Marginal Christianity

The Baptist theologian James William McClendon once reported a story about Clarence Jordan, the founder of an interracial community called  Koinonia Farm . Jordan, who described his community as a “demonstration plot” for the Kingdom of God, asked his brother, Robert, to assist him in the struggle against the racial injustices of the Jim Crow South. Robert was keenly aware of the community’s hardships: Local citizens boycotted the farm, the Ku Klux Klan bombed the produce stands, and ominous letters flooded the mailbox. The cost weighed heavily on him. “Clarence, I can’t do that,” Robert said, declining his brother’s request. “I follow Jesus, Clarence, up to a point.” “Could that point by any chance be—the cross?” Clarence replied. “That’s right. I follow him to the cross, but not  on  the cross. I’m not getting myself crucified.” Today we find ourselves in the cleft between Clarence’s invitation and Robert’s refusal. White Christianity in America is mounting a...

The Book of the Twelve for Lent 2016 Disconnect – Jonah (4)              A perennial problem reflected in Jonah is a disconnect that often occurs between our beliefs and our way of life. It’s particularly acute in the west where we have allowed faith to be defined as and confined to mental assent to certain propositions or ideas. Wherever this idea came from, it did not come from the Bible or the Jewish milieu out of which the Bible arose.           Yet this disconnect exists even in Biblical times. We see it in Jonah. He has a perfectly fine theology. He just doesn’t/can’t live it out at this point. This reader wonders if that’s not one of the levels of meaning in the story.           Jonah had his theology of creation in good order. He knew his God was the creator, lord, and ruler of all and everyone and everything were a...

 "The only two places that are still segregated are the church house and the jails, and I still have hope for the jails." "We don't kick anybody out of the church for making too much money, no, we make 'em a deac ... on, that is if they tithe!"   "The proud pastor of that big church pointed at the steeple and said, 'why Clarence, that cross alone cost us thirty-five thousand dollars!' I said, 'you got cheated, there was a time when folks could get those free and have 'em delivered all lit up!'"   "Poor folks don't need charity, they need capital. They don't need caseworkers, they need coworkers."   "We'll praise the hind-legs off of Jesus and won't do a thing he says."   "It's strange that the Supreme Court (civil rights) is making pagans act more like Christians than the Bible is making Christians act like Christians!" (from Al Staggs)