Holy Unrest

Divine Dissatisfaction Let us go out with a divine dissatisfaction. Let us be dissatisfied until America will no longer have a high blood pressure of creeds and an anemia of deeds. Let us be dissatisfied until the tragic walls that separate the outer city of wealth and comfort and the inner city of poverty and despair shall be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice. Let us be dissatisfied until those that live on the outskirts of hope are brought into the metropolis of daily security. Let us be dissatisfied until slums are cast into the junk heaps of history, and every family is living in a decent sanitary home. Let us be dissatisfied until the dark yesterdays of segregated schools will be transformed into bright tomorrows of quality, integrated education. Let us be dissatisfied until integration is not seen as a problem but as an opportunity to participate in the beauty of diversity. Let us be dissatisfied until men and women, however black they may be, will be judged on the basis of the content of their character and not on the basis of the color of their skin. Let us be dissatisfied. Let us be dissatisfied until every state capitol houses a governor who will do justly, who will love mercy and who will walk humbly with his God. Let us be dissatisfied until from every city hall, justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. Let us be dissatisfied until that day when the lion and the lamb shall lie down together, and every man will sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid. Let us be dissatisfied. Let us be dissatisfied until that day when nobody will shout White Power! —when nobody will shout Black Power!— but everybody will talk about God’s power and human power. The road ahead will not always be smooth. There will be still rocky places of frustration and meandering points of bewilderment. There will be inevitable setbacks here and there. There will be those moments when the buoyancy of hope will be transformed into the fatigue of despair. Our dreams will sometimes be shattered and our ethereal hopes blasted. The road ahead will not always be smooth. There will be still rocky places of frustration and meandering points of bewilderment. There will be inevitable setbacks here and there. There will be those moments when the buoyancy of hope will be transformed into the fatigue of despair. Our dreams will sometimes be shattered and our ethereal hopes blasted. Difficult and painful as it is, we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future. Martin Luther King Jr. Source: Southern Christian Leadership Conference address 16 Aug 1967

The Free State of Jones

On July 4, I "experienced" the new film starring Matthew  McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Keri Russell and Mahershala Ali, The Free State of Jones (video clip below). 

McConaughey offers up a stunningly intense interpretation of the life and leadership of Jones County, Mississippi farmer, Newton Knight.  Building a fighting, resistance force of "runaways," slave and free, Knight's influence at its apex extended across three southeast Mississippi counties. 

As the Civil War raged throughout the South, coming at last to Vicksburg, Mississippi, Knight developed serious objections to the entire cause of the Confederacy.  He analyzed the brutal conflict as a battle by the poor and dispossessed for the wealthy, and the hegemony of the landed gentry via the slave system.  As one of Knight's fundamental principles put it:  "No man should be made poor to make other men rich." 

The true story reveals the amazing depth of the suffering of people of color in Mississippi before, during and after the Civil War.  As I watched the film, an acidic grief flooded over me.  To realize something of the pain, disappointment, suffering and heroic endurance of black Americans helps frame my work and my life.

Every person of age in the United States should view and grapple with this important film.  Certainly, every white person needs to watch and inquire after this film. 

People who don't understand the Black Lives Matter movement, need to sit in a theater for a bit over the two hours necessary to soak in the rationale back of the request that as white folks, we just need to sit still, listen and learn those things about our history as a nation that we still don't want to face. 

God, have mercy on us all. 

Beyond Charity

Last Sunday, I really enjoyed my time speaking in three morning services at Highland Park United Methodist Church.

 What I posted below is the Cornerstone service at 11:00 a.m.


Beyond 100: Beyond Charity (Cornerstone) from HPUMC on Vimeo.

Holiness to Justice

“Going on to perfection”: from Social Holiness to Social Justice in the United Methodist Church

Larry James

United Methodist History HX 7365, Fall 2013

Professor Tamara E. Lewis

            The United Methodist Church demonstrated a consistent and, at times, increasingly significant commitment to the realization of social justice in American society during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  While at times this witness to social equity and justice appears as a “minority” report of sorts, both in the larger culture and even in the church, the commitment to realizing the living presence of the Kingdom of God on earth remained a constant refrain throughout the period, and continuing to date into the second millennium.  To be sure, other voices in the denomination ignored or, worse, formed critical responses against Methodist advocates of social justice who considered the work for justice to be the very work of Christ and of the church.  But, throughout the period in question, a steady stream of advocates for justice did important work, often at considerable personal sacrifice. 

            Interestingly, Methodists and Methodist organizations committed to the realization of social justice in the values of the church, and as expressed in its work in the world, refer to the founder of Methodism to explain their fundamental motivation.  Often Methodist preachers and advocates linked the work of social justice to the values of John Wesley in regard to his commitment to “social holiness.”  Interestingly, especially in the twentieth century and up until today, Methodists employ the admonition attributed to Wesley himself, “There is no holiness but social holiness,” to validate and position their commitment to works of social justice.  In fact, as Andrew C. Thompson demonstrates clearly, John Wesley almost certainly never made the statement.[1]  It is found nowhere in his extant writings.  The phrase “social holiness” appears once in Wesley’s writings and that in the Preface to the 1739 edition of “Hymns and Sacred Poems.”[2]

Reading the phrase in the context of Wesley’s point reveals that by “social holiness” he had in mind (and directly contrary to the practice of the mystics whom he rejects) the social nature and shaping influence of the societies and the essential role of the group, the community as the “environmental context”[3]in the realization of holiness or sanctification and walking faithfully in the world, including concern for doing good to everyone, especially to those of the community of faith.  Wesley envisions his experiences with the societies that he worked so hard to establish.  Wesley argues against the mystics,

If thou wilt be perfect, say they, trouble not thyself about outward works. It is better to work virtues in the will. He hath attain’d the true resignation who hath estranged himself from all outward works, that God may work inwardly in him, without any turning to outward things. These are the true worshippers, who worship God in spirit and in truth. For contemplation is with them the fulfilling of the law, even a contemplation that “consists in a cessation of all works.”  5. Directly opposite to this is the gospel of Christ. Solitary religion is not to be found there. “Holy solitaries” is a phrase no more consistent with the gospel than holy adulterers. The gospel of Christ knows of no religion but social; no holiness but social holiness. “Faith working by love” is the length and breadth and depth and height of Christian perfection. “This commandment have we from Christ, that he who loveth God love his brother also;” and that we manifest our love 3Ori., ““by doing good unto all men, especially to them that are of the household of faith.” And in truth, whosoever loveth his brethren not in word only, but as Christ loved him, cannot but be “zealous of good works.” He feels in his soul a burning, restless desire, of spending and being spent for them. “My father,” will he say, “worketh hitherto, and I work.” And at all possible opportunities he is, like his Master, “going about doing good” (pages viii-ix).[4]

            Clearly, it is anachronistic to assign to Wesley’s phrase “social holiness” the burden of the twentieth century church’s developing concern for the realization of social justice in its fellowship and larger culture.  At the same time, it seems fairly clear that the progressive values of Wesley himself and the life and order of the fellowship he did so much to create did inform the church’s modern day concern for doing works of justice and compassion, while working for the establishment of justice in society. The radical seeds of social revolution that can be found in portions of Wesley’s rather advanced worldview.  For example, Wesley’s view of the heinous evil that was slavery, as revealed so powerfully in his sermon/pamphlet, Upon Thoughts of Slavery serves as an example of his radical thought.  While he might not have framed it this way, his position on the subject, over a century ahead of  his time, contributed to the revolution that eventually “sanctified” the secular culture by ridding it of the scourge of chattel bondage. 

            In a very real way, Methodists have been utilizing and at times rediscovering Wesley’s social ethic against various forces and influences that have tended to obscure a practical understanding of his basic theology and of the Wesleyan tradition.  Included in any listing of these veiling or intrusive forces would be scholarly biblical form criticism and its revolutionary view of scripture,  the rise of the Social Gospel movement, evolutionary theory, industrialization, urbanization of the United States and the growth of organized labor.  Further, the rapid growth of the Methodist Church in America beginning in the period following the Revolutionary War and well into the mid-twentieth century served to establish the denomination as proto-typically American.  What had begun as an English reform movement to revive a moribund Anglican Church, worked its way across North America to become the best expression of the American Church.  With highly placed political, educational and social leaders in the membership of Methodist Churches across the nation, the denomination’s influence grew rapidly while its understanding of and reliance upon the heritage of John and Charles Wesley became more distant, obscure and forgotten, if not irrelevant.

            At every important turn in the history of the denomination, prophetic voices have been heard that call the people of God and of the nation on to a new kind of society, one much like what Wesley envisioned when he spoke of slavery and the social outcomes of personal holiness.  Examples are not hard to find.  The tragic division of the church in 1844 over the issue of slavery among Christians demonstrated the ethic of the northern church to stand in Wesley’s position, while the departing Methodist Episcopal Church South allowed profit and southern culture to rule the day.  Again, in the 1939 “reunion” of the church, even though the compromise leading to the formation of the Central Jurisdiction prevailed, shoring up southern racism and Jim Crow with the apparent blessing of the church, prophetic voices could be heard.  The Central Jurisdiction itself spoke truth to power against racial segregation in the church [5]  Groups such as the Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA) worked hard and aggressively in agitation and lobbying for the church to live up to its heritage by ending segregation in the Methodist Church.[6] 

            Some Methodists at the time were considered so radical that they appeared before the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee to defend their words and activities.  One of the more notable cases involved Methodist Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam, at that time assigned to Washington, DC.  Oxnam’s career in the church had been exemplary, including his longstanding position and action in support of desegregation of church and society.  While the committee brought no official action against the bishop, he was accused, along with other activist Methodist clergy, of being a communist because of his support of social change and due to his associations with and support of national and international ecumenical organizations that took liberal stands on a number of issues.[7] 

             Methodist history in the twentieth century is replete with example after example of men and women who took courageous stands for social justice.  Just two, obscure examples include the support of the Black Liberators in St. Louis by the United Methodist Church during a community struggle for labor and human rights[8] and the steady and amazing work of lifelong educator Emma Buckmaster among the Japanese community in Bakersfield, California following Executive Order 9066 resulting in the interment of her and her friends, neighbors and fellow church members who were Japanese.  The practical and heroic efforts of the First Methodist Church and Trinity Methodist Church to organize and store the belongings of Japanese friends relocated to Arizona calls to mind the work of Wesley’s societies in caring for one another in the name of Christ.[9] Clearly, many Methodists were not afraid to speak up or to take action in defense of  the rights of the oppressed among their fellows in the nation and in the larger church.  While the record was far from flawless, again and again Methodists, both lay and clergy, could be found on the side of social justice.

            Wesley’s theology of “social holiness” and his deepening understanding of the importance of compassionate and sound witness in the world paved the way for the new American Church, a church that challenged its culture and compromised with it, a church that reflected the best and worst of the American experience, but a church that continues its journey “on to perfection.” 

---

[1] Andrew C. Thompson, “From Societies to Society:  The Shift from Holiness to Justice in the Wesleyan Tradition,” Methodist Review, Vol. 3 (2011):  141-172.

[2] John and Charles Wesley, Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1739; http://divinity.duke.edu/sites/default/files/documents/cswt/04_Hymns_and_Sacred_Poems_%281739%29.pdf

[3] Thompson,  145.

[4] Ibid., pp. viii-ix.

[5] Russell E. Richey, Kenneth E. Rowe and Jean Miller Schmidt, The Methodist Experience in America: A History (Nashville:  Abingdon, 2010), page 391.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Angela Lahr, “The Censure of a Bishop:  Church and State in the McCarthy Era,” Methodist History, Vol. 44:1 (October 2005), 29-42.

[8] Kenneth Jolly, “Reaction to Liberation: Official Response to the Black Liberation Struggle

in St. Louis, Missouri,” by Gateway Heritage magazine, Vol. 23, no. 4, Spring 2003 (no pagination).

[9] Gilbert P. Gia, “Emma Buckmaster and Executive Order 9066,” Historic Bakersfield & Kern County, California, www.gilbertgia.com, 2011.

Conversion to the neighbor, part 3

Christians have not done enough in this area of conversion to the neighbor, to social justice, to history.  They have not perceived clearly enough yet that to know God is to do justice.  They still do not live in one sole action with both God and all humans.  They still do not situate themselves in Christ without attempting to avoid concrete human history.  They have yet to tread the path that will lead them to seek effectively the peace of the Lord in the heart of social struggle (page 49).

Gustavo Gutierrez

Spiritual Writings

Conversion to the neighbor, part 1

A spirituality of liberation will center on a conversion to the neighbor, the oppressed person, the exploited social class, the despised ethnic group, the dominated country.  Our conversion to the Lord implies this conversion to the neighbor.  Evangelical conversion is indeed the touchstone of all spirituality.  Conversion means a radical transformation of ourselves; it means thinking, feeling and living as Christ--present in exploited and alienated persons.  To be converted is to commit oneself lucidly, realistically, and concretely to the process of the liberation of the poor and oppressed.  It means to commit oneself not only generously, but also with an analysis of the situation and a strategy for action.  To be converted its to know and experience the fact that, contrary to the laws of physics, we can stand straight, according to the Gospel, only when our center of gravity is outside ourselves (page 48).

Gustavo Gutierrez

Spiritual Writings

Social Creed

[What follows is a statement of the "Social Creed" of the United Methodist Church.  I find it inspirational.  Reactions? LJ] We believe in God, Creator of the world; and in Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of creation. We believe in the Holy Spirit, through whom we acknowledge God’s gifts, and we repent of our sin in misusing these gifts to idolatrous ends. We affirm the natural world as God’s handiwork and dedicate ourselves to its preservation, enhancement, and faithful use by humankind. We joyfully receive for ourselves and others the blessings of community, sexuality, marriage, and the family. We commit ourselves to the rights of men, women, children, youth, young adults, the aging, and people with disabilities; to improvement of the quality of life; and to the rights and dignity of all persons. We believe in the right and duty of persons to work for the glory of God and the good of themselves and others and in the protection of their welfare in so doing; in the rights to property as a trust from God, collective bargaining, and responsible consumption; and in the elimination of economic and social distress. We dedicate ourselves to peace throughout the world, to the rule of justice and law among nations, and to individual freedom for all people of the world. We believe in the present and final triumph of God’s Word in human affairs and gladly accept our commission to manifest the life of the gospel in the world. Amen. A Companion Litany to Our Social Creed God in the Spirit revealed in Jesus Christ, calls us by grace         to be renewed in the image of our Creator,         that we may be one         in divine love for the world.        Today is the day God cares for the integrity of creation,         wills the healing and wholeness of all life,         weeps at the plunder of earth’s goodness. And so shall we. Today is the day God embraces all hues of humanity,          delights in diversity and difference,          favors solidarity transforming strangers into friends. And so shall we.   Today is the day God cries with the masses of starving people,         despises growing disparity between rich and poor,         demands justice for workers in the marketplace. And so shall we. Today is the day God deplores violence in our homes and streets,          rebukes the world’s warring madness,          humbles the powerful and lifts up the lowly. And so shall we. Today is the day God calls for nations and peoples to live in peace,          celebrates where justice and mercy embrace,          exults when the wolf grazes with the lamb. And so shall we. Today is the day God brings good news to the poor,         proclaims release to the captives,         gives sight to the blind, and         sets the oppressed free. And so shall we.  From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church - 2008. Copyright 2008 by The United Methodist Publishing House.

How long? Not long!

The Work of Christmas

The Work of Christmas

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flocks,

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
To make music in the heart.

from The Mood of Christmas

Howard Thurman

seen first in inward/outward

The forgotten. . .

From the hymnal of Israel:

The poor can run to you

because you are a fortress

in times of trouble.

Psalm 9:9

The poor and the homeless

won't always be forgotten

and without hope.

Psalm 9:18