Prop 8, Anne Rice, and the Indispensable Mission of God

August 19, 2010

The past 10 days have presented us with a unique opportunity to pause over our identity and purpose as God’s people living in this world.  At one level this is nothing new, simply a rehashing of our generation’s questions about faith and freedom and politics and tolerance.  However, for our church in particular that is asking what it means to engage in God’s mission, the recent events have accentuated the necessity of such self-examination.

I have two developments in mind.  First is Anne Rice, popular atheistic-vampire-author-turned-Christian, who last Wednesday made this announcement: “Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being ‘Christian’ or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.”

Rice further qualified, “In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.”

This is provocative, to say the least.  Leaving aside the “Can she do that?!?” response, let us hear what Ms. Rice is saying.  To her, the church in our day, specifically the evangelical and Catholic church, is essentially defined by what it is against: gays, feminists, Democrats, etc.  And she cannot continue to affiliate with such an organization.

The second event emerged in the news this Wednesday, namely a US district court judge’s decision to overturn California’s Proposition 8, which states, “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”  Of course, this will likely go to the Supreme Court, so nothing is final, but the ruling serves as a litmus test to determine whether Ms. Rice’s critique truly applies to us.

Here is the test: when we heard the news about Proposition 8 being overturned, did we feel this as a blow to the church and to the mission of God?  Setting aside all our convictions about how our country should function, was this political event a setback for the kingdom of God?

If we answer in the affirmative, then perhaps Anne Rice was right in her decision to abandon this institution.  Perhaps we have become defined by our antagonisms and are worthy of disbanding.  However–speaking only for Whitton Avenue Bible Church–I cannot imagine that our pursuit of engaging God’s mission will put us in such a category.

As we have seen throughout the story of the Bible, the mission of God is to make himself known in all the earth through his people.  Thus our purpose in this world is nothing short of displaying the character of God–his mercy, loyalty, holiness, creativity, wisdom, kindness, etc.–through our relationships within the church and toward our neighbors.  Essential to this mission is our proclamation of God’s holiness and impending judgment of sinners, his provision of deliverance from this wrath through his own Son’s death, and his inaugurated work of redemption and New Creation through his Son’s resurrection.

Within this context it would be accurate to say that the church defines homosexual activity as sinful behavior.  Likewise, our embrace of God as creator will be labeled “anti-science” by many.  These are hot points over which secular media love to hover.  But as far as it depends on us, we must never allow these “anti-” points to ultimately define us.  What defines us is our commitment to make our glorious God known in the world through our life together and through our proclamation of his truth.

Let us prove Anne Rice to be wrong.  Let us not equivocate in our Biblical convictions about contemporary issues, but neither let us allow such issues to become central to our identity.  May the Spirit so work in our church that the singular testimony about our community is this: the church is where we see what God is like.

Pastor Chris