23 Sep Hispanic Heritage Month

Almost a quarter of the way into the 21st century, one of the simultaneous challenges/opportunities that lie in front of the United States is how to steward our increasing ethnic diversity. Every sociological research metric concludes that our nation is “browning.”

And, for the church of Jesus in the United States, this is great opportunity.

Will we embrace this? If so, then how?

As you might imagine, Mosaic Church has done its best to say a resounding yes to the first question. As to the second, allow me to share a couple of names and resources from the Christian Hispanic community that have made an impact on me and my thinking, and I’ll talk about why they are so important, in light of Hispanic Heritage Month.

When considering theological voices, it obviously matters which voices are heard and considered within a community; communities are tasked with screening what is considered both “correct” and helpful.” After all, not every theological voice is “correct/right/accurate” (the historic church has always made these distinctions), nor are all voices helpful to a particular community.

Within those circles of orthodoxy (right thinking) and orthopraxy (right “doing”), both Justo Gonzalez and Virgilio Elizondo (a native Texan) have made positive contributions to my life; Gonzalez coming from more on the Protestant “side” of the fence, and Elizondo from the Roman Catholic “side”.

Gonzalez (whose church history books are first-rate, and a must-read for history people) is a Cuban-American exiled from his native land. Through his prolific writing, he has both critiqued the U.S.’s unequal treatment of all peoples and has rightly pointed to the church of Jesus as having the power to cleanse and redeem our land by virtue of the Gospel’s power.

Elizondo was instrumental in helping the global church to remember the “mixed” blood of Jesus (divine/human) and his poor, provincial origins. He tied these facts about the person of Christ to the unique challenge of Mexican-Americans, and their journey towards feeling fully accepted within the United States. As a person of two cultures, he found refuge in the incarnation of Christ, who himself was bi-cultural (heaven and earth) and twice an immigrant (from heaven to earth, then from Israel to Egypt as an infant/toddler).

From these perspectives, these voices have helped churches (including this one) “retell the history of the church for the purpose of reconciling with one another in the name of Jesus Christ and boldly living out the shalom that comes in Jesus Christ and God’s Kingdom” (A Many Colored Kingdom: Multicultural Dynamics for Spiritual Formation).

As always, and especially this month, we say gracias to our Hispanic brothers and sisters. We are all better together with you! You help us tell, and retell, that better story that leads to the shalom of Jesus.

Morgan