Carriers of the Gospel
Friday, October 17, 2025
Let us be carriers of the gospel. The gospel of the revolutionary, brown-skinned Palestinian Jew who made it very clear that he didn’t come to be status quo. He wasn’t a chaplain of the empire but a prophet of God.
—Liz Theoharis and Charon Hribar, We Pray Freedom
Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis and Dr. Charon Hribar describe crises as opportunities to work for justice, as Jesus did:
As our society continues to be engulfed by crises, the time for complacency has passed. From the lack of health coverage for tens of millions of Americans to the tragic death toll of endless wars and environmental disasters; from the assault on democracy to the glaring inequalities laid bare by the pandemic, it is clear we stand at a generational crossroads. This is a kairos moment—a time of crisis and opportunity. In biblical terms, it is a moment when the foundations of injustice are exposed, prophetic voices call for change, and movements for justice take root.
Luke 4:14–30 is known as Jesus’ first sermon, delivered in his hometown of Nazareth. It marks the beginning of his public ministry during a kairos moment not unlike our own…. Jesus announces his mission of societal transformation [quoting the prophet Isaiah]. He 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” (Luke 4:18–19).
Too often, the Bible’s good news is reduced to matters of individual salvation and detached from Jesus’s goal to transform the world. But a close reading of the Bible, including the teachings of Jesus, reveals a vast antipoverty program and social justice mission, which call on us to resist unjust economic practices and build a society in which everyone’s needs are met.
The Freedom Church of the Poor provides resources to empower prophetic and hopeful movements for justice:
Drawing strength from these biblical principles, the Freedom Church of the Poor tradition teaches us to stand up for one another, care for the least of these, and dismantle laws that perpetuate injustice. If we believe that God stands with the oppressed and that Jesus preached liberation, then collective action by those most impacted by injustice is imperative. By taking collective action with and as poor and dispossessed people, we bridge our spiritual convictions and our hunger for transformative change….
In the Freedom Church of the Poor tradition, we envision a world where every life is sacred and every need is met. This vision challenges the normalization of injustice and the valuing of profit over people. Through nonviolent, moral direct action—marches, boycotts, sit-ins, and more—we reject the status quo and reclaim the moral narrative. We create spaces where justice is reimagined and a moral revolution of values becomes irresistible.
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1.
“On that glad night, in secret, for no one saw me, nor did I look at anything, with no other light or guide than the one that burned in my heart.”
– St. John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul, 3rd Stanza.
The line that gets me is “with no other light or guide than the one that burned in my heart.”
There are whole theologies that I believe are destructive and dehumanizing that not only encourage but make it a matter of piety to disregard our hearts, to discredit the little voice of the genuine within us, to disbelieve what our deepest core might be telling us with sincerity.
Our hearts can indeed be tricked or deceived. I do not discount that possibility. I think one reason this happens is that we do not have many teachers who invite us to listen to the subtle movements within ourselves.
St. John of the Cross’ favorite thing to do was spiritual direction. He found it to be the most rewarding ministry: helping people listen to God for themselves rather than through a proxy— mentor, pastor, or priest.
True spirituality invites and enables people to listen to the Divine for themselves.
2.
“The fly that clings to honey hinders its flight, and the soul that allows itself attachment to spiritual sweetness hinders its own liberty and contemplation.”
– St. John of the Cross, The Sayings of Light and Love, 24.
“Spiritual sweetness” is a term that St. John of the Cross invented. It describes how we each are enamored of and enjoy the things that are next to God, but perhaps not God per se.
I think that one of the most profound wisdoms of St. John of the Cross is that we can become addicted to these forms of “spiritual sweetness.”
It is actually a sign of spiritual immaturity, addiction, or co-dependence that we whine, rage, and question everything as soon as those spiritual sweetnesses are either taken away from us or we find ourselves increasing the effort to try and get the same fix as we used to.
The goal is not to avoid experiencing such sweetness; the goal is to give up our attachment to it. Instead, we can be grateful for when it comes to us and keep on keeping on, even when it does not.
As Meister Eckhart says, we must learn to live, love, and be “without a why,” and stop doing all things for some potential “spiritual sweetness” we might stumble across.
3.
“This change is a surprise to them because everything seems to be functioning in reverse.“
– St. John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul, Book 8.3.
The wisdom of the Dark Night of the Soul is so paradoxical and unsuspecting that it is little wonder it throws people completely off kilter.
When all the world seems to endorse the philosophy that more effort, intentionality, and energy put into something creates a better “return on investment,” St. John of the Cross reminds us that faith has a completely different set of mathematics.
The day may come when it is not more effort that is needed, but less. It is not that we need to engage in prayer more than we need to redefine what we think prayer is. It is not that God is absent because we have done something wrong; it is that God is so furiously present that we are blinded by the sheer volume of activity God is engaged in.
Below is a video I made that explains the Dark Night of the Soul in 4 (or 5) stages. I hope it is a help to you.
4.
“Some spiritual fathers are likely to be a hindrance and harm rather than a help to these souls that journey on this road. Such directors have neither understanding nor experience of these ways.”
– St. John of the Cross, The Ascent to Mount Carmel, Prologue 4.
Man.
I think about this quote often.
It pairs well with the New Testament’s exhortation that not many should take up being leaders because they will be judged more harshly.
There are things I have said from the pulpit that I wish I could take back. The same is also true of my time working at a Christian summer camp. I did not know what I did not know.
Fortunately, the seminary gave a list of names that I should continue learning from after I graduated. And so I did. Not only that, but I began studying outside my home denomination, the Lutheran Church, and turned more toward the Reformers, then the Catholics, then the Patristics, then the Christian mystics, and, more recently, Eastern Orthodoxy.
It is so easy to give bad advice when you are a pastor or priest, and some of that stems from the fact that we are often only taught a small slice of the Christian tradition, when, in reality, there is so much more to it than we ever could imagine.
I was joking with my wife that one of my favorite things about what I do is frequently encouraging people to go back and read the New Testament all over again, or simply giving them permission to dive deeper into this mystery we call “God.”
How wild that my path had such an emphasis on telling people what they needed to know, and now it is so much more about inviting people to listen to their deepest self and to go full tilt into the heart of the Christian tradition for themselves, and to report back to me what they found?
Life is too good to me.
5.
“The soul that journeys to God, but does not shake off its cares and quiet its appetites, is like one who drags a cart uphill.”
– St. John of the Cross, The Sayings of Light and Love, 56.
Note: This does not mean that such a person will not successfully, eventually, journey into God, but that it will involve more struggle, effort, and difficulty.
Which quote jumped out at you?
Reply to this email if one of the quotes above stirred, resonated, or aggravated you!
Fred Rogers didn’t fit the stereotype of a charismatic television preacher, but that is exactly what he was. His preaching was done with puppets, simple songs, and subtle storytelling rather than big hair, exciting sermons, or signs and wonders—but that doesn’t mean his ministry didn’t produce miraculous healing in both children and adults struggling with brokenness and anger. Deeply shaped by his faith in Christ, seminary educated, and ordained by the Presbyterian Church in 1963, Fred Rogers saw his PBS children’s program, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, as a ministry to a generation of wounded, frightened children and their families.The casual observer of Fred Rogers’ daily television show, which ran from 1968 until 2001, might not have noticed the profound theological depth informing every aspect of the program. I certainly did not as a child in the late 1970s, but as an adult, I was amazed to discover that Rogers designed the show around his doctrine. He often taught children about the value of different jobs, which flowed from his theology of vocation. He used the language of “neighbor” because of its deep biblical roots, particularly in Jesus’ teaching. Even the familiar show opening where Mr. Rogers enters, changes his shoes, and puts on his sweater was intended to be a formative liturgy to help children enter a different kind of sacred space.Fred Rogers was also unafraid to tackle some of the most difficult personal and controversial social issues in American culture like war, racism, death, mental illness, and divorce. As a result, he was more pastoral and more prophetic than many pulpits in America. He understood and sympathized with the fear children felt in turbulent times, and brought each child the assurance that your feelings mattered and that you are loved exactly as you are.In a recent biography by Shea Tuttle, I discovered another part of Fred Rogers’ ministry that went beyond his television show. In his daily times of Bible reading and prayer, Rogers would often feel what he called a “strong urge” to visit someone, and would then arrive unexpectedly at their door. In 1987, he traveled from his home in Pittsburgh to Baltimore to be with a girl he learned was having brain surgery. When Dr. King was assassinated in 1968, Rogers drove down to the home of Francois Clemmons, an African-American actor on his program. Race riots had erupted outside his building. “I was upstairs in my apartment, but I was scared to death,” Clemmons recalled. But then Fred suddenly appeared.Lisa Hamilton, who worked as a director on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, explained how Fred ministered to her young family during her 31-year-old husband’s battle with cancer. Hamilton thought her husband was recovering, but woke up one morning to discover he had died in their bed during the night. With a 4-year-old son at home, Hamilton was overwhelmed. “I was really panicky,” she said, “And then the doorbell rang.” It was Fred Rogers.“I was praying,” Fred explained, “and I felt you needed some help.” He didn’t know Hamilton’s husband had just died. He stayed with Hamilton and her son, wept with them over her husband’s body, and was the one to call the funeral home.Fred Rogers died in 2003, but the last few years have seen a resurgence in his popularity through biographies, documentaries, and a 2019 film starring Tom Hanks. Some think it’s the product of a generation raised with his television show reaching adulthood. I suspect there is something more than nostalgia at work. Fred Rogers was a powerfully gifted minister who brought the calming, healing presence of Jesus to both children and adults. In our own turbulent times marked by aggression, anger, and division I think we all sense a need for more ministers like Fred Rogers.
