I like to combine Luke 4:18-19 and James 1:27- chapter 2. James contrasts worthless and pure religion; I am afraid much of the American church falls under the worthless/deceptive religion category. Worthless religion:
* it honors the rich and dishonors the poor.
* it favors the rich, even in the church.
* it substitutes faith talk for love/justice action.
* it ignores the oppression of oppressed widows and orphans.
* it substitutes clever worldly ideology for biblical wisdom/truth.
A pure religion church is described as:
* honoring the poor and oppressed.
* making ministry among the poor and oppressed its top priority.
* exposing the oppression of the poor by the rich.
* combining love and justice in behalf of the poor.
* insisting on a combination of faith and works.
* cultivating a wisdom based on truth, not ideology.
* a community of equals that does favor anyone or group.
What about the modern American church? Lee Harper, a black woman born and raised in Mississippi, expressed the continuing American dilemma with the following one-liner:
"For injustice ran deep and cloaked itself well among those things that appear just."
Questions for the white American church:
* If a church is not practicing pure religion, it is a predatory social institution?
* Are poor communities the victims of not only predatory lending but also worthless churches?
* Are our churches full of people who are hearers, but not doers?
* Do they hear fine expositions of the Word but are seldom guided into disciplined and sustained involvement in poor and oppressed communities?
* Do we need a new language, phrases, to capture the biblical necessity for community involvement such as church/community, pure/poor or spirituality/justice, or faith/works?
* Are American churches full of religious corpses? See The Message.
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