Womanist Theology

 

Religion 101. 

That’s where we became friends. 

We didn’t abandon our individual friend groups 

To become best friends 

Yet she is one of the best friends I’ve got

In regards to my faith journey and 

The deeper things of life. 

 

For years, 

When we lived closer,

We had dinner once a month.

We may not have talked much in between those dinners

But every time we were together,

It was like no time had passed.

We could just pick up the conversation with where we were in life

And go forward from there.

 

Now that we live farther apart,

We send the occasional text and keep up via Facebook. 

Our in person visits are few and far between

Yet we still have the ability to pick up the conversation with where we are in life

And go forward from there.

No pretense. 

No surface conversation.

Just deep, honest conversation about

Family, life, and faith. 

 

We had the privilege of meeting for coffee last week. 

She was in town for a couple of days 

So we actually got to see each other and squeeze each other’s necks. 

 

I won’t go into all that we talked about because that is private, 

But I will share this. 

She said, 

“I’ve had a break up with scripture…

But what’s getting me back into that relationship is 

Womanist theology.”

 

Womanist theology critically examines religious texts and traditions through the lens of race, gender, and class, and reinterprets them to reflect the unique realities of Black women's lives. 

 

So much of the way we have traditionally read and interpreted scripture

Has been through the lens of 

White men in power. 

Unfortunately, this reading has come to be 

Hurtful and traumatizing for so many people—

Including women, children, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ community. 

 

If it weren’t so, then we wouldn’t have to pray these words 

That were prayed in many Lutheran churches yesterday:

 

Protect those who face hostility or oppression for their faith. 

Humble those who would use faith to dominate others and reinforce their own power. 

 

If the gospel is for everyone,

Then we must make it accessible to everyone, 

Not through changing it 

But through seeing it through different lenses. 

 

Now, before you get mad and say that 

Scripture is scripture and

Should be read and taken literally, 

Let me gently remind you that 

Scripture is the living, breathing word of God 

And should be read under the guidance of the Holy Spirit for 

Today’s time, culture, and context. 

Whether we admit it or not,

We all interpret scripture and pick and choose what resonates with us. 

 

We justify what we want justified

And we double down on what we see as absolute. 

But nothing, really, is absolute 

Except for the love of God 

And the humanity of humankind. 

But even that humanity is in question 

Because some believe in the total depravity and sin of man 

While others believe in the belovedness and goodness of God’s creation. 

 

I say if womanist theology is helping my friend reengage scripture and

Dialogue with God again, 

Then hooray! 

I must admit that I have been listening to a womanist podcast in my car 

Ever since our conversation, 

And it is very enlightening and engaging. 

 

God is God, friends. 

God is so much bigger than we can comprehend 

And so much more love than we give credit. 

 

I am thankful for friends who help bring this truth to light. 

From Religion 101 to afternoon coffee and beyond. 

 

Amen. 

Saved

 

Two friends. 

Both persons of faith. 

Both raised in the Southern Baptist Church. 

Both taught that they have a duty and responsibility to save souls through the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Both spent active periods of their lives using Christian evangelism tools to save souls.

Both are now Christian counselors. 

 

One friend recently had a teenage client in distress because she had broken up with her best friend.

The counselor lamented that she didn’t know if she could work this girl anymore because she doesn’t agree with the girl’s homosexual actions. 

She said she was surprised that the girl wanted to go to Christian counseling if she had those tendencies. 

She said that homosexuality is not something that Christians should be dealing with if their faith is strong enough.

She said that she was confused as to why the girl chose her because her counselor profile did not state that she dealt with issues of sexuality. 

In fact, she had intentionally left those issues off of her profile. 

She must follow what she believes.

 

In contrast, the other friend intentionally included issues of sexuality and faith in her profile.

“When I think of Jesus,” she says, “and how he lived, I am inspired. 

To love the sick and the poor and the children and others who are marginalized.

To tell people they are enough as they are and loved as they are regardless of what anyone else says about them. 

I follow the ways of Christ as he was portrayed as loving others.”

She wants all persons to have a safe place because she knows what it’s like not to have a safe place herself.

She wants to spread love because it literally may save someone’s life. 

She must follow what she believes. 

 

Two friends. 

Both persons of faith. 

Both raised in the Southern Baptist Church. 

Both taught that they have a duty and responsibility to save souls through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Both are now in positions to help save lives.

Both are following what they believe. 

 

One of these friends probably makes you angry.

 

One of these friends, you likely think is wrong.

 

Oh God, may each of us be willing to see you for who You Are.. Not who we make you to be because of our beliefs, upbringing, and experiences. But who you are throughout time and circumstance, from the beginning of creation until now. Creating, refining, and redeeming, drawing all people to You. Amen.

God's Goodness

 

I've come to believe that God has created us to be co-creators--

That art and inventions,

Computations and mental functions,

Occur with and alongside God.

And God is good.

God exists in the good we create.

God exists in light, love, happiness, and joy.

God exists in justice, mercy, grace, and peace--

And not just passive peace,

But peace that comes from living into the goodness of God.

God wants us to exist within God's goodness,

And God's goodness is always there.

 

Sometimes life is hard.

Sometimes people and systems make choices that hurt us.

Sometimes we are faced with difficult situations to which we see no obvious solution.

Yet when things arise that point us into God's goodness,

Then those opportunities are the ones that we should take.

Sometimes doors will fling wide open,

And it will seem as if God has prepared a way just for us.

Sometimes doors will creak open and

We will wonder which path to take.

Sometimes doors won't open at all,

And it will seem like we are at a dead end.

Sometimes we will have to choose what to do next.

Sometimes we will have to use the minds that God has given us to think:

Where is goodness?

Where is light?

Where is hope and help and

What allows me to live into my giftedness and to serve in the body of Christ?

What brings possibility?

What brings peace?

What simply feels "right"?

 

So we make the best choices that we can,

And then we go.

We serve.

We live.

Every day.

Creating and seeking good.

For God is good.

And God exists in goodness alone,

Working with us in and through all circumstances to create more good

In this broken, hurting world.

God Already Is

 

Two thoughts are on my mind as I sit down to write today.

Neither is original, but both are profound.

 

First, as my friend Rebecca shared via a text conversation Saturday night,

In the midst of the chaos, anxiety, and hatefulness of this world,

We often wait for help and hope to come save us.

But we don’t have to wait for help and hope to come save us,

Because they are already here.

They have been here since Jesus came to earth to embody both,

And they never leave…

Because the Holy Spirit empowers us,

The Body of Christ,

To be help and hope to one another.

WE are the ones who must work for justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.

WE are Living Hope.

 

Second, as Pastor Ann shared in her sermon yesterday,

Jesus came to earth to proclaim good news to all.

He brought in the Kingdom of God with his miraculous healings

And he did so to show what God’s Kingdom was like.

Jesus healed in big cities, small towns, villages, synagogues, and homes.

He healed the rich, poor, young, and old.

He healed the physically ill, the mentally ill, the loved, and the outcast.

Jesus healed persons from all walks of life to show that

The Kingdom of God belongs to ALL who believe.

 

Many of us would love to be healed of our physical and mental illnesses.

Many of us would love to feel a wave of hope wash over us in this very broken world.

Many of us would love to see a miracle.

Yet while miracles still can occur,

God already is.

God is in the science and medicine that treat illness.

God is in the cup of water, the loaf of bread, the looked-into-eyes, the listening-ear, and the hug.

God is in the money given to an organization that does what we cannot, and

God is in the brief encounter with a stranger that forever changes our lives.

 

Friends: We don’t have to wait for help and hope to come.

And we don’t have to wait for miracles to occur.

They are already here. 

God already is.

And somehow,

Maybe even through a miracle,

We ALL get to be part.

 

Dear God: Thank you for ushering in your Kingdom on earth—for opening it to all people—and for granting us glimpses of what the future will be. Help us to be help and hope to those who know that they need it, as well as to those who don’t know that they are missing out on the  miracle of You. You have called us to work for justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with You. May it be so, God, May it be so. Amen.

Serious Dee

 

One of my friends calls me Serious Dee.

I understand why.

I AM serious,

Especially when it comes to thinking about God.

After a week of serious ponderings about

The Nature and Character of God,

The Purpose of Prayer,

Atonement Theories,

Different Branches of Theology,

Calling,

And more,

I’ve come to the conclusion that

 

God Is…

 

Many of us spend our lives trying to make sense of God.

To know God.

To understand God.

To be part of God’s work in this world.

To ensure that our lives after death will be with God.

 

And many of us spend a lot of time studying the Bible for answers.

The Bible records God’s story with God’s people

As understood through a Hebrew lens.

It is a beautifully tragic story as

God remains faithful to a wandering people

Who end up killing Jesus for being the

Very face of God’s love.

Yet God still remains faithful.

And Jesus overcomes the grave.

And we are left with the Holy Spirit

To guide us as we seek to make sense of it all.

 

But we can’t.

We can’t make sense of it all.

It’s too big and mind-boggling.

There are too many contradictions.

It is very uncomfortable.

And yet that won’t stop some of us from trying.

And I’m coming to believe that that is perfectly okay.

 

God: When the questions are big and the thoughts are deep, help us to catch glimpses of all that You Are. You are always living, always moving, always breathing new life into our existence. You are always calling us to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you. God, You Are. So help us To Be With You, With All That We Are—questions, heartaches, epiphanies, and all. Grant that we may understand but a fraction of who You Are. And let that fraction be enough for today. And then again tomorrow. And then again through all our days. Amen.

Right vs. Left

 

I’ve had a lot of faith questions recently. I’ve been disillusioned by evangelical Christianity (my roots) and its adherence to what seems less like the gospel of Christ and more like the gospel of politics and morality. I’ve been working through my questions in therapy—writing out almost 50 different “Things that I don’t necessarily believe but that I have heard and/or believed at some point in my life and that linger in my psyche” and contrasting them with “Things that I am currently trying to believe but that are sometimes overshadowed by old, lingering beliefs.” If you’ve never written out your theological beliefs, then I encourage you to do so. It’s an eye-opening exercise.

 

I’ve also started reading two books by Richard Rohr, a Franciscan friar who founded the Center for Contemplation and Action. Contemplative Christianity is something that I began exploring in Divinity School and that I have been exploring deeper for the past decade, mostly through the concept of mindfulness—of being present right now and seeing where and how life and God are working in this moment.

 

Last night, as I was reading one of my books, “Yes, And…,” I read something that was very helpful to my disillusionment. Rohr writes about a long-standing division in Judeo-Christian tradition between the Exodus and the Leviticus/Numbers traditions. The Exodus tradition, he says, is a tradition of liberation while the Leviticus/Numbers traditions is a priestly tradition that tries to organize, control, and perpetuate the initial experience of freedom.

 

He continues to assert that while we need both traditions to hold in balance the inner experience of freedom and the outer work of holiness, we instead tend to lean one way or the other, thus creating a world of dichotomies: right or left, liberal or conservative, establishment or disestablishment, contemplative or activist. “[Both sides] really do need each other,” he writes, “but, in most of history, the priestly tradition has been in control [of] and defined religion.”

 

Did you know that the political terms right and left come from the Estates General in France? The ordinary people, most of whom were poor, sat on the left while the nobility and clergy (who upheld the priestly tradition) sat on the right. The right normally protected continuity and status quo while the left looked for change and reform. The same is true today.

 

Furthermore, much of history has been written, read, controlled, and interpreted by the right—except for “the unique revelation called the Bible, which is alternative history from the side of the enslaved, the dominated, the oppressed, and the poor, leading up to the totally scapegoated Jesus himself.”

 

The gospel of Jesus Christ is an alternative history that is much bigger than right or left or what any one tradition can hold. May we be a people about the redeeming work of Christ and seek to uphold, above all else, the liberating, life-changing, justice-love and action of God.

 

Amen.

We Are Thankful

My 5th graders got into an argument this morning. The big debate was over whether God and Jesus were the same or different persons. Sometimes, I let students solve their own debates. Sometimes I intervene. Today, after a solid minute of debate, I intervened. I explained that in the Christian tradition, God is three parts: God the Father, or Creator; God the Son, or Jesus; and God the Holy Spirit, the part of God that is with us today. So. Yes. Both sides of the argument are correct. God and Jesus, in the Christian tradition, are both the same and different persons all at once.

And just why were we having a very abstract and difficult to understand theological discussion in 5th grade music class? Because we were talking about things and people for which we are thankful. One boy said that he was thankful for Jesus Christ because he died on the cross for our sins. Another boy said God. Another boy said God and Jesus. And there the debate began…

In less abstract and complicated answers, many of my students have said that they are thankful for: friends and family; food and water; shelter; clothes; life; and the ability to come to school to learn. One boy said that he was thankful for the time that he got to spend with his grandfather before he passed away. And another boy said that he was thankful for music. I almost cried at those two…

What about you, friend? What people and things are you thankful for this Thanksgiving Season?
And when was the last time you had to explain the sometimes difficult and abstract parts of your faith?

Dear God: Thank you. Thank you for being beyond human comprehension but still giving us the drive to seek and try to understand—even as children. Help us always to be grateful, especially this holiday season. It’s in your Name I pray—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.

Love's Broken Record

I’m afraid that sometimes I sound like a broken record.

I get a word, phrase, or thought in my mind and then share it aloud to whoever will listen. Sometimes the word, phrase, or thought will become part of my everyday vocabulary and/or belief system. Other times the word, phrase, or thought will pass after the record is changed.

I fear that my few faithful note readers and choir members receive the brunt of these mental skips—these recurring themes that I can’t easily let go.

I know that the choir heard one such skip as we prepared for December’s Christmas cantata. “Once you’ve found the love of Christ,” I’d say, “you can’t un-see it. You can’t un-know or un-feel it. Once you’ve experienced the peace of Christ, no matter what else happens—no matter how hard things may get—no matter how dark they may become—you can’t forget it. Because once you’ve experienced the light of Christ—really experienced it—you truly are changed.”

I’m pretty sure that I said something like this every time we practiced the song, “Once You’ve Seen The Star.” And I’m pretty sure that I got goose-bumps (also known as Holy Ghost Bumps) every time we sang it.

I suppose it’s no wonder, then, that I found my eyes filling with tears as the choir sang during worship yesterday morning. After a two week break during which the choir took a much-deserved break, we came together and remembered the song that connected to my heart two months ago and created a broken record that very well may never leave my mind.

Once you’ve seen the star lighting up the sky of a cold dark night, hope cannot be far
Once you’ve seen the star, like the dearest friend you have ever known, it bids you come, it leads you home…
Once you’ve heard the song of an angel choir, heaven touching earth, singing peace has come
Once you’ve heard the song, when it’s in your heart and you know it’s true, it lifts you up, it carries you…
Once you’ve found the child, every fear and doubt—come and lay them down to be reconciled
Once you’ve found the child, oh you can’t un-see, un-know, un-feel—for life is new and love is real.
Once you’ve found the child…

For better or for worse, there are many things that we can’t un-see, un-know, un-feel.
The birth of a baby.
The death of a loved one.
The moment of receiving joyful news.
The moment of receiving terrible news.
A successful achievement.
A frightening fall.
There are many things that change us.
There are many things we cannot forget.
Yet none is so powerful as encountering the
Pure, deep, unconditional love of God
Through the peace of Jesus Christ.

Friends: I hope that you’ve experienced this Love.
And I hope that you will forgive me when
Love’s Peace is my broken record.

Defining Moments: Whispered Identity

My preferred seat of meeting or learning is at the back of the classroom near a window, away from the door. As such, I try to make a point to be early to classes or meetings on the first day so that I can get a seat in which I will feel both comfortable and safe. I am not a seat hopper. I believe in the sanctity of the seat. Once I find my seat, I return to my seat. And if someone takes my seat, then I feel a slight sense of panic. I’m not a confronter, though. [I’ve only seen one person confront a seat stealer, and that moment was priceless.] Instead, I sit as close to my original seat as possible or try to find another seat at the end of a row.

February 15, 2007, however, was a day that I found myself completely displaced. I have no idea why my seat was taken by the time I managed to drag a very weary body and soul into class, but it was. And so were all the seats around it. I think it may have been visitation day at the divinity school. So I had to sit somewhere really weird—near the middle of the class or something—and it was horrible—because all I wanted to do that day was disappear.

I had a really bad day that day. If you remember a day seven and a half years later, then you know it was a really bad day. I remember standing in the bathroom after getting to divinity school from elementary school work, wanting desperately to go home and sleep, but knowing that I needed to go to class. I needed to go to class not because of anything special but because going to class is what I did. I only missed one class during my entire under-graduate career, and if I missed a class during my divinity school career then it was because I had mono.

I am a people-pleaser.
Students going to and participating in class is pleasing to (most) professors.
So I went to class.
I always went to class.
But I almost skipped class that day.
And if I had, then I would have made one of the biggest mistakes of my life—
which would have been fitting on February 15, 2007—
but instead, that class became one of the biggest blessings of my life.

“I believe that as God is forming us from golem, God holds us to God’s chest and whispers into our ear who God desires us to be. Once we are born, the world begins telling us who it wants us to be. Family. Friends. Society. The church. So many voices tell us who to be. They wage battles within us, trying to form us into their image. But I think that our life’s journey is learn to hear through those outside voices and into the voice of God—the voice that once whispered to us who we were created us to be. This is perfection—being exactly who God desires—and Jesus was the only person ever to reach perfection—the only person ever to live into the fullness of who he was created to be—despite all that the world tried to make him.”

As my professor spoke that day, I sat in a strange seat surrounded by strange people and wept.
It was as if he was speaking those words directly to me and
I was being held against God’s chest as he did.
It was also as if God were telling me,
“I created you.
I believe in you.
I’ve got you.
Even when all else fails.
You are not who they tell you that you are.
You have failed but you are not a failure.
I love you. I love you. I love you.
Always.”

That moment forever changed my view of God, life, and self.
And to think I almost missed it.
And that it happened in the wrong seat...

Thank you, Dr. Brock, for allowing God to use you to change me.

Please Don't Make Me Swallow A Sword

Today was a weird day.

Tired tapped on my shoulder last night and wrapped itself around me like a cloak that refuses to come off. So I’ve been tired. And sluggish. And sort of out of it. But not out of it enough not to be able to learn a couple of things today:

1) The first cloned sheep was named Dolly because she was cloned from a mammary gland. For some reason, this makes me laugh.

2) Gregor Mendel, the father of modern genetics, twice failed the certification exam to become a high school science teacher.

3) I could never be a sword swallower in a circus act. Just watching the act on video made me gag and feel like I was choking.

4) Looking at someone’s vocal chords is gross…especially if the chords are swollen from not enough water, too much throat clearing, and too much vocal strain (which is a hazard of teaching).

5) There truly are good people in this world, people who look at you and say, “I have seen a lot of things in my life. There [isn’t] anything you could [say] that would make me run.”

I read a newsletter article earlier in the week that presented two fundamental differences in views on God. One view holds God to be a holy God whose holiness will not allow God to be in the presence of sin. The other view holds God to be a forgiving God whose grace allows each of us to remain in God’s presence as we are still developing holiness. The article stated that a person’s view of God influences how he/she lives out his/her faith. Persons who hold the first view tend to focus heavily on morality and living in contrast to “the world.” Persons who hold the second view tend to focus heavily on journey and living with love in “the world.”

I tend to lean toward the latter.

And so, friends, with a weird head full of random knowledge from the day, I look now at you and say, “I have seen a lot of things in my life. [And] there isn’t anything you could say that would make me run.”

…except maybe that I have to swallow a sword for you. I could handle looking at your vocal chords if I had to. But I’m not sure about the sword swallowing…so how about you not ask :-).