Being Progressive: Some Affirmations

PROGRESS Noun: a forward or onward movement (as to an objective or to a goal) : ADVANCE 3: gradual betterment especially  : the progressive development of humankind; and the verb: : to move forward : PROCEED 2: to develop to a higher, better, or more advanced stage. (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary)

In a previous post, I stated that it is time to talk about becoming a Progressive United Methodist Church. I am ambivalent about starting yet another denomination or setting up yet another institution that will need to do all the self-preservation things that institutions do. But I do know that it is important to talk about what it means to be Progressive as Methodists and as Christians.

Given the definition of Progress above, it should be clear that to speak of “Progressive Christianity” should be redundant. The fact that we have to use “progressive” as a qualifier of “Christianity” gives witness to the fact that all too often, a Christian veneer has been placed upon some of the most heinous misdeeds in human history, and has been used as an excuse to preserve the status quo of structures of power and domination of all kinds. Therefore, a truly progressive Christianity will need to begin with a thorough critique of structural systems of power and domination, as it seeks to create and manifest the opposite.

But I would like to share some of my own personal affirmations about what I have come to believe should characterize a Progressive Christian Faith. I share these here, hoping to add to the conversation of what it means to be persons of faith in the 21st Century, and what it means to walk in a peculiarly Methodist expression of the Christian faith in a way that moves us forward and embraces the development and unfolding of emerging expressions and experiences of that faith. So here are my affirmations:

 Love

It is all about love.
It begins with love.
Its basic characteristic is love.
It ends in love.
It defines love.
It shows how love is the force that binds the universe together.
It shows that love is not a mushy, gushy, warm and fuzzy feeling, it is a force. It is the Force. It is positive action on behalf of another person. It is doing to others as they would have you do unto them. It requires us to be in relation with people, to be in conversation with them and listen to their description and definition of what is in their best interest and what is good and helpful to them.

 Expand Our Minds

In order to fully experience the power of this Love, our consciousness must be expanded and transformed. We are capable of this as human beings. It is our birthright, and it is our destiny. It is the fullness of life that Jesus talked about and it is the being perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. It is the realization of the fullness of our potential as human beings. 

Expand Our Hearts

Compassion: As we become more globally aware and connected, it is imperative that we cultivate greater compassion. Compassion will need to be coupled with action, otherwise we will suffer compassion fatigue. In order to be effective, all action will need to be cooperative action. In other words, “feeling-with” needs to be joined to “acting-with.”

Justice and Right Relationships: Creating the conditions wherein the potentials for human and non-human beings can be realized and maximized. In order to create these conditions, there are positive and proactive practices and actions that we can do:

• Equitable sharing of resources, meeting true needs of people and earth
• Bigger Mind leads to the realization that current inequalities and inequities and economic and financial imbalances and the wide divergence of incomes are detrimental to human and ecological survival
•  establishing and maintaining the conditions wherein each being’s full potential can be maximized: Physical, Mental, Emotional, Spiritual, etc.

Justice moves beyond mere survival to addressing what makes it possible for human beings to thrive and achieve their potential. A Progressive Christian Faith understands that all human beings are endowed by virtue of being human with the potential for creative acts of great beauty and unpredictable originality, amazing accomplishments of collaborative and cooperative endeavors, breathtaking discoveries and expansive knowledge about the universe and all beings within it, and ever-deepening wisdom and broadening perspectives across one’s lifespan. Progressive Christian Faith understands that being progressive means to attend to the full development and unfolding of all human beings and other creatures here on earth. As we prepare to venture into space, that same concern needs to accompany the human species.

Interfaith and InterSpiritual Connections and Relationships

As we increasingly encounter persons from other faith communities, in person and via the Internet, it is imperative that we seek to work together rather than try to conquer one another.

As Progressive Christians encountering and engaging our brothers and sisters of other faiths, we will seek to share and gift our discoveries and ways of social and spiritual transformation to one another.

We will adopt attitudes and practices aimed at learning from others and deepening our self-understanding as a result.

Re-embedding and Reintegrating into the Natural World 

Progressive Christian Faith affirms that we are all creatures in a magnificent Creation, and being a particularly and peculiarly self-conscious part of that Creation possessing incredibly powerful technologies and scientific knowledge that increases our ability to act upon and alter that creation to an exponential degree beyond the similar abilities of other creatures, we are called upon to use that knowledge and those technologies to preserve, protect, and enhance the Natural World.

Additionally, acknowledging that our creatureliness is interconnected with natural processes and with other creatures on earth, we recognize that our own human psychological and physical health and well-being is directly connected to the health and well-being of our planet and its creatures. We will seek to re-insert ourselves into the natural world in ways that do not harm it, but will benefit humans and other creatures in an integrative system of relationships. Progressive Christianity will joyfully and enthusiastically explore what this might look like and become.

Progressive Christianity will engage constructively and mutually with all forms of knowledge and discovery. Science and Religion will not be seen as in competition but will cooperatively share knowledge and insights into the Nature of Reality and the Reality of Nature. Spiritual, ethical, and moral concerns articulated by faith communities will be in dialogue with scientific methodologies, discoveries, and knowledge. Through this mutual dialogue, a greater understanding of what it means to be human and to be creatures of a magnificent and multidimensional universe.

v  These are a few basic affirmations for the type of faith that I perceive to be emerging and which addresses the deep needs and issues of the 21st Century. I wonder: what affirmations might you make as readers of this blog? What things would you like to see emerge as positive expression of faith in the 21st Century?