I sometimes think there is an unwritten agreement for church
membership. We are to put our brains out
of gear at the beginning of Advent. We are to sing and listen to selected readings
from scripture, but no theological inquiry is allowed until the decorations are
safely packed away. It is during Advent
and Christmas, the most celebrated season of the year, that we seem to
substitute a theology about Jesus for
the theology of Jesus. We talk more about who he was than what he said and did. This leaves me wondering, What is a proper theology?
I used to think theology was something stored away in my
books. Week by week, I would take one off the shelf and look for something
fresh and interesting. I would dust it off and preach it to my congregation. I
knew I was successful when people filed out after church saying, “Thank you Reverend,
That was fresh and interesting.”
I know better now.
Theology is not in my books. Theology is in you, whoever you are. It is known in how you live and how you relate
to your fellow human beings. You don’t
learn theology in church, you discover it as you live in the world.
I used to think “church” was something we did up front in
the sanctuary. I know better now. You don’t come to church, you bring church
with you when you come.
I think it was John Calvin who said something like, theology
is the spectacles though which we see God.
Maybe so. But I don’t believe that any more. Theology
is the spectacles through which we see the world as God intends it to be.
My fear is that what I learned in seminary was a fixed
theology. I studied until I got it right, went out as a young pastor and dished
“it” out one spoonful at a time until my sharper church members also got it
right. I invited the world to come and get it. I had it and the world needed
it.
I now believe such thinking is short sighted. Theology is not something we have, or get or
even something we believe. It is something we do. It is something learned by following the
teachings of Jesus and if we don’t do
our theology, it makes little difference
what we believe.
If we want the world to take us seriously, then we must show
Jesus to be relevant and that we are faithful.
Jesus teaches such things as “love you enemies, turn the other cheek, go
the second mile, feed the hungry, defend the weak and set at liberty those who
are oppressed.” When the world sees us
doing these kinds of things, we might then claim a proper theology.
Now, what does all this have to do with a blog dedicated to
justice and peace for the Palestinians? Just this. We go to church week after week while our brothers and sisters in Palestine are persecuted,
and we hear very little, if anything, about it.
Our theologians tell us that we must present “both sides” in
the name of fairness. I confess; when
families are driven out of their homes in the middle of the night, I cannot see
another side. When children are deliberately frightened by
soldiers with guns and clubs until they cannot sleep, I cannot see another
side. When people are denied access to a doctor or hospital at checkpoints, I
cannot see another side. When water is confiscated and shipped out of Palestine and into Israel , when settlers are allowed
to shoot holes into rooftop cisterns, I cannot see another side.
What I can see is
that until the church speaks up, in a loud and clear voice to defend the
oppressed and humiliated, we have no theology worth sharing.
“But the church is doing so many things right,” I am told. This is true.
However, if all parts of my body function just right and only one tiny
clot forms on my brain, I am not 99%
healthy, I am 100% sick. If the church
does everything else just right, but fails to defend the weak and oppressed, we
are not almost healthy, we are totally sick.
So, what is a proper theology? Jesus got it right. “Love God and neighbor.“ And who is my
neighbor? The one who needs my help. He
said nothing about taking someone else’s home so he might come again (Christian
Zionists) or that Yahweh might fulfill a promise to one set of chosen people, (Jewish
Zionists) over any other people.
A proper theology is not just saluting the “General", and
admiring his medals, It is following the General’s orders. It means looking at our
world through the spectacles of God’s love. If the church doesn’t speak up,
somebody else will and as soon as that happens, the church will become
irrelevant.
Thomas
Are
December
20, 2014
