By Sarah D. Park

I am bothered when a church concerns itself about relevancy. That used to be quite the buzzword as we ruminated on how a church might be appropriate to its times and to the next generation.

But this past Sunday during church, my pastor spoke on the story of Eli and Samuel and by lectionary providence, she gave me the words to get to the bottom of my bother. Shame on me for only remembering the children’s Sunday school part of the story — when Eli helps Samuel respond to the voice of God — but Pastor Erina reminded us of the context before it, on why God communicated through Samuel of God’s coming judgment on Eli and Eli’s family.

Eli and his sons had gotten fat from their privileged positions in the temple, forcing worshippers to give them more meat off of offerings that were intended for God and violating the women who served at the temple. God ultimately sees God’s justice through with the death of Eli’s two sons. Eli himself dies in part because he became overweight, knocked backwards on a chair and breaking his spine.

Immediately, my heart leapt to comment in the Zoom chat: YES! LET that judgment come! The story’s parallels to the coup on Capitol Hill were damning: white supremacists claiming to be on the side of God, using force to take what they think they are entitled to, violating sacred spaces with violence, choosing into perversions of truth that benefited them. In my anger, I wanted to see real retribution — a felt and terrible consequence — unleashed by a righteous God and onto that mob. God, show yourself strong!

But I could not bring myself to say anything. When judgment comes, could I be so sure I would be on the right side of it? Before God’s judgment, Eli had confronted his sons and rebuked them for desecrating God’s name. At least he had said something. But saying something wasn’t enough.

Have I even said something? Am I a passive Eli on the sidelines, shaking my head at what is going on in my own household, refusing to engage my mother as she is getting more vocal about her support of Trump, seeing my Asian American community become infected with right-wing lies? I am bothered when the church asks about its own relevancy because to be truly appropriate to our times and to the next generation, the church must act inappropriately to its harmony with the status quo — to complicity with white supremacy — and realize that saying something is not enough.

Because God has been betrayed by the church. People have been betrayed by the church. May God judge the church of what it has done — as I reckon with Christian Nazi brothers and sisters — and for what it has not done — as I reckon with how I am responding. My hunger for justice is stronger than any fear I have to be on the wrong side of it. LET that justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. And I dare us to change God’s mind.

Sarah D. Park is a freelance writer whose work focuses on the cultivation of cross-racial dialogue with a Christian faith orientation. She is also a story producer for Inheritance Magazine and manages communications for several organizations. She currently calls the Bay Area her home but is an Angeleno through and through.