Universal Gospel

I've been thinking a lot lately about incarnation, universalism/universal salvation, and how the Gospel is all around us. I hope to turn this into a series. I've been noticing some stories, songs, movies, etc. that are Gospel without trying to be. 

I used to work in the Christian music business (which is now essentially dead aside from worship music. Now I don't (or try not to) see any difference in the sacred and the profane. God can be found everywhere, and God is absent nowhere. (Is that too concrete of a statement to make?) As Christians our faith is incarnational - it relies on God inserting himself into our world. 

Richard Rohr says it this way, "God loves things by becoming them."

I want this series to be about getting our heads out of the clouds and simply looking around us. If we pay attention we'll see the Gospel all around us in people and creation. The creation is good, right? And humanity? VERY good.

This will be centered around things I notice that are consistent with Jesus' teaching about the heavenly kingdom on earth. The stories and topics here might (will) conflict with the Epistles, Old Testament stories, original sin, and a host of other things that are in the Bible. I'm looking at these things through a Jesus lens, not a Bible lens. 

Maybe you'll be uncomfortable with it. Maybe I'll be uncomfortable too? The stories might be gritty - you know, cursing, violence, etc. I think it's worth wrestling with tough topics. I love the Jewish concept of Midrash, which is the act of wrestling with and interpreting scripture. I hope that what I write about will be written in good faith, submitted in the mindset of Midrash, and not just me trying to be provocative, etc.

Some Thoughts on Universalism

Something I’ve been thinking about as I ponder universalism and the notion of Christus Victor and if/how they’re related; 

As God had been revealing itself to the world in Israel, and most clearly (Christians believe) through Jesus, are we really to believe he may not have been at work in other places through other means of revelation? The world was full of people and civilizations that didn’t have ways to communicate and connect.

If God starts revealing itself in Japan or undiscovered (haha) America through nature, etc. would he be expected to stop or change direction when Christ embodies Jesus across the world in Israel?

Before and while Israel was developing, there were civilizations in Africa, Greece, China, and other Asian, African, European, and Middle Eastern locations developing. We can't be expected to believe God wasn't revealing itself to these disconnected peoples, right? These cultures had religious/spiritual practices. Are we to believe they were completely misguided and lacking divine inspiration? Are we to believe that they were completely off the mark until the 1st or 2nd Century, when Christianity began to spread? And are we to believe that it was spreading as God would want it to since it had become the "official" religion of an empire? There's some deep irony in the fact that organized Christianity first experienced its steepest growth and acceptance when it was co-opted by the empires of Constantine and Rome.

These kinds of questions are why I have a hard time with Christianity (or anything) being THE way. It's my way. It's how I can relate to whatever God is. But I feel the need to preserve or allow the dignity of other groups who relate to God in different ways. I'm going to keep swimming in my lane because it's what I know and it works for me and I don't see any sense in starting over with something else. I'm a head over heart person. I don't have any mystical experiences or feelings that keep me in. What keeps me in is that the message of Christ and that the trajectory of the story in the Bible bends toward justice and goodness - and frankly, flips power dynamics upside-down.

I haven't ever participated in a Unitarian Universalist service but I don't feel like I could vibe with it, even though I feel like much of their approach to the spiritual world may mirror mine. I can better relate to teachers like Brian McLaren, Brian Zahnd, Richard Rohr, David Bentley Hart, Rachel Held Evans, Stan Mitchell, NT Wright, Rob Bell, and Pete Enns, etc. who are able to frame Christianity in an inclusive lens.

Evangelism / proselytizing seems like a Western thing, and almost a natural result of colonization. “We’re taking over your land. Be like us. Assimilate. Including our God. Do it, or else.” As I’ve looked around a bit I don’t see many other religions with the drive to get others to convert. Mostly I see people trying to be their best selves in relation to their view of God and their neighbors, which is a universal Good that absolutely meshes with Christianity.