How the Church Dishonors Freedom

"Sometimes the church dishonors the freedom that God has given it by supposing that the public freedom that the nation accords the institutional existence of the church is essential to the proclamation of the gospel and its service and witness in the world. Sometimes the church yields or gravely imperils its integrity as the church by becoming the handmaiden of the ruling principalities of race, class or commerce. At other times the church becomes so preoccupied with the maintenance and preservation of its own institutional life that it, too, becomes a principality. Within American Protestantism, where the church is radically divided into sects and denominations, this last situation is most acute and apparent.
...The moral principle that governs their internal life...is the survival of the institution. To this primary consideration, all else must be sacrificed or compromised."

--William Stringfellow in A Keeper of the Word edited by Bill Wylie-Kellerman.

Life is not about our safety or our wealth but it is about love and the proclamation of the gospel. We are spoiled in America and America has instilled in us a fear of other people, of terrorists. Today they were putting up gates in Chicago on all the major inlets into the central city so that if a terrorist attack occurred they would drop and not allow people into the city for their safety.

The problem is this: they become shrines to fear as Americans continue to spend outrageous amounts of money for our safety. The one time they may ever gets used does not justify the thousand times we pass by them, being reminded that we should feel anxious for terrorists may attack. This is not biblical nor is it Christ-like.

We do not fear the terrorist, nor do we pray for their demise. If vengeance is to be taken, only God has the right to take it. Instead, we pray for their transformation as well as the transformation of our own government. We speak out against the lack of justice in Americas Policies. We seek to love and if by loving we engage the Powers That Be, than we engage them in freedom, unyielding to their persistent plea for homage even if it means death. We are free from the tyranny of death, what can mortal man do to me? (Psalm 56:4).

Priorities

How is it that America is the wealthiest nation in the world and yet we cannot afford health care for our citizens and nor can we afford proper funding for education? The truth is, we can afford both but choose not to.