How do we respond to Christian Nationalism?

By Rev. Heather J. Blais, Rector

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How does the world know we are followers of Jesus?

It’s not a rhetorical question; let’s talk about it for a minute. How does the world know we are followers of Jesus?

<worshipers respond>

Love. They will know we are Christians by our Love. 

Jesus says it quite clearly in today’s gospel.  “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34b-35). 

The context of this commandment makes it even more striking. Jesus and his disciples have gathered for their last supper. Judas has left; betraying Jesus.  He knows what Judas has done, and that the cross awaits him. In light of such knowledge and pain, Jesus gives the disciples one final lesson. When the powers of this world strike down the vulnerable, we are us to respond with love. Because that love is how we will be identified to the world as Jesus’ followers. We are called to walk in love, proclaiming in our words and action a Love that is stronger even than death. 

Unfortunately, right now there is a large movement of people in our country who self-describe as Christian. Yet many of their behaviors and actions are not grounded in love. Jesus' name is being used as a weapon to spread fear, scarcity, hate, and lies. Something that surely devastates and angers God, and puts a stumbling block before the Church’s mission and ministry. 

The Episcopal Church leans upon scripture, tradition, and reason, which have taught us that God is the ultimate Source of Love. We witness God’s Love whenever we engage with creation, or look to the life, death, and resurrection of God’s precious child. God’s Love is on every page of scripture. It leaves many of us wondering, how are we called to respond to Jesus’ name being co-opted in such a harmful way? How do we respond to this stumbling block?

Let’s start by remembering this is history repeating itself. There is a long history of people in power - particularly from within the Church - who have taken Jesus’ name and used it for their own personal gain.  In the Middle Ages the Church in Europe undertook a military campaign known as the Crusades to resecure control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Later, the Church granted permission for Europeans to take and settle land in the Americas, causing generational harm to the Indigenous tribes whose land we stole. So while what is unfolding is painful to watch, it’s helpful to remember the long and harried history of Jesus’ name being used to justify unjust practices.

The week before last, the clergy of our diocese gathered with the Rev. Dr. Canon Stephanie Spellers, one of the Church’s leading thinkers around 21st century mission and ministry.* She spent some time reflecting with us on what the rest of the world calls Christian Nationalism, and she calls Christo Nationalism. This shift may be a small difference, but what it does is blatantly make clear that this movement that has taken hold in our country, is anything but Christian. 

A colleague I deeply admire went on to reflect - while we don’t use this language anymore, Christo Nationalism is heresy.  The early Church faced a variety of heresies as Jesus’ followers navigated how to make sense of Jesus Christ. One heresy was Docetism; which was the idea that Jesus Christ did not have a real human body, and only appeared to have one - like a ghost. Or Tritheism; which is the idea that there are three Gods rather than one God in three persons. 

I found the idea of Christo Nationalism as a heresy incredibly liberating. Whatever we call it, let’s acknowledge what it really is, a heresy. A belief or doctrine that is presented as Christian, but is deemed false by more than one denomination or branch of the Jesus Movement because its teachings are contrary to the teachings of Christ.** Then the question becomes, how do we help the rest of the world know there are followers of Jesus who reject the heresy of Christo Nationalism?

Stephanie Spellers suggests we need to boldly reclaim our identity as the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement, which is: “…the ongoing community of people who center their lives on Jesus and following him into loving, liberating and life-giving relationship with God, each other and creation.”***  We are known as Jesus’ disciples by our Love. 

So what does it look like to be people of Love? Spellers suggests Love looks like:  Generosity. Gratitude. Freedom. Resilience. Curiosity. Joy. Bringing these qualities into our day-to-day lives helps us to be in tune with the loving, liberating, and life-giving God that took on human flesh in the life of Jesus and taught us how to live.  When we can do this, we are a Church that looks and acts like Jesus.*** 

Whether people grew up attending Church or not, the wider culture has a general understanding that Jesus primarily taught about love.  Many people within the wider culture see how Jesus’ name is being co-opted to spread hate and fear. To deny gender affirming healthcare, to try and take land that is not ours, and to come like a thief in the night to steal people away for deportation. They do not need to have read scripture to know: this is not Jesus’s Way.  We know this is not Jesus’ Way. 

So how do we bridge that disconnect? How do we help the world know there is a Jesus Movement, and branches like ours in the Episcopal Church, which strive our best to look and act like Jesus? We begin by grounding ourselves in prayer. There is one prayer that is proclaimed both on Good Friday and Easter Vigil, because it is a truth we as the Church need to know and feel in our bones. 

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.****

This is a prayer that asks us to lean into our faith and the greater truth that God is guiding us, and will help us to be brave and bold, even when it feels impossible. Empowering us to be agents of God’s Love. 

We cannot afford to be half-hearted about God’s Love. We can’t be kind to the person in the next pew, and then go to the grocery store and dress down the clerk in the  checkout line for not satisfying our needs. We need to be Love everywhere, with everyone. 

This is hard work. There are some behaviors it is hard to see past, to remember underneath that behavior is a fragile person, made in the image and likeness of God. In times like these, God calls on us to double and triple down in our prayer lives and spiritual practices. The Jesus Movement needs us to remind the world what God’s Love looks like. 

As a community we seek to offer Love to the world through the beauty, healing, and spiritual nourishment of our shared common worship life. We strive to embody God’s Love in our feeding ministries, our companioning ministry with those marginally housed or unhoused, our essential’s pantry, and through our fiber skill-share program. On June 7, we get to proclaim God’s Love by standing outside at the Pride Parade and cheering for all of God’s beloved across gender and sexuality spectrums. 

In our private faith journey we need to routinely reexamine our priorities. As we prepare to head into the rhythms of summer, now is as good a time as any to enter that season with intentional reflection. Asking ourselves: Do we feel nourished by God’s love or are we exhausted, lonely, and heartbroken? 

If it is a time when God’s Love feels far off, we might simplify our daily routine, minimize our digital engagement, spend time outside, and lean on our faith community. 

If it is a time when God’s Love feels accessible, we might reflect further on where we are practicing generosity and gratitude, where we see freedom and resilience in our faith, and how we can continue to cultivate joy and curiosity. 

Because if we are going to be Love, we need to dwell in God’s Love all the more. 

What if each of us at James and Andrew were to bring a shared intention into this summer? A shared commitment to show the world what the Jesus Movement of Love is all about. 

In the morning, before we rise, we can prayerfully ask: How could my words, actions, and heart reflect the loving, liberating, life-giving way of Jesus?*** 

And in the evening, we can ask with genuine curiosity and no judgment: When did I see myself or others being loving, liberating or life-giving today? Where do I wish I’d seen or practiced Jesus’ Way?***

Let us collectively in our worship, mission, and ministry be discerning how we at James and Andrew can continue to find ways to together share the Good News of God’s Love with a world aching for it. Amen. 

Lectionary Readings for 5 Easter:

• Acts 11:1-18
• Revelation 21:1-6
• John 13:31-35
• Psalm 148

* https://stbarts.org/connect/clergy-and-staff/member-detail/1651780/
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_heresies
*** https://www.episcopalchurch.org/jesus-movement/
**** https://www.bcponline.org/

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