A Practical God

Hi friends! I’m not sure if you’ve listened to my conversation with Dr. Quanny Ard on The Protagonistas podcast (published February 16), but I’ve been thinking a lot about our conversation recently—particularly the idea of a “practical God.” I often talk about how in many circles of evangelicalism there’s more of an idea of God or an idea of Jesus than a fully embodied, holistic Jesus.

This reminds me of the time a pastor that I used to know (who used to--from what I think--respect me before I began talking about women or racism in the church) reached out to me, wanting to ask me questions about my faith shifts. I'll never forget one of his questions, namely, if I could “pie chart spiritual and physical freedom.” “Which one is primary?” he asked. I responded that I cannot pie chart my spirituality, my faith in Christ and especially not the way I live it out. Of course, he was frustrated by this and asked me to tell him which was more important, if I would lean one way or the other. I reminded him that I believe faith and spirituality is holistic. The reality of Jesus and the kingdom of God affects all aspects of life and this dualistic, either/or, "what's more important?", thinking is how we got into this mess in the first place…

Throughout history folks have prioritized the "spiritual" aspect of Christianity and minimized the physical aspect of it. This is dangerous! As it has led to the justification of all sorts of evils. As we know, slave masters were able to tell enslaved people that it was okay that they were enslaved, that it didn’t matter what happened to their physical bodies as long as their spiritual selves were in good shape.

Whew, I cannot reconcile this with the life of Jesus whose ministry was shaped by practical things like actually feeding the poor and physically healing people.

There’s an example I like to use, which I use in Abuelita Faith about the parable of San Lazaro or the poor man Lazarus that sits begging at the rich man’s gate. They die, and Lazaro goes to heaven while the rich man goes to hell. In the parable, the rich man then  asks Abraham (who is in the presence of Lazaro) if he can send Lazaro to hell to give the rich man a drink. This is a powerful parable! And message that deals with the consequences of overlooking the poor in life--a physical reality, right? Well, I kid you not, my first few years of seminary and oftentimes my conversations in white evangelical spaces centered around the notion of an afterlife when this parable was brought up. Time and time again I noticed that privileged folks were far more interested in constructing a theory of whether folks in heaven or hell can see each other or talk to each other--rather than actually dealing with the poor.

I remember thinking how absolutely pointless these conversations are. I think about it now when I still see folks arguing over things that have no real bearing on actual physical bodies, on hungry bodies, exploited bodies, dying bodies. And I admit, I used to love these conversations, too. it made me feel spiritual while also dislodging me from any real responsibility in the world.

And I think this speaks so well into my conversation with Dr. Quanny: about Black maternal discrimination. About the fact that Black babies are 3 1/2x more likely to die in their first year of birth and Black mammas are 4x more likely to die during pregnancy compared to non-hispanic white babies and women. As Dr. Quanny mentioned, if we are people who say we care about our neighbors and want to see God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, then we should care about these statistics because I believe God cares about these statistics. I believe God wants all folks to flourish and it's our job as Christians (who believe in an embodied God who put on flesh and walked among us) to do what we can to educate ourselves and others, to raise awareness and to advocate and offer support where and when it’s needed.

But we cannot do that if we first don’t believe in a practical God.

In my conversation with Dr. Quanny I also brought up a professor i had in seminary: Dr. Kyong Jin Lee. Dr. Lee is a brilliant Korean Hebrew scholar who grew up in Bolivia. She is a multilingual and multicultural theologian and scholar who after receiving her PhD in biblical studies decided to get a Master's in economics because she argued that Christians should be interdisciplinary. This reminded me of the countless amount of folks I knew in my evangelical days (including myself!) that just wanted to “do ministry” or work in churches, believing that formal ministry work or church work was the only important thing, but as we know, we don’t need all leaders and professionals shoved in churches.

We need Christians out in the world, taking their heart for justice and God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven to everyday spaces: in doctor’s offices and in the courtroom and in restaurants.

I believe fighting for justice and equity in these spaces is sacred and holy work.

So, anyway, all of this to say that I encourage you and us, wherever we find ourselves right now—whatever job, whatever community, whatever city or state—to hold on to a practical God and live into this God who is intimately connected to the real, the raw, the lived experiences of folks made in God’s image.

May we educate ourselves and learn and be aware about all the ways injustices affect our realities including the realities of Black mammas and Black babies so that we can be holistic (not pie charted) followers of Jesus—so that all of us as a community of image bearers can flourish and live into God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.