Some excerpts from an excellent book of essays and sermons by a black American woman/pastor/theologian, who has ministered for the past 25 years, as Jesus did, to people ‘on the edge’. She describes her ecclesiology as ‘Metho-Bapti-Costal’ and has a special concern for SGL people (‘same gender loving’ – easier than LGBTQI eh?).
Excerpts/ key ideas:
* African tribes have no doors on their dwellings, yet people know when it’s appropriate to enter and exit* Christian community will only be sustained by actively fighting and overcoming oppressive and exclusive theology, unyielding tradition, biblical literalism, and destigmatizing our view of certain groups of people. Who are these groups? They include people of color, transgendered people (they’re ‘on the edge of the edge’) [1], persons with certain disabilities, aboriginal/indigenous people etc.* Colonizers are usurpers who, having come to another’s land succeed not merely in creating a place for themselves, but in granting to themselves astounding privileges to the detriment of those rightfully entitled to them… They upset the established rules and substitute their own’.
* Marginalized people must seek freedom from a belief that says ‘There is no community outside of the dominant culture; therefore to have community one must assimilate’…
* The majority of churches remain judgmental in their theology and conservative in their politics towards people who traditionally have lived at the margins of society’.* ‘We need to belong… the need to belong drives us to community… a place where we will be safe – a kind of “home base” in the world’s chaotic game of “tag”. It is a place where you are valued for what you are in yourself…’ [But] ‘the theology of those at the center of society often seeks to characterize people on the edge as enemies of God. This is especially true when individuals or groups unrepentantly refuse to conform to the dominant definition of normativeness.* Jesus’ public ministry was a life of marginality – a homeless man with a group of homeless people. His disciples were overwhelmingly marginalized people, very few from the religious establishment.
* Many people rejected by the church got their burns from Bible-believing Christian flamethrowers.
* Slave traders saw no contradiction between being Christian and being involved in the sale of human cargo…
* One irony in all this is the homophobia of many black people: it reaffirms their heterosexual privilege – often the only situation in which many Black Christians feel that they have any form of privilege at all…
* People on the edge must be encouraged to form a concept of a loving God who desires to have intimate relationship with his/her creation. This must precede a historical/critical analysis of Scripture. ‘Having a secure location in God makes it permissible to question those passages of Scripture that have traditionally brought terror.’[One comment at this point. She is saying throughout this book that when people are truly accepted, theology will take care of itself. The book Love is an Orientation (Andrew Marin) is brilliant here. He refuses to discuss the biblical ‘clobber texts’ but asks: ‘What is it like to be you?’ When we are willing to truly listen – without being judgmental – to another’s story, we are most like Jesus. My favorite comment on this: for the Pharisees repentance precedes acceptance, with Jesus it’s the other way around. Footnote: you don’t need a graduate degree in psychology to know that bullies don’t truly appreciate the pain they cause to the bullied… The best understanding comes from the victim: but bullying homophobes – who often tell me they don’t hate SGL people – have rarely either truly listened to many of them, or done the hard work fo reading articles challenging their biblical hermeneutic, (or had a close family member who’s come out)].Back to Yvette:
* She was the ‘product of a broken home, but it did not seem broken, as the village/church was so familylike.’
* After Emancipation the churches faced a problem: what to do with ex-slaves, who, for example, sometimes married two wives in separate places when they were sold – without their family – to another slave-owner? If a slave had two families what do you do with monogamy? Some churches (Google Welsh Neck Baptist Church, South Carolina, for example), decided that to grant membership to slave couples in such situations was ‘less evil’ than excommunicating them.
* And she raises a thorny contemporary question: what does a predominantly straight ministry do with SGL parishioners, without offending the straight folks?
* What do we do with myths, for example about promiscuity among Gay and Lesbian people? Flunder points out (and it’s reinforced in the counselling I do with SGL clients) that Gay and Lesbian people tend to approach their romantic relationships with the hope that these will be long-lasting (as straight couples also hope…). She continues: ‘I find it alarming that many who suspect the entire SGL community of being severely promiscuous also resist normalizing SGL monogamous unions’. This, she writes, is as much a social justice issue as others which have divided Christians in the past – like abolishing slavery, securing the right to vote for women, promoting civil rights for former slaves, and ending apartheid in South Africa. (Heterosexual) Marriage, many gay leaders now insist, is the most obvious and profound form of state discrimination against gays and lesbians.
* ‘What does the Bible say about same-sex unions? The answer is: absolutely nothing [italics hers]. There are texts that refer to homoeroticism and genital expression in idol worship, but even a tortured anti-SGL interpretation of these texts cannot be our principal source to determine the right or wrong of same-sex unions. More importantly, the Bible does speak clearly to the larger issues of how to treat our neighbour, the nature of commitment/ covenant, and the character of the Christian community’. So what should we do about this issue? Two things, she suggests: join supportive communities and read the Bible with liberation lenses.
* In the last two-thirds of the book she offers precises of about 17 sermons – and in those, interestingly, she hardly mentions SGL issues, though yes, a prophetic social justice emphasis is prophetically everywhere…
Some quotes which got me thinking, marked with double lines in my copy of her book:
* (Quoting Bishop Spong): ‘The scientific evidence points to the conclusion that homosexual persons do not choose their sexual orientation, cannot change it, and constitute quite a normal but minority expression of human sexuality. It is clear that heterosexual prejudice against homosexuals must take its place alongside witchcraft, slavery and other ignorant beliefs and oppressive institutions that we have abandoned
* Due to rampant homophobia President Reagan was unwilling to mention the word AIDS until 20,000 people were dead… and this was nearly seven years after AIDS first appeared in the USÂÂ
* Our churches and society are still places of heteroprivilege
* Marginalized people frequently remember strong words from the pulpit used to destroy. They therefore need stronger words of affirmation and inclusion. ‘In my sermons I attempt to carry a message that counters the teaching of those who support a theology that calls anyone unclean or claims to have exclusive “truthâ€Â.’
It’s a challenging, compassionate, book.
—
Shalom!/Salaam!/Pax!
Rowland Croucher   http://jmm.aaa.net.au
[1] PS. A friend has sent me a special story of a transgendered clergyperson – there aren’t many of them.
See http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2012/04/06/transgender-deacon-shares-life-changing-story/
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As a Christ-follower, living on the periphery is the most awesome place to be…it’s fun, we make friends and the Spirit of God turns up in some unpredictable ways. No fear and everything to gain…let’s build upon our common-unity!