Category: Blog

This piece was originally published at Patheos on November 26, 2012.

I was struck by a certain criticism of my “I Can’t Wait for Christian America to Die” blog post. The person specified that this is the same kind of speech hailing from churches affiliated with individuals like Jeremiah Wright, and which white liberals assent to in order to feel good about themselves. I appreciate the person’s clear criticism and will make use of it to develop further reflections on the subject.

In view of my recent post, I don’t think white liberals would necessarily like what I have to say about our nation’s history and present dealings with those of African American descent. While they may approve it in principle, white liberals didn’t and don’t always practice what they preach, just like many white conservative Christians such as myself. Liberal Portland, Oregon, where I teach, is very tolerant, but not very good at addressing racism in its historic or contemporary forms. Speaking of history, take Thomas Jefferson as a further example. As a liberal Christian or deist, he espoused the grand ideal of liberty for all, and yet mastered slaves. By the way, many conservative Christians of the past – evangelicals of the Civil War era – would have affirmed the claim in the article in question: America was and is not Christian enough. Many early abolitionists in America were evangelicals and fervently petitioned politicians like President Lincoln to abolish slavery. If anything, I would prefer that the evangelical movement today engage racialized structures with as much fervor and intentionality as our Civil War era evangelical predecessors. While some may agree in principle to challenging racialized structures, we are often not willing to make the personal sacrifices that are the logical and necessary responses to the situations at hand based on our convictions.

By and large, we evangelicals were nowhere to be found when Dr. King marched during the Civil Rights era, though we have made some progress in the march for freedom today. The Christian Community Development Association, co-founded by Dr. John M. Perkins, is one stellar example of a key initiative addressing racialized structures in our society. My own denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church, is also very intentional in this sphere. Such evangelical mega church pastors as Bill Hybels are also engaged in addressing the subject of racism today. For more on the subject of American evangelicalism’s struggle with addressing racism and racialization, see the important work of Michael Emerson and Christian Smith, Divided By Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), and the literature that hails from their volume.

One of the claims I often find present among conservative Christians is that any and all such criticisms of our country are unpatriotic. Another claim I come across is that wanting Christian America to die is unchristian. I beg to differ on both counts. I will first deal with the charge that all criticisms of our country are unpatriotic and will reference the African American church tradition in its prophetic calling in this regard. While I do not claim to defend Rev. Wright on his vast pronouncements issued in public or the rhetoric in his speech that fueled the controversy during President Obama’s first run for the Presidency, Reverend Wright could very well have intended his statements decrying America in that controversial speech to read as a prophetic challenge to America in the prophetic tradition of the African American church so that America might repent of its indifference and institutionalized racism so as to receive the blessing of God. The African American church has always had a prophetic role in addressing such widespread problems as racism and discrimination from slavery to segregation to the present in order to call America forth to true greatness that includes its redemption from participation in oppressive systems as individuals and entire communities. If we assume Rev. Wright’s statements were intended virtuously, which I believe we should, then it is likely the case that he meant his statements to be read from within this overarching context. It is also worth noting that Reverend Wright served our country admirably during the Vietnam War in military service with the Marine Corps and the Navy, even serving on the medical team that cared for President Johnson at a point when he was in the hospital.

Regardless of whether or not we place Reverend Wright’s controversial statements in the context of the African American church tradition of prophetic preaching and whether or not we account for his patriotic service to our great nation, I doubt many white liberals would have favored President Obama during the Democratic Primaries of his first bid for the White House if he had championed Reverend Wright’s claims. They would have likely supported Senator Hillary Clinton, if then Senator Obama had defended Rev. Wright for his challenges concerning the United States. After all, for all of us – liberals and conservatives alike, it is very hard to challenge structures that cater to our own forms of privilege, including white privilege. Going further, in liberal and conservative Christian communities, Christian values are often confused with rights and privileges, but values are not rights and privileges. Rather, values are those core convictions for which we are willing to sacrifice rights and privileges in order for our values to take shape, as a friend of mine claimed. An African American pastor who had marched with Dr. King recently told me that President Obama is a politician, not a prophet. He himself did not think that President Obama had spoken out forcefully enough on the subject of racism in America following Rev. Wright’s claims during President Obama’s first bid for the White House; if President Obama had, he may very well have lost the election. White privilege is no respecter of conservative or liberal Americans, including Christians. We who are white, especially white males, all struggle with it.

Now I come to the second claim, namely, the charge that wanting Christian America to die is unchristian. It is not only conservative Christians who might struggle with my view that I long for Christian America to die (please refer to the essay on this subject to which a link is provided above). Many liberals may struggle with my view as well given that I believe that once we Christians are free of Christian America thinking we will be in a much better position to share the good news of Jesus with people of conservative as well as liberal persuasions. Many conservative Christians, perhaps liberal Christians, too, fail to see that Jesus as the only way as synonymous with the all-American way is one of the ideological tenets that most gets in the way of sharing the good news of Jesus with Americans and calling on them to repent of their participation in evil, including personal and structural racism in its various forms. Moreover, to challenge conservative and liberal America in view of Jesus, is on my view, not unpatriotic, but truly patriotic. Regardless of what one makes of Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s statements, Dr. King’s statements such as those found in his “I Have a Dream” speech were calls to America to live into its ideals as a country before God in Christ. I believe even Dr. King’s sermon on the Vietnam War, confronting what he saw as the triple evils of racism, poverty and militarism, was intended as a prophetic and redemptive Christian call to America to become truly great. I also believe that prophetic message lost Dr. King much support in various circles.

Regardless of what one makes of Rv. Jeremiah Wright, Jeremiah of old was seen as unpatriotic by many of his contemporaries, but he was supremely patriotic in calling Judah and Jerusalem back to the Torah. Unlike America, Israel was founded as a theocracy and it was right for Jeremiah to call on Judah to return to the religion of Israel’s founding fathers – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as well as the lawgiver Moses. Jeremiah was imprisoned and threatened with death by political powers in Judah for being unpatriotic. But if anything, he was a patriot for calling on Judah to return to God. Their idolatrous nationalism, not honorable patriotism, and their failure to obey God in such matters as ceasing to oppress the poor, as made known by the prophets, stood in the way of their nation’s survival. By failing to return to the God of the Patriarchs and the Pentateuch, the royal officials and false prophets brought destruction on themselves and the nation. By failing to heed Jeremiah’s prophecies that they should submit to God’s judgment and submit to the Babylonians, they failed to save themselves and their country from devastation at the hands of the Babylonians. In all this, Jeremiah loved his people, Jerusalem, and Judah. He remained with them to the end. He was not a politically correct nationalist who believed the nation was right even when it was wrong, but was rather a true patriot who loved his country enough to challenge it in view of God’s Word even if it brought him harm (See for example Jeremiah 1:4-19 and 32:1-40:6).

While I do not believe it is the church’s job to promote and produce a Christian America, I do believe we are to live and share the good news of Jesus Christ with America. If we are truly patriotic, we will call Americans, especially the American church, to live in view of Jesus’ kingdom that transcends and intersects all kingdoms, calling them and us to account on such evils as idolatry and racism and oppression of the poor, in view of his righteous rule that will never end. Only then are Christians in America truly patriotic and prophetic in the tradition of Jeremiah and other prophets of old.

This piece was originally published at Patheos on November 23, 2012.

In the book, Bono on Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas, U2’s Bono speaks of the good news that God calls us out of the realm of karma to that of grace. As Bono sees it, karma is at the heart of all religions and the universe. But God’s grace intervenes and interrupts the cycle of karma that we also find in physics where every action is met by one of equal force or measure of compensation. (Riverhead Books/The Penguin Group, 2005, pp. 204-205).

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus claims that his kingdom entails overturning the eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth cycle of compensation (Matthew 5:38-39), which I believe was intended to guard against an escalating cycle of vengeance. His followers are called to a more noble way, the way of grace: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also” (Matthew 5:38-39).

Acting out in a gracious and non-retaliatory manner toward those who strike you does not entail groveling in the dirt. Far from robbing their dignity, it causes the offending party to have to look at those they slapped as equals. To slap someone on the right cheek most likely entailed in that culture a humiliating strike with the backside of the right hand intended for an inferior. If one is to slap you again, make them do it on the left cheek where they must treat you as an equal (See NT Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Part I, Chapters 1-15, 2^nd ed. {London: SPCK & Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 2004}, pp. 49-53.)

Elsewhere in the Sermon on the Mount, we find Jesus’ articulation of the Golden Rule. This rule is not “Do to others what they have done to you” but rather “Do to others what you would have them do to you.” There is a very big difference between these two ways of approaching life. As Jesus says in Matthew 7:9-12, “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” We often give good gifts to those we deem good, but God gives good gifts even to those he deems evil—namely us!

Jesus practiced what he preached. He absorbed evil in his person when attacked rather than retaliate toward his enemies. In this way alone could he end the cycle of evil. As G. B. Caird has argued, “Evil is defeated only if the injured person absorbs the evil and refuses to allow it to go any further” (G. B. Caird, Principalities and Powers: A Study in Pauline Theology, with a foreword by L. D. Hurst {Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2003 [1956], 98). Jesus as the Son of God and the Son of Man makes possible a new way of being in the world—one not defined by retribution but redemption involving reconciliation, where we are to love our enemies as ourselves: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:43-48).

So, where does this lead us? Perhaps in many directions, but there are a few items to note as we proceed on our way: To the extent that we see ourselves in our enemies, we see ourselves as those in need of God’s grace in our lives. To the extent we love and forgive our enemies, to that extent we understand and experience the grace of God in our lives. To the extent that we love and greet and pray for our enemies, we demonstrate that we are children of God. Like Bono, I am holding out for grace. I am holding out for Jesus. But I cannot experience Jesus’ grace it if I am withholding it from others. If you and I want to experience God’s grace and not be devastated by what Bono calls karma, we need to love by forgiving and praying for those who have hurt us. Otherwise, this so-called cycle of karma will never end and grace and dignity will be missing from our lives. Jesus absorbs our evil. May we absorb his grace before hatred, bitterness and resentment absorb us. We don’t need to be rock stars to get the need for grace and we don’t need to be physicists to understand how cosmic forces work in the world. But apart from experiencing Jesus’ forgiveness by forgiving our enemies, we will only experience an unending cycle of hostility.

This piece was originally published at The Christian Post on November 22, 2012.

What are you and I most thankful for this Thanksgiving? A full stomach? A full listing of sporting events to watch? A full house of family-friendly noise? Certainly not a sink or life full of dirty dishes! If we were to ask the Apostle Paul what he is thankful for this or any day, I believe he would say he is thankful for God in Christ, who has cleansed and washed him clean of all his dirt and darkness, and thankful for those who have also experienced this divine cleansing action. In Colossians 1, Paul writes in this vein when he says to the Colossian believers in Christ that he gives “joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:12-14).

I have been meditating on Colossians this Thanksgiving, and have been struck by Paul’s focused attention on the fullness of Christ and fullness of life in Christ: “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority” (Colossians 2:9-10). In the Colossian context, there were false teachers who were claiming just the opposite about Christ, namely that he was not God in the flesh. Now if Christ is only half full of deity, we have to make up for the missing half. A half empty cup of deity leads to half empty lives. No wonder the Colossian Christians were struggling with trying to perform well, getting consumed with certain do’s and don’ts rather than being clothed in Christ (Colossians 2:16-23; 3:1-17). But since, as Paul argues, there is no lack in Christ for which we need to make up, we don’t have to perform well to experience Christ’s grace but can participate in his life and live godly lives in view of his gracious love (Colossians 3:1-17).

Christ is the fullness of deity in bodily form. We have been given fullness in him (Colossians 2:9-10). Christ is the fullness of deity. There is no lack in Christ for which we need to make up. When this reality grips us, it will lead us to live lives of gratitude, and not simply on Thanksgiving. How grateful are we for him, regardless of our circumstances? Regardless of whether we get our fair share of stuffing, pickles, jams and yams this day, are we vitally aware of how great a share we have of him—all his fullness? Paul realized the fullness of life in Christ and that is why he could say in closing, “Remember my chains. Grace be with you” (Colossians 4:18). Paul wrote these words from a prison cell in Rome. But instead of demanding grace from the Colossians because of his needy condition, Paul could and did extend grace to those outside his cell in view of Christ’s bountiful provision of his life lived out in Paul (in fact, Paul opened his letter in this way in Colossians 1:2-3). So often, I am locked in a prison cell inside my soul, as I do not experience God’s gracious fullness, even though it is there for the receiving, if I would only open my heart and receive God’s grace with thanksgiving. A thankless individual and a thankless people are enslaved no matter how free they seem and no matter how many things they have to which they cling.

Christ is the fullness of deity in bodily form in human history. He did not hide his grace, but brought it out into the open for all to experience, no matter their age or stage or position in life. There is no such thing as a secret society for some presumed spiritually elite group of people. In the Colossian context, those who did not view Christ as the fullness of deity in bodily form were fixated with seemingly secret knowledge and wisdom that could only be had by the supposedly spiritually elite. A disembodied Christ leads to a disembodied, privatized, secretive faith. How wrong they were about Christ! Christ is the fullness of deity in bodily form. While all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him, he is the mystery of God revealed on center stage in human history through the public spectacle of his embodied victory (over all oppressive authorities that weigh down on people through enslaving them to guilt and ingratitude, among other things) through the cross and resurrection (Colossians 2:3, 10, 14-15). We all have equal access to Christ’s wisdom and knowledge through faith in him. We need to make sure we are welcoming all others to Christ so that they can experience his fullness, too. How inviting are we in our outreach toward others on Thanksgiving or any other day? Do we invite into our lives only those we deem the elect, our bestest of friends, and the nucleus of our favorite nuclear family members? Do we extend grace or demand it from others? In view of Christ’s fullness in our lives, if we are really full of Christ, that is, we will share of his bounty with others. Gratitude leads to giving. An ungrateful heart can never get enough, and will try and take away the joy of others. Are we extending grace to others or seeking to take it away from them.

According to Paul, those who have received the loving Christ into their lives by faith have been given fullness in him. In view of this reality, we need to move beyond performance-based spirituality to participation-based spirituality that is bound up with this gift. With this in mind, we need to make sure we are taking the weights off people through Christ so that they can come to experience the fullness of loving freedom in him. Are we putting weights on people that they must lift before they can experience what it’s like for Christ to carry them? If so, they will not live grateful Christian lives, only guilt-based ones. A friend of mine who had failed to live into the fullness of faith in Christ tried to keep his closest friends from him. He believed that by sharing more of his dirty dishes and laundry with them, the more they would be repulsed and finally abandon him. But given that they had experienced Christ’s grace in their own lives, they extended it to him. Christ’s love for him through them clothed him, covering his nakedness exposed as he was through his misdeeds. Through the outpouring of Christ’s grace through others, he has returned to experience the fullness of life in Christ and is once again extending Christ’s grace to others. He is no longer bearing the weight of his past, for Christ is bearing it for him so that he can gratefully extend Christ’s grace to others in the present.

This Thanksgiving, are you in the prison cell of your dining room or family room, taking in food and football and family in the hope that something will fill your ungrateful need? Are you bitter because you have so little while those around you have so much? Your day does not need to end this way. Take it from Paul who likely didn’t have much food, family or fun in his prison cell, but he did have Christ and he extended it to those around him who may have had so much more than he did by way of this world’s bounty but who desperately needed what he could share with them of Christ’s world of boundless grace. May Christ’s boundless grace be with you and in gratitude for him, extend his grace to others. As you do so, your thanksgiving will increase. Today, I give thanks for you through Christ. May you experience his grace and extend it to others in increasing measure.