Dunkirk And The Gospel

From May 26 until June 4 of 1940, French and Belgian forces engaged in one of the biggest evacuation operations ever undertaken at that time. About 198,000 British soldiers and 140,000 French and Belgian troops were hastily evacuated from the French seaport of Dunkirk to England. Naval vessels and hundreds of civilian boats were used in the operation.

The evacuation was necessary because Nazi Germany had invaded northern France and the Low Countries in May 1940. The Germans had overrun the region, and the Allied forces were trapped in an ever-decreasing pocket near Dunkirk.

Northern France was lost, the territory ceded to the ever advancing German offensive, and it was a call to evacuate now or be driven into the sea itself. The entire endeavor had devolved into one huge salvage operation.

Oddly enough, such a scene reminds us of the Gospel because the gospel is applied to an even more dire situation. You see, it was the garden that was lost, man was dead in his sins, the devil’s offensive against humanity continued to advance and something had to be done lest all of humanity would have been driven into eternal hell. And it was the gospel that simply has been, is now, and will always be, one big salvage operation of humanity itself. Only, instead of filling boats with soldiers, they are filled with the souls of men.

Such clarity of the gospel as always being one grand salvage operation came to mind with the release of the UMC Bishop’s four letters on Justice and Peace. Therein is a litany of what the Bishops present as priorities for the church. A Call for Peace, A Plea for a Ceasefire, A Rejection of Violence and a Stand for DEI. How grand a vision for the church. How noble these causes. And yet, there seems to be something missing. It’s that same thing that has always been missing all the more so for the last forty plus years. And that is the gospel.

You see, the church and her people were never called to advocate for peace, to reject violence and to make a stand for DEI as priorities for the church. The church was called to carry the gospel into the world. We were called to prioritize above every last single thing the ministry….the ministry of reconciliation. We were supremely called to be used as the means by which a rebellious sinner can be reconciled back to a loving God. And frankly, we have no business prioritizing anything else above that. Not making political stands for peace nor against violence, not pleading for a ceasefire and not making stands for DEI. Our business is supremely prioritized in conveying the gospel. Even Wesley himself is quoted as saying “”You have one business on earth – to save souls,” emphasizing the importance of saving souls as the primary purpose of one’s life on earth.

You see, it is not the calling of the church, nor was it ever, to conduct a church led DIY remodeling job of this planet earth via social and environmental causes. Why waste the time on a celestial ball that will only be consumed by fire and replaced with a new heaven and a new earth anyway? But it IS the calling of the church to engage in that grand generational salvage operation, saving souls to eventually populate that new earth and new heaven. May we get back to the business of loading the boats and saving souls from being driven into hell. May we simply return to the gospel.  OM