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A Year Without Pretense

A Year Without Pretense

Last updated on: January 2, 2025 at 12:06 am by Elisa S. Johnston

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A Year Without Pretense 2025-01-02T00:06:10-08:00 Elisa S. Johnston

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After 36 years of attending church every Sunday, I stopped going. At first I stopped going because of crisis. But it bothered me that I felt so guilty for not going, like I was letting the expectations of others down. And especially that I didn’t look like a church-goer. It unveiled my own religiosity.

I began wondering if much of what I did as worship was actually performative. And even more importantly, I began asking what a life of worship, what even a year, would look like without religious pretense.

When We Do Church Well

I have a lot of experience in church life. I grew up in a family who was always engaged in church leadership. When I grew up I did ministry training and was a missionary. Then for a while I was on church staff. I held pastoral roles, have been the worship leader, have directed multiple ministries, and for more than twenty years I’ve been leading small groups of all types. This being said, I know how to engage in the church show pony.

The Side-Show of Justice

Besides ministry and writing, the other hat I’ve worn in my career has been in social good spaces. While performing well for church, I was also involved in humanitarian work, justice advocacy, grassroots efforts to alleviate poverty, giving to meaningful causes, and I even started a couple anti-trafficking orgs. I was in both spaces at once and you know what I noticed?

Even although performative justice work is a thing–talking about justice without doing anything about it–what I saw most was performative religion. There has been so little overlap in church and anything justice related–for the flourishing of others outside ourselves. In fact, I’ve often been ostracized for reminding my fellow Christians and even talking about God’s love for justice. What I see in the Bible as defining and saturating our faith is often relegated to a side-show ministry.

How can this be? What about “Faith without works is dead”? Or “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you,” as found in James?

What God Rejects

One of the most renown verses about justice in the scripture is in the book of Amos:

“Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.” (Amos 5:24 NLT)

The context for this verse is pretense and religious works. God uses Amos to name essential requirements the Jewish people believed God has commanded them to do. He named assemblies, festivities, offerings, and music. God said he hated them; he wouldn’t accept them. Not because they weren’t good, but they were just a show in comparison to what is the foundation for any worshipful ceremony–the movement of justice.

Just like the ancient Jewish worshipers of Israel, today Christians are known for their shows, often performed on Sunday morning. What could be worshipful actions become religious when their purpose is lost or they are prioritized over what hinders right living.

Flood of Justice River image

“Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.” Amos 5:24 | Photo by kazuend on Unsplash

A Flood of Justice

Did you know that justice is this important to God? And this passage isn’t just about being personally being “good” as so many Christians assume “right living” means. This passage is talking about right living that causes society to flourish, where people begin to experience wholeness and peace between God and one another.

I love the imagery of this–a flood. A never-ending river that keeps flowing. A few years ago I was in King’s Canyon National Park. Our camp was set up there, next to a roaring rushing river. I couldn’t help but wonder what it looked like when this river overflowed. It was already so beautiful. It felt all-powerful, where its crystal clear waters were full of life and movement.

A New Year Evaluation

As we ring in the new year, I believe evaluating our lives is vital. Is this year going to be a year of pretense? Of religious show ponying?

Or are we going to prioritize our lives to do our part in pouring forth A flood of justice, an endless river of right living?

And, what do we have to give up or invest in to make this happen?

Worship Without Pretense

I know for me, I had to step away from regular attendance at Sunday services, multiple roles at a church, and I had to redirect how I gave my money. I still have a faith community I regularly meet with, I still use my gifts among God’s people, and I still try to practice generous giving. But it looks very different than it used to as I moved away from pretense and towards releasing a flood of justice.

If you have similar convictions but need some guidance in making changes or living justly, I have a couple resources for you. The Life Mapping Workbook was designed to help you align with vision, purpose, and develop methods that let you live out what matters in your goals and time management. Each of the actions I took to help me be a worshiper without pretense was worked out through my own life mapping practice. The second resource is Justice-Minded Kids: Bite Sized Challenges To Empower Kids to Practice Justice, Compassion and Love to use with your families.

Life Mapping and Justice-Minded Kids are resources for this year | Image via Elisa Johnston

I am not sure what worship without pretense will look like for you, let alone opening the floodgates of justice in your life. It might be a costly challenge, as it has been for me. It doesn’t look good to religious eyes, nor does it make sense to many of my fellow Christians. But it has also been freeing and worth it all to follow Jesus. And isn’t that what worship is all about? Why else do we follow when it is costly except to show love? Jesus himself said that God looks for those who worship in spirit and truth.

And, apparently, this is away from facades and performance, and it prioritizes releasing a flood and full-flowing river of justice and right living.

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About Elisa Johnston

Elisa Johnston is the author of Justice-Minded Kids, The Life Mapping Workbook. She writes, coaches, consults, and speaks through Average Advocate, empowering everyday people to be changemakers. She also writes about paradigms and experiences through her questioning eyes as an activist, coach & leader on Substack at Authentically Elisa. She loves exploring between the mountains in the sea in her home of San Diego with her four kids, husband, and introverted friends. You can read more about the author here.

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