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Maybe last night’s sermon @ NCC that Christmas is “jihad” went too far.

Perhaps better put: Christmas is an act of war against evil and suffering – I cited Greg Boyd briefly here and his thoughts on how the kingdom of God exists to aggressively counter the current status quo of a jacked-up mess of a world we live in.

So yesterday’s sermon was the product of years of wrangling, anger, sadness, questioning “why?”, and reading lots of books on the topic of human suffering and divine involvement (theodicy). It should be made clear tho. My sadness is reflective of the predicament of all of human kind, not just my own problems.

While I think I may have accurately diagnosed the problem of our exile; I may have left a loose end: What exactly does it look like for the Church to “end” exile (or evil)? This is harder to address. Some examples of this “eradication of evil” that I can think of: William Carey‘s (successful) fight to abolish widow-burning in India. The Carter Center’s efforts to eradicate (and not just treat) guinea worm, the historic preservation of civilization from the Dark Ages stemming from one kidnapped boy named Saint Patrick.

I think it is a matter of a subtle shift in perspective. Whenever the Church takes up some noble cause, often I hear (disappointingly) the words “advocacy” and “awareness”. While noble, these things are not ends in themselves. I think it’s important for us to understand that the ultimate objective of the kingdom is a little more final and complete than merely “getting the word out”.

Lastly, it should be mentioned that it’s not “social gospel” that I’m talking about. Global evangelization and church planting is the objective; we don’t neglect the Great Commission. But, just like our salvation is evidenced by good works, our mission is evidenced by great deeds of eradicating evil and “unnecessary suffering” as the Carter Center coins it. May we as the Church of the 21st Century play a greater role in ending suffering AS WELL AS extending the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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