{"id":1698,"date":"2012-03-30T05:00:59","date_gmt":"2012-03-30T09:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/carlgregg\/?p=1698"},"modified":"2014-12-29T21:28:34","modified_gmt":"2014-12-30T02:28:34","slug":"practice-resurrection-progressive-christian-theology-for-easter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/carlgregg\/2012\/03\/practice-resurrection-progressive-christian-theology-for-easter\/","title":{"rendered":"“Practice Resurrection”: Progressive Christian Theology for Easter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Photo Credit: Carl Gregg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

As Easter approaches, I invite you to consider that we should worry less<\/em> about what people say they believe happened one Sunday morning 2,000 years ago and more<\/em> about we are living as if resurrection still happens.\u00a0Along these lines, Clarence Jordan, one of my heroes and a twentieth-century Christian saint, said,<\/p>\n

The proof that God raised Jesus from the dead is not the empty tomb, but the full hearts of his transformed disciples<\/em>. The crowning evidence that he lives is not a vacant grave, but a spirit-filled fellowship<\/em>. Not a rolled-away stone, but a carried-away church<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Clarence Jordan\u00a0(1912 \u2013 1969)\u00a0was born in Talbotton, Georgia in 1912, the seventh of ten children. The Jordans were active member of the local Southern Baptist church. At church Clarence was taught a vision of racial equality (\u201cRed and yellow, black and white, all are precious in God\u2019s sight\u2026\u201d), but he was increasingly bothered that these lyrics were in stark contrast to the racial discrimination he regularly witnessed outside church walls, not to mention the racial segregation on Sunday mornings.<\/p>\n

After graduating high school, Clarence earned a degree in agriculture from the University of Georgia, then a Ph.D. in the Greek New Testament from Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He felt called to take Jesus\u2019 demanding words in the Sermon on the Mount seriously. As his days of formal schooling were ending, plans began to take shape to found a community to be called \u201cKoinonia Farms,\u201d named after the Greek word for \u201cfellowship or communion.\u201d\u00a0He sought to unite his twin passion for agriculture and scripture with his commitment to radical Christian discipleship. It would hopefully be, in Clarence\u2019s words, a \u201cdemonstration plot for the kingdom of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1942, Clarence, his wife, and another couple purchased 440 acres of land in Sumter County near Americus, Georgia about three hours south of Atlanta, but trouble came almost immediately.\u00a0From the beginning they had put racial equality into practice by inviting the workers on the farm to eat together, irrespective of race.\u00a0 This choice quickly spurred the local Ku Klux Klan into action. There were many caustic encounters with local racist residents, and one of his favorite questions for those with loyalties to their southern heritage was, \u201cYour choice seems quite clear.\u00a0 It is whether you will follow your granddaddy or Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

He commanded respect because he was so willing to put his life on the line for what he believed in, and he was famous for his pithy retorts, which helped diffuse tension even as they prophetically critique the status quo. One famous example is when a pastor showed him an expensive cross the congregation had just purchased for the steeple, Clarence replied, \u201cYou got cheated. Times were Christians could get them for free.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Koinonia Farms, in time, became Koinonia Partners, which eventually birthed Habitat for Humanity International<\/strong> under the leadership of Millard Fuller, who was deeply inspired by Clarence.\u00a0Clarence died in 1969 not long after the first Koinonia Partners house was built, but the legacy and challenge of his life live on.<\/p>\n

I invite you to hear again to his words: \u201cThe proof that God raised Jesus from the dead is not the empty tomb, but the full hearts of his transformed disciples. The crowning evidence that he lives is not a vacant grave, but a spirit-filled fellowship. Not a rolled-away stone, but a carried-away church.\u201d Again, what I take away from this quote is that we should worry less<\/em> what people say they believe happened 2,000 years ago and more<\/em> whether we are living as if resurrection still happens. The question is, \u201cHow are we partnering with God today in transforming despair into hope, apathy into compassion, hate into love, and death into new life?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The contemporary prophet Wendell Berry similarly challenges us to \u201cPractice resurrection\u201d in his poem \u201cManifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front<\/a>.\u201d Here\u2019s a taste of this poetic and prophetic masterpiece:<\/p>\n

So, friends, every day do something
\nthat won\u2019t compute. Love the Lord.
\nLove the world. Work for nothing.
\nTake all that you have and be poor.
\nLove someone who does not deserve it.
\nDenounce the government and embrace
\nthe flag. Hope to live in that free
\nrepublic for which it stands.
\nGive your approval to all you cannot
\nunderstand. Praise ignorance, for what man
\nhas not encountered he has not destroyed.<\/p>\n

Ask the questions that have no answers.
\nInvest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
\nSay that your main crop is the forest
\nthat you did not plant,
\nthat you will not live to harvest.
\nSay that the leaves are harvested
\nwhen they have rotted into the mold.
\nCall that profit. Prophesy such returns.<\/p>\n

Put your faith in the two inches of humus
\nthat will build under the trees
\nevery thousand years.
\nListen to carrion \u2013 put your ear
\nclose, and hear the faint chattering
\nof the songs that are to come.
\nExpect the end of the world. Laugh.
\nLaughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
\nthough you have considered all the facts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is so much more to this wonderfully provocative poem, but I continue to be most drawn to the closing line:\u00a0\u201cPractice resurrection.\u201d What would it mean, not to \u201cbelief in the Resurrection,\u201d but to practice resurrection<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Peter Rollins has a powerful monologue<\/a> that speaks to what it might looks like to practice \u2014 or fail to practice \u2014 resurrection. Rollins begins with the intentionally shocking assertion that,<\/p>\n

Without equivocation or hesitation I fully and completely admit that I deny the resurrection of Christ. This is something that anyone who knows me could tell you, and I am not afraid to say it publicly, no matter what some people may think.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After a dramatic pause, he continues,<\/p>\n

I deny the resurrection of Christ every time I do not serve at the feet of the oppressed, each day that I turn my back on the poor; I deny the resurrection of Christ when I close my ears to the cries of the downtrodden and lend my support to an unjust and corrupt system. However there are moments when I affirm that resurrection, few and far between as they are. I affirm it when I stand up for those who are forced to live on their knees, when I speak for those who have had their tongues torn out, when I cry for those who have no more tears left to shed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jordan, Berry, and Rollins are all pointing out that it is less<\/em> important what people say they believe happened on a Sunday morning 2,000 years ago and much more<\/em> important whether we are partnering with God to practice resurrection today. <\/strong>This Easter, these prophets are challenging us to ask, \u201cHow are \u2014 and how are we not<\/em> \u2014\u00a0following Jesus\u2019 example of caring for the poor and of building the Beloved Community?<\/p>\n

As we seek to practice resurrection right now in this world<\/em>, I can think of no better celebration of a Progressive Christian theology of Easter than Allen Ginsberg\u2019s famous poem, \u201cFootnote to Howl,\u201d which invites us to a celebratory, life-affirming, visceral embrace of holiness in all things:<\/p>\n

Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy!<\/p>\n

The world is holy! The soul is holy! The skin is holy! The nose is holy! The tongue and hand holy!<\/p>\n

Everything is holy! everybody\u2019s holy! everywhere is holy! everyday is in eternity! Everyman\u2019s an angel!<\/p>\n

The bum\u2019s as holy as the seraphim! the madman is holy as you my soul are holy!<\/p>\n

The typewriter is holy the poem is holy the voice is holy the hearers are holy the ecstasy is holy! . . .<\/p>\n

holy the unknown and suffering beggars holy the hideous human angels! . . .<\/p>\n

Holy the sea holy the desert holy the railroad holy the locomotive holy the visions holy the hallucinations holy the miracles holy the eyeball holy the abyss!<\/p>\n

Holy forgiveness! mercy! charity! faith! Holy! Ours! bodies! suffering! magnanimity!<\/p>\n

Holy the supernatural extra brilliant intelligent kindness of the soul!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This Easter, may you open your whole self \u2014 heart, soul, mind, and strength \u2014 to God\u2019s inspiring call to new life and renewed love. May you feel God luring you, prompting you, and encouraging you \u2014 each day and in each new present moment \u2014 to practice resurrection<\/em>.<\/p>\n

For Further Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n