{"id":1284,"date":"2021-04-26T08:21:12","date_gmt":"2021-04-26T13:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cru.org\/createdfor\/?p=1284"},"modified":"2022-04-06T14:39:36","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T19:39:36","slug":"rasool-berry-coming-together-to-be-a-faithful-presence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cru.org\/createdfor\/2021\/rasool-berry-coming-together-to-be-a-faithful-presence\/","title":{"rendered":"Rasool Berry: Coming Together to Be a Faithful Presence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Ep. 9: Coming Together to Be a Faithful Presence with Rasool Berry\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/5Mru8VHtfYLZl2pcytS9w1?utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Episode Reflection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Invitation to Explore<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Rasool Berry reminds us that there is a beautiful diversity in the church that includes a diversity of cultures and experiences. Often people can fall into a pattern where the only people they learn from, whether through conversations or books, are people who share their cultural context. Consider the people you know or the books you read? Who might you begin to learn from who comes from a different cultural context? Who has God placed in your life who can bless you with a different perspective?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Scripture to Study<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, \u201cSalvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!\u201d And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, \u201cAmen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, \u201cWho are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?\u201d I said to him, \u201cSir, you know.\u201d And he said to me, \u201cThese are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:9\u201314)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Wise Words to Consider<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAgain, going back to the Old and New Testament, the through line from Genesis \u2013 from the time that God tells Abraham, \u2018I&#8217;m going to bless all the nations\u2013\u2019 literally ethnic groups. The peoples \u2013 \u2018through you,\u2019 to the point that we see Jesus at the top of the mountain in His resurrection, saying, \u2018All power and authority has been given unto me, therefore go and say, every nation, nation, ethnos \u2013ethnic group\u2013 people, and tell them about me and teaching them all that I&#8217;ve commanded you.\u2019 And that &#8216;teaching them all that I&#8217;ve commanded&#8217; usually gets overlooked. So that&#8217;s not just a get-out-of-hell-free card gospel. This is a gospel of the kingdom that blew up \u2013 blew away the minds and the concepts of the first century Roman Empire.\u201d\u2014Rasool Berry<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Prayer to Lead You<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Merciful Lord, You have called us out of the darkness of sin and death into Your dazzling light of love and life to be one, diverse and beautiful Church to bring glory to Your name. In Your mercy, You have so intimately connected us to one another and Jesus that You have called us &#8220;the body of Christ.&#8221; Help us to be that body of Christ, united in mission, compassion, and justice. Keep us united, but more importantly keep us moving in the right direction: toward the world in love, toward the margins with hope, to the disempowered with the otherworldly power of the Spirit. We pray this in the name of Jesus, our King, who reigns with You and the Holy Spirit now and forever. Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Practice to Begin<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>We live between the times of Christ\u2019s resurrection and second coming, experiencing a small part of his victory over sin and death, but waiting for the fullness of His victory to renew and transform the world. This leaves us with the responsibility to be fully present in the world, praising God for His work while protesting and against the evils and demonic forces that hold human beings in bondage to death-dealing systems of injustice and evil. To renew your commitment to being faithfully present, consider taking the time once a week to write a list of all the things you can praise God for and all the things that you are actively resisting. Then live each week being faithfully aware of God\u2019s work in your life as you seek to be a faithful witness to your neighbors, friends, and family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Questions to Answer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Rather than total capitulation to society or complete abandonment of society, Rasool explained that God calls us to be faithfully present in the world, embracing the beauty of the diverse cultures around us while resisting the injustices, sins, and evils of the cultures around us. What are some ways that you are being faithfully present in the world? What are some things you have embraced and value? What are some sins, injustices, and evils that you are actively resisting? What might God be calling you to embrace or calling you to resist?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Resources to Help<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Esau McCaulley&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ivpress.com\/reading-while-black\"><em>Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rasool Berry with Esau McCaulley,<em> <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/whereyafrom.net\/episode\/episode-9-the-bible-and-social-justice\/\"><em>Where Ya From: Episode 9,&nbsp; The Bible and Social Justice<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rasool Berry, teaching pastor at The Bridge Church in Brooklyn, shares his ideas on moral imagination, argument culture, and what it means to be a faithful presence. He invites us to embrace diverse perspectives, to be culture makers, to be quick to listen and to gain the fullness and richness of what God is doing in the world. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24420,"featured_media":546,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2007,2015],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcast","category-season-1"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rasool Berry: Coming Together to Be a Faithful Presence - Created For<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cru.org\/createdfor\/2021\/rasool-berry-coming-together-to-be-a-faithful-presence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rasool Berry: Coming Together to Be a Faithful Presence - Created For\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rasool Berry, teaching pastor at The Bridge Church in Brooklyn, shares his ideas on moral imagination, argument culture, and what it means to be a faithful presence. 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