Saturday, October 1, 2011
I AM who I AM: Where God starts
The Exodus event, for middle-class white American Christians, is a neat Bible story that acts as a metaphor for Christians to be delivered from sin and delivered to Heaven.
However, there is a lot of Christianity that leans heavily on the Exodus story as an organizing story that shapes who God truly is- a liberator, a rescuer in the here and now.
Recently, there has been a lot of controversy around the topic of Liberation Theology. Mostly, Liberation Theology has been linked to Marxism and been treated as heresy at best or blasphemy at worst. And while certainly there are Liberation Theologians who have gone outside the realm of orthodoxy (i.e. one liberation theologian I have read could not accept the deity of Jesus), there is a lot we can learn from Liberation Theologians (if we are careful listeners, there are a lot of people we can learn from, but that's another subject for another day).
The reality is that God begins among the poor and downtrodden in society. Exodus begins with an oppressed, suffering people who are liberated into a new way of being. Exodus 3 makes it clear that God is starting at the bottom of the social pole. And God performs a very physical and spiritual liberation for the people. This motif continues when God instructs the people to be EXTREMELY careful how they treat the poor. Deuteronomy 15:4 says that in Israel, "There shall be no poor among you." In other words, if the people of God are doing what they ought to do, there will be no need to rescue the poor from the hands of the people of God.
And yet, the people of God oppressed the poor (Isaiah 58) and became the Egypt they were liberated from. And so God stepped in and liberated the poor from Israel in exile.
And then Jesus came with words taken right from Isaiah:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)
Today, it is well known that the poorest countries observe a vibrant (even growing) Church, while the richest countries observe a Church bloated on million-dollar buildings and tax breaks. The Church has lost a lot of its influence, unless you turn to the poorer areas, where revival is happening and people are experiencing what Jesus said when He said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven" (Luke 6:20).
What do we do with this knowledge? I am not sure. I am still wrestling with the Kingdom and how God works in the world. That's what I have you here for, to comment and to grow with me. All I know is that if my/our ministries ignore the poor, we are practicing fake Christianity (James 2:5).
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Andy, Thanks so much for sharing your heart with us!!! As I read a second time I thought of the early church as described in Acts 2: 42-47... "...they gave to anyone as he had need." A Spirit filled response for sure.
ReplyDeleteAlso appreciated your comment about listening to others that we might not think we agree with.
Be God's today and always, Steve
Andy,
ReplyDeleteI tried earlier but my comment was not posted so here goes again. Perhaps the current economic downturn is a sign from the Lord to the church and all of us who are the church to step forward and fulfill our responsibilities to the poor among us. Their numbers are growing and whether right or wrong, our government has decided it can no longer afford to help as it once did. Who will fill the void if not the church? Is this God's way of issuing us a wakeup call? Let's pray we are up to the task. Bob
One of the things I gather from watching Occupy Wall St, witnessing the poverty in our community, attending the meetings of the Leelanau County Family Coordinating Countil, reading "When Helping Hurts" and (most importantly) integrating my faith into the real needs of the world, is that the most powerful effect of poverty can be isolation. Certainly, there are real food, shelter, etc. needs that must be addressed. That being said, materially poor communities that are tightly-knit experience joy and wellness in ways that we do not. What I witness in middle-class America is a fear of poverty, almost that it is contagious, and therefore the poor are marginalized, ignored and stereotyped (even blamed). The Church, as inherently relationship-based, is the perfect (one may even say God-designed) body to unite with the poor and not only help with physical needs, but end the destructive cycle of isolation.
ReplyDeleteAndy, Your comment reminds me of what we read in "Crazy Love".... "People(christians) who are obsessed with Jesus live lives that connect them with the poor in some way or another...." page 135 1 John 2: 4-6; Matt. 16: 24-26.
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