The Hope of Our Faith – Baptist News Global

Facing the reality of government oppression, as a form of imperial reaction and suppression to the revolutionary church movement, early Christians anticipated inevitable suffering. Living in an autocracy, anyone or any movement that was at odds with this empire was ready to endure revenge, retribution or repression.

These attempts emerged as Christianity, or better said as the “Jesus movement”, were in contrast to the Greco-Roman world and the control of the Roman Empire which sought to “rule” over the people. This was a culture that sought to dictate the existence and practices of the people by maintaining, forming and promoting the cults they deemed necessary to control the community’s identity and well-being.

This was the equivalent of a state religion for the empire, and their gods were to be sought out because they supported the existence of Roman imperialism. Consequently, Jesus’ monotheistic revolutionary movement became a threat to the Roman cause.

The Empire asked a critical question, “How could this movement born of a martyr, promoted by a popular marketing campaign and affirmed by human testimony triumph over an autocratic system?”

This is the question for the inhabitants of a world system determined to prohibit holistic liberation. Such is our present world when we consider the circumstances before us.

There is no shortage of problems in America. There is no lack of trials experienced by humanity. There is no lack of persecution encountered by those who populate this land.

We are clear that people did it, do and you will suffer. Not by choice or chance, but more often by the conditions created in this world.

Consider the climate crisis. Think mass incarceration. Look at the death toll from gun violence. Lament the state-sanctioned killing of innocent children by war. Note the food deserts. Examine housing inequity. Remember the lack of quality schools. Notice the abrogation of women’s bodily autonomy. Question the abandonment of black history and the downgrading of public education. Then don’t leave out the inequitable access to medical care and medicines.

The list goes on in infinity of different ways and methods of suffering. And also the looting of white supremacy, Christian fascism, and the vicious backlash and responses to those who dare to challenge its notions and the global empire that supports it.

The question before professing Christians is, “Are you prepared to engage your faith for the sake of changing our current social order?

“The present troubles of our world require prophets, living witnesses of Jesus Christ, to change the fabric of our tangible existence.”

This belief, which we are proud to proclaim, it is not meant to be worn as a garment of exceptionalism or exclusivity. This faith, which we boldly profess, is not a label or label for protection against the intense struggles and strains of life. This faith, which we are commissioned to share, is not reserved for the few and preferably. This faith, which we embody and exemplify, is one of love and community, not individuality and selfishness.

This faith is one born of struggle, lived by endurance, amplified by resurrection, sustained by suffering, proclaimed by an eternal hope, defined by the desire to bring salvation to the earth, and must be recovered in the midst of our world’s trouble. This is an opportunity for radical faith and bold prophetic witness true to the essence of Jesus.

Obery Hendricks, the author The politics of Jesuswrites: “There never was a conservative prophet. Prophets were never called to preserve the social orders that stratified inequities of power, privilege, and wealth: prophets were always called to change them so that all might have access to the fullest fruits of life.”

The present trouble of our world ask the prophets, the living witnesses of Jesus Christ, to change the fabric of our tangible existence. It is necessary to denounce white supremacy, reject Christian nationalism, confront the lies of this government, reject the priests of empire, abolish the loyalties of greed and manipulation, protest genocide, and willingly seize access to power.

Consequently, the prophets of this faith must anticipate and endure potential suffering, because doing the work of Jesus requires making salvation tangible. However, failure to resist leaves modern Caesars, Pilates, and Neros free to conquer, dictate, and violently eliminate “threats” to their rule. A lesson learned from the early church, ancestors and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Against the background of occupation and dictatorship, people embraced a living hope, “who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time”. Their hope was formed in the dark, revealed to the light, embraced by the bold, proclaimed by the community, focused on the present and later, embodied by the resurrected, secure in Christ, and lived with purpose despite the trials that tested them as the fire.

This is the hope of our faith revealed through a commitment to the resurrection of humanity. Requesting a prophetic witness.

“We cannot be docile and silent in this hour of political evil, while evangelical deception sets up false gods and worships a king.”

We cannot be docile and quiet in this hour of political evil, while evangelical deception sets up false gods and worships a king.

We cannot be apathetic and dismissive of unforeseen global chaos as our Palestinian, Congolese, Sudanese and Haitian relatives are slaughtered.

We cannot be indifferent as the vulnerable suffer loudly and quietly every day.

Alternatively, there is a radical hope to share.

This hope is defined by Johnny Kinney as “the onion from which all can reach and drink.” It is the hope defined by Mama Itihari Touré as “the table where no one is missing or excluded”. It is Obery Hendricks’ stated hope of “treating people’s needs as sacred.”

Certainly, the true disciples of Jesus they are disciples of a radical faith, given by a radical God, exemplified by a radical elder brother, and lived by a radical Holy Spirit. This is the radical, where our hope remains, remains, and will be forever until salvation comes to earth.

Jamar A. Boyd II serves the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference as a senior manager of organizational impact. He earned a bachelor of science degree in sports management and business from Georgia Southern University and a master of divinity degree from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. He is the former justice reform organizer at the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. He is also a graduate scholar of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology.