I woke up this morning to this meditation from the Center for Action and Contemplation. I get it every day, and you should too. There are such beautiful centering pieces from a broad range of authors who — like us, family — are working to heal the world with love. Imagine my joy to see this gorgeous image and then my words underneath, alongside wisdom from Sojourner Truth.
In this piece, I am wrestling with how what we think, say, preach, write, and sing about God shapes our personal stories and our society. Below is an excerpt from CAC published.
“It makes sense that because white men created so much of religion, the image of God was an old white man with grey hair. However, this image needs a makeover because he’s no longer working.” — Jacqui Lewis, “She Is Love, She Is Love,” the Mendicant.
Oppressive images of God lead us to limit and even exclude ourselves from the divine image.
We know, despite preaching and teaching to the contrary, that our God is not on the side of oppression but on the side of freedom and justice. We know our God is a revolutionary lover who came as one of us to teach us how to love. We know that any Christian practicing the tools of empire is not Christian and that Christian nationalism is not about Christ but is about propping up the empire with God-talk.
What I am saying is this: Some of us are walking around like the god of the oppressor is our God. Oh, we’re talking about liberation, but we have not freed ourselves…. Our pulpits preach too much about who is out. We fear questioning the way the world works because we might leave ourselves out. We’ve forgotten Ubuntu — that we are inextricably connected, and that we are indeed our siblings’ keepers…. Let’s turn away from the theologies that cause us to keep others in chains.… As an act of prophetic resistance, we need to boldly reject theologies that contradict God-is-love.
In her famous speech advocating for women’s right to vote, the abolitionist activist Sojourner Truth (1797–1883) emphasizes the strength and power of women, as well as the critical role of women in God’s plan for salvation: I want to say a few words about this matter. I am a woman’s rights. I have as much muscle as any man and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that?.. I can carry as much as any man, and can eat as much too, if I can get it. I am as strong as any man that is now…. I can’t read, but I can hear. I have heard the bible and have learned that Eve caused man to sin. Well, if women upset the world, do give her a chance to set it right, side up again…. How came Jesus into the world? Through God who created him and the woman who bore him. Man, where is your part? But the women are coming up blessed by God, and a few of the men are coming up with them.
CAC is our partner in the movement for love, justice, and family. Father Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest, is the founder and my friend. I’ve helped launch two of his books, worked closely with amazing young women who graduated from the Living School to do some work with young adults, and have taught on faculty at the center. CAC produces my Love Period podcast. This partnership is one of many we have with amazing humans and the institutions they run across the country.
We understand that the violent, vindictive, capitalistic, white-supremacist, homo- and trans-phobic, misogynistic, anti-science ideologies that some folks put in the mouth of God are untrue and will destroy us all.
And we are loud that God is Love. Just Love. Period. Love will liberate us!
You’re invited into partnership with us. No matter where you live, what you do for a living, how you name God, or if you don’t believe in God — that you are reading this means you belong to us, to this movement, in this movement. Your vision, passion, your voice, and vote matter. Your volunteerism and investment matter! Together, we who believe in freedom can make a “Kin-dom” of love on earth.
If you already consider Middle Church your home, come through. Our restored TownHouse is amazing! The online worship looks and sounds beautiful, too! If you are looking for a place to call home, a place in which you are encouraged to have a theological adventure with a God whose name is Love, we are waiting for you. There is room for you here. This is what you will find: music, art, justice, seekers, children and families, queer and straight folk, a multi-ethnic band of seekers, weeping, laughter, prayer, love and joy.
Come partner with us, be in community with us. We’ll make a better world for all of us. Together.
Love,
Jacqui
Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis is senior minister and public theologian at Middle Church in New York. Celebrated internationally for her dynamic preaching and commitment to justice, she champions racial equality, economic justice, and LGBTQIA+/gender rights. Featured on MSNBC, PBS, NBC, CBS, and NPR, she is the author of several books, including “Fierce Love” and the “Just Love Story Bible.” Countless individuals and communities have been inspired by Lewis’ transformative work on her podcast, “Love Period;” in columns and articles; and on stages, in churches, on the street, and in digital spaces around the globe.