{"id":1021,"date":"2010-03-23T16:25:25","date_gmt":"2010-03-23T21:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/hungerrumblings\/?p=1021"},"modified":"2010-03-23T16:25:25","modified_gmt":"2010-03-23T21:25:25","slug":"identity-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/identity-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Identity Again"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/hungerrumblings\/2010\/03\/stained-glass1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1027\" title=\"stained glass\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/hungerrumblings\/2010\/03\/stained-glass1-291x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"291\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>I would like to pick up where I left off in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/hungerrumblings\/post\/root-causes-of-hunger-neither-you-nor-i-but-us-16032010\/\">last week&#8217;s post<\/a>. \u00a0I concluded with the following musings:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I do wonder how much a shift in group identity could begin to address some of our reticence to do good in the world. \u00a0What if we saw ourselves as part of the poor and marginalized group? \u00a0What if a threat to those who are vulnerable was perceived to be a threat to ourselves? \u00a0I hope to get back to this idea in another post. \u00a0For now, I\u2019ll suggest that as the body of Christ, this may be the most natural identity for us to assume.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>None of these ideas are particularly new. The\u00a0<a href=\"www.elca.org\/aids\">ELCA&#8217;s HIV and AIDS strategy<\/a> affirms that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elca.org\/~\/media\/Files\/Our%20Faith%20in%20Action\/Justice\/poverty%20ministries\/hiv_statement_final.pdf\">the body of Christ has AIDS<\/a> (as did the World Council of Churches before us). \u00a0Stephen Bouman (director of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elca.org\/Who-We-Are\/Our-Three-Expressions\/Churchwide-Organization\/Evangelical-Outreach-and-Congregational-Mission.aspx\">Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission<\/a> at ELCA churchwide) co- authored a brilliant book, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/They-Are-Us-Lutherans-Immigration\/dp\/0806657634\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1269370302&amp;sr=8-1\">They Are Us<\/a> (please look past the grammatically frightful title), in which he explores the many ways that immigrant stories are our own. \u00a0Martin Buber&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/I-Thou-Martin-Buber\/dp\/1443724106\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1269371266&amp;sr=8-1\">I and Thou<\/a> (written in 1923!) essentially gets at the same idea, just with different language.<\/p>\n<p>From a biblical perspective, as Kris pointed out, Paul redraws kinship lines (see also the early Christian language of &#8220;family&#8221;). \u00a0(Sadly the fictive kin language is also used to divide&#8211;see Galatians.) \u00a0The &#8220;body&#8221; language Paul uses suggests that as one body, when one part suffers, the whole suffers (see esp. 1 Corinthians 12:26; perhaps also Philippians 2:4-10 applies here?). \u00a0Much could be made of how we as the body of Christ are wounded as he was (and is) by the evils in the world (I think I will have to reflect on this in a further post).<\/p>\n<p>Jesus too redefined the family (see Mark 3:31-35). \u00a0Jesus also practiced table fellowship with those who were otherwise considered outsiders; that table fellowship was a clear sign of friendship. \u00a0And Jesus to the end brought the &#8220;other&#8221; into the fold (see this week&#8217;s text, Luke 23:39-43!).<\/p>\n<p>The biblical text then offers considerable support the idea that we are those who are poor, vulnerable, and marginalized (and perhaps I have overlooked other key texts&#8211;please share them in the comments). \u00a0Is this enough to affirm that they indeed are <em>we<\/em>? \u00a0More posts to come!<\/p>\n<p>-David Creech<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I would like to pick up where I left off in\u00a0last week&#8217;s post. \u00a0I concluded with the following musings: I do wonder how much a shift in group identity could begin to address some of our reticence to do good in the world. \u00a0What if we saw ourselves as part of the poor and marginalized [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - 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