I would rather be...

‘Oh Lord, I wanna be in that number
when the revolution comes.’ from ‘O when the saints…’

I would rather be the one beaten
than the one doing the beating
I would rather be kind and betrayed for it
than the one too mistrusting to be kind

I would rather welcome the refugee and migrant
than the one turning them away
I would rather love and suffer for it
than to not suffer being too fearful to love.

I would rather own up to the sins of my people
than deny them in the hope of not paying for them
I would rather be ridiculed for being privileged
than to deny it and hide behind its thick walls

I would rather be merciful and suffer for it
than be right and not suffer at all
I would rather be vulnerable and hurt for it
than be protected from all hurt and all wrong.

I would rather be welcomed by the homeless
than lauded in the corridors of power
I would rather be identified by the invisible
than praised by the highly esteemed.

Would I really?
I can say it, but that’s not where it matters.
Where it matters is ‘can I live it?’
Not alone, I know, not alone.

Do Muslims and Christians believe in the same God?

The question has been posed elsewhere whether Christians and Muslims believe the same God. Since the issue is a contentious one and has a history of sparking more than enough bloody crusades, it is one worth deliberating on.
This is my take on the subject.

No question, Christianity and Islam have two very different and at times conflicting theologies. And very different sacred texts.

The issue for me is the question of who answers when either a Christian or a Jew (who likewise don't believe Jesus to be God's Son) or a Muslim, or an atheist cries out to God.
I believe in all instances, the living God responds, not because he is correctly identified by the one crying out, but solely because of God's person, infinite mercy and love.
If having the right theology were a pre-requisite to God's answering our prayers, it would be a rare thing that anyone's prayers would be answered.

But we all know people who despite not sharing the same theology as ours, have their prayers answered.
We all know people who despite not having the right theology have the capacity to love in a way only the Holy Spirit can.

True we do well to know Jesus, to draw on his example, witness and Spirit to encounter and reflect the Living God, but if God is truly the God of all nations, and his house the house of prayer for all nations (see Isaiah 56 verses 6,7,8) - open to all who genuinely cry out for his help, then we can say, despite conflicting theologies, that the God who answers is the one true God.

There is no other.

Not white like me

Not white like me

Jesus isn’t white like me,

he’s not the colour of white oppression

he is black and beautiful

even though we lynched him

and left him hanging on a tree.

The colour of Jesus

is the indigenous woman

brown and beautiful

found raped and murdered

by the side of the road.

There is the white Jesus smiling 

from a thousand stain glass windows

on our forefathers who beat their slaves

and on us who beat down anyone  

who defies our Jesus who is white.

But this Jesus of stain class windows

Pane by pane is crashing down

As do all the false messiahs

Half truths, shards of broken glass.

Where is Jesus to be found?

Among the oppressed hidden. Listen.

Live the words he is saying.

Pray the lament he is praying

Share the breath and dignity

of the hurting people he sustains.

Breathe deeply to feel

his liberty

his justice, mercy

and peace.

January 17, 2019 inspired by James Cone's 'Said I Wasn't Gonna Tell Nobody'