I AM AN EVANGELICAL

The word “evangelical” has been tossed around lately both in the church, especially centering on the events that took place at General Convention and since then, and in the secular sphere during this last presidential election. It has been tossed so much that its present definition has been so severely limited that it does not refer to who I am anymore. I am an evangelical. I take the Gospel, all of the Gospel, all of Scripture in fact, seriously. It is the basis of my faith. Unfortunately, that is not how those who proudly call themselves “evangelicals” view scripture. They say they do, but they do not. They ignore what they find too difficult to defend and often defend to the death what has very little scriptural importance.

     What is even more unfortunate is that we Episcopalians have allowed this to happen right under our noses and have done nothing about it. What is worse, is that we have allowed a segment of our own church to define how that term is to be interpreted. Perhaps I am in error, but the only Gospel area that truly seems to be of concern for present-day evangelicals is that of sex. Morality is defined as primarily concerned about things sexual in nature: homosexuality, abortion, stem cell research. Nothing else seems to matter. One is a true evangelical and thus a true Christian if one is opposed to these three issues. One is wild-eyed liberal, etc., etc. etc., if one in any way believes otherwise.

     I believe otherwise. I am an evangelical. I also believe that the Gospels, Jesus, Scripture speak very little about matters of sex but speak volumes about issues I heard nothing about during the past election campaign nor do I hear coming from any avowed evangelical in the church – issues like those Jesus addresses in Matthew 25: issues of poverty and illness, issues that are of ultimate concern to the last and least and lost of this world but seem to be of little or no concern to those who claim evangelical rightness.

     Want to know what is really immoral? Over forty million people in this country without health insurance, thirty million children living in poverty – that is immoral. That is wrong. Issues about war, about the stewardship of our environment, about justice are all Gospel issues, evangelical issues. Those are issues our church has always fought for because we know them to be Gospel imperatives and not simply politically expedient issues. In fact, it is because they are not politically expedient that no one seems to bring them up for discussion. Jesus says that the only discussion he will have with us when we meet him in eternity will be not centered around issues of sex but solely what we did or did not do to the least of his brothers and sisters.

     None of this is to say sexual issues do not matter. Of course they do. It is to say that these are not the only issues that matter or that they are the most important issues facing our church and our world. They are not. It’s not even close. They are truly non-issues when placed side-by-side to the Gospel/evangelical imperative of Matthew 25. It is also to say that as along as we continue to expend our time and energies over issues that will not be resolved in our lifetime, Jesus’ brothers and sisters will continue to die from starvation, lack of health care, and neglect here in this country and the world over. I am not looking forward to trying to explain that to Jesus. WJP