Faith: Bludgeon or Blessing?

Psalm 124 & James 5: 13-20
Roger Lynn
August 9, 2020

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Down through the years people have experienced faith to be a great source of comfort and strength and meaning in their lives. In times of great joy the experience is enhanced as they remember that God is the source of all true joy. In times of great sorrow the experience is softened as they remember that God is with them even in the darkness. All of life is enriched as they experience a deep, personal, even intimate connection with God, and through God with each other. Faith can be an amazing blessing.

Unfortunately, that is not always how faith is experienced. Sometimes it is more bludgeon than blessing. Instead of being a source of comfort, it becomes a source of pain. Instead of being a source of joy, it becomes a source of sorrow. Instead of being a source of healing and connection, it becomes a source of brokenness and division. There are people who want nothing to do with faith because of the negative impact it has had in their lives.

So what is the difference? Why is faith sometimes experienced as such a positive force and sometimes as such a negative force? There are, of course, a variety of possible reasons, but I think that some insight into at least one of those reasons can be found in both of our scriptures for today. Psalm 124 is a hymn of thanksgiving and praise. Something wonderful and powerful has occurred in the psalmist’s life and the life of the psalmist’s people, and this psalm represents an attempt to respond. God’s presence and activity and protection has been perceived in the midst of a potentially disastrous situation. “Our help comes in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 124:8) Faith is at work, providing perspective for how to understand life in positive and helpful ways. Trusting in God is a good thing, because if it had not been for God we would have been lost. This is faith received as a gift and blessing and responded to with gratitude.

However, there is another way to read and use these very same words. If, instead of reading them through the lens of positive gratitude, we read them through the lens of negative warning, then Psalm 124 becomes a club with which to threaten someone else who is not “measuring up.” The logic runs something like this – if we have been rescued from dire circumstances because God is on our side, then because you were not rescued from dire circumstances it must mean that God is not on your side. We saw this played out in its ugliest, most destructive form in the days following September 11th, when a couple of television preachers who shall remain nameless declared that the terrorist attacks were actually God’s punishment for a whole litany of perceived sinfulness which is running rampant in our country. Their message ran along the lines of, “The fact that you were not spared this horrible disaster is a clear indication that God is not on your side.” This is faith used as a bludgeon which brings only pain and division.

The Letter of James presents similar opportunities for blessing or bludgeon. The central message of James, which can easily be found in the passage we read this morning, is that life and faith are intricately interwoven. It is impossible to be a person of faith and not have it show in the way life is lived. Or, to look at it from the other direction, the way we live our lives is a very good indicator of the kind of faith we really have. Faith has to do with all of life. If you are sick and suffering, faith comes into play. If you are filled with joy and happiness, faith comes into play. And not just for individuals. Faith draws us into community and binds us together with each other. When someone is sick, they are not abandoned and isolated. The whole church is there to support them and pray for them. When someone is estranged from God and from the community, the whole church seeks to heal the brokenness and restore the relationship. James offers a view of faith that is holistic and relational. It provides us with a framework for living life in ways which are positive and life-affirming, not just for ourselves, but for those around us as well. This is faith which holds the promise of genuine and powerful blessing.

But, as with the Psalm, these same words can be read and used very differently. When they are used with the attitude of “We have the faith and you don’t, and your only hope is if we pray for you”, then the good news of God’s love becomes corrupted by the negative and destructive message of human power and domination. A clergy colleague of mine who has asthma tells the story of the time he was working with a group of students who decided to pray for him until he was healed of his affliction. They trapped him in a room and weren’t going to let him leave until they had laid hands on him and prayed the condition out of him. Never mind that he hadn’t asked for such prayer. They knew what was best and they were going to do it. This is faith used as a bludgeon to beat others into submission.

The blatant excesses are easy to see and avoid. But they serve as illustrations of a broader trap which can at times be easy to fall into. The line between faith as blessing and faith as bludgeon can sometimes be subtle and easily crossed. We would be wise to heed the old saying, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Sometimes we think we are trying to be helpful, but what we end up doing is really just imposing our perspective on someone else in the process. Faith stands a chance of being a blessing when it is offered as a gift and allowed to be received freely. Faith as blessing tends to be when we take words of faith and apply them to ourselves. Faith quickly becomes a bludgeon when it is imposed as a mandate. Faith as bludgeon tends to be when we take words of faith and try to force them on someone else.

We cannot control what others do with faith. We can control how we receive it, and, just as importantly, how we share it. May we strive always to receive faith as a gift and a blessing. And may we strive always to offer it to others in that same spirit.