One’s faith must not be restricted by walls and stained-glass windows. Faith breathes and lives in the activities of peace-filled justice. If not, your faith is only a forgotten Sunday morning conversation.
Nov 15, 2023·edited Nov 15, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell
Hell no, you aren't a shitty Christian! I believe in my heart, Jesus cussed now and then, too. He WAS a carpenter, and I bet he mis-hit with the hammer at times. And, he lost patience with the money changers (for one).
To your main point, I'm with you! My politics and religion are aligned in the same way. Love your neighbor as yourself requires action and public policy. I'd also say, those who do not love their neighbor as themselves and claim to love God, are Christian hypocrites. If they are not supporting social justice policies and they are broadcasting their Christian religion, they are just pretenders.
You are very welcome! It had YOU written all over it.
I love your last paragraph. Indeed Christianity is all about serving and we certainly need to spread the word that it’s about the collective us and not the singular me. My UCC church has known this for years and is open and affirming to all. ❤️⚔️
Thank you again, Joan. I remember after Katrina, I thought there would be an awakening and a new social gospel movement. I mean, look at all the people struggling through the waters. Could we all see them? I probably spoke too soon and too optimistically.
I may sound like a broken record BUT here goes, The Beatitudes as spoken by Jesus challenges us how to live our lives, and it IS a challenge, especially in this age where hate is on the rise. In our poor inner city Hartford church we do try to carry out the teachings of The Beatitudes. Our Priest leads a flock that include people of all religious stripes. Each week we see attendance increasing as we work in small ways to support the impoverished population that surrounds us, even distributing pet food to those who cannot afford it. An old friend of mine had a saying, "a little, a little and a little makes a lot." So, if we all do a little it will add up - DWJWD! And, Susan thanks for the message today.
Nov 15, 2023·edited Nov 15, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell
I saw the following quotation on social media and it led me to book by Robin Meyers titled "Saving God From Religion":
"Consider this remarkable fact: In the Sermon on the Mount, there is not a single word about what to believe, only words about what to do and how to be. By the time the Nicene Creed is written, only three centuries later, there is not a single word in it about what to do and how to be--*only* words about what to believe."
Reverend Meyers is the senior minister of the Mayflower Congregational Church of Christ in Oklahoma City, OK, the site of the 1995 domestic terrorism attack that killed 168 people. Nineteen of the dead were children in the day care center. An event like that changes a community, some for the better, some for the worse. The Mayflower church community chose love, and the themes of God and community, and God *as* community, repeat throughout this short book. In Meyers's words, we have to get God "down off the ceiling." The old, tired view of God as a sort of cosmic Santa Claus ("he knows if you've been bad or good") isn't serving anyone in the pews, and is probably a major force in driving people out.
On Saturday I went to a memorial service for the woman who was the priest at the Episcopal church that I used to attend in Danbury. The church had been losing members for years, but the pandemic really hit them hard. They have had several interim priests, and so far have been unable to find someone permanent. But one of the women described how they usually have the Eucharist with a visiting priest once a month, and the rest of the time lay people lead Morning Prayer and other occasional services. "We're taking back our church!" was the way she exuberantly put it. We need more of that.
I have long maintained -- all respect to other religions -- that the Sermon the Mount is an awesome political platform. Believe what you want, but get busy.
The tenets of the social gospel remind me of when I was a counselor at a Lutheran summer camp (eons ago) which merged Christian principles (stuff like “love thy neighbor”) with the ideas of humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers. The camp placed particular emphasis on group dynamics and building positive, constructive relationships with those around us — clearly an idea that has gone out of fashion with today’s evangelical Christian movement. (Sigh.)
What a great characterization of the social gospel!
I hadn't heard of it before I went to seminarians learned what to call where I'm coming from.
And you know (but perhaps some of your readers won't), while that apocalypticist Paul was all about making converts before the Day of the Lord, what Jesus enjoined was the care of others' bodies and of community by being in fellowship with others, even tax collectors, rich men, and people being stoned by a mob.
Even looking just at 1 and 2 Thess, (most of) 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, Philemon, and Romans as genuinely by Paul, he's not my man.
Given his time, I appreciate his appreciation of and co-work with women. Given his premises, his understanding of his call strikes me as generous.
But he would have been hell to get on with.
Jesus might be hell to get on with if one had difficulty taking him as he was instead of making out programs for him that he would surely subvert, but I love him, and feel for the difficulties he had communicating what I think he was trying to communicate.
The Social Gospel movement is something I could very much get behind, and quite frankly, this is something that might, and I stress the word "might" get me into a church for something other than weddings, funerals, etc. I know someone who's husband was in a church choir that got to sing for the Pope. She shared pictures of his "throne" with a sh*t ton of gold (some kind of sculpture thingie) on the wall behind the throne. Inside, I was losing it. People starving, and that gold thing. This was over 30 years ago, and the thought of that photo still pisses me off.
If I was asked to name the best Christians I know it would be a very short list, but you would be on it. Ditto for the best people in general regardless of isms.
One’s faith must not be restricted by walls and stained-glass windows. Faith breathes and lives in the activities of peace-filled justice. If not, your faith is only a forgotten Sunday morning conversation.
Amen.
Hell no, you aren't a shitty Christian! I believe in my heart, Jesus cussed now and then, too. He WAS a carpenter, and I bet he mis-hit with the hammer at times. And, he lost patience with the money changers (for one).
To your main point, I'm with you! My politics and religion are aligned in the same way. Love your neighbor as yourself requires action and public policy. I'd also say, those who do not love their neighbor as themselves and claim to love God, are Christian hypocrites. If they are not supporting social justice policies and they are broadcasting their Christian religion, they are just pretenders.
It just makes sense, doesn't it? Stop arguing dogma. Get to work.
Amen to that!
You are very welcome! It had YOU written all over it.
I love your last paragraph. Indeed Christianity is all about serving and we certainly need to spread the word that it’s about the collective us and not the singular me. My UCC church has known this for years and is open and affirming to all. ❤️⚔️
Thank you again, Joan. I remember after Katrina, I thought there would be an awakening and a new social gospel movement. I mean, look at all the people struggling through the waters. Could we all see them? I probably spoke too soon and too optimistically.
I may sound like a broken record BUT here goes, The Beatitudes as spoken by Jesus challenges us how to live our lives, and it IS a challenge, especially in this age where hate is on the rise. In our poor inner city Hartford church we do try to carry out the teachings of The Beatitudes. Our Priest leads a flock that include people of all religious stripes. Each week we see attendance increasing as we work in small ways to support the impoverished population that surrounds us, even distributing pet food to those who cannot afford it. An old friend of mine had a saying, "a little, a little and a little makes a lot." So, if we all do a little it will add up - DWJWD! And, Susan thanks for the message today.
I saw the following quotation on social media and it led me to book by Robin Meyers titled "Saving God From Religion":
"Consider this remarkable fact: In the Sermon on the Mount, there is not a single word about what to believe, only words about what to do and how to be. By the time the Nicene Creed is written, only three centuries later, there is not a single word in it about what to do and how to be--*only* words about what to believe."
Reverend Meyers is the senior minister of the Mayflower Congregational Church of Christ in Oklahoma City, OK, the site of the 1995 domestic terrorism attack that killed 168 people. Nineteen of the dead were children in the day care center. An event like that changes a community, some for the better, some for the worse. The Mayflower church community chose love, and the themes of God and community, and God *as* community, repeat throughout this short book. In Meyers's words, we have to get God "down off the ceiling." The old, tired view of God as a sort of cosmic Santa Claus ("he knows if you've been bad or good") isn't serving anyone in the pews, and is probably a major force in driving people out.
On Saturday I went to a memorial service for the woman who was the priest at the Episcopal church that I used to attend in Danbury. The church had been losing members for years, but the pandemic really hit them hard. They have had several interim priests, and so far have been unable to find someone permanent. But one of the women described how they usually have the Eucharist with a visiting priest once a month, and the rest of the time lay people lead Morning Prayer and other occasional services. "We're taking back our church!" was the way she exuberantly put it. We need more of that.
I have long maintained -- all respect to other religions -- that the Sermon the Mount is an awesome political platform. Believe what you want, but get busy.
The tenets of the social gospel remind me of when I was a counselor at a Lutheran summer camp (eons ago) which merged Christian principles (stuff like “love thy neighbor”) with the ideas of humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers. The camp placed particular emphasis on group dynamics and building positive, constructive relationships with those around us — clearly an idea that has gone out of fashion with today’s evangelical Christian movement. (Sigh.)
I’m sure that was challenging but it sounds like heaven on earth.
It was a formative experience in my life. I didn’t know it then, but camp counseling planted the seed that later grew into my teaching career.
Isn't that fascinating, how that happens?
What a great characterization of the social gospel!
I hadn't heard of it before I went to seminarians learned what to call where I'm coming from.
And you know (but perhaps some of your readers won't), while that apocalypticist Paul was all about making converts before the Day of the Lord, what Jesus enjoined was the care of others' bodies and of community by being in fellowship with others, even tax collectors, rich men, and people being stoned by a mob.
I try but I am not a fan of Paul's. Jesus's approach, though...
Even looking just at 1 and 2 Thess, (most of) 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, Philemon, and Romans as genuinely by Paul, he's not my man.
Given his time, I appreciate his appreciation of and co-work with women. Given his premises, his understanding of his call strikes me as generous.
But he would have been hell to get on with.
Jesus might be hell to get on with if one had difficulty taking him as he was instead of making out programs for him that he would surely subvert, but I love him, and feel for the difficulties he had communicating what I think he was trying to communicate.
Preach, Sister! 😘
Just what I needed this morning. Thank you.
Exactly what I was going to say, too. Including the comments.
The Social Gospel movement is something I could very much get behind, and quite frankly, this is something that might, and I stress the word "might" get me into a church for something other than weddings, funerals, etc. I know someone who's husband was in a church choir that got to sing for the Pope. She shared pictures of his "throne" with a sh*t ton of gold (some kind of sculpture thingie) on the wall behind the throne. Inside, I was losing it. People starving, and that gold thing. This was over 30 years ago, and the thought of that photo still pisses me off.
If I was asked to name the best Christians I know it would be a very short list, but you would be on it. Ditto for the best people in general regardless of isms.