Liberation theology and horcruxes - a Church, divided

I cried today in church. It takes a lot to bring me to tears; normally I am very good about handing things over to God so they do not stress me out. But what do you do when worship itself is what concerns you? When the very church which introduced you to Jesus Christ - the Roman Catholic church, the pinnacle of Christian liturgy and worship - does not practice fellowship and radical love and the act of bringing Heaven to Earth that is the very essence of the one whose life we are saying we should model ours after? "Jesus answered, 'Tear down this Temple, and in three days I will build it again'" (John 2:19). Jesus is not interested in architectural beauties and gold and shrines. He is much more interested in seeing his people - human temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19) - bring God's kingdom to Earth. The way to honor Jesus and the Father is to love our neighbors and ourselves. To be apostles, and call disciples by name.

There are approximately one billion Catholics in the world, and that's not to say anything about all of the non-Catholic Christians. If all of these Christians - or even just the ones that attend church on a regular basis - practiced the radical lifestyle which Jesus showed us, surely our world would be in a better place. True, Jesus understands that we are prone to sin and in fact died for our sins, but He did so in order that we could more fully live in Him. And to live in Christ means we must die to self. "Christ himself carried our sins in his body to the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness" (1 Peter 2:24). And how are we to "die to sin and live for righteousness"?

"He said to them all, 'If you want to come with me, you must forget yourself, take up your cross every day, and follow me'" (Luke 9:23).

This implies a necessary deliberate denial of worldly desires on our part. It begs that we have what Gary Haugen in his book Good News About Injustice calls "compassion permanence: a courageous and generous capacity to remember the needs of an unjust world even when they are out of immediate sight." Jesus regards justice as one of the "really important teachings of the Law" (Matthew 23:23) and calls us to be his hands and feet on Earth, seeking justice in his name. In answer to the question of how God seeks justice for the oppressed when local officials are corrupt, Haugen comments, "Unless the work of seeking justice is a category of endeavor that is completely different from every other activity on earth that is important to God, the answer to the question has something to do with what God's people do or don't do. If you think about it, two truths apply to everything that God wants accomplished on Earth: (1) he could accomplish it on his own through supernatural power, but instead, (2) he chooses for the most part to limit himself to accomplishing that which he can achieve through the obedience of his people."

In order to follow Jesus, we must not live for ourselves but for God. We must choose to be his servants here on Earth. And in so doing we are making a conscious decision to let the Spirit guide us.

"I am telling you the truth," replied Jesus, "that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. A person is born physically of human parents, but is born spiritually of the Spirit. Do not be surprised because I tell you that you must all be born again" (John 3:5-7). Those who decide to take up the cross and follow Jesus do not regret their decision, for the Christian life is a very fulfilling one.

The term "liberation theology" has been coming up over and over again in my life recently, so I decided to look it up. And lo and behold, it seems to answer some of my questions about why seeking justice does not always go hand in hand with Christianity. Liberation theology is a grassroots movement which originated in Latin America in the 1950's-60's and helped bring Christianity to rural and marginalized sectors of society through the formation of "Christian base communities." It helped the poor (who are rich in Spirit) make sense of a world in which they were subjected to economic, political, and social injustices.

Then-Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) and the Vatican rejected the "Marxist-based" idea that class struggle is fundamental to history and ridiculed the liberation theology movement for focusing too much on the political dimension of social justice and seemingly disregarding other aspects of scripture. [He said, "to interpret the "poor" in the sense of the marxist dialectic of history, and 'taking sides with them' in the sense of the class struggle, is a wanton attempt to portray as identical things that are contrary." (What?)] Given the Catholic interpretation of original sin, Jesus's "preferential option for the poor," and the reality of economic, health, and other social disparities that have always existed in the world, it seems odd that the Vatican would reject the idea that class struggle is fundamental to history. Why else would we be called to follow in Jesus's footsteps in the present day, other than to continuously work to correct these injustices? And I find it surprising that "Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger stated that liberation theology has a major flaw in that it attempts to apply Christ's teaching on the sermon on the mount regarding the poor to present social situations" (Wikipedia).

If we aren't called to make Christ's teachings applicable to our current life situations, what good is scripture? Derek Murphy makes this point crystal clear in the first chapter of his book Jesus Potter, Harry Christ: "The task of each generation is to read the Bible through the fresh filter of its own experience."

As a public health and social justice activist living and working in the South Bronx, I am keenly aware of the injustices faced by "the least of these." And after a Faith-Rooted Organizing training held by NY Faith & Justice and having the good fortune of working for an organization that truly understands the importance of community-based participatory research (Bronx Health REACH), I also know that the poor are rich in spirit and that human capital is vastly underestimated. To not give credence to grassroots community mobilization - be it the Pope's incomplete embrace of liberation theology or the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's failure to invest in community solutions to public health by not supporting another generation of REACH - is to shortchange society's potential and cause more harm than good. Power to the people!

So, as a born 'n raised Catholic, now social justice activist who has familiarized myself with Franciscan and non-Catholic Christian sermons and worship styles, sitting in a predominantly Latino Catholic church in the South Bronx makes me keenly aware of all that the promise of Catholicism and Christianity has not done for God's people. And now that I know a little about the history of liberation theology, I cannot ignore this bit of historic turmoil within the Catholic church. Having experienced true Christian fellowship with both Franciscan Catholics and non-Catholic Christians, I can't imagine how one could walk with Jesus and not live in a "Christian base community," characteristic of the early church.

Which reminds me of my earliest thought in church this morning, and one that constantly burdens my heart - the divide of Christianity into denominations (or "seven churches" as described in Revelation). I admire Protestant/non-denominational sermons as much as I respect Catholic liturgy. There are gems of wisdom in each but it's still a divided body - as divided as Voldemort's soul which is split into seven horcruxes in the Harry Potter epic. Infinitely different than if unified. It's hard to figure out where I belong. Jesus Potter, Harry Christ indeed.

Gnostic Christianity YouTube Series

chew on this

A Christian is a person in whom and through whom Christ lives.

Pallottines

I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. And last weekend when I went to the celebration of my pastor's 50 years of being a priest, I met the wonderful Pallottine, Sister Carmel Therese. I always knew there were a group of Pallottine sisters that lived down the road from me. But it wasn't until I just googled "Pallottine" that I had a better understanding of these followers. I related really well to Sister Carmel Therese, yet now realize it may be more than just her - I agree with the Society's aims in general. Please do read this page! And "Pallottine Spirituality" (under the Charism tab as well).

Thanks to God for introducing me to Sister Carmel Therese and the Pallottines :)

Faith-based health initiatives

I am cross-posting this from my other blog. Fascinating.

Theologies of Sickness, Equality

I can't say that this isn't the way I already think, I just am not really into reinventing the wheel. Read this stuff, it's great.

God, help us reconcile your Church

Just call me a Franciscan

Reader beware….else I might offend you. But I write with conviction regarding my experiences with the church and the people I’ve met so far in life.

I don’t have the 10 commandments memorized. Or know the life stories of the different people mentioned in the Bible. Or know who is who in the different statues and stained glass window paintings in church, or know the different saints. Or even know the order of the mass, really. But I’ve been going to church since childhood, and my faith is pretty strong. What sense does this make, you ask?

Going to church isn’t what made me follow the path of Jesus. It helped get me started – true. But that’s about it. I realize that God said, “Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth….Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the Lord your God.”¹ Then how does the Catholic church account for all of the statues and paintings and so on and so forth? When God spoke to St. Francis of Assisi and told him to destroy the church and that He would rebuild it in three days – to mean a Church not made of stone – why does the Christian religion insist on the importance of going to those buildings? Why did I learn how to put a dollar in the collection basket every week, but never learn to actually go out and give money to the poor firsthand? Why are there so many divisions in Christianity if division is precisely what Jesus didn’t want?

I spent an Easter weekend hearing my grandmother start an argument over politics, waking up Easter morning to hearing my cousins bicker over an ipod charger, participating in an Easter mass filled with lots of form prayer that deadens the soul, and having to wait for my uncle because he doesn’t attend church so showed up to brunch by himself later than the rest of us (okay, it wasn't that bad - it was still a good weekend. Those are just subtle things I noticed). I’m tired of this “Christianity” taught to us through religious education classes and monotonously similar weekly church services where a grand total of 15 seconds are allotted to interacting with your “neighbors.” I believe in community. Jesus never told us, “go and repeat this last meal I’m having with you on a weekly basis for all of eternity, until I come back (does anyone really expect Jesus to show up on their doorstep again some day…honestly?). Go and worship me in a building with lots of gold on the alter every week.” No, he never said that. As a matter of fact, he never preached anything like that, as far as I know (but then again, I don't have the Bible memorized. Hit me with your best shot). He came to teach us how to live, and showed us by example. He wanted us to live in loving community with one another. That’s all. Why the big ornate churches and highly scripted masses?

I really like CYFM. It’s where I first learned the meaning of community, and to follow in the way of St. Francis. (And FYI…Franciscans don’t quite follow with the ornate churches typical of Catholicism.) The Prayer of St. Francis has always held a special place in my heart, because it’s based on the Beatitudes², and the Beatitudes (or, as Dave Andrews calls them, the Be-Attitudes) hold a special place in my heart. The Prayer of St Francis goes like this:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Dave Andrews relates the Be-Attitudes to the well-known maxim coined by Gandhi, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Someday, I’d like to live in community in the ways described by Shane Claiborne and Dave Andrews. In an "intentional community," such as The Simply Way or the life lived by Dave Andrews, members not only interact with community, but are a part of the community; this is what makes Jesus come alive every day. These communities value loving those who need it most, coming to decisions as a group after everyone’s had a say, and living in a non-materialistic society where everyone appreciates the Earth that God’s given us and sees being a steward of the Earth as his or her responsibility. They value people’s health and know that food comes from the ground. And everyone watches out for others and thinks of ways to improve the lives of others. Then, these positive messages are taught to the children.

I find it unfortunate that most of us did not grow up with this mindset, but instead must really work at it if we really want to live the way Jesus called us to. Instead, our society cedes to the whims of corporations interested making money and therefore dowsing our food in chemicals and then packaging it up in stuff that taints our food with yet more chemicals and then winds up in landfills and oceans, whereby it kills lots of plants and animals. Instead, we send our children to schools that have contracted with these companies to sell junk (not food) from vending machines (and lunch lines, for that matter), and that don’t give kids enough time for physical education and recess.

Instead, we’ve done precisely what Jesus didn’t want us to do – leave God in a structure which we call the church. Divide this church up into little pieces which we call denominations and orders. Get into arguments about which sect is the right one to be a part of, or fight about which religion is the better one to follow. Accept religion as the way to follow God, without even thinking that religion might just as well as be a culture, and not a way to follow God at all.

With that said, while I’m still living at home I’ll continue to go to the Catholic church I’ve grown up in since moving to this town 10 years ago, because deciding not to go to church would divide me from my family (not to mention many others who I’ve met through churches and are dear to my heart). But I’ve pretty much stopped going to regular mass with my parents. Instead, I’ve been going to the Spanish mass at my church, where the choir is my family and the congregation is my community, and where I’m united with them through the love of Christ, not commonality of ethnicity or fluency of language [I may know Spanish, but I never claimed to be as fluent as natives]. And in the Spanish mass, the pastor actually speaks with the native Mexican people during the homily (not at them), and the mass as a whole just feels more right. Community should come first, and then praising God in a service – whether it be through rituals or some other method. If community doesn’t come first, God’s message is lost anyway.

References (sorry…the academic mindset is forever ingrained in me)

1. Exodus 20:4-5

2. Matthew 5:3-12

Books that came to mind when writing this that I’ve read:

1 Corinthians 11:24-31

The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne

The Jesus Mysteries by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy

Books that came to mind when writing this that I haven’t actually read yet but would like to:

God’s Politics by Jim Wallis

The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church by Gregory Boyd

Plan Be by Dave Andrews

Christi-Anarchy by Dave Andrews

Not Religion, but Love – Practicing a Radical Spirituality of Compassion by Dave Andrews

God is Back: How the Global Revival of Faith is Changing the World by John Micklethwait

Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola

The Gospel of Inclusion by Carlton Pearson

The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Tim Keller

Secrets from the Lost Bible by Kenneth Hanson

The Power of Intention by Wayne Dyer

The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty by Peter Singer

Books that I've read since writing this:

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder

Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne

Evangelical ≠ Republican…or Democrat by Lisa Sharon Harper

The Radical Disciple by John Stott

http://www.mellen-thomas.com/stories.htm

By far, the best description of life/death/the universe.

http://www.mellen-thomas.com/stories.htm

Couldn't have said it better myself.