Archive for the ‘spirituality’ Category

Monday Morning Meditations: For the sake of the work of God

Posted: April 1, 2013 in bible, church, faith, spirituality, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , ,
0

Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall. Romans 14:19-21

In this passage, Paul is writing to the Christians in Rome. Rome was the capital of the empire and consisted of a diverse population made up of Romans, foreign merchants, slaves, and conquered peoples. In such a cosmopolitan center there were followers of Jesus from various cultural backgrounds in house churches throughout the city. This inevitably made Rome a seedbed for controversy. Well into the 4th century Christians from the East and the West struggled over the correct date for celebrating Easter. Here in this passage the debate surrounds food. Paul is letting them know that what we eat and whether it is right or wrong is a matter of conscience. It is something that is between the believer and his Lord.

You may say to yourself “Food! How trivial! What a petty thing to argue about?” But I think if you focus on what they are arguing about then you are missing the point. The emphasis should be on the phrase “destroy the work of God”. What does it mean to destroy the work of God? The answer can be found in verse 13: To put a stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister to cause them to stumble in their faith. It’s about more than just food. It is about the precious faith of our brother and sister in comparison to our so called “rights”. We have to make a decision about whether we will follow the ways of this world or the ways of the Kingdom of God. You can insert just about any thing in that is non essential to life and to your faith and it works the same.

For the sake of “politics” do not destroy the work of God

For the sake of “entertainment” do not destroy the work of God

For the sake of “alcohol” do not destroy the work of God

For the sake of my “cultural tradition” do not destroy the work of God

The list can go on and on and on but the point is this. All of these things we hold up as important pale in comparison to the work of God in the life of another follower of Jesus. To put a stumbling block in the way of their faith and cause them to sin is just not worth it. For the sake of the work of God destroy your entrenched positions and strong opinions in order to promote peace and building up others.

As Augustine said “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity”

Strength and honor!

The Bible Series and Our Racial Perceptions

Posted: March 14, 2013 in African American, bible, church, culture, faith, Jesus, justice, Race, spirituality, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
1

I wasn’t going to say anything but Ok…I’ll take this one for the team.

The History Channel’s Bible mini series has helped to bring “The greatest story ever told” to a new generation and has certainly gained a lot of buzz due to its incredible production quality and endorsement from high profile pastors such as T.D. Jakes and Joel Osteen.

Of course trying to fit a huge narrative like the biblical story which spans multiple centuries and cultures is a daunting task even when you break it up into multiple episodes. Inevitably you get multiple scholars and armchair theologians criticizing the accuracy of the plot line and the omission and revision of different bible verses.

Why is “for himself” omitted from Abraham’s line “The Lord will provide a sacrifice”?

How come Moses strikes his staff on the ground instead of stretching it towards the sea?

All of these are valid questions and I have an equally valid one “Where are the people of African descent?” You may reply “They are in the series. There are some.” But my question is not “how come there is no one of African descent in the series?”. My question is “Where are the people of African descent? Where are they socially and culturally located?”

Yes the narrator Keith David is black. The angel that rescues Lot’s wife is of African descent. Balthazar one of the three wise men is black and Samson and his family are of African descent as well. So….What’s my beef?

Here is what I see in the casting of people of African descent. All of the black characters are either invisible, exotic “others”, or in the case of the one major role of Samson depraved, flawed, and deficient. Let’s break it down like this:

Narrator=invisible
Angel=exotic “other”
Balthazar=exotic “other”
Samson=screwed up!!!

Now don’t get me wrong. I believe this movie is very accurate. Accurate of the perceptions we have of people of African descent in the 21st century. We are either off people’s radar; seen as exotic “others” with a strange culture; or morally depraved like Samson who screwed his life up through sex and violence.

I do not believe the creators of the series Mark Burnett and Roma Downey intended this to be the case. This is not a judgment on them. They are just part of our society and culture. I applaud their efforts to bring the Bible to the public square ad adding diversity into the cast of characters. This is not a push to make all the characters black but a critique of our society’s already established racial perceptions.

Why does this even matter? It matters because pastors all across America were endorsing and promoting this before their congregations and it reinforces stereotypes and assumptions. It lets kids of African descent know that even if they are in the story they are on the outside. It matters because I get tired of having to prove to young African American adults that following Jesus is not following a white man’s religion. It matters because people of African descent were not marginal to the world of the ancient near east but major players and my children need to know that as I raise them up to consider the Bible and its teachings.

Shouldn’t it disturb us that Adam and Eve are portrayed as a white couple when the discoveries of anthropology and genetics say this cannot be the case. Shouldn’t it disturb us that Jesus the hope of every nation looks like a Vidal Sassoon model? I’m disturbed and I hope you are too.

Strength and honor!!!

The Bible in Context: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

Posted: March 14, 2013 in bible, church, faith, Jesus, spirituality, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , ,
0

Yes! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13). Powerful verse. Rich theology in a short sentence. An excellent verse that come in handy when we need to pass an exam, buy a luxury car, start a business, or lose weight. But wait a minute……let’s zoom out and look at the preceding verses.

Paul is talking about his financial status and the financial support that has been renewed by the Philippians church. He says that whether they gave to him or not it didn’t matter. He wasn’t rejoicing about this because of his dire need (Philippians 4:11). Paul then goes on to explain that he has learned the secret of contentment. This contentment has come in the best of times and the worst of times. Paul was strengthened by Christ when he was broke and when he was paid (v.12). It was not about changing his circumstances but about the power that Christ gave him to live in any circumstance he found himself in. The power to do all things was the power to deal with all things with contentment.

Contrary to popular belief and usage this verse is not a claim to self interested superhuman ability. It is not a mantra for modern American definitions of success and ambition. No! It is a mantra for contentment. It runs totally against our cultural desire for more and bigger and better. This verse says it doesn’t matter if I have more or bigger or better. Christ is enough and Christ is the best. Christ is all I need. It is a claim to the supernatural strength to endure whatever life throws at you. Whether you win or lose, whether you get the job or don’t get the job, whether you got paper or you’re broke. Don’t just “do you”. Do Christ. He’ll empower you to be content.

Coming soon: My thoughts on the Bible TV series

Strength and honor!

The 1st Diversity: Reading for Women’s History Month

Posted: March 5, 2013 in African American, bible, change, church, culture, faith, gender, justice, sex, spirituality
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

God loves diversity. From the very beginning of the Hebrew scriptures we can see diversity in action. According to the Biblical text, creation begins with difference: light and darkness, water and dry land, greater light and lesser light. Fish, birds, beasts, and creeping things reproduce after their different kinds. At the apex of creation stands humanity and the very tip of the apex is woman. Instead of making us asexual borglike robots he stamps us with difference: male and female. This is the first human diversity and all other diversity pales in comparison. Man and woman are different.

These differences govern not only how our body functions but they also give us different experiences and outlooks. There is nothing that shapes and defines us in the core of our being more than our sexuality. The fact of whether on an application or form we write an “m” or an “f” next to the word sex speaks volumes on how we approach life and see the world around us. It is more than just biology. Because of this biology we acquire a different psyche, a different perspective. This biology has over thousands of years given rise to certain roles and ways of relating in our society and culture. Irregardless of whether the society or culture conditions us to act in these ways the biology was there first and gave birth to it. The first instance of diversity set us on a trajectory that has been adventurous, exciting, and….full of conflict. Patriarchy, misogyny, polygamy, female mutilation, pornography and a whole host of other evils has sprung from the fact that men and women are different and need reconciliation. For the most part is has been men who have initiated the oppression and violence against women and this is something that still needs to be remedied even in our modern times of women’s liberation.

As an advocate for diversity I seek to be an advocate of women. This month is women’s history month and to honor that I will be exploring the perspectives of women through reading from the vantage point of my two prominent identities as black and Christian. The books on my list are:

Women, leaders, and the church by Linda L. Belleville
The Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans
Words on Fire: An Anthology of African American Feminist Thought by Beverly Guy-Sheftall
The Word According to Eve by Cullen Murphy (Male author but a survey of women scholars involved in Biblical studies)
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

I am already knee deep in a couple of these and they are already readjusting my lens and perspective. Do you have any other suggestions?

Repost: Black Theology for Black History Month Pt 5

Posted: March 1, 2013 in African American, bible, Black History Month, church, culture, faith, Jesus, justice, materialism, militarism, Ministry, poverty, Race, racism, spirituality, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , ,
0

In conclusion, Black Theology shapes Christian ministry by showing the true distinction between “Daddy Rich” and the “Revolutionary” and compels us to choose the latter by focusing our ministry towards those who need it most: the oppressed. It is through preaching and teaching, participating in spiritual disciplines, and becoming involved in conscious social engagement that we can equip congregations to liberate the oppressed locally and globally. This means that we take a definite stance of negation against the existential five D’s-death, dread, despair, disease, and disappointment-and the isms of the larger society, namely racism, sexism, classism, and homophobism. At the same time, black theology can help create a new way of being and living as a liberated people. Using the sources mentioned above, Black theology can give us the spiritual depth and practical tools to fight against the real life issues of the prison industral complex, inadequate housing, education, and health care etc. Through these and other means, Black Theology shaping Christian ministry can provide concrete examples of “God as a way out of no way”1

Repost: Black Theology for Black History Month Pt 4

Posted: February 28, 2013 in African American, bible, Black History Month, church, culture, faith, Jesus, justice, materialism, militarism, poverty, Race, racism, spirituality, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , ,
0

Our fourth and final source for black theology is the social and analytical tools needed for prophetic thought and practice. In other words, the tools that enable us to see the situations of oppression and speak truth to power. It is the social analytical tools and political praxis of prophetic Christian thought given by Cornel West (yes the dude with the fro from the Matrix) that provide what is needed to examine oppression and its causes. This is crucial for black theology because we need to know what we are being liberated from if we are going to talk about liberation. They also expose the interconnectedness of race, gender, age, and sex discrimination with class oppression. Although West’s endorsement of progressive Marxism may not be the one true answer to the problem of capitalist oppression he does provide foundational principles to realistically tackle oppression locally and globally. His identification of Christianity and Marxism’s commonality in their progressive and prophetic wings as possessing a “commitment to the negation of what is and transformation of the prevailing realities in the light of the norms of individuality and democracy”1 gives a guiding framework for changing the system that oppresses African Americans and others worldwide.

Repost: Black Theology for Black History Month Pt 2

Posted: February 27, 2013 in African American, bible, Black History Month, church, faith, Jesus, justice, materialism, militarism, Ministry, poverty, Race, racism, spirituality, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , ,
0

Another source for black theology is the faith tradition of African Americans. From this source, it is the Womanist Christ of Kelly Brown Douglas that makes a unique and necessary contribution to black theology. This view of Christ shows us that Jesus not only values the soul but the body; especially black female bodies that have borne much of the pain of white oppression. This honoring of soul and body can be seen in Jesus’ ministry as he healed the sick, fed the hungry, and lived life among the poor. This is the Christ who sides with the oppressed and calls to account “any congenial relationality that oppressive power seeks with sacred authority.”1 Douglas sees the crucifixion event of the Womanist Christ as a protest to the platonized Christian alliance with unjust power inasmuch as it is connected to Jesus’ ministry on earth as well as his resurrection. In this way Jesus’ whole life is seen as redemptive and not just the crucifixion event. This holisic viewpoint stands as a critique of the platonized Christian tradition. This critique has been supported and affirmed by the African American faith tradition through black male and female bodies fighting for freedom and justice against overwhelming odds in a society designed to degrade them

Repost: Black Theology for Black History Month Pt 1

Posted: February 27, 2013 in African American, Black History Month, church, faith, Jesus, justice, materialism, militarism, Ministry, poverty, Race, racism, spirituality, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

Black Theology?!?!? Yes. Theology is not God. Theology is people speaking about God. This means that it can be formed and shaped by a variety of perspectives. One perspective that most do not know about or have a misunderstanding about is the African American or black perspective. I have had the privilege of studying black theology under a great teacher Dr. Ralph Watkins at Fuller Theological Seminary. This class stretched me and pulled me in very good ways. In honor of Black History Month I am going to publish my take on black theology from it’s sources in the cultural and religious roots of Africa, the faith tradition of African Americans, the emphasis on scripture and revelation, and the social/analytical tools and political praxis of prophetic Christian thought:

The sources of black theology are the cultural and religious roots of Africa, the faith tradition of African Americans, the Black Hermeneutical school’s emphasis on scripture and revelation, and the social analytical tools and political praxis of prophetic Christian thought. All of these sources combined inform the definition of black theology which is a multifaceted interpretation of Christianity as a black struggle against oppression and an unwavering faith in the liberating activity of God. First, the sources of black theology and their purpose will be explained. Next, the definition of black theology will be given in light of its sources. Lastly, an agenda shaped by black theology will be given for Christian ministry.

The first sources of black theology are its African cultural and religious roots. These sources of black theology help to correct culturally constructed Western Christianity with its blind spots and biases. In Tribal Talk, Will Coleman digs into the West African roots of slave religion especially how the ancestral memory of the Vodun influenced the cosmology, epistemology, mythology, and ontology of African American spirituality. This approach shows that African slaves did not come to the United States as blank slates but had their own religion, theology, and spirituality. Going back even further in history than Coleman, Oden’s book, How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind challenges the assumption that Christianity is a Western religion that is foreign to African soil. In reaching back to the patristic period he provides a link between Africa and Christianity that has previously been muffled. One of the important concepts that stand out in Oden’s book is that the early Christian church of Africa was a church of the persecuted and martyred who were influenced and energized by a unique understanding of the Hebrew and Christian stories of oppression and liberation. In this light, early African Christianity can be seen as a “countercultural, risk-laden, sacrificial, pre-Constantinian struggle for integrity in the face of overwhelming political power.”1 Although the relationship of West African traditional religion to early African Christianity and Early African Christianity’s relationship to the rest of the African Diaspora remains to be investigated; the sources given by Coleman and Oden are a much needed contribution to Black Theology. To be continued……..

Post-Valentine’s Day Thoughts: Four Loves in One Woman

Posted: February 15, 2013 in faith, inspiration, personal, Side Note, spirituality
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

C.S. Lewis wrote a book entitled “The Four Loves”. In the book he defines and critiques the four different loves experienced by all of us as humans and concludes that while the first three loves have their virtues they can also be distorted by our sinful natures (yes you do have one). He promotes and extols agape love as the highest and best form of love.

Eros, phileo, storge, and agape. I have experienced all of those loves in one woman: My wife Yvette

Eros came easy. She is a brown skinned beauty with a smile that lights up my world like the stars in a clear desert sky. One look and I want to hold her and caress her. She draws me to her with the sparkle in her eyes and the curves of her hips.

Phileo was what drew us together. Taking long walks in the neighborhood and talking about everything from musical tastes to how children should be raised. Watching Star Wars and cooking in the kitchen. We have faced life side by side as friends.

Storge grew into our marriage as we became familiar with each other as family. We know each others different faults and flaws. The things that make us goofy and imperfect. We could not bear not to have the other person around.

But Agape is where love has grown the most. In the times where I have totally wrecked a conversation. Totally wrecked our day. Totally wrecked our marriage. She has given me a love that was not her own but love that came from God himself. It has awed and floored me how many times she has forgiven me and shown kindness not because of any merit of my own but because she loves me unconditionally. This is love that can promise to be with a person for a lifetime. This is love that can give something greater than chocolates and flowers and lingerie. It is a love that says I love you until the end of time and when time is done this type of love will swallow up all the others into eternity.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Post-Buffalo Thoughts on Diversity and the Multiethnic Church

Posted: January 23, 2013 in church, culture, faith, justice, Ministry, Race, racism, spirituality
Tags: , , ,
2

This past weekend I had the opportunity to hang with Vineyard City Church in Buffalo, NY. Saturday we had a forum on race and invited local leaders and followers of Jesus to participate. Then I preached on Sunday morning and hung out with the leaders on Sunday night. It was a jam packed weekend that left my mind swirling with thoughts on diversity and being a multiethnic church. Here are some questions that remain in my mind:

How come the majority of multiethnic churches are led by white men?

If different ethnic churches share the same building can they be considered a multiethnic church? If not then what steps could they take to achieve that?

When planting a church in a neighborhood filled with multiple ethnic churches how do you cast vision for a multiethnic church?

Where do you draw the line between intentionality and God’s sovereignty when seeking to be a multiethnic church? Or do you draw a line?

I came to share my story and experience and left with more questions than answers. I guess that’s life. Buffalo is an amazing place full of diversity and God is doing amazing things. I will keep her, Vineyard City Church, and all the organizations who are pursuing God’s kingdom in my prayers

Older Entries