WHY DID RICK WARREN PRAY WHAT HE PRAYED?

Seamus and Brigit O’Shea lived in the village of Poyntzpass. They were in their nineties and had been married for sixty-five years. ‘What’s your secret?’ asked the presenter of the radio programme. And the old boy told their story:

He said that in the world he lived in over sixty years ago there wasn’t much money around. He had a small farm, but the ground was stony and hilly, not much good for anything other than grazing a couple of sheep. Brigit’s people weren’t any better off, so when they got married the reception was the two of them with a handful of friends and family in the village pub. Somebody moved out of their own cottage three or four miles up the road so that Seamus and Brigit could have use of it for the weekend; that was their honeymoon. And so when the proceedings were over they trotted off into the sunset to begin their new life together in their limousine; a borrowed a donkey and cart.

Now, the old donkey was a bit thran, and after only half a mile or so it stopped. Seamus did his best to cajole the beast for a minute or two, but when there was no sign of movement he jumped off the cart, give the donkey a couple of good hard kicks and bellowed, ‘Donkey, that’s once!’ and off he went again. Another mile and the donkey stopped again, and without hesitation Seamus jumped off the cart and shot the donkey dead.

Brigit was furious, she called her new husband names he had never heard before and she pummelled him with tiny clenched fists. He was a heartless, wicked brute! It wasn’t even his donkey and there the poor animal lay in a pool of his own blood. Seamus listened to her ranting, and then calmly but very firmly he said, ‘Brigit, that’s once!’

That was sixty-five years ago and Brigit never forgot the spectre of the dead donkey. To the outside world, theirs was an ideal relationship, a model of stability and mutual respect; but it was based on fear.

That story came to mind again when I hear Rick Warren say his prayer at President Barack Obama’s inauguration. There’s a view in Christian circles that at the end of the age when we all stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ to give an account of ourselves, a great video screen in the sky will replay to watching billions, every lustful thought, every reprehensible act and every shameful moment. That used to strike terror into my young heart, but to understand Scripture correctly is to see that as yet another half-truth perpetuated by legalistic religious leaders to keep their people in line.  

My question is this; if as they say they believe, all our sins have been washed away, if it’s true that there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ, and if God has removed our transgressions from us ‘as far as the east is from the west’, in what way will we be asked to give an account of ourselves?

The fact surely is that if there ever was a giant CCTV camera in the skies recording our every move, to be forgiven means nothing if the tapes haven’t been wiped clean! Therefore, we will indeed stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ, but without fear, for our plea is that we have received a royal pardon, and the verdict will be, ‘No case to answer.’

Anything short of that is not the glorious gospel of grace, it is a gospel of nearly good news that creates Christian communities that are held together by fear.

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