3 Ways To Decolonize Our Faith

An excerpt from a recent sermon

Good morning! So great be back with you this morning. I can’t believe you let bootleg Jesus from The Chosen back up here.

So last week, we looked at Coming to the Table or Approaching the Table. And how to approach the Table in Jesus centered way. This week, we’re going to look at Going from the Table. How do we proceed from the Table? And where do we proceed from the Table?

And there was something specific I said last week that I’d like to bring up again. I said this:

After working in international human rights over the past decade, there are two places that I KNOW I’ll find Jesus: The Table and The Margins. The Table and The Margins.

My sermon today is called From The Table To The Margins. From The Table To The Margins.

We’re called to the Table. But we’re not called to just stay at the Table. We’re called to go from the Table to the Margins.

Now before I jump in, I want to clarify something. Here’s what I’m not saying: I’m not saying that we take Jesus from the table to the margins. Because Jesus is already on the margins. So the question isn’t whether or not Jesus is on the margins. The question is whether or not we have the eyes to see Jesus on the margins.

And being with Jesus at the Table prepares us to be with Jesus on the margins.

But what does it look like for us to go from the Table to the Margins? Let’s read Jesus’ words in his Sermon of the Mount:

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

That was the NIV – the New International Version. Here’s the NIV – the New Indian Version:

“You are the masala of the earth. But if the masala loses its masala-ness, how can it be made masala again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

But let’s switch back to the NIV – the legit NIV: “You are the light of the world.”

Now, I don’t want us to skim past this because this is kind of a big deal. Jesus tells his disciples – anyone who follows him – that WE are the light of the world. Now we here as city folks in the 21st century west, are so accustomed to seeing light. But Jesus says this to a Middle Eastern audience before the invention of electricity. And more specifically, Jesus says this to a Jewish audience that had a very specific understanding of light.

Their understanding of light went all the way back to Genesis 1 when God created something beautiful out of nothing by saying, “Let there be light”. And light led to life because light always leads to life.

And now, here’s Jesus saying: “YOU are the light. YOU are the life.”

It’s like Jesus passing on the baton to his disciples and saying, “Back in my day, when I was there at the beginning of time, we said let there be light! And there was light. Today, I say unto you – YOU are the light of the world. So go be the light! And go bring life.”

And then he goes onto say: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

You know, I was raised in a Christian tradition in India that taught me explicitly to do good deeds so that people would see my good deeds and glorify my Father in heaven. How are people going to know that I’m a Christian in a non-Christian society unless there’s something different about me? And not like in a weird isolationist kind of way. But different because I’m bringing salt and light and life to the spaces around me. To live such lives of goodness and grace and love and compassion and justice so that people would see that there was something different about us as a people – so that they would see the goodness of God.

But you know what? When I moved to the west, I heard a very different presentation of the Gospel – a presentation of the Gospel that said that Jesus cares way more about my spiritual needs than my physical needs. That my spiritual salvation was more important to Jesus than my earthly liberation. That Jesus cares more about the salvation of my soul than the well-being of my human body.

Here's a quote from an American celebrity pastor a few years ago:

“There is a pile of dead bodies behind the Mars Hill Church bus, and by God's grace, it'll be a mountain by the time we're done. You either get on the bus or you get run over by the bus. Those are the two options.”

Let me give you a moment to process that or throw up in your mouth if you need to do that. Because many of you have probably heard things like this from abusive churches you’ve been a part of in the past.

Where does this theology come from? Where does this theology that teaches us to suppress our light and our good deeds come from? Where does this theology that is okay with throwing bodies behind the bus so souls get saved – where does this theology come from? I’ll tell you where it comes from – it comes from a very dark place. This dark, dark place that my people are all too familiar with: Colonization.

You see, we cannot talk about being a light to people on the margins without first talking about the problem that has pushed billions of people around the world into the margins - colonization. We cannot talk about international human rights without first talking about why we need international human rights in the 21st century – because we live in a postcolonial world. We cannot talk about racism or residential schools or first nations justice issues without first talking about the reality of colonization that has shaped these issues today.

As Christians, our love for people on the margins should push us to uncomfortable places in understanding why people are on the margins in the first place. And for us, as the 21^st century church – so much of that is because of colonization.
 

So what is colonization?

Here’s Walter Mignolo’s definition of Colonization or Colonialism: “Colonialism is a practice of domination, which involves the subjugation of one people by another.”

Colonization has always been around but the system of modern colonization began in the 15th and 16th centuries with the European military conquest of the world and the violent subjugation of its people. It was marked by slavery, the extraction of raw materials, repressive rule, and the creation of social authority structures based on external characteristics that became known as race. It’s impossible to understand racism--without understanding this history and system associated with its origin.

(European colonization raged throughout the world for hundreds of years. During this time, Europe developed itself, participated in all manners of human rights violations, and set up racialized class hierarchies with themselves at the top and indigenous and enslaved people at the bottom. Millions of people were killed in service to the European quest for world dominance and extreme wealth. And populations were moved all over the world to meet its ever-increasing desires.

European colonization mostly ended by the mid 20th century, but its effects remain in the form of neocolonialism, rampant poverty, global hunger and civil unrest in the destabilized former colonies (like what we’re seeing in Israel and Palestine right now or what we saw with the Rwandan genocide a few decades ago). But also race-based hierarchies in former colonies – like the United States and Canada.

You know, as a child of colonization – as someone born and raised in a country that only threw out our colonial oppressors in 1947 – 77 years ago – colonization isn’t an academic concept for my people; it’s a lived experience. My family has lived firsthand the effects of colonization.

You see, the shameful injustice of colonization wasn’t that long ago. For example, my grandparents were born in colonized India. My great-grandparents spent most of their lives in colonized India. Queen Elizabeth, who recently passed away, became second in line to the throne while India was still colonized in 1936. And most of Africa was decolonized from the 1950’s to the 1970’s during her reign!

Here’s something else that will blow your mind: Portugal’s first colony in Asia in the year 1510 was Goa – today, in modern day India, just a few hours south of where I grew up – Mumbai. Do you know when the Portuguese left India? December 1961 – the first year of John F. Kennedy’s Presidency.

Now some of you are wondering – “Joash, where was the Western Church when all this happened? Was the Western Church silent?” Actually no, the Western Church wasn’t silent. In fact, the Western Church was largely on the side of the colonizers. And it wasn’t just the Catholic Church!

Now yes, the Roman Catholic Church fully backed the colonizing efforts of the French, the Italians, the Spanish and the Portuguese. But they weren’t the only ones.

The Dutch Reformed Church backed the Dutch colonizers.

The Church of England backed the British Empire. And in fact, in repenting of its support for colonization in recent years, the Church of England has publicly admitted that much of its wealth – the Church’s wealth – was built on the backs of people in slavery and colonization. Think about that!

And last but not the least – Southern Baptists and Southern Presbyterians in the US aided and abetted colonization with their support for slavery and segregation.

Willie James Jennings, Black American theologian, says in his book, The Christian Imagination that the Western Christian tradition has been deeply shaped by a colonial mindset – a mindset that has marginalized and devalued non-European cultures and peoples. He also argues that this colonial imagination has influenced how Christians understand God, humanity and the world – often reinforcing systems of power and oppression. Jennings calls for a reimagining of Christianity that challenges and transcends the colonial imagination. That’s exactly the work we’re doing here this morning. Reimagining Christianity Jesus’ way – so that we can love our neighbours on the margins.

So now that we know what the darkness of colonization looks like and how it still shapes our theology today, how do we as Christians be a salt and light in our post-colonial world today? How do we embody Jesus to our marginalized neighbors all over the world today?

And how do we decolonize our faith so that we can prioritize justice for our marginalized neighbors?

I’d like to offer us three ways to decolonize our faith:

Number 1: We prioritize the liberation of human bodies. We prioritize the liberation of human bodies.

You see, colonized theology would have us believe that Jesus cares more about the salvation of souls than the liberation of human bodies. And this kind of teaching has been prevalent all throughout the history of the western evangelical church. Why? Because so much of the western evangelical church got its theology from theologians who owned people in slavery or colonized other people and were okay with it.

Anyone every hear of The Slave Bible? It’s a thing – you can Google Search it. It was a Bible that slaveholders in the US gave their slaves where many parts of the Bible were missing -  so that people in slavery would not see that God takes the side of people in physical oppression. This is why the Anglican Church took out the Magnificat from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer in India. Specifically Mary’s words in Luke chapter 1 verse 53 where she says, “He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” Because there were regular famines across India with millions of people dying of hunger – all because the British Empire would force Indian farmers who relied on farming to feed their families to grow cash crops that would be exported to England for commercial purposes.

By the way, this teaching of God caring more about the salvation of souls than the liberation of bodies, persists today in the Western Church today. So I work for the world’s largest anti-human trafficking organization. And I lead our church partnerships team across Canada. And I cannot begin to tell you the number of Canadian pastors that refuse to support our work at - our work of literally rescuing people from slavery and violence – just because we do not do the work of saving souls. I cannot begin to tell you the number of Canadian pastors who tell my team after we tell them stories of women and children being trafficked and abused up to 20 times a day, “What’s the point of rescuing children from slavery if their souls go to hell? Aren’t they dead in the water anyway?”

Where does this theology come from? It comes from colonization. It comes from western church leaders who were okay with owning people in slavery. It comes from the European Protestant reformers who had zero concerns about executing their theological enemies – because souls mattered more than bodies.

Well, let’s contrast that now with the life of Jesus of Nazareth – a victim of colonization himself who was ultimately executed by his colonial masters. Jesus said this in his first words in public ministry:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.

Side note – how many of you have heard western preachers preach this text and explain it as, “Well Jesus only meant the spiritually poor and the spiritually oppressed.” Actually, no – the original Greek text would disagree with you. Because the word for “poor” here in the Greek is the word “Ptochos” and “Ptochos” means people who are physically poor.

And for those of you who have heard this text explained away with, “Well Jesus didn’t come to set the oppressed free. If that was the case, he would have liberated the Jewish people from the Roman Empire.”

Well yeah, Jesus wasn’t a Christian Nationalist. And Jesus did say that we’d do greater things than him!

But don’t take my word for it – just look at Jesus’ life and ministry after he declares these words in Luke. What does he do right after he says this in the Gospel of Luke? He heals people. He sets people free from demon possession. He feeds hungry people. He raises the dead back to life. Because Jesus cares about both – the spiritual and the physical. Because Jesus’ good news is both – physical and spiritual.

If Jesus’ good news or Gospel was just spiritual – the resurrection would not have happened. Because the resurrection is first and foremost a physical event. It’s an event of Jesus defeating death – a current physical reality – as all of us who have lost loved ones know.

But Jesus defeating death also points to a future physical reality – the resurrection of life. Because what God has done for Jesus, he’ll also do for us. And what God will do for us, he’ll also do for all of creation one day.

Here’s the second way we decolonize our faith: We right what’s wrong by prioritizing justice. We right what’s wrong by prioritizing justice.

Here’s the thing: All of us have inherited a beautiful faith from imperfect people. Just like many European and Canadian ancestors had a blindspot towards colonization, my southern Indian ancestors who worshiped Jesus also had a blindspot - towards casteism. We can’t change the past; but we can be faithful in the present.

What does Zacchaeus, someone who has benefitted from the oppression of others do after having an encounter with Jesus in Luke 19? He rights what’s wrong by prioritizing justice. Here’s what he says in verse 8:

“Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

And here’s how Jesus responds in verse 9:

“Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.”

Jesus affirms Zacchaeus’ newfound faith. Because this is what it means to follow Jesus of Nazareth.

So what does it look like for a Western Church that has benefitted from colonization to right what’s wrong with communities who have suffered the effects of colonization? Because here’s the thing: Whether we realize it or not, we’re all beneficiaries of colonization. Yes, I’m a child of colonization. But I’m also a beneficiary of colonization. I became a beneficiary of colonization the day I moved to America. And then to Canada right after that. And like you, I have also benefitted off of historically stolen wealth and stolen land here in Canada.

Jesus said, “Where your money is there your heart will be also.” I would add where your money is, there your theology is also. Maybe we could go a step further and look at our own budgets – how are we spending our money? How much are we spending on ourselves? How much are we hoarding for ourselves in real estate or stock options or savings accounts? Now I’m not saying we shouldn’t save for a rainy day. But what does it look like for us to be faithful with our household budgets in way that prioritizes our marginalized neighbours?

For example – western Christians have given generously towards spiritual evangelism. But if we as western Christians have benefitted from colonization, shouldn’t we also give generously towards justice work? Wouldn’t that be the Zacchaeus thing to do?

Because from the perspective of a fundraiser for a Christian justice organization: Canadian Christians have been blessed with way more than we currently give to the work of justice.

And as someone who grew up in the Global South: My family has been Christian for 2000 years now. The Apostle Thomas brought the Gospel to us. And the Church in my country is growing today because of the Holy Spirit and because of local leadership. You know what we really need? We need safe communities. We need stronger justice systems that are redeemed to work for people who are poor.

For example, in South Asia, you are statistically more likely to be struck by lightning than ever be convicted in a court of law for trafficking. Let me give you a moment to let that sink in. In many countries in Central America, more than 90% of sexual violence cases never get reported to law enforcement. Why? Because these justice systems were set up by colonial powers to protect colonial interests.

And in addition to that, what would it look like for us to prioritize resourcing the work of justice in our communities – especially towards our Black and indigenous neighbours?

Here’s the third way we decolonize our faith: Learn from Christians on the margins. Learn from Christians on the margins.

The beautiful thing about the Table is that it levels the playing field. We’re all equal in Christ when we come to the Table and we’re all equal in Christ when we leave from the Table. We all have things to learn from each other. And we all need each other. And we all need Christians on the margins to teach us.

Who are the Christian voices that have shaped your understanding of Jesus the most? Who are the Christian authors, podcasters, Instagram influencers that you listen to? Is your list of Christian teachers diverse? Or are you only learning about Jesus from white American men? Now there’s nothing wrong with learning about Jesus only from white American men; some of my favourite authors are white American men. But there’s so much that we miss out when we only learn from them. Because the Global Church is beautifully diverse – and we miss out on understanding Jesus when we only learn from one small category of the Global Church.

So learn from Canadian teachers. Learn from female teachers. Learn from Black Bible teachers. Learn from Asian preachers. Learn from LGBTQ Christians authors. Now you don’t have to agree with everything they say. But hear them out. Hear them out. Because they have a unique understanding of Jesus from the margins.

Wrestle with what they’re saying – with their lived experiences in oppression. But also in their hope and perspective on the beauty of God in the midst of their oppression. And better yet, let’s create holy spaces of wrestling in our communities – small groups, discipleship groups, bible studies to lean into the bad news of injustice so that we can fully appreciate the good news of Jesus.

I know so many western Christians who leave the faith because all their teachers of Jesus are only white American men. What if they had been exposed to other teachers as well who taught them about Jesus from marginalized eyes? Especially Christian teachers from marginalized communities? Would they still be in the faith today? We’ll never know.

A few years ago, I experienced a lot of trauma in the southern American Church. I was very close to walking away from the church. And you know what I did in that season? I started listening to Black preachers online. I started diversifying who I was following on Instagram. I started reading female authors. And I kid you not – it saved my faith. It saved my faith. Because I started to experience a new side of Jesus. A Jesus that is good news to people on the margins.

I’ve passed along a diverse list of authors and podcasters and Instagram accounts that you can also learn from. And we’ll make that list available to you this week in the Wednesday email – be sure to subscribe - so you have a starting point if you’d like to do that.

Friends, if what I’m sharing with you today sounds radical, it’s because the work of the Holy Spirit IS radical. What does the Holy Spirit do in the New Testament Church? The Holy Spirit topples the old order of things to make way for God’s new creation. This is what the Spirit does. God is always making things new.

And I believe that the Holy Spirit is still moving today – just like it did in the early church – if we have eyes to see and the hearts to hear. And those hearts get formed with Jesus at the Table in community.

Preached at Lakeside Church in Guelph, ON (Canada) on July 28, 2024

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