One of the most common criticisms of U.S. Evangelicalism today is that it has become bland and sentimental, offering an easy solution to . . . well, to what exactly is not clear, because there is a greater reticence now than in the past in talking about sin. So it’s refreshing to encounter a place like Times Square Church in New York City, where both the hymns and the preaching declare unflinchingly the need in which men and women live — despair, addiction, disgrace, sin — to provide the rawest context for the religious message. The highlight at today’s 6 PM service was a 40something Italian-American, a woman who grew up in the area: She told of her brokenness in a life of drugs, booze, organized crime, and empty affairs, a brokenness that began to heal when she accepted her religious faith. In her presentation, both the brokenness and the healing appeared palpable; rarely have I felt the truth of the old adage that church is not a social club for saints, but a hospital for sinners. This is the old-time religion of long-ago revival meetings: sin, suffering, blood, redemption . . . and, most important, hope.
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