Skip to content

Category: Humanity

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Published by mhelbert on July 27, 2020

There are few things in this life that can agitate me to extreme frustration and anger than the misuse of the Name of Christ by those who profess to be ardent followers.
Yeah, I know, I have a particular lens through which I view life. My worldview colors my observations and opinions. This, of course, renders what I think and say of little consequence to any who hold differing thoughts.
That’s ok.
I don’t make any claim to know anything at all, let alone what you or anyone else should think.
That being said, I am at a loss right now to express the sadness and dejection that I feel regarding the Church in the U.S.
I just finished reading the first of three memoirs written by Frederick Douglass. It’s entitled, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.”
I really want to educate myself about the history that none of us who grew up in the bleached whiteness of Northern suburbia ever heard in school. I desire to know the truth that gave breath and life to Douglass and du Bois and King and Malcom. What inspires those who march behind banners of ‘No Justice; No Peace’? How can anyone explain the seemingly wanton destruction of property as a form of justifiable protest?
We are told that the roots of all of this lies in the 400 years of slavery, Jim Crow, Jim Crow, Jr., voter suppression, discrimination, and humiliation.
So, I am looking back in time to those who experienced such breaches of human dignity and enacted atrocities that no civilized culture should ever embrace.
So, I read.
And, in this very first volume of Douglass’ not only do I find the utterly deplorable account of human evil against another eikon of God, I find the Church in the U.S. indicted as co-conspirator.
I grew up in the era when many Protestant denominations began to join hands with those who worked, (and suffered), for equality among races. They, at long last, began to lift their voices in harmony with their African American Sisters and Brothers. Soon, a thing called the “Social Gospel” became evident in the work done by these folks.
Almost immediately, a backlash from other less accommodating churches was unleashed.
I always thought it strange that any church should be against offering a hand to lift those trodden down through no real fault of their own. Excepting the amount of melanin in their skin.
Yet, as I studied church history in seminary I began to see another force at work.
The church of the South was instrumental in propping up the structures of slavery. It served a Balm of Gilead to the harassed consciences of women and men who knew in their hearts that what they were doing was an affront to God. At least, that’s how it looks to me. The slavers needed to know that what they were doing was in some way a just and righteous thing to do. The church of the South provided that assurance.
In my mind, though, I considered the counterparts of these, the church of the North, to be, in fact, righteous! Didn’t they house and protect the runaway? Weren’t their benevolences a means of setting the poor, former slaves on a track of self sustenance?
Well, maybe.
In the appendix to Douglass’ memoir I found in it information about the “Christianity of this land” that seems to include the Church in the U.S. at large.
He set this “Christianity” in contrast to what he named the “Christianity of Christ.”
Of this, he wrote,
“To receive the one [Christianity of Christ] as good, pure, and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked…I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slave holding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land.”
Pretty strong language.
And, rightly given.
As I reflected on these words I wondered, “what has changed in the 175 years since this narrative was written”?
I looked around, hopefully, to see if there were any, as the prophet Elijah once wondered, if there were any faithful in the land who may be found.
And, happily I saw sparks of hope glittering in the land. I allowed myself a moment to indulge that hope.
Then, I saw that Douglass’ “Christianity of this land” still in ascendancy and power.
For what have we gained as a community of faith when children are still snatched from their families at our southern border? What progress have the faithful made when our cities are still segregated by the remnants of ‘Red Lining’? How can we go to pray to a kind and loving God when our constituents rail against offering a hand to lift our Sisters and Brothers from the chains of ‘White Culture’ that still fetter and bind them?
So, for those who think that I unjustly hold up the dirty laundry of the Church in the U.S. for all to see, please know that I do so only to shine the light of Christ into the darkness of an unjust and cruel community that is complicit in the continued suffering of humans made in the Image of God.
Nor, do I exempt myself from culpability. I have lived my life in the White Light of Privilege that has allowed me to move about freely and without any encumbrance due to the color of my skin. So, before any accuse me of hypocrisy please know that i stand accused and convicted in the systems that have levied such a high cost to our own humanity as we degrade others.
I, too, must work hard to change myself and to see the transformation that God has asked of any who would carry the Banner of Christ.

Leave a Comment

A Week in the Life of a Slave-review

Published by mhelbert on July 23, 2020

Everyone loves a good story.
Stories create worlds where everything is possible. They allow us to visit places and times that are far beyond our experiences of everyday life. Stories can also reveal hidden treasures that enrich our understanding of the world in which we live.
The Bible is such a source that allows our creativity to imagine the lives of people who may only appear as a name in a verse or two. What was the lived experience of that person? What did they think about the world? What did they hear and taste and smell? What did they fear?
Dr. John Byron, Dean of Ashland Theological Seminary, recently published a book that opens our imaginations to consider these questions.
“A Week in the Life of a Slave,” published by IVP Academic, tells the story of one of the Bible’s most famous slaves. A man known to us as Onesimus.
I must admit that as I began reading this book I was reminded of nature shows on television narrated by Sir David Attenborough. Attenborough is famous for his story telling style of narration. He takes viewers inside of the thoughts of various critters as they forage for food or search for a mate. Sprinkled within those stories he educates us on the reality of that world.
In a like fashion, Dr. Byron uses his creativity to weave a tale of the ancient world of the Bible. We meet the Apostle Paul as he sits in an Ephesian jail. Philemon, the person who owned the slave, Onesimus, comes to life as a person aggrieved by a slave who “committed the crime of stealing himself.” And, of course, Onesimus the runaway slave.
While most of us in the U.S. think about our own history regarding slavery, very few people consider the practice of ‘human ownership’ in the first century. If we do, like many in the Church today, even consider slavery, we tend to downplay the horrors that were part of everyday life for a slave at the time that St. Paul wrote. Byron, however, paints a very different picture. He does illuminate many differences between the ancient, Roman practice and our own antebellum chattel slavery. The similarities are also revealed to be all too real. Slaves were non-humans. Byron notes that the ancient philosopher, Aristotle, wrote that “a slave is a living tool and the tool a lifeless slave.” No, slavery within the Roman Empire was no walk in the park.
There is another story told, as well. That of the early Church as it fumbled and grasped to find its place in the world. Byron’s story shows the struggle that owners faced in that culture as they tried to reconcile the Love of Jesus with the pain of their slaves. How could Paul say that there was neither slave nor free when the reality of that world stated otherwise? And, how could free people think of themselves as ‘slaves for all’? These questions are ones that we today seldom discuss. We are conveniently ignorant of the labor pains that were present at the birth of our Church. Dr. Byron provides a snapshot of that delivery framed in the form of this book.
Dr. Byron is a well-known scholar who has specialized in studying Graeco-Roman slavery. There is no one better suited to write about this topic, and to present it in this way than Dr. Byron. Students, pastors, and lay people can all benefit from this book. I recommend it for anyone who desires to understand the 1st Century Church and the world it inhabited.

Leave a Comment

Ah, Those Were The Days!!

Published by mhelbert on July 22, 2020
Multi-Deck Flying Saucer ca. 1963

I remember…
Memory is a funny thing. It lives somewhere in the mind alongside colors and taste and imagination.
When I was a kid, my friends and I would spend hours drawing flying saucers. In the early 1960s science fiction was a growing genre that was sprinkled like so much fairy dust on our growing and developing little gray cells. We drew them just like they were portrayed on T.V. and in the movies. One long, narrow oval with a small dome on top.
Think of the original “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” How cool was Gort! We all wanted him as a friend.
“Mom! Can I stay up and watch T.V.?”
“No, Honey. It’s time for bed.”
“Gort! Go get her!”
Oh, yeah, I coulda used a buddy like that!

That’s how memory works.
Our minds are imprinted with information from every minute of every hour of every day of our lives. All of that information is retrievable.
But, none of it can help us to actually relive that time.
We cannot go back to that place.
The colors and smells and Feelings we experienced are backed-up on hard drives of flesh that reside within a thin layer of bone and fluid.

We like to think that memory is 20/20.
That those images and other sensory data that was stored within the folds of our minds is infallible is one of the fallacies that those same minds produce.
No one’s memory is infallible.
I think that even people with perfect recall, those who have what’s called a ‘photographic’ or long-term eidetic memory may see images or recall data. But, the ability to truly relive any given moment in time by remembering it doesn’t really exist. At least not for us mere mortals.

If true and complete memory does not exist, what about something like Nostalgia?

We all have moments when we glance back into our history and feel a touch, a longing for the ‘Good Ol’ Days.’ Don’t deny it! You do, too!
For a lot of folks these feelings create warm and fuzzy feelings. That’s what nostalgia does. Particularly, when society and culture are in flux.
I think back to my youth in the 60s when Civil Rights, the Viet Nam war,and Feminism were in the news cycle daily. My Dad and his friends longed for the days of Eisenhower when houses with white picket fences surrounded gardens of bright flowers and there was an apple pie cooling on the kitchen window. It so much better then! There wasn’t any of this demonstrating or riots or uppity Women.

Nostalgia.

One scholar, Svetlana Boym, quoted in https://thewayofimprovement.com/2020/07/22/nostalgia-for-a-past-that-never-existed/
wrote, “inevitably reappears as a defense mechanism in a time of accelerated rhythms of life and historical upheavals.”
With that in mind, we can think of Nostalgia kind of as a fear response to progress.
Progress = Change and
Change = ???
I think that we human critters are by nature afraid of change.
At least, it takes an effort to make a leap and embrace it.

Why mention all of this?
Yesterday I wrote a rather scathing piece about White Evangelicalism and politics.
Both groups that I accused of being in bed together are steeped in, c’mon you can guess!
Yep!
Nostalgia!

I don’t want to over-simplify a very complex issue involving feelings and memories and life experience.
However, if we even Could turn back time and flip all of those calendar pages back, we wouldn’t find that idyllic streetscape with all of the flowers and birds and dogs yapping gaily around us. We wouldn’t find Mr. & Mrs. Cleaver in their suit and dress with impeccable hair.
We would find reality.
A place where bullies roamed the schoolyard and bosses assaulted their secretaries.
We would find grit in our eyes from the nearby coal-fired power plants and the newspapers and T.V. news would reveal the dark underbelly of business and politics.

There is no going back.

Period.

Society and culture move forward to some as yet unknown vista.

With the support of family, friends, benevolence, and most of all Love we must look past the Past and, together, embrace God’s future.

1 Comment

What Will It Take?

Published by mhelbert on July 20, 2020

Earlier this summer we in the U.S. were witnesses to something that purported to be a “Movement.” Black Live Matter was written across our nation in ALL CAPS. Many of us who had lived through an earlier Movement during the Civil Rights struggle of the 60s as well as that of the Viet Nam war resistance viewed this new thing with, I think, a tinge of nostalgia. We were there. Our black and white, rabbit-eared televisions put us in the mix of the struggle.
Of course, most of us were mere children at the time. But, even we could sense the electricity in the air and smell the ozone of the sparks it created.
Many of those sparks erupted into full-blown conflagrations as Watts and Hough caught fire and burned.
I will never forget watching the police in Chicago press the ‘Suppress At All Costs’ button out in the streets during the Democratic National Convention in 1968.
Nor, will I ever stop mourning four dead young people on the campus of Kent State University when Gov. James Rhodes allowed the Ohio National Guard to use lethal force against protesters.

Many changes came about during those moments in history. Voting rights were gained by the disenfranchised in America. A war in some far away jungle was fought on nightly television news. And, we saw the end of an era on April 4, 1968 when Martin Luther King, Jr. Was murdered.

I say an end of an era because in many ways it was.
People in this nation had seen and experienced enough.
Enough anger; enough hate; enough killing.
It seems as though there’s only so much chaos that we humans can endure before we simply stop and close our eyes.

So, we convinced ourselves that we had all done a great job of addressing the many issues of the day. The good results we kept. The not so good we chalked up to ‘experience’ and walked away from.

In most places that process has a name.

Complacency.

That one word describes a sense that All Is Well. Or, at least it’s Not Terrible and we can live with it.
It reveals a people who are tired and who have no desire to press the struggle to its actual terminus.
“We’ve done pretty good! Well, at least pretty OK!” we say as we turn on the ball game and open a fresh bottle of Heineken’s.

Perhaps I’m just voicing my own cynicism.
I’ve seen this process happen so many times.
People mobilize and march and stage boycotts and the news carries this or that spokesperson for the “Cause du jour.”
Then there are the rebuttals that must be shown. Equal opportunity and all that.
Soon, the news cycle shifts to the high price of chicken because of some bacterial thing that made someone in B.F.E. puke.

Then, gone.
Forgotten.

It seems that only when people break windows and burn cars and yell and scream and throw things…it’s only THEN that people pay attention.
I read the NY Times for Sunday.
There was a lot about the late John Lewis. As there rightly should be. He was a giant among Humanity.
However, the causes that he fought for were conspicuously missing.
Black Lives Matter?
The only coverage was about the Federal Government’s illegal activity in Oregon.
I haven’t seen a word about any marches or rallies on local media.
In fact, the absence of coverage for PEACEFUL and NON-VIOLENT activity, the very things that Congressman Lewis gave his life for was deafening.

Seriously, folks.
Do we need to burn the country down in order to secure some semblance of Justice for what the Bible names, “the least of these?”
Will it take more deaths and disaster to finally show us that we are all Equal in God’s eyes? So, dammit! We should be equal in one another’s eyes as well?
What will it take?
We’ve been at this a long, long time and the same issues are still raising their Hydra Heads.

I don’t know.
I hope that I will be able to see some life in our culture before mine ends.
But, that hope hangs on a thread.

Leave a Comment

There Is Hope

Published by mhelbert on July 15, 2020

I opened my eyes on the horizon before me. The path that I walked led inexorably toward a reckoning. While I could not foresee all that lay beyond my vision, my mind’s eye caught snippets and scraps of the possibilities.

I was clearly aware that injustice had engrafted itself upon and within the very fabric of our shared reality. Powers that insinuated themselves as Masters of Destiny flowed into our culture as deadly gas permeates even the very walls that we try to hide behind.
So blind had we become to even the existence of these Powers that they could reach out and touch us without any nerve conducting the pressure to our conscious minds.

Yet, here I am.
So many years later looking upon the wreckage of dreams unseen; hope unrealized.
For the World that we inhabit is a world of our own creation.
It has been built brick by brick. The mortar mixed with the blood of the innocent.
The constructs of Race, Gender, and Class form the superstructure of this World.
The steel girders welded and riveted together in order to bear the weight of those Powers.

And yet, here we are today seeking to put a new facade on that structure. Powerwash the block and marble that reflects the Sun and creates a spectacle of beauty and truth.
Black Lives Matter.
Yes, they do.
The Glass ceilings that separate us by Gender, that hold Women in thrall to man-made servitude must be shattered.
Those enslaved by poverty, both economic and of the soul, cry out for emancipation.

There is a thing that Augustine, that august Bishop of Hippo once named. As he looked around at his World he saw the many Powers that existed even then. He pronounced judgment on them and named them:
Original Sin.
While his attempt to cast the Light of God on what he believed was humanity’s underlying curse, he was, alas, wide of the mark.
For the Original Sin that he saw was that of Innocent Humanity turning its back on the Paradise and Blessing of God.
No, Humanity has never been innocent.
In one version of the story when God announced that Humanity was to be created, the Heavenly retinue cried out,
“No, no, no!”
They knew that humans would be disobedient and headstrong and muck up the Very Good Creation.
Yet, God told them that they were correct. But,God would provide a way of deliverance.
God declared that all of the Cosmos would rejoice when Humanity came into its inheritance.
That inheritance is to share in the Reign of Jesus who is the King above all kings.

I saw in this that the Powers believed that they had all of the strength and wisdom necessary to make them invincible to all of those who would seek to usurp their authority.
They held Spirits of Politics, Economy, Culture, and all of the lesser gods in their hands.
“Nothing can stand against our might,” they cried!

Yet, in the depths of the hearts of the Slaves a spark burned brightly.
The Heart of God, that is Jesus, had been the point of ignition for these lights that burned within the humble breasts of all of these People.
And soon, a great conflagration had erupted.
It was a fire without heat that did not consume.
Within it was the Voice of the Almighty who proclaimed judgment against the Powers.
Their might was thrown down and destroyed.

A nice story, eh?
I could end it with,
“And they lived happily ever after.”

The reality IS that the might and strength of the Powers have been cast down.
Yet, the structure remains to this day.
It is this structure that is yet to be dismantled and hauled out to sea where it may be useful as a haunt for fish.
Then, perhaps, we will all find freedom.
Until then, we must continue to let the fire that has kindled within us grow. We fan those flames as we march and sing and hold each other up, not simply as equals, but as Sisters and Brothers with Love and Respect and Honor.

The good news is that the Powers have been disarmed.
The better news is that we are ABLE to stand against the structure that the Powers thought was too strong to fail.
It has.
Now we must work to tear it down.

Leave a Comment

Color Blind?

Published by mhelbert on July 6, 2020

Last week I wrote how my Dad reacted to the murder of MLK.
My Dad grew up in a small town where there were few, if any, African Americans.
He was a child of his time.
Jim Crow was still the rule of the Land, if not the actual Law.
Blacks were viewed not only as “Other,” but as “Less Than.”
Outside of a few city slicker, bleeding hearts no one even thought twice about it.
Most folks were like my Dad simply trying to get their piece of the American Pie.
They really had no time to think about things like Equal Rights and Red Lining.
Hell, I’m pretty sure my Dad went to his grave having never heard of Red Lining!
No one cared.
Period.
They had their own worries and concerns.
“Blacks? Who cares? Let them worry about themselves. That is, as long as they don’t show up in my neighborhood!”

My first contact with Blacks was when I was a very young child. I lived in a lily-white world. Except, on garbage day.
That’s when the Negroes came down our street with the garbage truck to collect the stuff that we no longer wanted.
The Garbage.
Imagine my young, white mind seeing this.
My dad went to work somewhere magical every day.
Negroes collect garbage.

Of course, my parents never said anything to dispel that thought.
As far as they were concerned my observations were spot on.
Negroes collect garbage.

Throughout my youth I never had any other real contact with African Americans.
Oh, yeah, they showed up on the news fairly regularly.
But, with Dad’s commentary in my ear, there were no positive images seen or understood.

That is, until Music.

I remember the first time I heard “Green Onions” by Booker T. & the MG’s.
Holy Shit!
What was that sound?
Do you feel that?

First the ears, then the eyes Opened!

Later, who’s that guy with the ‘fro?
Jimi Who?
Oh. My. God.
Is that a guitar?

Mind. Blown.

The circuits in my brain began to search for new pathways to describe and explain the cognitive dissonance that I experienced.
I had always heard that Blacks were something, (note “something,” not “someone”), to be at best ignored. They had no talent or ability that would interest a white person.

But, Bloody Hell!
That guy could Play!

I picked up B.B King, and Albert King.
Fats Domino and, of course, the King of Soul…James Brown.
(My Dad had no use for Brown. He referred to him as a Screaming N-R.)

Once on a journey to the hinterland of Cleveland Public Hall to relish the sweet sounds and harmonies of Three Dog Night, I heard nature’s call. When I got to the Relief Portal I found that all of the stalls had a coin slot on them. So, now it costs a buck for a coke and a quarter to get rid of it. They had us coming and going.
However, one young man, about 6 feet tall and ebony of hue, wearing a sheepskin vest and a wide-brimmed hat held the door open for me. “No way someone should have to pay to piss.”

More of the instilled hatred that my Father tried to pass on to me was flushed away.

Yet, my destiny seemed to be in following my white forebears through life. I got a job with a mostly white business. That business busied me for the next 40+ years. I had limited contact with folks who did not look like me.
I found myself engulfed in the cultural tsunami that was Ronnie Reagan.
Yes, I have repented of my youthful foolishness. My back striped from self-flagellation.
But, the mantra of that time was, that nothing was more important than the economy. And, that economy is ‘Color-Blind.’
That meant that everyone and anyone had equal access to the same prosperity. All you had to do was work hard at it.
See!
Color Blind!

Unless, of course, you were one of those Welfare Mothers who became baby factories for no other reason than to suckle on the Government Teet.
Or, you were one of those crack head, absentee fathers who stuck his dark wick into any willing receptacle. Of which, there were apparently an endless supply. (See Welfare Mother.)

No. Racism didn’t die when the laws changed.
White folks thought it did.
That’s why white folks invented the term Color Blind.
You see, Lady Justice wears a blindfold. So, if the Law says ‘Equal,’ then that means that 400 years of oppression suddenly vanishes. Just like that White Jeannie with the skimpy harem outfit and the blink and nod thing. Gone!

Now that I’m older, so much older…
I see that the only color that white folks are blind to is White.
Yeah, I know that technically White is the absence of all color, but play along.

Who was it that affixed the moniker “Red Man” to indigenous Americans?
What group of people colored the Asian “Yellow”?
What enlightened culture labeled an entire continent, “The Dark Continent”?
Oh, you thought that was because of the deep, dark jungle?
Yeah, probably not entirely.

White people, the squeaky-clean, sparkling progenitors of everything good and worthwhile in the world have done more to demean and destroy anyone, or any culture, that may seem to set them in a poor light.
White folks can’t stand to be “Losers” or “Also Rans” or anything less than King of the Hill.

But, in more ways than we care to admit.

We are.

Actually, that pretty much sums this up.

1 Comment

More Questions to Think About

Published by mhelbert on June 29, 2020

I’ve spent a lot of time at this blog thingy writing about my trials and tribulations as a card carrying member of the Fundagelical Tribe. A lot of the reason for that is simply so that I can process my thoughts and feelings. After all, this is my blog and I can write whatever I like.
So, if I want to use it for therapeutic purposes, so be it!

I’ve spent the last 15 or so years deconstructing much of the theology and church stuff that I had been indoctrinated with. It takes a while to get 30+ years of stuff cleaned out so that you can take a clear look at what’s there. Good and not so good.
Deconstruction can only go so far, though. Eventually, ya gotta start to con-struct something new. I began that process by reading and studying progressive religious leaders. At the top of that list were Brian McLaren, Rev. Dr. William Barber II, Rob Bell, the late Rachel Held Evans, and many others. I found their perspectives on following Jesus rather than holding on to some kind of orthodox dogma refreshing as well as freeing.
These folks pointed toward what McLaren called, “A New Kind of Christianity.”
For me, that book proved life-changing. I suddenly found a stream that flowed with crisp, clear water that I slake my thirst for spirituality. I thank God for this grace that opened my heart and mind to the possibility of a Really, Big God who embraced us and loved us. This was quite different than the little, vindictive god that I had been taught about for so many years.

Now, after the search for life in the Church I have found a home. At least for now. I no longer think in terms of concrete ideas or doctrines. I have killed the idea of certainty and grown in its place a kind of light touch for things. For, who knows, I may learn something tomorrow that will again shake the foundations of life and faith and catapult me into an entirely new reality. It’s happened before. There’s no reason to think it won’t happen again.

Anyway, I digress.

The reason that I’m writing this today is to call out my progressive pals.
Yes, we have much in common. We seek to see justice carried out in our world…Now!
We believe that God cares about the Earth. After all, God did say that it was “Very Good.”
We know that Jesus cares about the Least of These and desires that we care for them.
The “Other,” the widow, orphan, and foreigner are as precious to God as any who would claim to follow Jesus. We MUST consider them precious.
I agree with most Progressives who see that God has placed in every human a Spark of the Divine. There is that Imago Dei, Image of God, that may be found in everyone. We must honor and help fan that Spark to Flame.

These are all good things. These are all Scriptural things.
These are all Godly things.

Yet, there is a lack.

While I feel more comfortable with Progressives, there is still something that prevents me fully embracing fellowship, Koinonia, with them. There is a blockage of some sort that inhibits unconditional acceptance.
I think that for many, (most?), Progressives there is a feeling of “Yes! We made it!”
They consider themselves ‘Woke’ believers who are on the path to a truly just world. All we need to do is get more folks ‘Woke’ like us! (I’m surprised there’s not a book by that title out there!)
For many of these folks the creation of a new World in which there is equality and justice and food and water and peace is something that the arc of history is inexorably bending toward. We just need to do our part to help bend it.

The Early Fathers had a name for this.
Pelagianism.
I’m not going to explain that right now. Y’all are capable of using Google.
But, in essence, it’s a theology of self-sufficiency that Augustine and others rightly rebuked.
This is not to say in the least the We Are Not Responsible for working for justice and peace. Jesus set us the example to do just that.

However, Jesus qualified his example.
He told people who questioned him that the things he did and taught were nothing more than what he saw his Father in Heaven doing and saying.
There is a lack in Progressive theology that doesn’t give enough importance to the Spiritual part of the equation. If equation is even a proper word to describe this.
They have the human side moving well. Progressives are front of the line for helping those in need. Money, time, energy, and gifting are all willingly, and rightly, offered in the work that we all have before us. For people to sit on their hands and say that they’ll ‘Pray for You’ is a cop-out that totally misses the mark of Faithfulness. Those folks continue to ‘fall short of the glory of God.’
The Progressive folks seem to skip over the parts of Scripture that call out our neediness for the Grace of God. Paul wrote about these folks as being ‘of the flesh.’ Basically, that’s theology-speak for someone who has a connection with the Spirit of God, yet continues to do things according to the merely human. They don’t feed and grow that spiritual connection that is truly the Life Line for anyone who desires to follow Jesus.

The life of a disciple is not simply a matter of thinking and doing the right stuff. It is that, for sure. But, it is also so much more.
It is sitting silently in God’s Presence listening.
It is communion with the Holy Spirit that directs and empowers the actions that we take.
It is child-like trust that God has ours and the Creation’s best interests in hand.

If there is one thing that I would encourage my Progressive sisters and brothers to understand, it’s that while we are in fact Children of God, Beloved and Cherished, Image Bearers of the Divine, we are also humans who Need God’s Empowering Spirit.
We cannot change the world and make it more just and loving without this.
The Kingdom of God cannot be established without God directly involved in bringing it to fruition.

Simply having our “Better Angels” guiding us is not enough.
We must walk in the Light and Spirit and Grace that is God’s Alone.

Leave a Comment

1 Corinthians_Unity pt. 1

Published by mhelbert on June 18, 2020
Anyone have an aspirin?

Yesterday I wrote a response to a reader’s questions.
At issue is whether or not seeking unity is possible when there are others who hold such diametrically opposed positions on faith, belief, and praxis.
In fact, it would seem that some of the differences that we see in today’s American culture are insurmountable. We would be better off simply not engaging with those folks. It would be better for our own sanity and peace.
We could always cite texts within the Bible that state things like, “what does darkness have to do with light? Therefore, don’t associate with darkness.”
Makes sense. Right?

Of course it does.

That may be the crux of the issue.

I wrote a few days ago, Here, about how evolution may play a role in how we view “Others.”
In order to protect our tribe so that we can flourish, reproduce, and live our lives, we construct barriers that insulate ourselves against those others.
Those barriers include ideas and beliefs. Even if we find ourselves in physical closeness with one another, say for commerce or other concerns, we still keep the barriers up. In this way we can clearly see any potential danger from outside influences.
I highlight Influences because that is precisely what it seems that we do when when we listen to the voices of our own echo chambers.
Whether those voices are conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican, Muslim or Jew,
working class or ivory tower Elite, we naturally gravitate toward the voices that resonate with our tribe.
As I wrote then, I think that this kind of thinking is at the heart of many of the issues that we deal with in our society today.
It’s all Us or Them.
And, nary the twain shall meet.
Period.

This was part of the problem that St. Paul saw in the fledgling church at Corinth. They had divided up into factions that ‘Liked’ one personality over another. Paul came right out and called these schisms. These schisms threatened to derail all of the work that Paul and friends had done with this church. The Koinonia, or Fellowship, that Paul saw as foundational to the Gospel that he proclaimed was in danger of fracturing.
And, Paul was not having any of that nonsense.
For, to him, it was nonsense.
Over the course of this letter he will lay out what he sees, why it makes no sense, and what he expects the followers of Jesus in this community to do about it.
So, we’ll touch on some of that later.

What I want to address now is the idea of Unity that Paul calls for.
Does Unity really mean Unity?
I mean, I can achieve some level of unity with folks who think like I do.
But, what about everyone else?
Do I need to strive for Unity with “Them”?

The short answer is ‘Yes,’ we do.
Neither Paul nor Jesus leave us a way out of that.

Jesus told his followers:

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

[The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). (Mt 5:43–48). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.]

Pretty clear. Jesus felt pretty strongly about the idea of loving the “Other.”

Even in some of our own traditions the words of our Baptismal Covenant ask us,
“Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?”
“Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?”
(Taken from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer.)

I realize that all of this sounds difficult, if not counter productive to our own aspirations to work for peace and justice in society. We are simply going to have to admit that we will be up against stiff opposition from other tribes who are trying to maintain their own boundaries and integrity. Just like we are.
So, let’s fight and press our position, our Rights, until we defeat those other folks.
After all, we ARE right!
Right?

Well, definitely, maybe.

While unity and respect, if not outright Love, are what’s called for, simple acquiescence to what those other folks think is NOT.

That’s a topic for another post.
For now, take the time to think about your own positions on the pressing issues that face us today.
Then, take a moment to place yourself in the position of someone who may not agree with you.
Can we empathize with them at all?
Or, are they so far off of the rails that only a crane will help right them on the tracks?

Because, looking intently at the “Other” and discerning the flicker of Divine Light, that Imago Dei, that may still dwell within them is what Jesus did.
For those of us who claim to follow Jesus, he is our Exemplar in these things.
He treated both friend and opposition this way.
Perhaps, we should learn how He did that and follow.

Leave a Comment

1 Corinthians_A Digression

Published by mhelbert on June 17, 2020
Oy, What a Headache!!!

Yesterday I wrote a little about what I think was St. Paul’s over-arching concern for the churches that had contact with.
That concern was for unity. As he wrote, he desired that the folks in the fellowship of believers at Corinth would “be like minded and of the same consent.”
So, it’s no surprise that one of my reader would pose the following questions:

“So is it possible to apply this call to unity as you understand it to the Fundamental/Evangelical portion of the church? What does that unity look like? Must unity be reciprocated or can it be only one way? Do I have a responsibility to pursue unity even if others don’t want to have unity with me? If you believe a group within what we would consider the Body of Christ holds hurtful, or even evil doctrines regarding women, gays, minorities, immigrants, etc. must we attempt to live in peace and unity with them? Can we express unity over spiritual matters but go to war with one another over political positions?”

Some of you reading may not understand the questions. They seem to be a way of dodging the responsibilities that Paul appeared to lay upon the folks at Corinth.
“Of course! Unity is unity! We should strive for it with all people.”

And, for those of you who may ask that question I have a reply that may explain where such questioning may originate.

If you were never a part of a conservative, evangelical church you really have no idea how questions like those asked of my reader are important.
Many of us came to follow Jesus at a time when there was a lot of social and political unrest in the U.S. We were part of the so-called “Jesus Movement” of the early 70s. We built our faith and identity on our understanding of the Church as it was described in the first few chapters of the Book of Acts. We willing gave away our belongings and identity in order to “follow Jesus just like the first Church!” Hallelujah!
Part of our concept of how to do this was to become “Disciples.”
We understood that the term Disciple shared an etymological root with the word Discipline. So, we instituted a church government that we believed mirrored that which Paul and Peter and the rest established in the first century.
We had elders who held absolute authority over the church. We took the words that folks should not cause the elders any grief because they worked for God and not themselves.
We believed that such elders or even so-called apostolic ministry was ordained by God for the building up of the Body of Christ so that we could live counter-culturally and witness to the Good News that the Bible taught us.
As our churches grew, we got older. We began to see cultural issues as battlegrounds where our faith was tested. Abortion became a rallying cry for us. Secularization in government and wanton corruption in entertainment caused our leaders to decry how our culture had fallen from its original mandate to establish a City on a Hill that would beckon those seeking religious freedom to our cause.
As you can see, our church culture was ripe for authoritarian abuse. Those elders and leaders we had entrusted our faith to led us into culture wars where we soon saw ourselves as a persecuted minority.
Those of us who did not hold positions of authority were expected to do as we were told.
We met when we were told to meet. We raised our children according to the ways prescribed by our leaders. We had marriage retreats where husbands were told that they were neglecting their duty as the “Authority and covering” for their wives and children. In some case we were told how to spend our free time and how to vote.
The church was our life.
We were instructed by people like second-rate psychologist and theologian wannab James Dobson on how to raise children.
He was wrong on so many levels. But, we didn’t realize it at the time.
We were becoming disciplined disciples who disciplined their children in a disciple-making manner.
Many of us still suffer from the dysfunction that lingers to this day.
Our elders controlled how wives should submit to their husbands in all things including sex.
Wives, we were told, didn’t have control over their bodies, their husbands did. And, husbands were told that we were simply sexually driven animals who really didn’t have any control over their bodies either.
This led to abuses, adulteries, slut shaming, and a purity culture that shamed girls and women.

Many of us, myself included, suffer today from some form of what is termed
“Church PTSD.” Walking into an evangelical church for me is a triggering event that causes anxiety and anger associated with our natural ‘fight or flight’ reaction to perceived danger.
I know people who absolutely cannot walk into ANY church because of the abuses they incurred.
I’m not talking about physical abuse in my case.
Emotional and Spiritual abuse, however, have left me and my family scarred.

So, for those of us who escaped from that milieu, we react viscerally when someone suggests that we should strive for unity with those we feel abused us.
This is what leads us to ask the kinds of question my reader posed.

How can we seek unity with our abusers?
Is there any common ground that we can find with the haters and bigots who were spawned by this fundalelical movement?
Can we sit with the likes of Franklin Graham or christian nationalists like Robert Jeffress, pseudo-historian David Barton, or the Liar Tony Perkins?

From my description of these folks you may assume that I don’t see a way.

That may not be entirely accurate.
I do take the Bible seriously. I take my trust in the Faithfulness of God seriously, also.
So, what to do with our personal histories and beliefs?
I think that we’ll continue this discussion for a while.
We may even find some hope in Paul’s letter to that troublesome church at Corinth.

Leave a Comment

What Did Paul Really Say?

Published by mhelbert on June 16, 2020

As many of you know, (by many, I mean all 3 of you!), I have been helping out at St. Barnabas by facilitating a Bible study for the last year or so. We have followed the texts that were selected for each week in the Lectionary of the Book of Common Prayer. It has been a good time to take a closer look at the texts that were read during worship every week.
But, now I have decided to change things up a bit.
I have wanted to look closely at Paul’s letter to the Church at Corinth for about 6 months. In my own reading and devotional time I recognized similarities between the folks living in that ancient place and our own post-modern Western culture.
Granted that social constructs and cultural mores and practices were vastly different and foreign to anything we know today. But, as I continue studying these ancient texts and read the work of sociologists and anthropologists who write about those times, the more I realize that “people is people is people” regardless of time and place.

So, this past Sunday we began at the beginning of 1 Corinthians.

The first thing that we had to realize is that we were truly reading someone else’s mail. Contrary to what many may think about this text, it was not written to us. It was written by Paul for a specific group of people for a specific reason. Understanding that fact goes a long way to getting even a small handle on the text’s purpose and meaning.
What this means in practical terms for interpretation is that we CANNOT take the words Paul wrote out of their contexts and simply plop them down into 21st century U.S. and apply them like some kind of rulebook or users’ manual.
Note that I wrote “contexts,” plural. There is the obvious context of the letter itself. All of the words written in this particular missive. However, there are cultural and social contexts that bear on ALL of the words written. These contexts are foreign to us. They must be considered along with the text itself if we have any hope of understanding Paul’s purpose in writing.
Too many in Fundagelical circles do just that and completely miss what the text is really attempting to say.

With that in mind we look for hints that can provide us with a better understanding of what an inspired Paul may have been attempting to communicate. Once we discover that, then, perhaps, we can glean something that can help guide us in our own pilgrimage through this life together.

As we began the study we saw that Paul was very much a product of his era. The form and content of the letter conform nicely to the epistolary forms of the day. He began with a greeting that introduced himself, his credentials, and the person who was with him, presumable as a helper.
After the greeting he offered a Thanksgiving for those to whom he wrote. In typical Graeco-Roman style, the Thanksgiving hints at issues or topics that will be addressed at length later in the letter. He praised the Corinthians for their wisdom and spiritual awareness. Nothing unusual at all about this. For, in fact, these are issues that Paul will deal with quite forcefully later in the letter.

Then, Paul wrote what many believe was his Thesis. The over-arching concern that will drive the letter forward.
He wrote,


“Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.”

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). (1 Co 1:10). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Apparently, there were, in fact, divisions within the young Church at Corinth. Paul will go on to speak to these divisions. And, he will condemn them.
In fact, I’ll go out on a limb here and say that in ALL of Paul’s writings his main concern is for the Unity of the Faithful in their communities.
He doesn’t advocate for ‘sameness,’ as some people tend to think. But, his goal and primary concern is for Unity in Diversity.

This takes work…Hard. Work.

In the above quote the words translated, “United in the same mind and the same purpose,” could be better translated, “United in the same Mindset and the same Consent.”
Paul desired for the folks at Corinth to be focused on the same goal as followers of Jesus. As he continues through the letter we see that the people in the nascent Church really didn’t understand the power of their calling. They seemed more enamored by the Cult of Personality that they could attach themselves to. “I belong to Paul! I am on Team Apollos!
No, Cephas is the Best! Yeah, you’re all wrong, I belong to Christ!”
Just like today, people are hooking their wagons to personalities and causes that do nothing more than stir up strife, mistrust, and hatred.
“MAGA!” “I follow Joe!” “My heart is in Dixie!”

However, the second part of that clause states that Paul desired the Corinthians to have the same “consent.”
The wording may seem strange to us. But, the gist of it is clear.
While we affirm the diversity that exists, we must also Consent to live within the Unity of who we are as people.
That requires me laying aside some of my ideas and prejudices for the sake of Unity.
If I am going to truly Love Others, I cannot demand all of my own rights and privileges at their expense.
It’s hard work.
No one ever said that living together is easy. I mean, for those of us who have been married, we get that.

Paul began this letter with a call for Unity in the fledgling Community of Faith at Corinth.

Paul’s words beckon us still toward that goal.

Leave a Comment