By Katie Ginn
Sunday, July 14, was a heavy day at Broadmoor Baptist Church.
First, like the rest of America, we were trying to process the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate. At the beginning of the service, we prayed for our country.
Then at the end of the service, our pastor updated us on allegations of past sexual abuse at Broadmoor. According to an investigative report by a third-party firm, a former Broadmoor youth pastor groomed and manipulated a teenage girl into an inappropriate “relationship” a few decades ago; now the church is examining its policies and procedures in order to prevent future harm. We had a service of lament that Wednesday, and church staff have hosted a few Q&A sessions for members.
Sandwiched in between these two topics was the sermon, which our pastor had planned months before. The message was about what happened when David gave in to temptation and reaped the consequences. Yikes.
David’s temptation (this time) was to say all that was on his mind when he was supposed to keep his mouth shut. I’m sure you can’t relate:
I said to myself, “I will watch what I do
and not sin in what I say.
I will hold my tongue
when the ungodly are around me.”
But as I stood there in silence …
The more I thought about it,
the hotter I got,
igniting a fire of words.
(Psalm 39:1-3, NLT)
We know David’s “fire of words” was sinful because he repented of it. He also begged God for mercy:
I am silent before you; I won’t say a word,
for my punishment is from you.
But please stop striking me!
I am exhausted by the blows from your hand.
When you discipline us for our sins,
you consume like a moth what is precious to us.
Each of us is but a breath.
(v. 9-11, NLT)
Wow, what a Sunday – a triple whammy. Of course, the people who wrote the sexual abuse report were not beholden to Broadmoor’s schedule. Neither was the Trump shooter. I’m so glad our pastor got to take a break the next week.
It really can feel like God is “striking” us for our sins sometimes. A political assassination attempt? In our country? A report revealing years of sexual predation by a youth pastor? In our youth group? I feel sick. God, please have mercy!
My next response is often to get mad at the evildoers, in this case the would-be assassin and the former youth pastor. But that’s an incomplete response. These sins are symptoms of a bigger problem, one that can’t be solved by better policies – whether enacted by the church or the federal government.
The political divide is deadly as a bullet because we’re a deadly people. Yes, it’s easy to draw a line between ourselves and “active shooters”: They’re hateful and ignorant, and we’re – well, we’re Christians! But what does our social media look like? What do our conversations sound like? Jesus said if we call our brother a fool in anger, we’re in danger of hell fire (Matt. 5:22-24). Y’all smell that smoke?
Why should it shock us that someone tried to kill a presidential candidate? After all, we ourselves – the body of Christ, who are supposed to love God and love people – often post tirades instead of exhortations. There is a difference between the former and the latter; if we learn it, maybe folks will listen to us.
The sexual abuse question gets even uglier, because it happened in a Christian context (and still happens in churches just about everywhere). One of the root issues might be that the Western church is starting to think like the world – about marriage, about sex, and about one’s own “happiness.” For instance: Unhappy in your marriage? You shouldn’t have to make it work; do whatever makes you happy! Never mind what Jesus said.
Ultimately, God can and will heal us from all of this. But we have to ask for it, and we have to repent:
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” – 2 Chronicles 7:14, ESV.
It doesn’t say, “If the sinners repent.” It says, “If My people turn from their wicked ways.” If we’re sick of the darkness, we need to turn on the light.