The Church Series: Our Politics
The Church Series: Our Politics
Much of todays urban Christian political discourse have centered around conforming government policy to church principles. But the church of acts reveals to us that the more faithful posture is a church creating it's own policies to uplift it's body. A church executing it's own political actions amongst itself to ensure the health and economic we'll being of its memebers. John Howard Yoder describes this as a body political. In order for the urban church to realize this goal the church must first challenge the historical divide that has existed between the churches moralistic theology and its political action. I believe that the way forward lie in the church searching the scriptures and it's history for a robust theology that speaks prophetically to the people of God and how they are constituted. This Theology must challenge the status quo and push the boundaries of sacred and secular divides.
Black & brown communities have been inundated with a disconnected understanding of the Gospel. On the one hand urban churches discuss the moralistic implication of the gospel, i.e jesus's death on the cross means that our individual sins are atoned for, hence as a show of gratitude or perhaps even as a means to ensure our place in heaven we must no longer subject ourselves to these individual sins. Sins such as sexual immorality, alcoholism (most likely inherited from our super socially consciouses Pentecostal ancestors), and the most evil of them all bad language. These markers are mostly biblical, however they fail to reveal the very real socio-political aspects of the gospel and leave the urban church without a biblical connection to the rich radical tradition of social action so prevalent in black and brown church history. Indeed much of what is preached in many of our black and brown churches lacks a clear theological pathway to the rich tradition of social action that the black church was founded upon. To be clear the black and brown churches have historically and presently been on the forefront of social movement and action, yet if our churches our to undergo the radical changes necessary to become the body politic many of our cities need, we must make the theological connection between the work our churches do every now and then during our block parties, our can drives, and fish fries, and the Gospel message we preach every sunday.
In his book "where do we go from here," Dr. King discusses the limitations of the campaigns he waged during the civil rights movement. One of the most glaring limitations that King points out was found in his reflection on the civil rights act of 1964. King suggests that even though this sweeping legislation was put into place, this law could not be written on the hearts of the nation citizens, hence the laws could not address the implicit bias and deeply rooted white supremacy so entrenched the ideologies of american citizens. Ultimately limiting the the effects of the cooperate legislation passed. In his book King discusses at length the need for church organizations to partner with coercive governmental powers to enact change, yet he acknowledges that such power can not be the only means by which reform is accomplished. Herein lie the critical space for the church to navigate. John Perkins picks up where king left off, in his reflections on beloved community. Beloved community being spaces that embody the radical social, political, and spiritual message of Jesus. It was Mark Twain who said that 'it is not what I don't know about Jesus that frightens me, but it is what I do know." Contrary to popular belief the urban church is not in need of more academic seminarians touting more disembodied theologies, or left/right fundamentalist christian activist more committed to the agendas of their colleagues or political parties then their local church. What the urban church so desperately needs, are congregations willing to engage in kingdom experiments, where they seek to be the justice, the aid, the love that their communities so desperately need .
To perform these kingdom experiments the church need only a theology that is willing to take the political actions of the new testament church seriously. One might ask "why just the new testament church? The bible is a very large text that says a lot. While the sweep of the bible can and does speak to us at all times, I believe that the church of the new testament, is the first story of a people who lived in light of the full revelation of God, in the life Jesus. Hence the ways in which this revelation effects this gathering is crucial for any and all theology and political actions taken by our present day church. The book of acts stands as a centerpiece to critically understanding the lived theology of the early church. If one were to discard the metaphysical spiritual theological lens so often used to understand the book of acts, and analyze the events taking place within the text. One would likely see that amidst the discourse about the holy spirit, Pentecost is a story about a transnational people who have committed themselves to one another under Jesus. This body was so committed to one another that that they pulled their resources and radically distributed them so much so that all who were poor no longer remained the same.
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.-Acts 2:42
Wether discussing Philemon's reconciliatory practices and their undermining of the Roman institution of slavery, or the intentional efforts of the apostles to create mechanism to sustain orphans and widows, revealed later in the book of acts. The new testament church is rich with a lived theology that directly addresses the current needs of it's congregants. The church of the new testament does not so much engage in politics as it is in and of itself a politic. Which is to say that the revelation of Jesus did not just radically re-order the churches philosophies or ways of understanding the world, the revelation of Jesus radically re-ordered the ways in which the church lived. The holy spirit produced a vibrant christian community, whose dynamic spiritual life resulted in a radical political actions, all of of such actions took place without the need of any governmental institution.
6 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?-Corinthians 6
In the west our optics have been distorted. Too often, making much of social action in scripture has been labeled liberal theology and or Social Gospel. The notion that the church ought to be at its core both a spiritual and political force have either been regarded as extra-biblical leftist theology or ironically used by the right to justify christian fundamentalism. The reality is that venturing out to this new space is dangerous and fraught with theological pitfalls, the history of the church in america is replete with examples of this. Yet the urban church can ill afford to continue to avoid the example set by the churches true fore fathers and mothers (no not calvin not luther). Though the risk is high the reward is even higher. Imagine if in midwestern cities like Detroit, where there is a church for every 2000 people, church meant more than sunday morning catharses, but change. If the spirit lead the body to design churches that were less like concert halls and more like community centers. Imagine a church that rejected the false binary of liberal and conservative and embodied a love of justice, mercy, and walking humbly with God. This understanding of church, is dyer not for the sake of the world, as like all things God will accomplish his plans, it is urgent for the church. For such a church offers a for taste of heaven.
Much of todays urban Christian political discourse have centered around conforming government policy to church principles. But the church of acts reveals to us that the more faithful posture is a church creating it's own policies to uplift it's body. A church executing it's own political actions amongst itself to ensure the health and economic we'll being of its memebers. John Howard Yoder describes this as a body political. In order for the urban church to realize this goal the church must first challenge the historical divide that has existed between the churches moralistic theology and its political action. I believe that the way forward lie in the church searching the scriptures and it's history for a robust theology that speaks prophetically to the people of God and how they are constituted. This Theology must challenge the status quo and push the boundaries of sacred and secular divides.
Black & brown communities have been inundated with a disconnected understanding of the Gospel. On the one hand urban churches discuss the moralistic implication of the gospel, i.e jesus's death on the cross means that our individual sins are atoned for, hence as a show of gratitude or perhaps even as a means to ensure our place in heaven we must no longer subject ourselves to these individual sins. Sins such as sexual immorality, alcoholism (most likely inherited from our super socially consciouses Pentecostal ancestors), and the most evil of them all bad language. These markers are mostly biblical, however they fail to reveal the very real socio-political aspects of the gospel and leave the urban church without a biblical connection to the rich radical tradition of social action so prevalent in black and brown church history. Indeed much of what is preached in many of our black and brown churches lacks a clear theological pathway to the rich tradition of social action that the black church was founded upon. To be clear the black and brown churches have historically and presently been on the forefront of social movement and action, yet if our churches our to undergo the radical changes necessary to become the body politic many of our cities need, we must make the theological connection between the work our churches do every now and then during our block parties, our can drives, and fish fries, and the Gospel message we preach every sunday.
In his book "where do we go from here," Dr. King discusses the limitations of the campaigns he waged during the civil rights movement. One of the most glaring limitations that King points out was found in his reflection on the civil rights act of 1964. King suggests that even though this sweeping legislation was put into place, this law could not be written on the hearts of the nation citizens, hence the laws could not address the implicit bias and deeply rooted white supremacy so entrenched the ideologies of american citizens. Ultimately limiting the the effects of the cooperate legislation passed. In his book King discusses at length the need for church organizations to partner with coercive governmental powers to enact change, yet he acknowledges that such power can not be the only means by which reform is accomplished. Herein lie the critical space for the church to navigate. John Perkins picks up where king left off, in his reflections on beloved community. Beloved community being spaces that embody the radical social, political, and spiritual message of Jesus. It was Mark Twain who said that 'it is not what I don't know about Jesus that frightens me, but it is what I do know." Contrary to popular belief the urban church is not in need of more academic seminarians touting more disembodied theologies, or left/right fundamentalist christian activist more committed to the agendas of their colleagues or political parties then their local church. What the urban church so desperately needs, are congregations willing to engage in kingdom experiments, where they seek to be the justice, the aid, the love that their communities so desperately need .
To perform these kingdom experiments the church need only a theology that is willing to take the political actions of the new testament church seriously. One might ask "why just the new testament church? The bible is a very large text that says a lot. While the sweep of the bible can and does speak to us at all times, I believe that the church of the new testament, is the first story of a people who lived in light of the full revelation of God, in the life Jesus. Hence the ways in which this revelation effects this gathering is crucial for any and all theology and political actions taken by our present day church. The book of acts stands as a centerpiece to critically understanding the lived theology of the early church. If one were to discard the metaphysical spiritual theological lens so often used to understand the book of acts, and analyze the events taking place within the text. One would likely see that amidst the discourse about the holy spirit, Pentecost is a story about a transnational people who have committed themselves to one another under Jesus. This body was so committed to one another that that they pulled their resources and radically distributed them so much so that all who were poor no longer remained the same.
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.-Acts 2:42
Wether discussing Philemon's reconciliatory practices and their undermining of the Roman institution of slavery, or the intentional efforts of the apostles to create mechanism to sustain orphans and widows, revealed later in the book of acts. The new testament church is rich with a lived theology that directly addresses the current needs of it's congregants. The church of the new testament does not so much engage in politics as it is in and of itself a politic. Which is to say that the revelation of Jesus did not just radically re-order the churches philosophies or ways of understanding the world, the revelation of Jesus radically re-ordered the ways in which the church lived. The holy spirit produced a vibrant christian community, whose dynamic spiritual life resulted in a radical political actions, all of of such actions took place without the need of any governmental institution.
6 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?-Corinthians 6
In the west our optics have been distorted. Too often, making much of social action in scripture has been labeled liberal theology and or Social Gospel. The notion that the church ought to be at its core both a spiritual and political force have either been regarded as extra-biblical leftist theology or ironically used by the right to justify christian fundamentalism. The reality is that venturing out to this new space is dangerous and fraught with theological pitfalls, the history of the church in america is replete with examples of this. Yet the urban church can ill afford to continue to avoid the example set by the churches true fore fathers and mothers (no not calvin not luther). Though the risk is high the reward is even higher. Imagine if in midwestern cities like Detroit, where there is a church for every 2000 people, church meant more than sunday morning catharses, but change. If the spirit lead the body to design churches that were less like concert halls and more like community centers. Imagine a church that rejected the false binary of liberal and conservative and embodied a love of justice, mercy, and walking humbly with God. This understanding of church, is dyer not for the sake of the world, as like all things God will accomplish his plans, it is urgent for the church. For such a church offers a for taste of heaven.
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