Author: Pat Liberty

Political But Not Partisan

Pat Liberty

In the ever-thinning line that separates church and state, there is a lot of confusion and misinformation that clouds an already murky situation. It helps to understand the Constitution, even though it is becoming a less authoritative document for conducting our nation’s business (thank you Supreme Court).

The First Amendment makes two claims concerning religion: the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. According to www.uscourts.gov

“The Establishment Clause prohibits the government from ‘establishing a religion.’ The exact meaning of ‘establishing’ is unclear. Historically, it meant prohibiting state sponsored churches, such as the Church of England.

Today, what constitutes an ‘establishment of religion’ is often governed under the three-part test set forth by the Supreme Court in Lemon v. Kutzman (1971). Under the ‘Lemon’ test, the government can assist religion only if (1) the primary purpose of the assistance is secular, (2) the assistance must neither promote nor inhibit religion, and (3) there is no excessive entanglement between church and state.

The Free Exercise Clause protects citizens right to practice their religion as they please, so long as the practice does not run afoul of ‘public morals’ or a ‘compelling’ governmental interest.

Sometimes the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause come into conflict. The federal courts help to resolve such conflicts, with the Supreme Court being the ultimate arbiter.” (Somehow this does not inspire confidence given our current Supremely partisan Court).

Historically, these Clauses have been understood to mean that the church does not play partisan politics and government does not manipulate religion. The rise of Christian Nationalism is significantly impacting this practice as right-wing religious views are melded into political positions and political views are melded into religious teaching. Churches are promoting candidates and questioning people’s faithfulness if they vary from the “party line.” The flow of dark money (which I prefer to call anonymous money) into the church to support a political agenda that is anti-just-about-everything is staggering. In addition, anonymous money is pouring millions of dollars into specific congressional races to help assure wins. Rallying the conservative Christian vote is crucial to making their plan work.

This is wrong.

People of faith are, however, confused as to what an appropriate political expression is during these fractious times. The answer is to be political and not partisan.

Scripture has more than enough examples of political integrity and faithful action. First, this includes the preferential option for the poor. Jesus spoke more about economic inequity than anything else. He routinely lambasted both religious and political officials for their collusion to make the lives of the poor untenable. The realm that Jesus ushers in is one of radical inclusion for all people, a redistribution of goods and services to benefit the poor and a perspective on justice for all people, not just the wealthy elite.

Second, there are examples of righteous leadership throughout scripture. David, for all his broken humanness was an instrument of God in the rule of Israel. Throughout the history of Israel, whoever was in power, whether the judges in the early days of national identity or the kings that began with David, one thing that remained the same was the demand of God for righteousness, justice and fairness. This is the standard against which all political actions, past and present, are measured.

The church has a prophetic mandate in this time to put forth the values of God’s realm and preach the gospel as it is revealed in the total message of Scripture. This is not a time for proof-texting and trotting out favorite verses to support a narrow political or religious perspective.

Third, the bible is a political book. There is no escaping this truth. Jesus was political. It’s what got him killed. He was executed as an enemy of the state for preaching about the last being first and the first being last. Our task in this time is to be political but not partisan. The Christian Nationalists are trotting out their favorite scripture verses and twisted biblical perspectives to support a dangerous political agenda (think Project 2025). Most of us don’t know our own bible well enough to counter with a different perspective. It is a sad state of affairs for the church as most of us know it.

There isn’t a lot of time to get educated about the overarching message of scripture. That ship sailed a while ago. This is the time, however, to read! Books like the “False White Gospel” by Jim Wallis is a good place to start. It may be the most important book you read this election season.

Preachers, ours is prophetic duty to walk the fine line between being faithfully political while not being politically partisan. A candidate’s name should never be mentioned in public worship. A political party should never be mentioned in public worship. I believe it violates the separation of church and state.  That said, there are political messages throughout scripture that speak to God’s realm and the demands of righteousness. We need courageous and faithful preachers who aren’t afraid to walk the razor’s edge.

What is at stake is the heart of our democracy. If religious nationalism and radical political conservatism win, fascism is our future.

It’s not too late to change that. Everything is on the line.

On The Right Side of History

Pat Liberty

Christian traditions in the United States stand at a crossroad. This is the moment when we need to choose if we are going to be agents of empire or keepers of the Word. This may sound melodramatic, but I am trying desperately to get your attention.

A lesson in history is instructive. According to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum website:

” The population of Germany in 1933 was around 60 million. Almost all Germans were Christian, belonging to either the Roman Catholic (20 million) or the Protestant (40 million) churches. The Jewish community in Germany was less than 1% of the total population of the country.

The rise of Anti-Semitism in Germany was reflective of the dominant culture in most of Europe and had deep roots in Christian history. Misinterpretation of key scriptures seemed to support their prejudices.

After Germany’s defeat in World War I, the rise of Nazism seemed a welcome relief from the Weimar republic. For the most part, the German Evangelical church saw itself as a pillar of German culture and society with a theologically grounded loyalty to the state. During the 1920’s, a movement emerged within the German Evangelical Church that embraced many of the nationalistic and racial aspects of Nazi ideology. Once the Nazis came to power, this group sought the creation of a national “Reich Church” and supported a “nazified” version of Christianity.

The “Confessing Church” emerged in opposition to the nationalist “Reich Church.” Its most noteworthy leaders were Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemoller. These two movements created an ongoing struggle for control of the German Protestant church.  

The Roman Catholic church was not as divided largely because nationalism was not as deeply rooted in Roman Catholic culture.” (Edited for length and clarity)

For the most part the dominant Christian church of the 1930’s made an uneasy peace with the rise of Nazism. Concerned about schism, state interference in church affairs and the rise of “Aryanism,” the church kept its head down and avoided confrontation.

In other words, with very few exceptions, it sold out.

In our time, as we face the rise of religious nationalism and an increasingly fascist political system, churches stand at a crossroad. Will our concern for not pissing people off quell our faithful sensibilities about the demands of the Gospel? Will our unwillingness to speak truth to power eclipse our prophetic responsibilities as people of God? Will our stupid and arrogant notion that “it can’t happen here” blind us to the fact that it is happening here?

The jury is out.

We need to speak out against the Supreme Court’s decision to grant widespread immunity to a president. This, in effect, makes the President above the law. This paves the way for policies that stand in opposition to the Constitution without consequence.

We need to educate ourselves about the Heritage Foundation, Project 2025 and other behind the scenes decisions that are unraveling the heart of our democracy.

Mostly, we need the courage to speak truth to power. To stand firm as followers of Jesus and say no to the agenda of a political machine that seeks to undo decades of progress in caring for our environment, caring for our most vulnerable members of society, and reaching for equality for populations that are “othered.” 

The bizarre notion that America is meant to be a nation for white European descendants, to the exclusion and subordination of all others, dovetails with the rise of religious nationalism. (I can’t bring myself to call it Christian.) A very narrow definition of “Christian” is at the heart of this religious nationalism. It is homophobic, fundamentalist, anti-just about everything and firmly nestled within the political machine. They feed off each other and enable each other’s goals.

Oklahoma now requires the bible to be taught in public schools. You can bet it will be a “bible” that leaves out the verses about justice and righteousness and caring for the alien, widow and orphan. You can be sure that proof texting to condemn homosexuality will roll off the tongues of those who teach the lessons. It is a sure bet that there will be one Christology, one definition of salvation and one understanding of church. Other Christian traditions will be demonized, minimized and ultimately silenced by the onslaught of the joining of (some version) of church and state.

In short, if you aren’t outraged, scared and deeply troubled by what is going on, you aren’t paying attention. By the time the German churches realized where their uneasy peace with Nazism landed them, it was too late. Let’s be on the right side of history this time.  

The views in this blog belong solely to the author and do not reflect the position of any religious institution or church.  

And What of These Years?

Pat Liberty

It seems like yesterday I was sweating bullets on a hot June day, wearing a robe that was ten sizes too big which made me feel even more like the little girl imposter. I was certain the role was right for me, but was unsure of how I would grow into it, because it surely felt far too big for me in those moments, just like the robe I borrowed from the pastor across the street.

I stood knees knocking together as my childhood pastor read my vows and I responded, “I will, with the help of God.” I was pretty sure it was only with the help of God that I had any hope of pulling this ministry thing off in any believable kind of way.

It was forty-two years ago today, the day of my ordination to ministry, the office of word and sacrament.

I knelt in the chancel and felt the hands of all the clergy resting on my head and shoulders as my mentor prayed the ordination prayer. I don’t remember a word of it, but what has stayed with me all these years is the feeling of their hands on my body. It felt like all the history of the church before June 20, 1982 was being infused into my being. I was taking my place with Martin Luther, Desmond Tutu, Martin Luther King, Jr., my childhood pastor, my mentor and the millions who had taken vows before me, whose names I will never know. It was the most humbling moment of my life. I was being entrusted with this sacred office, and with God’s help I would find my way through the myriad of paths, as yet unseen, that would become my ministry.

So, what of these forty-two years? I have been a settled and interim pastor, hospital and hospice chaplain, Executive Director of a non-profit, consultant, seminary lecturer, domestic violence counsellor, advocate for survivors of clergy sexual abuse and a few more things I can’t think of at the moment. At times I have felt like I have professional ADD.

What stays with me, however, is not the jobs or roles I have had, but moments that unfolded in the midst of all of them.

I have raged and cried over the church’s abject failure to be the life-giving radical community Jesus envisioned. I have been rendered silent by moments in and outside of worship that were so holy, so powerful that the only response was wide-eyed awe. I have sat with people as they breathed their last breath and felt the holy silence that comes when breath is no more. I have joined people in their most joyous and meaningful celebrations of life. I have sat with people in their deepest sorrow and faith crises, when all I could do was be with them in the land of no answers. I have railed against the minutiae and bullshit of the church and thought it sometimes survives in spite of itself. It has been a wild and wonderful ride, and it isn’t over yet. For that I am so very grateful.

Every day occasions new experiences of the Holy, whether in joy or sorrow. Life continues to unfold in miraculous, marvelous, mysterious and sometimes very strange ways. This life in ministry is pure privilege. To be invited into someone’s life in their most profound moments is a grace like no other. To stand before a congregation, with the prayer that “the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts (as the old prayer goes) will be acceptable in God’s sight and meaningful to those who people the pews. I get to remind people that cubes of bread and thimbles of grape juice are symbols of the life of discipleship to which we are called. I get to say words of blessing and benediction to the flock that is entrusted to my care for this moment in time. I have the privilege of being called pastor, and every time that word rings in my heart, I am on my knees in the chancel with the hands of those who have gone before me resting on my head and shoulders, blessing me into this life which is the greatest gift I could ever imagine.

Whoever You Are…

Pat Liberty

Each Sunday I open worship at the church where I serve as Interim Pastor with these words: “Whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey you are welcome here.” I never get tired of saying it. Church is (or should be) a place where everyone is welcome. No exceptions.

It never ceases to break my heart when “religious” institutions play judge and jury for populations they deem “sinful.” They proclaim without humility that entire groups of people are going to hell because they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or queer/questioning, intersex or asexual/agender. One sweep of their judgmental broom and millions of people are swept into the dustbin of eternal damnation.

This is the antithesis of what Jesus was all about. And, as the most perfect incarnation of God, this hatred is the antithesis of who God is. Jesus hung out with bums and whores, extorting tax collectors, the poorest of the poor, lepers and adulterers. He loved them, healed them and sent them on their way into a new renewed life based on grace instead of fear.

Jesus turned the world upside down by loving those deemed unlovable by the powers that were. His harshest words were reserved for corrupt political leaders and religious poohbahs who colluded with the politicians to make the already difficult life of the poor even more untenable. Jesus never feared speaking truth to power.

Jesus wasn’t afraid of the power of love to change the world. He died trying to show the world what love could do. He was put to death as an enemy of the state, a criminal, whose only fault was sharing the life-giving love of God with those the world called nobodies.

The church today needs a bunch of leaders who love those whom others are so willing to damn to hell. The church needs a bunch of Jesus-like leaders who aren’t afraid to speak truth to power. In short, the church needs to be the radical, life-giving community Jesus intended his followers to be. As the Rev. Dr. William Barber wrote, “We are either chaplains of empire or prophets of God.”

The church needs a few good prophets who are willing to risk seeing what love can do. Prophets are those who see the way of God with such clarity they cannot keep quiet. Prophets are not clergy, though they can be. Prophets are ordinary people called to extraordinary work because of their faith, wisdom, tenacity and courage. It begins and ends with love. If we can manage that, God will lay out the path. Who’s in?

White Christian Nationalism and Current Politics

Pat Liberty

As I write this, we are on the verge of hearing a verdict in the current trial against former President Trump. He is still facing multiple felonies in other states. I am mindful of the words of Maya Angelou, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.”  Anything less than a not guilty verdict will unleash hateful rhetoric and cries of foul play, which will incite his base of supporters. The potential for violence cannot be overstated.

Riling up Trump’s base will lead to a surge in the entrenched position of white Christian nationalism, and this is dangerous. Working with an accurate definition of white Christian nationalism is important. Often, when people hear the phrase, they think of patriotic Christians. Surely there is nothing wrong with being patriotic and being a Christian. That’s not what we are talking about.  According to Philip Gorski, chair of the Department of Sociology at Yale, “Patriotism is an adherence to the ideals of the United States, and nationalism is loyalty to your tribe and not the country.” The Republican Party has ceased to be a political party. It is a cult of Donald Trump.

Our nation was built on a two-party system that provides checks and balances to one another. Republicans, at their best, check the tendency of Democrats to spend more than is wise. Democrats, at their best, check the tendency to favor big business at the expense of the working middle and lower classes. Of course, it is much more complex than that. This is just an example of how a healthy two-party political system can function. We need a functioning Republican party for balance. What we have is a cult of personality and raging nationalism. It is complicated by the fact that this particular nationalism calls itself “Christian,” when there is nothing Christian about it. 

Christian nationalism plays on people’s fears. They argue that everything that is wrong with this country can be blamed on non-Christians. And since their definition of Christianity is very narrow, it excludes the LGBTQI community, women, people of color, and those with physical and mental challenges. By the time all the exclusions are made, the only ones left are healthy, white males. They believe the United States was founded as a Christian nation and that laws and policies must protect whites. They deny the separation of church and state which is enshrined in our constitution. It is their belief that the re-entrenchment of patriarchy as the interpreter of all things political and Christian, is the only hope for the future of the country.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Christian nationalism is anti-democratic and threatens to unravel more than the edges of our democracy. In fact, it has the potential to shred the whole fabric of our democracy.  The rise of authoritarianism in the political rhetoric of our current situation is more than troubling. The appeal is to groups who feel they have been anointed by God to take political power. All this is toward the end of protecting white privilege. Make no mistake.

Bart Bonikowski, associate professor of sociology and politics at New York University says, “Christian nationalism in the United States is exclusionary and nostalgic, seeing the nation as going downhill and needing to be recaptured by people who seem themselves as its rightful owners—possibly through authoritarian means.”

According to a recent survey from the Public Religion Research institute (PRRI), nearly one third of Americans now hold Christian Nationalist attitudes. And at the center of it all are fundamentalist churches who have been sucked into right-wing disinformation, conspiracy theories and fears promulgated by nationalists. These fundamentalists are told they need to “take their country back.” And indeed, they will–to about 1700.

There is nothing Christian about White Christian Nationalism. It slaps a little Jesus language on a philosophy that is filled with hatred, misinformation, outright lies and a theology that is twisted almost beyond recognition.

What is needed are moderate Christian voices that speak out against Christian nationalism. It takes courage. It requires being informed. It demands a capacity to articulate Christian faith in different terms than Christian nationalists. If we don’t find our voice and use it, we will surely lose it in the cacophony of political agenda baptized with Jesus language. At its heart it harbors a deep desire for political control, exclusive rights on interpreting Christianity and a systematic dismantling of our democracy.   

History is repeating itself. Knowing that gives us the perspective we need to be a louder voice than that of the Christian nationalists. The future of our country depends on it.

The Most Important Book to Read Right Now

Pat Liberty

This may be the most important book you read this year. The False White Gospel, Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True faith and Refounding Democracy by Jim Wallis is a stunning analysis of the religious landscape in contemporary American Culture and its impact on politics. “Wallis is America’s prophet and moral philosopher,” says Otis Moss III, Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ. He is passionately Christian and deeply faithful to the best of what Christianity stands for.

“It is time, says Jim Wallis, to call out genuine faith—specifically the ‘Christian’ in white Christian nationalism—inviting all who can be persuaded to reject and help dismantle a false gospel that propagates white supremacy and autocracy. We need to raise up the faith of all of us, and help those who are oblivious, stuck, and captive to ideology and idolatry.

Wallis turns our attention to six iconic texts at the heart of what genuine biblical faith means and what Jesus, in the gospels, has called us to do. It is time to ask anew: Do we believe these teachings or not? When we see a civic promotion of fear, hate, and violence, we need a civic faith of love, healing and hope to defeat it. And that must involve all of us—religious or not. Learning to practice a politics of neighbor love will be central to the future of democracy in America.

More than ever, the words of Jesus ring, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” From the book jacket

If you read nothing else this year, please read this. New York Times best selling author of The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy (which I also highly recommend) writes, “Wallis sounds the alarm—arguing that the rise of white Christian nationalism is not just another symptom of partisan conflict but a false white gospel that threatens to destroy both democracy and the integrity of white churches.”

Wallis is not one for hyperbole. He writes with fervent passion for scripture, an ability to see beyond what is obvious and a deep concise analysis of the contemporary landscape of religion and politics. This is NOT a partisan book; it is a Christian book. If you care about faith and democracy, this book should rocket to the top of your “to be read” pile. It did mine.

Project 2025, What You Need to Know

Pat Liberty

Project 2025 is a playbook to establish the United States as a rightwing authoritarian state. This is not hyperbole. This is a real thing. Included in their agenda are actions such as “defunding the Department of Justice, dismantling the FBI, breaking up the Department of Homeland Security and eliminating the Departments of Education and Commerce.” (From the 30th chapter of Project 2025, a Mandate for Leadership).

If you’re not scared, you should be. In this “plan” the president would have complete power over quasi-independent agencies such as the FCC, which makes and enforces rules for television and internet companies. Think the end of free speech, diverse communication and independent news. The loss of free speech and independent news outlets is a foundation of the playbook for biased and one-sided communication to stifle opposing opinions to the authoritarian agenda of the next Republican president, regardless of who it is.

Project 2025 offers proposals to deregulate targeted industries, privatize government functions and help American corporations make more money at the expense of American workers, the middle class and everyone except the oligarchs and the one percent. Advances in environmental protection, rights for women and LGBTQI persons will disappear. Science will become the enemy and the planet will suffer in ways that are not sustainable.

The brainchild of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank funded by dark money, Project 2025 will end democracy as we know it. The constitution will be gutted, and free elections will be a thing of the past.

Far right conservatives and the Heritage Foundation have an extensive enemies list that includes “welfare recipients, lazy and liberal civil servants, anti-business regulators, environmentalists, union bosses, scientist, woke bureaucrats and educators, woke diplomats, generals and admirals and who don’t indulge the Republican presidents every whim.” (From the Far Right Has a Plan to Remake America)

According to Michiganadvance.com “America is at an inflection point, vacillating on a knife’s edge because of Trump, who has tapped into a deep reservoir of grievance, hatred and resentment…Trump’s incendiary rhetoric—mirroring Hitler and Mussolini—is convincing observers that he’s a fascist, to add to his authoritarian bent.”

In addition, a number of critics charge, during “Trump’s Revenge Tour,” he and his allies are determined to establish a rightwing, authoritarian theocratic white nationalist government.

This should be a cause for deep concern. Free and fair elections will be a thing of the past, there will be no peaceful transfer of power and the United States will be subject to a sexist, racist, white nationalist agenda for the foreseeable future. Author and legal analyst James Zirin said in an op-ed in The Hill on November 13 “Trump wants to terminate the Constitution to restore himself to power, an insurrectionary act in and of itself. That would be in the hands of the president with neither checks nor balances.”

Alex Aronson, executive director of Court Accountability, a nonpartisan judicial research and advocacy organization, said “Americans should be working assiduously and in concert to confront, disrupt and obliterate this insidious plot. Project 2025 is a plan to destroy the US government. It’s an enormous problem, a huge problem the U.S. government isn’t standing up to this moment. It’s complicated and speaks to some tensions on the Left.”

If you have never heard of Project 2025, you need to educate yourself immediately and take the advice of trusted centrist leaders who can guide us out of this quicksand. If we get into it, there will be no way out.

Can We Please Stop Calling it Christian?

Pat Liberty

Let’s face it, there is nothing Christian about Christian nationalism. So, it’s time we stopped calling it Christian as if it bears any resemblance to the faith and practice taught by a middle eastern man two thousand years ago. Calling it Christian legitimizes it and strengthens its purchase in the minds of those who think the United States was founded as a Christian nation.

It encourages people to envision a “return” to Christian values.

Religious nationalism is a more accurate name, though seeing the followers as religious is a stretch. At least it separates the radical nationalism that is sweeping our country from any connection with the Christian tradition. Religious nationalism is a socio-political power play to put white men in positions of power, roll back rights for women and LGBTQI people and return to a time long ago when women were the property of men. It also demeans other religious traditions and promulgates a distorted view of Christianity. Then they varnish it all with a little Jesus language and call it Christian.

Christian nationalism as a movement has roots that date back five centuries. According to an article in Time magazine, some of our forbears saw America as a “promised land for European Christians. Others saw it as a pluralistic democracy where all stand on equal footing as citizens.” Most Americans favor the latter vision of the United States, while the increasingly radical Republican party clearly favors the former.

Sadly the white Republicans have some ground to stand on. In the fifteenth century a series of papal bulls (which carry the full weight and authority of the church) established the Doctrine of Discovery. According to Time magazine, “the doctrine claims that European civilization and western Christianity are superior to all other cultures, races and religions. From this premise it follows that domination and colonial conquest were merely the means of improving, if not the temporal, then the eternal lot of Indigenous peoples.”

It was just a half step from there to the “Christian” superiority that has plagued our nation from the very beginning. We call ourselves a melting pot nation, but in truth Christianity is still the favored religion and it informs social, national and foreign policy at an increasingly alarming rate.

The “Christian” roots of white supremacy are sunk deep in American soil. From the convoluted theology of a few misguided popes’, unfettered permission was given to seize land, displace Indigenous people, murder those of other religions, remove children from their homes to be raised in “Christian” orphanages and overthrow barbarous nations so they could be brought to Christianity. It is a litany of horrors too long to list and too nauseating to read in one sitting.

The religious nationalism that is sweeping our country is firmly planted in the five hundred year old Doctrine of Discovery. By claiming a legitimate Christian history as foreordained from the beginning, there is no arguing with them over a different vision of America.

In the Time magazine article, a recent pole done by the Public Religion Research Institute in partnership with the  Brookings Institution, the following question was asked, “Do you agree or disagree that ‘God intended America to be a new promised land where European Christians could create a society that could be an example to the rest of the world.’ The survey found that while only three in ten Americans agreed with this statement, majorities of Republicans (52%) and, white evangelical Protestants (56%) affirmed it.”

This movement is not going away. It is growing stronger. The best we can do as Americans is educate ourselves on our history and take away the name “Christian” from its association with nationalism. It seems a small vocabulary change, but words have power. Relegating it the amorphous category of “religious” takes a little of the wind out of its sails. As Americans, it is up to us to shift the narrative and we can’t do that if we don’t know our own history.

A meme on Facebook asked the question, “What did Germans do during the rise of fascism? You’re doing it now.” If we are arrogant enough to think it cannot happen here, is not already happening here, then I guess we deserve what we get. And trust me, it won’t be pretty.

Excerpts from the Time magazine article are from The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and a Path to Shared American Future by Robert P. Jones, published by Simon and Schuster 2023.

It’s Time to Give Shame the Boot

Pat Liberty

Religion in general and the church in particular has done more to perpetuate shame than anything else on the planet. If you were raised in the church, as I was, much of our religious upbringing was based in shame. And much of that shame originates in the third chapter of Genesis, which you can read here.

The thing to remember, however, is that it is not the Scripture itself that intends shame, it is the interpretation that it has received through the years from the church. That’s right. Scripture doesn’t shame. The church shames.

It’s important to distinguish between guilt and shame. Brene Brown writes, “guilt is about what we do, shame is about who we are. Guilt says I did something bad; shame says, I am bad.”

We’ll tackle guilt next week.

From a young age we are taught to be ashamed of many things, but mostly of our bodiliness. We carry shame about our bodies. We are too tall, too short, too thin, too fat, too fill in the blank. And much of it has to do with sensuality, what it means to be sentient beings. To be sentient means to be born with the ability to perceive or feel things. This is not just true of us as humans, most created beings have some level of sentience. 

The verse that is translated in Genesis 3: 10, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked and hid myself.”

There it is. Nowhere does it say Adam was ashamed. Nowhere does it say there was an apple. Nowhere does it say there was original sin. Nowhere does it say there was any sexual behavior. Nowhere does it say being naked was a bad thing. Nowhere does it say there was a fall from grace. Nowhere is the name Satan used, or the word temptation. Bad theology and folk lore have added to the story to the point where it is almost indistinguishable from its original intent.

This story, this myth has been misinterpreted and mistranslated for thousands of years. In truth, it has a very different meaning.

And when I say myth, I mean nothing disrespectful about Scripture. Joseph Campbell describes four sacred functions of myth that help define us in our full humanity.

The first is mystical. Myth opens the heart and the imagination to the wonders of the universe and the mystery of existence. The second is cosmological, humbly understanding that we haven’t got all the answers. The third is sociological. Myths can support, validate or challenge certain social orders. Finally, the fourth function is the instructional function. Myths can teach us to how to live a human lifetime under any circumstances.

The first function of the creation myth is to open us to the mystery and wonder of the universe and of our very existence. It is our human capacity, God given, God installed ability to wonder, to feel reverence and awe. And the fourth, the capacity to live a full and fulfilling life is present in this text if we scrape away all the stuff that’s been piled on it for centuries.

As this text has been misappropriated by the history and the patriarchal institution of the church, it added an essence of shame that simply is not present in the text.

The Hebrew word that is translated into English as afraid, is the word for awe in Hebrew. Adam and Eve were awed by the knowledge and mystery they were able to apprehend from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They disobeyed instruction. And there were consequences. But those consequences in no way reversed the awe and wonder that they were able to understand as a result of that. 

Imagine how differently we all might have grown up if we had been taught that this was a myth that teaches us to be awed at what it means to be human. To be silenced by the wonder of the world as it exists and is recreated with every season. Imagine how different our society and cultures might be if we were taught to reverence our bodies, to allow us to apprehend these miracles. Imagine how different our lives might be if we were taught to be stewards of the mysteries of our bodies, to understand that salvation is not about believing a certain set of doctrines, but living in reverence for the world, one another and ourselves.

The word salvation in Hebrew has the same root word as Jesus. It signifies freedom from what binds or restricts us and thus makes us whole. The Greek word for salvation is sozo which means to bring wholeness.

In case you’re wondering how the church managed to get it so wrong…Augustine is a big part of the answer. He was a north African bishop from the fourth century. His version of the Genesis story is the one I would venture most of us grew up with.

It goes like this. God created paradise for humans to live in, but Eve messed it up by eating the apple and this caused a fall from grace. So now humanity is cursed and there is original sin and it is all Eve’s fault. Therefore, men should control women so they don’t mess things up any more than they already have. Thank you, Augustine.

There are two things that shame needs to flourish: secrecy and silence. The things we are most silent about and are most secret about are most likely the things around which we feel the greatest shame. And it is high time we got rid of shame and lived into the wholeness and joy that God intends.

The first thing to get straight is that shame does not need to be confessed. It needs to be healed. Through the years so many people have come to me to confess that they were abused, or battered, or the victim of something completely beyond their control, or they made a right decision for them that the world would judge. My response is always the same. Shame does not need to be confessed it needs to be healed.

This junk we carry around is profoundly linked to our bodiliness. And the God in whose image we are created loves us as we actually are, not as what we think we should be, the thinner, more loving, more fill in the blanks part of ourselves that seem to constantly fail.

The God in whose image we are created loves us for the holy image that is at the very core of who we are, once we scrape away all the baggage that church, society and family have heaped upon us to make us more controllable.

It’s time to give shame and the patriarchal interpretations of scripture the boot. We are gloriously made in the image of God, and our bodies are to be celebrated and reverenced.

Finding Our Way Through Fear

Pat Liberty

Fear. It’s a universal feeling. Most of us are afraid of something. I don’t mean phobias, like spiders or elevators or heights. I mean clench your gut fear of things like the unknown, death, being alone, getting old and things like that.

What they all have in common is a certain loss of control over life and how we think it is supposed to go. And that’s what makes these other things so scary. These huge fears are things over which we have no control.

Most of the time we can push fears out of our mind, but every now and then they come creeping in and destroy a night of sleep or keep us from focusing on something that needs our attention. Fear generally can make us miserable.

 Fear is a big deal in the bible. It’s one thing we share with people from antiquity. The words “do not fear” or “do not be afraid” appear three hundred and sixty-five times in the bible. That’s one “do not be afraid” for every day of the year. And that’s about the frequency with which we need to hear those words, for there is surely much to be afraid about in this weird and wonderful world of ours.

For the three hundred sixty-five times the bible says do not be afraid, there are a thousand and one things that show us that the truth that God will be with us. That God is with us.

The way home from fear is simply paying attention to what is going on around you.

  • I will be with you…every single day the sun chases away the darkness and light has the final word.
  • I will be with you…there’s a knock at the door and a friend shows up with a meat loaf and the living Christ stands before us in the face of a friend.
  • Spring follows winter and life once again greens the planet and dots it with riots of color in spring buds and flowers. I like to think of it as God painting.
  • That sometimes fleeting feeling of peace that comes out of nowhere in the moments when we most need it. Not for nothing it is called the peace that passes all understanding. We can’t describe it, don’t know how it comes or why it goes, but it is as real as our heartbeat.
  • I will be with you…the gentle exhale that grounds us in the present moment with an assurance that no matter how it all turns out it is going to be okay.
  • There is no place where this life can take us where God is not. Yes, even in the wrenching scenes that cross our tv screens each night, God is there in the relief workers, the first responders, doctors without borders and the pilots who fly the planes dropping food.

When we are paying attention to what is going on around us we are bathed in grace. Everywhere we look is the reminder that God is as close as our slightest whisper. All of our senses conspire to remind us that what goes on around us every day is miraculous.

The daffodils poking out of the ground. The moldy smell of leaves making their way into the cycle of life one more time. The feel of sunshine on your face after days of rain. The clasp of a friend’s hand in our moments of deepest loneliness. The holy silence that binds us to one another when there are no words. The sacred tears that slip down our cheeks in moments too wonderful or too terrible to tell.

We will still be left with unanswered and unanswerable questions, but somehow they are beaten back down to size and made manageable when we look around and realize everything is grace. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”

Frederick Buechner wrote, “Listen to your life, see it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness, touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Do not be afraid.”