Unfundamentalist

Above All, Love

Christian Spirituality

Summer Solstice Epiphany

by Jill Crainshaw in Christian Spirituality

[Ed. note: this post was written on the occasion of the summer solstice: June 21, 2018, but applies equally well to all the long-light days of summer.]

I do not understand why some of our nation’s leaders are doing what they are doing.

Because I do not understand their actions, I have gained even greater clarity about why I do what I do as a theological educator at Wake forest University School of Divinity.

Let me explain.

Today is the summer solstice in the U.S., a day when the sun shines longer than on any other day of the year. Hostile and violent forces are at work in our world today to keep hurting people from knowing the hope and warmth of life’s light. We need these extra hours of sunlight to seek how to live God’s Gospel truth in our times. We need a summer solstice Epiphany.

What is a summer solstice Epiphany? The ancient sages in Matthew 2, commonly known as the wise people in the Christian Christmas story, followed a God-flung orb of light to Jesus’ birthing place. Many Christian traditions have located the story of the sages’ journey on day of the liturgical year in January known as Epiphany.

The word “epiphany” means “manifestation” or “a striking appearance.” We cannot wait for another January to look for God’s light to reveal a way for the human community to journey toward justice and renewed hope. We need to ask now what the manifestation of God in Jesus means in a world where so many fear for their lives, where too many innocents are… [Read more…] about Summer Solstice Epiphany

How I Found Compassion After Being Shamed for My Untraditional Christian Beliefs

by M Lorrie Miller in Christian Spirituality

A few years ago, I was shamed for my untraditional Christian beliefs by two traditional Christian friends. This shaming was profoundly disorienting initially, but later it became a major catalyst for my spiritual growth.

One of the things I was shamed for was my more expansive understanding of what it means to be a Christian, including seeing the Bible as a guide that evolves with us, rather than as a literal translation. I also shared my belief that God loves all His children, not just Christians, and that there is more than one way to the mountaintop.

When I shared my untraditional beliefs, I was preached at and Bible verses were quoted to denounce my point of view. I felt angry at my friends for triggering shame in me, and angry at myself for reacting and not being able to respond in a meaningful way. I felt disempowered and disconnected from my own source of truth.

I realized afterwards that the emotions being triggered were connected to the indoctrinated beliefs that I internalized as a child before I had the ability to reason. My upbringing included 12 years of Catholic education. Even though we were taught that we were created in God’s image and likeness with a soul and the Holy Spirit to guide us, these were mostly words we recited in religion class. The real message we received was that we were unworthy and separate from God. Failure to adhere to what we were taught was presented as a threat to our souls, which would cause God to separate even further from… [Read more…] about How I Found Compassion After Being Shamed for My Untraditional Christian Beliefs

The Invisible Listeners

by Tony Cutty in Christian Spirituality

This piece is written to those of you who write on the Internet about Grace. People who write about the Love of God. People who write to encourage others; to build them up, not tear them down.

I am a member of several online groups where people of the Spirit voice things from God, things new and old. Old widsom, and new wisdom. (Matt 13:52) Things for the building up of the Saints (Eph 4:12). Jesus Himself said that there was so much more He wanted to tell us (Jn 16:12), and this kind of publishing is part of that.

Much of this stuff is the prophetic Word of God for today, and you can tell by the fruits manifested in their readers that these words are bringing life to those that read them.

But there is also huge discouragement, and often even despair, for those who write. If you are one of these writers, you will know exactly what I’m talking about.

On your public posts, whether blog posts or simple forum comments, you are often torn to shreds by (sometimes well-meaning) religious people who don’t like what they read. The Scripture says that people would be offended by the message of Jesus, and this can happen for several reasons.

Mostly, though, the offense is found in the simplicity of the Gospel message; St. Paul simply preached Christ crucified. However it works, Jesus has accomplished all that is necessary for the way to be open to God, and He invites us into His Presence and to live our lives in the simple joy of walking with Him.

And… [Read more…] about The Invisible Listeners

Laughing Out Loud

by Marguerite Sheehan in Christian Spirituality

A friend of mine said recently that the Christ seed that was planted in my heart a long long time ago has taken root and is pushing its way upward.

Here is one example of that “pushy Jesus.” In our “Listening to the Gospel” group this week I had an almost, but not quite, out-of-body experience. I heard Jesus knocking on the door of my study where five of us were sitting in a circle. He was not content to knock. He walked right in and I started laughing.

I laughed because all that I could imagine was the five of us saying what other people say to Jesus when he shows up unexpectedly. “Not in our neighborhood. Not in our circle. Not in our church. You are not what we expected and besides, you are messing up our meditation. Your knocking is way too loud.”

Who wants to see Jesus with scarred-up hands and feet and a hungry belly? Who wants to hear that he is not interested in talking about the pearly gates and how the people we love are waiting for us in heaven? He is still stuck on “welcome the stranger” and “repent and forgive.” No wonder the disciples, then and now, find ourselves more comfortable in our own circles, with the door closed, grieving the past. The present manifestation of Jesus in the world has always been shocking and more than inconvenient.

Easter came this year on April Fool’s Day and each week of Eastertide the resurrection story gets funnier and funnier. This week it is something like this: “Knock knock. Who’s there? It is I Jesus. Jesus who? Jesus… [Read more…] about Laughing Out Loud

Heaven Is Where Love Is

by Chuck Queen in Christian Spirituality

For most evangelical Christians (and not a few mainliners), salvation is about going to heaven or hell. Once upon a time I believed that too. I was wrong.

Now, don’t misunderstand me. I believe in an afterlife. I believe there is more to this life than this life. And I am sure it will be good, because God is good—as the song says, “God is good, all the time.” I believe that.

If you believe that, then there is no need to worry about heaven or hell in the literal sense. God would not be good if God tortured people. Other people might torture us, and we might torture ourselves, but God won’t. While not literal, hell is still a reality though. And most of usually have to live through some “hells” before we reach “heaven.”

Heaven is where love is, now and forever. I love this passage by Wendell Berry in his book, The Lost World:
“I imagine the dead waking, dazed, into a shadowless light in which they know themselves altogether for the first time. It is a light that is merciless until they can accept its mercy; by it they are at once condemned and redeemed. It is Hell until it is Heaven.”

I don’t know why, like the prodigal in Luke 15, we have to go through “hell” before we get to “heaven.” But such seems to be almost always the case.

Salvation in the biblical tradition is not primarily about the afterlife. It’s about a “way of life” not a “way out of this life.” It’s about the transformation of individuals and whole communities by love, in love, in order… [Read more…] about Heaven Is Where Love Is

God Can’t Use My Life

by Darrell Lackey in Christian Spirituality

So much of my early life in the fundamentalist-evangelical world was about how God was “using” my life then, or, was going to use my life in the future. A common theme or question during those years was: What were my spiritual gifts and was I allowing God to use those gifts in my life? I was told to give my “life” to God. All of me. My talents, gifts, resources, dreams, hopes, and all the rest, so God could use my “life.”

“God is going to use your life son,” I heard more than once growing up. And I know they meant well. They didn’t want a person to waste anything God had given them. None of us do. Much like the US Army, we want to “be all we can be” for God. We want God to use our life. We don’t want to be like the one servant who buried his talents and did nothing with them.

For those old enough to remember the movie The Graduate, there is a scene where Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) is moving past the adults present at his graduation party, trying to escape, really, their questions. Everyone wants to know what Benjamin is going to do with his life, what his plans are and some have advice. One man cryptically pulls Benjamin aside, and almost conspiratorially says one word to him, “plastics.”

This was in the late 60s, so perhaps plastics were the next big thing. Today it would probably be Tesla, Solar, or Bitcoin, I don’t know. We want young people to be “successful” and to live with purpose, vigor, and gusto. We want them to hone their skills and talents—put… [Read more…] about God Can’t Use My Life

remember you are dust

by Jill Crainshaw in Christian Spirituality

Embed from Getty Images

Wednesday, February 14, was Ash Wednesday. Many Christians in my community attended worship and left their sanctuaries with ashes smeared on their foreheads to mark the beginning of a Lenten season of reflection and repentance.

On Wednesday, February 14, a gunman shot and killed students and teachers in a Florida school.

This Sunday, the first Sunday in Lent, we hear ancient Gospel words:  “and immediately the Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness” (Mark 1). The wilderness is too real in our world—in our hearts—right now. May God have mercy on us as we seek our way.

what prayer dare we utter when
unspeakable horrors silence
songs of children paralyze
tongues of poets we stumble over
all that remains—unspoken—

perhaps some ancient tree will
whisper wisdom into this unending
night—wilderness people do not
recognize its edenic lyric we
are dust to dust we will return we

are all dust and we are all creating
this mad mad world imposing
premature imprints of mortality on
unblemished foreheads of children
turned to ash in our clenching hands

save us creating one from this fickle
foolishness why do we sacrifice innocent
blood to the thirsty ungroundedness of
our being we flinch gritty truth marks
us we are exiles in our own homes

holding our breath as tongues of fire
consume what really matters—save us
open our mouths to exhale the ashy
smell of repentance make our bones
remember we are… [Read more…] about remember you are dust

Jesus Called Followers Not Worshipers

by Chuck Queen in Christian Spirituality

In the Gospel texts that tell the story of Jesus, one thing is undeniable. Jesus called disciples. Do you ever wonder why Jesus said, “Follow me,” but never said, “Worship me”?

He said to some fishermen, “Follow me and I will teach you how to fish for people.” For whatever reason, he invited them to walk away from their vocation of trying to lure fish into a net and to pursue a calling that would involve luring people into a greater purpose and cause that Jesus called the kingdom of God.

I like to call it the kin-dom of God, because it’s all about loving relationships. Jesus said, “Follow me and I will teach you how to love God with the totality of your being and love your neighbor as yourself” (see Matt. 22-34-40). This is grounded in the reality that we are all connected and constitute one family. (See Acts 17:22-31 where Paul tells the Athenian philosophers that we are “all God’s offspring” and that “in God we live, move, and have our existence.”)

Jesus says, “Follow me and I will teach you how to heal people’s brokenness and liberate them from the life-demeaning, life-diminishing forces that oppress and hold them in fear and bondage. As you heal and liberate others, you will also be healed and liberated from your own false attachments, addictions, and sins.” (Almost all the healing and exorcism stories in the Gospels teach this.)

When we follow Jesus we discover the honesty and humility to face our own sins (greed, pride, prejudice, selfish ambition, etc.),… [Read more…] about Jesus Called Followers Not Worshipers

Turning Suck into Succulence: Coming Out Trans

by Dana Stinson in Christian Spirituality

Two years ago, my world came crashing down around me. Over the course of the next 4 months, my ever evolving world took an unexpected turn.

All it took was one question.

“Daddy, why do you like to wear girl clothes?” my oldest daughter asks via a FaceTime chat.

I was stunned. I wasn’t ready for this.

Even though I knew it was coming, I wasn’t prepared. I had delayed out of fear. I also wasn’t ready to deal with the aftermath of telling my church.

“Are you gay?”
“Were you molested as a child?”
“Why aren’t you seeing a Christian counselor?”

No. No. Hell no.

It was a tense exchange. No matter how much I tried to explain this was a good thing, I was met with a never ending stream of conspiracy theory laden reasoning and staunch opposition.

“Maybe Satan is using you.”
“Maybe Satan is going around you just to get to someone else.”
“Maybe you’re mistaken’”

Prayer begat promises of friendship and refuge.

Acting outside the boundaries of church doctrine, I was basically stripped naked and left out in the cold. For the first time in my church life I wasn’t allowed to participate, teach, or even advise. I wasn’t even allowed to explain why.

As much as this was pretty much a total suckass, God had other ideas.

I have always been a strong believer that the right people come into your life at the right time. Through a rather heated and emotion-filled conversation with my pastor, I was inadvertently introduced to someone who would give me guidance a… [Read more…] about Turning Suck into Succulence: Coming Out Trans

Something good comes out of…

by Marguerite Sheehan in Christian Spirituality

Since the middle of the week, when I sat with some church and community folk to read and re-read the Gospel I have been praying on Nathanial’s question “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Nathanial was a lot like us. The commentaries say that the reference to sitting under the fig tree was an allusion to the practice of Jewish people who sat under the fig tree and studied Torah. When Jesus said “I saw you sitting under the fig tree” he was saying to Nathanial “I know you and I know that you have been waiting a long time for the Messiah and you know that way before you were sitting here God created the whole wide world and declared it good.”

Nathanial was yearning for something good to come and yet he doubted that this something good would ever arise from the back waters. His heart was in the right place but his eyes were clouded by his prejudice. Like our eyes are clouded, if not blinded, by what we think God’s gift should look like and where it should come from.

This week while praying on Nathanial’s question, I heard on the news terrible comments reportedly said by the President about people from Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries, places that you might call a Nazareth. I thought: We have not come so far. We, meaning the President and you and me too, have not come far from Nathanial’s question. When I hear Nathanial and I hear the President and I hear the rants and raves of the commentators, both the Bible commentators and the news reporters, I hear my… [Read more…] about Something good comes out of…