"Crown him the Lord of love!

Behold his hands and side!

Rich wounds, yet visible above,

In beauty glorified." - Matthew Bridges

 

It might appear incongruous to speak of Christ's self-emptying of status and privilege - his kenosis - in this season of Easter when we sing hymns celebrating his victory over death and his ascension to reign in power. But both are connected in the New Testament. Where the Bible speaks of Christ's ascension and power it is always in association with his humiliation, suffering, and death. For example, only after speaking of Christ's self-emptying in Philippians 2 does Paul say, " Therefore, God highly exalted him" (Phil 2:9). Even in the Book of Revelation, the "Lion of the tribe of Judah" who sits on the throne of heaven is "a Lamb, standing as if it had been slaughtered" (Rev. 5:5-6).

 

The church of the Risen Christ, therefore, is a church which exercises power as those who identify with the humble and oppressed. It is power not from ascent but from descent. We have called this "the upside-down" church.

 

We see this in the mission of the post-Pentecost church: sharing their goods and meals with the poor (Acts 2 & 4); healing those with infirmities who had been reduced to begging (Acts 3); serving widows and orphans in the distribution of bread (Acts 6); and proclaiming the gospel to outcasts in Samaria (Acts 8) and to an Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8).

 

The Easter church was a church of radical inclusion and generosity. It saw (and still sees) its greatest growth among those who live on the margins of society, or who occupy the bottom rung on the ladder of success. This has been obscured in American Protestantism, where the church has often identified with those at the center of society and who occupy high rungs on the ladder. Our engagement with the marginalized happens often by charity disguised as mission if it happens at all.

 

There is nothing wrong with charity - Jesus commended it - but in order for the church to thrive in this new apostolic age, we must go beyond charity to engaging and identifying with those who are on the margins in meaningful ways that work for justice, not merely the alleviation of symptoms.

 

This last week I attended the 19th annual (Dismantling) White Privilege Conference, which was held in Grand Rapids. While it is a secular conference with a broad cross-section of educators, organizers, non-profit directors, and religious leaders, the conference addresses a key element of our upside-down mission in Christ: how we as privileged Americans of all races and ethnicities can live in such a way as to develop communities of genuine inclusion and shared power.

 

I will be sharing more in coming issues on this theme. I close with words of a new hymn by Nigel Weaver found in the Glory to God hymnal (#257):

 

"The risen Christ, who walks on wounded feet

From garden tomb through darkened city street,

Unlocks the door of grief, despair, and fear,

And speaks a word of peace to all who hear....

 

May we, Christ's body, walk and serve and stand

With the oppressed in this and every land,

Till all are blessed and can a blessing be,