There are many voices calling out in the market place of Christian
ideas. There are many different narratives. But by and large the
megalithic power that can be called Christendom has abandoned its
supposed creator. We have opted out of the radical, revolutionary
lifestyle that this crazed prophet and messiah called us to. And have
adopted a cultural niceness. We have embraced an economy of me first,
and maybe some left overs for the deserving poor. We have clung to a
doctrine of grace that gives us pithy phrases to recite in order to go
to heaven when we die, or better yet get raptured out of this mess. We
have created a politic of defense against everything that may be
unpleasant.
But this Christ we say is at the center of who we
are, who we are meant to be and who is the resurrection of us here and
now... well this Christ was not known for his stance against illegal
immigration, his stance against public health care, against gay
marriage. This Christ was not known for his pro death penalty stance,
his pro war stance, his pro capitalism stance. This Christ we say is
our Lord, Savior, Redeemer and ultimately the one we follow, practiced
radical inclusive love towards those deserving and undeserving. This
Christ cared for the poor, and chastised the rich. This Christ loved
and spent time with the heretical Samaritans, but condemned the
religious leaders and theologians of the orthodoxy. This Christ saved
the sinner from condemnation, and did not condemn. This Christ taught
us how to resist oppression by not cowering, but not fighting either.
This Christ included women in his entourage, and was born of
questionable circumstances, and condemned those that were holiest. This
Christ included in his friends the despised, the working class, the
traitor.
We have abandoned Christ, but no bother, we have built
another Christ, in our own nationalist, materialistic, and gnostic
image. And we bow down to this new Christ amidst wonderfully hip music,
and great preaching, and rituals, just like the Israelites bowed to a
calf of gold...
But God was not pleased with that
rev
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8 comments:
OMG dude....
not sure what that means, but I am going to take it as...
wow, that was awesome :)
rev
wow, that was awesome :)
btw when you were at Tribe last you mentioned that your interpretation of the parable of the talents differs from the commonly accepted one. I've been meaning to ask if you could elaborate on that... if not here, maybe on another blog post?
I will post an explanation of that passage as I understand it in light of Christs life, tomorrow. Btw you can skip the middle man and go straight to the source by reading Ched Myers Sabbath Economics.
rev
Why do that when you've already read it for me? Haha j/k
For real though, thanks John... I look forward to finding out more about this. I always enjoy your blog posts, I just usually suck at leaving comments on places other than Facebook. Hope you're doing well!
Truth brother.
I would even venture so far as to say it was EDUCATIONAL. :D
I've been dealing with deconstructing the American Jesus quite a bit lately. Honestly it has been at once the most painful and the most freeing experience of my life. I'm glad to (virtually) have people like you to walk through it with.
I think your message of living and speaking as a prophetic voice to the church cannot be stressed enough now. In light of so much garbage being peddled as the gospel, it's hard not to feel like we're drowning in a sea of false prophets (or, more pointedly, an ocean of bullshit).
I always read the parable of the talents more as an analogy for the expansion of the kingdom than it is the creation of material wealth.
By the way, I'm actually writing tangentially about this over at my place this week, specifically on the "Jesus as protector of property rights" fantasy. I'd love to hear your thoughts if you get a sec.
Luke uses a good term. Decontstructuring the American Jesus. I would have to go as far as the Western World jesus. Though many consider John Dominic Crossan a a heretic, he does a good job of putting Jesus in his historical context in 'the Historical Jesus'. you dont have to agree with every word someone writes to get truth out of it.
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