Crisis is an Opportunity to Change

Everybody was glad to see 2020 in the rear view mirror, but here it is 2021 and we are still working through some lingering challenges. That was predictable. Usually a crisis doesn’t turn off like a faucet. Many forces converged in 2020 to contribute the social and cultural confusion: escalating, hostile political clashes, a once in a lifetime pandemic, subsequent social, economic, vocational and even spiritual disruption.  

 Adding to the confusion was the unfiltered and often uninformed voice of social media. We humans have a tendency to want simple answers to complex questions. If we aren’t careful, this can lead to some unhelpful postures. That’s what I want to think about.

We can become susceptible to tribalism. This is a troubling response to cultural crisis for many reasons. We treat each other like adversaries instead of fellow travelers. Divisiveness replaces openness. I know that there is a sense in which compromise is unwise: “What fellowship has light with darkness?” (1 Corinthians 6:14). But if we are not careful gridlock can shut down discourse. All-or-nothing thinking keeps people from trying to understand each other.

Of course I have tribes. I’m not denying that. My denominational tribe is the SBC. But even there, our opinions often become so rancorous that we forget that our real historic strength has been collaboration, cooperation and partnership. And tribalism can hinder helpful self-criticism.

Our frustration and anger can displace Gospel compassion. No one ever came to Christ because of angry moral posturing. Plus, it demonstrates a complete lack of awareness about our own needy, broken condition that first made Jesus attractive to us.

James said that “man’s anger cannot accomplish God’s righteousness” (James 1:20). Boy, if it could, America would be experiencing an incredible revival! Sometimes we are like Jonah whose own tribalism caused him to despise the Ninevites. God challenged him, “Have you any right to be angry?” (Jonah 4:4). We know we are in trouble when we think we have more of a right to be angry at human sinfulness than God.

We can become mere critics. Lyle Schaller, a great modern missiologist wrote:

“The normal, natural, and predictable response to discontinuity is denial. [This] stage of denial often endures for a generation and usually is accompanied by confusion, gloom, conflict, attempts to perpetuate yesterday, bewilderment, confrontations, pessimism, and sometimes even chaos, But rarely by support for creativity.”

Discontinuity is not a familiar word to many of us. It simply means that some things that we have taken for granted (especially evangelicalism as a cultural force) have stopped exerting influence.

Criticism is only one facet of transformation. Another important facet is thoughtfulness and creativity. Again, this is why returning to our historic roots as Baptists is so vital. Bringing together our compassionate collaborative powers for Gospel transformation is essential. Thinking and behaving differently is the only way to get us out of our spiritual and cultural malaise.

Conclusion – John F. Kennedy introduced the idea in his presidential campaign speeches that the Chinese word for crisis combined the characters for danger and opportunity. Linguists say that the character for “danger” was perhaps better rendered “change point.” That is a great way to think about crisis. It is an opportunity to change. It’s an opportunity to reposition our anger about cultural brokenness and replace that with a compassionate Gospel witness. It’s an opportunity to lean into the strengths inherent in our tribe to hold hands instead of pointing fingers.  Crisis is an opportunity to change from being mere critics to being creative, collaborative contributors. Crisis is an opportunity to change.