Providing Christian resources from the YMCA past and present to nourish inclusive, equitable work in our diverse and global neighborhoods that build up healthy spirit, mind and body for all.
While the original “C” was thin – 1840’s British Protestant Evangelical White Young Male – these followers of Jesus took to heart his prayer in John 17:21 and embodied it throughout the world; their willingness to expand the depth, diversity and richness of the “C” thickened it, giving it more weight, more room for unity, and more dimensions of reality.
What can this mean for how you embody the “C” in the YMCA?
Our YMCA mission seems to embody a tension between practicing Christian principles and being for all; yet a historical overview shows a progression, an expansion, a richness, of inclusion.
Not perfect, obviously; a struggle for sure – one that we in the Y get to joyfully and humbly participate in for our generation.
This summary paragraph below comes in the middle of an extensive yet readable dissertation exploring the global influence of the YMCA Paris Basis from 1855 to 1955 – a century of stunning innovations, horrific trauma, courageous love.
At one level it lays out how Faith has been a dynamic and crucial Dimension of Diversity.
It highlights significant historical realities regarding the “C” in the YMCA striding forward into new countries and cultures, new generations, new opportunities.
By remembering our past, our roots, we can more wisely discern what we’ve been nourished with in order to stay engaged as healers and bridge-builders in the way of Christ amidst our present realities.
“The YMCA was a fruit of the Evangelical Revival of the 19th century.
Contrary to several other revival movements, which were separatistic, the YMCA idea was based on a sense of unity among Christians.
This led the YMCA to co-operate – often lead – with the major streams in the Ecumenical Movement of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The YMCA leaders were active in the Evangelical Alliance and Sunday School Movement; they were in the spearhead of the Muscular Christianity and student awakenings; they were inspired by the Social Gospel movement; they led the first meetings of Missionary Movement and the World Council of Churches.
Although the YMCA was Protestant in origin, it also adapted itself to Orthodox and Roman Catholic contexts.
In general, the attitude of Protestant and Orthodox church leaders was positive, while that of Catholics was negative.
In all different religious contexts, the YMCA aimed to lead youth to their respective churches.
Extending out of Europe and North America, the YMCA faced new problems and sought answers to them.
The area that had, along with the two ‘Christian continents’, the most profound effect on the mission view of the YMCA, was Asia.
In the Near East, the YMCA faced Islam and in India, it faced Hinduism and Buddhism.
In both contexts, the movement took the lead in interfaith dialogue with these world religions.
Additionally, in India, the YMCA faced the problems of rural youth – and aimed to adapt itself to their needs.”
How does this expansionist, diverse, “thick C” inspire you?
While the original “C” was thin – 1840’s British Protestant Evangelical White Male – these followers of Jesus took to heart his prayer in John 17:21 and embodied it throughout the world; their willingness to expand the depth, diversity and richness of the “C” thickened it, giving it more weight, more room for unity, and more dimensions of reality.
What can this mean for how you embody the “C” in the YMCA?
With a dynamic and inclusive legacy like ours, who can you be building a bridge of friendship with through your faith, hope and love in Jesus?
Readable and thorough overview with brilliant summaries for inspiring reflections. Click pic to download the PDF.
The Y decided long ago, wisely, not to make religion an expectation or requirement of membership or employment.
Loyalty to Jesus Christ is always about grace, about gifts and blessing, not about coercion.
George Williams and his eleven friends – and later Anthony Bowen, John Mott, MLK, Paul Limbert, Harold Smith, Carlos Sanvee – are evidence of what happens to men who do believe Jesus, who take a leap of faith and pledge their loyalty to the Kingdom of God.
And that is how Jesus is alive and well in the YMCA today, when Y staff and members show up desiring to embody the love and loyalty of Christ to whoever comes across their path.
“I first learned in Bridgewater”, said Williams, “to love my dear Lord and Saviour for what He had done for me…I was on the downward road…I said, ‘Cannot I escape? Is there no escape’ They told me in this town of Bridgewater how to escape—Confess your sins, accept Christ, trust in Him, yield your heart to the Saviour. I cannot describe to you the joy and peace that flowed into my soul when I first saw that the Lord Jesus had died for my sins, and that they were all forgiven.”(7)
It is undeniable, the role of Jesus in the origins, heart and purpose of the YMCA.
George Williams and the eleven Christian friends who founded the Y in 1844 did so out of their love and loyalty to the Lord Jesus.
As an Association it’s impetus for action was Christian love and loyalty to the Young Men in their factories and neighborhoods who were facing crushing inequities, overwhelming temptations to vice, loneliness and purposelessness.
Our history is centered on the real presence of Christ Jesus, a man who figures in the background of the Y and the foreground of our leaders throughout the many generations.
The Y logos since 1881
The “X” and “P” in the background of the original Y logo are Greek letters, religious symbols for the name of Christ in the New Testament, written in Greek and spelled XRIST – Chi Rho Iota Sigma Tau.
Was the simplification of the logo in 1897 a secularist removal of Christ from the Y or rather a pragmatic marketing move?
Considering the Christians leading the Y in those days, men like John Mott, Luther Wishard, etc, their work and words, attitude and lifestyle was the real embodiment of the “C” in the YMCA.
The reality is that Christ is present in the Y irregardless of what the logo looks like, for it is through people that Jesus does his reconciling work, not marketing materials.
It is undeniable, though, that the role of the “C” – of Jesus – has become more complicated and conflicting in the YMCA.
The 1960’s seemed to have changed everything. One could make the case that the Great War of 1914 broke the ecumenical Christian Spirit of the world, that the Holocaust and atom bomb of WW2 poisoned the global Christian Spirit, and that it took decades for these reverberations to unsettle and upheave Christianity in our American culture; the 1960’s were the unveiling of the brewing chaos.
In post-war 1940’s elderly John Mott is noticing the waning of the Christian mission of the Y; in the 1950’s the famous Christian theologian and Y advocate Emil Brunner is calling the Y back to Christ; in 1989 the revered 101-old Paul Limbert laments the lack of awareness of Christian principles and legacy in the Y.
The YMCA was affected by the 1960’s, and all that led up to it, and since then; in some ways the Y embodies the culture of its communities and countries – in other ways we influence it.
One example: The diversity of Christianity in the USA is found in our YMCA staff and members.
This religious inclusion was intentional, hard-fought, often resisted, but crucial to us living out our name.
What the Y learned through religious inclusion has been seeds for greater inclusion amongst our increased dimensions of diversity – not without struggle, obviously.
Christians have always been part of the push for inclusion in the Y; they are also ones who resist it.
That’s been the history of Christianity, it’s attempt to live out Jesus’ prayer recorded in the New Testament Gospel according to John “that they may all be one.”
As Christ’s gospel encountered different tribes and nations, the diversity of the Faith increased, and so did the complexity and conflicts amongst the Body of Christ.
You can see this in the by-laws of the YMCA:
THE YMCA IS UNIVERSALLY REGARDED AS BEING IN ITS ESSENTIAL GENIUS, A WORLDWIDE FELLOWSHIP OF PERSONS UNITED BY A COMMON LOYALTY TO THE PRINCIPLES OF JESUS CHRIST FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEVELOPING CHRISTIAN PERSONALITY AND BUILDING A CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. THE YMCA SHALL BE NONDENOMINATIONAL AND SHALL NOT DISCRIMINATE AGAINST ITS STAFF, BOARD, VOLUNTEERS, COMMITTEES, MEMBERS OR RECIPIENTS OF SERVICES BASED ON ANY CHARACTERISTIC OR STATUS PROTECTED BY FEDERAL, STATE OR LOCAL LAW AND IS COMMITTED TO A CULTURE OF INCLUSION AND UNDERSTANDS, RESPECTS AND VALUES THE DIVERSITY OF OTHERS.
It’s ironic: as Christians strive to bring the peace-full gospel of Jesus to more people, there sometimes ends up being more struggles and even chaos – hence the emphasis by the Y on inclusive fellowship in imitation of Jesus Christ.
The Paris Basis of the YMCA, the original document for framing how different Christians could work together across the globe emphasized “harmonious relations”:
“The Young Men’s Christian Associations seek to unite those young men who, regarding Jesus Christ as their God and Saviour, according to the Holy Scriptures, desire to be his disciples in their faith and in their life, and to associate their efforts for the extension of his Kingdom amongst young men. Any differences of opinion on other subjects, however important in themselves, shall not interfere with the harmonious relations of the constituent members and associates of the World Alliance.”
What could it look like now it for Jesus to still be part of the Y? Challenge 21 is a compelling strategy and framework, developed in 1998 in reflection of 15 decades of YMCA ministry.
The first challenge is: “Sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and striving for spiritual, intellectual and physical well-being of individuals and wholeness of communities.” Read more at https://www.ymca.int/about-us/ymca-history/challenge-21-1998/
Sometimes we think too little of Jesus.
Is Jesus like a little Christmas elf, lurking in our buildings to bless people? Is he a ghost that haunts our facilities with nostalgia for the glory days of Christendom?
Is he a severe judge condemning all the sinners who work out at the Y? Is he a cultural critic of the right or left?
Is he wringing his hands at the mission drift of the Y? Is he rolling his eyes at the crazy Christians in the Y? Is he a timidly permissive of whatever people want to do or believe at the Y?
No.
Whatever Jesus is doing in the Y – in our world – in our communities – in our homes – it is with and through people, for all creation.
And whatever Jesus has done, is doing, and will do, it will often be – to be frank – unbelievable.
Why do I say that?
Because that’s the general experience of people as recorded in the New Testament.
It requires a leap of faith, to quote Kierkegaard, to believe Jesus existed and is still who he claims to be.
On the face of it, there is an unbelievability to Jesus.
But George Williams and his eleven friends – and Anthony Bowen, John Mott, MLK, Paul Limbert, Harold Smith, Carlos Sanvee – are evidence of what happens to men who do believe Jesus, who take a leap of faith and pledge their loyalty to the Kingdom of God.
And that is how Jesus is alive and well in the YMCA today, when Y staff and members show up desiring to embody the love and loyalty of Christ to whoever comes across their path.
The Y decided long ago, wisely, not to make religion an expectation or requirement of membership or employment.
Loyalty to Jesus Christ is always about grace, about gifts and blessing, not about coercion.
History shows that Jesus is not bound to our expectations and will not be manipulated or coerced, nor will he require that of us to others.
The grace of Christ grants us an almost unbelievable amount of freedom – which is why St Paul admonishes us to use our freedom for good “all things are permissible but not all are beneficial.”
At almost 180 years old, the relationship the Y has with Jesus is complicated and conflicted, which ought not to be much of a surprise.
But no matter how many decades have elapsed, life with Jesus always require more trust, which means there always more room for doubt.
Our faith only grows when tested, which means we will face more complicated conflicts which give us the opportunity to increase our hope and reveal the resiliency of our love and dependence on God’s Grace.
Are there still Christians still in the Y? Yes.
Is Jesus and the Y still a thing? Of course?
Do we crave more certainty and security about the “C” in the Y? Probably too much.
Did Jesus come to make people comfortable and happy? Not really.
Jesus did come to be the light in the darkness, to rescue us from evil, to call people to join him in a ministry of reconciliation for the restoration of all creation.
That’s what Jesus is doing in the world, in the Y, with and through and for people – people who can be stiff-necked, hard-hearted, stubborn and rebellious.
Yet he faithfully, patiently, with great endurance overcomes evil with good, redeeming it all by love, for those that believe it, who trust that this is what God is doing in the world through Jesus.
Sometimes Christ is in the background of our Y, like in that first logo; sometimes you can’t see him in obvious ways, like our current logo.
But since it’s by faith, through grace, that Jesus fulfills God’s will in the world, may we choose to believe that Christ is in the Y, that he is mysteriously present in the background and foreground leading us – the complicated and conflicted people that we are – into his promised future, where there is flourishing for all.
Here is how Carlos Sanvee authentically puts it, our World YMCA Secretary-General, in his 2021 Easter message to the Y:
I also realised how my faith in Jesus aligned with my African understanding of Ubuntu: that a person is a person only through other people; and that I am, because you are.
The YMCA taught me triangles and trinities: of the interlinkage of body, mind and spirit; and the interrelation of me, my neighbour and God.
So my work has always been my faith, and my faith has always been my work.
The core of my faith is to endeavour to accept and understand the unconditional love of God, shown to us at Easter. And my work is to try and share that love.
Jesus poured himself out in love and service. He preached and he lived the social gospel. He bridged the divides in society, and he reconciled us to God and to each other.
We in the YMCA are called to do the same.
Carlos Sanvee, https://www.ymca.int/eastermessage/
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.
