The statement, “She’s a Whore, but she’s my Mother", has historically been attributed to Cicero, Augustine and Dorothy Day. However, Augustine and Day give this statement particular religious connotation. Neuhaus writes in Freedom for Ministry, “The Bride of Christ mentioned in Revelation 21 will be something quite new to our eyes, but she will be no stranger, for we will recognize her as the whore of Christendom transformed. It is only by trusting that promise that we dare now to call the whore of Christendom the Bride of Christ.”

Foundational to such a critique are Isaiah’s words. Isaiah writes in 1:21, “How the faithful city [Jerusalem] has become a whore.” And then in verse 26, he concludes with Judah’s restoration after the spiritual transformation. “Then I will restore your judges as at the first, And your counselors as at the beginning; After that you will be called the city of righteousness, A faithful city.” Consequently, we should not be surprised to then see John detail in Revelation 21 the concluding spiritual transformation of the Church of Christ as the fulfillment of our Father’s true Israel: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband…the first things have passed away.” The Church, this one time whore, is to be presented as the perfect and holy bride of Christ. What wonderful promise and consolation we find in this consummation!

But we cannot only find rest in these texts. The texts, in there force, power and relevance, give us call and command. The texts give us a charge as much as they provide comfort. How can this transformational dynamic involving the Christian Church involve and be focused to influence Black folks? What are we able to deduce regarding the needed transformation of the Black Church and Community? The question framed in the nature of a charge and responsibility is this: Should we target and engage a struggling and misguided diverse institution such as the Black Church and Black Community by remaining amongst and ministering to it or should we abandon the Black Church and Community because she has been unfaithful to her Lord, Friend and Redeemer?

I submit that because of the value and infidelity of the community, we should increase our efforts to engage with and spend time in this community. Due to the infidelity of the Black Community, some who are Black and Reformed may conceive of an action plan which seeks to create greater separation between reformed thought and life and the Black Community at-large (see Xavier's piece on Reformed Ghettos). However such an action plan, if it can be called an action plan at all, fails to realize and utilize the inherent and abundant value of this community. In step with Christ, we must see others and in fact this entire community from Christ’s perspective, as the image of God. From this anthropological perspective, we are able to understand, engage and hold greater expectations for others than they are able to realize for and among themselves.

Therefore, a Reformation among Blacks must be accompanied by our loving, faithful and unyielding desire to be a participant in God’s redemption of our people. Unfortunately, I sense that many use reformed theology primarily to address the whoredom of the Black Church and Community. What we are without is a fresh and original articulation of reformed theology as a response to the inherent value and unique nature of the Black Community. In other words, we are intoxicated with doing theology in correlation with the Black Community as a whore. But what would doctrine look like if we thought, wrote and did theology like the Black Community is our Mother, the one from whom we have come and the one in whom we see so explicitly the truth and clarity of the nature of the Godhead.

Such a demonstration of biblical understanding and application is not sought because of a divergent spirit or some self-rule efforts but because Black people in every area of life have provided significant contribution; therefore, there is enormous precedent which supports such Christian action. Consequently, where there is sustained Biblical contribution there is the wedding of Biblical supremacy with Biblical application.

As an aside, unfortunately today some believe there is no more application or trajectories of application left to plummet, particularly by Black folks. But in the same breath, those same individuals proclaim the sufficiency of Christ. Such a position is a contradiction indeed. The problem is that some view Christ’s sufficiency in their own minuet way and are afraid to be witness to where the sufficiency of Christ may take Black folks and perhaps them as well. In other words, the exercise of reformed Blacks doing theology should be considered an affirmation and fresh look at Christ’s sufficiency rather than a rebellion against Scriptural authority. And there is always the subtle (almost unconscious), basic and wrong assumption that Black folks simply have nothing to contribute.

But I digress. A fresh and insightful look at Scripture is something that people should expect of Black folks and indeed something that Black folks should expect of themselves. Black folk have historically and with great conviction, without the need for convincing, understood that God has full coverage (sovereignty, power, rescue, love, problems, concerns, irreconcilable differences, etc.). The question that Blacks have sought to breach is, “How does the full coverage of the Godhead look in the arena of the Black life and experience?” This work is merely a step in the direction toward affirming the value, influence and need of doing theology in the Black Church and Community.

Co-Founder Michael Mewborn