The Radical Moderate

Reading Stanley Hauerwas and listening to Tony Campolo in the same week will get you in trouble.

I've been thinking about how the church is viewed in the world. The world constantly tries to hold the church by its own standards and get the church to buy into its lies.

How about this example: The church says that in a world with such vast resources and with such affluence, no one should be hungry. For that, the church gets labeled "communist." That same church says that children are constantly bombarded by images and language that are unhealthy. The church seeks to do something to put an end to the liscentiousness and crudeness. For that, the church gets labeled "facist." So, which is it? Are we "facist" or "communist?"

I hope that we are simply people who tell the truth. Unfortunately, we have tempered the truth based on the comments of the world. To be seen as a "facist" greatly disturds someone who wants to feed the world. To be seen as a "communist" greatly disturbs someone who wants to call others to holiness. So, the church buys into the world's lie that the two are mutually exclusive.

The Radical Moderate stands in the midst of that tension, seeking to proclaim the truth of the Gospel as revealed in Scripture, through the witness of God's gathered people, and through the movement of God's spirit.