RHM Update: March 30, 2021

Much of Western Christianity is commemorating Holy Week this week, this coming Sunday being Easter Sunday. (Our Eastern Orthodox siblings will be celebrating Easter on May 2.)

We at Renewed Heart Ministries wish each of you a happy Easter celebration as we commemorate the affirmation of life and life-giving revealed in the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Life which reverses violent, systemic death-dealing and renews our hopes of a just world. May we take this time to be reminded that we too can participate in this death defeating, life-giving resurrection through the same Jesus in each of our daily lives, in our homes, within our families, among our friends, and in our larger society, including how we choose to participate in the systems by which our societies function.

May the life of the Jesus story be found in our stories as well.

Recent Events

Recently I had the privilege of addressing the congregation of the Edgewood Presbyterian Church here in Lewisburg via zoom. Our topic was how to tell the Jesus story, especially during the Easter season, in a way that does not further communicate the harmful message for both survivors and victims that suffering is redemptive.

You can listen in to this presentation at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/EdgewoodPresbyterianChurch/posts/2478014802322786

Social Jesus Blog Recent Posts

Reinterpreting the Easter Story (Part 1)

Certain interpretations of these passages have born destructive and even death-dealing fruit in these communities. These experiences, concerns and critiques are worth listening to and wrestling with. Read more

Reinterpreting the Easter Story (Part 2)

“The central image of Christ on the cross as the savior of the world communicates the harmful message that suffering is redemptive.” Read more

Reinterpreting the Easter Story (Part 3)

“Let’s not ask ourselves how we can die. Jesus doesn’t call a person do die, but to live. So what is it going to take for us to germinate?” Read more

The Politics of Jesus (Part 1)

Not one conception in Jewish history fits Luke’s description of how Mary conceived Jesus. But in Rome, the story of a virgin conceiving and giving birth to the son of God had a political context. Read more

The Politics of Jesus (Part 2)

Jesus was crucified by Rome not because he was starting a new religion, but because his political teachings on justice for the oppressed, marginalized, and disenfranchised threatened to upset the status quo. Read more

The Politics of Jesus (Part 3)

We could choose to be last in line to oppose those progressive visions for American society rather than being among the loudest opponents of distributively just change. Read more

Articles posted each week at https://www.patheos.com/blogs/socialjesus/

Recommended Reading for March

White Women’s Christ and Black Women’s Jesus: Feminist Christology andWomanist Response

by Jacquelyn Grant

Christology is especially problematic for feminists. Because Jesus was undeniably male and because the Christian church claims him as the unique God-bearer, feminist christology confronts the dual tasks of explaining the significance of a male God-bearer for women and creating a christological model adequate to feminist experience. Jacquelyn Grant rehearses the development and challenges of feminist christology and argues that, because it has reflected the experience of White women predominantly, it fails to speak to the concerns of non-white and non-western women. In response to this failure, Grant proposes a womanist theology and christology that emerge from and are adequate to the reality of contemporary Black women.

Weekly Zoom HeartGroup on Wednesday Nights

Each Wednesday evening, Glendale City Church will be hosting a Zoom-HeartGroup led by Herb Montgomery. Our discussion each week will focus on the content in Renewed Heart Ministries’ weekly eSight articles and the Jesus For Everyone podcast published each Friday. The time of each Zoom session will be on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. Pacific/10:00 p.m. Eastern.

For more information and for the link to participate each week, contact RHM here.

A Special Message to Our HeartGroups

We are continuing to ask all HeartGroups not to meet together physically at this time. Please stay virtually connected and to practice physical distancing. You can still be there for each other to help ease anxiety and fears. When you do go out, please maintain a six-foot distance with others, continue to wear a mask, and wash your hands often to keep the spread of the virus at bay.

This is also a time where we can practice the resource-sharing and mutual aid found in the gospels. Make sure the others in your group have what they need. We are more interconnected than we realize, as this has proven. And we need each other during this time.

How many ways can you take care of others while we are physically apart?

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