Three years ago, I completed an MA in Theology & Culture, not because I wanted to be a pastor, but because of deep questions I had for the loving God I knew remained sovereign even over the suffering of the oppressed. As an African American woman living in a nation which centers white masculinity, exploring those questions was of the utmost importance. The theology portion of the degree dealt with our human belief in and relationship to God. The culture portion focused on the intersecting reality that the context in which we enter and experience the world becomes the lens through which we perceive God and one another. Throughout two years of intensive study, I didn't obtain the answers to all of my questions. Rather, I gained space to name and grieve, lament and learn, amidst them.
I look at the state of America today, fraught with nerves on the eve of the inauguration of our 46th president, and see how divided this nation is. We are a nation of children whom have never learned to share. More than that, we are a nation of children who were split into two groups, and fed two different narratives. The first sibling was taught: "It is good to take. If you can see it it, it should be yours, at any cost. No matter whom it hurts, maims, starves, or kills." The second child was taught: "Be like your brother. Aim for this dream, despite the fact that every system established here was built so that your brother would succeed at your expense. Now, run for it."
The American story has been one of division, intolerance, and envy at its worst. But this story isn't new. It's actually as old as dirt.
Four chapters into the Genesis story of creation, the Old Testament introduces two brothers, Cain and Abel. Genesis 4:1-7 in the New Revised Standard Version reads:
"Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I have produced a man with the help of the Lord. Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for his part brought the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it."
Shortly thereafter, Abel's blood cries out to God from the place where he was slain by his brother Cain.
The reader of the Genesis 4 is not told the reason for God's regard for Abel's offering over Cain's. For some of us, that is hard to bear. Why would God show favor over one offering versus another? Is that fair or just? Both are valid questions, yet the reality is that much of what we go through is left to mystery. Human beings of limited understanding will not always understand the actions of an all-knowing, all-seeing God whom existed before our creation.
What we do know is that God was able to see the entire picture, and knew well both of the brothers, as well as their inner and outer worlds.
In light of Abel's success, Cain's blood ran cold, and he listened to a voice which may have sounded something like this: "There is not enough favor for both of you here. There is only enough (room, space, resource) for one."
Rather than adhere to the truth of an abundant God whose love and provision was enough for both of the children he created, Cain bought into the deception that there was a lack of abundance. That there was not enough favor to go around. That he had to look out for his own self-interest rather than accept that there was a plethora of God's provision for both his brother and himself.
This poverty-versus-abundance mentality has been pervasive across time. Over and again, history has repeated itself. How many times have those who have been the privileged in society exploited their power at the cost of their brothers and sisters from a different cultural background, or a different lived experience? How many times have we humans, who have walked the same soil throughout generations, made the same mistake, refusing, over and over again, to learn the same lesson: "There is enough for all of us."
God challenges Cain to look internally and question "why his countenance has fallen." He asks him to look at his story, to remain curious around what is causing his reaction of sadness, of envy and moral failure. God warns Cain that sin is waiting for him, "but he must master it."
It has been said, "We are all the sum of our teachers and our enduring understandings." There are reasons we buy into certain narratives, narratives which would cause us to live in such fear and anxiety and self-obsession regarding providence for our own lives that we oppress, marginalize, maim, or even kill those who have lived an experience which challenges our own understanding.
These reasons come from our own hurt, pain, and trauma, which present themselves in a vast array of malignancies, being that we are from so many cultures, families of origin, and varying patterns of brokenness.
But what if the reason behind our "reasons" is really one that is so simple it keeps tripping up our brothers and sisters, generation after generation? What if the root of it all is that we need to turn and take a good hard look at ourselves, our interior lives, our histories, and ask the questions:
"Do I believe there is enough? That God is enough? That I am enough, and that there is enough to go around? Or am I starving from the inside out, believing the lie of poverty, that the success of my brother means the failure of myself?"
How much longer do we want to remain mucking around in the dirt which we tilled, bled into, maimed and killed one another in? How much longer do we want to remain stuck in the mud from which we came?
Might it be worth worth crafting a new story, considering a new route to belief, to find a place where our Theology and Culture can meet in the middle?
It is time to get up from the dirt from which we came and begin the good, honest work of finding our way to belief in a narrative ringing true of the provision that was created to be enough for us all.
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