Can Jesus save the United States?
Is Jesus big enough, strong enough, true enough to save our beloved country from our divisions, our violence, and our deep and profound suspicions?
Can Jesus offer us a way forward, a way to national renewal, to a 21st century awakening?
Can Jesus bring us back from the brink of civil war to a place of civility, collaboration, and consensus?
I don’t know.
I know Jesus can save you and me and lots of other people, if by that we mean forgive our sins, put within us a desire for God, and give us the means to treat even a stranger with kindness. I know Jesus can do that. We all know Jesus can do that. For many people in the United States, that is what is meant by Jesus our Savior.
Is that all Jesus can do?
Can Jesus bring national revival? And if so, what would it look like?
Some are answering my question with a resounding Yes, and when we ask for more details, they invoke our founders, the Madisons, and Washingtons, and Franklins.
I like these three men and honor them and their contemporaries. They did a good job of what they set out to do … create a new democratic republic. Some people like their religion also, but not me. Some people like that 17th century version of Christianity, but not me.
Most of these men kept slaves and denied them citizenship in the country and a place at the communion table. They did almost the same with the women: no voting, no service, no dignity. Don’t get me started on the native inhabitants.
No, those founding fathers did not understand what it meant to follow Jesus. I don’t want their version of Jesus, and our nation does not need it.
Some people today, perhaps many people (given how many have quit church!) look more favorably upon the Jesus of Thomas Jefferson. We know a lot about his version of Jesus. Not only did he keep slaves and subjugate women, Jefferson edited the gospel accounts of Jesus to make the man of Galilee more like, well, Thomas Jefferson himself. He cut out everything he could not explain or embrace. Literally. He cut up the Bible and created a savior in his own image.
I don’t like that Jesus either. Too secular. Too predictable. Too tame. Too weak to do what really needs to be done, then or now.
I am reading the gospel accounts of Jesus again. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I am asking new questions, looking for fresh clues, needing the kind of Jesus I have not really needed before.
I need a Jesus that can save our country.
I wonder if Jesus can do that. Some people are looking to the voting booth, and that is not a bad place to look. Others are looking to organizations, movements, and events, even parades and protests. Some of these might provide some help.
But I wonder: can Jesus help us? Can Jesus make a difference in our families, our neighborhoods, our businesses, even our legislatures? Can the blood of Jesus wash away our disgust for our neighbors, our indifference to the needs of strangers, our determination to dominate somebody and everybody?
I’d like to explore this idea with people, people who think and live different than I do, people whose notion of renewal and revival would strike me as strange, people who love Jesus but find in him a very different character than I do. I’d like to talk with some people like that, open our Bibles to the stories and sayings of Jesus, and ask each other, “Can the Jesus of this gospel narrative help us be the country we need to be for the world, for the church, for us?
I’d like to give this a try. How about you? I am thinking: how can I set up and host just this kind of conversation.
Can Jesus save the United States?
Is Jesus big enough, strong enough, true enough to save our beloved country from our divisions, our violence, and our deep and profound suspicions?
Can Jesus offer us a way forward, a way to national renewal, to a 21st century awakening?
Can Jesus bring us back from the brink of civil war to a place of civility, collaboration, and consensus?
I don’t know.
I know Jesus can save you and me and lots of other people, if by that we mean forgive our sins, put within us a desire for God, and give us the means to treat even a stranger with kindness. I know Jesus can do that. We all know Jesus can do that. For many people in the United States, that is what is meant by Jesus our Savior.
Is that all Jesus can do?
Can Jesus bring national revival? And if so, what would it look like?
Some are answering my question with a resounding Yes, and when we ask for more details, they invoke our founders, the Madisons, and Washingtons, and Franklins.
I like these three men and honor them and their contemporaries. They did a good job of what they set out to do … create a new democratic republic. Some people like their religion also, but not me. Some people like that 17th century version of Christianity, but not me.
Most of these men kept slaves and denied them citizenship in the country and a place at the communion table. They did almost the same with the women: no voting, no service, no dignity. Don’t get me started on the native inhabitants.
No, those founding fathers did not understand what it meant to follow Jesus. I don’t want their version of Jesus, and our nation does not need it.
Some people today, perhaps many people (given how many have quit church!) look more favorably upon the Jesus of Thomas Jefferson. We know a lot about his version of Jesus. Not only did he keep slaves and subjugate women, Jefferson edited the gospel accounts of Jesus to make the man of Galilee more like, well, Thomas Jefferson himself. He cut out everything he could not explain or embrace. Literally. He cut up the Bible and created a savior in his own image.
I don’t like that Jesus either. Too secular. Too predictable. Too tame. Too weak to do what really needs to be done, then or now.
I am reading the gospel accounts of Jesus again. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I am asking new questions, looking for fresh clues, needing the kind of Jesus I have not really needed before.
I need a Jesus that can save our country.
I wonder if Jesus can do that. Some people are looking to the voting booth, and that is not a bad place to look. Others are looking to organizations, movements, and events, even parades and protests. Some of these might provide some help.
But I wonder: can Jesus help us? Can Jesus make a difference in our families, our neighborhoods, our businesses, even our legislatures? Can the blood of Jesus wash away our disgust for our neighbors, our indifference to the needs of strangers, our determination to dominate somebody and everybody?
I’d like to explore this idea with people, people who think and live different than I do, people whose notion of renewal and revival would strike me as strange, people who love Jesus but find in him a very different character than I do. I’d like to talk with some people like that, open our Bibles to the stories and sayings of Jesus, and ask each other, “Can the Jesus of this gospel narrative help us be the country we need to be for the world, for the church, for us?
I’d like to give this a try. How about you? I am thinking: how can I set up and host just this kind of conversation.
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