To Jim Wallis, Sojourners and friends:

I am a huge supporter of Sojourners: I read it, distributed the pamphlets about "God is not a Democrat or Republican," and passionately share the message of social justice and nonviolence with my Christian and non-Christian friends. It is refreshing to read the God’s politics blog by Jim Wallis and friends.

Please hear my concern as if a friend with the most heart-felt compassion were talking with you.

I am a Christian who values the Bible greatly and naturally sees the call to social justice, nonviolence and love come through the entire Biblical narrative. All the wisdom for social justice, nonviolence and love are present in the Old Testament. Jesus uniquely interprets all of the Scriptures to bring the message of reconciliation intended from the beginning. Jesus is the new Adam.

The term "Red-letter Christian" does not seem to reflect the value of the whole Biblical narrative, which hinders Christians from proclaiming that social justice, nonviolence and love come from a relationship with the God of the Judea-Christian Bible. This is very troubling for me, because I deeply desire to follow socially conscience Christianity as proclaimed by Sojourners, but I also desire to value the authority of all Scripture. I do not see a contradiction between valuing all Scripture equally and proclaiming the social gospel.

The term "Red-letter Christian" is often explained as taking the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) seriously. The following quote is from the primary essay of René Girard from girardianlectionary.net. (René Girard is a core figure in explaining Christian nonviolence.)

"Is the teaching in the Sermon on the Mount the core of Jesus’ faith and teaching? The ultimate test must be the focus of the Gospels themselves, namely, Jesus’ act of going to the cross. Jesus came not primarily as a didactic teacher of principles to live by, but as a prophet who came to incarnate God’s Word through faith and action. When considering fundamental issues such as a nonviolent response to violence in light of the New Testament, the Cross itself is the center. For the Cross of Jesus Christ is essentially God’s nonviolent response to human violence."

We are immensely blessed to have Sojourners and many Christian leaders uniting around the social gospel message. Doesn’t "Red-letter Christian" seem to alienate itself from Jesus’ Talmudic Jewish heritage? Would Sojourners and friends consider shifting to a term like "Social Justice Christians"?

Shalom,
Misha

P.S. Paul Versluis is the pastor at my church, Shalom Community Church, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Paul Versluis helped start Sojourners.

Red-letter Christians

This entry was originally published at Interconnectedness by Mikhail (Misha) Lomize