"Anyone can give a hungry person a sandwich. We have to give them Jesus." This statement by a conservative evangelical got me thinking of this online conversation with Rev. Hybels as the "Jesus vs. Sandwich" debate. I shouldn’t speak for Rev. Hybels, but my guess is that this simple dichotomy won’t work for either of us. That said, framing the debate as "Jesus vs. Sandwich" does raise the question of the primary message of Christianity. Was Jesus’ mission on earth to save individual souls for a future eternal life in heaven or to redeem and transform human lives here and now? To put this in practical terms, if it’s 9 am on Saturday and you have three free hours before lunch to be a good Christian, how should you best spend your time: Talking to people about salvation through Jesus in response to John 3:16, or helping to change society in response to Luke 4:18?
My great-grandfather, Walter Rauschenbusch, is something of a lightning rod for this debate. He was the most famous proponent of a school of Christian thought often called the "social gospel," whose mission was to use the power of the church to reform society to meet the needs of the poor. Because I was raised and have served in mainline churches that essentially welcomed Rauschenbusch’s social gospel ideas one hundred years ago, I have largely received admiring comments from pastors or theologians who recognize the Rauschenbusch name (although it was later shortened to lose the 'c's, apparently in an effort to make the name more American). They often tell me how important my great-grandfather’s work was for them in their own faith journey. We hear echoes of this in a new edition of his 1907 book, now titled Christianity and the Social Crisis in the 21st Century. In an essay accompanying the reissued book, Jim Wallis (founder of Sojourners) writes: “As a young evangelical, I was hungry for a Christian social ethic that focused on the poor, on social and racial equality, and on peace. Walter Rauschenbusch was a breath of fresh air.”
What I did not hear growing up were the equally passionate denunciations of Rauschenbusch. I later learned, however, that many Christians feel my great-grandfather’s teachings corrupted the Gospel by focusing on improving society rather than saving souls. Christian author Brian McLaren recently wrote to me, "Like a lot of people from evangelical backgrounds, in my childhood and youth I was taught that the ‘social gospel’ was nothing but evil. I heard it a thousand times in sermons."
Clearly there is a lot at stake here. Those of us who call ourselves Christian want to make sure that we are living out God’s claim on our lives. When we pronounce Jesus as Lord, we are accepting his dominion in everything we do. How well we act out our faith has consequences for our societies as well as for the eternal wellbeing of our souls.
Rauschenbusch in his time, and I today, feel that actions taken to carry out Jesus’ commandments in this life are equally important as faith statements accepting Jesus. That is, we should try to realize the promise of the kingdom of God in this world as much as we proclaim Jesus as our personal savior for the forgiveness of our individual sins. It is through concrete action in this life that we most clearly experience the salvation that Jesus offers both right now and eternally.
While each of us experience God’s call personally, the way we most fully act out that call is socially. Jesus has invited us to live in the kingdom of God right now, and to transform our society to better reflect God’s will on earth. We pray this with Jesus when we pray “Our Father in Heaven – Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” As Rauschenbusch writes: “There is no request here that we be saved from earthliness and go to heaven, rather we pray here that heaven may be duplicated on earth through the moral and spiritual transformation of humanity, both in its personal and corporate life.” Our central prayer in Christian life implores that God’s kingdom be established in this world. That means that the Gospel is both personal and social, spiritual and material.
The sandwich is Jesus, and Jesus is the sandwich.
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Well I would say just do what God created you to do in that one hour. Do what you are good at, what feels natural to you. Feeding the poor and preaching to them are both good things. You almost never know what somebody would prefer.
i want to share with the readers about a Christian i knew that taught me more than any other, at any time. i had done mission trips, i had served at church as a Sunday School Teacher, i had accepted Christ as my Savior at a young age. i pray every day, i talk with the Lord, i Walk with Him, i try so hard to set an example of Christianity to all who don't know and would ask. i truly believe the best way to show it is to live it.
One day i was helping out "this" Christian, who came down with brain cancer, with her appointments at the hospital. She was a Christian from the age of around 4th grade. She made no bones about it, and even told people that they were welcome to come to "her room in heaven" when we are all there.
She had a gap in between a blood draw, and an MRI, and we decided to go to McDonald's to get away from hospital food. Two other girlfriends met with us, and joined us for dinner. We were in the downtown area of a large city, and the McDondald's actually had a couch and plush chairs to hang around on.
As we sat there, a vagrant woman came into the restaraunt. She walked up to us all first, as we were the closest to the doors. She said, "ya got anything ta eat! i'm starving. ya got money, anything?"
i got very uncomfortable and started to say no, or go away, and all of a sudden my before mentioned friend (the Christian) said, "yeah, i am done, you can have this," and handed the vagrant woman who was filthy and missing teeth, her hamburger and fries. She took one more sip of her soda and gave her that too. We (the other 3 of us) looked at each other, and realizing we weren't that hungry, gave her our food too. Then my friend that had joined us, gave her money so she could buy a little more.
i will never forget that woman, but especially my Christian friend, that showed she didn't care where someone came from or how they approached.
The vagrant never even thanked my wonderful friend. Even though she was bald, and had a huge scar on her head where the Drs. tried to save her. She passed away sadly on April 25th of this year. She was a Christian though and had the faith of a child, believing in not judging, but doing her best to help others. Even with herself in so much need.
Her name? Kathryn Marie Morris. She was my daughter. She died 6 days after her 13th birthday.
Katie was the example of a Christian. She always cared about how others were doing with her diagnosis other than herself. She was always worried about how her father and sister and i were going to do with all that was going on.
She made a huge difference in this world. She changed alot of people and their awareness of how precious a gift we are given by God. She never was worried about where she was going to be after she died. She just said she would be in her room and waiting.
As her mother, i look forward to the day that i am reunited with her in heaven. i know i will know her and she me, and we will embrace and be together. i look forward to her showing me around.
Jesus is the BREAD OF LIFE which has both "salvation" and "social ministry" understandings. I have read that BREAD FOR THE WORLD(hunger advocacy organization) was started by a pastor, whose presiding at the Sunday after Sunday celebration of Holy Communion, had implications for him about those who were hungering for food. In the best expressions of followers of Jesus Christ, there has been an emphasis on both the eternal and the temporary needs of people.
I can't believe anybody would even ASK a question like this!! Give someone food, or let them starve to death whilst administering religious propaganda? If that's not "evil" then I don't know what is. And what kind of God would first let someone starve to death, and then send them to hell forever (which, I'm assuming, is what the "don't feed them" camp imagines will happen) simply because they had the "wrong" cultural beliefs? It's these kinds of barbaric and hateful characterizations of God that drive me, and thinking people everywhere, away from organized Christianity and towards more humane, humanist organizations.
We are slowly learning the effect that charity has on a culture when we examine the exact opposite - invading Iraq on our Crusade to 'save the heathens' (aka Islamofascists...).
Much, if not all, of the fight we're now fighting is against those people who were angered by our destructive 'shock and awe' barrage. Certainly its main effect was to defeat the forces of Saddam Hussein, but it had the adverse effect of destroying the basic infrastructure - roads, schools, electricity, water.... In spite of the billions we've spent on the war, so very little has been accomplished - and there are many more poor, sick, unfed people than before the conflict started.
It is ironic that Moses told us in Leviticus 26 that our enemies will bow to us if we treat them properly. Christ reiterated those words when he said the greatest Commandments included "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:31).
There is a hymn 'And we'll show we are Christians by our love'. Charity has its benefit in salvation - bringing the 'enemy' to our side.
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