The New Testament word Ecclesia is a provocative word—indeed a very dangerous word. Unfortunately it has been domesticated and tamed and lost most of its edginess.
It appears about 115 times in the New Testament and most of the time is translated into English as “church.” There are exceptions. Three times in the book of Acts the word is translated as “assembly” which probably comes closer to its original meaning.
So what’s so provocative and dangerous about “church?”
Well that’s my point.
I recently stumbled upon the following online source that clearly defines the meaning of Ecclesia as understood by early Christians:
A body of Christians called out of the Roman and Judean system to come together into a separate civil community. It meant a politically autonomous body of Christians under no king but Jesus; under no other jurisdiction but that of Jesus. No man ruled them! Only Christ. And that was the reason these same Christians ran into trouble with kings and rulers; were arrested, crucified and martyred. They dropped Caesar as their King and took up Christ.
Author Keith Giles has recently written a little book entitled, Jesus Untangled: Crucifying Our Politics to Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb. The basic premise of Giles book is that the Church (Christianity) in America has become so entangled with the affairs of the State that it is almost impossible to distinguish between the two anymore.
In other words, the American version of Christianity has become so nationalized and politicized that it has lost its unique identity as Christ’s ambassadors to the world.
To be more blunt, American Christianity has lost its sense of "called out" identity.
Moreover, its supposedly Kingdom politics has become entangled with national politics and in so doing much of the Church has been co-opted by political power (think the Moral Majority of the 1980s and a large swath of Evangelical Christianity today).
Author Rance Darity offers an even bolder assessment:
There have been two opposite spirits that have been operative in American Christianity since the beginning of this nation. One is submission. The other is revolution. The one was learned from Jesus, the other from the Enlightenment. This dual spirit explains how guns, soldering,, and Old Glory are virtual sacraments in the life of the American Church. In fact, the average Christian may be more moved by tears by these symbols than they are by baptism, the broken bread and the poured out wine, and the preaching of the cross (Quoted in Jesus Untangled).
Most recently author Diana Butler Bass posted a series of creative tweets I found interesting. Bass has concluded in her study of contemporary American Christianity, that there are two categories often listed by pollsters: the “dones” and the “nones”.
The “dones” are those who simply have left the church and sought spiritual fulfillment elsewhere. The “nones” don’t profess any faith at all.
Yet Bass suggests a third category that she calls the “exiles”.
Exiles are those Christians who have discovered a life of wandering in exile for more meaningful faith rather than being stuck in a church that is, for the most part, tethered to politics and nationalism.
Exile is a prominent Biblical theme: Abraham and Sarah are great examples.
So maybe in the politically toxic time in which we Americans live we might consider rediscovering the original meaning of Ecclesia, that is to be “called out” from the systems of this world that are unjust, oppressive, violence prone, racist, and loaded with greed—not to mention being surrogates to so much untruth.
Perhaps if Christianity is going to survive and thrive in a postmodern America exiles are going to have to remain in exile and lead us all into a deeper and richer faith and theology.
Perhaps Diana Butler Bass is correct in suggesting that we need to stop trying to rescue these exiles and let them find their way in the wilderness. More importantly maybe we just might learn from them if we are brave enough to engage them in non-judgmental conversation.
Maybe they could teach us what it is like to live and thrive as exiled followers of Jesus in a world that is increasingly hostile to the Faith. Maybe they could teach us what it is really like to live as Christians being untethered to any nationalistic or political system.
Maybe they could teach us a thing or two about what it’s like to be exiled from a politically entangled church.
They definitely could teach us about the dangers of being in exile—to be "called out" from the comfort zones we have grown to depend upon as American Christians.
When the established church offerings become tied to their institution or nationalistic, I bail. My salvation often became life in "mission" or parachurch groups. And when those groups became attached to institutional church, which often took place, I bailed again. So I have often been in "Exile" much of my Christian Life.
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