Left Jesus vs. Right Jesus
When I was growing up — a Jewish kid in a completely Catholic neighborhood — I was convinced that (even though my best friend was Catholic), all Christians wanted to either kill me or convert me.
Probably that not-so-subtle message came from the fact that the nuns in the convent across the street from our house, who happily accepted my doctor father’s kind offer of free medical care for them, tried in every way possible to convince me when they saw me that my family and I were damned to hellfire unless and until I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
I had left those fears behind in the decades between 1960s Camden NJ and now.
Or so I thought.
As the Christofascists and Christian Nationalists grab ever more power in the US government, making sure everyone hates Jews/Blacks/Mexicans/Muslims/LGBTQ+/pro-choice/immigrants/Wokefolks… and I am sure I am leaving some folks out… those fears come back, as strong and virulent as ever.
That’s why the idea of a Christian minister being an elected member of the Senate should make my blood run cold, no?
So I was surprised at my own reactions when I heard Rev. Raphael Warnock give his victory speech last night.
He didn’t do what Herschel Walker did — immediately genuflect to the idea that Jesus was everything and he was the only reason any of us do anything right and if we don’t thank Him right off we’re headed to Perdition.
Instead, he couched his belief as the belief in love, grace, supporting each other and those less fortunate.
…the people once again rose up in a multiracial, multi-religious coalition of conscience. You endured the rain, you endured the long lines, and you voted. And you did it because you believe, as I do, that democracy is the political enactment of a spiritual idea. This notion that each of us has within us a spark of the divine, that we were created in the Imago Dei, in the image of God. And if you’re not given to that kind of religious language, that’s fine. Our tent is big… Simply put it this way, each of us has value. And if we have value, we ought to have a voice. And the way to have a voice is to have a vote, to determine the direction of your country and your destiny within it.
As he spoke, I felt my heart swell a little. And I realized he reminded me of the Cathedral of St. Philip, in Atlanta — the other side of the Atlanta divide from the Ebenezer Baptist Church. These were the blue-haired ladies and silver gentlemen of the Episcopal Church, with whom I spent some time in the 1990s.
When the Cathedral partnered with the Big Bethel AME Church to build a Habitat for Humanity house, I volunteered to help. And there, I saw no White v. Black, Left Jesus v. Right Jesus, Peachtree Road v. Auburn Avenue. I only saw people spackling and painting and hammering. I saw congregants from St. Philip’s and Big Bethel earnestly discussing with each other the best way to cook grits, while laying tile. And the fact that I was not intrinsically part of that group made not a whit of difference.
We were all there — head, hands and heart — to make a better world, one house at a time.
Rev. Warnock spoke the way I wish all Christians would speak: to the work. To the love and acceptance Jesus was said to have preached. To feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, healing the sick, supporting the unvoiced. Supporting rights for all, not just the Elect Who Believe Correctly.
That’s what I call the Left Jesus. The one who loves unconditionally, the one who is a healer, the one who says “what you do for the least of them, you do for me.”
And as he wrapped up his victory speech last night, Rev. Warnock reminded folks there is a lot more work to do.
So let’s celebrate for a little while on this mountain. Let’s dance because we deserve it. But tomorrow, we go back down into the valley to do the work. I know that the days are still difficult. The times are dark, but the light, the scripture says, “Shines in the darkness, and the darkness over covers it not.” I’m ready to keep doing this work. I can hear my dad of blessed memory say, “Get up, get dressed, put your shoes on, get ready.”…Are you ready, Georgia? I’m ready to stand up for workers, to stand up for women, to stand up for our children. I’m ready to build a stronger Georgia. God bless you. Keep the faith and keep looking up.
We may not have the same faith, Rev, but I’ll trust your Left Jesus over the Right Jesus in a New York minute.
I cheer your victory, and I’m glad we’ll have you in the Senate for six more years.
And maybe — just maybe — your Left Jesus will get the Christian Nationalists and Christofascists to rethink how they’re acting out for that judgmental Lord and Savior of theirs.
