By Rev. Terry Kyllo | Guest Column
The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News.
For most of my 34 years as a pastor, I’ve seen a pattern that keeps repeating.
Many people want the church to be a kind of theological Disneyland. It’s a place you visit for inspiration, comfort and meaning — and then you go home to the real world, where different rules apply.
More than once, after a sermon where I explored the public values found in the Abrahamic traditions — values like care for the poor, limits on power, truth-telling and dignity for every human being — someone has said to me, kindly but firmly:
“That’s nice, Pastor, but the real world doesn’t work that way.”
What’s interesting is that many of these same people still want the church to bless the real world — their work, their nation, their family, their economic life. They just don’t want the church to question it.
The result is a quiet deal:
- Church offers comfort, rituals and hope
- The world sets the real rules
The values of faith end up living in a very small space — safe, contained and mostly private.
But this creates a deeper problem. It doesn’t just split church from society. It splits people.
Many end up living with two value systems:
- One for Sunday
- One for the rest of the week
Most people don’t like this. They sense something is off. Discipleship becomes thin. Faith starts to feel performative. And over time, this kind of divided life can drift toward meaninglessness — even nihilism. It leaves us passive, both as people guided by a wisdom tradition and as members of a democracy.
How can we take “love your neighbor as you love yourself” when we ignore the policies and institutions that most directly impact our neighbor?
Faith becomes a ride on the Teacups: pleasant, emotional and forgettable once you leave the park.
I have heard leaders in every wisdom tradition name the same kind of dynamic in their communities.
Yet, with the low levels of trust in institutions and in each other, we are going to need a new way to form a social contract that draws on our diverse traditions in a new way.
Stay tuned for the next column in this series to learn more about this new way.
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Christianity should not be that difficult. But, as you say, we want Christianity without Christ.
Is God God? Did He create us? If He did, He owns us and He has the RIGHT to make the rules. (God/god is the One/one that makes the rules.)
But we broke His rules by making our own rules. We became god.
So, God sent His Son to pay the penalty (death) for breaking His rules, making our own rules, making ourselves god. He bought us back. He owns us again. He has the RIGHT to be obeyed.
If God is not my God, then I am god and God will leave life in my hands. All that happens is in my care and I am responsible to figure it out, fix it, take care of it.
But if God IS my God, I can leave all that to Him and trust Him to lead and care for everything. I have given my will to Him. I (self, ego) am dead and I am free.
But that does NOT mean I do nothing.
I am now Christ’s possession, indwelt by Him, reflecting His image and DOING what He would do. Loving as He loved, caring as He cared, sacrificing all for the betterment of others.
Thank you for this column arguing that that sacred values should impact out real political world. I especially appreciate hearing this from a Lutheran pastor, as Lutherans have sometimes been shy of getting involved in the political realm.