(Image credit: Alamy)
The recent experiences of Bay Community Church— with a local newspaper speculating about church “hatred” in its headline, and then assuming its speculation is factual by the time the article was half-way through— is a curious indication of the zeitgeist (spirit of the times) in which we find ourselves.
Seemingly, the angst of the contemporary University campus has become thoroughly ensconced within local media, and apparently even within various local boards and councils. The ease with which various organizations either feign offence or truly take offence is quite remarkable. Patterns of offence being predictable, once this happens, organizations then tend to flex their influence— at a rather hasty pace— and generally become censorious in their demands.
Are we surprised?
Rather than speak to my specific pastoral motives for hosting Tanya Gaw, as has already been explained at the beginning of a recent sermon entitled 122 Bad Actors, in this article I would like to speak to some general observations I can make about the public’s present mood.
Given that grace is a uniquely Christian concept, perhaps no one should be surprised that grace is in rather short supply these days. The trend is quite observable. Secular cancel-culture, as steeped as it is in group-think, as hyper-vigilant as it is regarding slights and perceived injustices, and as willing as it is to deliberately cultivate feelings of offence, is no leader in grace at all. In truth, neither grace nor graciousness can be the natural byproducts of such a militant subculture.
Yet, even in general terms, should one expect a coastal British Columbian demographic, whose irreligious allegiances according to the 2021 Federal Census generally exceed 60% of the Island population, to be a strong proponent of such a profoundly Christian concept as grace?
And the same could probably be said for forgiveness. Whereas the Christian Church is steeped in the idea that even as one has been forgiven in Jesus Christ, one must also forgive others their trespasses, a majority secular culture is not. Under these demographic conditions, the Church becomes virtually the sole custodian of public forgiveness, and secularism fades away into such popular philosophies as “quid pro quo”, “karma”, or the even more illustrative, “payback is a bitch.” In essence, without grace and forgiveness, cancel-culture devolves into a cult of vengeance.
If you think vengeance is too strong a word, then how about the phrase, “punitive leverage”? What other conclusion could one draw from an editorial suggestion that any invitation to Action4Canada should be attached to the levying of taxes usually waived for local charities?
As much as this may surprise the general population, a culture that worships Jesus Christ will be far better able to maintain grace in the public square. A culture that values Jesus Christ will be able to maintain a much stronger sense of liberality and charity towards neighbours and even enemies. However, a culture that abandons Jesus Christ for a kind of relativistic secularism will eventually be nowhere near as capable at maintaining the necessary civil discourse for a free society. Power and faction will be valued more highly than the quest for truth. Justice will be valued more highly than temperance or reconciliation, and vengeance will be far more emotionally gratifying than forgiveness.
And without cultural repentance, we will all be the willing or unwilling recipients of a toxifying public square.
Recently, multiple area churches and ministries have experienced a foretaste of this kind of cultural trend— where truth matters less than secular sanctimony, and grace matters less than cancellation. The supposed “sin” of these churches and ministries is that they have continued to consider their Lord and the Biblical witness, and have refused to walk in lockstep with the political fads of culture or an illiberal progressivism.
Like them, I highly recommend a profound change in the cultural trajectory. For the sake of a more gracious discourse, I heartily recommend the Gospel.
11-01-2023