Unfundamentalist

Above All, Love

Sheri Faye Rosendahl

An Open Letter from the Syrian Border

by Sheri Faye Rosendahl in Current Events

This guest post is by Sheri Faye Rosendahl.

Dear America,

Self-proclaimed Christian nation, I wish the lives of others mattered to you as much as Starbucks coffee cups. I know the guy you call savior instructed you to love others as yourselves, but that seems to have become more of a catchy phrase than an actual command to live by.

A few days ago, a handful of miles north of where I am sitting right now, a chemical attack massacred innocent Syrian children as they slept. As the Internet floods with yet more images of small, limp, lifeless bodies piling up, my heart falls apart knowing this just adds to the atrocities the world watches, yet refuses to respond to with love.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with one of the most beautiful and kind families I have ever encountered. They are refugees from Syria and, like millions of others, they have lost everything while going through the unimaginable. After fleeing their homes and everything they have ever known, they are now stranded on the border of Jordan since the majority of the world doesn’t seem to care more than expressing a shallow sense of sorrow at what “those poor people” have to go through.

Where is our true compassion? If we were able to find any speck of empathy within our souls, we would quickly sacrifice what we Americans so often cling to: time, money, refuge, and our self-absorbed fears. However, our shallow comforts and our privilege of apathy are taking precedent over the lives of others.

If… [Read more…] about An Open Letter from the Syrian Border

This Is Red Letter Love

by Sheri Faye Rosendahl in Christian Issues

What exactly is red letter Love? I mean, we all know the great command to Love your neighbor–pretty straight-forward, right? Be kind and Love our neighbor as ourselves.

But it’s who that includes where it gets a bit tricky, because, according to Jesus, our neighbor includes our enemy. He even told the famous a story of the Good Samaritan to illustrate his point.

So, what does Loving your neighbor look like according Jesus? In modern terms, it can look something like finding a beat up, half-dead member of ISIS on the side of the road and stopping, taking him in, bandaging his wounds, and spending your own money to have him cared for. Knowing he is your greatest enemy and showing him Love anyway.

It is a counter-cultural Love. It is not the way of religion or even American Christianity, but the way of the red letters, of self-sacrificial Love. It is a simple concept, but incredibly difficult to live out, especially in our culture of me-first mentality. It means that Loving others takes priority over Loving yourself in every way: over your fears, your time, your hobbies, your money, your career–above all, Love.

And, for the record, “loving” with a goal of converting others is not truly Love. It has a deeper agenda which often, unknowingly, manifests through subtle manipulation. It’s weird, burdensome, and uncomfortable. The underlying motive for Loving others–in the red letter sense–must simply be the goal of attempting to Love like Jesus. Point blank, no… [Read more…] about This Is Red Letter Love

Our Fire Is Ruining Facebook

by Sheri Faye Rosendahl in Christian Issues

This guest post is by Sheri Faye Rosendahl.

I have been told that I can come off too harsh in my outspoken opposition to the American white Jesus and my vocal advocacy for Loving others first. On the one hand, I haven’t been dropping f-bombs, so I think I’m doing pretty okay with my temperament. On the other hand, yeah, I can get a bit fiery.

I know you miss seeing pictures of puppies flooding your newsfeed, but maybe those “political” posts advocating for basic human rights and Loving others could take precedence over the desire to “feel good” again in the bubble of the West. More than ever in Facebook history, people are speaking up against oppression and taking bolder action to Love. This is deeply needed in our hurting world.

Many of us are fed up with hate and are finding unity under a deep desire to see Love win. I’m sorry (not really) if that feels uncomfortable, but unless it doesn’t align with the ways of Jesus, what is the real issue?

Jesus was controversial; he had a tendency to make people uncomfortable. He called his followers to a counter-cultural way of life that threatened the comforts of the religious too. He told people to give all their money to the poor, leave their jobs on the spot to follow him, Love their enemy, let go of their pride, and stop being so fearful. Jesus doesn’t care about our shallow comforts; he cares about our willingness to give it all up for self-sacrificial Love.

So, what is the motive for speaking out… [Read more…] about Our Fire Is Ruining Facebook

Dear American Conservative Church

by Sheri Faye Rosendahl in Christian Issues

This guest post is by Sheri Faye Rosendahl.

Dear American Conservative Church,

I know I can be pretty hard on you and you deserve an explanation.

I am trying to follow the ways of Jesus, I’m sure you are too. My struggle is with the contradictions I see between your speech and actions, and the ways of your savior. The red letters are not aligning.

Our world is a mess right now, I bet you would agree. But I don’t quite understand your response to the chaos–the self-protection approach doesn’t make sense when it overrides Love.

I’m sure you know this, but do you really understand that Jesus is not American, nor is he campaigning for American greatness? He does not value white children more than any other hue, nor does he value any nationality over another. I promise you, I checked all of his teachings, it’s not there.

Bear with me if you can–I am going to be blunt because I don’t know if you understand what the world sees and experiences through your actions.

To the world, the outward purpose of American Christianity looks like a numbers game. The goal being to “save” (convert) as many souls as possible, then maybe you win or something, I am honestly not quite sure what, maybe points in heaven?

It looks like a weird competition and its players are often aggressive and uncomfortable to be around. The message sounds something like, “Convert to save your soul! And to save your soul from eternal hellfire where there is gnashing of teeth,… [Read more…] about Dear American Conservative Church

Not Your White Jesus

by Sheri Faye Rosendahl in Christian Issues

This guest post is by Sheri Faye Rosendahl.

Jesus is not a white guy. I hate to break it to you, but all those pictures you grew up seeing on the walls of your church or in your grandma’s dining room showcasing the fair skinned, blue eyed, handsome white Jesus, are fabrications. They lied to you. Jesus isn’t American; he’s not even campaigning for America’s greatness!

He actually doesn’t care more about Americans than any other humans in the entire world (including Muslims and Communists). I’m serious–I checked the entire Bible and couldn’t find one sentence pertaining to America being the most amazing nation ever in existence. I know, I was shocked too.

Blatant sarcasm aside, if you are like me, raised in a “typical” American Christian home and going to church every Sunday as a child, you know what I am talking about. If you didn’t grow up in this cookie-cutter context, but you grew up virtually anywhere in the United States, chances are you know what I’m talking about. If you grew up in a completely different culture and country, but you have seen Americans on TV, chances are you know what I’m talking about.

Growing up in “the Christian Nation,” it took me a quarter of a century to figure out who Jesus actually was. Western Christianity really screwed this one up. We have become a self-serving, money-driven, achievement-based, all-too-fearful nation, and the American church as a whole has followed right along, loud and proud. It almost seems as… [Read more…] about Not Your White Jesus

The Love of My Refugee Friend

by Sheri Faye Rosendahl in Current Events

This guest post is by Sheri Faye Rosendahl.

American Christians, those who support the refugee ban, I have a friend I would like you to meet.

Let me tell you about my dear friend. He happens to be a refugee in the Middle East where he and his beautiful family live in an incredibly old refugee camp that looks more like cement apartment complexes than the camps you see on the news. Kind of like a unique sort of small neighborhood.

And, oh yeah, the camp is partially surrounded by a massive, internationally-deemed-illegal, wall that cuts through their country’s land. 

Now, this is not your “normal wall.” It hovers over the camp, twenty-six feet of concrete intimidation. The wall is complete with security cameras, motion control sensors, and multiple watch towers staffed 24/7 with the finest snipers. It feels as if you are in an open air prison. So maybe unique is the wrong word, it is more like a small neighborhood you might see in a bad, chilling, sci-fi movie.

Another fun (and by fun, I mean terrifying) fact about where my friend lives: there are often night raids that can occur at any given moment. What exactly is a night raid? Well, soldiers from the neighboring country (you know those sniper guys and some of their friends who are often posted up on their wall tower) storm in with their big guns, fingers always clasping the trigger, search random houses, and make arrests, often of young boys.

Sometimes, the streets are filled with tear gas and… [Read more…] about The Love of My Refugee Friend