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 connect with 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, live out our faith in such a way that our prayers, actions, and values remain rooted in Matthew 25:40. 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?
Archbishop Oscar Romero (later named a Saint by the Catholic Church) was an unwavering warrior for social justice from
El Salvador; he courageously faced his own government, calling out human rights abuses, torture, and U.S. imperialism within weekly Sunday sermons broadcast over the radio. Saint Romero lost his life for the cause, but the wisdom remains. He told us: “There are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried.”
May the widespread sorrow of this moment continually crack our hearts open, raising questions meant to root us in an
embodied faith:
Who are we as followers of Christ if we ignore multiple genocides - Sudan, Palestine, Congo, and Tigray, oppression and indifference experienced by a range of marginalized communities globally, all while our climate is plunged into devastation by insatiable greed? How can we sit idly in pews, mouths silent, while widespread suffering is normalized?
These are questions we will continue to work through in our own daily faith journey with Christ, and throughout our Faith in the Margins newsletter.
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. And it’s where Jesus met the many our world tossed aside - the woman Scribes and Pharisees bought before Jesus for adultery and he replied: “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” John 8:3-11, people who developed leprosy - instead of condemnation, Jesus heals them (Matthew 8:1-4 and Luke 17:11-19) - throughout scripture we see a faith which chooses to see the most vulnerable, and hold them in love.
As 1 John 4:20 reminds us: “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a lair. For whoever does not love their bother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”
We are creating this space to reclaim Christianity not only through words, but committed actions.
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 , Congo Friends, Christians for a Free Palestine, and help the people of Tigray though the International Rescue Committee , Tigray Update (on Instagram) and Omna Tigray.
