Faith in the Margins
“Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:40
This scripture passage, Matthew 25:40, is a guiding mantra, our daily reminder - performance of Christianity is not sufficient, we must practice it. Faith in the margins is an upside down existence and way of being which runs counter to the ways of our world - the powerless are centered and supported through active solidarity, not the most powerful. “Blessed are the meek, Jesus proclaims in the Sermon on the Mount, for they will inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5
Years ago, I stumbled across a video clip of the writer, teacher, and cultural critic, bell hooks questioning why we call ourselves a Christian nation, but pull away from embodying authentic love; choosing, instead, an ethos of toxic individualism and indifference to injustice. Quite often I come across folks who are harmed by this distortion of Christianity; they are met with judgement instead of expansive support, hate not love, and mainline Christians call this a cultural crisis, a turning away from God.
I would argue many of us who call ourselves followers of Christ have forgotten - ours is a faith which is rooted within the margins; we sit with those the world has forgotten and see them, as Jesus does, with eyes of love.
Let’s face it -
We can scream from a bullhorn about our faith, or we can live in such a way that draws people to the spirit of God within us. I sometimes drive by people preaching on the street, yelling scripture, and nearly everyone's windows remain rolled up. I cannot help but see it as a metaphor for what happens far too often in some Christian spaces - screaming our message, with a side of judgement and an unwillingness to listen across differences and lived experiences.
Have we forgotten? Jesus did not align himself with the dogmatic rhetoric of His day espoused by the Pharisees; an outsider, He came to disrupt complacency masquerading as peace: "Learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. Isaiah 1:17
In Jesus and the Disinherited Howard Thurman uplifts an urgent point -
”Many and varied are the interpretations dealing with the teachings and the life of Jesus of Nazareth. But few of these interpretations deal with what the teachings and the life of Jesus have to say to those who stand, at a moment in human history, with their backs against the wall.“
How, can we, day by day, embody our faith in such a way that our prayers, actions, and values remain rooted in Matthew 25:40 and we stand alongside those whose backs are against the wall? How can those of us whose backs are against the wall because we live at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities draw on scriptures for strength, refuting the personification of Jesus as solely for those in positions of power?
These are questions we will continue to sit with and work through in our own daily faith journey with Christ, and throughout our Faith in the Margins newsletter; we are creating this space to reclaim Christianity not only through words, but committed actions. Ours is a faith which expands not in moments of comfort, but in the margins, in the midst of challenges, when everything unravels - this is where God meets us.
Ways to Pray with Your Feet -
Support the work of Practice Mercy (helping our immigrant neighbors on the border), The Arc (advocating for people with disabilities), Gaza Infant Care Collective, Heal Palestine, Mutual Aid Sudan, Sudanese American Physicians Association, Movement for Black Lives, Focus Congo and Congo Friends.
