Working the Phones for Jimmy

If you are like me, you grew up thinking that Lent is a time when we have to give something up and, as I was Catholic as a child, abstain from eating meat on Fridays. I was always taught that doing this was just something we always did. It was a rule we had to follow if we wanted to be good Catholics.

The significance and potential meaningfulness of the Lenten season was never explained to me in any important way. The beauty of suffering and tangible benefits of sacrifice was lost to me, yet so much of Jesus’ experience here on earth was couched in just such a state.

I believe we should look more closely at the issue of suffering vs. the gospel of pop culture that so many of us, myself included, find so attractive.

The daily newspaper of New Orleans, the Times-Picayune, carried a front-page article on the dramatic growth of a nondenominational church in the area that has grown from 250 to 2500 members in the past few years. A wealthy member of the congregation was on the front page picture, photographed in the opulent restaurant that he owns. This man credited his financial success to his faith in God. “It’s not an automatic ticket to success,” he conceded, “but man, if you don’t find success in God, you haven’t found…

What do you think he said? “Success?” No. He said “God.” "...If you don't find success in God, you haven't found God."

He went on to claim that he and other members have found their incomes doubling and tripling: “as a direct result of God blessing us.”

I hope that you are as deeply disturbed as I am by this new definition of “successful” Christianity. Do you get the uncomfortable feeling that God is being used: A commodity, perhaps; a tool to be used to leverage financial and emotional security?

The fact of the matter is that the self-centeredness of our culture has spawned a self-centered religion. Take a good look at the vast majority of ultra-popular doctrine circulating today and the well-hidden supposition built into them is “What can Jesus do for me?”

My wife and I recently came across Jimmy Swaggart’s radio station. We both turned rage-red when he told his congregation, “I expect to see all of you here to work the phones (to raise money for him). Don’t let God down!”

Now I would say that for the most part the poor do not see us as their allies. Like the wealthy New Orleans restaurant owner, evangelicals are often seen as looking down on those who don’t enjoy power, prosperity, good health, or any of the other alleged tangible signs of God’s favor.

Brennan Manning, author of “The Ragamuffin Gospel” has said, “I can think of no other time in history when the name of Jesus has been so frequently mentioned and the content of His life and teaching so thoroughly ignored.”

Upon entering human history, God shattered all previous notions of who God is. In the New Testament we are presented with a God who suffers crucifixion, a Supreme Being with a blood, sweat and spit soaked face.

God surrendering His powers to become the sweating, bleeding, beaten Savior of Me.

Mary Craig tells the true story of an Allied soldier in WWII who, during his mission liberating the concentration camp of Ravensbruck, Germany found a torn scrap of wrapping paper wedged under the body of a dead child. On it was inscribed this prayer:

O Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will, but also those of ill will. But do not remember the suffering they have inflicted on us; remember the fruits we have born, thanks to this suffering – our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, our courage, our generosity, the greatness of heart, which has grown out of all this, and when they come to judgment, let all the fruits we have borne be their forgiveness.

I'll bet you one thing, I'll bet that even though the author of this prayer probably never “worked the phones” for Jimmy Swaggart, he or she definitely didn't “let God down.”