I will never have anything to do with the church

Howard Thurman wrote in his autobiography, “With Head and Heart,” the story of his father’s funeral. When Howard was a child, his father Saul died “out of Christ”. As a result, the family's pastor refused to perform the funeral. Instead, a traveling evangelist agreed to perform the service. However, the evangelist preached his father "into hell”.

After hearing his father condemned, the young Thurman said, “One thing is sure. When I grow up and become a man, I will never have anything to do with the church.”

Fortunately, for the church, Thurman did not live out this vow as he became one of the most important theologians and civil rights leaders of the 20th Century.

Yet, the fact that Thurman stayed with the church does not excuse the evangelist’s condemnation.

How many times has the church spoken words of condemnation instead of comfort? How many people have experienced judgment instead of grace? How many have nothing to do with the church, because of experiences like this?

May we as the church strive to be more. May we work to bring the presence of Christ into the broken areas of peoples lives with hope, peace, and love.

Baldwin on Salvation

From the ages of 14 to 17, the writer James Baldwin served as a Pentecostal preacher. However, when he witnessed the chasm between Jesus’ teachings and so much of Christian behavior, he left organized religion. He not only left the church professionally, he left the Christian faith, only identifying himself from this point forward as a writer.

Baldwin left the church because of the way it separated people into haves and have-nots, black and white, saved and transgressors; and, because of its complicity with slavery, segregation, and apartheid.

And yet, in the last year of his life, Baldwin painted a beautiful picture of salvation in his essay, “To Crush A Serpent”. Baldwin writes:

Salvation is not flight from the wrath of God; it is accepting and reciprocating the love of God. Salvation is not separation. It is the beginning of union with all that is or has been or will ever be… There is absolutely no salvation without love: this is the wheel in the middle of the wheel. Salvation does not divide. Salvation connects, so that one sees oneself in others and others in oneself.

 Jesus taught this same understanding of salvation when he called on people to love neighbor as self and to even love the one labeled enemy.

May we find the true meaning of salvation, as we seek to live in union with God, ourselves, and all of our neighbors.

In Memory of Walter Wink

Yesterday, the theologian Walter Wink died. It is funny when your personal celebrities are people few other people know. I can’t even find out how he died on the internet.

Nonetheless, Wink shaped who I am. If I had to pay him royalties for every time I used the phrase “power, prestige and position” I would be a poor man.

Wink redefined the role of power within the understanding of scripture. For Wink, the command to turn the other cheek is no docile passivism, it is a bold counter-cultural stand. Wink writes in his book, Jesus and Nonviolence:

Why then does he counsel these already humiliated people to turn the other cheek? Because this action robs the oppressor of the power to humiliate. The person who turns the other cheek is saying, in effect, “Try again, your first blow failed to achieve its intended effect. I deny you the power to humiliate me. I am a human being just like you. Your status does not alter that fact. You cannot demean me.”

How much could we learn from Wink, to stand strong and not allow ourselves to be defined by positions of power, prestige, or position?

Unfulfilled Dreams

It has been a month since I have updated this blog.

In the interim, I spent a week in prayer at the Norbertine Center. I recently read Tavis Smiley and Cornel West’s book, “The Rich and the Rest of Us” that paints a stark picture of poverty in the United States. I spent two weeks observing and tweeting the events of the United Methodist Church’s General Conference.

Appropriately enough, last night I read Martin Luther King Jr’s sermon, “Unfulilled Dreams”.

In this sermon Dr King talks about the temples that people build that are not completed in their lifetimes: David’s heart to build the temple in Jerusalem, Wilson’s desire for a League of Nations, the Apostle Paul’s yearning to bring the gospel to Spain. None of these happened within those leaders lifetimes.

After General Conference, many of us yearn to build the temple of a church where all people are treated with dignity, respect, and sacred worth.

Amongst this burning desire, King’s words are hard to hear. When it comes to matters of offering basic human compassion, I am not a patient man. Not as patient as King.

In this sermon, given a month before his assassination, King says you may not get there in your own lifetime. For King, it does not matter who completes the temple, the things that matters are the direction you are headed, having your heart right, and having faith.

As we travel the road that leads toward the direction of mercy and justice, may our hearts stay true and our faith in God remain strong.

Renamed Blog

If you were looking for the blog, "Reading Theology." you might find it no longer exists. I have renamed this blog from "Reading Theology" to "Alive Theology".

When I started this blog, my intention was to write about the works of diverse theologians. However, I have found that studying theology is more than an intellectual pursuit, but these studies have shaped how I live my life. In recent months, many posts on this page have specifically focused on my work with the homeless and marginalized.

Despite its ominous sound, the word theology means nothing more than to speak of God. Anyone who speaks of God is a theologian. My new hope for this blog is that it will not only explore words in books, but how we live our lives, shaped by our discussion and understanding of God.

Urban Way of the Cross, Part II

Here is another post on the Urban Way of the Cross, by Carlos Navarro.
http://breadnm.blogspot.com/2012/04/few-thoughts-and-prayers-along-route-of.html

Urban Way of the Cross

Today, Christians around the world gathered to remember the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Most of these remembrances took place within church walls.

Today, about 50 people journeyed through downtown Albuquerque. The gathered peoples marked places where people continue to experience pain, violence, and oppression; places where people wipe the brow of Christ by helping those in deep need; and, places where people carry the cross of Christ in their daily burdens.

The Urban Way of the Cross brought together people of varied Christian backgrounds, ranging in age from one year old on up. As the mass of people wound through parks, schools, around courthouses and shelters, some onlookers honked car horns in support while others gazed in wonderment.

At each stop, a scripture was read, a reading shared, and a prayer offered, as the group sang, "Were you there when they crucified my Lord."

Concluding at Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless, people prayed for healing.

At every step between, the cross marked a place in Albuquerque where the hope of Jesus Christ was made present.