Dear Church, Refuse To Be In Denial About Racism - Melissa Stek in CRC Network

Until we can admit that we are people in need of recovery from systemic racism and white supremacy, we will never make progress in racial reconciliation.

I am a recovering racist, working to overcome the lies ingrained in me by white supremacy and a racialized society. The cultural messages I received were products of a racialized society, communicating to me the supposed meaning and value of whiteness versus colored-ness

I have always been a beneficiary of white privilege as a person that fits our culture’s physical appearance standards of “white.”

Until we can admit that we are people in need of recovery from systemic racism and white supremacy, we will never make progress in racial reconciliation; we will never heal the wounds and cancer of white supremacy.

The first step is to step out of our denial. It’s not enough for me to say, “I’m not individually racist,” and think that my work is done. 

We must be open to uncomfortable surrender to truth and reality in order to shake ourselves free from the lies we have absorbed about race and whiteness.

The full article is available here

God Requires That We Not Stop Trying - Bayard Rustin

 

A Christian Statement on Science for Pandemic Times - Biologos Foundation

 

You can sign the statement here

Our Truly Essential Human Task - Cynthia Bourgeault in The Wisdom of Jesus

 

Penal Substitutionary Atonement: Why Trump Is Direct, Logical Result of Flawed Conservative Evangelical Theology - New Humanity Institute

The Calvinist Puritans incorrectly saw a retributive justice in the Mosaic Law and thought it should be applied to the colonies. The Religious Right believes the same today.  Consequently, Conservative Evangelicalism's inability to apply the ethics of Jesus to public policy leaves rank and file churchgoers vulnerable to those - like Trump - who can exploit their tribal fear of others and irrational persecution complex, which makes them want to lash out in punishment.

Conservative Evangelicalism in the U.S. has a long tradition of being racist, even if individuals may not be personally racist.  It has been unable to pastorally and structurally deal with racism.

This is at least in part a result of its flawed understanding of Old Testament being about retributive justice, rather than restorative justice. 

In the 3rd Great Awakening, U.S. Evangelicals divorced evangelicalism from love of neighbor and from any serious reflections on the use of economic or political power.  Dwight Moody and others divorced evangelism from discipleship.

Penal Substitutionary Atonement, a flawed theology that is a staple of  Conservative Evangelicalism, reinforces individualism emotionally.  It defines salvation in terms of escaping retributive justice and the wrath of God - instead of in the classical/Nicene sense of healing from the corruption of sin within ourselves.

This has the psychological and social consequence of reducing people down to souls and not also bodies, giving Conservative Evangelicalism a strongly gnostic flavor that fits with a lack of care for the bodies of others necessary for compassion and social justice.

As a result, Conservative Evangelicals promote ideas like the tough father at home, meritocracy, a workplace without unions or regulations, and a society without social safety nets.  It is a paganized sect of Christianity that believes an angry God needs to be appeased through the sacrifice.

Conservative Evangelicalism's inability to apply the ethics of Jesus to public policy leaves rank and file churchgoers vulnerable to those - like Trump - who can exploit their fear of others and irrational persecution complex.

Given Conservative Evangelicalism's strong support for an ethic of retribution in public and economic life, a narcissistic bully like Trump may have been inevitable.  The Calvinist Puritans incorrectly saw a retributive justice in the Mosaic Law and thought it should be applied to the colonies. The Religious Right believes the same today.

The full article is available here

We Must Not Go Back to Normal - The Network, Christian Reformed Church in North America

At some point we all would like to get back to some kind of normal. But we should not go back to a dysfunctional normal (of white privilege and systemic racism).

"Normal" has not been good for everyone. It is time for a normal that restores an identity in Christ in us and all of our neighbors, especially our Black neighbors.

My normal as a white person does not require me to think about who might be watching me or how my actions might look to someone else merely due to the color of my skin. I can pass by neighbors, most of whom are strangers, without people perceiving me as a threat or wonder what I’m doing.

Black people in the U.S. live a different reality on a daily basis than I do as a white person.  Their reality is one that they can't step away from because they're perpetually being judged by their skin color.

The reality of systemic racism requires our Black brothers and sisters to be wary, on guard, careful about their surroundings and the people near them 24/7 - whether going for a run, a drive in the car, shopping, or bird-watching.

That’s their normal, and we should not go back to that normal.

Black leaders are speaking and creating a new path forward. It is time for a normal that listens and seeks to understand.

If we wish to be faithful to God in doing to others as we would have them do to us, we must do something. The racism baked into the systems of our society will not change unless we continually take action.

The full article is available here

I Have Prejudices and I'm Part Of Systemic Racism - Rev Jennifer Holmes Curran in The Banner

Racism degrades bearers of God’s image, even while it distorts our own humanity. It is abhorrent in God’s eyes. And I am complicit in systemic racism as a white person to the extent that I benefit from it and to the extent to that I fail to fight against it.

As a white person, racism has been trained into me through a lifetime of stereotypes in movies, TV shows, and the news. It is part of my felt experience, living “across the tracks” from the more dangerous and diverse neighborhoods.

There are lots of different definitions of racism, but any worthwhile definition has to include prejudice against someone of another skin color or ethnicity.

While I have prejudice, my racism is much bigger than it. That's why it is so important to note that prejudice is much more destructive when it is perpetrated by a dominant culture.

I didn’t make all of these structurally racist problems happen, but in the end, just by virtue of being identified as white, I stand on one side of this conversation. Because I am white, I can have the luxury of not thinking about these problem and the luxury of not working to fix them. I am complicit to the extent that I benefit from them and to the extent to which I fail to fight them.

My racism degrades bearers of God’s image, even while it distorts my own humanity. It is abhorrent in God’s eyes. And I am guilty of it.

Confession returns me to the humility I need to be able to listen to my brothers and sisters of color. Knowing I am a part of the problem makes me want to press in and keep learning. Knowing the bottomless grace and love of God gives me a sense of steadiness when I feel defensive. It allows me to slow my knee-jerk reactions so I that can try to understand.

The full article is available here

Francis Collins on Christians and COVID Conspiracies - Religion News Service

Collins particularly urged his fellow Christians, whose orthodoxy believes in God’s truth in all things, to be sure that they are vetting whatever they are seeing.

National Institute of Health chief Francis Collins expressed concern over the number of Christians who have fallen prey to conspiracy theories surrounding the spread of the coronavirus.

“It is troubling that in our nation that prides itself on being technologically advanced, the current circumstances — particularly on social media — make it so easy for things to spread that are simply not based on facts at all,” he said.

“I would particularly urge my fellow Christians, who believe in God’s truth in all things, to be sure that they are vetting whatever they are seeing.”

The full article is available here

National Institute Of Health Francis Collins on Churches Reopening - Religion News Service

Collins said that it will remain unsafe to gather in churches until there is “a lot more testing capability” to ensure the virus is no longer present in a congregation.

Francis Collins, world-renowned geneticist and director of the National Institutes of Health, is the 2020 recipient of the Templeton Prize.

Collins is perhaps best known for leading the Human Genome Project and for advocating for the holistic integration of Christian faith and science.

When asked about churches reopening, Collins responded that he deeply values in-person worship. “At the same time,” he said, “I think as Christians we have to have as our No. 1 priority that we are going to care for the sick and the vulnerable. I cannot see, therefore, that it’s justifiable to bring large numbers of people together even in the name of worship, because of the risk it carries.”

Collins said every church gathering should be concerned about transmitting the virus, and that it will remain unsafe to gather in churches until there is “a lot more testing capability” to ensure the virus is no longer present in a congregation.

The full article is available here

Just Because the Economy is Reopening Doesn't Mean Churches Should - The Banner

We must consider how to not fuel the spread of COVID-19 and not put our most vulnerable at greater risk.

While business is primarily transactional, the life of a church congregation is inherently social. We gather to worship God, but we also gather to connect with one another.

Unless we run into a close friend, we don't normally shake hands or hug someone in the grocery store or movie theater, but where a community of people is knit together spiritually and socially these interactions happen frequently.

In addition, formal rituals, such as sharing in communion or pausing during a service to shake hands or hug, obviously increase the risk of infection.

Even if churches decide to forego virus-sharing practices, the informal contacts are almost unavoidable, even if we consciously plan to avoid them. Worship services - as well as the social time before and after - have their own rhythms, with norms we are conditioned to participate in. It is asking a lot of those gathered, distracted in a variety of ways, not to fall back into pre-COVID-19 ways.

No matter how we plan, people in disaster situations are notably bad at assessing risk and predictably overconfident about the control they have over their environment. Nor can church leaders control the behavior of whoever might walk in the door.

We must consider how to not fuel the spread of COVID-19 and that not put our most vulnerable at greater risk.

The full article is available here

Biblical Prophecies Aren’t Predictions of the Future - C. A. Strine

Biblical prophecy does not seek to predict the future, but to change the present.

When most people read something called prophecy in the Bible, especially predictive prophecy, they assume that the statements about the future intend to describe accurately what the prophet understands, through divine inspiration, will actually happen in the future.

But that’s not what the Old Testament tells us.

Statements about the future are descriptions of how bad things might get if current selfish, greedy, violent, and oppressive behaviors continue.

Biblical prophecies are conditional statements. Biblical prophecy does not seek to predict the future, but to change the present. The potential of future disaster is meant to change current behavior and to motivate people to repent.

Prophets in the Scriptural Narrative want to activate certain behaviors in their audiences, not prognosticate future events. They are like parents warning children against foolish behavior and encouraging good behavior, not weather forecasters attempting to tell you whether or not you’ll need an umbrella at noontime tomorrow.

The full article is available here

Our Public Health Responsibility as Christians - The Banner

This is an opportunity for Christians to live out the 2nd commandment Jesus gave to love our neighbors as ourselves. 

Covid-19 has put public health into practical terms for us today.

Similar to when public health advocates for vaccines, the current message of practicing physical distancing is about asking people to do something that will help not only themselves but others as well. Especially those who are most vulnerable.

People everywhere are being asked to think of their communities above themselves and stay home and limit contact with others.

It’s uncomfortable and not always pleasant.

It means giving up what we want in service to others. And it is an opportunity for Christians to live out the 2nd commandment Jesus gave to love our neighbors as ourselves.

My hope is that after Covid-19 is over, we will not forget this opportunity we had to live out our collective responsibility to protect and look after others.

Hopefully we will carry on being advocates for equity, we will think of others' needs above our own, and we will continue caring for the most vulnerable among us.

The full article is available here

On Not Getting Used To Social Distancing - Pastor Melissa Florer-Bixler in Christian Century

My spiritual practices have long been communal ones. I love people and their presence.

Christianity produced an earthy and human set of texts by which we set our lives.

My spiritual practices have long been communal ones. I love people and their presence. I love people and their presence. For me, spirituality is to holding space for the celebration and sorrow of people’s lives.

I love the pitch of human laughter and the varying temperatures of palms pressed into mine. I love textures of humanity, the co-journeying of long relationships, and the tone of voices woven together in song.

This year my Lent may last longer. I anticipate that the absence of my communal spiritual practice will continue to widen a space that cannot be adequately filled with virtual access.

Giving attention to the curve and shape of that empty place, being drawn back to longing for the lives that will fulfill it — this will be what I do in this season of COVID-19.

The full article is available here

Lament vs Rationalizations In A Time of COVID-19 - NT Wright in Time Magazine

Some Christians are prone to think of God as above, knowing everything, in charge of everything, calm and unaffected by the troubles in his world. That’s not the picture we get in the Bible.

Lament is what happens when people ask, “Why?” and don’t get an answer.

The point of lament, woven thus into the fabric of the biblical tradition, is not just that it’s an outlet for our frustration, sorrow, loneliness and sheer inability to understand what is happening or why.

The mystery of the biblical story is that God also laments.

Some Christians are prone to think of God as above all that, knowing everything, in charge of everything, calm and unaffected by the troubles in his world. That’s not the picture we get in the Bible.

The ancient doctrine of the Trinity teaches us to recognize God in the tears of Jesus and the anguish of the Spirit.

It is no part of the Christian vocation, then, to try to explain what’s happening and why (in terms of God being a causal agent). In fact, it is part of the Christian vocation not to be able to explain—and to lament instead.

The full article is available here

The Church Being Community During COVID-19 - Jodi Koeman at CRC Network

We need to plan how we bring shalom to our communities and neighborhoods. 

Many churches are figuring out how to gather remotely, and while this is important, maybe this is an opportunity to BE the church in a new way.

We’ve been forced outside the church walls. How will we respond? What role does the church have in this crisis?

While we plan to maintain a sense of community among our members, maybe we also need to plan how we bring shalom to our communities and neighborhoods.

These principles, articulated by Cormac Russell of the Asset Based Community Development Institute at Northwestern University, are helpful in guiding us.

• 1. Citizen-led - We need to follow the guidelines of CDC and other health care providers.
• 2. Relationship-oriented - While taking social distancing measures seriously, how do we seek out people in our community that need our support?
• 3. Asset based - What strengths and gifts do you or your church have to bring to this situation and to your community? What strengths are right in your neighborhood?
• 4.Place-based - Churches are key places for community. We should look out for one another, but now is a prime opportunity to be with those in our local neighborhoods as well.
• 5.Inclusion-focused - Ask your community what is helpful. Ask community members what they can offer. Don’t assume you know what the most vulnerable need.

The full article is available here

God is Becoming: Consolation in the Face of Tragedy - Rabbi Bradley Artson

If God has truly ceded to creation the ability to make choices, then God didn't kill the innocent, didn't allocate disability, didn't impose poverty.

God, in choosing to create, gave us an independence that is real. We, along with all creation, have real agency, and the choices we make are truly untrammeled, unprogrammed, and unforeseen by God.

God is vulnerable to surprise and disappointment just as we are. The universe unfolds according to its own inner logic; the laws of physics operate, and God cannot/does not suspend them based on moral standards.

Thinking of God as having all the power leaves us rightly feeling betrayed and abandoned ("was I not good enough for God to intervene?"). It leaves those who defend that error in the same position of Job's friends—discounting our core ethical knowledge in an attempt to defend the indefensible. We do know good and evil: God's Spirit infuses us with that awareness. Hiding behind "it's a mystery," or "we can't understand," or "it's all for the best" is, in my opinion, worse than unsatisfying, because it requires either blaming the victim or denying our ethical compass.

If God has truly ceded to creation the ability to make choices, then God didn't kill the innocent, didn't allocate disability, didn't impose poverty. Looking for God in special effects causes us to mistake theater or science fiction for life.

God is found not in the suspension of nature's laws, but in the intrusion of novelty and surprise from within fixed law, in the abiding nature of hope, and in the transforming power of love (a power that is persuasive, not coercive).

When a beloved student struggled with what became a terminal illness, I saw God being very busy throughout his struggle—in moments of laughter and song, in the strength of the relating that bound us all as a community and kept my student feeling connected through his very last minutes, in the determination to be there with and for his family throughout and beyond the ordeal.

I never expected God to guarantee an outcome or suspend the natural. I did expect to find God in the steady constant lure toward good choices and responsibility. And that God did not disappoint.

The full article is available here

Evangelicals, This Is How Republics Fall - Messiah College Historian John Fea

Evangelical leaders who support Donald Trump have failed to rebuke the president’s immorality. By keeping (their) heads in the sand as Trump proves he is incapable of living according to the most basic standards of decency, they neglect to do their part in sustaining our republic and fail to be good citizens.

When Trump engages in (all of his immoral) activities, many of his most ardent evangelical followers —Franklin Graham, Robert Jeffress, Paula White, Eric Metaxas, Jerry Falwell Jr., James Dobson, and Ralph Reed, to name a few — look the other way. They are unable to speak truth to power because Donald Trump and his Republican Party hold them captive.

Evangelical leaders who support Donald Trump have failed to rebuke the president’s immorality. By keeping (their) heads in the sand as Trump proves he is incapable of living according to the most basic standards of decency, they neglect to do their part in sustaining our republic and fail to be good citizens.

The political problems in Evangelicalism run deeper than just the failure to speak with a prophetic voice. 

Donald Trump will be gone one day. But the political playbook that evangelicals follow will not go away unless we decide to burn it and start over.

There is a very good chance that this playbook will lead evangelicals into the arms of another immoral tyrant who promises conservative Supreme Court justices and offers platitudes about religious liberty.

The full article is available here

Benediction: God's Upside-Down and Abundant Kingdom (based on Matthew 20:1-22)

May we go out from here as workers in God’s upside-down kingdom; where the last are first and the first are last ... and where there is grace enough for all.  And may the blessing of God, the love of Jesus, and the presence of God's Spirit surround us and sustain us.

Call To Worship: Transforming Relationship with God and Each Other (based on Romans 12:1-2)

We have gathered together to connect with God, who calls us away from the broken patterns and mindsets which we have sometimes gotten used to living within. In their place, we are invited into transformative relationship with God and with one another. So let's give thanks for this extraordinary, boundless, and life-giving grace.

Benediction: We Are Everyday Grace To Each Other (based on 1 Peter 4:10)

As we go now, may we look at God’s world with God's eyes. May we continue to seek out all of the everyday grace available to us through each other. May Christ's example of sacrificial and inclusive love be our guide. May God's Spirit help us to surrender our ego and pride so that we can join in the work of bringing out the best in everyone and everything.

Reimagining Confession as Noticing - Winston Charles in Shalem

The contemplative tradition brings an alternative, transformative experience of confession; reimagining confession as an integral part of our journey into wholeness.

Confession has all too often been understood within a dynamic of payment due, penance to be done, and conditional forgiveness.

The contemplative tradition brings an alternative, transformative experience of confession; reimagining confession as an integral part of our journey into wholeness. Key to confession as part of the journey of spiritual transformation is noticing. 

Sometimes that happens by being hit over the head with a ton of bricks.

But more often, it happens by noticing in the stillness how once again we have acted out of those old inadequate behavioral patterns; ones that are more interested in feeding the little, needy ego than in re-forming the ego into a strong and healthy center, marked by compassion and courage, integral to the spiritual heart.

This concept of confession is not reserved solely for the confessional booth or Sunday’s general confession or any other specific time.  Rather, it is always present as we live through our days. With clear and courageous eyes, we notice how we fall short and where we are called to go—an ongoing examen that leads us forward.

The full article is available here

Benediction: The Gifts of God the Trinity In A New Year (based on 2 Timothy 1:9-10)

May God be our source of hope and peace in this new year. May we follow Jesus into new and abundant life. May we grow in awareness of God's indwelling Spirit, which surrounds us with everyday grace and goodness in God's world.

Call To Worship: May We Be Open To Goodness (based on Genesis 1:31)

As we gather today, may we have hearts that are open to the beauty of God's hope and goodness. May our minds be open to the vast expanse of God's love. May we always be on the lookout for all of the grace which surrounds us in the universe which God created and called "good." As we seek to follow God's path, may every part of our lives be worship.

Advent Reflection and Renewal: Waiting For Promise To Be Fulfilled

God, you sending Jesus to earth is an amazing reminder of the original goodness in which you created the universe and of how it can be lived out by humanity. For this, we give thanks.

At the same time, it can be difficult from our historical vantage point to really have a sense of how - in the centuries that passed between creation and Jesus’ birth - your good news of liberation for the poor and oppressed was only a promise. While it was a hopeful promise, it was also one which generation after generation did not see fulfilled.

So God, help us to begin to appreciate what it means to wait. We’re so used to instantly having our every wish met. Help us to seek to understand what it means for those living in the dark shadows of injustice and suffering to hope for light to come.

Help us to not take your grace for granted.

Others of us know all too well what it means to continue to wait for things to be made right. We’re familiar with the weariness of hope deferred. God, help us be on the lookout for where even glimpses of the hope of your promise of are being born within us and around us.

God, thank you for your free and life-sustaining gifts of grace, which we can all tap into, regardless of where life finds us in this season. 

Amen.

The Misguided Priorities of “Keeping Christ In Christmas” - Stephan Ingram

When Christians belligerently insist that our faith necessarily deserves priority and that our traditions are what need to be centered, we are not representing Christ; who called for humility, peacemaking. meekness, and self sacrifice.

The very fact that people feel that it is their duty to mandate Christ in Christmas represents a misunderstanding of the priorities which Christ-followers should be guided by.

Christianity, as defined by the life and teachings of Jesus, never depended or insisted on being the majority, in power or even influential.

It was a religion that lauded the weak, meek and the poor. Jesus came preaching a gospel that defaulted on the need for religion to have power and influence. He told us that the last shall be first and the first shall be last.

When Peter picked up a sword and was ready to take Jerusalem, Jesus quickly told him to put it down because that is not the kind of gospel he was bringing.

When Christians try to force God on others we reincarnate some of the worst epochs of our religious history, and default on its core founding principles of love, grace and hospitality.

When Christians belligerently insist that our faith necessarily deserves priority and that our traditions are what need to be centered, we are not representing the man who called for humility, peacemaking. meekness, and self sacrifice.

The full article is available here