Curious Christian

Reflections on culture, nature, and spirituality from a Christian perspective

Lament for the Church

Published by

Matt Stone

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I have been reflecting on the flow of divine action—how God works through Christ, in the Spirit, through the church, for the sake of the world. Yet when I consider the place of the church in this divine economy, I am disheartened. In the West especially, our witness falters. Scandal, division, and the pursuit of worldly power have obscured the beauty of the gospel.

James Tissot – Jesus Wept

Too often my response has been anger. Anger at the arrogance, the hypocrisy, and the misuse of Christ’s name. But today, my anger gives way to lament. Lament refuses distance. It grieves with rather than apart from. To lament is to weep with Christ over Jerusalem, mourning the brokenness of a body I still belong to. It is to long for repentance deep enough to renew the flow of grace through a people once called to embody it.

“Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping and mourning.”

— Joel 2:12

How do you experience this tension between grief and hope for the church?

What might it look like for us to lament faithfully, not as self-distancing accusers, but as those who long for restoration?

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One response to “Lament for the Church”

  1. Robert Robayna Avatar
    Robert Robayna

    Great reflection Matt. Yes, I too easily resort to anger when I think of the church and its sins and failures. I also lament – but in the face of unrepentant entrenched ecclesial self-protection and self-preservation I’m not sure how much more lamenting I’ll be doing for the Western Institutional Church.

    I’ve been reading the stunning prophetic work of William Stringfellow – even back in 1973 in the wake of Vietnam and the Civil Rights struggle he was convinced that the western/american church had been taken captive by the demonic principalities and powers as evidenced by its centuries long ongoing racism and embrace/defence of slavery, its colonial genocidal history, its worship of capitalism/mamon, its christian nationalism (american exceptionalism = idolatry), its warmongering support of US empire and its war crimes, etc…

    The more I think about it and reflect on the Western/American Church’s recent capitulation and complicity in Trumpism and the moral breakdown/cowardice/support of Israel’s genocide in Gaza the harder it is to disagree with Stringfellow. I’m becoming more and more convinced that the only future for the Western Institutional church is to embrace ecclesial death and resurrection. As Bonhoeffer argues in his Letters and Papers, to stop fighting for its self-preservation and self-advancement and to give itself away once and for all. As Bonhoeffer says when reflecting on the future of the Church rising out of the ashes after its silence and complicity with the Nazi evil: “The church is the church only when it exists for others. To make a start, it should give away all its property to those in need.” (p. 383). Not a bad start me thinks! 🙂

    Let me know what you think of the above. Warm regards. Rob

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