from "Spirit & Truth" magazine
Liberated &
liberating spirituality
Rev. Dr. Durrell
Watkins
“Hysterical fundamentalism is not the way
into the future; it is the last gasp of the past.” Bishop John S.
Spong
Christianity isn’t for me the
passport that allows entry into an afterlife Paradise (could there be a more
selfish reason for practicing any religion?!). Christianity isn’t for me the
veneration of Jesus’ brutal execution (which I in no way attribute to a divine
plan). Christianity isn’t for me the hope that Jesus will add magic to my life
like a genie in a bottle granting wishes. Christianity isn’t for me an
invitation to accept fear, shame, and prejudice and call them virtues. These
tired, oppressive, and failed ideas have been replaced in the Christianity that
I embrace today by a desire to work to create a world of peace, plenty, and
equality, the “kin-dom of God”, which was, I believe, the hope and the mission
of Jesus. For Christian spirituality to liberate us, we may have to liberate it
from notions that no longer serve the greater good.
I pray for liberation
in my thinking, in my emotions, in the way I live my life, and liberation
for
all bound by fear, shame, or injustice. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment