Trying to follow

It is the sin of pride and arrogance that has tended to vitiate [corrupt] the missionary impulse and to make of it an instrument of self-righteousness on the one hand and racial superiority on the other. -Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited [brackets mine]

Thurman manages to point out a very very large speck in the eye of his brother church goers in just one sentence. Again, he writes to a pre-Civil Rights audience in the USA, but his words still ring so true. Let me breakdown the two critiques briefly.

If we are honest with ourselves, it is very likely that just under the surface of our facade of humble service, there lies a deeply embedded air of self-righteousness to much of our serving others. I know I am extremely guilt of this, often subconsciously considering my time serving others as somehow exempting me from the need for prayer and confession. I think this is an area that needs to be dealt with much more from the pulpit and throughout the service projects of the church. There needs to be a recognition that much of what we do is ‘justice’ work, not charity. Much of the service that is needed, from soup kitchens, to tutoring, to building homes and more, is needed because of injustices that exist, they are not mere undeserved acts of charity.

The second critique, regarding racial superiority was glaringly obvious then, and yet is subtly still an issue today. It hides beneath the surface for many who’ve grown up knowing the PC things to say and think. They are not vicious feelings or ill-intended, but they’re impact on relationships, social impact and the gospel can be overwhelming. Rather than trying to explain this, let me simply leave you with a series of questions to illustrate the point.

1. Is the race and culture of the majority of your friends and church members similar to yours or different?
2. Is the race and culture of the majority of those you have served on missions trips or service outreaches similar to yours or different?
3. What affect do you think the realities of the questions above have on your outlook regarding people as it relates to their race and culture?

Here’s your Videos friends.

An Awesome spoken word piece about the Women at the Well

Improv Everywhere makes time stand still at Grand Central (NYC) [hat tips here]

John Piper’s take on the Prosperity Gospel [ht. Joe and Munster]

Satan uses Turbo Tax! [ht. LifeChurch

I wish I could play soccer like these guys

Why is it that Christianity seems impotent to deal radically, and therefore effectively, with the issues of discrimination and injustice on the basis of race, religion and national origin? Is this impotency due to a betrayal of the genius of the religion, or is it due to a basic weakness in the religion itself? -Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited

The above statement was penned in 1949, a decade before the Civil Rights Movement. It is encouraging to know that a few years later, Martin Luther King and others would in fact deal ‘radically’ and ‘effectively’ with injustice in this country. What is unfortunate is that besides that brief highlight in recent history, this statement seems to be largely true today as well.

I believe the answer to the question Thurman raises is clearly that it has been a ‘betrayal of the genius of the religion’ that has kept us from dealing radically with injustice and discrimination. Whether he meant the person of Jesus or the words of the gospel as the ‘genius’, I’m not sure, but I do feel we have betrayed them, sanitized them, and remain fruitless, and impotent in our abilities to enact radical change.

Today we still face a largely racially segregated church in the USA, as well as class divided, systemic racism and sexism still has a stronghold in society, and patriotism toward country seems to trump allegiance toward fellow man and those in Christ. And at the same time, pastors across the country our preaching such a sanitized, watered-down version of the gospel, that we scarcely can recognize it for the radical genius that it once was.

We tend to here sermon’s that seem to place dealing with ‘injustice’ as of second importance (or third or worse) behind the idea of ‘evangelism.’ But let’s not forget, Jesus started his ministry with a call against injustice:
“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,”