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.
