Day 1: Enuma Okoro
Christmas is always hard for me spiritually. It’s funny cause it’s supposed to be the time in which we recognize the depth and extent of God’s love for us. It’s supposed to be the time in which we sit still in awe of the Incarnation. But the truth is, for me, this time of the year is so busy in multiple family and cultural ways that I never feel I make time to dwell in its true depth and meaning. Rather than a season of reflection and spiritual resetting the last two weeks of the year often feel like a season in which I take permission to embrace over indulgences and selfsatisfying behavior.
It can actually seem more fitting to use the first week of the New Year for the necessary work of spiritual reflection. When all the holidaying and celebrating is over what better way to transition back into the mundaneness of our very ordinary and oft times challenging lives. What better time to truly sit with the fact that God is with us, not just around the glimmering Christmas tree, but with us as we head back to our jobs, our complicated families, our still unmet longings and the disciplines and desires we still struggle to make sense of and to live into faithfully.
This first week of January leading up to Epiphany Sunday, I like to imagine that like the wise men, I too am beginning a journey towards the Christ. And on this weeklong journey I hope to spend time asking myself some honest questions. I will ask myself questions about the places in my life where I still struggle to live into the person I believe God is still creating me to be. I will ask myself questions about the places in my life I need to be more courageous AND more adventurous in order to rejoice in the ways of God and in the gifts of creation. I will ask myself questions about the places in my life I need to stand up to fear and remember that God has given me a spirit of power, love and selfdiscipline. I will ask myself questions about the places in which I hide my true desires from God because I still can’t believe that the goodness and richness of God could truly meet me where I most ache and long for it. I will ask these questions so that when with the Wise men I make it to the manger next Epiphany Sunday I may be a bit more ready to receive the awesome wonder of encountering God. And I may be more open to letting God shepherd me into another year.
Day 1: Jim Wehner, FCS Urban Ministries
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one, Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken
away from her.” Luke 10:4142 NIV
I love this Scripture. It shows so plainly what Jesus values most. He doesn’t softpedal it to protect Martha’s feelings. He doesn’t honor the backward frustration that Martha has expressed with her anger toward Mary. Martha asked for this. She opened her home to everyone to come and meet Jesus. She becomes consumed with the preparation and activity of ministry. What could be more Spiritual? In reality, Martha is modeling one of the deadliest realities that Christ followers face—Spiritual Activity. Ministry Activity is important right?
Unfortunately, by personality, I relate to more to Martha than I do to Mary. There is just too much ministry to be done…too much need. I invest a tremendous amount of effort and passion in my work. I always have. I am not good with halfhearted commitments. Organizationally this works well because I don’t shy away from responsibility. I tend to be pretty organized and dependable. I prefer strategic direction to haphazard leadership. I like clean job descriptions, job titles and clear communications. But you see rub right? I naturally—just three sentences above—equate ministry to work and completely disregard ministry as an act of worship.
This is why I am joining in the fast this year with Leroy and Donna. It is an act of setting down what is important to me in order to think about and listen to what is important to God. I do not relish the physical and Spiritual battle of fasting. I am not entering from a place of strength. Rather I enter from a place of weakness and need. I enter from a place of longing for more depth.
A quick story…I played miniature golf in Italy this summer. Believe it or not, it is one of my best memories from my time there. My wife, Jolyn, and I spent a couple of weeks traveling this past summer celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. At the end of the day we were talking with the group of people that we traveled with and all of them were bragging about the food they ate and the things they bought as they shopped the tourist laden streets. Don’t get me wrong, we enjoyed the food and made some small purchases of the local merchandise. But the memory I cherish most from that day is the offthebeatentrack walk, hand in hand, with Jolyn. We actually got lost and as we were finding our way around the town. We ended up in a residential area. We toured a small cemetery looking at dates and we sat and watched a family care for the plot of another family member. We toured an unheralded church (basilica). Suddenly as we came around a street corner we found a small park next to a lake that had a miniature golf course. We decided to play (even though money was tight). We laughed and took our time, unhurried and glad to be in the moment.
The funny thing is how little I do this with God. As I fast this week, I am hopeful of many moments like this where I emulate Mary’s choice rather than Martha’s. My prayer is that you have the same experience.
“…Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Day 2: David Chronic
Vulnerability, Children and the Image of God
For the past 17 years, we have been building relationships with children living on the streets, children abandoned with HIV, children with disabilities, and children at risk of being trafficked. Our hope and prayer is that these vulnerable children will have a better future. But often, it is the children that inspire our hope and teach us to pray and that by simply being vulnerable children. When we speak about vulnerability, we think of the word’s Latin roots: the ability to be wounded. For children, vulnerability is the combination of present dangers and difficulties that they must face and cope with. Most often, we understand vulnerability as a challenge to be overcome or solved. While it is true that we need to protect children and reduce the threat of exploitation, we also need to understand vulnerability as a gift. In actuality, this gift is one endowed by God to every child at creation. We are familiar with the text from Genesis:
Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:2627).
Although the concept of “image of God” is debated, there is general consensus around the idea that humanity in the image of God translates to humanity as God’s representative on earth. (That is why we are forbidden to make graven images because the image is already created and set in creation by God.) The question is: how does humanity represent God?
Usually, humanity’s likeness to God is understood as having rationality, the power to exert dominion, ethics, the capacity to love or – through Platonic influence – the having of an eternal soul. While all of these ideas may distinguish humanity from the rest of creation, they revolve around the abilities of human beings and, therefore, the most common understanding is power. Those that hold this opinion connect power with humanity’s ability to exert dominion over God’s creation. However, humanity’s representation of God through power has its problems. For example, from the creation narratives on through Genesis and the First Testament, we almost always find humanity’s power in negative terms. There is the fall and exile from Eden because they wanted to be like God; there is the construction of the templetower in Babel because they wanted to reach heaven; and there is the exploitation of other humans Egypt and later by the Israeli kings and temple. We also have before our eyes the real effects of human power today in the oppression of the power and ecological destruction through our consumer economies. Rather than understanding humanity’s likeness to God through power or what humans can do, we are better to view likeness through vulnerability. God reveals God’sself as vulnerable. God loves, which entails the risk of misunderstanding and rejection. The God of the cosmos enters into covenant with human beings, saying, “And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people’ (Lev 26:12). God acts on behalf of the vulnerable by rescuing the Israelite slaves from Egypt. God takes the place of a slave by carrying the shade (in the form of a cloud) and the torch (a pillar of fire). The culmination of God’s Selfrevelation is the incarnation, when the Son is conceived in a mother’s womb, is born in a stable, lives on the margins, and critiques power. The Son touches the excluded like children, diseased and sinners. The Son goes the way of a cross and is seen as the most vulnerable: a little lamb that appears slain. All of this doesn’t just tell us what God does. With God, there is no difference between acting and being. In fact, we begin to understand God’s being through God’s action. So, the vulnerability that we see through God’s actions open us up who God is.
If God reveals God’sself through vulnerability and if we represent God through our vulnerability, rather than through our power, we can then affirm the image of God in children. Interpretations based on power and ability usually do not consider children, and if they do, they view children as lives anticipating adulthood as if only adults can image God. In this way, children are either seen as less than human or almost human and only in a process of becoming. Viewing children as images of God affirms their vulnerability and also empowers them to be who they are as children. Moreover, by affirming children as the image of God, we also critique adults who, sometimes unwittingly, try to make children after their own images.
Children as image of God is developed further by Jesus who makes the intrinsic link between children and God’s kingdom. We learn from Jesus’ interaction with children:
People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs (Mark 10:1314).
In our proclamation the kingdom of God, we are invited to see children as participants not because they prayed a certain prayer, but simply because they are children. In our community we have had many babies born in the last year or two. In their infancy, and precisely in their vulnerability, they image God. One of the children, Abel, has been my icon at our Sunday worship services a window through which I see God. When Abel was still in the womb, the doctors identified a developmental problem and recommended that the mother have an abortion. After much prayer and many conflicts with the doctors, the parents gave birth to Abel. The first weeks were touch in go with head swelling and many seizures, but Abel survived. Although he has lowlevel brain activity and still has seizures, Abel continues to live and to receive love and to give love. He is dependent at every moment on others for his survival. Abel represents God’s image. Abel belongs to God’s kingdom.
Abel and other children are vulnerable in their dependence on others and in their openness to others. We can affirm their vulnerability by caring for them (especially in a world that rejects them). Jesus gives us a mandate to protect children: ‘If any of you put a stumblingblock before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of stumblingblocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom the stumblingblock comes!” (Matt. 18:6).
Along with protecting children, we can affirm their vulnerability by receiving them (by accepting their uniqueness). Through our hospitality towards vulnerable children, we also receive God. ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me’ (Matt 18:5). By recognizing the vulnerability of children, maybe we will more readily affirm our own vulnerability. And the gift of vulnerability that we see in children can become the gift of vulnerability that we are and that we offer by more faithfully imaging God in the world.
Again, the invitation of Jesus: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven’ (Matt. 18:34).
Day 2: Donna Barber
Except You Become as Children
If you spend any time observing young children at play, it quickly becomes apparent that children perceive with the mind and heart seeing the invisible, responding to the inaudible, feeling the intangible. They are not limited in their thinking by the shoulds and should nots, not consumed with what “people” will think or say or what is or is not supposed to be. They are free.
Childlike is not childish. Childishness is that selfcentered thinking and lifestyle that blocks our gratitude to the mercy and faithfulness of God and closes our hands and hearts to the needs of those around us. Childishness blinds us to injustices that are not our own and to the privilege we daily enjoy. Childishness causes us to shrink with irrational fears and make demands for comforts we don’t deserve. But childlikeness causes us to think of others, to take even bread from our own mouth to share with a friend. Childlikeness squeals with delight at the simple beauty of nature, dances with joy over the treasures found that money cannot buy and sobs with heartfelt sorrow over the pain of a neighbor or friend. Most importantly, childlikeness believes what to grownups seems impossible, despite all evidence to the contrary, even to the saving of the soul. So Jesus invites us into this space, this childlike thinking and being. “But, Lord,” we say “how do we make the leap from our hardened adult realism into the innocence of faith? How do we shut our eyes to the deception of the natural and liberate our minds and hearts to the reality of the spirit?” And Jesus responds, “If you continue in my word then are you my disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:3132) In our cities, Kingdom youth development is not just about teaching life skills, providing exposure and developing leaders. Though these things are surely important. But it is most certainly equally imperative to provide spaces and time where the children of urban communities who must struggle under the weights of poverty and injustice, hopelessness and despair can be childlike. We create room for the mind to think without answering questions of survival. Space for the heart to dance and laugh and sing without the noise of confusion and places for play where the spirit can connect with the God who gave it and receive new visions and dream new dreams. Unlike the body, the soul of man is not made free by legal or political proclamation. Freedom is the result of the knowledge of the truth. The truth that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
The truth that we are created in the image of God. The truth that God knows us, chose us and loves us without condition. That He is with us to protect us and provide whatever is needed so we shall not want or fear or lose. We are therefore free to imagine what can be, to create what is not yet, to run into the unknown fully open to the experience. We can explore the curiosities of life and respond with honesty. We can risk being vulnerable and caring and give away unrestrained love. We can dare to hope and imagine and dream. In fact we have been invited to do so, knowing that our hope will not bring us shame. We can believe in God and do the impossible. We must pursue this transformation, this renewal of mind for without it we shall never see the kingdom of God.
Day 3: Sarah Lance
Why I Don’t Know Any Prostitutes
I am not a big fan of labels. Of easy words that make it possible to classify and categorize people into the good ones, the bad ones, and the one’s that we like and the one’s that are harder to like because we find them different. Labels to me to seem like an easy way out of understanding how complicated and complex we are as human beings.
There are few among us who are all dark and no light, all good and no evil. We are complex, layered, intricately woven and not completely understandable, even to ourselves much of the time.
My time in India, in Kolkata particularly among people who are poor and among women who prostitute or are prostituted has helped my reframe my paradigm of labels. I was once asked, by some visitors to Sari Bari, “How many prostitutes work here?” My response was “none, no prostitutes work here and in fact I do not know any prostitutes.” Prostitute is a label that I find abhorrent. Because I only know women, mothers, daughters, sisters and friends who have been involved in sex work for one reason or another. They have in fact been prostituted by poverty, exploitation, and the greed of other human beings. The women I know are intricately woven works of God art. Within them are darkness and light, pain and joy, beauty and ugliness.
We would like to draw a line between women who are prostituted, say men, women and children who have been trafficked and the others who we see as making a choice. Much of the western paradigm of prostitution carries with it a stigma of a person who has made poor choices and therefore does not deserve the dignity of personhood. Some lightly dismiss the women whose weary faces may appear in the newspaper on arrests for prostitution…somehow this feels like justice to us for their crimes to be listed for all to see in a newspaper. I have read through these pages of newspapers many times and what I see are women destroyed by addiction and often controlled by a pimp. Women arrested for prostitution 60 times did not make that choice. She has been victimized. She is likely to have been abused (95% of all those engaged in the act of prostitution internationally have been sexually abused) and whether it is an addiction or pimp that is keeping her enslaved, this is and was not the life that she chose for herself. And to choose to find freedom requires a tremendous amount of resources that may or not be available to her. She may be 35, if she is under the control of a pimp, she may not even able to decide when she is able to use the bathroom. So she may not actually be able to make the smallest choices for herself. There is a requirement of safety and the basic needs of life being met before she can even begin to take a step in the right direction. If we call her a prostitute, we can easily dismiss responsibility for walking with her. If we see her as a woman, a mother, someone like us, it becomes much harder to dismiss and hopefully much easier to want to help.
It is not only the word prostitute that bothers me. It is any label that prevents us from seeing others as whole human beings. The word victim is not among my favorites. Many have been victimized by human trafficking and calling men, women and children who have been trafficked a victim limits them. Words like victim help causes raise money and may fail to consider the human being who has a complex story and who though victimized will move beyond a label as their story moves forward. I heard Luis CdeBaca (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/124083.htm) the Anti Human trafficking ambassador speak a couple years ago and his words have continued to ring in my mind when I hear the word victim. This is my paraphrase of what he said: “People who have been trafficked are vulnerable because of poverty and other circumstances, but often those who are trafficked for labor or sex, are the ones who believed that opportunity and taking a risk for that opportunity is worth it. Unfortunately taking the risk did not pay off and when rescued, we should not count them as victims for long because they will again make a new way to a new life.” Many have been victimized we should not dismiss the complexity of who they are by calling them victims.
Can we change they way we use our language to something more humanizing. Instead of saying victims of human trafficking, can we say women and children who have been victimized by human trafficking? Instead of calling women engaged in prostitution, “prostitutes”, can we say women who are prostituting or women who have been prostituted? The words victim and prostitute are nouns, indicating a person, place or thing. Prostituted and victimized are adverbs or adjectives that describe what has happened to living, breathing, complex and complicated human beings.
When I describe the women that I know at Sari Bari, it will never be with the words victim or prostitute because I do not know who that is. I know women who have been victimized and trafficked and prostituted. I know their names, their stories of trauma and their stories of new life.
I see their darkness and their light, their good and their bad and they see mine. What are some more labels that can be reframed with dignifying language?
Day 3: Helen Lee
Facebook users recently saw the meme “Top 10 Books That Have Stayed With You” flash around the network, as friends posted their lists of most memorable reads through the years. When my turn came, I cleared my mind, closed my eyes, and noted the titles that floated to my attention. One of the first to do so was Half the Sky, by Pulitzer Prizewinning authors and spouses Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.
The book provides extraordinary, gripping descriptions (in often gruesome detail) of the types of oppression women experience all over the world. Kristof and WuDunn also include stories of opportunity amidst the most dire of circumstances, but the overall effect of the book is sobering and disturbing, as it addresses topics such as the ongoing rape, slavery, and mortality issues affecting countless women today.
I actually heard WuDunn speak in person when she came to a conference of Christian women leaders, during which she praised the work of evangelical churches and organizations in helping to address the injustices and needs in Half the Sky. But then she issued these words to challenge us on an individual level: “The greatest moral challenge of the 21st century is gender inequity…Once your material needs are all met, there are very few things that can increase your happiness. One of them is to contribute to a cause larger than yourself. We all have won the lottery of life. How do we discharge that responsibility?”
I confess that at times, I have looked upon my own status as a woman of color in the church as a disadvantage. I think of times that I haven’t been allowed to teach or speak to a group of men, or instances in which my opinions have been ignored or overlooked in favor of a (white) male colleague’s perspective. It’s easy to dwell in those moments of injustice and think, “I have no power or opportunity to be heard or make the difference that I should be able to make.”
But that would be a limited perspective on my part. Compared with millions of women around the globe who have no voice or leverage of their own, I have indeed been blessed beyond measure. I have not been sold into slavery, victimized by acid attacks, blocked from educational opportunities, or experienced sexual violence. I have the kind of power that women all over the globe cannot even dream of for themselves.
As I look ahead to 2014, I am glad to be reminded again of stories and atrocities that are uncomfortable and challenging. Sometimes what we need in a new year is not a fresh slate to pursue new ideas and opportunities, but recommitments to address ongoing injustices that still need our attention and effort. If “women hold up half the sky,” as the Chinese proverb states, then what better way to spend the coming year than to dedicate ourselves to those who keep that sky from falling.
Day 4: Dr. Damone B. Jones, Sr. Senior Pastor/Bible Way Baptist
Church, Philadelphia Member/Board of Trustees, Philadelphia Prison System
Black Men and Incarceration
As a minister serving in urban Philadelphia, I have on many occasions visited prisons both in Philadelphia County as well as throughout the Pennsylvania Correctional System. I have visited inmates individually and participated in worship services and Bible studies in a more collective way. But it was not until 2011 when I was appointed by Mayor Michael Nutter to the Board of Trustees of the Philadelphia Prison System, that I saw the socalled correctional system from an entirely different perspective.
While touring the facilities in areas where civilians including religious volunteers are not permitted I encountered more African American males than was my desire. It was one thing to read and intellectualize the statistics, but another thing all together to see the faces represented by those statistics. So many looked like me. Some younger, some older, some my age, but all Black males of all ages caged like animals in a zoo, peering through sections of glass in electrically powered iron doors or extending their arms through old fashioned iron gates to rest upon as they watched from their cells time slowly passing them by.
The steady, undaunted growth of the prison industrial complex in America is the church’s opportunity to make an impact for the Kingdom of God. The African American Community is no stranger to oppression, injustice, institutional racism and the like and yet the Black Church continues to stand as it has through the years anchoring our communities and offering the Hope of Jesus Christ to seemingly hopeless conditions in our community. If there is to be any change at all, it must come through the ministry of the Black Church. No other institution is more equipped to minister to the incarcerated Black male.
While this crisis in the Black community continues to intensify I am praying that the Black Church will wade out into the forefront of the issue with prophetic voice and innovative strategies aimed at the reduction of Black male incarceration as well as the reduction of recidivism. Ministry within the walls of jailhouses across the nation are a necessity, but we must not neglect the development and implementation of effective programs designed to support those returning from prison to the community. Ministry to the inmate, returning citizen as well as ministry to the families of those mentioned must be intentional and a part of the overall strategy.
“In what historian Taylor Branch refers to as Dr. King’s “last wish,” the great preacher offered a profound challenge to us, urging everyone to “find a Lazarus somewhere, from our teeming prisons to bleeding earth.” The Black Church can help us recognize – and aid – the young Black males in jails and prisons who are Lazaruses in need of our care. Only then can we begin the difficult but necessary task of helping them fashion a future for themselves, their families and their children” (Goode, Lewis, & Trulear, 2011, p. 55).
We cannot forget about our brothers and sisters behind the wall. They are still very much a part of our community in that every incarceration impacts a family. Prayerfully believers everywhere will take on this issue in mass and begin to embody the words of Jesus Christ: “…I was in prison and you came to Me…Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:36, 40)
References: Goode, Sr., W.W., Lewis, Jr., C. E., Trulear, H. R. (2011). Ministry with prisoners &
families: The way forward. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press.
Day 5: Shawn Casselberry
Children of the New Jim Crow
Every Saturday morning, youth from the west side of Chicago are provided a safe place to reflect, create, and express themselves through drums. Started as a ministry of support for children and families with incarcerated loved ones, our community drumline has become a secondary family for many in the North Lawndale community.
In an attempt to get our drumline kids talking, Mrs. Cray, a retired public school teacher who volunteers as a tutor, went around the room asking students random questions. Terrell, a seven year old student in our drumline, was asked, “What was your best vacation, and what made it so good?” As he paused to speak, I became very curious as to what he might say. I thought back to family vacations I had experienced growing up. We would take family trips during the summer to places like the Smoky Mountains in North Carolina or to see the monuments in Washington D.C. I wondered if Terrell had ever been outside of the State of Illinois, or Chicago for that matter.
My quandary was interrupted when Terrell shouted out, “When I visited my dad in prison, because I have fun with my dad.”
After Terrell spoke, there was a brief moment of sacred silence in the room. For me, it was a reminder of why we do what we do. Amidst the sometimes frantic drum practices and tough teen facades, there is pain and loneliness. And regardless of the guilt or innocence of those incarcerated, it is the innocent children and families that are forced to pay the heaviest price. It is not right or just that Terrell’s best vacation is visiting a prison.
The truth is, the prison system is a destructive and violent force in the lives of children and families in our community. One study showed that over 57% of our neighborhood is involved in the prison system in some way either in prison, on parole, or on probation. That means the majority of kids and youth in our community have loved ones who are incarcerated.
In The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander shines a light on the injustice in our prison system. The United States has more people incarcerated than any other nation (2.1 million), half of which are African American. She reports there are more black men incarcerated now than were enslaved in 1850. Blacks and Latinos are incarcerated at disproportionate rates even though research shows that whites, blacks, and Latinos commit crimes around the same rate. Alexander argues that the mass incarceration of lowincome minorities is causing the same discriminatory effects in areas of housing, education, voting, and employment as Jim Crow laws did, and as a result is creating a permanent underclass. When you incarcerate that many fathers (and mothers) you aren’t just punishing the parents, you are hurting the children.
What do we do as Christians when confronted with these harsh realities? The Bible urges us to “remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself!” (Hebrews 13:3). Jesus knew what it was like to have a loved one incarcerated. His cousin, John the Baptist, was falsely accused and arrested (and eventually executed). Perhaps this is why Jesus, in Matthew 25, tells his disciples “when I was in prison, you visited me.” As a victim of false imprisonment and injustice, Jesus entered into solidarity with the incarcerated and exposed the flawed justice system of his day.
Of all people, Christians should be the most skeptical of prisons. A simple survey of prisons in the Bible will reveal that prisons were mainly used to oppress minorities, exploit the poor, and silence the prophets. And the prison system today continues to do so.
I have hope though, because Jesus came “to set prisoners free.” That is how I know that Jesus is on Terrell’s side.
As many of us will enjoy a vacation with family this year, let us remember those in prison AND the children and families that are serving time without them. I hope you will think about volunteering and supporting organizations working yearround to support families of the incarcerated. And as you get to know those children and families, I also hope you will be compelled to advocate for just policies that will set prisoners like Terrell’s dad free. In Jesus’ name.
Day 6: Mark Charles
Without Exception
The other day I observed a Twitter exchange between Pope Francis and Miroslav Volf.
Pope Francis ( @Pontifex) Tweeted: “God does not reveal himself in strength or power, but in the weakness and fragility of a newborn babe.”
To which Miroslav Volf ( @MiroslavVolf) replied: “@Pontifex How true! And yet the babe grew and taught with power and authority, and the crucified one was raised from the dead in glory.”
Since moving to the Navajo reservation more than a decade ago I have done much thinking, studying, praying and reflecting on the dynamics between power and authority. And God has given me a few insights over the years. So when I read these tweets I had an instant desire to jump in and be a part of the discussion. But there was a problem. Pope Francis is the leader of the Catholic Church with over 1 billion members worldwide. And he has 11 million Twitter followers (between his various accounts in 9 different languages). Miroslav Volf is a national, even global, voice in his own right. He heads the Center for Faith and Culture at Yale University and is described as a Croatian Protestant theologian and public intellectual who is often recognized as “one of the most celebrated theologians of our day.” And he has 11 thousand twitter followers. And then there is me, Mark Charles. I do not lead any organization nor do I work solely for a specific group, ministry or church. I am merely the son of an American woman (of Dutch heritage) and a Navajo man, who is living on our Navajo Reservation and trying to understand the complexities of our countries history regarding race, culture and faith so that I can help forge a path of healing and reconciliation for our people. And I have a grand total of 710 twitter followers (@wirelesshogan).
In terms of power, platform and voice, Pope Francis is Goliath, Miraslov Volf is David, and I am Jesse’s long lost nephew, the youngest son of his stepsister’s fourth cousin. On a power scale, I have no place in this discussion. And even if I were to tweet something in response to Pope Francis or Miraslov Volf, the worldly chances of actually being heard by either of them are almost nonexistent.
But to me, that is the beauty of Pope Francis’ tweet. God’s rules are different than the world’s rules. God does not use the mighty things of this world to proclaim his glory, but the weak, the forgotten, and the overlooked. And that is the hope which I both hold onto, and preach to our Native peoples and communities throughout the country. For living on the reservation is very lonely. Our nations and peoples have been pushed aside to scraps of land that are largely unwanted and out of the way. As a result, a majority of the country is unaware that Native communities actually exist. And of the few who are aware, those who do come to visit us are either giving us charity or taking pictures at the “Native American Zoo,” and then quickly leaving before any real relationship can be built.
And so, after many years of living in solidarity with my people, studying the scriptures, and looking closely at the model of Jesus, I can wholeheartedly agree that, as a rule, “God does not reveal himself in strength or power, but in the weakness and fragility of a newborn babe.” But, Miroslav Volf is also, mostly, correct when he says “The babe grew and taught with power and authority, and the crucified one was raised from the dead in glory.” Yes, Jesus did teach with authority and yes, he did rise from the dead, in glory, three days later. But the overemphasis that Dr. Volf places on power, making it a method equal, in the ministry of Jesus, to authority, I believe is inaccurate.
Power is the ability to act. Authority is the right of jurisdiction (the permission to act). In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus comes onto the scene quickly. Already in Chapter 1 he is amazing people for “he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.” But he doesn’t stop there. Just a few moments later, while in the same synagogue, he is confronted by a man with an unclean spirit. Unfazed, he speaks sternly to the spirit telling it to “Be quiet!” and “Come out of him!” The spirit responded by violently convulsing the man and coming out of him with a shriek. And then we are told, “The people were all so amazed, that they asked each other, ‘What is this? A new teaching and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.'” (Mark 1:2227)
Sometime later, Jesus was crossing the lake with his disciples. He was tired, so he took a nap in the back of the boat. A furious wind storm came up and waves began breaking over the boat. The disciples woke Jesus up and asked him “Don’t you care if we drown?” Now that line is frequently misinterpreted as the disciples crying out in fear for Jesus to rescue them. But I do not see evidence of that. I think they were mad. Several of them were experienced fishermen. They spent much time on the water and had undoubtedly experienced situations like this before. This storm was dire enough to warrant an “all hands on deck!” The boat was taking on water. This was not a time for sleeping, no matter who you were! I don’t think the disciples had any other expectation of Jesus than for him to wake up, grab a bucket, and help them bail water out of the boat. This is evidenced by their reaction to what Jesus actually did. For he didn’t grab a bucket, but instead he stood up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves “Be still!” And nature listened. The storm died down and it was completely still. Only then are we told that the disciples were terrified, and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” (Mark 4)
Throughout his ministry, Jesus continually demonstrated that his words and actions were not demonstrations of his power, but an exercising of his authority. And this quite literally freaked people out. For he did not talk like someone who studied the scriptures; he spoke like someone who wrote them. He did not cringe when confronted by the blowfish tactics of the demons. Because he knew, that they knew, that they were submissive to him. Nor was he fearful of the destructive power of nature, because he was there when his Father spoke all of creation into existence.
For power to be effective it must be demonstrated. Authority is inherent and requires no demonstration.
If you were a guest at the wedding at Cana, you went home, not amazed with Jesus’ power to turn water into wine, but instead with the incredible extravagance of the hosts of the party, for they saved their finest wine and served it last. (John 2)
If you were one of the professional mourners outside of Jairus’ house, you went home that evening, not amazed at Jesus’ ability to raise a girl from the dead, but instead ashamed at your own stupidity, for you could even tell the difference between a dead girl and a sleeping one. (Mark 5)
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus was confronted with the temptation to demonstrate his power. Satan tempted him. The scribes and Pharisees tempted him. The people tempted him. Even his own disciples tempted him. But again and again Jesus declined, sometimes forcefully with a rebuke, and other times quietly by simply walking away. He did not need to prove himself to anyone. He knew he was the Son of God and his identity did not need validation from the world. But it cannot be denied that Jesus did some pretty spectacular things and that God showed His pleasure and His approval in some very powerful ways. After all, Jesus’ birth was announced by a host of heavenly angles. Yes, they were singing to shepherds, but nevertheless, very powerful. And how about the rising from the dead? The curtain ripping? The dead being raised? The earthquakes? And the midday darkness? All incredibly powerful displays.
So why am I writing this post? Aren’t they both right? Has not the truth been proclaimed to both the 11 million and the 11 thousand followers on Twitter? Does clarification really need to be made to yet another measly 710 Twitter users. Yes! I believe it does. Because I have seen exchanges like this numerous times before from my powerless position here on the Navajo Reservation. I have seen the uncomfortable truths of God’s character and His call immediately explained away with the quick pointing out of a few exceptions to the rules. This happens so frequently that I fear we may have forgotten what some of the rules actually are.
God chooses the foolish, weaker, lowly, despised things of this world and the things that are not to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (1 Corinthians 1:2730). These are God’s rules.
The weaker, secondborn son, Jacob is the rule.
The slave, become prisoner, Joseph is the rule.
The prostitute, Rahab, is the rule.
The foreigner, Ruth, is the rule.
The shepherd boy named David is the rule.
The fisherman, Peter, is the rule.
And the babe, wrapped in cloth, and born in a barn is the rule.
The highlyeducated Pharisee named Saul is the exception. The rich, young ruler, walking away from Jesus, is the rule. And the camel, named Zacchaeus, going through the eye of the needle is the incredibly rare exception.
As American Christians, these rules make us uncomfortable. For we live and follow Jesus in the wealthiest, most militarily powerful nation in the history of the world. And even though the founding fathers read the Bible and prayed to God, our nation has an incredibly dark and unjust history. Yet many still fancy the United States, and the American church, as the new Israel, with this continent being our “promised land” over which we have a manifest destiny. And so we cannot even begin to imagine that we just might, instead, be one of the other empires in the Biblical narrative, on the receiving side of God’s anger.
This is because we have taken the exceptions and made them our rules. And so when we hear the rules, because we do not align with them, we must quickly point out the exceptions. For the exceptions are what explains our existence and what justifies both our actions and our inactions.
Pope Francis articulated the rule. And Miroslav Volf quickly countered with an exception. I do not know why he did it, nor can I judge what was in his heart. But I was compelled to respond because for the past 500 years my people have experienced the fruit of a nation and a church which arrogantly proclaim that they are the exception: the Doctrine of Discovery, the forced assimilation, the boarding schools, the marginalization, the empty charity, and the refusal to reconcile. And while I do not deny that God is at work and has accomplished much good through both the United States and the American church, I feel the need to exhort us to be silent and allow God’s prophets to speak and remind us of His rules. No matter how uncomfortable they may make us feel. “God does not reveal himself in strength or power, but in the weakness and fragility of a newborn babe.”
Thank you, Pope Francis. Please pray with us, the church in America, that we may aspire to follow the example of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ:
“Who, being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:68)
For it is unsettling what Jesus modeled so plainly. That the glory of the Father is revealed by following His rules, without exception.
Day 7: Randy S. Woodley
Living on Earth (Luke 15)
Jesus, the 1st century Palestinian Jew, is often too quickly seen through our own cultural lenses as a 21st century American who “blesses” our values and worldview. As we examine the culture when Jesus walked the earth, we need to learn to take off our Western cultural lenses and adopt a more Indigenous lens. By doing so, a whole new set of values are available to us like: cooperation instead of competition; corporate good as opposed to individual improvement; sharing and generosity out of need instead of greed and the American dream. To be Indigenous is to be from and of the land. To be Indigenous is to be in symbiotic relationship with the land. Jesus, a brown skinned tribal man, was Indigenous. One of the primary values of Jesus we most often miss is how to live on the earth. When we speak of Indigenous spirituality and culture it always begins with an understanding of the land.
More and more followers of Christ are realizing God expects Jesus to inhabit all of our lives and our entire world. Young people are not satisfied with just waiting until “we all get to Heaven” to live like Jesus. People are interested in community and those values that once set Jesus and early Christianity apart from the world. Indigenous people who still maintain Indigenous values can show us the clearest examples of how to live like Jesus in our current context. Indigenous people see through a different lensone that the dominant Western culture really needs in order to express Jesus to the world and to equip a new generation.
In Luke 15 Jesus shares three parables about how to view the shalom community he was reintroducing; the lost sheep, the lost coin; and the lost sons. Each parable had social and cultural implications concerning living on the land at that time. Each parable had a missional imperative, especially for the poor and disenfranchised. Each parable ended with a party in which everyone, regardless of their “lost” disposition, along with the found, shared in the joy of love and blessed community.
Living WITH the land, and our covenant on the land and with Creator, others and all creation, is the lived experience and accumulated knowledge, wisdom and understanding of Indigenous people that separates us from others. If we ignore Indigenous people’s understandings of stories such as in Luke 15, we miss some of the most important parts of the story. Followers of Christ need this understanding. This simple ability to replicate this ethic of community is what can envision others to live for Christ. In such a model of community we can tangibly witness and bring much needed hope to others. The world is different now, but wisdom from God is always available to us, especially in places we would not expect to find it.