In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.

Luke 1:5-7

When I read this passage this morning, I stopped and wrote in the margin of my Bible, "Sometimes the righteous are barren." 

Why did I feel the need to point this out? Why did it strike me as notable?

Because prosperity theology is ubiquitous in Christendom, and it's destroying people's lives.

Recently, Cathleen Falsani, a writer for the Chicago Sun-Times and author of Sin Boldly (which I loved and found to be her something of a kindred spirit), wrote an article for the Washington Post that is worth noting. The article is part of a series entitled 'The Worst Ideas of the Decade,' and Falsani focuses in on the 'Prosperity Gospel.' You can read her article here.

At this point, I agree with Falsani. This incessant need we have to call the American Dream a Biblical idea is more than alarming. The lack of self-criticism of professing Christians and their embrace of 21st century capitalism needs to stop. While there are a great many benefits of America's economic engine and its place in the global economy, calling all things 'capitalism' good and all things 'socialism' bad is too narrow minded. I rather enjoy the fact that Jesus is claimed by Methodists, Presbyterians, Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Baptists, and yes, even capitalists and socialists. Jesus lived his life in such a way that he's difficult to label and modern Christians would be wise to follow suit.

On this note, Falsani follows up with a second post found recently on the Sojourner website.
I think Falsani speaks truth again. Thanks Cathleen, keep up the good work, and if you're looking to send out signed copies of any of your books, my address can be sent out rather easily.

Oh the Church. You’ve been on all our minds at the Conversant offices this week… especially mine. I’ve always known that the Church was a good metaphor for marriage: Love your spouse as Christ loved the Church. Lately I’m beginning to think the metaphor is just as applicable the other way around. When you enter into the covenant of marriage you basically say I choose this person and all their junk. Wash off the make-up, come back from the honeymoon and eventually you’ll see the imperfection you made a vow to love. Difficult? Yes. Reciprocated? Hopefully. Rewarding? Definitely.

For someone who grew up working the church system, hip to all the marketing ploys, the politics, the hypocrisy, knowing when to raise his hands, replace his “ums” with “Lord Jesus”, and perfect his post-group-prayer-hand-hold squeeze (I’ve secretly always wanted to interlock fingers with someone I didn’t know), it’s easier for me to get on bored with the challenge of a lifetime commitment to a person then it is to an institution.

But I can’t seem to get away from the church. Whether I’m working for Conversant, consulting for a ministry, or having a conversation over lunch with a friend, this living, breathing, broken, backwards, beautiful, transformational, insecure, dis-unified bride refuses to release the chords of my curiosity, frustration, and imagination.

This past month I’ve heard church plants offer to pay people $50 to come to their service, mega churches urge people to donate towards their building fund because it was “God’s dream,” and televised churches adorn their halls with quotes and murals depicting their precious pastar.

Moreover, whenever I find myself in conversation with someone my age who doesn’t follow Christ, their beef ten out of ten times isn’t with Jesus, it’s with organized religion.

So I’ve been thinking a lot lately…
Where does this leave us as a generation? We’re a people with a kingdom imagination, a passion to see heaven gravitate toward earth… and a cynicism like a rhinoceros, unliftable and morose.

Back to the wife analogy. A friend of mine who is making tremendous progress in the city he lives in as a cultural architect said this to me recently in regards to the Church, “I may not always agree with my wife, but you call her a b**** and I’ll punch you in the face.”  I think that’s a pretty accurate description of how Christ feels when we talk smack about His bride. We need to remember that institutions don’t hurt us…people do.

So here we live in this tension. The tendency is to think we’re a unique generation scarred by big hair, shiny suits, cheesy marketing stunts, and front-page hypocrisy. But the truth is that brokenness, pride, selfishness, disunity, and dysfunction have always been a part of our story since Christ told Peter, “You’re kind of an a-hole but that’s just the kind of guy I’m looking for to build this thing.” (VLP)*.

This is our story. This is why Christ died. There’s a freedom in communicating that it’s never had great PR but we’re trying to listen closer, lean in harder, imagine more authentically the pulse of Grace until the heavens fully envelop earth like an unforeseen kiss…unannounced by a campaign, commercial, or crusade.

Just saw this on John Piper's./Desiring God blog, and loved it. He calls it a corrective tract for the prosperity gospel. You go, JP.

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?(Mark 8:34-36)