Glenn Beck’s advice to Christians to leave churches that emphasize that all-pervasive Biblical theme of social justice has been getting a lot of attention. I tried to add my voice to the others who have e-mailed Beck as part of Sojourners’ campaign to get this point across to him. But, perhaps not surprisingly, Beck’s mailbox was full and the e-mail did not get through. It was just a short e-mail, recommending that he read the Book of Amos, or if he prefers something in the New Testament, Mary’s song (the Magnificat) and the beatitudes in Luke.But I will be the first to admit that at that time I had never given much theological thought to the view of God presupposed by such actions. I wonder whether this very widespread view of prayer is shaped by our culture of letter-writing and, nowadays, e-mail campaigns. I wonder whether somewhere deep down there is the idea that if we can make ourselves a nuisance to God, we’re more likely to get a response.
Anyway, this is just me making one of my typical connections between things that might otherwise seem unconnected. Anyone else out there willing to admit that they approached prayer in this way, and what, if anything, has changed since then? It seems to me that these two subjects are connected in another way: many of those of us who emphasize social justice are acknowledging in doing so that simply praying about something, without actually doing something to try to change the situation, simply isn’t good enough.
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