God in Action
Liberation Theology
Week 1: God in Action
Saint Basil, was an influential theologian that lived in the mid to late 4th century. Basil defines sin as, “the misuse of powers given us by God for doing good, a use contrary to God’s commands.” If sin is a “misuse” or abuse of God-given power, then oppression in any form is most certainly a sin. Oppression is defined as the "malicious or unjust treatment or exercise of power, often under the guise of governmental authority or cultural opprobrium” (Wikipedia).
2020 was a year of intense learning on all levels. On all levels--individual, church, municipal, federal, and global—we are being forced to acknowledge harsh truths. Broken and oppressive systems that have existed for centuries are being exposed.
God cares about and is active in the face of injustice, and so should we. Christians like to minimize suffering. We claim that it is “all part of God’s plan,” or that “everything will be perfect when we can just get to heaven!” These hallow claims not only cause more harm to those who are suffering, they also allow us to neglect our role to love our neighbor. As people of faith, we are called to partner with God liberating all God’s people.
The Neighborhood is a faith community that seeks to “question everything, love God, and love neighbor,” we cannot do this by sitting idly by, inactive in the face of injustice and suffering. Missouri UMC was established to serve Mizzou and its students. Yet, the relationship between the church and university was damaged severely when the church failed to take a stance during the outrage of Vietnam and the Civil rights movement. To avoid repeating the mistakes of our church’s history, this community commits to: learn from the history of our church, identify systems of oppression, and our relationship with those systems, and partner with God to cease acts of oppression within our community.
In the book, God of the Oppressed, theologian James Cone states “a community that does not analyze its existence theologically is a community that does not care about what it says or does. It is a community with no identity.”
We strive to be a community that identifies with God, the very God that liberates and sides with the oppressed.
Crew Discussion Questions:
Why do you think the church seems so unconcerned with injustice?
What do you think about Basil's definition of sin?
What do you think of when you hear “God in Action?”
How do you think we can partner with God in Action?