Viral Faith

Jesus is repetitive, and his Judean hearers do not get the message because of the power of the dominant myth to exclude other possible truths.  -- Wes Howard-Brook in Becoming Children of God Today, I read an article where an author was making an attempt to define conservative and progressive Christians.  In his eagerness to define the two groups, he used theological terms to try and describe political realities. The purpose of the article was to analyze how different Christian identities impact political and faith practices.  I would disagree with the author in understanding that both self-identified conservative and self-progressive Christians can agree on the Inerrancy of Scripture and the centrality and exclusivity of Jesus in salvation (those are the two criteria he used).  I share this only to emphasize the politicization of Christian identity formation.  In fact, there is often such a fierce affinity towards political realities, that it is often fused in...

  "So Jews othered non-Jews, Greeks othered non-Greeks, and Romans othered non-Romans.  Each divided the world into us and them, where them is always wild, violent, unmanly, dirty, stupid, lazy, horny and yet scary.  That was, of course, because they were not actually wild, violent, unmanly, and so forth, but they were actually scary... All this ethnic othering had to do finally with trying to put a finger on that fear factor.  Why are we so afraid?"  -- Stephen Patterson in The Forgotten Creed Throughout history, cultures develop narratives to understand their identity and root that identity in community values, informed by the experiences of a people.  The narrative or myth may be based entirely on a true rendering of historical facts or can be a carefully crafted multigenerational account of fictionalized stories that support a culture/nation/people's preferred understanding of themselves.  It should not be surprising to most to acknowledge that is ...

"The important study underscored the growing tolerance in many directions--gender, sexual identity, race, and ethnicity--as perhaps the most constructive and attractive element of change in American religious communities, along with growing ethnic diversity and compassion for those in need.  But the same study also noted political use of religion and divisions along political, class, and racial and ethnic lines as what continues to drive people from membership and activity in congregations."   --Michael Plekon in "Church As Community, Community as Church" In my current role as Superintendent, I have the privilege of visiting quite a few churches.  Within the conference of churches to whom I am responsible, there is an incredible diversity of contexts and communities: house churches, African immigrant churches, Hispanic family churches, traditional rural churches, suburban churches, urban churches, small, medium and large churches, all centered around the denominatio...

" Now is the time!  Here come God's kingdom!  Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news" Mark 1:15 CEB "Culture works like a movie sound track.  It makes or breaks the story we're telling.  Every organization is telling a story, not unlike a movie: there is a script (our words) and acting (our behavior).  But every great movie has a great sound track to match, which provides the tone and energy for the story.  This is our culture--and it must match our words." --Tim Elmore at www.growingleaders.com Culture is a popular word.  It has multiple meanings.  One of the most commonly used definition is: a set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or social group.  Culture is always present even if its not clearly articulated. Culture dictates a group's rules, roles, and responsibilities.  At the church where I grew up, you were not allowed to enter the sanctuary durin...

 "We cannot let narrow religious forces highjack our moral vocabulary, forces who speak loudly about things God says little about while saying so little about issue that are at the heart of all our religious traditions: truth, justice, love and mercy." -- Rev Dr William Barber II & Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove It is always difficult to discern whether you are a trailblazer or simply a token.  Many people of color take positions where they are the "first Black/Brown/Asian/Indigenous" who has ever been in that position.  Or maybe, you are the first woman to reach a particularly coveted position of authority.  Most do so not as personal gain, but to fundamentally change the corporate culture and mission so others who have been ignored, excluded, and passed over would have an opportunity to participate and lead.   Trailblazers are those who lead into unfamiliar environments in order to change the culture and to lead others who have been excluded into leadershi...

  "Rage builds over time as a result of cumulative suppressed emotions precipitated by voicelessness"--Kenneth V Hardy in Healing the Hidden Wounds of Racial Trauma Ezekiel was a priest of Israel who was forcefully exiled when he was only 25 years old.  While in exile in ancient Babylon, he had an encounter with God that changed everything.  Its so tempting to focus on the message of Ezekiel while ignoring the person of Ezekiel.  Those who are familiar with the book of Ezekiel know that he not only is commissioned to speak the word of God but often was asked to act them out through becoming a literal human metaphor (you have to read the book to understand this).  He was largely misunderstood and frequently maligned during his ministry. The age of 30 is the age in which those who are in the priestly line become eligible to serve in the Temple.  One can imagine that during his years growing up, filled with studying and careful observation of the sacred priest...

“Unless someone like you cares an awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  Its not!”        —Dr. Seuss in The Lorax A.W. Tozer is quoted to have said that if the Holy Spirit were removed from the church today, 70% of churches would not notice.  It is startling how quickly the people of God can go from deeply devoted followers to agents of indifference. Biblical indifference is apathy towards the things that matter to God.  We see it throughout Scripture when the people of God value their own priorities above that of God’s.  Elaborate systems and ideologies are developed around the man-made priorities, but in the end, Biblical indifference is disrespectful to God.  We easily understand that the things of God include things like worship, and study of God’s Word, but struggle to recognize that his passion is for his creation including humanity. In the book of Revelations, Jesus speaks to Severn churches (real churches in the firs...