Politics. That thing that we’ve been told should never be discussed at Thanksgiving. That tool of governance used to dig up and till the soil of the electorate in order for this or that political whatever to plant its seeds of thought. Then, hoping that a constituent plant will grow and bear fruit.
According to the politicians, politics is what makes the world go round. They want everyone to believe that; to believe them.
And, we do! We place our faith and trust in whatever politics makes us feel good about ourselves. Whatever position allows us to feel safe and secure. So, we put up banners and lawn signs. We go to rallies and town halls to support what we think is good and right and proper for us and for everyone else. Then, after a time, we realize that those we support can’t come through on what they promised. Disillusionment. So, we modify our expectations and seek other people and policies that we can support.
And, the circle goes round and round and round and……..
As a follower of Christ I have a rather complicated relationship with politics. I’ve heard many say that if we truly believe and accept what’s written in the Bible we must be apolitical. After all Jesus never talked about politics. In fact, He stayed out of the politics of His day. He never railed against the Romans. He was not a vocal opponent about how the Jewish people should be governed. Yeah, He took issue with the abuses that the religious leaders poured on people. But, actual governance? No. He told His disciples that while they may live in this world, they were not part of it. The world in which they lived was a heavenly world where stuff about food and clothing were not to be worried about. Didn’t God provide for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field? Such a vision of utopia! A world without cares and worries! That’s what many think that Jesus was talking about.
But…….
That’s not our reality, is it? Nope. We live in a world where politics force us to act. Where we have responsibilities to do whatever we can to keep ourselves and our families safe and secure. We all gotta join the fray to keep our heads above water. Most of all, we gotta try to make sense of the chaos that our leaders create every day. I am pointing directly at the situation that we live in right now. Washington is nuts. There are so many voices coming from there that it’s hard to discern one from the other. The cacophony rising from the halls of political power is deafening. It hurts my ears. There is little sense being made by those we entrust with our well-being. While that discord and confusion seems unique, it’s not. Every political group and government has stirred up its own version of suspicion and mistrust. EVERY SINGLE ONE!!! Yeah, we do live in a tumultuous time. I talk with a lot of folks who live in fear of what tomorrow may bring. Will our rights completely disappear into fascist totalitarianism? Will our 401(k) survive the confusion? What about those of us who receive Social Security? Not to mention book bans and cultural genocide! “There’s too much!”, they say as tears flow and folks find themselves shaking in fear.
I wrestle with how to respond to the fear and anger that so many of my friends and fellow Christians feel. There seems to be no bridging the chasm between what the world demand and what Jesus seems to say. Trees have been felled in order to make the paper that folks and scholars use to argued about politics and the Church. To what end? (Spoiler alert : none. None at all.) Yet we keep jabbering on about how this view is right; that view is not. In fact, that view is likely sinful and dangerous. What view is that? Doesn’t matter. Whatever view is different from whomever is speaking. Amiright?
So, how do we respond? As leaders in the church we must respond. I recently read that a leader’s job in these chaotic times is to attempt to try and help people live and flourish where living and flourishing seem distant and impossible. So, what response can we make? There are a couple of ways, I think. Not everyone can accept them. I, myself, have a hard time wrapping my head around how to respond. But, one thing that I know with certainty, God’s world is not a world of confusion and discord. God’s world is where peace is reality. The question is, how in God’s Name do we get there? If we do, somehow, find our way, how should we live in such a place?
Please understand that I’m not one of those religious folks who advocate separation from real life. You know, those who move to the wilderness to escape the corruption that they say plagues our nation and our world. Nor am I one of the new monastics who, while living in the world, choose to cloister themselves and develop their own ways. They go to “christian” stores and theaters and schools. Their desire is not to be counter-culture, but to build a separate culture that builds barriers against the ‘forces of evil’ that rule the outside world. These are real reactions that many use to deal with, and insulate themselves from, the chaos and uncertainty of today’s world. In some ways I can’t fault them. However, this lifestyle is not the lifestyle that I see in the Scriptures nor in the Fathers nor in the Church.
If I was asked my opinion on such things I’d have to start with the fact that everything in Scripture was written by and to real people in the real world. Folks trying to get by on what they knew about life and God. Then, I would have to tell anyone who was bored enough to listen that God, Godself, did not just sit by twiddling His thumbs watching corruption and death have their way. God never said, “Oh well, that’s none of my business. Please pass a croissant.” No! In the face of injustice and cruelty God acted decisively. He sent Messiah Jesus to put an end to the power that the world and the world’s systems held over the entire world. If God was willing to act, so should we who say that we are followers of God in Messiah Jesus.
What would this action look like? Sorry, I don’t have a comprehensive list to give you. There are lots of lawful ways to stand against injustice and corruption. In the U.S. we can vote our conscience. Some Christian don’t because, again, that separatist thing. To that kind of thinking I call BS. We absolutely should vote and participate in the democratic process. Not everyone in the world has such a choice. Don’t squander it! We can protest and march. I march and take part in Pride activities as a matter of conscience. We can write to and engage elected officials at town halls to speak about our ideas and feelings regarding various legislation. These things and others are ways that we can give voice to the voiceless and strive for justice in our world.Actions are great. We should feel comfortable with them.
What about our peace? I mentioned that many are suffering anxiety and fear these days. This is an issue that’s not easily dealt with. I feel that it can truly be addressed by the Good Grace of God through the Holy Spirit. Peace in the knowledge that what we experience in the world is not necessarily our true reality. I’m talking to followers of Messiah now. Our reality is in the world of God’s Good Presence. Jesus told Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world. That’s true. We who walk in the Way of Messiah know this. God is our Way. We own our lives in this world and are not owned by it. Speaking for myself, my peace does not depend on what the latest executive order is. My serenity is not broken by the roller coaster of Wall St. I see things as they are, not how they appear. I’m clear eyed to help the oppressed, the LGBTQ community, immigrants, and the homeless. If I am not under the circumstances, I can work to effect change on the circumstances. In a word, I am free. This is why Messiah lived, died, and was resurrected. That we might all be free from those powers that seem so driven to destroy us and others.
So, have hope! God is alive and well. We can be also.
Last week I wrote a rather harsh post directed toward those who say that they follow Jesus. I am so frustrated with my sisters and brothers who, like Esau who gave away his birthright as the firstborn because he was hungry. The quintessential short-sighted person. The Church has given away its birthright as well. And, for an equally short-sighted reason. Political power and control. Such a fickle mistress is politics. I have been around a long time and have seen political fortunes ebb and flow with the tide of public opinion. For the Body of Christ to embrace such nonsense is truly beyond frustrating. I know that many, (most?), who read this think that I’m over reacting. All of this is simply a passing thing. Once humanity advances a bit more and becomes more empathetic and kind, these stone age ideas will pass just as the Neanderthal. There’s a problem with that thinking. Neanderthal DNA is still present in modern Homo Sapiens. It has persisted far beyond it’s original form. So shall the ideas and cultural baggage that my fellow pilgrims on this Way. Let me give a couple of examples that I heard this past weekend. I was with some others having coffee. One of them spoke about someone who was a tad more liberal than he. Another person interjected something along the lines of, “What, is she some sort of liberal? Does she recognize the “Trans Movement”? The other said that it wasn’t about the “Trans Movement.” The exchange was biting and hostile. And, a purely political exchange. The same person who had replied to that earlier exchange shared a story about being in New York City for the Macy’s parade. After the parade there were apparently protesters outside of Macy’s. They were protesting Macy’s selling of mink coats. This person said that he went up to the protesters and made the statement that they must be Pro-Life. After all, if they protested the slaughter of animals they surely must be against the slaughter of innocent unborn children. He emphasized his argument until some of the protesters became uncomfortable. But, to him, this was a victory for God. I think that if he wanted to actually do something helpful he should have joined the protesters. After all, he is Pro-Life! These examples seem to be insignificant to most people. Maybe you, dear reader. The ramblings of people who have no idea what the culture is moving toward. Ok. I’ll give you that. For me, however, these are people who claim to believe in God the Father of Jesus. Their faith is wrapped up in how they interpret and understand the Scripture. The same Scripture that I love. This is painful for me. These folks have walked away from their First Love in order to embrace a particular political position. Then, they say that their position is godly and the Only True Way to Christian. In their judgment any deviation from their narrow, conservative political position amounts to heresy. And, heretics are to be stoned. When I decry the way the Church has been compromised by the powers and politics of humanity I am sharing the pain that I feel. The pain that Jesus and the Church are being misrepresented by hateful people. The pain that the Church has allowed herself to be dragged down to such a level where she can no longer be the voice of God’s Love and Good Grace to the world. And, the pain that so many of my sisters and brothers are bound up in the chains which have lies for links. If anything that I write or teach or preach may break some of those links, then I will rejoice. If God’s Good Grace and Love may find a way into this world to reveal health and healing, that will answer prayers. If I, and others, (I’m surely not alone in this), can represent Jesus and the Church in a way that honors both God and Humanity, my job will be done well. So, when I rant about the Church and the ways in which she has been slandered and mislead, grant me some grace. This is my heart and my passion.
I used to wonder why, if God desired love and justice in the world, why were we church folks only concerned about what happened after we left the world. I know, it seems like a silly question. But, that’s exactly how many people who say that they follow Jesus think. The rationale was that saving people from eternal, conscious torment was more important than providing for a good education or a leg up in the world. If you ask many churchy people, they will say, “Well, duh! Of course eternity is of greater value than an education that will ultimately pass away!” And, from within that religious bubble, that’s hard to argue with.
But, what if, as I’ve argued before, there is no Hell where people are toasted for eternity?
The African American Church can guide us here. Born out of the true Hell of chattel slavery, they found a way to embrace the God of their captors. They found hope and love within the very same Bible that those who held the chains of their bondage.
For them, however, God was not a pious white man on a gleaming throne away off in some heaven. The streets of which mere mortals could never tread. The white god of those who imprisoned their bodies was only interested in keeping things the way that the white people always wanted them. That god sanctioned slavery. The white god cursed all who were NOT white. “The sin of Ham caused all of his seed to be dark and cursed,” this god exclaimed!
No. The God that the African Americans found was a God who walked with them in the fields as the chopped cotton or hoed the rows of tobacco. The God they knew promised to lead them from the bondage of slavery just as this same God rescued the Children of Israel all those many years ago. TheyKNEW God as their friend, benefactor, and ultimately, their deliverer.
And, they have never forgotten that God.
Suffering was reality. Pain constant. Yet, Jesus had come to this world to put an end to suffering. His death and resurrection was the final act of redemption that rejected suffering as the way that life must be. As one writer put it,
“Through the Suffering Servant, God has spoken against evil and injustice. The empty cross and tomb are symbols of the victory.”
[Townes, Emilie M., A Trioubling in My Soul: Womanist Perspectives on Evil & Suffering, Emilie M. Townes, ed., Maryknoll, NY, 1993, p.84.]
With this hope in their hearts, God was the Agent of Transformation where justice and hope were not some pie in the sky dream. These things became the real, tangible call for all who would put their hand to the plow of Faith.
Yet, the White church continued to hold up their Bibles and cry, “Foul! We must obey what the Word of God says! Slaves, obey your masters!”
How far from the mark of God’s Glory were they!!! The White church abdicated its responsibility to be light and salt in the world in order to fill their barns with the bounty of the harvest. And, like in that story Jesus told, God said,
“You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?”
[New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (Lk 12:20). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.]
Emilie Townes wrote
“Obedience that is blind to the world and only follows directions has divested itself of all responsibility for what it is commanded to do.”
[Townes, Emilie M., A Trioubling in My Soul: Womanist Perspectives on Evil & Suffering, Emilie M. Townes, ed., Maryknoll, NY, 1993, p.87.]
That blind obedience to ancient texts taken out of context and applied with an iron and unbending arm is what has happened, and continues to happen, in so, so many white churches.
It is past time to awaken the Church. Until we heed God’s call to provide justice to the poor, the widow, the foreigner, and all marginalized people we have no right to say that we are fully and truly disciples of Jesus.
I hope you all had a great weekend! It’s Monday and time to get back at it.
Today I’m going to add a final piece to my thoughts on “Third Options” as regards the current political activity surrounding Black Lives Matter. To be clear, I fully support this movement. For, a movement it is. People from all walks of life have seen enough injustice and pain. Those of us who have retained remnants of the Civil Rights Movement and other movements led by activists seeking systemic change to our culture are happy to be a part of this. But, alas, we are also saddened and frustrated that these issues still need to be addressed. Baby steps, I guess.
Last week a wrote about how our culture tends to view all issues of morality, culture, politics, and society through binary lenses. Our worldview sees everything in black/white; right/wrong; us/them. This is not only counter productive to a healthy culture, it is simply wrong. Our entire universe and existence is made up of not only black and white. But, it contains all of the millions and millions of colors that live between those extremes. Our reality is not either/or. But, in almost all cases it is both/and. Please understand that. We exist in a paradox. Even if our tiny gray cells can’t seem to grasp that entirely, it is the truth.
So, what does that have to do with so-called ‘Third Options’?
I recently saw an interview with a guy named Miles McPherson. He is the pastor of a large church in San Diego as well as a motivational speaker. He published a book in 2018 entitled, “The Third Option: Hope for a Racially Divided Nation.” I have not read the book, but here is a link to a YouTube presentation in which McPherson discusses its contents. What struck me was how he changed the idea of having ‘Conversations’ about race to having ‘Race Consultations.’ This may seem like splitting semantic hairs, but there is something new about the approach. And, it is an approach that I think is inherently aligned with what should be the position of anyone who claims to follow Christ.
Let me explain.
I usually don’t go in for wide generalizations, but bear with me for a minute as I muse about a couple things.
I wrote last week that I have spent most of my adult life informally studying religion. I am by no means expert on the subject. But, there are a couple observations that I would like to make. Please don’t hesitate to call me out in the comments if something I write is glaringly inaccurate! You won’t hurt my feelings. And, I might even learn something new!
Form where I stand, I see most of the world’s great religions focused on what the practice can do for me. For instance, Buddhism was developed by a guy named Siddartha Gautama after he witnessed human suffering. He desired to help people move beyond suffering toward a higher, (better?), existence in the world. It is primarily a way for people to live peacefully in this life. The hope that is eventually, the individual will be caught up into a universal nirvana where individuality merges with the Cosmos. Other religions also look to enabling adherents to reap some kind of eternal reward for following certain rules or principles. Even many indigenous religions seek to perform rituals in order to please the spirits of ancestors or deities that can help with crops and weather and fertility. All of these are in one way or another, self-seeking. Not self-seeking in a selfish way. But, the deity or spirits or disciplines are sought and practiced for ‘My Benefit’ in this life or the next.
I know that I’m painting with a really broad brush here. But, this is, after all, only a blog post and not a doctoral dissertation.
I want to preface this next part by saying that I am aware that people who claim to follow Jesus are fallible humans who, by and large, get it wrong. As I wrote in earlier posts, we are programmed by evolution to watch out for ourselves and our tribes. That is why what I am going to write is so counter-intuitive, yet so bloody important to understand.
As I read and study the Christian Bible, particularly the Gospels, I am struck by something that seems unusual. The person, Jesus, doesn’t seem to behave like a normal person. The words he speaks and the actions that he performs all tend toward the ‘Other.’ He “sees” lepers. He “looks intently” into the eyes of those who are possessed by evil spirits. He has compassion and weeps over someone else’s loss. In Jesus I see empathy in action. Jesus modeled what McPherson might call “Consultation with the Other.”
Now, please don’t get me wrong. I am in No Way saying that someone must believe in or follow Jesus in order to live a life that looks outward. That’s just not true. There are many people of various beliefs or no belief who live this type of virtuous life. What I am trying, however successfully or not, to say is that religion is a major factor that mitigates or controls(?) the actions of people. Not saying that’s good or bad. It’s just a fact. So, if there is a religious example that may be helpful as we move forward toward what I hope is a brighter and more inclusive future, Jesus is not the worst example that we can have.
I don’t think that I can overstate the importance of empathy in our lives together. We absolutely must learn, not just to live together harmoniously, but to look deeply into the eyes of others and see the spark of common humanity that resides there. Then, use what ever means we can to flame that spark into a fire that consumes the hatred, fear, and distrust that lives and festers within.
Of course, there are many reasons why people choose to follow Jesus. “He was a great teacher,” some say. Others may reply as his original disciples did, “You have the words of Life.” Many, perhaps too many, say that they follow Jesus because of the promised blessings. And, still others say that they are worried about an eternity in hell. Jesus provides them with the necessary fire insurance.
None of those reasons are really very good. I mean, the Buddha was a great teacher. As were Confucious, Moses, and Muhammed. These, and others, have also laid claim to having the words that lead to a full and satisfying life. Granted, other than Muhammed, the others don’t promise any blessings. But, Jesus is still not unique in this. Where hell is even mentioned, there have been many who profess a way to avoid it.
So, again, why should anyone follow Jesus?
The following text was one of the lections for worship yesterday,
22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. 23 “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ 29 “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. 30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge cthe world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (Ac 17:22–31). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
Within that short passage are the words, “That they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.”
Those few words have been grasped by folks who, in our post-enlightenment, post-modern Western culture, take that as a promise that everyone has a chance to know God if they only pay attention to the world around us. God may be found in the delicate beauty of a flower or in the awesome vastness of the night sky. After all, Paul stated that God was the Creator of the world and all that is in it. We should be able to recognize God’s Hand in all things. And, if we can detect God this way, then we may worship God as the true God worthy of our worship. So, those religions that focus on nature may have a better understanding of the Creator God than others.
If that’s true, then again I ask, Why follow Jesus?
If there are ways to know God other than what the Christian Church has taught, what makes this Church special?
Again, back to Paul.
The context for the above passage tells the reader that Paul arrived in Athens after he was chased out of Thessonlinica and Berea by Jews who didn’t like him talking about a crucified Messiah. While in Athens Paul walked around town observing things. He became distressed at all of the temples and idols that were there. So, he began to proclaim Jesus and the resurrection to the Jews in the synagogue and to anyone who would listen to him in the Agora, the marketplace. Eventually, some of the locals decided that Paul was teaching about some foreign deity. They led him to the Areopagus where there was apparently a council who judged whether a philosophy or religion would be permitted to be taught in the city. They questioned Paul, asking about this strange, new teaching.
Paul immediately opened his résumé that confirmed his status as a teacher of this new religion. After observing how religion was of great importance in Athens, he pointed out how he had spotted an altar To An Unknown God. He said, “Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.“ This is not to say that the Athenians truly worshiped God when they worshiped before this altar. How could they? They did not even know who this God was!
Paul stood before them and proclaimed, (the word that was used was one that inferred a Prophetic speech), Jesus the Messiah and His resurrection.
And, that’s part of the reason, Why follow Jesus.
Yes, God may be observed in Nature. God may be observed in some human actions like empathy and self-sacrifice. But, rather than this developing a true Natural Theology, it invariably results in Natural Idolatry. This was the gist of Paul’s statement when he wrote to the Church at Rome,
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made.”
New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (Ro 1:20). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
So, followers of Jesus have the privilege of letting people know who the Unknown God is. We may share that this God is not far away, but is near to each of us. We are all part of God’s Grand Story. Those who follow Jesus are the storytellers who also are those who welcome others into God’s family.
Of course, writing this post like this begs the question, What is that story? Why is it worthwhile hearing? Those questions are ones that I hope to muse on in upcoming posts. So, I invite you along as we hear, Once Upon a Time there was this God…
The first entry in Merriam-Webster defines Diversity as, “the condition of having or being composed of differing elements : VARIETY especially : the inclusion of different types of people (such as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization.“
In today’s American culture wars diversity is considered by many people to be something evil that should be avoided at all costs. After all, if we achieve true diversity then White-Protestant hegemony would end. We can’t have that.
But, that’s a topic for another post.
This morning in the quiet hour before I had to get ready to go to work I considered diversity as it relates to our various faith communities. The reality of Euro-American dominance in the world raised its head and looked at me with its blood-red eyes. I have written about this as it relates to world missions before. The predominantly white North Atlantic Church has arrogantly forced its own cultural brand of Christianity on a world that neither wanted nor needed that. Yet, that Church still considers itself to be the Only Real True Church. Even today we send groups out into other cultures in order to form the people who are indigenous to those cultures into little versions of ourselves. Because we know best.
Well, we actually don’t.
We have lenses that color our vision. We only see what we want to see. People who are lacking. People who are missing out. People that We. Need. To. Save!
I think that there’s a better way.
I had the pleasure of studying under the Director of Black Church Studies at Ashland Theological Seminary, Dr. William H. Myers. Besides New Testament classes that I had with Dr. Myers, I also had the opportunity to study Womanist Hermeneutics with him. That is a way to read and understand the Scriptures taken from the point of view of African-American women. That class stretched me. I was the only white person in that class. So, it was a total immersion experience for me.
And, it was uncomfortable.
Not because of who I was. But, because of the lives of the women I met in that course. Women who lived as slaves in the U.S. South. Women who survived that hell only to find themselves buried neck deep in Jim Crow America. Women who raised families.
Women who found peace and solace in the White man’s Jesus.
How they did that was an amazing feat of faith and trust in God. They learned that God was not the provenance of the dominant culture. They learned that God sets captives free and leads those who love God to the Promised Land. They learned that God was above the status quo. They learned that God loved them.
Diversity.
I also learned about a man named Randy Woodley. He is descended from the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee. Dr. Woodley has spent his life discovering the Creator God of all people. He is also a follower of Jesus who is learning how to understand the God of the Colonizers in a way that those who were colonized can love. He, and other Native Americans, work to, as Dr. Richard Twiss, himself a Native American, “Rescue the Gospel from the Cowboys.” These faithful followers of Christ have found that Jesus isn’t White and doesn’t wear a clerical collar.
Diversity.
I mention these things for one reason.
The Church needs these voices. We will die from inbreeding if we don’t listen to them. They have truth that the hearts and minds of the dominant culture simply don’t have. If we want to have life, and that abundantly, we must push back against those small minded culture warriors who think that there is only One Way to Live. Their way.
That’s a lie from the pit of hell. There are as many ways to live as there are people and cultures. And, there are just as many ways to follow Jesus.
