Song: What if God was one of us? | Video Short: Liberation Theology |

I've spent the last weekend learning about Restorative Circles. This is gatherings of people where we address an issue at hand by saying what we think and feel, and others listen and repeat back what they've heard. We are looking for the underlying need so that we can find different strategies to meet those needs. It is time consuming.

It is exhausting. It is powerful. It gets at the issues that separate us in ways I have not seen before.

And it leaves me ready for rest.

-Liz

Where is Jesus? Where is Christ?

The world as we know it is burning up. Where on earth is Jesus? Is he in some heavenly cloud-world above us?

The ascension (Acts 1:6-14), with it's "ascend" focus, grows out of a world view where there is a dome over us, the sky, and above that dome is heaven. Similarly below us is the earth, separating us from the underworld, a place of variously waters, fire, a place to sleep or suffer for eternity. While there are changes in the viewpoint from the start to the end of our scriptures, this up-heaven, down-hades viewpoint is fairly constant.

Having explored the skies and dug deep into the earth, Christianity in this post enlightenment time knows that God is not only up, and the fiery, molten core of the earth is not where our bodies or souls go after we die. But we have not found a satisfactory answer to the question of where heaven would be. We continue to read these scriptures without questioning what it means to look up, hoping to see Jesus.

There are groups of Christians that hang onto a "biblical world view" including an earth centric solar system, heaven above and hell below, in some cases even a flat earth. One of my Brite Divinity School professors reports needing to check his children's Texas school books--the text is accurate but the accompanying drawings try to hang onto the pre-enlightenment faith.

Others solve the world view problem by saying "heaven is in our hearts". Heaven is for the peace we feel when we trust in God, when we pray, when we let go of trying to be in control of the world. There are scriptural arguments for this view, although fewer than for the dome theory. One form of belief system is simply escapism; everything is fine as long as I feel okay. But this need not be escapist--we really can do more to improve the world around us if we feel peace inside, trust God, say prayers, and acknowledge the limits to our ability to change others. As a foundation to further action, this theology is quite good.

And I am still left asking: where is Jesus after the ascension? Where is Jesus right now? The angels/messengers in the Acts text tell us to stop looking for him in heaven. The idea that he will return to earth the same way he left--up into the clouds that day, down from the clouds in the second coming--might be an end of the world story a la the Left Behind series. The writer of Acts is probably referencing the coming in the clouds from Daniel. I think that the image of coming down is intentional, and is referring to the coming of the holy spirit in the Pentecost story.

I believe there is no need for a further coming. Jesus is here now. Not so much "among us" as literally Jesus is us. The church, the people of each congregation, are literally the Body of Christ. The hungry, thirsty, naked, strangers, sick, and in prison of Matthew 25 are literally the body of Christ. This is not some self-aggrandizing messiah complex; not one of us individually can be what Christ has done. It is a community, together, that is Christ.

Which honestly is enough to make me want to go back to the dome theory, to tuck Jesus neatly into a sky-bound throne. Because if we are the body of Christ, then we have a lot of work to do. Who will create the Kingdom? Christ will. Who will release the captives? Christ will. Who will forgive our sins? Christ will. Who will comfort us, heal us, protect us, listen to us, who will cover is with their wing like a mother hen? Christ will. And where is Christ? To quote Chrysostom, Christ is two places, the church and the poor.

All of those things will happen to extent that we do the work to make them happen. None of us can do it alone, all of us must do it together.

The challenge of this belief is that no one is coming to save us. The beauty of this belief is that we are going to save us. This is very hard work. And also, this is very good news.

What is your church doing, or thinking about doing these days? How are you being here in your particular place? Just reply to this email to let me know what's happening. ​
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Joan Osborne and What if God was one of us?

Did you ever want to explain Liberation Theology to others? Here's a 1:36 video explaining it by Alexia Salvatierra.

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