Remembering Rachel Held Evans: Why her voice was so desperately needed in this hour

The death of Rachel Held Evans was a terrible shock. Of course one of the main reasons it was so sad was because she was so young (only 37 years old) and she leaves behind a husband and very young children.  At the time of her death one of her children was under a year old.  

I believe that with her death, the loss of her honest writing and commentary has left a tremendous void because she gave a voice to those who weren't quite sure on how to articulate what they were experiencing in their doubts and disillusionment with Christianity and the Church

 She came from a place of loving God and the church and with that love came a passionate plea for the church to do better.

 She caused many to evaluate their walk and beliefs...especially her critics.

Searching for Sunday

Like Rachel, I too became disillusioned by the church and went off on my own search for Sunday.  My search and journey eventually led me back to Shiloh Church where I am fully committed and an active member.

I realized that in order to walk my faith out, I needed community and as Founding Shiloh Pastor Violet Kiteley liked to say: "The new wine is found in the cluster".  We're much stronger together utilizing our gifts in community.  That's how it was in the early church.  The Bible doesn't say so and so went off and did his thing and the church grew that way.

No it says this in Acts 2:42

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper[a]), and to prayer.

Sadly the church today seems more interested in worshiping politics than they do devoting themselves to solid teaching, fellowship, and sharing meals.

The performative and lukewarm Christianity many of us were brought up with is clearly not going to work in this faithless generation and it shouldn't because it didn't do our generation much good. 

With that said, what to do with the people that believe in Jesus and want to live out their faith.  What were they supposed to do?  Our churches have lost touch, leaders promote politics more than Jesus, and we were struggling with doubt and how to reconcile faith with culture.

A voice crying out in the Wilderness

Let me first say that I did not agree with everything Rachel Held Evans said but I agreed with a LOT of what she had to say.

I felt that she articulated the struggles I found myself grappling with.  

How do we reconcile what the Bible says with what the culture says?  I'll use a more benign example.  Our culture tells us that we are supposed to be happy all of the time, make lots of money, have a successful career, and have a life of ease.

The scriptures say that we are supposed to lay down lives for Christ and the gospel, pick up our crosses daily, not love money or spend our time trying to get rich, and yes...in order to get to where we need to go we will need to be refined (a.k.a. go through stuff)

Now where it gets messy is that the church has adopted some of the cultural principles and yet they are loudly against others.  It's inconsistent and confusing.

I feel that Rachel Held Evans was one of the people being vocal against these confusing and conflicting messages.  One minute the political religious right screaming about abortion and LGBTQ issues are against God's word and then the next minute the political religious right endorses people of questionable morality and character or outright dismisses the concerns of those who aren't like them.

Rachel Held Evans wasn't afraid to challenge controversial viewpoints.  She gave a voice to many of us who didn't quite know how to articulate their doubts and questions.

Yes we still love Jesus and no we aren't going to blindly vote for a political party due to wedge issues like Abortion and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric...as a matter of fact, we aren't even sure we have the same positions as the political religious right.  We understand that these issues are complex and often used by politicians to advance other agendas.  

One of my favorite quotes by Rachel Held Evans

The early church would be utterly baffled by the idea that future Christians would shame someone for not swearing allegiance to the empire. - Rachel Held Evans

She loved God and She Loved the Church

Because she loved God and she loved the church, she wanted the church to do better.

She wanted the church to care about poor people, refugees, sexism, racism, and the least of these.  If she did not love God and the church, then she would have been like other ex-evangelicals who spend most of their time bashing Christ and the Church.  She did not do any of these things.  Instead she pleaded with the church to do better.  

She pleaded for other Caucasian Evangelicals to care about racism that is affecting their Black Brothers and sisters even if they didn't understand it. When you love something, you want to see it thrive and become what it ought to be.  The church must glorify God and not glorify a Republican President.

Even the critics tipped their hats to Rachel Held Evans

Upon her death I was pleased to see those who she had sparred with such as Russell Moore tip their hats to her.  Even those who did not agree with her on much, talked about her impact on their own journey.  

I truly believe that if you ever want to make sure that your faith is on a firm foundation, then you need to examine what it is that you believe and make sure it is rooted in truth and not tradition/opinion.

Those who disagreed with her came with scripture and while they disagreed with her, upon learning of her death there was a true respect given to her work and life.

We needed her voice...

We needed her voice in this hour.  At a time when people are leaving the church in droves, Rachel Held Evans gave us a glimpse to believe even for a moment that things could be different

We needed her voice to speak out and challenge the assumption that all those who believe in Jesus agree with what the political religious right is doing.

We needed her voice to continue to speak out on behalf of the Least of these even though she was not a part of those groups.

We needed her voice to encourage us and strengthen us to believe the church could be what she was created to be:  The Bride of Christ and not a de facto political party.

This kingdom of God has many subjects and we all play different roles.  I am thankful for Rachel's brief but powerful role.

To God be the Glory.  We thank you for the Life of Rachel Held Evans.