Ursula Niebuhr

I have served my entire ministry with a church aligned with what many regard as a liberal mainline denomination. H. Richard Niebuhr critiqued the liberal social gospel in 1937 with stinging words, “A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without the cross.” Keep in mind Niebuhr was a card-carrying member of the Protestant liberal establishment back in the day. I’ve observed a similar tendency in our time to quietly set aside Biblical concepts like wrath, sin and judgment to talk only of God’s love and mercy. God shows us mercy beyond our wildest dreams but love also requires indignation against all forms of evil and injustice. Otherwise, we are left with what Tertullian wrote 2000 years ago, “A better god has been discovered, one who is neither offended nor angry nor inflicts punishment…He is merely kind.” We cannot minimize the cross in Jesus’ atoning ministry. The cross displays the seriousness with which God takes sin. I came across an article written by another Niebuhr in 1947. Ursula Niebuhr (1907-1997) was married to Richard’s brother Reinhold and was quite a theologian in her own right. Her essay was critical of sappy Easter messages that equated resurrection with the joy of spring and the hope of immortality. She lamented the tendency to preach Jesus’ resurrection without the cross. She asked why preachers detour around the events leading to Calvary in favor of the empty tomb? She reminded readers of Jesus’ words, “If any would come after me, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.  The only way to live is to die to yourself.” Her following prayer entrusts work, rest and family to God’s care and provision: