Part 281. Listening to the spirit

Currently I am reading the recently published book Listening to the Spirit: The Radical Social Gospel, Sacred Value, and Broad- based Community Organizing by Aaron Stauffer.

Fascinating material. Written in an American context it has a far wider relevance and is a useful reference work for those engaged in campaigning for social justice.

Part 280. Excellent article

The parish magazine published by St. Paul's Parish Church, Rusthall  (Church of England) this month (May) has an excellent article by the Revd Tony Rutherford that is an antidote to fundamentalist, literalist, conservative evangelical theology.  It is a fairly long article. Below are some of the key points.

"Christianity...has to be concerned about personal justice - or equality of opportunity. And also show concern about social or collective justice and the impact of how we live our lives together in fairness.

The Bible is fallible and constantly open to intelligent interpretation.

A Christian  life is life of 'faith' in which Christians trust in the power of the love God shown in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.  Christians demonstrate their faith by their commitment of their lives to serving others in his name.  

God is not a person, or even a supernatural person, but a presence felt in loving relationships, and a power experienced in Acts of selfless giving."

I commend this article. It is published in full on the St Paul's Church, Rusthall website.

Part 279. Going to church, or not. A rant!

There are good reasons for going to church: meeting friends,  fellowship, encouraging, celebrating and commiserating.  Then there is the singing and music. However there is a downside to the singing: the interminable banal repetitive meaningless drivel of many choruses and hymns. There are hymns that reflect scripture and are educational. And there are some excellent musicians and choirs.

The boredom of sitting through sermons doing little more than paraphrasing scripture does little to encourage, whilst the less said about the focus and length of prayers the better.  Of course there are church services with challenging sermons and prayers.

The issue is that many churches become holy huddles, inward-looking, preoccupied with gaining entry to the kingdom in heaven in preference to seeking his  kingdom on earth. As my thinking has changed I have come to the conclusion that many congregations and individual Christians have become passive in their comfort zones, lacking the dynamic demanded by Jesus to follow him and love our neighbour with action to support individuals in need and campaigning  against systemic injustice.  

When Christians gather together how often do the sermons and prayers reflect on how we can do more to meet the demands Jesus places on us?  Following Jesus is a call to action.

I recognise that churches and individuals undertake much good work in the community and engage in campaigning.  My plea is that such activities should be reflected in services: indeed prioritised when we gather on Sundays.

Rant over!

Part 278. The triumph of love and social justice.

The ministry of Jesus emphasises the necessity of loving our neighbour. Furthermore it calls on us to show that love in practical ways and not simply by mental assent. We are called to help at the point of need the poor, the marginalised, the oppressed, the deprived, the discriminated against.   However we must not stop there: we have to challenge and seek to change the causes of poverty, oppression, marginalisation, deprivation and discrimination.

Jesus calls on us to pick up our cross and follow him, to bring about his kingdom on earth, a kingdom based on love and justice for all. It all sounds so simple and in theory it is.  The difficulty is moving from theory to practice, to achievement.

The first element, love, is for individual choice. Sadly there are many who do not love: the homophobic, the misogynistic, the greedy, the power hungry. How can we convict them of the need to change?

The second element, practical help at the point of need, is difficult to achieve. Too often the state does not provide an adequate safety net leaving it to faith groups and secular organisations to provide relief. Sadly, too many people are not reached.

The third element, to achieve social justice, is the most difficult as it involves demanding systemic change in society. It challenges those with power to make radical changes in social, economic and political thinking and to implement change. A tall order, but not impossible.

Followers of Jesus believe the teaching of Jesus will triumph, that love and social justice will prevail.

Part 277. What's left?

Below is an article by Jim Palmer. In my opinion a masterpiece of clarity and succinctness deserving of wide circulation. It is an exposition that is reflected in many of my posts. It is what is left after my theological baggage disposal exercise.

There is much to be said to expand on the ideas in the article. In future posts I shall be outlining my views on faith and social justice.  

Here is the article by Jim Palmer.

"If God and Jesus are up in the sky somewhere, there is no hope for humankind. We need them here and now. The Christian religion’s version of the salvation of the world is that the physical Jesus will someday return to earth and straighten everything out.

Where is the logic in this? Jesus was already here once and the mess and misery of the world were not resolved. In fact, Jesus never said his mission was to single-handedly save the world. Instead, he said that his mission was to demonstrate the truth that would.

The colossal mistake of the Christian religion was building its salvation plan around the physical person and acts of Jesus in the world rather than what they meant in the spiritual realm—that is, in the “heavenly dimension” in us. Don't get the esoteric language of Jesus twisted. The truth he taught and lived is that the salvation of the world is lifted up out of the ultimate reality that is within ourselves and is ourselves. The idea of Jesus as divine and human is not a doctrine of Christology, it's a challenge to grow up and become who we really are.

It’s a nice story that Jesus rides in at the end and makes everything okay. The truth is, there will be no knight in shining armor on a white horse that saves the world. Forget the horse, we are the knights, no armor required.

We've been waiting on Jesus for 2,000 years to return and save the world. We will be waiting another 2,000 years if we don't shift our mindset. The transformation of the world is not going to fall down from the sky but be lifted up from our hearts."

- Jim Palmer, Inner Anarchy

Get your copy -> http://tinyurl.com/ke25zdu

Part 276. Discarding the baggage

When I commenced this blog two points were made. First, it consists of my personal ramblings and is not intended to influence anyone.  Secondly it seeks to eschew jargon and be written in simple language.  It was, and is, my hope that the  ideas expressed are simple but not simplistic. I leave it to others to judge if this is so.

There has been much heavy lifting to discard baggage collected over the years. The most significant change in my thinking has been to discard the notion that the bible is inspired by God. The bible is an human construct, the result of humanity's thoughts about that which is beyond our comprehension.  

The next unloading was of much of the bible, specifically the Old Testament and Pauline cosmic musings.  My focus is on Jesus, his teaching and actions.  I believe Jesus was a real person but that we have to exercise caution in reading the synoptic gospels given they were written at least thirty years after his death.

Finally. I dispensed with the notion of literal reading of scripture.  Words convey ideas and scripture should be read as a book is read, not as statute law is interpreted by poring over individual words and phrases. Save us from literalism and legalism. Seek out the principles.

None of the above will surprise readers of my posts

Having disposed of the baggage and clutter what remains?  The quotation below provides an indication.

“God drew near to us as our brother and sister and our neighbor, as “one of these” (cf. Mt. 25:40–45). Our relationship with God is decided in our encounter with other human beings....The only image of God is the face of our neighbor . . . . Every authentic religious act is directed toward the concreteness of God in our human neighbors and their world. There it finds its living fulfillment and its transcendent point of contact.... Love of neighbor, then, is not something different from love of God; it is merely the earthly side of the same coin.”

JOHANN BAPTIST METZ.

Succinct. The message of Jesus may be expressed in four words: Love God, Love Others.  So simple, yet profound.  

Part 275. Managed decline or panic stations?

In previous posts reference has been made to the abysmal levels of officer recruitment in The Salvation Army United Kingdom & Ireland Territory. It is expected that in the next two years 101 officers will retire and less than 20% of that number are anticipated to be Commisioned.

At the January 2024 Appointments Conference there were 39 officer units available for 83 Appointments.  It is my assumption a unit is a married couple or a single officer.

The position in reaching crisis stage and it is probably too late to reverse, in the short term at least, this potentially catastrophic decline. It not as though the issue of poor recruitment has appeared suddenly without warning. There has been systemic failure within the organisation to acknowledge the issue, to investigate the reasons and plan a coherent plan to overcome it.  In other words a lack of  forward planning.

The current system of corps management and leadership must be reviewed. Many corps activities do not require theologically educated leaders. The current model is broken. Conditions of service, part-time working, better utilisation of volunteers all need to be subjected to root-and-branch review.  

Part 274. Call to action.

A challenging statement:

"The great enemy of justice are those moderates who feign outrage at societal injustice, but whose outrage conveniently disappears when real change threatens their status. These moderates are more comfortable leaving unchallenged the assumed moral authority of certain institutions, traditions and practices that are the purveyors of injustice rather than confronting their own role in maintaining these institutions. The hard truth is that the comfort of the status quo is always preferable to pursuing the demands of justice."

Martin Luther King Jnr 

John Kenneth Galbraith argued that the USA had the resources to tackle the causes of poverty but the better-off lacked the will to elect politicians who could effect systemic economic change. Indeed political parties would not contest elections on such a manifesto: a certain vote loser.

For many, self-interest triumphs over altruism. Jesus railed against the systemic injustice presided over by religious and political leaders. He demanded change. A key element of Liberation Theology enunciated by Gustavo Gutierrez and Leonardo Boff is a call to radical action to redistribute wealth. Oscar Romero stated that when he fed the poor he was called a saint: when he called for wealth redistribution he was called a communist. For his stand for the poor he was murdered.

Here in the UK Christians individually and collectively should ask: 

Are we too polite in our campaigning?

Is civil disobedience justified?.