Threads Unravel

 "There is a lovely road that runs from Ixopo into the hills. These hills are grass covered and rolling, and they are lovely beyond any singing of it. " Alan Paton. Cry the Beloved Country

In Standard 8 , Grade 10 today, our English class read Cry the Beloved Country. It was 1985 in Johannesburg, South Africa. We were in the death throws of Apartheid, although we did not know it. This beautiful book formed part of my own journey of awakening , of becoming conscious or what we now call " woke" and ,let me be very clear IS a reality. I still have my copy of this book , covered in plastic and inscribed with the date 1986. It was a gift from my dearest friend , Katie. 

 

I begin this post with this little piece above because my deep love for my country South Africa and my realization, as a child and then teenager, that something was terribly wrong, bore within me the activist that I am today in my 50's. 

When I came to faith in Jesus,  I knew nothing about being a Christian but I did know that something was very wrong in this land. The faith "home" I landed in held a lot of things. But what it did NOT hold was any firm understanding or action on this one, terrible and fundamentally important life issue. 

Something was terribly, terribly wrong in this country.

I concluded that, Christians did not care about justice and about what was happening in South Africa in the 1980 and 1990. Yes, they would pray but largely , except for a few precious people, who I still know and love, there was a real lack of understanding, care and action. In fact, it solidified it. There were often glimmers of hope or realizations but these never amounted to any real change. more about this in another post.  

Somehow , I reconciled this as what being a "Christian" was. 

The next 20 odd years in that same murky water , did very little to change this notion. 

It is very difficult to for me to write about my faith and the unraveling of it without speaking about the experience of Christianity that I had. It is impossible. I will, however ,  aim to do this without naming any church or specific denomination or people. 

'The scriptures are not silent on structural and systemic sin. The bible overflows with Gods responses to poverty, oppression and governance. " Lisa Sharon Harper. The Very Good Gospel

Little did I know that God has a great deal to say to Christians about injustice in the world. More than that, he invites us to act. These posts are the story of how the begin of my faith journey above and my now faith journey found one another.