, it would have been him. 

The Take:

This is the great debunking of works based righteousness, with Paul coming out and saying, straight out, that no one reading the text could have a greater claim to works based righteousness than he himself, and so we should take his full meaning when he says that works based righteousness, that is, the claim that we have achieved something by being better practiced in the law than others, is in fact wasted time compared to the Love of Jesus Christ, the act of attempting to pay your way when your ticket has already been punched. He clarifies that this is not an excuse to be mediocre in your faith, instead, 

Matthew 21:33-46

The Text:

The parable of the Wicked Tenants! This is a meaty one. A landowner buys a field, plants, builds a wall, then hires tenants to tend to the land. They go on to earn their title, killing the slaves, servants, and even ultimately the Son of the landowner when he sends them to collect his due.

The Take:

The lesson, of course, is that those who are put in a position of stewardship, and abuse their power to hurt the servants of the Master and deny him his due, are of course due for punishment. This is one of the parables that, in the broader context, gets the Temple Authorities to start plotting against Jesus.

The Takeaway:

So at first glance, in picking texts, the Gospel Passage here would seem to be the odd duck out, right? Three texts examining the roll of the Law, and then a condemnation of temple officials. Because the Parable includes the death of the Son of the Landowner, we often think of it as a prediction of Christ's Crucifixion and leave it at that, but looking at all the texts together, I think a strong theme very quickly presents itself.

Temple Authorities, here representing clergy, church officals, and other such positions, have long been the arbiters of God's law to the people they serve. Yes, we worship the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it is Christ, ultimately, who holds the power to condemn, but in practical terms, it is these interpreters, amongst whom I number still, as a Presbytery Moderator, who often serve as the day to day arbiters.

And yet? We often screw that up royally. Just look, for instance, at the take on the Ten Commandments themselves. How out of sync with the stated goals of most Evangelical churches are they? And yet, in the name of upholding a twisted version of "the Law," so many people cause so much harm, wounding and even killing the servants of God who remind us of the laws simplicity, and yet again for those who remind us that it is not, ultimately, adherence to the Law that determines our righteousness.

So what do those who stand on images of the law, but abuse it, and twist it away from the Lawgiver's Son to serve their own needs deserve?

Of that, there is very little need to interpret.

The Danger of Looking Back

I've found myself thinking a lot about Lot's wife, lately.

If you're unfamiliar with the story, during the destruction of Sodom, the only ones willing to stand against the culture of rape in the city, Lot and his family, are evacuating as the city is destroyed. They are warned not to look back, but Lot's wife does, and is promptly transformed into a pillar of salt.

I always hated that story. First off, the role the story of Sodom plays in the Church's long history of homophobia makes you want to skip it entirely, and the callus attitude to this unnamed woman who simply wanted to look back at her home as it was being destroyed always bugged me in Sunday School.

 

Years later, I've thought a lot of the claims made in 2nd Timothy concerning all scripture being God-breathed and useful. I used to have such arguments with my friends over that passage, but in more recent times I've found a great deal of comfort in it... I still don't believe it equals inerrancy, but the USEFULNESS of passages is always good to look for... and I think I have finally found the usefulness of the woman who became a pillar of salt. 

As we sit in this time of Covid, we see a country being ravaged, not only in terms of health, but in terms of economics and social cohesion, and like Sodom, it becomes increasingly difficult to see our predicament as anything beyond the consequence of our own actions. Having embraced a culture of  rape and xenophobia, the culture of Sodom was destroyed, and likewise, having accepted a culture of personal license, partisanship, and profit at all costs, we are being devastated, with warnings of worse to come unless serious changes are implemented.

Despite the repeated failings of those in positions of leadership, America's battle with Corona virus is not without its victories, and yet even as the curve started flattening, so many are eager to fling the doors wide again, and attempt to return to the status quo, even as it continues to burn down around them.

We've been shown, it the abruptest of terms, how our way of life is flawed, and opens us up to tragedy and destruction. And yet, so many of us just want to go back to the way it was before. As I watch the numbers of those infected increase in every state that reopens prematurely, including my own home of Wisconsin, I start to see the lesson;

 

It is natural to long for a return to a state of normalcy. But when that state is literally being actively destroyed by its own sins and failings, even those who escaped the initial destruction can be pulled back into it if they decide to turn back to that status quo.

From what I have read of those suffering from Covid-19, instantaneous transformation into an inert pile of salt might actually be the preferable consequence.

The Problem with the Salvation Army

If you hang around the right corners of the internet, you've undoubtedly encountered at least an article or two on why participating in donation drives with the Salvation Army, either by ringing the bells for them or by donating to a bell ringer, can be deeply problematic, mostly driven by the simple fact of the disrespect of the Salvation Army towards the LGBTQIA+ community.

In reaction to this, the Salvation Army at the National level and numerous smaller regional levels have responded, not by recanting their theology condemning lifestyles outside of the monogamous, married, cishet norms, but by attempting to assure all that their theology ALSO respects the image of God and so they should welcome all to their shelters.

Defenders of the SA often point to those statements, shrug, and say; "Just because they disagree with a lifestyle doesn't mean they won't help." And for some members of the SA church, that might be true. But there is a problem... Churches are ultimately a collection of individuals, and in emergency situations, the flaws of an individual will often UNSTOPPABLY take precedence over any kind of national, umbrella policy.

If you have been badly wounded, and an EMT arrives to give aid, if they choose not to due to a "disagreement" with your lifestyle, there is no appeal. Sure, another source of help MIGHT arrive, but in an emergency, you are often completely at their mercy. That's why proposed laws in favor of the "religious rights" of emergency care providers are so deeply dangerous: in a critical moment, there is no time to argue about lifestyle or constitutional rights. You need help now, and if they refuse to provide it, you are out of luck.

For all of their National and or regional posturing on people from all walks of life being deserving of help, the fact of the matter is that the Salvation Army's theological stance towards the LGBTQIA+ community compromises their capacity to give Christ-like emergency aid on a FUNDAMENTAL level. For every caregiver who understands that their own, personal beliefs on appropriate relationships should not interfere with offering the love of God to another, as repeatedly commanded in the scriptures, those who do not understand that are still placed in a position where they will turn away someone in need, and in that moment, the money the organization has been given has been misused. These aren't isolated incidents, but instead inevitable consequences of the theology behind the Salvation Army.

Even with all of the good that they do (and they do a LOT of good for a lot of people) such a fundamental flaw should be a dealbreaker. Your money is better spent going elsewhere than their kennels, your time is better spent doing things other than ringing their bells, because despite their PROBABLY good intentions, the fact is that until they finally reevaluate who they are on a fundamental, theological level, their ability to provide aid to those in need will be tainted in a way that shouldn't be ignored in the name of the Christmas feel-goods.

When participating in any charity work, especially in areas concerning emergency care, it is vitally important to understand the underlying ideologies at work. With religious organizations, that means knowing their theology. And if their theology condemns the lifestyles of a group most likely to find themselves in need of emergency shelter, food, or other care, then they are a bad choice to provide said care.

You wouldn't put someone who vocally despises animals in charge of a pet shelter. How much more careful should we be when it comes to the care of those who bear the very image of God?

A Parent's Calling

"My daughter just came out of the closet to me as a Lesbian, and I don't know what to do."

I hadn't been PLANNING on doing Pastoral Care. I was just getting a haircut. But the Lord tends not to care much about days off or personal schedules, and this man, likely attending a church that wouldn't be particularly jazzed about this state of affairs, heard that I was also a Pastor and thought he'd try me out first.

His daughter, his little girl, his perfect princess... a lesbian. His stylist had just shook her head and said something to the tune of "Well, kids these days are different," and he looked at me, clearly expecting a sermon on the failings of a parent and a command to get his daughter back in line.

He certainly wasn't expecting the first thing I said: "First of all, Congratulations."

The room froze. I feel somewhat fortunate that I hadn't said it right as my stylist was making a clip or I might have lost some blood. He stared at me like I had just turned into a duck. "What?"

"Your daughter. She came out to you. That means that, somewhere along the line, you did something in your parenting to give her reason to believe, or at least hope, that her Dad would be loving and understanding with that information. Not everyone manages that. So Congratulations. Somewhere along the line, you did the right thing, fulfilling the baptism vows you made, and you can see that now. Well done."

The room stayed quiet for a bit. Haircuts resumed. "But... what do I do?"

"What you've been trying to do for her whole life." I said with a smile. "Love her, support her, and show her that the trust she just put in you was well placed. There are folks who might bad mouth her, attack her, treat her as lesser for who she is. If anyone had done that to her up to now, what would her Daddy's response have been?"

"I'd have punched them in the teeth."

I laugh. "Or at least make sure they are VERY much aware that your daughter, a beloved child of God, deserves their respect, and that if they can't show that respect to her, they certainly shouldn't expect any from her family. You're proud of her, and if they can't handle that, that's on them, not on her."

He nodded a bit, had a bit of a smile on his face. "Always told her not to settle."

"Good job, Dad." I give him a little fist bump. "Make sure she hears that before she goes home. And if you said anything between when she told you and now that might make her think you love her less, apologize for it quick, and make it right. We all make mistakes."

He got up and paid, and my stylist went back to trying to tame the incredible puff of hair I'd allowed to accumulate on my own head. "My niece..." she said, hesitantly. "She's a Lesbian. But her Dad doesn't know."

I look up at her sadly. "That's her choice."

"But he could..."

"It's her choice. He must not have made her think he could handle it. But she did tell you?"

"Yeah, ages ago. Back when she was in college."

"Does she still talk to you?"

"All the time! What should I do?"

"Talk to her. And love her. If she needs more help, she'll let you know. Oh, and by the way..."

"Yeah?"

"Congratulations, Aunt. Good job."

----------------------------

Sin and the Idolatry of the Pro-Life Movement

For some time now I have found myself frustrated by a repeated pattern in inter-church relationships. This is the repeated abdication of sin by progressives as a concept, wherein we defend those labeled as "sinners" by the conservatives, and refuse to call out conservatives on their own sinful behavior, usually in the name of unity.

Despite the frequency with which the conservative wings of the church throw around the term, Sin is a fairly complicated subject. The scriptures make clear that there isn't a list of actions which define the concept of sin in its entirety, certain activities that, if avoided, assures someone of a sin free life. Yes, there are actions that can be sinful, but context always matters. For instance, the Ten Commandments list murder among the Thou Shalt Nots, and yet the people of God in Scripture are, from time to time, called upon to kill.

It's also important to note that not every commandment of God is a Thou Shalt Not. There are also quite a few Thou Shalts, making it possible to sin by inaction as much as by inaction. And as always, context matters. We are repeatedly called upon to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for those in need, but giving to feed an addiction, or to empower an abuser, are not in following with the message of the Scriptures either.

All of this to say that in order to really talk about Sin, one must be willing to admit to its all encompassing nature and complexity. An act that seems sinful on the surface might be commanded by God, an act that seems righteous might be a heinous crime before the Lord.

This, of course, is often the problem with preaching about sin. A preacher faces their congregation, wanting to teach them the right way, and people in general want more of an answer than; "Well, it's complicated." To assure people that such a thing as righteousness and sin still exist, preachers often reach for examples that seem the most rock solid, a bedrock of morality upon which their congregation can build, (forgetting, of course, that such a bedrock has already been laid in Christ.)

And for the past century or so, the best sources of this bedrock sin has been the LGBTQIA+ community and... Abortion.

I mean, how much clearer could it be? We're talking about babies. Don't you love babies? Don't you want to protect them, especially from someone so horrible as being willing to kill them from within their own bodies? It's typically a pretty easy sell, and so we are provided with a rock-solid example, and even better, more than half of our population aren't even physically capable of committing it, so little worry of pointing an uncomfortable finger at someone you depend upon for money.

Now, that alone is bad enough... after all, Sin is something we all struggle with, and so building a theology of Sin around such a specialized action that has no direct bearing on the lives of a majority of your congregation is not just cowardly from the perspective of the preacher, its directly harmful to others, allowing us to separate the world into "Righteous" and "Sinners" instead of the Biblical view, where we are all Beloved Sinners.

The appeal is obvious, of course. Not only do you get to assert your authority by being "tough on sin," you can rally your congregation into xenophobia, giving them an other to target their aggression at, never mind the fact that the repeated Scriptural Command towards the "other" is to care for them and protect them.

But it hasn't even stopped there. Actions taken on behalf of the pro-life movement have repeatedly abandoned the commands of the Scripture in the name of the end justifying the means, to the point where, in the faith life of many so-called Christians, opposition to Abortion has supplanted worship of Christ as the single most important aspect of their faith. (Thou Shalt Have no Other Gods Before Me.)

We've all seen it. Undercover videos falsely doctored to portray workers at Abortion Clinics or Planned Parenthood as trafficking in the bodies of slaughtered fetuses. (Thou Shalt not bear false witness.) Snipers killing Abortion providers, clinics shot up. (Thou shalt not Kill.) Women simply seeking affordable healthcare being called whores, screamed at, profiled and attacked. (What you do to the least of these, you do to me.)

But it goes deeper. Repeated debates over the start of life skip over the fact that the individual who is pregnant, has undoubtedly started life, and who also undoubtedly bears the image of God, is treated as nothing more than an incubator for the fetus, their own humanity and rights almost utterly ignored at the very heart of the debate, transformed into bystanders in their own bodies.

Can one build a scriptural argument against abortion? Certainly. But sacrificing every other Christian ideal in pursuit of that single, highly debateable, point of theology is the very definition of idolatry. And I'm not talking about the cutesy "is it idolatry for our kids to spend so much time on social media" crap that circles these days. It is literally replacing your God with a single concept, a concept that so supercedes your faith that any other command is trumped in the life of faith.

We've been bad at naming such behavior as sin. And that needs to change.