Unfundamentalist

Above All, Love

Guest Author

Not Anomalies: Reclaiming the Biblical Heroines

by Lindsay Mustafa Davis in Christian Issues

Growing up with a single mother, I learned that being a woman and being strong go hand in hand.

Growing up in the Pentecostal church, I learned that the Holy Spirit gave the power to everyone, male or female, to preach the Gospel, live a Christ-like life, and do fantastic works that would bring people to Jesus.

In two formative ways, I learned that to be a woman is not in and of itself a hindrance to accomplishment. Being a woman, in both contexts, is something to be celebrated. Together, my mother and the Spirit emboldened me to do anything God put in my heart to do.

So of course I asked if the Spirit was calling my beloved, empowered self to be a leader in the church, maybe even a pastor.

Then things got weird.

My mom told me there was no question: of course I could be a pastor if that was what I really wanted to do.

The church of my youth and evangelical groups I joined, however, told me there were limits to this empowerment, especially for girls. Perhaps the Spirit might have given me the gifts of teaching, but only to teach children, youth, and other women.

But to teach everyone, including (and especially) men? You heard God wrong on that, they said. Maybe instead of being a pastor, you’re called to be a pastor’s wife.

I balked quite a bit at that idea.

So I found myself confused. And as a result, I asked more questions.

I asked, “Why would the Spirit awaken such gifts within me only to put odd limits on them for the sole fact that I am female, not male?”

The… [Read more…] about Not Anomalies: Reclaiming the Biblical Heroines

Power Play: What You Can Do Inauguration Day

by Sarah Anderson in Current Events

I was in 3rd grade when I decided to try my hand in politics. Along with two others, I was vying for the position of elementary school treasurer. My campaign took a turn for the worse when I observed one of my opponents taking down a poster of hers–to relocate it–and I decided to start a rumor that she was dropping out of the race. I thought that would make me a shoe-in for the win.

Despite my best efforts, I still lost.

That’s when I decided I wasn’t cut out for politics. Not for any morally compelling reason, but because I was a sore loser, and also because I’d learned the hard way that politics makes you do funny things–like spread untrue rumors based on faulty reasoning. Maybe politics, in and of itself, wasn’t to blame, but rather, power was, the thing at the very root of the quest for elected position.

When I look back, I see that’s what the position for school treasurer was really about, what the draw for power allows us to attempt to get away with. What the lure of power makes us believe. What the attraction of power does to our conscience. It was a tempting game to play as a 3rd grader. So imagine how the higher stakes contort the game as adults.

Abraham Lincoln said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character give him power.” I think one look back at 2016 would confirm that. Power, it would seem, as much as we may want it, sometimes turns us into people we never thought we would be.

History tells… [Read more…] about Power Play: What You Can Do Inauguration Day

Plant Gardens and Eat What They Produce

by Buzz Dixon in Current Events

A friend asked for advice as a Christian for not letting Donald Trump’s evangelical support color our views. Here it is.

It’s going to be a long haul. Jeremiah warned the Israelites they were going down hard if they didn’t repent, but once they were conquered and in captivity, his message changed to one of compassion and encouragement:
This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.

This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I… [Read more…] about Plant Gardens and Eat What They Produce

I Am One with the Force; The Force Is with Me — a Star Wars Theology

by Luke Wilson in Christian Spirituality

Warning: Minor spoilers ahead! I say “minor” because there’s no plot points given away here, I’m just discussing an aspect of a character in the film, but I know some people (like me) don’t like to hear too much of anything before they see a film!

If you have seen the new Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, you will be familiar with a guy called Chirrut Îmwe. When he feels threatened or in times of peril when he wants protection, he repeats the short mantra: “I am one with the Force; the Force is with me.” Now, Chirrut is not a Jedi (apparently, actual spoilers in this link), but is a Force-sensitive “warrior monk” according to his Wiki (even though his skills displayed in the film look very Jedi-like!).

Despite not being in the “Jedi club,” this character shows a strong dedication to his faith in The Force and his belief in its protection and power in his life, even in those times where he had good reason to doubt, and even when he as actively encouraged to do so by his companions! But instead of thinking the Force had failed him, it strengthened his resolve and made him “pray” all the more in faith and trust that everything would be fine and that they’d be safe.

I couldn’t help but see the parallels in his “faith” and “prayer” to how our life as Christians ought to be concerning the work of the Spirit in and through us. I found this encouraging and it reminded me of an ancient Christian mantra-like prayer which is still prayed today by some… [Read more…] about I Am One with the Force; The Force Is with Me — a Star Wars Theology

Three Things I've Learned in 2016

by Hunter C. Beezley in Christian Spirituality

It’s the first day of the new year. I’m sitting across from my wife, groggily sipping some necessarily strong coffee in a cozy and warm cafe.

She asks, “What have you learned in 2016?”

It’s good and healthy to ask that question. It helps us to reflect on the past, learn from it, then move on with this new year. It’s going to move on whether you’d like it to or not. The problem is that I would like it to move right along as soon as possible. I’m sure I’m not alone in that sentiment.

2016 was especially difficult. It was a dense year. Chock full of major world events, too many deaths that came way too soon, and one of the most difficult, ridiculous, and devastating political elections in this country (especially for progressives). Then there’s my own life: both my wife and I have experienced more change, growth, and newness in this last year than we ever have before. So when I’m asked, “what have you learned in 2016?” it’s a difficult question to answer because it seems as if the list may not end.

But I still have to answer. I have to start somewhere.

What I’ve included below is merely a start in a longer reflective process.

This is what we talked about as we both—together—began to answer that question. What I’ve learned in 2016:

To take seriously the imperative, “love your neighbors as yourself” (Mark 12:31) is an impossibility unless I genuinely get to know who my neighbor is. Like that old scribe asked Jesus, “who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29), it goes… [Read more…] about Three Things I've Learned in 2016

The Hopes and Fears of All the Years: The First Sunday after Christmas

by Jill Crainshaw in Christian Spirituality

This guest post is by Jill Crainshaw.

A heart-rending image appears in the lectionary for Sunday, January 1, 2017:
A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be consoled, because they are no more.
–Jeremiah 31 and Matthew 2

On the First Sunday after Christmas, mere days after the newborn Jesus has snuggled into the hay of the manger, our star-struck hearts and carol-drenched ears are startled to hear in the Gospel lectionary text Matthew’s horrifying story: “Herod sent and killed all the children who were two years old and under.”

What are we to do with this savage story? Read it in church even though the lights on the Christmas tree are still flickering in our sanctuaries just inches away from the pulpit?

Yes.

Though we may be tempted to avoid the images painted in Matthew 2, to seek safer seas or more beautiful shores from which to launch our boats as we begin 2017, we cannot. The silenced cries of innocents slaughtered in cities across the globe call to us. And through their pain—through Rachel’s weeping—God calls to us too as in this week after Christmas we pack up our nativity scenes to store them away for another year.

God became flesh—Jesus was born into the grittiest, most painful realities of human life. And that means that Christmas—Christianity—is far more than a temporary or sentimental escape pod from the world as it really is. God made Godself vulnerable to a world as… [Read more…] about The Hopes and Fears of All the Years: The First Sunday after Christmas

We Don't Win If They Lose

by Matthew Distefano in Christian Issues

Once a week, I meet up with my friend Michael to talk about some of the bigger ideas that seem to consume the great majority of my thoughts. Our bonfire chats generally last until 9 or 10 PM, just in time for me to catch some of the George Noory show on my way home. How can you not love a talk radio show devoted to aliens and conspiracies?

The other night, however, 1290 AM wasn’t coming in too great, so I scanned the dial and stumbled upon a voice that could only be that of a Christian preacher. I could tell because he was droning on in that breathy way pastors are wont to do—yes Jesus, yes Jesus, we praise your name, Hallelujah, yes Lord. Can you imagine talking to your spouse like that? Yes dear, yes honey, you are so lovely, oh how great you are, yes my beloved.

Gag me now.

I was just about to hit the scan button again—in hopes that I could spare myself the piety spewing forth from this fluent-in-Christianese preacher man—when he said something that stopped me dead in my tracks. He began by suggesting that Christianity contained the only truth in the world, while the secularists, the humanists, the Muslims, the LGBTQ community, the Buddhists, the Hindus, the agnostics, the atheists, the liberals, the anarchists, the communists, the socialists, the Marxists, and all the others -ists were dead wrong. Of course, what he meant to say is that premillenial-dispensationalist-conservative-Evangelicalism is correct, and everyone else is going to hell to burn… [Read more…] about We Don't Win If They Lose

Christmas Day: And the Word Became Flesh

by Jill Crainshaw in Christian Spirituality

This guest post is by Jill Crainshaw.

In the beginning … a Word …
          Danced
          Unfurled
          Unleashed

In the beginning … a Word …
          Sparked
          Ignited
          Illumined

Hope.
Peace.
Joy.
Love.
Life.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us.

But oh, how wordy we have become. Speeches and spin doctors. Tweets and tabloids. Debates and diatribes. Talk that says nothing but harms hundreds. So many empty utterances harass our eyes and ears, distracting us from the cries of our world’s most vulnerable ones.

Today, O God, we encounter again your Word in a manger. Not what we expected. Your Word in swaddling clothes. Your Word in an infant’s searching eyes. Your Word in a newborn’s reaching hands. Your Word in Aleppo’s rubble. Your Word in human flesh of every hue.

Give us wisdom, Earth-dwelling God, to talk less and birth your Word each day in our flesh and skin, in embodied tidings of hope, joy, peace and love.

Amen.

 

About Jill Crainshaw
Jill Crainshaw is a PCUSA minister and Blackburn Professor of Worship and Liturgical Theology at Wake Forest University School of Divinity. She is the author of… [Read more…] about Christmas Day: And the Word Became Flesh

A Visit from St. Alban, or A Refugee Christmas

by Andrew Apsley in Christian Spirituality

This guest post is by Andrew Apsley.

Embed from Getty Images

A Visit from St. Alban

’Twas the night before Christmas, and all Christendom
Sat hoping and waiting for Santa to come.
The cocoa and cookies lay spread on the table
While music rang out and told old Christmas fables.
Our daughter lay down in snug new pajamas,
The heiress of strong economics (thanks, Obama).
And Ma on her iPhone, and I on my Droid,
Were browsing our Facebooks and online tabloids—‌

When on our front door there came a soft knock;
I looked at my wife and then questioned the clock.
It seemed a bit late, but I went just the same.
I opened the door to witness who came.
The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow
Shown dimly between the four figures below.
Their breath fogged the air as they huddled together;
Their dark skin wrapped loosely with clothes all in tatters.
With a little old father, his eyes weak and tired,
A mother and two kids, who were almost expired.
As weak as could be, he raised a bare hand
And whispered a plea though he barely could stand.

“We come from Aleppo—my family and I.
We come bearing nothing but the rags that you spy.
Through the top of our roof; o’er the top of our walls,
The bombs they have dashed away—dashed away all.”

’Twas then I beheld, at the base of his feet,
A pool of fresh blood gath’ring on the concrete.
My daughter, who peered through my legs to behold,
Ran off to find blankets to keep out their cold.
I turned and I called to… [Read more…] about A Visit from St. Alban, or A Refugee Christmas

Advent Four:  Lighting the Tiny Lights

by Jill Crainshaw in Christian Spirituality

This guest post is by Jill Crainshaw.

“We are lighting the tiny lights.”

This is what a Franciscan friar said about living Advent in Aleppo.

Seeing all the violence in Aleppo and other places, I fear that Advent may bleed over into Christmas this year, and I do mean bleed. As we arrive at this Fourth Sunday of Advent, the Sunday when we light the candle of love, I am haunted…

A candle flame of love. Seems so small, a flickering candle. Not enough to combat the fiery explosions that bombard the neighborhoods of Aleppo where children once played soccer in the streets. The other three candles on the wreath shrink each week—hope, peace, and joy melting as time passes. And doesn’t it seem that they have diminished in our world—hope, peace, and joy—suffocated by the rubble as a Syrian city crumbles, doused out by blood running through the streets? Or is it that evil winds have chased their flames away, banished them to obscurity before Mary and Joseph even arrive at the stable? How can hope and love find the spark of humanity in this starless midnight where the most visible message flashing across the sky is a seven-year old’s tweet about her impending death?

When I was seven, I loved watching the Advent candles burn down lower each week until Christmas Eve when we would light the big Christ candle. As those other candles got shorter, I knew Christmas Day was coming closer. The Advent wreath does mean just that. The candles drip and melt, but they do so as we… [Read more…] about Advent Four:  Lighting the Tiny Lights