I Never Expected This… What An Honor!

Well I didn’t win a noble prize… but another blogger and frequent guest to my site has awarded me with this GBA award!!! Speechless. Well I don’t want to thank God first for the inspiration, my Mom and Dad who believed in me, my wife for all her support, and all the other little people who made this possible!

Thanks Pam (from Notes Along the Path blog) for joining the cypha over at freestyle theology and for your generous award!

Transformation Vs. Information

Have you ever ran into somebody who could quote the Bible like nobody’s business and simultaneously cut someone to pieces with their words as if they were a child of the devil? How is this so? How is it that someone can be so mean and nasty, while still having such a strong foundation in God’s Words?  Is it possible to be grounded theologically and to master the biblical text, while not bearing the likeness of Christ?

If so, maybe it has something to do with how we read our bible.  It seems very easy to read the bible only to gain knowledge and build up more information in our heads.  However, it is a completely different task to engage the bible spiritually, allowing God’s Word to shape and mold you into a new creation.  How do we read these inspired words in a way that it forms us into a people that reflect God faithfully as his children?

Is our biblical reading for transformation in our lives and communities or is it just more information that we can wield and use to impress others?  Are we allowing God’s word to master us, letting it rearrange our lives to be in line with Him, or do we try to master God’s Word so that we can use it for our purpose and for our own agenda? Freestyle with me…

The Weightier Matters


I remember when I was moving into my new house in Philly last October and I invited a bunch of people over to help me move. I sent out a general invitation to a bunch of people, but I also specifically asked a few  friends who are big and strong to help as well.  There were some heavy and weighty items that needed to get moved into the house and I had these folks in mind. Funny thing is, there always seems to be that one person who you asked to come because you wanted them to carry the heavy stuff, and instead they are carrying the lightest stuff out of the truck, while some of the ladies are slaving over heavy items as they break their backs. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful for every item that gets taken off the truck, everything needs to get inside the house.  Nonetheless, there are some main pieces that need to be moved that I had in mind for that person to move.

Christians have often done the same thing, we miss completely what God desires from us, and are all worried about the little stuff. God has called us to do Justice and show mercy, and we completely ignore those parts of the faith. We completely miss the weightier matters of our faith, because we are too busy majoring the minors.

Matthew 23:23
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.”

Skye Jethani speaks on the legitimacy of one’s ministry

Watcha think?

Freestyle Theologians – Men of Issachar


You may have been wondering “What does it take to be a freestyle theologian? What are the skills required to do engaging freestyles for the 21st Century? Well there are two basic requirements for doing good theology (in my opinion). One of them are obvious, however the other might not be so obvious.

I’ve always believed that we all need to have a good understanding of what God wants from us. We need to be a people that are thinking about God. Specifically about what God has done in the past, helping us to understand what God is doing now, and what He will continue to do. In some sense, we all need to become unofficial theologians (meaning we don’t all have to go to school for theology). We all need to be taking the time to understand how God is at work today, and how He has revealed himself and is working through His son Jesus. We need to be thinking about the nature of the Spirit and how it unites us, empowers us, and guides us. We are all called to reflect on God’s mission for us in community.

I’m also a firm believer that we need to be students of society, culture and people. We need to be able to understand the trends, interpret systems, and be relevantly engaged with the culture of the community we serve. What do people eat? Where do they hang out? What’s the music? What are the needs of the community? Who are their role models? What do they think about Christians? Basically, we all should become unofficial sociologists (again not necessarily going to school for it). Some might think this is unnecessary “hype” in an attempt to be “cool”. However I understand this attempt at being contextual to be directly drawn from incarnational ministry. Jesus came down and became like us in every way. Paul talked about becoming all things to all people to win them. Yet we refuse to even take the time to understand our neighbors. We are all called to reflect on the culture and society in which we want to see subjected under Christ’s Lordship.

A great example of both unofficial theologians and unofficial sociologists were the Men of Issachar. In 1 Chronicles 12:32 we see that they were “men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.” They understood their situation, context, and cultural problems, while simultaneously having the answers for those problems that were relevant and appropriate for their context.

A Glimpse of Heaven


Revelation 7:9-10
“After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’”.

Looks like we will all be in heaven together after all… we might as well get a head start learning how to get along. How and where do we begin to find our unity, while still affirming this beautiful diversity described?

Singing the Blues…

Mark 15:37 – “With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last”.

Freestyle with me…

Getting Off Theological Welfare

From 1619-1865, I imagine that the African slaves that were either on route in the middle passage, standing on the auction blocks, or in the burning hot cotton fields of Alabama were doing theology. Yes, they wanted to know if God was present when they were being whipped, if God’s love could sustain them through another raping, if God valued the life of the young man who was castrated after receiving too much attention from a white lady. They wanted to know if they could call on Jesus in the midst of their suffering, and would he be there. Would he liberate them from their slavery and oppression? Simultaneously, the slave masters were also doing theology. They wanted to stress that it was by faith alone that one was saved, and not by works. They pondered on whether it was worth improving someone’s life on earth, which was needy, when this life was temporal. They theologized on the priority of eternal salvation over temporal earthly relief. Volumes of “Classical theology” were written in this time, emphasizing the need to save the soul of the Negro, rather than improving his standard of living.Theology has never been a neutral or universal practice. Theology has always been done from a context and perspective.

Our theology can never equate the knowledge of God; we are finite and limited beings, while God is infinite and limitless. We cannot offer up an infinite, limitless, and universal gospel, our finite, limited, and contextual selves will not allow it. For the last four hundred years, those who have been the most rich, powerful, and main stream have offered up a “universal theology” that is good for everyone. Yet this universal approach did not have an answer for those who were chained up like chattel crossing the mid-Atlantic. It did not have a theology developed for the 5000 lynching’s that took place post slavery. And it still does not have a theology developed for the unequal education, housing, health care, employment opportunities, police brutality, prison sentences, and discrimination that many people (especially of color) in urban centers live with year after year.

My beef is not with the Bible; actually I really believe that it is the answer. Rather it is with the interpreters that conveniently “overlook” the passages permeated throughout the whole bible that speak on justice, liberation, and empowerment, while only interpreting the things that are beneficial for their particular context. It would actually not be that bad, except that it has been forced down upon us as “Universal Theology” for all people in all contexts and situations. When black people share a different perspective, it gets labeled black theology, Latinos do it and it gets labeled Latin Theology, when Asians do it is called Asian theology, yet somehow when white folk do theology it translates into “universal theology” because it lines up with what other white men in the 1500’s said which somehow is called “classical theology”. It is as if white theologians are conveniently unbiased as they read the bible, and they get to referee as we all take a shot at it. They get to decide who is in bounds and out of bounds. And surprisingly, every time someone questions the injustice and oppression that often caricaturizes the systems they live in and benefit from, that person has left universal truth. This is not an attempt to claim all white people are racists, nor is it to dismiss the authenticity of some people’s faith journey. What it is though, is a challenge for us to get off of theological welfare. That is the theological dependency that we have grown accustomed to because of our laziness of not doing our own theology.

We continually wait for the next “IT” book. At one time it was the Prayer of Jabez, then it was Purpose Driven Life, and I am sure there is another one by now already. We wait for these Pastors from Mega-Churches in the suburbs of Texas to tell us how we are to live, and how to be successful, how to fulfill our desires, and what God’s purpose is for us. Yet they do not know our context, our community, our story, because they are limited by theirs. That is not to say that they cannot say anything meaningful, but it would be even more relevant to your life for you to read and interpret for yourself. For you are able to interpret the bible for yourself as well you can interpret your context.

Better yet, read and interpret in community with others. Since none of us are capable of attaining knowledge equal to God because we are all finite in our attempts. We can allow our strengths to pick up where others miss, and where we miss others can catch with their strengths. When we allow “iron to sharpen iron” we can all hopefully grow in our journey together. Just imagine if the slave masters and slaves got together and eagerly sought to learn from each other. Where would we be today? It all starts by each of us doing theology by reading and interpreting scripture while also fully understanding the context and realties that surround us.

Making Trouble…

Rugged Cross I was really struggling the other day and continue to do so. When I talk to a lot of Christians I feel like I am always “edgy” to some degree.  And I begin to wonder if I really ought to be so controversial.  I mean, we are the body of Christ, so why am I always stirring the pot. At times, it can seem devicive. And so I must wrestle with myself and my role I often play among the body of Christ.

On the other hand, I read about Christ according to the four gospels.  And Jesus while very much a loving person, was constantly creating moments of tension, acting out at times, and at times infuriating some of those around Him.  It seems clear that Jesus’ philosphy was comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. The religious, political, and economically powerful of his time were always being challenged whether directly or indirectly.  Jesus preached a sermon, and afterward they were so offended they wanted to throw him off the cliff.  He went to Jerusalem (the big show) and first thing he did was go into the temple stirring up trouble.

His motto for his followers was extremely radical, “take up your cross and follow me”.  We water that down now in our time, because most of us do not relate to the threat of being crucified (similar to being lynched in post civil war times in America) because you are a Jew under the control of a larger empire. Mere subversive words, let alone action, could have you hanging on a tree. I could go on and on… my point is that Jesus was extremely controversial (especially with the powerful and comfortable).

I guess I struggle with what this calls us to in our time and context.  I know exactly what would logically be concluded as our proper response to imitating such a radical leader. I pretend like I don’t know the answer in hope of not wanting to be held accountable for not living up to that standard. Yet the call to follow Christ remains steadily before me.

Compared to many Christians I feel controversial, compared to Christ I feel Cowardly.  Freestyle with me… are you a trouble maker (and for what cause)? Or rather do you think we should all go along so that we can all get along? Finally, after mediating on Jesus’ example left for us, does that impact or shape your response?