The Colour of Jesus

During the years I was in pastoral ministry I would, from time to time, invite groups, whether bible studies or "exploring your faith/confirmation" classes to ponder their visual image of Jesus. Did they have a notion of what he looked like? To help the conversation I would provide a number of different images from through the ages and around the world. Sometimes I would put them on the walls around the room and invite them to stroll around and then choose one. There would be a Black Jesus and an Asian Jesus, Christ crucified and Christ as monarch, usually a dozen or more.

Somewhat to my dismay the most popular image of Jesus was the one which many of us know from our childhoods,  a 1940 painting by the American artist, Warner Sallman. It depicts a glowing, mooney, white guy Jesus. I've often joked that with a shave and a haircut and a good tailor this Jesus wouldn't look out of place on Bay Street or Wall Street. Even teens would opt for this one because it was most familiar from their Sunday School days. I would happily be part of a cat burglar team which spirited these images away from churches, never to be seen again, although my climbing-through-windows days are long gone.



How did the brown Jewish peasant of the first century morph into this? That question is being asked these days, more than ever, as the white privilege of our society, including Christianity is being challenged. We have literally made Jesus in our image, sometimes in a benign and banal way, as did Sallman. But there are also the haters, such as the KKK and White Supremacists who want Jesus to be white because in some warped logic it justifies persecuting those who aren't.. A few days ago several men in camo gear with assault rifles "stood guard" over a statue of Jesus on a church lawn, an obvious response to Black Lives Matters protests and marches. What are they protecting?

Does every racial group need to see Jesus from the perspective of its skin colour as well as  culture and even gender? He was born a Middle Eastern male, yet he represents the humanity of every person of every background.

I wonder whether when we are allowed to be together again we need to do our own walk-around of the images of Jesus and ask what it means to see him through different eyes. It could prompt some worthwhile discussion about race, and privilege and who we perceive Jesus to be.

Oh yes, I would also include these images from an article in Popular Mechanics from 2002 called The Real Face of Jesus. Even though this was supposed to be an approximate reconstruction of a first century Palestinian face, it was hardly ever chosen by participants in those groups.

Searching for King David

King David -- Marc Chagall

We were having a low-key conversation about empires not long ago, a result of the regular and shocking evidence that the nation to the south of us is coming unraveled, despite claims about "Making America Great Again." So much about empires depends on the hype and who tells the story. I commented to Ruth that I grew up with the impression that the biblical King David who lived roughly a thousand years before Jesus was a big cheese, and he certainly is in the bible. Jesus is described as being of the "house and lineage of David" and there is no doubt that the drama of David's life, from shepherd-boy-makes-good, to rebel with a cause, to troubled monarch who is too big for his spiritual britches is the stuff of legends.

I didn't realize until my seminary days that while David is vital to our Judeo/Christian story he was more of a character actor than a bonafide star on the world stage of his era. Some scholars have argued that neither David nor any of the other patriarchs actually existed. At first that unsettled me, but then I appreciated that this didn't really diminish the timeless aspects of the David story for my faith.

I came upon a New Yorker article about David -- yet another one -- which explores the tensions in the scholarly world, which are often quite adversarial. The two principals in the debate are Finkelstein and Garfinkel, who I thought were a  folk rock duo of the 1970's. Ruth Margalit's piece In Search of King David’s Lost Empire describes Finkelstein's take on the flawed monarch:

 

Their leader is a wily, resourceful man from Bethlehem, who decides that his people are meant for more than lightning raids and mercenary stints. He sends his men to rout an advancing force, then shares the loot with the highland elders. This wins over the highlanders, and, in time, they make him chieftain of the southern hill area. He takes over the tribal center of Hebron, and later captures Jerusalem, another hilltop stronghold. The chieftain moves his extended family to the main homes of the Jerusalem village, and settles in one himself—a palace, some might call it, though there is nothing extravagant about it. He rules over a neglected chiefdom of pastoralists and outlaws. His name is David.

Israel Finkelstein’s vision of King David—the vagabond, the racketeer—helped make his career as an eminent Biblical archeologist

 

Later in the piece Margalit describes Garfinkel's perception of David:

Garfinkel argues, David led an unprecedented political transformation. In a region surrounded by autonomous city-states, he slowly forms a kingdom. He builds a city, establishes a tax system, fosters a court of scribes. To confer legitimacy, he brings an old relic, known as the Ark of the Covenant, to Jerusalem, where it helps to anchor a centralized cult. His son erects a palace, large enough to store a year’s worth of oil and wine, and a temple, built from Lebanon cedar overlaid with gold.

“David was the greatest genius who ever lived between the Mediterranean and Jordan,” Garfinkel told me. “So what do they do? They come in and erase him. In a thousand years, no one will know who Garfinkel or Finkelstein or the minimalists are, but they will all know who David is.” Garfinkel has called his discovery of Qeiyafa “a death blow to minimalists.”

Here's what I figure. David existed, and while we can't be exactly sure of who he was or what he accomplished, his importance within Judaism, Christianity, and Islam endures. He will be remembered long after the Emperor Orange is just a make-up smear in the annals of history.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/29/in-search-of-king-davids-lost-empire



David with the Head of Goliath -- Caravaggio

Continuing Prayers for Hong Kong

Hong Kong protest a year ago

Last year there massive protests in Hong Kong over new laws which would essentially nullify the agreement between Britain and China when the territory changed hands. This legislation would create restrictions for citizens of Hong Kong and stifle criticism of the totalitarian regime. The protests were large and peaceful at the outset, and the Christian churches were actively involved in supporting the protestors. Eventually there were violent confrontations between Chinese troops brought in to quell the protests and the more militant protestors. An easy calm ensued.

Recently the totalitarian Chinese government (to say it is communist just isn't accurate) passed laws which were even more severe, leading to the departure from Hong Kong of a number of activists. Despite international condemnation, the legislation will go into effect in September. The US government, Canada, and other nations have ended agreements which were preferential to Hong Kong, which has annoyed Chinese leaders -- what did they expect? Britain has stated that they would welcome large numbers of Hong Kong citizens as residents because China has abrogated the agreement of 1997.

What about the voices of Christians in Hong Kong in response to what has transpired? Not every Christian group adopts the same stance, and the Anglican church has maintained close ties with the Chinese government in order to continue social justice work. But an article in Christianity Today offers this:

In one of many responses by Hong Kongers, hundreds of theologians, pastors, and church leaders signed a statement accusing the draft decision of “further depriving Hong Kong of freedom and human rights.” The Christian leaders accused the Chinese government of destroying its promises and undercutting the city as an international financial center.

 

At a time where, quote, “darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, we fearlessly and solemnly declare the following confession and promise to our society, including our full embrace of the Gospel of the Kingdom, our sincere repentance towards the Church’s shortcomings, our absolute refusal to authoritarian government, and our determination to walk together with Hong Kong society.” the statement said.

 

As Hong Kong heads to the fall, the church could use prayers “for guidance and clarity for church leaders and Christians in Hong Kong and how we're going to walk this path. Because I honestly have no idea what's going to happen next,” said Ann Gillian Chu, who is completing her doctor of divinity at the University of St. Andrews in the Center for the Study of Religion and Politics and who has written widely on the theology of Hong Kong’s protest movements.

 

As much as we have domestic concerns in the midst of a pandemic, we must pray for the citizens of Hong Kong, for those who are still active in resistance to oppression and for the challenging situation Christians and churches find themselves in.

 

Comments?

Worship in a Wierd World

Let's be honest, the commandment to "remember the Sabbath day  and keep it holy" hasn't been observed in secular Canada for decades now, even though it is one of the lengthiest and most detailed  There are a bunch of reasons for this, including the reality that even for religious people in our pluralistic society the equivalent of the Sabbath may be Friday, or Saturday.

For nearly four months now Sunday worship for even the most devout has been...weird. For a long time we weren't allowed to physically attend at all, and now the permission to gather is provisional. Many congregations will continue to worship virtually, often with a very different format. It's possible to watch a service on days other than Sunday, and who cares if you're in your PJ's or have the family pooch on your lap?

Most of us miss coming together to hear the Word, sing the words, and share our meal of faith. Good things do happen in alternative formats, but something seems lost in translation when we can't see, hear, and sometimes smell our brothers and sisters in Christ.

All this said, here is the link to Trenton United Church and the worship possibilities for this week. I'm one of the presiders, while Rev. Isaac is on vacay/staycay, with links to my visual and print message. Dianne provides music while wife Ruth shares a prayer from the bow of a canoe. Please join us!

http://trentonunited.ca/

Frederick Douglass & the 4th of July

Last evening the venal, self-aggrandizing excuse for an American president pulled a "reality TV" stunt, celebrating the 4th of July from Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. Just about every aspect of this event was tone-deaf. The monument is on contested sacred land for the Lakota people and the carver had strong ties to the Ku Klux Klan. Two of the four presidents portrayed, Washington and Jefferson, owned a number of slaves (124 and 600+) and Jefferson fathered children with at least one of them. To ice the cake, guests at this shindig were not required to maintain physical distance and there was a "uge" fireworks display in the midst of tinder dry conditions.

Millions of Americans were appalled by this spectacle and lots of Christians denounced it and Trump's message for the race-bating mess it was.

At the same time many racialized leaders were calling for a more reflective recognition of what it means to be American by turning to the words of a former slave of the 19th century, the great orator Frederick Douglass. In one of his speeches, which were often sermons because he drew heavily on scripture and biblical imagery of freedom for all peoples, he notes that for White Americans Independence Day is akin to Passover a celebration of liberation. He eventually asked the question , "what to the slave is the 4th of July?' This question resounds in the present day when Indigenous peoples, Blacks, People of Colour are asking what equality means in the United States.

As Canadians of faith we can be in solidarity today with American brothers and sisters who will be offering an alternative to the disastrous direction a great nation is heading. Many of them will be engaged in prayer and we can pray with them.

Here is a paragraph from Douglass's speech made 168 years ago before a group of abolitionists, those working to end slavery:

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.

 

 

Six Grandfathers before Mt Rushmore carving commenced in 1927

 

 

Lift Every Voice

 

 

 

 

Lift ev'ry voice and sing
'Til earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list'ning skies
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on 'til victory is won

 

Stony the road we trod
Bitter the chastening rod
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died
Yet with a steady beat
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered
Out from the gloomy past
'Til now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of…

 

God of our weary years
God of our silent tears
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light
Keep us forever in the path, we pray
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee
Shadowed beneath Thy hand
May we forever stand
True to our God
True to our native land

 

Lift Every Voice and Sing

James Weldon Johnson, J. Rosamond Johnson

 

Several major sports leagues are lurching toward reopening play, including the National Basketball Association. In keeping with the current emphasis on racial justice and equality the plan it to play a song sometimes termed the Black National Anthem before Game 1 for each franchise. The piece is called Lift Every Voice and Sing, and I have to admit that I'd never been aware of its significance before this announcement, although I have heard it.

Lift Every Voice and Sing was first performed on the birthday of Abraham Lincoln in 1900 and the words are inspiring and spiritual. It was written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson and set to music by his brother, J Rosamond Johnson. It is a celebration of freedom, a recognition of the hardships of slavery, and a hymn of praise to the God who guides us all. It is patriotic but puts God first as the source of strength for the journey. There is a sense of the biblical exodus in that final verse..

Here is an amazing contemporary rendition of Lift Every Voice.and Sing. Such talent! Such youthful exuberance!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qRhteE1fzc

Justice for Migrant Workers

I realize that I have written many blog entries on migrants, refugees, and migrant workers through the years of this blog. They are usually from our current context but the bible is full of stories about migrants.

Think about Joseph and his brothers, Abram and Sarai,  the exodus from Egypt,  the story of Ruth and Naomi. Of course in the New Testament it is Jesus' family with their flight to Egypt. There are actually many other stories which shape our biblical narrative which involve people on the move for economic and political reasons, famine and war and fear of violence.

During the pandemic we've been aware of migrant workers in a different context. A few months ago politicians realized that those who come to Canada seasonally are essential to our economy, picking the crops which we have been able to take for granted in our grocery stores and on our tables despite the disruptions and turmoil all around us.

The decision was made to allow thousands of workers from Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean nations into Canada to do this work that year-round citizens don't want to do. These are people who are dedicated workers without whom we would be in a lot of trouble. Yet we have treated them poorly through the decades with high expectations, generally low wages, and sub-standard accommodation. There have been some improvements in conditions and pay over time, but we don't have anything to brag about.



Rogelio Muñoz Santos, a 24-year-old from Chiapas, Mexico, was admitted to Erie Shores Hospital in Leamington on June 1 with breathing difficulties, and transferred to an ICU in Windsor the next day. He died in hospital on June 5. (GoFundMe)

Now we hear that migrant workers in this country have been hard hit by COVID-19 and an area of the province is still in Phase 1 of the coronavirus response because there are hundreds of afflicted workers. Sadly, three have died, a terrible reality for families thousands of kilometres away.

The provincial government has come up with a plan for those who are documented, providing support through illness and return to work, demanding better conditions for workers. . But there are thousands of workers who are undocumented, earning less than minimum wage, provided with little or no protective equipment, and with the threat of deportation if they can't work because of illness. It is a miserable situation.

These circumstances should be cause for concern for Christians in Ontario as a matter of justice and compassion. It is deeply connected to the story of our faith and we can ponder what is happening every time we enjoy produce that is seasonal, local, and fresh. Surely these are people who deserve all the protections of this country when they are putting food on our tables.

Thoughts?

Happy Canada Day!

"A Mari usque ad Mare" or "From sea to sea," has been Canada's official motto since 1921. It is taken from the Old Testament of the Bible, Psalm 72, Verse 8: "God shall have dominion from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth."

Yesterday we searched out our Canadian flag and hung it in our front yard in anticipation of Canada Day. For us it is an important gesture, although in the past couple of years we've all become aware of the toxic threat of hyper-nationalism around the world. Often this includes "pledging allegiance to the flag" as though there is some magical power in a piece of cloth. For some this fealty is a justification for vilifying those perceived as strangers, the "other." Their supposed patriotism becomes an excuse for arrogance and hatred.

For us this version of the Canadian flag,  which was created in controversy during our childhoods,  is not and cannot be a symbol of superiority and exceptionalism, as is too often the case. It is an invitation to gratitude for the rich blessings of our lives which in many respects come through the accident of birth. That gratitude is shallow unless we choose to look to the wellbeing of others because we have been blessed.

In this country it must mean a renewed commitment to reconciliation and reciprocity with First Nations and other Indigenous peoples. It means celebrating the contributions of immigrants and redoubling our efforts to welcome refugees. It means choosing governments which provide leadership on the world stage for justice and peace.

In the end, though, our first allegiance is to Christ, not to any flag or nation. If we ever forget this then our understanding of the gospel has been perverted and we have become idolatrous.

Well, happy Canada Day. We're not having a stay-at-home Canada Day. We are heading out to paddle on a lake surrounded by pines on a glorious summer day. Thank you, God, for the richness of our lives, from sea to sea...to sea!