Hello my friends,

Today, I just wanted to reflect a bit on where my heart has been lately. I continue to ask the big picture question, "where do we go from here?" By "we" I mean Christianity in America. As I said a few weeks ago, so many of us feel like we are caught in the "in-between." The space between where Christianity was and what it is going to be in the future. As I ask this question, I continue to think about what I hope it might be. So today, I just want to ponder a part of that with you.

But first, here are some podcasts you might like:

PODCAST INTERVIEWS

Several of you have asked for the links to the podcasts I have been interviewed on, so I thought I would include them all here in one place. All of these podcasts are great, so I encourage you to check out their other content as well. I am going to be linking the episodes on Google podcasts, but you can also find them wherever you listen to podcasts.

-The New Evangelical's Podcast: "The Radical Evangelical History You Were Never Taught: With Ben Cremer" In this interview, I have a great conversation with Tim Whitaker about a snapshot of Evangelical history in American life.

-Flip Your Lid with Kim Honeycutt: "Rev. Benjamin Cremer on Roe v. Wade, Christianity, and Liberation" In this interview, we discuss the difficulty of navigating tough social issues and so many other aspects of healthy spirituality.

-Faith and Feminism: "Deconstructing "Biblical" Masculinity with Ben Cremer" After an article of mine was published in the Dallas Morning News, in which I wrote about my journey with Evangelical perspectives of masculinity, I was able to talk further in depth on this topic with my good friend, Meghan Tschanz.

-The Auricle Podcast: In this episode, I was interviewed by Benjamin Jr. Amoah and we talked about moving beyond the boarders of complacency towards an authentic faith.

-All Heart with Paul Cardall: "Pastor Benjamin Cremer - American Christianity" In this interview with Paul, we had a great conversation about our different faith backgrounds but also how we see so many of the similar shifts in the churches of our personal past and within the American culture at large.

-Pocket Pulpit: "The Pastor in the Public Square ft. Benjamin Cremer." In this interview, I discussed with some really good friends about what it is like pastoring in today's world of social media.

-The Millennial Pastor: "S5E14: Ben Cremer" I included this one in last week's newsletter, but it is a very vulnerable interview with my good friend Brit Bolerjack about my painful transition from one denomination to another.

-COTR Amity Podcast: "The Ruthless Elimination of: Patriarchy" - Sermon from 2/6/2022 by Ben Cremer" In this sermon, I discuss about the harm of Christian patriarchy and how we should respond to it as the church. This podcast is also where my sermons are uploaded every week.

Okay, onto the newsletter.

A WRESTLING FAITH

What breaks my heart so much about our culture right now is how we are deeply entrenched we seem to be within an “either/or” mentality, especially within Christian circles.

We seem to have been so convinced that there is a totally good side, a totally evil side, and there is no gray areas anymore. We conclude that the side we have chosen is the good side and thus conclude that “the other side” is totally evil. The powers that be, numerous media outlets, as well as social media, play on this powerful belief. It plays to our deepest emotions and fears and we quickly get caught up in what we consider a “noble fight” of “our side” forgetting that the “other side” are also human beings created in the image of God.

Human beings are deeply beautiful, complex, and nuanced, which means our world is as well. Reducing this complex nuanced world to categories of “either/or” is simply the methods of people who desire control rather than love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

We Christians worship a God of love, peace, wisdom, balance, and order. Not a god of division and chaos.

Jesus’s ministry teaches us that God’s salvation is not just either for Israel or the Gentiles, but it is BOTH for Israel AND for Gentiles! And all of us Gentiles say? Amen! :)

The gospel of Jesus sets us free then to not get locked into the absolutes of an "either/or" mindset.

The gospel of Jesus sets us free to embrace the nuance, complexity, and messy parts of life rather than fear them.

The gospel of Jesus enables us to have BOTH strong convictions AND a humility to openly contemplate new ideas and new possibilities.

Everyone can see that our political arena is a mess right now. As Christians, with our primary allegiance to Christ as our king, above any earthly nation or its political parties, we should be the first ones to advocate for a balanced democratic system, where all voices can be heard, especially the most vulnerable, and help our Republican and Democrat friends understand that they really do need each other. When they work together, everyone benefits. It’s when they are at each others throats at all levels of government that we all suffer the consequences. Why not have that balance start with us in our conversations within Christian circles?

How we frame today’s cultural and political issues matter. In thinking of what Christianity might look like in the future, I would hope that instead of this reductionistic “either/or” categories we are given every day, we would frame these political and cultural issues as an invitation to wrestle with their complexities. I would hope that we would invite everyone to think critically and discern the assumptions, conclusions, and confirmation bias that are given to us. Whenever someone pitches an issue to us framed in “either/or” absolutes, forcing us to choose one side or the other, I would hope that we would faithfully respond that when it comes to human beings, we will not be forced to choose between truth and love, we need both truth and love. Not only is our God bigger than either/or absolutes, but when we refuse to address the complexities of these issues, we refuse to address the needs of the very human beings who are experiencing them firsthand. This is an unloving, untruthful posture for Christians to take.

Our world of “either/or,” desperately needs Christians who embody both truth and faithful love in the issues that face us. This calls for a Christianity that is more concerned with wrestling over hard issues rather than simply declaring absolutes. I hope that is the Christianity we begin to see unfold in the future.

Let me know your thoughts on this. What are your hopes for Christianity in America's future?

If you know of anyone who might like my newsletter, feel free to invite them by sending them this link: https://benjamin-cremer.ck.page​

Looking forward to talking with you soon!