Social Responsibility

In Isaiah 58 we get a picture of what true fasting is about. It is about a revolutionary transformation that leads to increased social responsibility-- Unloosing chains of injustice, clothing the naked.  As a liberal pentecostal I believe that I have responsibility to engage my community.  Not to just witness good news, but to actually be good news to someone in need. This is in contrast to some Pentecostals I know who think everyone stands or falls on their own, who just need a good dose of "Jesus" to be okay.  There are unjust systems and policies that exclude people (usually people of color, people who are poor, or who are undocumented). It is our systems, not the people in them which are the barriers to a full and abundant life.  I am so tired of individuals being blamed for their plight. Do I think that individuals have responsibility (yes!!!), but I have gotten to know people who are poor or marginalized and I realized that they are good people who are trying hard, but the systems in which they are trapped keep them oppressed.

These are the very things we are to fight against.  As it stands now I see many of my Pentecostal brothers and sisters criminalizing people who are poor as spiritual sluggards.

How have we let the gospel get usurped by American Values which are not biblical (e.g. rugged individualism, blaming the victim, social anemia)?  I see a gospel which is deeply concerned for the poor, the downtrodden, and the marginalized. Often the very people in American society who are reviled by the church. Please God help us return to you and the "least of these" you refer to in Matthew 25. 

What is a Liberal Pentecostal

In this discourse, there is no way to stay completely away from politics although this is not primarily about politics. I think of someone who is liberal as someone who favors reform and progress, not maintaining the status quo or wanting to "conserve" something from the past. A pentecostal is a Christian who has a persuasion that is open to the power and the gifts of the spirit.  I am both--hence the name of the Blog. I'm tired of my voice being usurped by the dominant conservative voice among pentecostals. One thing that deeply concerns me is the fact that there is a Christian voice that suggests a "good" Christian is one who is conservative and Republican. I'm an independent because I believe that Jesus' teachings and the Kingdom of God transcend Politics in America. 

What bothers me is the hybrid of American Culture and Christianity that most Christians in the USA call Christianity. For some people in the church, there is an ideology that is primarily political, and the church has become a vehicle to support that political belief.  And whether or not someone attends that church is whether that pastor's sermons pass the litmus test of being "correct" in the political sense. This ideology is not based in the gospel, rather it is a political belief.  Jesus' teachings are so radical, they neither fit nicely in either one of the major political parties in the USA. 

My citizenship is in the Kingdom of God, not primarily in the USA.  That is why I have what would be considered liberal views on immigration reform.  I believe that someone from Mexico who wants a better life is just as much my neighbor, brother or sister as someone who lives on my street.

Jesus criticized the religious establishment, and then went out and invited all who would come--"the least of these" to dine with him.  That is why I have what would be considered liberal views on social policy because I believe a society has a responsibility to help support, the poor, the downtrodden, and the mentally ill. 

More to come...