Category: YMCA + Christian Praxis

Revolutionary Christianity In The YMCA?

We expect the presence of Christ Jesus to bring about transformation in people and places. But how do we participate in it? Passive? Ambitious? Impatient? Idealistic? Cynical? Violently? Coercively? Profitably? French Christian activist and theologian Jacques Ellul writes brilliantly on a revolutionary Christianity, based on his experiences during and after the resistance to Axis powers in WW2. His reflections have great insight for Christians today, especially those in the YMCA.

What kind of “C” are we looking for in the YMCA? A status quo kind of “C” or a revolutionary one?

In focusing more and more on what Christ Jesus taught about the disruptive Kingdom of God, there is some new imagination required for what that would look like in the YMCA and where I live in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Especially when being a pastor in a community organization that seeks to avoid controversy in its striving to be for all.

How to be revolutionary without violence or mimetic rivalry, but also not just struggle in order to get more of the same.

How to think about being a pastor and involved in politics and economic development, with social justice and neighborhood revitalization, without ending up as a pawn or a jerk?

In these days of searching and listening, I turn again to Jacques Ellul.

In my vocation as a pastor with the YMCA, there is some inner questioning on what is the wisest way forward in this complex and volatile context.

I found the following paragraphs to be immensely helpful to me as I seek confirmation of God’s leading in my life’s work:

“The Christian can never regard himself as being on the winning side, nor can he look on with pleasure while everyone else goes to perdition; should he do so, he would be lacking in the Spirit of Christ, and by that very fact he would cease to be a Christian.

Bound up with the lives of other men (be economic and sociological laws, and also by the will of God), he cannot accept the view that they will always remain in their anguish and their disorder, victims of tyranny and overwork, buoyed up only by a hope which seems unfounded.

Thus he must plunge into social and political problems in order to have an influence on the world, not in the hope of making a paradise, but simply in order to make it tolerable – not in order to diminish the opposition between this world and the Kingdom of God, but simply in order to modify the opposition between the disorder of this world and the order of preservation that God wills for it – not in order to ‘bring in’ the Kingdom of God, but in order that the gospel may be proclaimed, that all men may really hear the good news of salvation, through the death and resurrection of Christ.

Thus there are three directions in which the Christian ought to action the world:

First – starting from the point at which God has revealed to him the truth about the human person, he must try to discover the social and political conditions in which this person can live and develop in accordance with God’s order.

Second – this person will develop within a certain framework which God has ordained for him.

This is the order of preservation, without which man lacks his true setting.

Man is not absolutely free in this sphere, any more than he is free in the physical or biological domain.

There are certain limits which he cannot overstep without danger to the society to which he belongs.

Thus the Christian must work, in order that the will of God may be incarnated in actual institutions and organisms.

Third – this order of preservation will have meaning only if it is directed towards the proclamation of salvation.

Therefore, social and political institutions need to be ‘open’: that is, they must not claim to be all, or absolutes.

Thus they must be constituted in such a way that they do not prevent man from hearing the Word of God.

The Christian must be ceaselessly on the watch – intelligent and alert – to see that this ‘order’ is preserved.

But, in doing so, he will find that he is confronted by two possible errors.

The one error consists in believing that by constant progress in this order we shall attain the Kingdom of God.

It is enough to remind ourselves of the Book of Revelation, or of Matthew 24, to condemn this attitude.

The other error arises out of the conviction that by achieving certain reforms we shall have reached this order which God wills.

In reality all solutions – all economic, political, and other achievements – are temporary.

At no moment can the Christian believe either in their perfection or in their permanence.

They are always vitiated by the sin which infects them, by the setting in which they take place.

Thus the Christian is constantly obliged to reiterate the claims of God, to reestablish this God-willed order, in presence of an order that constantly tends towards disorder.

In consequence of the claims which God is always making on the world the Christian finds himself, by that very fact, involved in a state of permanent revolution.

Even when the institutions, the laws, the reforms which he has advocated have been achieved, even if society is reorganized according to his suggestions, he still has to be in opposition, he still must require more, for the claim of God is as infinite as His forgiveness.

Thus the Christian is called to question unceasingly all that man calls progress, discovery, facts, established results, reality, etc.

He can never be satisfied with all this human labor, transcended, or replaced by something else.

In his judgment he is guided by the Holy Spirit – he is making an essentially revolutionary act.

If the Christian is not being revolutionary, then in some way or another he has been unfaithful to his calling in the world.”

Jacques Ellul, The Presence of the Kingdom, pgs 35-37

John 17:21 & Our Flourishing

John 17:21 & Our Flourishing ::: what are ways the mission and Christian origins of the YMCA enliven our work these days to strengthen the foundations of our community for all? Especially for diverse Christians in the Y striving to live out their faith in an inclusive, equitable and global way…

Unity.

It’s like a shattered dream.

German concentration camp, Flossenberg

Yet, it still compels a certain kind of yearning:

“If only we were more authentically united, we would have more peace.”

That’s my summary of what I hear people say.

We are not wrong to want unity, nor in the wrong to make attempts to forge unity in a hope for peace.

It’s just that calls for peace in general, abstract speeches for unity ring hollow after awhile.

How many of us want the results of peace without the work of unity?

In my church world the prayer for unity by Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane is getting a lot of traction (again).

It’s a beautiful prayer, very personal, raw, emotional and grand in its vision for humanity and God.

For Christians in any given community, there is usually some kind of chronic conflict disturbing the peace.

The garden prayer reminds us that the unity God wants for us most is oneness with Christ Jesus and the other “little Christ’s” in our world.

Maybe because of our public role in the community we can have a hand in preventing further disunity or defend it from worse conflict.

But as a Christian, in both our public and private world, the unity that matters most and that has the greatest power for unity in the world is to be found in the garden prayer of Jesus.

Here is a key part of that prayer:

“Father, my prayer is not that you take (my disciples) out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

Sanctify them by the truth; your Word is truth.

As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be sanctified in truth.

My prayer is not for them alone.

I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.

May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – so that they may be brought to complete unity.

Then the world will know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

[Jesus, in John’s Gospel, 17:15-23]

In the news media these days there is deep yearning for unity and peace to prevail between the people of Israel and Palestine.

Here in the USA there is a passionate desire for unity and peace to heal the racial divide.

How many families, how many friends have become painfully are separated in spirit, mind and body due to divisions over vaccines, election integrity, political ideology, and just plain drifting apart due to irreconcilable differences?

From whence comes any kind or real unity and peace in our world of suffering, chaos and disillusionment?

We as a global humanity have more scientific and technical answers for what disrupts unity and peace for a national society, tribe and culture than ever.

Same for tested theories of reconciliation and healing.

But, however abstract and principled these observations and theories may be, it is often not a matter of knowledge or information that keeps us from doing peacemaking and unification.

It is likely much more a matter of the will, of our desires, of what we want to choose.

We humans live through the heart, and too often merely use our head to justify what our heart feels, believes, sees, hears and experiences.

Jesus prays from the heart for unity within humanity: in particular those who will see him, hear him, believe him, and follow in his truth.

These humans in the first century were derisively called “little Christ’s” for their imitation of Jesus.

Despite the mocking and persecution they became a community, an embodiment of this prayer by Jesus for unity, truth, peace and love.

The current disunity in the world is mostly driven by incentivized envy and greed, insatiable lust and gluttony, lazy apathy towards others who suffer but bitter anger over ones own; mostly though it is wounded pride that drives ourselves, our tribes and modern societies to vengeful and “defensive” violence and madness.

This is generally true throughout recorded human history around the world.

For the past two millennia Christians have entered into almost these tribes and societies in the world, establishing the presence of Christ there through little communities.

What happens though is that these “little Christ’s” over identify with the culture and then too little with the presence of Christ Jesus.

Christ inclusively connects and unites his diverse followers around the globe, even when they come from warring tribes and societies pitted against each other.

For example, too many USA Christians over identify with the government of Israel and are mostly ignorant of the Palestinian Christians suffering in the Holy Land.

  • People inspect the rubble of a destroyed residential building which was hit by Israeli airstrikes, in Gaza City, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Or, here in the USA, too many White Christians are in denial of the racism that has wounded Black Christians in spirit, mind and body.

There is also the ecological crisis, of how wealthy Christians in the world despoil and degrade the land and cultures of poor Christians.

Of course there is rationalization and justification of intent and motives, of actions and consequences that blunts the conviction to repent, confess, lament, be sorrowful for the sinful brokenness and pride which is adversarial to Jesus’ prayer of unity.

Let’s not deny the truth of the experience of suffering, both of Jesus and those who through the past 21 centuries have also suffered at the hands of those with political, economic and religious power.

Jesus is the incarnation of God’s Spirit in the human spirit, mind and body.

Whatever Jesus prays and does, it’s an embodiment of God’s desire for the world he created and the people he loves.

When Jesus prays for unity, love and truth, it’s not an overspiritualization at the expense of material cynical reality.

It’s the wisdom of God for how he is at work in the world that he fashioned and still holds in his hands, so to speak.

The flourishing of Christians is an overflow from being united with Christ and each other.

It does not mean there is no more suffering.

But it does mean no more suffering alone, no more suffering without faith, hope and love.

In this world we will suffer. But will there also be any flourishing in its midst?

What sets apart “little Christ’s” in communities across the globe is there solidarity with those who suffer across the globe.

It is the way of the world to hate their enemy, to take an eye for an eye, and give help to only their own.

But Jesus embodies a different kind of way, truth and life in the world; those that follow it are set apart, are sanctified, and strive to love their enemies, heal the unthankful, turn the other cheek, and seek just mercy for all.

What’s the vision that empowers Christians to strive for this kind of unity and flourishing?

Jesus prays that we who are his followers would have union with each other like he has with the Father, and that we would have union with both Father and Son, through the life-giving, spirit, mind, body -saving power of the Holy Spirit.

Theosis is the theological word for this dynamic transformation, of our oneness with each other as we are made one with God in Jesus through the Spirit.

Somehow this begins in this life on Earth,

There is no movie-soundtrack that accompanies theosis, no awards ceremony to recognize the achievements, no social media promotions to highlight theosis.

Theosis is gritty, it can be grueling, it is forged amidst suffering, as we strive for just mercy for the neighbors we love and hate, for the fellow Christians whom we enjoy and those we don’t understand.

Theosis is fueled by imitation of Jesus, by submitting to the Same Spirit which energized his work, by a vision of God sustained through trust.

Theosis and flourishing go together, along with the suffering that comes from being fully human in this real world.

There is no utopia!

Theosis is not about perfection in this life, it’s not about convenience, efficiency or effectiveness.

Theosis is about the fruit of the Spirit bearing out in our lives as we follow in the way, truth and life of the Jew Jesus.

Theosis looks like God sending Jesus into the world, which we can read about in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures.

Theosis looks like the apostle and disciples of Jesus being sent into the real world to proclaim the gritty gospel, preaching repentance and forgiveness of divisive sin – to the ends of the Earth.

Theosis requires love; this kind of love from Jesus to us that flows through us to fellow humanity is patient, this love is kind, it does not envy or boast in pride, it does not greedily seek its own at another’s expense, and like God is not easily angered.

Theosis is experienced through love that rejoices in the truth, a love that keeps no record of wrong, a love that does not delight in evil.

Our flourishing in theosis is experienced in God’s love for us and our love for neighbors, strangers and enemies; a love that always protects, always trusts, always hopes, a uniting love that always perseveres amidst the suffering and evil in the world.

Flourishing, theosis, love – it is all in the details.

Every day.

Being present, in the chaos and injustice, the mundane and boring, the busyness and hecticness.

It’s the courage to be, the courage to believe you are loved by God, the courage to desire unity, theosis, and flourishing despite observable inequities and brokenness all around us.

Shattered dreams are a crucial and painful moment that test our resolve to keep the faith, to keep hoping and loving (ala Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.)

Jesus’ prayer for our unity and flourishing, our theosis, occurred while on his knees in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night of his betrayal where he begged God to take this cup of suffering from him.

With drops of blood on his brow he prayed to accept the will of God.

His shattered spirit, mind and body on the cross would seem to have rendered his prayers ineffective.

Yet…the union he had with God before and after that shattering were transformative, they were the opening up of a new kind of theosis and flourishing for all.

May your desire for unity and peace, may your yearning for theosis with God in Jesus through the Spirit, amidst the chaos and suffering of our world, bear the fruit of flourishing for all Creation.

The “C” in the YMCA: as Obstacle, Offense, and Opportunity

A humble reflection on the role of Christian emphasis in the future of a successful YMCA striving to live out its mission of putting Christian principles into practice through equitable programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body for all.

Every generation of YMCA leaders are stewards of the Y they receive, often amidst the challenges and turbulence of their time.

The YMCA they entered into on that first day of membership and employment must adapt to unexpected changes in their communities and culture.

Being a nationwide organization this often looks and feels complex since the Y finds itself in over ten thousand different cultures/communities across the USA.

As the YMCA strives to authentically and resiliently respond to the crises of our times, especially as it marshals all of its institutional strength and resources to equitably build up people in spirit, mind and body, it must remember: where did this wealth of capacity to love, care and serve come from?

What were the leaders doing in the generations prior to us that made these possibilities a reality?

What has the Y been becoming since 1844, who did we come from, what have been our failures and successes, our learning curves that have gotten us to this crucial moment?

As complex as the YMCA is, I’m going to try to make a general case for why the “C” in our name has been and can still be central to our future success, still a vital source for our DIG work.

I acknowledge up front that the “C” can also be a highly combustible reality that obviously still causes merited concern by some; but, I believe it also can be the fire we need to fulfill our mission and cause amongst those struggling the most in our communities for generations to come.

“C” as OBSTACLE

First, for some in the YMCA, the “Christian” in our name is an obstacle.

This is a sentiment of Christians in our movement as well as those of other traditions.

It’s easy to notice the Christians with loud voices who resist equity in our communities, ignore and/or undermine the “for all” in our YMCA mission.

It’d be easy to list off Christians you know who seem to be obstacles to equity, to our core values, to our mission, to our work to be an anti-racist, multicultural organization.

It might be you don’t even really know any Christians at your Y, you just know what you have seen or heard elsewhere convinces you that the “C” is an obstacle to progress and success.

It can also become easy to presume that if we removed Christian emphasis from the Y, we’d have less obstacles to equity, diversity and inclusion. That might have some truth to it.

But: what is also true is the untold Christians in the Y who are passionate advocates for DIG work because of their Christian faith.

Faith is a key dimension of diversity, and for many in our Y movement a powerful motivation for humbly and faithfully persevering in the diverse, inclusive, global work of the Y.

Be that as it may, it’s obvious that Christians in the Y have racked up a long list of examples of being an obstacle to the flourishing of all.

For this we must confess our sins, repent, make amends where we can, and do better.

“C” as OFFENSIVE

Secondly: It’d be irresponsible to overlook the fact that some within our Y movement see the “C” as more than an obstacle, they also see it as an offense.

And who can blame them?

The historically obvious sins of Christians and their institutions in the USA leave much disgust in our souls.

Not only the failures of the faith in the past, but the egregious racism and violence of Christians today give plenty of ammunition to justify the belief that we are an offense.

With the public offensiveness of many high profile Christians, along with the thousands of every day offenses committed by people of the faith, it’s not without evidence that the suppression or removal of the Christian name and identity is supported.

Why keep an offensive culture in our name as we strive to focus intensely on becoming an anti-racist, multicultural organization?

It’s tough to make a defense against the offensiveness of Christianity in light of the many negative realities revealed in history and the current headlines.

It’s tough also because there is an essential offensive nature to Christianity as evidenced by the crucifixion of Jesus we read about in the Gospels of the New Testament.

For all the good that Jesus did, for all of his teachings on love and forgiveness in the kingdom of God, he was still killed by the ruling authorities under the accusations of political sedition and religious blasphemy – intertwined realities that reveal the intense offense Christ Jesus generated among people with power and the crowds.

It’s one thing for Christians to be offensive because they act like privileged jerks with thin-skin, it’s another for Christians to offend when they insist on abiding by the way of Jesus and his kingdom of atonement and reconciliation.

So yes, there are definitely toxic Christians that give the “C” a bad name, and there have been times when Christians in the Y gave offense by their faith-fullness to Christ Jesus.

My hunch is that the majority of offensiveness that is noticed in the Y towards Christians is due to the unrepentant meanness and arrogance of how some put their faith into practice. That is worth objecting to.

For all the ways we Christians have been offensive due to our sins, we must confess and repent of this too, make amends where we can, and do better.

“C” as OPPORTUNITY

Third: For me, I think it’s worth considering, in my humble opinion, of ways the “C” can be an opportunity to build equity in spirit, mind and body, for all.

What is the work of anti-racism if it’s not spiritual work?

If it was merely a matter of educating the mind, or enforcing bodily complicity to anti-racist principles, we’d have achieved more progress by now.

But isn’t equity first an attitude before it’s an action, a belief as much as it is behavior?

Don’t we want people to want to be inclusive, not just open to multicultural friendships because of peer pressure or economic coercion?

So if you are going to draw on spiritual resources to fuel anti-racist work, why would you cut out or suppress or ignore our “C” in our name, which is one of the strongest sources of spiritual energy in our American heritage and social fabric?

I’m not going to try and make a case for whether or not the USA is a Christian nation, but I think it’s unhelpful to overlook or downplay the Christian energies that have shaped and are still central to our culture, for good and for bad.

Religion is resurgent in the world, and the rest of the world sees the USA as still one of the most religious nations in the planet.

So, rather than suppress the powerful reality of religion in the Y, we need to bring it out into the open so that we can openly benefit from the remarkable resources it brings to people, as well as maturely and truthfully critique and correct what corrodes flourishing for all.

Cancelling the “C” in our name misses an opportunity to reinvigorate our dimensions of diversity, especially the dynamic and pervasive role of faith and religion.

The majority of Americans still identify with Christianity, and it is likely that percentage is higher within the Y, especially in light of its highly public brand recognition as the Young Men’s Christian Association.

Rather than rebrand as a secular institution, let’s resource the richly complex “C” to inspire “for all” in an increasing religiously pluralistic society.

Let’s face it, many Christians within the Y are embarrassed by the negative obstacles and nefarious offensiveness of the “C” as embodied by some members and staff.

I’ve found that many Christians in the Y are frustrated with the kind of “C” that they see, and aren’t sure what a better version could look like in these pluralistic times.

So instead of experimenting with fresh expressions of an inclusive Christianity, they unfortunately let the heart of the Y wither.

If we are honest, though, some if not many of the great YMCA DIG work, some of our greatest and most inclusive leaders in the Y are beautiful Christians doing God’s work in wonderful ways.

And it is their Christian faith which shapes and fuels what they do in an irreplaceable way.

To minimize or downplay their “C” in the “for all” work they are championing is too miss the opportunity to lift this up as a way to inspire a new imagination for how inclusive Christianity can be a vital dimension of diversity.

You see the “C” you are looking for.

Let’s look for opportunities to responsibly live out and respect faith as a key dimension of diversity.

What does that mean for the Y?

It means not only honestly critiquing the moral and ethical failures of the YMCA in the past as a Christian-based organization, but to also draw on the best of our Christian foundation and heritage, to use the real ways we have cared deeply for people as a Christian-based organization as a resource for current and future equity work.

What can we learn from Christians like George Williams on lifting up young men lost in the urban-industrial wastelands?

What can we learn from John R. Mott, an American and global Christian who pioneered ecumenical work as well as innovative multi-faith initiatives?

What can we learn from Rev. Martin Luther King on nonviolent Christian reconciliation work amidst racial and social injustices?

And so many more YMCA Christian men and women, old and young, who can re-inspire a “thick C” that celebrates and nourishes a very diverse, inclusive and global Christian faith in the Y, which then is a seed-bed for loving multi-faith and multicultural work that is anti-racist, equitable, beautiful, true, just and good.

YMCA OF THE USA & THE WORLD “C”

The YMCA was and is a crucial player in the global church community to lift up the practical value of religious diversity and inclusion – we helped start the World Council of Churches.

We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. The Y still has rich resources to draw on for ways the “C” in our name can make us more welcoming, more equitable, more hospitable, more open “for all.”

An example: The World YMCA logo still includes the John 17:21 Bible reference in its logo; its at the heart of the triangle in our logo.

The prayer of Jesus that it highlights is crucial to the foundational motivations of those who breathed life into the Y in 1844.

And it is still a deeply powerful prayer on the lips and in the hearts of millions of Christians yet today throughout the whole earth and in the YMCA here in the USA.

Christ Jesus, on the night he was to be betrayed and killed by his own people, prayed for the unity of those who would believe in him in the decades and centuries to come.

Christ Jesus also prayed that all those who believed would be in deep union with God.

If you’re a Christian, isn’t that still a compelling vision for the Y – that through all of the many good programs and initiatives we have done since 1844 – that it can still be a contribution to Christians becoming more in union with our loving, caring, and sacrificial Lord Jesus Christ?

With our rich legacy already in that work, why would we end it – if we don’t reinvigorate that work, who else is there like us to pick up that task?

And if you’re not of the Christian faith, would you want the Y to downplay even more it’s influence on Christians to become more equitable and inclusive?

If the Y doesn’t do that work with Christians, who will?

Another example: Challenge 21 is a creative and compelling strategy of the World YMCA to let the “C” nourish its work while expanding the ways they strive for love and justice “for all.”

There is much the American Y can learn from Challenge 21 and our global friends in this complex work.

In fact it was cross-cultural experiences that invigorated spiritual and social transformation for George Williams (from rural to urban), John R. Mott (from America to the World), Martin Luther King (from Atlanta to India) and many others in the Y.

More examples: Who was it that decided to let women join the Young Men’s Christian Association? Christians.

Who was it that decided to lessen the strict Christian church attendance requirements for membership in the YMCA? Christians.

Who was it that decided to let Jewish and Muslim young men join the Y? Christians.

Who was it that decided to let Catholic Christians join the Y? Protestant Christians.

Who was it that decided to let non-Christians to join the Y? Christians.

Who was it that resisted all these decisions? Yes, obviously other Christians in the Y.

So which Christians do you want to pay the most attention to? The ones who resist adapting to inclusivity, or the ones that work for it.

RELIGION & the SECULAR

The real struggle of the “C” in the Y is not between secularism and Christianity, it’s mostly just between Christians.

Christians in general have stumbled through the rapid changes in our culture, especially as it has become more secular and religiously pluralistic.

The myth of secularism is that it is a “neutral” space created so that different kinds of Christians can cooperate in a public way, and then this gets extended to those of other faith and religious traditions, or those with none.

Secularism, however, is about a “negative peace” between Christians, and between those of different or no faiths, unable to unravel antagonisms, and succumbing to cultural and political entropy.

Christian Ecumenism is a “positive peace” between Christians, a constructive engagement for mutual understanding and collaboration; this is also a key foundation for Christians to participate in multi-faith and multicultural friendships in a pluralistic and secular society.

So if the Y is going to dig deeper into its DIG work, especially in its focus on religion and faith as a powerful dimension of diversity, we ought to get as much wisdom as we can on how it can be a constructive source for YMCA Christian ecumenical work and multi-faith work.

The “C” needs DIG as much as our DIG work needs a vital and bravely humble “C”.

What you suppress becomes more powerful, but in a toxic way.

It seems to me that the YMCA has struggled for the past fifty years on what to do with the “C” – it seems to have slowly suppressed it from public view, trying to be more secular, yet causing yet more consternation and antagonisms along the way.

The “C” will always be part of the YMCA – so can we transition from a “negative peace” in the Y to a “positive peace” where religion and faith can openly be lived and discussed?

Or will the “C” continue to be the elephant in the room, an unmovable obstacle, an enduring offense?

Let’s not suppress the “C” in the Y, let’s embrace the opportunity in front of us and learn how it can become a public and healthy part of our cause and mission as we become an anti-racist, multicultural organization in spirit, mind and body in the USA and the World.

For me, our current emphasis on equity and justice is a crucial way the Y is still inspired by the prayer of Jesus: “that all may be one.”

FEEDBACK

There is much that can be critiqued and questioned in my attempt to make a case for the opportunity the “C” gives the Y to flourish for all.

Did I make too little of the ways the Christian name is an obstacle and an offense?

I’d be very open to reactions that point out realities I’m missing, or ways to strengthen the way forward.