Good News for Some

I am studying right now - a Masters in Theology and Transformative Practice - it is exciting because it informs what we do. In my last lecture with Professor Robert Beckford, I learnt about the ‘Slave Bible’ - the Bible that was given to Black slaves. A concern of the Christian slave owners was that if they converted their slaves, they would then need to be free. So what did they do? They handed them a Bible that was not the full story. Parts of the Bible that speak of freedom, challenge and liberation were removed. It shook something in me, that those that have the power to edit the Good News drastically impact what we learn about the Gospel.

My immediate reaction was shock. Visually, the different Bibles looked the same. It was made to look the same so that people wouldn’t question. It made me sick, it made me angry and it made me suspicious as to how this exists today. I recognised that this is not just something in the past but it is something that is present now - in fact, it may even be more subtle. There is no physical evidence that we can point to when we look at the culture, language or lived out theology in a church.

The churches that I have sat in all have a slight bias based on what they consider to be of importance in their reflection of church. I have seen focus on revival, on mission and on sung worship - each makes sense within the context but it is only part of the Gospel.

The scary truth is that if you are listening to the sermon or singing the worship songs or praying the prayers, you may not know that you are being told a limited Gospel. You are forming an image and understanding of God that you don’t even know is not full.

If all you are told is that the Good News is good to those who look a certain way or have a certain way of being in the world, then it is only good news if you are like those people.

The theme that I am noticing is that those in pain, those in bondage, are not represented in the Good News. They are not given space within church. Yet stories of people in the Bible, such as Hagar, are present and convey who God is. Hagar is a woman written about in the Old Testament who is often talked about as the person who willingly sleeps with Abraham to give him the child his wife can’t give him. But the reality is that she was owned by Abraham and forced to sleep with him. She had no choice and no agency and she runs away. Yet God finds her. This tells us that God is there with those who are abused, violated and used by those with power. God says that he sees her.

I personally find Christmas really hard - lots of memories and circumstances that mean I am often filled with dread rather than joy. Numerous times, I have tried to create a service at church for those who may feel the same. I want them to know the truth of the Gospel, that Jesus came for those in pain and that ‘Emmanuel, God with us’ includes those living in the darkest night of their soul. Whenever I have proposed it, I have been confronted by people who could not recognise the need for that understanding of the Gospel. To them, Christmas equals joy and happiness, not despair and pain. So it was not added to the service list nor the Christmas flyer. This decision communicates that there is a way to behave at Christmas, there is an expectation of what the Gospel in real life means and what it requires of those who consider themselves to be Christians - Put that smile on your face because your pain is not welcome here.

I am not ok with that message being told - whether directly or indirectly, whether noticed or unnoticed. The reason why I struggle with it at my very core is because we are limiting God to what we want him to be. We want to make God fit with the message we want to tell about what being a Christian in our church community looks like. And that is the same as Christian slave owners limiting the Gospel so that their experience of life is able to stay the same.

Jesus himself, the walking-round-human-version of God, did not limit himself to be with the people of power but he was found with those in pain and those who were stuck and lost. This Gospel does not ignore pain nor injustice but walks right up to it, talks to it and shakes the foundations on which it is built.

If you are a part of church ministry, I would encourage you to look at the sermon series you have chosen in the last year, the emphasis of your content at prayer gatherings and group meetings. I don’t know if you know the potential damage you are creating in the choices that you make. There exists an indirectly spoken narrative that can begin to form that communicates that the Gospel is only relevant to some people who are living a certain way. If you do not know about another lifestyle or circumstance that is different to your own, talk to people and be curious about what Good News looks like to them. Not having lived it is not a good enough excuse. The Gospel is big enough to hold everyone and it is when our restrictions and our limitations are present that we reduce it. Perhaps the part of the Gospel that includes the stranger, your complete opposite, is the part that will bring you liberation or even liberation to all.

Take a closer look.

For us that listen and watch the Gospel being taught or shared - be aware, be curious about what you are hearing. God gave you a brain and God speaks to you. It is good for you to question and analyse what is being said on a Sunday or on social media. It isn’t sinful and it isn’t you losing your faith, it is God being revealed to you.

The Good News should be, and is, Good News for everyone.