Brian Lee
John Calvin’s 16th-century Reformation theology faces a tough crowd in 2009. Enslavement to sin sounds somewhat hopeless, and heavenly predestination downright unfair. But Brian Lee, 37, a defense consultant as well as founding pastor of Christ Reformed Church in Washington, D.C., hopes to place Calvin in a new light during this 500th-anniversary year of his birth. His church is hosting a Calvin in the Capital speaker series on Thursdays, Oct. 8 through Nov. 12. Lee shared with The Examiner by e-mail thoughts on Calvin’s faith, and his own.
Do you consider yourself to be of a specific faith?
I am a Reformed Protestant, because of what the Reformation says about the grace of God. All Christians talk about grace, but they often take away with one hand what they give with the other. By turning Christianity into a lifestyle, or a cultural mandate, they make the life of faith more about accomplishments and achievements than about forgiveness and pardon.
I recently fielded an inquiry from someone who had been made to feel that he was not a “picture perfect” Christian (his own words). He smokes, drinks beer, watches football, has tattoos and sometimes struggles to explain his faith. I told him he was not only a Christian, but a perfect one, if he knew he was a sinner, and looked to Christ for forgiveness.
You said in a recent sermon: “We have lost a lot in no longer believing that there is an adversary that seeks to do us harm,” referring to the devil, and to forces of death. But many have happily erased the devil from their theology. What have they lost?
I do believe in the devil, but that is neither central to the Bible nor to my faith. Sin, misery and evil, however, are real; they are facts of human existence. Too much of what passes for Christianity today ignores our sin and misery. Instead, it reflects the prevailing cultural mode of therapy and self-help and urges us to “live our best life now.” If that were Christianity, I wouldn’t be one. I’m a realist, but my faith is in fact far more optimistic than the shiny happy version. It’s just that my hope doesn’t come from within, but from above.
The idea of bipartisanship seems an almost unquestioned good in this town. What can we learn, if anything, from the uncompromising attitude modeled by Calvin and his Reformation colleagues?
Americans are a pragmatic people, and a certain amount of pragmatism in politics is good and necessary. But there are some things that are worth dying for. Without being too melodramatic, I hope if it ever came to it that I’d go to the flames for the Gospel, for the prospect that the worst of sinners can be comforted by the salvation offered in Christ. Of course, I hope I never have to.
As you concede, John Calvin has suffered from bad press for the better part of 500 years. What is one part of his message that has been misinterpreted, and how can it be relevant in Washington, D.C., 2009?
Calvin believed God held all of human history in his hands. Far from making him a stoic or a fatalist, it made him humble and hopeful in a world full of plague and warfare. In terms of his salvation, it was even more clear. If God was not in control, he was lost. More of this kind of humility would serve us well, especially in a city that fancies itself the capital of the free world.
At your core, what is one of your defining beliefs?
I believe in the Resurrection, in the sense that a historical man died, was buried and came back to life. It anchors my faith in history — if that fact is not true, my faith is meaningless — and it also gives me great comfort. Today we cut and stretch and stuff our bodies to pretend death is not real. We ship the elderly out of our homes to die, and we hide our cemeteries. Meanwhile we tell ourselves death is natural. It is not natural; it is a disease. And if God can’t raise Jesus Christ from the dead, what can he do for me in my darkest hour?
