How Something Can Sound Like "Christianity" Without Sounding Anything Like Jesus
An analysis of Franklin Graham's prayer at the Inauguration reveals why it didn't really sound like Jesus.
How can something sound like “Christianity” without also sounding like Jesus?
I’ll tell you how in a minute.
But first, a quick recap…
Last week during the presidential inauguration Rev Franklin Graham gave this three minute prayer. It was fine. Not my cup of tea, but then again I don’t really like tea anyway. I’m a coffee guy.
The next day, on January 21st at the Washington National Cathedral, during a prayer service for the freshly re-minted Trump presidency, Rev Mariann Budde delivered this 14 minute homily. Again I’ll say, it was fine—actually, I’d rate it higher than fine considering the context, the courage it took to deliver such a message, and some of the content in the message itself. But I do think in all honesty that in a vacuum there was nothing all that extraordinary about Budde’s message. Attend almost any Episcopal church on any given Sunday and you’ll likely hear something similar.
But of course we live in a world where we’ve already decided what we like before we hear it based on who is saying it and what (we presuppose) they are intending by it.
Those on the left tend to, on average, “like” most things that are said by Democrats or progressive spiritual leaders.
Those on the right tend to, on average, “like most things said by Republicans or conservative religious folk.
It’s kinda weird, when you think about it, just how predictable this is. I mean, how is that we are so often and so easily divided in to one of two sides (with the occasional exceptions, but those are the exceptions that prove the rule)? This thought often keeps me up at night.*
Regardless, the predictability unfolded last week as conservative-oriented people thought Graham’s prayer was great and Budde’s message leftist propaganda.
Conversely, liberal-oriented people thought Budde’s message was prophetic and heartfelt while Graham’s was toxic Christian nationalism.
How utterly unsurprising.
Anyway, upon hearing both presentations I had the following thought:
That post went on to be shared on IG and FB combined more times than anything I’ve posted in a long time.
Why?
Because I think it succinctly captures this odd sensation that many of us have:
Some things that sound “Christian” seem weirdly detached from sounding like Jesus.
I realize this feeling is probably foreign (and absurd) to more conservative-minded people, but for us on the [pick a label, I don’t care] post-evangelical, ex-vangelical, deconstructed, progressive Christian side, such a sentiment actually gets at the heart of why so many have left the church, began their deconstruction, etc.
There’s a quote often attributed to Gandhi that expresses a fondness for Jesus but not so much for Christians. The implication is a desire that Christians would more closely resemble the one they claim to follow.
I don’t know a single person who has left evangelical Christianity that wouldn’t agree with that sentiment.
(Quick note: Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about this stuff, such as, Do you actually have to be Christian in order to call yourself ‘Christian?’)
The chasm between much of what passes for Christianity these days on the one side, and the life/teachings of Jesus on the other, has become uncomfortably immense.
It’s like we’re in the upside down. Where a famous Christian leader like Franklin Graham can be on the largest national platform, offer a prayer, and it ultimately sounds nothing like Jesus.
Which brings me to the goal of this article: How is this the case?
Analyzing Franklin Graham’s Prayer
I want to analyze each of the two prayers/messages and attempt to tease out the elements that make one sound like Christianity and the other sound like Jesus.
Tomorrow I’ll dig in to Rev Budde’s sermon.
But for today here’s an analysis of Rev Graham’s prayer.
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