Whispers of Mystery

Whispers of Mystery
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Thursday, June 25, 2020

Translating Progressive Christianity

Dear Friends, Followers, and Readers, 

            What a time we live in!  I’ve likened it to a cocoon and have certainly experienced the intense shifts myself.  In addition to the virus, the restrictions, and their impacts, we are also experiencing a rise, or perhaps an exposure, of our social ills, racism in particular.  I see it less as a rise than a purging; we may be vomiting a portion of this sickness within the body of our society that we’ve carried for far too long.

            Two weeks ago, I expressed the hope that I would be by now finishing out my paradoxical childhood series, “What my Eyes could Read,” and its Epilogue, which ties together many of the themes of my life.  And while one of these themes is expressed in a good half of my public social media posts, it shows up here with more subtlety. (However, "If My People" demonstrates this theme's longevity in my life.)  Less emphasis here is simply due to the public outlet I have for it.  Since I keep my mystical identity much more hidden, I use this blog as a place to explore the mystic in me.  However, my childhood story follows my role as a “translator,” which is the role I served in Venezuela, and one of the primary ways I have live out my translator role is to translate progressive politics for Evangelical Christians.  Since I would like my Epilogue to hyperlink important themes to other posts, I'll share this background in this post.

            If you are a friend of mine on either of my two Facebook pages, you’ll see that a good half of my posts are advocating for the liberal sentiments of social justice; a celebration of diversity, immigration, and all cultural and religious backgrounds; and a longing that all creatures on our planet and Planet Earth herself be uplifted in equality, dignity, and kindness.  

            The following post is dated August 12, 2019 and is posted on my page for my mystic identity, Karina Jacobson.  I've made the post public to authenticate it; anyone can search for my page with this name and find it.  This post generated no "likes" and 33 comments, including many that were attacking without hearing.

Karina Jacobson
August 12, 2019 

As a fellow Christian, I am desperate to understand, so I'm quiet and I'm listening. Please help me. A man who uplifts the human dignity of all Americans, who brought me and so many to tears singing "Amazing Grace" at the end of his eulogy in a black church where 9 people were shot, and who lived out his motto for hope to love, respect, and uplift, to a man who bullies, lies, commits sexual assault and brags about it, and who has crushed the human dignity of all minorities, including the disabled, whom he has mocked in humiliating imitation. In a soft whisper, I plead to understand: why is the one who uplifts human dignity hated and the one who has crushed it loved? I'm a Christian who loves and is speaking in a soft voice, with a loving, compassionate, warm heart, who just wants to understand. Please help. Thank you.  ðŸ’“ ~ Comment I just posted to a Christian friend's post comparing our current and most previous president.


The next one I'll share comes from my legal identity FB page, which I prefer to keep separate from my mystical identity.  However, this one shows my biography and much support.  It has 21 loves, 16 likes, 65 comments, and 6 shares.  I am likewise making this one public and revealing my legal identity of Karen Langdon Hull to authenticate it


Karen Langdon Hull
September 7, 2019

Wow. Revealing article. Many of you know I am a progressive Christian who attends an evangelical-leaning church and have been on a quest to understand the mystery of 2016. First, I’ll get vulnerable and share a little background on me: I “became a Christian” in the evangelical sense at 15, having been introduced to Jesus at a friend’s youth group retreat. I delved into the gospels and discovered a leader with brilliant social justice methods and was drawn right in. This was the year after my 8th grade American History teacher introduced us to the Civil Rights Movement -- to my shock. I couldn’t believe what my countrymen had done to a segment of our population and how hard they had had to fight for basic rights – not many years before I was born. I went to my parents: “What did you do? Did you participate in any of those marches?” At first, there was awkward silence, but Mom reminded me she was at McGill in Montreal for most of it, and then she really rescued it with stories of her brother, John W. Jacobsen, who did participate in the 2nd wave, post CR Act passage once he was old enough (and who married another who also had, Jeanie Stahl).

I vowed in 8th grade I would be one who stands up with the oppressed, then in 9th grade, I decided to follow a leader – Jesus – who also had. In the progressive Bay Area, this was hardly a problem at the friend’s church I joined. I also fit right in at Willamette’s social justice InterVarsity Christian group.

It wasn’t until I came to Grad school here in Ellensburg that I learned most Americans who attend churches like mine vote Republican. Huh, that’s interesting, the party of the rich? Some of them wanted to know how I could be a Christian and a Democrat. More interesting. My party was filled with flaws, but at least it *tried* to uplift the oppressed. At first, I was defensive, but, thankfully, I let my curiosity lead the way and I came to accept that they emphasized a different side of their faith than I did that was also valid, and I hoped they could see the same in me. I began to test my new conservative Christian friends by quickly letting them them know I’m progressive. Would they accept me? If so, I’d do the same and value their friendship. Thankfully, most of them did. 😊

Then 2016 arrived with a new quandary. This article, by one who grew up as a conservative Christian, is quite revealing. I know many of you who have made it through my own biography might not also make it through hers (so any comments can clarify if they refer to my bio or hers). If you’re on the same quest I am, this one's useful. If you’re wondering why some of us are on this quest, it’s even more useful. Thank you all for putting up with my on-going investigation to better understanding. 😊💓

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