Working Papers
The challenge I see is the segregation and divisiveness that are deeply embedded in the structural and systematic policies and regulations of American society. The trajectory of the aforementioned concerns aim at maintaining the white ethnic communities control on power and as such the control of meaning through political, governmental, economics, education and socially constructed white norms.
The aforementioned concerns impact me as a disciple of Jesus, an African American Transgender woman and a person living in the 21st century. It also impacts humanity as a whole and tends to detract from any healing that would take place.
At this time in history America has many issues and challenges to its identity and purpose. It is struggling and yearns for an answer to its internal and external problems. The traditional white European model is not working. America needs to embrace a new way of being, a new way of community, a new language, a common ground.
As a possible way to address the aforementioned issues the following thoughts focus on the responsibility of the Church of Jesus in 21st century transitory America, the necessity of an interfaith church and the decline or a reframing of the denominational church and a new conceptualization of language and finally a common ground are offered.
I must take a moment and say that the white power structure that maintains white privilege is not necessarily every white person’s agenda. Admittedly there are some in the white ethnic community who don’t feel that way, who haven’t had the same predatory “Wall Street” experiences. Nevertheless the white power structure is there and the poor white person can have more of an opportunity to partake and experience white privilege as opposed to the ethnic groups of less or non privilege.
It is in this context that the church of Jesus has been commissioned to address. The embedded segregation and divisivness fuel the physical, spiritual, economic and mental violence denying the divinity of every human being on the planet. The church must reclaim its rightful place with the disinherited to transform society and culture. It must be done through ministries and programs that seek to “farm the soul”, that is developing and maintaining a spiritual practice, bringing about a healing and reclaiming the forgotten awareness of humanities divinity.
As a disciple of Jesus there must always be a realization that Jesus and Christianity as it has been practiced can be considered two different activities. The power of Jesus came out of his authenticity and his embrace of his identity. The very core of his authenticity was love of community.
The historical setting in which Jesus grew up, the House of Israel, the economic and social predicament of Jesus’ family all of these are important. [1] He saw the situation of his community and saw a need to address the issue. Because of what he saw he became an advocate for social justice on a cosmic scale. The cross was a statement on the cruelty and dehumanization of humanity and eventually led to a transformation of the Roman Empire.
The Church of the 21st century must be the model of hope, the Church of Jesus. I am of the opinion that the Church of Jesus has an authenticity that is sorely absent from the Church of the Messiah, or the imperial church of Rome. The church of Jesus must not be about dogma or the incaptualization of the imperial Christ as the Christian Church is but about the authenticity of Jesus, the marginalized Jew.
This must be one of the most painful realities of the denominational church. Christianity often has been sterile and of little avail. The conventional Christian word is muffled, confused and vague. [2] It misses the authenticity of Jesus in its effort to appeal to the Roman Empire, capitalist and resource oriented society. As such it has advocated for racism, sexism, genderism etc and has not contributed to the overall healing of the people as a whole.
In contrast the Church of Jesus is a church of the disinherited whose core is the authenticity of Jesus. It worships in the spirit of Jesus and as such it must be a place where the oneness of the divine and the authenticity of the individual embrace through grace and spirit. The Church and ministry programs must reclaim, rebuild and redefine culture, society and meaning in an interfaith context at the very core.
The Church of Jesus is also charged with breaking down the “power of color” and to build up and embrace the “power of authenticity.” The power of authenticity emanates from a heart of transparency that has been transformed by the spirit of the divine. All paths of true power must come from a place of authenticity, a place of the heart. The Church must be that place of an authentic spiritual centeredness that transforms each person, community and society into a beloved community.
The core of the interfaith church rests on the two theological concepts of radical inclusivity and engaged love, communicating those theologies through its mission of local, national, international and global community holistic healing. Institutional and denominational religious concepts and theological thought based on archaic and outmoded concepts of faith and identity must gradually be eradicated through a process of spiritual revolutionary and evolutionary education whose core is radical inclusivity and engaged love espoused by the divine teachers.
The spiritual revolutionary and evolutionary education process is realized through radical inclusivity and engaged love seeking in partnership with the divine a new revelation within our species of spiritual and mental maturity. I propose that the power structure and challenges mentioned at the beginning of this working paper can be resolved within the context and understanding of the Community of the Transcendent Faith in the Divine, an interfaith experience.
As an advocate for The Community of Faith in the Divine, an Interfaith Experience it is beneficial for the holistic healing and American renewal and reawakening to embrace a new conceptualization of language. This reconceptualization is necessary because of the capitalist oriented language that has divided humanity into groups, categories, economic and political parties thus yielding a broken and spiritually depleted humanity.
Language can paint exclusivity or inclusivity, appreciation or hatred, helpful or predatory. Language paints a picture of whom and where we might be going. The current power structure paints each ethnic group in different ways and always in comparison to the white ethnic community model. This language feeds certain stereotypes that create a downward spiral at a generational level.
Questions about the source of language, the purpose of language and the intent of language should be addressed. As the language is addressed in the context of The Community of Faith in the Divine, an Interfaith Experience it should be developed with an overt understanding and purposeful goal of healing first in self and then in the outer-self.
Language and even more specifically words in concert with the goal of a global spiritual renewal and reawakening are significant as the individual acknowledges and embraces their part in the re-creation of a just and free society while embracing a societal and cultural civil union empowered from a holistic perspective. Each word in The Community of Faith in the Divine, an Interfaith Experience must be seen and chosen in the contextual metaphor of a container and as such be recognized as holding a myriad of emotions, thoughts, longings, and other matters of the heart whether good or bad.
Words testify and witness to our life and the life of the human community and must be revisualized as containers that have the resources needed to realize a global spiritual renewal and reawakening. Words should be about giving, healing, and embracing with the undergirding theological basis of radical inclusivity and engaged love. The aforementioned article is primarily a starting point for a global spiritual renewal and reawakening within the context of The Community of Faith in the Divine, an Interfaith Experience.
The final issue addressed by this working paper is the question of that common ground of love. The reality of an interfaith church speaks to the common ground that all of humanity seeks. It is the articulation of the common ground through community, interdependence, appreciation, peace, education, and social justice. It is the yearning of humanity for freedom, wholeness and justice.
The interfaith church seeks to be that common ground, the church of Jesus. The church must overtly welcome all people in their authentic selves. The common ground must be about authenticity and a radical welcome, it must be the community of Jesus in the world today. Dogma, rules and regulations while well meaning at an organizational level tends to miss Jesus, miss the love, miss the embrace of the disinherited and of all interpretations of the divine.
In a country that is changing and transitioning in its identity and ethnic makeup and to embrace the future radical shift in power from a white oriented power structure to a more diverse power structure the Church of Jesus must be an advocate, a co-partner with the divine for the disinherited, for those that don’t fit in, for the once and great masses of humanity that seek that common ground of love.
In closing I submit that the Community of the Transcendent Faith in the Divine, an Interfaith Experience can be a vehicle for spiritual renewal in America. Until this community is acknowledged and realized in the hearts of people beyond the divisions of religion and an archaic closed mindedness the challenges will continue to jeopardize and minimize our maturity and impact for the greater good on mother earth.
[1] Thurman, H., Jesus and the Disinherited (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1976) p 11
[2] Ibid, p 19
Monica Joy Cross
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