On Discernment with God’s Heart (“A Letter to My Son as He Leaves for College”)
“To be alive is to face choices constantly” (Wilkie and Noreen Au, The Discerning Heart)
You’ve navigated so many choices and challenges already. I see you...I see your heart to make thoughtful choices, to follow God with humility in a complex world. It’s not easy, but you have been doing that, and you are not alone.
Your generation already holds a deeper understanding of the complexity and diversity in the world than many who have gone before, but also a wariness of institutions (understandably!). There is wisdom in taking time for discernment, especially as you navigate various philosophies, ideologies, and secular as well as Christian groups/institutions. Though you will face many decisions, today I write about the choosing of your faith community.
“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.” Psalm 143:8 (NIV).
You are very aware, and I’m so grateful, for the wisdom that has come from our La Fuente community’s Brown Theology—the wisdom that comes from discerning “en conjunto” with those who are following Jesus--not from a place of power, but from the margins. As your dad wrote about (from the wisdom of Latina/o Theology) in Brown Church, Jesus was from the margins of Galilee--not from the centers of religious and economic power. They even said of him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” !!! (John 1:46 NRSVUE)
Son, you already know to be wary of any Christianity wrapped in the U.S. flag--or any political party for that matter. Steer clear of any false religion that tries to claim Jesus, but secretly worships money and power. Following in the footsteps of Jesus means loving our neighbors, including immigrants and refugees. And you know that if a group justifies destroying Black and Native history—they are following an idol of nationalism, and denying the need for repentance. Sadly, this is why a lot of our brothers and sisters of Color feel betrayal trauma. (Explained so well in The Religion of Whiteness: How Racism Distorts Christian Faith, by Emerson & Bracey).
Pay close attention to how the poor and marginalized are talked about, and treated. Historically, the Church in the US has practiced a much more complicit Christianity, rather than courageous Christianity, as Jemar Tisby talks about in The Color of Compromise. Be courageous, son.
There are many who are under the influence of false spiritualities today...an individualistic, personal-salvation-only, “me and Jesus”-only faith that does not reflect the ways of Jesus or communal concern of the early Church.
You know my story—I grew up as a young white, German-Midwestern Catholic girl, went to Catholic school—the whole thing, and I had a deep respect for God. In college, I met people from an Evangelical organization who helped me study the Bible, know Jesus’ love and grace more deeply...and for those gifts I am very grateful. But they also, unfortunately, because of their own cultural blinders, gave me an individualistic faith perspective. I was told to love my neighbor, yes, but mostly to tell them about a simplistic story of Jesus. It wasn’t until a few years later—attending a wonderful Black church in South LA—that I learned that, just as there is both personal and communal righteousness, there is also personal and communal sin. That communal sin is the injustice that we see today, and have seen in the history of our nation. We talked about it all the time in our family and church. Sin in systems—that were placed into laws and accepted rules of the day...
How much would need to change in systems if we all took seriously Jesus’ admonishment to love our neighbor? And took the Beatitudes seriously? (Love the First Nations version ;)
I pray that you can journey with others who understand the “two wings of the plane”—both the personal and social aspects of the Gospel. Without either wing, the plane will crash. (Brown Church, from “Misión Integral”, 159).
I know you know this, so I pray that you hold it all as part of your discernment...whose voices you listen to, whose church you go to, what groups form your deep community...
May your discernment be filled with freedom and a steadfast belief in the God of LIFE.
With love and respect,
Mom
P.S. For others reading this, when I shared this with my son, he thought I should share it with others. I’m so grateful for his courageous, discerning heart.
