Do I Stay Christian? How?

     He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: "Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: 'Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.'

     "Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, 'God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.'"

     Jesus commented, "This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you're going to end up flat on your face, but if you're content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself."– Luke 18:9-14 (MSG)

Brian McLaren, in the last third of his sobering, insightful, and compelling book, Do I Stay Christian, offered guidance for Jesus followers who want to stay Christian in a world where a larger, louder voice reflecting the reasons so many people are leaving dominates.  How do we stay Christian in the world in which we find ourselves, staying faithful and perhaps even helping others find a hopeful alternative?  His chapter titles hint at the recommendations he makes:

How Do I Stay Christian?

     Include and Transcend: Respect the Human Process. In one of his earlier books, Faith After Doubt, McLaren outlined a way to frame how we develop as human beings in our thought processes regarding faith and life.  Read through the chart McLaren crafted, one column at a time.  Which one(s) most resonate with you?  Have you shifted over the years?  Why?  Perhaps when we recognize our own development, we will also recognize that everyone else on the planet is developing, too.  Perhaps that will soften our hearts toward one another.

     Start with the Heart: Love is the End and Means.  The shortest way to summarize this chapter and McLaren’s point is to simply say that we won’t argue our way toward harmony.  Love is the only motive and the only means that brings us to a loving end.

     Re-Wild: Creation is God’s First Word; “Read” It.  God’s first Word is creation itself, revealing so much about the nature of God.  Spend some time in creation – of which you are a part! – and observe.  Not to study or categorize or identify, but to simply be in the first Word of God so that it can speak to you.  It will.

     Find the Flow: The Spirit is Moving; Move w/ It. The Spirit of God is always moving toward all that God intends for all that God has made.  The intention is that it be well and whole and fully alive as it should.  How are you moving with the flow of God in your individual life for your personal wellbeing?  How are you moving with the flow of God for the wellbeing of the planet?  All its inhabitants?

     Re-Consecrate Everything: Redeem v. Refuse. I do not think those who lived before us had an evil plan to interpret scripture in ways that would one day be used to turn the Bible into a club.  People see things as they are.  People see things as THEY are.  All that has shaped our eyes causes us to interpret things the way we do, according to the way we see things, according to the way we are.  Instead of throwing everything out, why not redeem them so that their value can go forward?  It like holy recycling.  Let’s rethink and recast the beautiful traditions of baptism, communion, confession and more to reflect the loving purposes of God.

     Renounce and Announce: ID Mistakes & the Gospel.  Like the above, there are passages that have been used to enslave, abuse, shame, and kill people.  We need to shine a light on those passages, talk through the interpretations, and recast them through the lens of Jesus.  All people ARE equals regardless of skin tones. Women ARE equal with men.  LGBTQIA+ are fearfully and wonderfully made and are equal with straight people.  Divorced people are not second-class citizens.

     Stay Loyal to Reality: Know & Avert Your Bias.  Below are several paragraphs – each one a prayer – crafted by McLaren to help us acknowledge our biases and ask God’s help to avoid them.  Take time to slowly work through each paragraph.  Which ones stick more than others?

     Stay Human: Increasingly Just, Kind, Humble.  What kind of human do you want to continue to become? The picture of a mature person in the Bible – one who truly walks with God – is one who acts justly, loves mercy, and walks humbly with God (Micah 6:8). Jesus nailed it, which is partly why we are still talking about him!  This is the Way that leads to life with God, life for all people, life for the planet.  How are you developing such maturity in your life?

The parable Jesus told was a slap in the face to the religious leaders who may have been listening.There were plenty of people who thought the religious leaders were full of “it”.The dynamics may have been different, but McLaren’s book would have resonated with plenty of people in Jesus’ day, too.The model Jesus presents in this parable is the least likely candidate, yet the one who knew it and addressed God in deep humility.May it be so for all of us.

A Prayer to Minimize the Risk of Bias and the Sin of Certainty (Brian McLaren, Do I Stay Christian?)

     Source of all truth, help me to hunger for truth, even if it upsets, modifies, or overturns what I already

think is true. Guide me into all the truth I can bear, and stretch me to bear more, so that I may always choose the whole truth—even with disruption—over half-truths with self-deception. Grant me passion to follow wisdom wherever it leads. [Confirmation Bias]

     Spirit of wisdom and understanding, help me not be seduced by simple lies or repelled by complex truths. Instead, teach me to seek out understanding as if it were hidden treasure, digging deep beneath surface appearances to discover what is real in the depths. [Complexity Bias]

     Inspirer of holy boldness and humble bravery, give me the humility to learn from my community along with the courage to differ graciously from my community, seeking truth even when my companions are unwilling to see it or accept it. Help me remain humbly loyal to the truth even when I am misjudged and rejected by my community for doing so. [Community Bias]

     Revealer of insight, do not let me be satisfied to see only what is visible from my limited perspective. Grant me insatiable curiosity to understand what my neighbors can see from their different vantage points. Help me draw near to them, to walk with them, to see through their eyes, hear through their ears, and feel through their experiences, so my horizons will be broadened through empathy. [Contact Bias]

     Spirit of wisdom, protect me from being misled by those whose words are full of flattery, familiarity, and false promises, and keep me humble enough to learn from those whom I am tempted to dismiss as strange, difficult, or unfriendly. [Complementarity Bias]

     Wellspring of all self-knowledge, give me humility so that I do not overestimate my competence. Save me from both excessive confidence and a lack of confidence; instead, please grant me proper confidence, to see myself, my abilities, and my limitations with a clear eye and sound mind. [Competence Bias]

     Voice who beckons me toward growth, help me see what I am mature enough to see right now, and not only that: help me to know now how little I can know until I grow more mature. Grant me the curiosity and awe so that I may honor the bottomless, limitless wonder, beauty, and mystery of this world. [Consciousness Bias]

     Spirit of truth who sets us free by the truth, do not let my desire for comfort blind me to truths that will inconvenience me. Grant me resolve to welcome the pain that often comes with wisdom. Help me choose empathy over apathy and courage over complacency, and to abhor the bliss that accompanies ignorance. [Comfort/Complacency Bias]

     Holy source of both surprise and consistency, help me never to be held captive by rigid ideology on the one hand or addiction to novelty on the other. Do not let me be blinded by conformity or loyalty to any political party or economic arrangement. Whatever is changing around me, help me always to do justice persistently, love kindness cheerfully, and with unflagging sincerity, to walk in humility with you, my God. [Conservative/Liberal Bias]

     Cosmic witness who cannot lie, keep me vigilant against con artists for whom lies and truth are spoken with equal confidence, and who tell me what I want to hear so that I will do what they desire. Protect me from surrendering to others my responsibility to think for myself. [Confidence Bias]

     Holy light who illumines what is real, help me to see danger that is all the more threatening because it unfolds gradually and, likewise, help me to see possibility that is easily missed because it emerges slowly and subtly. Grant me, I pray, the long view. [Catastrophe Bias]

     Beloved One who loves me, help me to hate money in comparison with you and help me see in the love of money the hidden root of all kinds of evil, so that I may see and cherish what has true value, freely giving what I cannot keep to gain what I cannot lose. [Cash Bias]

     Companion who walks with me in light, help me guard my heart from stories and theories that cast me as an innocent victim or virtuous hero, while simultaneously casting someone else as villain or enemy. Instead, help me join your cosmic conspiracy of kindness, justice, joy, and peace for all, seeing myself and all my neighbors as equal beneficiaries of your boundless, merciful love. [Conspiracy Bias]

Do I Stay Christian? Why I Stay

Throughout this series I have engaged issues highlighted in Brian McLaren’s book, Do I Stay Christian?  And there are many issues. Violence directly instructed or tacitly endorsed by Christian leaders amounting to literally millions of lives lost.  Rigidity regarding orthodoxy (dissenters were tortured and killed). Antisemitism. Politics.  Developing for so long, combined with our living at a time of unparalleled access to information and communication has resulted in an unprecedented number of people not just leaving the Church, but the faith the Church proclaims.  I have had many conversations with people who are spiritual but are so disgusted with how they see Christianity represented – as fear mongering, wrath threatening, bullying, power-driven – that they don’t want to bother trying.  Even if they believe in some of the fresh, life-giving ways of embracing Christianity, for them it is not enough knowing that most self-proclaimed Christians resemble what they can no longer tolerate.  For themselves.  For their children.  The problem is not going away.

     I can relate because I have wrestled with the same thing as a pastor.  I have had to defend alternative positions my entire adult life.  Creationism.  Biblical literalism steeped in an unbiblical notion of inerrancy and infallibility. Racism.  Interfaith marriage.  Interracial marriage.  Women in positions of authority over men. Politics.  Support of interfaith dialogue and cooperative service.  Human sexuality.  Same-gender marriage. Climate change.  I’ve been an ordained pastor since 1995.  There has never been a season when I have not had to deal with someone pushing back from a deeply conservative Christianity.  I appreciate the “feedback” and understand it.  Conservative Christianity has literally owned the majority of the airwaves, publishing houses, and Christian retail since the 1950’s.  Prior to the late 2000’s, unless people were willing to go to a theological library and pore over commentaries, articles and books, the information was nearly impossible to find.  No Christian bookstore had any titles except those which supported conservative Christianity.  No wonder, then, that when I talked about a different way of thinking it sounded like nonsense and perhaps heresy. I get it.

     I have mentioned in recent weeks that for years I have chosen not to wear a cross around my neck – a departure for me as I have worn one since 1990.  I couldn’t because I didn’t want to be identified with the distorted Christianity that was commanding the airwaves, headlines, and political vitriol.  A similar dynamic has happened regarding patriotic symbols like the flag.  I love this country and its aspirational goal to be a land of true equality and opportunity.  But the flag itself has been coopted by one facet of Americans that reflect a more nationalistic vision.  Sometimes, ironically, these same fellow citizens also fly the Confederate flag of the worst and clearest enemy of our union in our nation’s history.  I don’t want to be associated with their vision of the United States because I think their vision is in some ways anti-American.  Yet because they have somehow owned the microphone and are louder and more threatening than others, they also have now robbed me and many others of the flag itself.  Not of my commitment to the American dream for all.  Just the symbol.  I know I digress here, but because of the politicization of everything, they are related.  In the early 2000’s I considered leaving the pastorate because I was so sick of this dynamic.  In 2018 I was fired from a significant role within our former denominational region because I let them know I was going to officiate a same gender marriage.  It was a one day per week job that afforded my family a little breathing room in our budget, a little freedom to not worry about making ends meet each month.  I was also threatened to lead our church out of that region lest we be kicked out as others had been before us.  Nearly 20 years of friendship and leadership investment not just over but essentially excommunicated in a moment.  Do I regret it?  Absolutely not!  I am so proud of the Board of Stewards who unanimously supported me after weighing out what the decision would mean. Of course, the decision wasn’t really for or about me, but about genuine equality for all, and specifically for two of our own church family members who wanted to make their covenant in their church with their pastor officiating. It is a pride point.  I share the pain of it to simply note that I personally have plenty of reason to walk, to isolate.

     Yet I can’t walk away for a lot of good reasons.

     McLaren makes a compelling case to stay in his book, which can easily be understood through his chapter titles.  Why stay Christian:

·      Because Leaving Hurts Allies (and Helps Their Opponents)

·      Because Leaving Defiantly or Staying Compliantly Are Not My Only Options

·      Because... Where Else Would I Go?

·      Because It Would Be A Shame to Leave a Religion in Its Infancy

·      Because of Our Legendary Founder

·      Because Innocence Is an Addiction, and Solidarity Is the Cure

·      Because I’m Human

·      Because Christianity Is Changing (for the Worse and for the Better)

·      To Free God

·      Because of Fermi’s Paradox and the Great Filter

     Many of you know that when I was at a very low ebb in the early 2000’s, I used my doctoral work to help me discover if there was enough “there” there to remain in my career and the faith.  What I discovered – with conservative scholars in full agreement – was that the conservative expression of faith that dominates the airwaves, media, and still owns the publishing houses has so narrowly defined Christianity as mainly about sin management and heaven attainment that it barely resembles what Jesus was about.  What Jesus was about is as compelling, expansive, challenging, hopeful and healing as it ever was.  I have no problem differentiating myself from the extremely limited expression of Christianity that I cannot embrace.  I can easily let that go because it’s not really letting anything go!  It frees me to embrace Jesus and what he modeled and taught fully, proudly, empowering me to be bold in my proclamation of the faith. And adorn my neck once again with the cross that symbolizes the Way of Jesus.

     At the end of the Gospel of John, Jesus reinstates Peter into the inner circle.  Peter had denied even knowing Jesus three times the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested, which led to his death the next day.  Peter had given into fear.  He had lost his focus for a moment.  We all do.  Jesus didn’t wear a judge’s robe or strike a gavel.  He talked about love.  Who do we love most?  In our loving the Way of Jesus most, are we okay if it leads in the same way it took Jesus? Peter humbly said yes, even as he struggled with his humanity.  This Peter says yes, too.

Do I Stay Christian? Politics...

     I have heard stories of people who had to keep their voting preference to themselves for fear of retribution.  If they lived in a particularly Republican area, to vote Democrat called into question their patriotism and their Christianity.  Others, if they lived in a Democratic area and voted Republican, were chastised as being swayed by the extreme right and endorsing a hateful form of Christianity.  How did we get here?  Note: for a thorough historical analysis of this development, see One Nation Under God: Ho Corporate America Invented Christian America, by Kevin M. Kruse (2015).

     In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin hammered out a statement that served to shape American thinking ever since: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.  The Bill of Rights was written to protect against government overreach when it comes to faith: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.  Clearly, faith and religion were part of our country’s origin story.  For the most part, the faith of Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers appears to be Christian Deism, whereby God created everything and then walked away, basically uninvolved in the affairs of humanity ever since.  The expression of faith articulated in our founding documents was purposefully general in nature, to take focus away from theology, not spotlight it.

     Toward the end of the Industrial Revolution and its accompanying Gilded Age, Christian pastors and theologians raised concern over the plight of the poor – children, women, immigrants – who were forced to work in dangerous conditions and live in squalor.  They rebuked the wealthy industry leaders who flaunted their lavish lifestyles while the people who made them rich suffered.  They called on the government to create regulations to protect the vulnerable. They viewed this as a natural response of faithfulness that finds a wealth of support in both the Old and New Testament.  To them, this was part of the Gospel they were charged to promote.  To others, it become known as the Social Gospel.  Laws were put into place because of their work.  The lives of women and children were improved.

     Such government involvement was not welcomed by industries, however.  Some Christian leaders also objected to protections and provisions for the poor and vulnerable, fearing that a perpetual welfare state may be the result.  After the Crash of 1929 that led to the Great Depression, industries themselves faced damning public image problems.  Roosevelt’s New Deal promised more government involvement that they opposed.  But how could they turn the tide of public opinion?  Enter Rev. James Fifield, pastor of a large, thriving church in Los Angeles.  Politically, he was a Christian Libertarian.  Theologically, he was moderate, not endorsing the biblical literalism that was gaining popularity during that period.  In his view, the US didn’t need more government, it needed its individual citizens to be saved by faith, which would make them better citizens and the country stronger.  The country needed spiritual revival, not handouts. Fifield networked with 70,000 pastors nationwide, encouraging pastors to proclaim the same message through their respective pulpits.  Industry leaders recognized what was before them – a direct channel to millions of people through churches and the pastors who led them.  Industry leaders were overwhelmingly Republican.  In the 1930’s the marriage between Republican politics and Christianity was consecrated.

     Rev. Abraham Vereide helped take it further. He organized City Chapels all over the nation, a place where business leaders and clergy could come together to study the Bible and pray.  This led to the development of the National (and eventually International) Council for Christian Leadership, where the theological-political ideology was furthered, with the hopes that FDR’s New Deal could be quelled.  In other words, while the platform of the time together was cloaked in religious garb, there was also a clear agenda tied to Republican politics – keep government small, and keep the expression of Christianity focused on individual salvation, not politics. 

     In the 1950’s General Dwight Eisenhower became President, believing that a central part of his calling was to bring spiritual revival to the nation, partly helped along by the threat of nuclear attack from the USSR. With funding from major industries and the network created by Fifield, Vereide, and the crowds amassed by Billy Graham – all voices singing the same song – a campaign encouraging spiritual commitment as a sign of patriotism commenced.  Within a few years, the US recorded record religious affiliation and participation among its citizens that was never reached before or since.  The advertisers on Madison Avenue and Hollywood new how to move people.  During this period of years, the US adopted “In God We Trust” on all currency and added “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance, both nods to our country’s early inclusion of faith-language from the beginning, in contrast to Communism’s atheism.

     More conservative Christian leaders wanted to go a step further, mandating Bible study and prayer in public schools.  While the masses initially supported the idea, with time it waned as denominational leaders and scholars challenged the wisdom of the move as well as its Constitutionality.  The Supreme Court ruled it out.  Bills that were entertained in the House and Senate failed, much to the chagrin and consternation of conservative Christians.

     When Richard Nixon became President, he invited Billy Graham to help organize weekly church services at the White House (!), with the guest list hand-picked along with the pastors invited to speak.  It was, essentially, an opportunity to sacralize the president’s agenda on the government’s dime, protected by the First Amendment which it was simultaneously violating.  Graham’s worldview saw no conflict – God had provided the opportunity to influence, and so he did.

     Ronald Reagan, The Great Communicator, played Christian conservatives like a fiddle even though he rarely attended church himself.  He promised to get Bible study and prayer into public schools but never did.  His successor, George H. W. Bush was a devout Episcopal and did his best to keep the Evangelicals happy. To their chagrin a Southern Baptist Democrat, Bill Clinton, defeated him after one term.  Clinton’s immorality with Monica Lewinsky provided plenty of fodder for the Moral Majority and Family Values Republicans to pounce.  It was the beginning of a new level of political animosity, in my opinion, that would only decline.  The rhetoric of the Christian leaders at that time sounded a lot more like those responsible for killing Jesus than the Jesus they claimed to follow.  It has only worsened since.

     George W. Bush was a Born-Again Christian, which was music to the ears of Evangelicals.  Bush, however, was moderate regarding the hot-button issues that Republicans were known for.  His enduring legacy, of course, will be the war in Iraq and Afghanistan in response to the terrorist attack on the US September 11, 2001.

     Obama served two terms as the US’ first African American President, which stoked racial prejudice instead of dampening it.  The passage of the Affordable Care Act was decried as government intrusion and surely fueled the fires for a Republican win in 2016.

     Kruse’ book was written in 2015, before Donald Trump was elected.  There is nothing in Trump’s personal life history that suggests he was ever raised with a Christian ethos, and nothing in his bio that would suggest he practiced it or could even articulate it.  There are too many examples to note, both from his behavior and from his mouth. Nonetheless, he was embraced by the increasingly conservative Christian right as God’s appointed leader, a new Cyrus of old to redeem God’s people.  No amount of immorality on Trump’s part deterred his followers from their devotion because, I think, his personal level of Christian devotion was irrelevant to God’s use of him as a tool for Kingdom advancement.

     All this development of the marriage of conservative Christians and the Republican party have left many with a horrible impression of Christianity as anti-(fill-in-the-blank), generally hypocritical, and the useful idiots of the GOP (even if they think they are pulling the strings).

     Jesus and politics.  Occasionally I hear someone say the church should be like Jesus and stay out of politics. Whenever I hear this, it lets me know that the person making the statement is unaware of a very important fact: Jesus was, without question, politically outspoken and active.  Every reputable scholar believes that his primary teaching emphasis was about ushering in the Kingdom of God, or, as John Cobb phrases it, a Divine Commonwealth where true equity and justice for all exists on a healthy planet.  This was a direct challenge to Roman occupation.  Anytime Jesus used the phrase Good News, it is a slap in the face of Caesar who coined it for Roman purposes first.  Jesus constantly challenged the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem (Sadducees) for their corruption and challenged the Jewish leadership in Galilee (Pharisees) regarding their biblical literalism and associated legalism.  Unlike every other Messiah-wannabe, Jesus did not condone violence.  He was explicitly nonviolent in his actions and instructions.  Nonetheless, it was his political activity that got him killed.  The following passage is just one of many stories that to us seem quite benign, but to his original audience were extremely provocative.

The Pharisees plotted a way to trap him into saying something damaging. They sent their disciples, with a few of Herod's followers mixed in, to ask, "Teacher, we know you have integrity, teach the way of God accurately, are indifferent to popular opinion, and don't pander to your students. So, tell us honestly: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

     Jesus knew they were up to no good. He said, "Why are you playing these games with me? Why are you trying to trap me? Do you have a coin? Let me see it." They handed him a silver piece.

     "This engraving—who does it look like? And whose name is on it?"

     They said, "Caesar."

     "Then give Caesar what is his and give God what is his."

     The Pharisees were speechless. They went off shaking their heads. –Matthew 22:15-22 MSG

     Caesar and his subjects considered the Emperor to be God.  Jesus’ simple statement, give God what is his, was a direct challenge to that assumption.  Jesus was politically engaged, and he was clear about who he served.  His primary allegiance was to God.  Always.  While he surely defended the Jewish people, he did not sell out or align himself with any of the four primary Jewish sects of his day.  He stayed focused on his allegiance to Abba.  So should we.

     My hope for this teaching is to simply shed some light on the historical development of the long marriage between conservative Christianity and the Republican party.  I do so because the brand of Christianity showcased and aligned with the Republican party is not reflective of the fullness of the faith that Jesus modeled and taught, and because when we can see what’s what, we can choose more easily.  I know Christian people who have chosen not to support the Republican ticket and have been excoriated by their Republican friends and family and have had their faith and patriotism questioned.  This was not always the case.  This phenomenon developed and intensified over time.  We need to be advocates for a fuller faith that is not beholden to any political party.

     I am not encouraging those of you who are Republican to tear up your membership card and become Democrats (or vice versa).  I am encouraging you, if you claim to be a disciple of Jesus, to reexamine where your primary allegiance lies (hint: it should be Jesus).  As you weigh candidates, choose based on the Jesus criteria.  Also, when you see behavior on the part of any candidate that is clearly destructive, call it out, even if it’s your preferred party’s candidate.  Too many Christians said nothing as Hitler rose to power.  Too many Christians have remained silent when our own country has gone through seasons of difficult change when the vulnerable needed to hear the love of God and those in power needed to be instructed to honor justice with grace as they walk humbly with God.  Jesus followers: follow Jesus.

     And God bless America.

Do I Stay Christian? Antisemitism...

Happy New Year! Sunday’s sunset, September 25 marks the new year on the Jewish calendar, the start of 5783. Happy New Year to our Jewish neighbors!

I will never forget that night.  It was Maundy Thursday, the night that the Christian tradition remembers the Last Supper where Jesus mandated foot washing and the continuation of eating the symbolic bread and cup.  I was in seminary, serving a local church in the Chicago suburbs as a Young Adult pastor.  After the communion service – which was very solemn – one of “my” young adults and I were talking afterwards about how we were feeling after the service.  She said this annual service always makes her angry, and that she didn’t know if she could ever forgive them.  Forgive who?  Forgive the Jews for killing Jesus.  I was really thrown off and am sure my face showed it.  I tried to empathize some – although I really wanted to be snarky.  I think I said something like, well, none of the Jewish people today had anything to do with it!  I thought antisemitism was something underground, uncommon, and certainly not welcome in the church.  I was wrong. 

     I don’t think I knew any Jewish people until I was in 8th grade.  Growing up in suburban Kansas – and a preacher’s kid – I lived in a bit of a bubble, to say the least.  We moved to a small college town when I was 8-13 years old, where there were, undoubtedly, even less Jewish people.  Of course, as a kid, I was oblivious to much.

     Things changed when we moved to a suburb of Lansing, Michigan – Okemos – which was where a lot of professionals, executives, and Michigan State University professors lived.  And a strong Jewish population.  This provided a new experience for me.  These were my peers who I studied with, played music and sports with, partied with, etc.  I didn’t really know what to say or how to think, as I recall.  I wasn’t aware of any antisemitic undertones in our home, but we never really talked much about it, either.  I remember feeling really self-conscious letting them know I was a preacher’s kid.  They didn’t seem phased, however.  The weirdness was on and in me.  I remember I was perplexed that they didn’t follow Jesus, who was Jewish.  I couldn’t figure out why they failed to identify him as the Messiah like we did.  It seemed so obvious to us – how did they miss it?  We didn’t talk about it much.  They were just friends, and that alone helped me a lot.

     The fact that I felt discomfort in the presence of “the other” is itself telling.  We human beings like to flock together along all sorts of lines – race, ethnicity, language, culture, religion, and many more.  Depending on our shaping forces, we have varying levels of openness or hostility to those who are not like us.  Christianity, historically, has been hostile to Jewish people, so I should not have been surprised at the encounter I had in Chicago.  This week, I want to talk about antisemitism – where it came from and why it’s a sticking point for people today.  So much so that it is a reason to consider walking away from Christianity entirely.  I share it also so you can perhaps see it more clearly, and be more thoughtfully responsive than I was.

     Origins of Antisemitism.  One of the earliest sources depicting antisemitism might surprise a lot of Christians – the Gospel of John!  By the time the Gospel was written, Christianity was becoming increasingly non-Jewish, and Christians were less and less welcome in Jewish circles.  John was sloppy in his writing, unfortunately, using a sweeping term, “the Jews”, when referencing those who wanted to kill Jesus, when he should have singled out Jewish leadership.  After all, Jesus and his earliest and closest followers were Jewish, so obviously all of the Jews were not out to kill him...  A number of decades later, distancing themselves from Judaism was good for life expectancy given Rome’s frustration with the Jews.  It was easy to get on board the antisemitism train.  John’s example was followed by some of the most renown shaping voices:    

“From late in the first century onward, beginning with the author of the Fourth Gospel (John) and later including Tertullian, Origen, Chrysostom, Jerome, Ambrose, and Augustine, many of Christianity’s most revered leaders vilified Jews, setting the stage for inhumane acts of persecution against Jewish people in the coming centuries, from ghettoization and banishments to forced conversions and mass executions.” – Brian McLaren, Do I Stay Christian? (22)

     Over the centuries, antisemitism fomented.  When the bubonic plague hit Europe, people quite naturally wanted to blame someone.  According to Frank Sowden (Epidemics and Society), “on Valentine’s Day, 1349 in Strasbourg, France, the citizens of Strasbourg rounded up the community of 2,000 Jews, brought them to the Jewish cemetery, and said that it was their religion that was leading them to poison the wells where Christians drank – and that was the source of the bubonic plague. They had either to renounce their religion or be killed on the spot. Half of the Jews held to their religion, and they were burned alive.”

     And there was strong motive for such pogroms (there were hundreds) beyond the plague:

“Everything that was owed to the Jews was cancelled.... The council... took the cash that the Jews possessed and divided it among the working-men proportionately.  The money was indeed the thing that killed the Jews.  If they had been poor and if the feudal lords had not been in debt to them, they would not have been burnt. – Priest/Historian Jakob Twinger von Konigshofen (1346-1420)

     Pope Charles IV pardoned the city later that same year.

     Martin Luther, whose pen ignited the Protestant Reformation, held strong antisemitic prejudice:

Their private houses must be destroyed and devastated; they could be lodged in stables. Let the magistrates burn their synagogues and let whatever escapes be covered with sand and mud. Let them be forced to work, and if this avails nothing, we will be compelled to expel them like dogs in order not to expose ourselves to incurring divine wrath and eternal damnation from the Jews and their lies... we are at fault in not slaying them.

     Think for a minute about this.  How strong do you suppose Luther’s influence was in Protestant churches in Europe, and Germany specifically?  We should not be surprised that it was not too hard to persuade most German citizens to cut off Jews from their society.  An easy scapegoat.  The holocaust took the lives of two thirds of European Jews – six million.

     In my naivete, I thought that Jews would be thoroughly welcome in the United States – they were Jesus’ people, after all.  But the story of Jews in the US is complicated and ugly, and it is still unfolding.  While Evangelicals boasted love for Israel and Jews decades ago, it became clear that their fondness was related to an apocalyptic hope to hasten the return of Christ.  Also, attempts to Christianize Jewish feasts like Passover did not come off particularly well – Christ really wasn’t in the Passover even though it may have seemed that way to us.  The infatuation with Israel and Judaism may seem harmless, but consider it through the lens of Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg: “Philosemitism is antisemitism, too.  Fetishization of Jews and Judaism is also an objectification of us and a denial of our humanity, and also often comes with a side of appropriation.” (24). And there is an uglier dark side as well related to supersessionism: The Jews were God’s chosen people in the past, but ever since they rejected Jesus, we Christians have replaced (or superseded) them. This, by the way, give some the feeling that they have the right to treat the Jewish people as never-to-be-trusted traitors.

     The events that transpired in Charlottesville, VA August 10-11, 2017, reminded us that antisemitism is still very much with us, and willing to get violent. One young woman was killed when an extreme right protestor drove his car into the crowd. Protestors chanting “You (Jews) will not replace us” recall Nazi propaganda that led to holocaust.  Such rhetoric can never be tolerated or endorsed in the land of the free.  Free speech does not give license to spew hatred or prejudice.

     How did Jesus handle people of competing faiths?  One of the most beautiful examples comes from an exchange between him and a woman at a well in Samaria.  Everything about her made this exchange all the more astonishing.  She was a woman. Samaritan. Rejected by her community because of her past and current living situation – they thought she was condemned by God.  Jesus, however, treated her with dignity:

     "Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God's way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you're called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.

     "It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration." - John 4:21-24 MSG

     Whenever we see or hear someone using hateful rhetoric toward any people group –  focusing today on Jews – we are not witnessing the Spirit of God flowing through them, but rather a hatred from a difference source.  Fear.  Greed. Power.

     When we are tempted to marginalize others as less than, we are being tempted to settle for less than Jesus, less than the Way that leads to life, less than God, less than what we want for ourselves and others.  We will be tempted, too – humanity will always have plenty of chapters where our lizard brains win the day, resulting in loss all the way around. 

    As followers of Jesus, however, we have an opportunity to speak a different word, one that seeks to redeem and restore instead of tear apart.  How will you lend yourself to the healing that the world needs?  How will you be mindful when you are tempted to follow the culture’s lead instead of Jesus?  How will you speak into ugly situations that are causing great harm?  As John Stuart Mill stated in his inaugural address in 1867 to the University of St. Andrews:

“Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to achieve their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing. He is not a good man who, without a protest, allows wrong to be committed in his name, and with the means which he helps to supply, because he will not trouble himself to use his mind on the subject.”

How will you do your part to bring about the Divine Commonwealth for all?

Do I Stay Christian? Christianity's Violent History...

What happens if we embrace the notion of a violent God who hates and smites enemies, calls for the wholesale slaughter of people in the way of Israel as they come into the Promised Land, and even causes a global flood wiping out all but a handful of people and animals? 

     The musical, South Pacific, tells the tale of dynamics at play during WWII on an island in the South Pacific where troops awaited advance.  The musical was a hit, producing some of the best known and most loved songs from Broadway, including “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair” and “Some Enchanted Evening”.  While two love stories are part of the show, it’s really a story about prejudice.  Will a young woman choose to remain with the widower she’s fallen for after she learns that his young children are mixed race?  Will a young officer seriously entertain the idea of bringing home a young islander woman with whom he had been having a romantic relationship?  The officer expresses his insight and torment in the song, “Carefully Taught” (here performed by James Taylor):

You've got to be taught

To hate and fear,

You've got to be taught

From year to year,

It's got to be drummed

In your dear little ear

You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid

Of people whose eyes are oddly made,

And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,

You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,

Before you are six or seven or eight,

To hate all the people your relatives hate,

You've got to be carefully taught!

     Prejudice and racism are taught, mostly covertly from one generation to another.  The worldview of individual families and larger cultures pass along their biases.  Whether or not those views are consciously recognized or embraced is another issue. The beliefs of the father are passed down to the son...

     It stands to reason, then, that if we hold beliefs about God being violent toward God’s enemies, then we, God’s children, will likely emulate such characteristics and behavior.  If we perceive that one person or group is an enemy of God, then we are free to hate them and hurt them, since we believe this is what God is already doing. Violence becomes an act of faithfulness.  This is clearly illustrated in those who yell “Praise God!” as they carry out suicide mission terrorist attacks aimed at creating fear by killing innocent civilians as they worship and work.  September 11, 2001 will forever be remembered for such an act.  After it happened, hatred toward Muslims skyrocketed. We can easily see that this group of Muslims believed that we represented God’s enemies, and therefore to kill such enemies was an appropriate and faithful act.  We can easily look at such an act and be appalled, as we should.  Unfortunately, Christianity has been guilty of violent horrors as well, stemming from the same belief that there are people that God hates and smites, giving us license to do the same.

     The World’s Largest and Most Violent Religion?  Mohammed announced that he had received a revelation in 613 CE from the same God of Adam, Abraham, Mary, and Jesus.  Some Christians embraced his revelation, viewing him as a “brother” and at least entertaining dialogue with his followers.  As Brian McLaren notes in his book, Do I Stay Christian (Chapter 3), by 746 CE, Mohammed was classified as a “false prophet” and later a heretic.  In 1093, Pope Urban launched the first of five Crusades aimed at converting-and-or-killing Muslims in the name of God – a 300 year assault.  Those who agreed to fight were promised heaven as their reward since their sins would be absolved.  The “Crusader mentality”, as McLaren coins it, led to a four-fold approach to all people of non-Christian faiths: convert to Christianity, get out of the way of what Christians were doing and leave, submit to Christian dominance as a second-class citizen, or die (40). 

     While the Crusader terminology came to an end, the violent expansion of Christianity did not, being replaced by colonialism instead.  In the Doctrine of Discovery, Pope Nicholas V (1397-1455) – followed similarly by Pope Alexander (1431-1503) – blessed the violent colonization of non-Christian territory on the part of Catholic states:

     McLaren points out that post-Reformation countries took a similar route forward, but without the requirement to line the church’s coffers.  This resulted in Great Britain’s creation of the largest colonial empire.  The United States, of course, earned its freedom from the United Kingdom, creating a different model of government.  Yet even as our Founders declared that all men are created equal, the early years of this country thrived economically owing in large part to slavery, and its geographical expansion to the subjugation and/or annihilation of Indigenous People, all explicitly or tacitly endorsed by dominant Christian voices.  There is no possible way to calculate how many millions of lives were lost over those five centuries.

     During the 20th century, one researcher estimates that 50 million have been killed fighting to be liberated from colonization.  As McLaren notes, “wherever Christians have gone, we have brought a legacy of schools, hospitals, and other institutions to improve our quality of life and the lives of others. But make no mistake: we have also brought the fourfold ultimatum of convert, leave, submit, or die, which is the unwritten contract of crusader colonial Christianity, past and present” (44). Statistically, the violent outlook remains to this day.  As Robert P. Jones noted, “White Christian churches, both Protestant and Catholic, have served as institutional spaces for the preservation and transmission of white supremacist attitudes. The more racist attitudes a person holds, the more likely he or she is to identify as a white Christian.”

     Jesus’ Response to Violence.  Jesus lived at a time when his people and homeland were under Roman occupation.  The Roman Empire had colonized a massive amount of geography including much of modern-day Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa.  This, obviously, included ancient Israel.  There were many fellow Jews who called for a violent revolt.  But not Jesus.  He knew that rising up against Rome would end in calamity and many Jewish casualties.  More, he knew that overthrowing violence with more violence would lead to more and more and more violence.  This did not seem congruent with his experience and understanding of God as Abba of everyone and everything.  This Daddy wanted his kids to get along on a planet they cared for.  Jesus, therefore, called for nonviolent resistance, forgiveness, grace, kindness, even love toward enemies as fellow human beings.  All very radical, and much of it ignored by most Jewish people.  Instead, Israel opted for violent rebellion.  In 70 CE, Jewish rebels fought against Rome and took Jerusalem.  Months later, Roman forces finally broke through Jerusalem’s walls, killed thousands, and burned the city to the ground.  Although Jerusalem was gone – and the form of Judaism it supported – Jesus’ followers steadied on, meeting together all over the Roman Empire, teaching the nonviolent, enemy-loving Way of life that Jesus taught.

     Jesus was remembered saying “don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.  [Remember the Prophet Micah who wrote) ‘I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Your enemies will be right in your own household!’ If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.  If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine.  If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it” (Matthew 10:34-39 NLT).  Jesus was not talking about a literal sword wielded for literal violence.  He was noting that the Way he was modeling and teaching was so counter-cultural and counter-intuitive it would cause division even among family members.  It still does.  When people come to face to face with Abba, their vision is transformed as Saul/Paul – it’s as if we were blind, and then scales fall from our eyes and we could see clearly.  People who have not experienced Abba in the same way will view Jesus, his teaching, and the Way as utter nonsense.  They will be vehemently opposed to the Way, in fact, and will likely call for violence in one form or another.  They have been carefully taught to see the world the way they do, and it will not be easily changed.

     Despite the violence all around them, the earliest followers of Jesus continued to meet, break bread together, encourage each other, remind each other of the Way of Jesus and commit to carrying it forward.  They knew that the Way really does lead to life (even when it is hard) and leads to hope for a violent world (even when the sting of death looms).  Jesus’ mission to persuade his fellow Jews toward nonviolence failed as they picked up swords to revolt against Rome nearly 30 years after his death.  Yet his mission succeeds whenever we wake up to the difference between what we’ve been taught compared to Jesus, and then choose the Way of shalom.   The invitation to wake up and follow is still before us.  How will you respond?

Things to consider...

1.     Are there any positions on any issues where you know you differ from your family of origin?  What made you shift?

2.     Can you think of any beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors that you knew were incongruent with Jesus’ teaching and you changed your ways?  What led to such a change?

3.     How will you know whether or not your current held beliefs line up with the Way of Jesus?  What might compel you to trade up your current way for the Way that leads to life?

Do I Stay Christian? Divine Violence in the Bible...

Every September 11, our nation (and world) remembers the terrorist attack that leveled NYC’s World Trade Center Towers, damaged a portion of the Pentagon, and led to a downed plan that was headed for the White House.  Thousands of innocent people died that day.  Hundreds of thousands of people died as the United States went after the terrorists and those who harbored and supported them. War is hell.  The terrorists yelled their version of “Praise God” as they piloted planes as weapons.  Many of our soldiers were baptized before entering the fray.  Violence in the name of God.  This has been a problem for humanity from the beginning, it seems.  Unfortunately, there are plenty of verses in the Bible that support the notion of a violent God.  How do we dare hope and declare God to be primarily loving when many verses state otherwise?

     This week I am featuring Eric A. Seibert, Ph.D., Professor of Old Testament at Messiah University.  Tom Oord introduced him as the world’s foremost authority on divine violence in the Bible.  I heard this lecture at the 2022 Open and Relational Conference at the Grand Targhee Resort adjacent to the Grand Tetons.  Seibert’s insights take an honest look at how many verses portray God as violent and offers a sensible approach to dealing with them.  Such violent portrayals of embolden some people toward violence, and simultaneously serve to repel others from considering the faith.  This lecture will provide a key that will help us see the violent passages for what they are and help us move forward in the loving Way of Jesus that he derived from his Abba.

Do I Stay Christian? The Hypocrisy...

In my experience, hypocrisy is one of the leading reasons people give for why they aren’t interested in practicing religion.  The people who seem to be the most devoted don’t actually practice what they preach, and statistically, religious people aren’t all that “better” than non-religious folk.  On the one hand, the hypocrisy is certainly evidence.  On the other hand, perhaps it speaks to an even deeper, more troubling issue: given the history of the Church, does Christianity really have the power to transform people into more mature, humane human beings?  Did Jesus ever encounter anything like this?  If so, how did he respond?

     Thomas Auld was a slave owner.  One of his slaves was none other than Frederick Douglass, who recalled the time early in his life when, at a Methodist evangelistic camp meeting in 1832, his Master experienced a Christian conversion.  Douglass had hoped that the conversion would “make him more kind and humane.”  Instead, Douglass writes:

“If it had any effect on his character, it made him more cruel and hateful in all his ways.” Auld was ostentatious about his piety—praying “morning, noon, and night,” participating in revivals, and opening his home to traveling preachers—but he used his faith as license to inflict pain and suffering upon his slaves. “I have seen him tie up a lame young woman, and whip her with a heavy cowskin upon her naked shoulders, causing the warm red blood to drip; and, in justification of the bloody deed, he would quote this passage of Scripture — ‘He that knoweth his master’s will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.’” – Brian McLaren, Do I Stay Christian? 75

     How is it that a person can experience conversion to Christianity and become even worse than before, even justifying increased cruelty?  What exactly did he convert to?  Of course, regarding slavery and race, Christians have not spoken with one voice.  The Deep South – still today the most religiously active part of our country – when post-Civil War Reconstruction ended, nearly all momentary advances for equality were retracted, and were replaced by Jim Crow laws that treated African Americans as anything but equals. In the earlier 1900’s political Progressives weren’t really interested in humane advances that went beyond their particular race.  Women and children were given protection not because they were seen as equals, but rather because they were seen as weaker in every regard from men.  Child labor laws were enacted, as well as the 8-hour workday for women, in part because Christian pastors and theologians spoke into it.  In time, however, as political conservatism joined religious conservatism – largely using fear of socialism gone awry witnessed in WWI – the church went largely silent. The Civil Rights movement, while it eventually garnered support from more mainline Christian traditions, were vehemently opposed in Southern Baptist and other Evangelical churches in the South.

     McLaren wonders how an alien might interpret the data regarding the effectiveness of Christianity where it is practiced most ardently.  What should we expect in terms of overall community wellbeing where Christianity is in the air with a church on every corner?  The five most religious states in the United States – Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Arkansas – rank among the lowest in terms of longevity of life, education, happiness, median household income, and among the highest in teen pregnancies (McLaren, 79):

     Today, Christianity is more identified with being opposed more than being “for”.  Anti-abortion.  Anti-LGBTQ. Anti-Racial Equality. Anti-Environmental Protections. Anti-Women. Anti-Immigrants. The list goes on and on.  If you have not been frustrated by such realities, I bet you know someone who has.  No wonder people are not just leaving their churches – they are leaving the faith.  They likely agree with Mahatma Gandhi: “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ... Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians – you are not like him... Live like Jesus did and the world will listen.”

     If you are frustrated by the hypocrisy of so many self-proclaimed Christians in the past and present, I’ve got bad news for you.  More hypocrites are born every second of every day – you will be frustrated on this note for the rest of your life.  And, even worse, at some point you may even realize (because someone brought it to your attention) that you are a hypocrite in someone else’s eyes.  Gulp!  We are human beings.  Every organization of human beings acts like human beings.  It sucks.  You are in good company in your frustration, however.  Jesus himself was disgusted with the hypocrisy he saw in the Jewish leadership of his day.  The entirety of Matthew 23 is one long rant where Jesus probably crossed over the “appropriate” line, calling out the corruption he saw that was not aligned with the Abba he knew God to be.  Within 38 verse chapter, he called these leaders hypocrites six times, offering support for his accusation at every turn.  The problem of hypocrisy existed before Jesus’ day, in Jesus’ day, all the way to today, and will continue through every tomorrow.  Jesus knew about it, did not ignore it, and called it out. If you’ve been frustrated with hypocrisy and untransformed devotees of Christianity, you are in good company indeed.

     In one particular setting when a large crowd was following him, Jesus took a preemptive approach to limit potential hypocrites (Luke 14:25-33 NLT):

     “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.

     “But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’

     “Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.

     In light of Jesus’ demand, who among us would claim to be a disciple?  If you are like me, you recognize that you have missed the mark and are as susceptible to hypocrisy as anybody else.  Jesus was likely using hyperbole here, yet his words are still startling, and bring us into clarifying sobriety.  Statements like this move me to ask serious questions about my life, my values, my goals. Questions like these:

·      Do I even know what Jesus did with his life to address the greatest needs he saw? Am I doing much of anything to address the greatest needs around me?  Even to care enough to find out and pray?

·      How did Jesus stand up for those who were being mistreated? How am I?

·      How did Jesus discover the heartbeat of Abba that guided his steps?  How do I?

·      How did Jesus show love and grace to people who didn’t get much love and grace?  Who are those people in our time and place?  How do I show them love and grace?

·      How did Jesus speak truth to power?  How do I?

·      How did Jesus offer his life in service to others?  How do I?

·      How did Jesus place himself in community?  How do I?

·      What additional questions arise for you?

     These questions are penetrating, each one revealing that I may not be the disciple I wish I were.  Yet it doesn’t mean we stop moving forward.  And it doesn’t mean we don’t call out egregious fouls when we see them. It does mean we walk humbly as we learn every day how to follow the Way that leads to life – for ourselves and everyone else.

     Walter Rauschenbusch was a pastor, theologian, and seminary professor who spent his life in service to Christ over 100 years ago.  He and his colleagues were pastoring in and around Hell’s Kitchen in New York City, where horrific working and living conditions were normal for the thousands of immigrants who lived there. There were no child labor laws yet; no hour limits for workdays, no protection for employees in that time ruled by social Darwinism. At the end of the 1800’s, the United States was in its Gilded Age.  While the extremely rich flaunted their affluence, those under their employee starved and suffered.  Rauschenbusch and his colleagues spoke against such things.  The Church was a mixed bag when it came to social justice concerns (as it has always been).  But for his season of time, he and others like him helped move the needle in the direction of the Divine Commonwealth Jesus came to proclaim and nurture.  He himself had encountered Jesus’ Abba, and it forever shaped his heart.  Here is how he describes following the Way of Jesus toward The Blessed Life:

     The main thing is to have God; to live in God; to have God live in us; to think God’s thoughts; to love what God loves and hate what God hates; to realize God’s presence; to feel God’s holiness and to be holy because God is holy; to feel God’s goodness in every blessing of your life and even in its tribulations; to be happy and trustful; to join in the great purposes of God and to be lifted to greatness of vision and faith and hope with God – that is the blessed life. – Walter Rauschenbusch, The Culture of the Spiritual Life, 1897

May we find ourselves walking in the same direction, experiencing the same reward.

An Adapted Lord’s Prayer:

Our loving, supportive, holy Abba

Who art here and everywhere,

Thy Divine Commonwealth come.

Thy will be done through us.

We are grateful for the gift of food

and work for all to eat their fill.

May we work for a world

where mutual grace and respect abound,

modeled after You.

Strengthen us for the work we’re called to.

Amen. May it be so.