In Praise Of (Some) Evangelicals
I went to bed last night still grousing in my mind about the attacks on the website and who I believe was responsible.
Starting this site 25 years ago has led to all manner of attacks on me, some of which I’ve never written of, but they cost me greatly.
All of the attacks were from evangelicals…evangelicals have become the monsters under the bed that are trying to do us all in.
In the midst of my churning grievances , I thought I heard the Spirit say “remember your baptism”.
Martin Luther used to say that phrase to those who were struggling with assurance…but that is not why I was to remember.
I grew up in a tiny village at the base of the mountain that blew up and created Crater Lake.
The official population at the time was 2400 people…all of whom knew each other and each others business.
While I prefer to remember the place as idyllic, it was actually rife with all the issues that any community has, though we tolerated each other in ways that are foreign today.
The little town had four active churches, but no one thought much about church…the tavern was always busy and the place where real business was done.
There were however, a few people who everyone quietly respected..who were above reproach and reproaching them would result in physical damage to your face if you were an adult or corporal punishment if you were a child.
They were held in the highest regard…because their character and their lives earned such regard.
I especially recall the Powers and the Gardners.
Both bi-vocational pastors…because the congregations couldn’t support them. One, a Nazarene, the other a prominent figure in the Assemblies of God…and the man who baptized me.
My baptism is a matter of deep mystery to me…my family did not attend his church. It was also quite an undertaking…this contingent of family members and Brother Powers drove up to Crater Lake, then hiked the mile and a quarter down to the waters…where I was baptized and in the process became the youngest child ever taken to the water.
No one in the group believed in infant baptism.
Because much of the party was grossly overweight, I’ve often wondered how they got back out of the caldera…it’s not an easy hike. I digress…
I was two weeks old at the time and I’m still proud that I was baptized by Brother Powers.
That was what I was supposed to remember…the deep respect I had for the man and his life.
Rev. Gardner quietly, almost invisibly, spent his life doing whatever God put in front of him.
Those were the evangelicals I grew up with… they defined for me what a Christian life was supposed to look like.
They held the community together by living godly lives in front of it.
We’ve seen it here over the years…when certain people commented there was a whiff of heaven in their comments.
Linn is that way…
There is a part of me that suspects that there are more out there like the ones I’ve named then there are wearing MAGA hats and making noise.
They are just out there doing whatever God puts in front of them, holding communities together with their lives.
This kind never made much noise…they didn’t have to.
I hope my suspicions are true…those kind advance the kingdom…quietly.
Michael,
There are more of those kind of people than we know. They do the work of the gospel in Word and deed. I was blessed to have many people like that in my life-the couple who let me join their family on weekends as a teen as a shelter from my family’s domestic violence and alcoholism; my great aunt who lived with the results of polio and kept encouraging me to keep walking after each hip surgery; the Colombians who sheltered me after my colleagues were kidnapped in ‘89 (they were returned after 3 months)…and many more. They taught me that faith came by the Word and doing. Many of them are with the Lord now, but I keep meeting others.
Linn,
I think the quiet faithful ones are too busy plowing hard ground to bother with the current crises…
I always think of the lady who first invited our family to church and who taught my Sunday School class, Mrs. Marjorie Pence. She made a flannel-graph come alive with the Jesus stories that she herself treasured. Faithful, not famous, except in my heart, as she’s the first person that introduced me to our hero, Jesus.
I too believe (and desperately need to believe… and hope) there are still many, many Mrs. Pences out there, holding babies in nurseries, anonymously and quietly dropping bags of groceries on a family’s doorstep who didn’t know how they’re gonna make it, sitting quietly listening and praying with someone who’s brokenhearted. Or eyes all aglow as she enjoys just being with Jesus in the quiet of a still morning, armored up and advancing the Kingdom of Jesus with every step she takes.
Simply sharing and showing Jesus as best they can, just people following Jesus into the broken, hurting places and caring only to hear His voice.
A non – anxious, Jesus honoring, Spirit filled lover of souls. I can’t think of anything better to want than following Jesus like that.
Rob,
Well said!
Michael,
They’re out there…I know several. Our pastor for our Spanish congregation has put together resources and an action plan in case of “immigration interference” issues. A missionary couple my church supports in Minnesota works with refugees that are in constant danger of deportation. They have forums, suggestions for protecting children, safe spaces, etc. We have a guy in my church who is constantly working with men just out of our county jail…they’re just the quiet types who do the right thing. My church also sponsors two after-school Bible clubs at two local elementary schools that are high minority/poverty level enrollment. They provide “respite care” on the weekly early release day, but also the truth of God’s Word and fun activities for low-income children. The ones I know don’t make a lot of noise. They just roll up their sleeves and do the Lord’s work for the least of these.