No Faithful Christianity Without Solidarity
By Rev. Dustin Mailman
Jesus has ascended but Pentecost doesn’t happen until next week: what are we to do now? Stuck at this intersection of not-so-ordinary time in the life of the Church, 1 Peter invites us to stumble into suffering –
This is a movement of new Christians figuring out what their religious identity means now that they have converted from one oppressed religious tradition to an even further oppressed religious tradition. And to add to the suffering, these pilgrims passing through Babylon are in diasporic conditions: uprooted from home in search of a place to lay their heads.
When Jesus assured of his resurrection and ascension, there was no clarity of what “ordinary” life looked like. They had heard of the cheek being turned but are having to ponder what this means in real time without Jesus being the one being scolded and beaten. In every way imaginable, they feel set up for failure, and rather than blaming Jesus, there is a call for solidarity and kinship.
Given this emboldened calling, I wonder if we can ponder together: what might this scripture teach us about suffering?
Continue reading...
|