Glenn Beck and a Donkey

Mon 30 Aug 2010 Filed in: Reflections
I watched much of the Restoring Honor rally on Saturday. It was a remarkable event, though some of the media coverage in its wake has been funny in its evident bias. There is for me something refreshing about an intentionally non-political, values-focused event that draws a crowd of that size to the nation’s capital. Rhetoric to the contrary aside, it was a spiritual event (not a Christian event) calling people of various theological stripes to focus on shared values. And I think Beck is correct that a return to God is central to restoring honor.

But for this Christian, the rhetoric was interesting. I take pleasure in hearing a powerful call for Americans to return to God. That the source of that call was a self-avowed Mormon nudges me to figure out what to make of that. Most Mormons I know consider themselves Christians; most Christians I know consider Mormons non-Christians. So I am left with a question: Is it possible for a Mormon to incite genuine spiritual renewal among Christians?

It’s a question worth asking. And it reminds me of the Old Testament’s most famous donkey. Balaam’s ass was not only not one of the chosen people, it wasn’t a person at all. Yet it became an instrument of God and spokes-beast (seems more appropriate than spokesperson) for God in moving its ungodly master to act for God. God, after all, wastes nothing, not even a donkey. So I suspect that He won’t waste Saturday’s rally either. What do you think?
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