Sandra grew up in Victorville. She was third generation Mexican American, and her family had moved to Victorville from La Puente back in the 1990’s. Her abuelo was a Vietnam vet and her mom and dad were teachers who met while in college at Cal State LA. Sandra was active in her local Assemblies of God church, and her faith was shaped most by her Abuelita Karla who was the spiritual head of the family. Abuelita made sure that Sandra went to church as a child, and in times of crisis, would pray hard for the family. Her abuelita had even been miraculously healed of a congenital heart problem one day when her family and pastor prayed for her at the hospital. Sandra had no doubt that Jesus was real and that he healed people, both physically and in life.
One semester during sophomore year in college, Sandra decided to take a class on the “historical Jesus.” She found some things interesting, and others confusing. She learned about Jesus’ background as a poor Galilean and son of a working-class family which was colonized by the Romans. It was new and exciting for Sandra to learn this because it made her feel like Jesus understood the suffering of her Latino community—like he was one of “us.”
Sandra got confused by some of the course readings, however. One of the readings claimed that Jesus was a violent revolutionary. Others said that Jesus’ divinity was a later invention, and that he was likely married to Mary Magdalene. The professor also assigned a text called, “A New New Testament.” The book was edited by a pastor and seminary professor, and adds 10 texts to the New Testament. It was compiled by a 19-member council which included biblical scholars, church leaders from the Episcopal, United Methodist, United Church of Christ and Lutheran denominations, and even an expert in Eastern religions and yoga.
Curious about these churches and viewpoints she was not familiar with, Sandra started visiting one of them. The church members were welcoming and kind, though most were older and white. That was fine; her parents taught her to respect people of all backgrounds and especially her elders. Sandra was surprised, in a good way, that the first sermon she heard was about compassion for immigrants. This was refreshing to her because, even though her home church was mostly Latino, she had never heard the pastor talk about this issue. The church even announced an amazing trip to Selma to learn about the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement!
After visiting for a couple of months, something felt missing. The people were loving and kind, but there was almost an exclusive focus on justice issues. One sermon was even called, “The Gospel According to Rachel Maddow.” Sandra was also perplexed by a couple of things that the pastor said. Another sermon was entitled, “Fallible Jesus, infallible Bible?” The pastor said, “If we know that Jesus was fallible, then why should we think that Bible was not without errors?” The pastor proceeded to discuss passages of the Bible where he felt that Jesus was incorrect: Jesus was wrong about his prediction of the timing of the coming of the Kingdom of God, and also taught a misogynistic view of marriage which promoted the abuse of women. Jesus was a good teacher in many other ways, but in some things like this, he got it wrong.
“It’s hard to put my finger on it,” she whispered to herself, “but this church, and the class I took, feel just as ‘white’ as the conservative churches I left, but from the opposite direction. Something’s missing here, too. It’s like a bird that got one of its wings clipped.”