Jesus Christ: The Light in our Darkness (November/ December 2006)
by
Viola Larson
Jan L Richardson, in the opening
devotional of the November/December 2006 issue of _Horizons,_ lauds the
helpfulness of darkness_._ In her article ‘Darkness,” Richardson encourages
her readers to embrace the darkness of the Advent season. She explains:
We require darkness for birth and growth: the seed in the ground, the seed
in the womb, the seed in our souls. In the dark lie possibilities for
intimacy, for rest, for healing. Although we may find journeying in the dark
fearsome or confusing, it teaches us to rely on senses other than sight. In
the process we learn that darkness bears the capacity for good, even as evil
can take place in broad daylight.
As I read this beginning piece in a Christian magazine that features
articles about social justice, I was reminded of all the scriptural
references to light. That is, references to Holy Light, the Light that is
Jesus Christ.
Just as Richardson is giving praise to that in which we languish rather than
praise toward that for which we look and long, the articles on social
justice focus away from the most basic foundation for Christian compassion.
The authors and editors instead focus on praising the works of humanity.
Although interesting, and some of them are very interesting, they are
missing Jesus Christ and his work of redemption.
The call to social justice can only be validated in the life of the
Christian because of the death of Jesus Christ for sinners. ‘For by grace
you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. _For we are
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand so that we would walk in them_.” (Eph 2:8-10) The lack of the
true foundation for Christian advocacy and vocation leads to a Christianity
merged with other ideologies which will eventually lead to idolatry. There
are many examples of such a diluted Christianity in this issue of _Horizons
_andI will focus my review on the troubling aspects of a Christian activism
which rarely acknowledges its Lord.
Mixing Christianity with Marxism
Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty in her article ‘Until Every Need is Met: Christian
Women Working for Justice in the Early Twentieth Century,” provides a vivid
example. She features three women involved in the social gospel movement.
The first person she highlights is Vida Dutton Scudder (1861-1954).
Hinson-Hasty points out that Scudder attempted to merge her Christianity
with socialism.
Scudder believed that socialism could come to the rescue of Christianity as
the church attempted to fulfill its call to care for the needy, the sick,
those in prison and the oppressed. And she also believed, as Hinson-Hasty
puts it, ‘Christianity would supply socialism with a soul.” Scudder’s
idealism encompassed both her high liturgical beliefs and her views about
socialism Her Christianity, void of any absolute belief, merged with Marxist
socialism which Scudder believed could be improved, not by the Lordship of
Christ, but by the moral ideals of Christianity.
Gary Dorrien, Professor at Kalamazoo College and author of _The Making of
American Liberal Theology: Idealism, Realism, & Modernity 1900-1950, _writes
about the conflicting tensions of Scudder’s ideology and theology. While
rejecting substitutionary atonement she idealized the cross and saw it as
the focus of history. 1 At times she held a Marxist ideology of
revolutionary need while holding to a timorous pacifism. At one point she
turned to a kind of ‘inner asceticism” and as Dorrien puts it ‘Politically
she took encouragement only from the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, which
she called the one thrill of hope the world spectacle afforded.”’
Dorrien goes on to write, ‘In her private oratory she placed a red flag
beside the crucifix; at mealtime she prayed, We have food, others have none;
God bless the Revolution.”’2 But Dorrien tells of the disillusion that she
finally faced. He writes:
For twenty years she flirted with communism, insisting that the Soviet
revolution marked a great leap forward for humanity. She embraced a morally
absolutist pacifism but also embraced the expansionist aims of the armed
Communist movement. She came late to the realization that Soviet communism
was not a Russian version of her socialist hope. The ongoing defeat of that
hope in the 1920s and early 1930s made her lonely and extremely frustrated.3
While Dorrien goes on to explain that Scudder found comfort in the
sacramental aspect of her Anglican faith the problem of a diluted
Christianity still existed. And it should be pointed out that it is not the
ideology of Marxist Communism mixed with a liberal Christianity that is the
basis of the problem. Several evil utopian ideologies, including Marxist
Communism and Germany’s National Socialism, arose in the last century
drawing poorly grounded Christians into their complex systems. The attempt
to do good in the name of human ideologies merged with a diluted
Christianity void of the Lordship of Christ is the problem. Without the
Lordship of Christ in our lives we are all open to false and deceptive
ideologies. Even under the Lordship of Christ we must continually submit to
his word since we are still sinners by nature.
Mixing Christian activism with radical feminism
In this issue an article entitled ‘Si, se puede: An excerpt from _Lighting
the Way,”_ by Karenna Gore Schiff, is another example of Christianity mixed
with false ideology. The article is about Dolores Huerta who helped Cesar
Chavez start the United Farm Workers union which did so much to help
immigrant workers in the fields of California and other states. That
particular effort and other actions of Huerta, such as lobbying for the
rights of resident aliens, are good and need to be applauded. (I do
recommend this article; it provides important information for Christians.)
However, Huerta, who is Catholic, does not uphold her faith; in fact some of
her ideological stances work against her faith.
Juan Esparza Loera, Editor of Vida en el Valle, the Fresno Bee’s bilingual
paper, published an article in the Fresno Bee about the silence Huerta
caused among a group of United Farm Workers at their Constitutional
Convention in September 2004. Loera writes that Huerta stated, ‘I’m the
mother of 11 children, and I’m Catholic. But [abortion] is the proper choice
of every woman. It’s not the government’s decision to determine how many
children we’re going to have.”
Loera writes, ‘Instead of the usual loud applause and shouts of Si’ (Yes’)
common at UFW conventions, there were only scattered voices of support.”
Loera went on to write about the surprise caused by Huerta’s next statement
as she slammed those who attempt to gain Hispanic votes by appealing to
moral issues. ‘Who cares if two men or two women get married,” she asked.4
Undoubtedly Huerta has mixed her Catholic beliefs with radical feminism.
It was, in fact, partially the influence of Huerta, along with the Feminist
Majority Foundation members, of which she is both co-founder and a board
member, who influenced the California Labor Federation to change its policy
on abortion from a neutral position to an affirming position. The United
Farm Workers have not followed suit.
Huerta and the foundation ‘rallied pro-abortion unionists to convince the
California Labor Federation’s executive council to reverse its no
recommendation’ to a vote no’ position on Proposition 85, the November
ballot initiative that would require doctors to notify parents before their
minor children can undergo an abortion.”5 The Proposition did not pass. As
a Christian activist Huerta has helped to save and enrich the lives of many
Hispanic people, but as a radical feminist her compassion has failed.
Rights grounded in worldly agendas rather than Christian faithfulness
Sylvia Thorson-Smith writes of the history of the Presbyterian Church’s
struggle for justice for women. Her article, ‘Presbyterians and Gender
Justice: The Church and Advocacy for Women” emphasizes the work of the
Council on Women and the Church in the United Presbyterian Church and the
Committee on Women’s Concerns in the Presbyterian Church US. As
Thorson-Smith points out the origins of COWAC ‘were rooted in the work and
study of United Presbyterian Women (UPW) and in a workshop led by feminist
Betty Friedan at Ghost Ranch in 1966.” (23)
It could also be added that the conference held at Ghost Mountain Conference
Center was instigated by Maggie Kuhn, ‘who was to be instrumental in
organizing the Grey Panthers.”’ The conference was named
‘Masculine/Feminine: Mystery, Misery, or ”6
Thorson-Smith also points out that the movement for women’s advocacy in the
Presbyterian Church was born within ‘a culture of consciousness raising.”
She emphasizes that Presbyterians at the time became aware of ‘the many ways
that women had been subordinated, marginalized, disrespected, silenced,
harassed and abused by men and male-dominated institutions.”(23) The
accusation was cast wide over the whole church and the secular women’s
movement became the basis for the movement for women’s rights in the
Presbyterian Churches.
The need for women to equally participate in the life, ministry and
governance of the church was not wrong. The insistence on help for those
women suffering abuse was and is especially biblical. The desire of women to
preach the gospel was and is a righteous Christ-honoring desire. But much of
what happened in the early years of women’s advocacy in the Presbyterian
Church was grounded in a secular agenda. The secular women’s movement fed
the lists of rights the Presbyterian women’s groups were seeking. For
instance the right to have an abortion was laid beside the rights of
children. Money given to women’s groups and projects, meant to empower
women, included such groups as ‘Resource Center for Women and Ministry in
the South” who today sponsor seminars on the goddess.7
Thorson-Smith explains that COWC advocated against sexist language.(23)
However, such advocacy based in a secular agenda pushed the inclusive
language issue into the sphere of church theology. Now, rarely will you find
the name, Father, Son and Holy Spirit in any material produced for or by any
of the Presbyterian Women’s groups. Not surprisingly, in this issue of
_Horizons_ there is a liturgy for the ‘Celebrate the Gifts of Women”
Sunday, which makes a mockery of trinitarian language. Written by the
National Network of Presbyterian College Women and Racial Ethnic Young Women
Together, they choose to address God in a generic way and also have written,
‘Gracious God, our Mother and our Father.”
Thorson-Smith states that COWAC and COWC provided workshops for women which
were led by ‘leading feminist theologians.”(23) Today the Christianity of
the Presbyterian Women’s groups is mixed with such radical views that only
extreme versions of radical theology is allowed in the book lists provided
by Presbyterian Women’s Ministry Area. If those early workshops had been led
by women who truly loved Jesus Christ, who in their theology upheld the
Lordship of Jesus Christ, the various women’s ministries might today shine
with both their advocacy and their proclamation of the good news that Jesus
Christ died on the cross for the salvation of sinners.
There are other articles in this November/December issue of _Horizons. _Some
are good articles about the needy, their needs and those who have ministered
to that need in the post-Katrina South. One article is about the way some
churches are helping the homeless through Interfaith Hospitality Network.
But in all of this there is little said about Jesus Christ. He is mostly
absent from the stories of need and fulfillment of need. He is mentioned in
Anne H. Bedford’s article about the Interfaith Hospitality Network. But here
he still is not Lord or even a Savior. She writes of a child who asks what
color is Jesus? As Bedford begins to explain Jesus’ Middle Eastern ethnicity
the mother interrupts to say, ‘Jesus is all the colors of the world.” ‘He
belongs to everyone.” Bedford agrees. (21)
But Jesus does not belong to everyone. He is not owned by anyone. It is he
who owns all creation which was created by him and for him. (Col 1:16)
Moreover it is in him, Jesus Christ, that we find life, wholeness and
community. Indeed, in the darkness of the Advent season we peer back through
the darkness of the centuries; we look back with joy to that time when Jesus
Christ, the Light of the world, the unique, beloved Son of God, was born in
a manger. In the darkness of Advent we remember the Star which came forth
from Jacob, (Num 24:17) the bright and morning star who is the root and
descendent of David.(Rev 22:16) In the darkness of the Advent season, the
darkness of the fallen world, we look forward toward the time when he, Jesus
Christ, the true light, shall return.
_Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great
God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from
every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own
possession, zealous for good deeds. (Titus 2:13-14 NAS)_
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1 Gary Dorrien, _The Making of American Liberal Theology: Idealism, Realism,
& Modernity 1900-1950,_ (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press 2003), 130,
145, 523.
2 Ibid., 143, Dorrien footnoting, Vida Dutton Scudder, _On Journey, _(New
York: E p Dutton & Co., 1947), quotes, 300, 301, 302.
3 Ibid., 147.
4 Juan Esparza Loera, ‘Huerta leaves UFW speechless,” Fresno Bee September
20, 2004, Section: Local News B1.
5 see, http://www.losangelesmission.com/ed/news/2006news/0609news.htm.
6 From �The Rise of Radical Feminism in Mainline Churches: A History: Part
2� Viola Larson, quoting from, Elizabeth Howell Verdesi, ‘Survival, Change
and Promise: Women in the UPCUSA, 1970=1983,” In, _Our Rightful Place: The
Story of Presbyterian Women 1970-1983_, Elizabeth Howell Verdesi and Lillian
McCulloch Taylor, (New York: Presbyterian Church (USA) 1985), 12.
7 Ibid.,