Evolution of Faith
Contributor Laura Gauthier
I am not afraid of evolution.
My belief in God does not prevent me from evolving. I am an ever evolving being, made in the image of God. As such, it is important for me to consider what my theology is and what that means for me individually and in community. I am prompted to consider my relationship with God and therefore the nature of God. This challenges my past thoughts and informs my current experiences.
As a person in ministry, I have had to press into my growing edges in understanding what it means to have a calling. I once understood that to be specific to one's occupation or ministry and I believed that not everyone would have a calling. Working with people of different faith traditions, as well as denominational shades of my own, caused me to reassess what I believe and how it impacts my interactions with others. My identity as a woman of Afro-Caribbean/Latino descent and a child of immigrants also allowed me to grow in my understanding of who God is and to discern when I am and am not hearing the voice of God. I have come to understand God’s calling as one of liberation.
I was exposed to conservative understandings of Christianity for the first part of my life which gave me a specific view of ‘salvation’ and the Image of God. This view pitted the ‘unsaved’ against the ‘saved’ and granted the title of Savior to those who took on the mission of God. That interpretation of the mission included bringing the ‘unsaved’ to Christ. I had to ask myself: What would it look like if the savior mentality was one of true liberation? If we are called to liberate rather than ‘save’, the motivation and result of our actions change.
Worshiping with people whose theology upheld misogyny and racism was an obstacle to fulfilling my own call to ministry. Whether I was being forbidden to lead because I was a woman, or discouraged from imagining a non-european Jesus, I felt the barrier to fulfilling any calling. Ministries done in those spaces often had the same demographics when looking at the saved and the saviors. The attitudes associated with those ministries often felt patronizing. People walked away feeling good about themselves but little changed. There was no evolution.
Changing my perspective introduced me to a new level of growth. I had always spoken of head knowledge becoming heart knowledge. God calling me to liberate pushes me deeper
and heart knowledge becomes hand knowledge. Intellectual concepts become movements of the heart that result in actions of love. Actions of love that reflect the person, life and ministry of Jesus, result in transformation. A community of people who choose to follow Jesus is a community of interdependent love. Our experiences and actions affect the world around us and we are influenced by what happens around us. This interdependence is vital as it contradicts the hierarchical structures that are necessary for the oppression of one group over another.
Reading from the scroll of Isaiah and announcing his ministry in the gospel of Luke, Jesus proclaims:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
God calling for liberation, for the ending of damaging structures and the freeing of those oppressed is a call for transformation. We often miss the work of Jesus and speak of the theory of Christ. Returning to Jesus as the measure for truth and authority continues to be my guide. Stepping away from the adherence to words and towards the revelation of Jesus produces transformation.
The New Testament speaks of a liminal space where the Kingdom of God is both here and not yet arrived. We live in a world where evil still persists. In a sense, we are stuck because we are not transformed. Dedication to what does not work, what does not reflect Jesus, will not produce the kingdom that he pointed to. I have been given a charge to follow Jesus and I intend to see it through. This means abandoning what does not work and not being afraid to question and seek to truly know God as revealed in Jesus. This can be unsettling.
But I am not afraid of evolution.
