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I've been thinking a lot about a "personal relationship with Jesus" and here's what concerns me most:
What if cultural focus on a "personal relationship" confuses worshipping whiteness with worshipping God? /1
What if cultural focus on a "personal relationship" confuses worshipping whiteness with worshipping God? /1
All relationships with Jesus Christ—personal and public—require communal acts of love and justice, and collective care.
And what really disturbs me is how personal salvation is offered as a placebo to make people content with worldly suffering. /2
And what really disturbs me is how personal salvation is offered as a placebo to make people content with worldly suffering. /2
"As long as you have a personal relationship with Jesus, it doesn't matter if you have a knee on your neck."
God is not a pacifier, and faith should never be offered as a substitute for justice. It cuts against the very heart of the gospel: For God, salvation is collective. /3
God is not a pacifier, and faith should never be offered as a substitute for justice. It cuts against the very heart of the gospel: For God, salvation is collective. /3
The Exodus isn't a story about one person's escape from bondage: God delivers the community.
Likewise, Jesus doesn't call his disciples so they can individually be saved—he invites them to participate in the broader story of liberation from Roman oppression. /4
Likewise, Jesus doesn't call his disciples so they can individually be saved—he invites them to participate in the broader story of liberation from Roman oppression. /4
Liberation is a communal process. Full stop. We are not saved until everyone is saved. And we catch glimpses salvation by participating in this universal story.
Our relationship with Jesus, therefore, is *both* intimate and public, personal and communal. /5
Our relationship with Jesus, therefore, is *both* intimate and public, personal and communal. /5
But a personal relationship with the real Jesus calls us to accountability and to public acts of love and justice.
And too often what we're offered instead is white individualism dressed up as gospel. /6
And too often what we're offered instead is white individualism dressed up as gospel. /6
It's crucial to stress just how recently this obsession with "personal relationship" was grafted onto Christianity.
It's an invention of the past few centuries—one that coincides with the rise of predatory capitalism not by accident but by design. /7
It's an invention of the past few centuries—one that coincides with the rise of predatory capitalism not by accident but by design. /7
If what matters most is a "personal relationship," then we can be sanctified while our neighbor starves.
And this would be a very foreign religion to a messianic Jewish leader born in first-century Palestine. /8
And this would be a very foreign religion to a messianic Jewish leader born in first-century Palestine. /8
When asked what matters most, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy: "Love your God and love your neighbor as yourself."
Because it's never been about you. Or about me. It's about *us.*
And any "personal relationship" that obscures this truth is a call to serve a different power. /9
Because it's never been about you. Or about me. It's about *us.*
And any "personal relationship" that obscures this truth is a call to serve a different power. /9
