The Poor & Poor in Spirit
I'd like to share with you this morning what brought me to this call and what I've learned along the way as a pastor. At 23 in 1994, I walked away from the Christianity handed to me. You could call me a deconstructionist OG. A crucial reason why I left was that I felt the Christianity given to me was too silent on issues like racism and poverty. In fact, when it wasn’t quiet on these matters, it came down on the side of the wealthy and the powerful. I didn’t see Jesus. And how I wanted to see Jesus!. Dr. Martin Luther King’s work and words were my first glimmer of a more liberative approach to the Jesus way. And then as a 27 year-old undergraduate – yes, I was on the 10-year college plan – I took an upper-level class simply called “Christian Theology.” Dr. Mary Cunningham introduced us to Dr. James Cone and liberation theology. Some two years later, I’d be in Dr. Cone’s Systematic Theology class at Union Seminary! Liberation theology spoke loudly, and I heard it...