The Sophomore Linebacker was dressed in our blue on blue Choctaw Yellowjacket Home uniform. We had been intrasquading that Saturday morning for a couple of hours, and we were tired and sore. Butterfield was disengaged and irrelevant on the sideline. He had managed to avoid playing in the scrimmage for a whole two hours by hiding amongst his teammates. Our senior leader and quarterback put his hand around Butterfield’s shoulders, patted him on the butt, and said, “Buckle your chinstrap Butterfield and Go out and get you a dose.” Some people just need that extra push to get in the game.
The Gilded Age (1865 – 1914) was a term penned by the author Mark Twain to illustrate a huge economic chasm between working class Americans and the upper class. This age was known for political corruption, and crooked business dealings that eliminated competition and created a monopolistic system that stripped hope and opportunity away from those that wanted more than a 15 hour day factory job. Big cities like New York, Chicago, and Pittsburg grew exponentially through America’s shift from an agricultural economy to oil, steel, railroads and manufacturing. Between 1870 – 1920, eleven million Americans moved to the city to be integrated with 25 million immigrants.
While urban dwellers tried to scrape out a living in factories that killed 35,000 workers a year, Business giants Carnegie, Rockefeller and Morgan made fortunes by controlling transportation and production. They profited by demanding long hours, and paying low wages. They benefited from child labor and created a business culture of inequality. They gave to good causes, but their philanthropy was a cover up for their unscrupulous business practices. They used their power to keep government out of business, and the result was poverty, death, and hopelessness.
The oppression of the working class was a global phenomenon that attempted to counter monopolistic capitalism with government involvement. The most extreme philosophy to give the worker hope was penned by Karl Marx in The Communist Manifesto. He dreamed of a classless society that would form communities into “utopia.” By eliminating competition, Marx believed that communism would eliminate hunger, create safe working conditions, and give people hope. At one time in the 20th century, 50% of the states in the world bought into his core principles and tried a “Marxist government.”
If the Gilded age was a football game, then the key players were Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, Marx, and the working class. During all of this technological advancement, monopolistic capitalism battled it out with communism to provide for human needs. But one key group during this period was like a sophomore linebacker named Butterfield that needed a pat on the butt, and a push to get in the game. Church historian Bruce Shelly said of the church during this period: “it was irrelevant to speak to the difficulties of the machine.” As a result competing political philosophies slaughtered each other, while the working class looked for a savior. The American Church can be quite industrious and relevant when she unifies and enters into the game, but just like slavery, women’s rights, and civil rights, the American Church was on the sideline while others were offering “salvation.”
Walter Raushebauch, one of the leaders of the Social Gospel said “Christians cannot show their concern for people’s eternal destinies unless they also demonstrate their concern for people’s earthly needs.” Raushebauch and other Social Gospel proponents were criticized by the Christian right for their lack of evangelical urgency, yet many people ate bread through the tenants of the social gospel. Earthly bread builds a bridge to the “Bread of Life.” Criticize the Social Gospel all you want, but remember that they played in the game.
When it comes to the Gospel, Is it better to be liberal and busy, or conservative and lazy? Do those with no hope care who gives them their physical and spiritual bread? There were exceptions during the Gilded Age. William Ketteler, Terrence Powderly and The Knights of Labor entered into the game. So did William Booth and The Salvation Army. But by in large, according to Bruce Shelly the church was “irrelevant.” How does the church cure irrelevance? Just like our senior linebacker did on that warm Saturday morning in 1986. He put his hand around his shoulder, and said “Buckle your chinstrap Butterfield and go get you a dose.” Some people just need a push to get in the game. Keep on Building His Church, Uniting His People and Bringing Him Glory by heading into the wild amongst wild people with the glorious gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ.
