Humphreys, José | Seeing Jesus in East Harlem
Seeing Jesus in East Harlem:What Happens When Churches Show Up and Stay Put
José Humphreys
Paperback: IVP Books, 2018,
232 pp.
Introduction
I recently was the pastor of a predominantly white suburban church that was once located in Detroit. This church moved to the suburbs, as did other congregations in the city, because most of the members had moved to the suburbs. The congregation tried to stay put, but in the end, it made better sense for the now diminished congregation to let another congregation make use of the historic building. Forty years after this move, the congregation is trying to stay put in the suburban community where we were replanted.One of the things I’ve learned over time as a white male pastor, is that it is important for me to listen to the stories of those who have traditionally lived on the margins of American society. That is, as part of the majority culture, which often assumes that it is the normative culture, I need to recognize and affirm the voices that emerge from minority cultures, especially as the nation in which I live moves toward a more diverse future. Since José Humphreys speaks to these moves in our society, this is a book for me and others to read carefully.
Humphreys is a pastor serving a congregation in East Harlem that is multi-ethnic and multicultural. He is Black and Puerto Rican and Evangelical. He writes this book from that social location, hoping to inspire and critique the church so that it might pursue God’s calling in the world. The message contained in the book is rooted in the story of the congregation he serves in East Harlem—Metro Hope Covenant Church. While he doesn’t reveal the size, he speaks of this seemingly vibrant congregation as being on the small side. The point of the book, it seems to me, is to call us to a form of discipleship where we show up and stay put in our communities. It is a call to see the broader community as a space where God is present and active, as well as a call to engage that community fully.
Radical Kinship
Humphrey’s vision is a powerful one that invites us to be a public witness of God’s love and grace in the world. Thus, he writes near the end of his introduction: “We are called to be God’s experiment in how people stay together in a divided world. Now more than ever—whether churches are in city, town, or country—we need churches that will dismantle that walls of hostility that keep us apart, uncoiling people from shame and hiding, allowing God’s very good news to unfurl us all into our full humanity as image bearers” (7).
Humphrey offers the example of Hope House— an intentional Christian community connected with their congregation— to give readers imagination for what radical kinship might look like. He reflects on the experience of this community: “Interestingly, the most formative dimensions of our being together were not just in routine prayer times, meals, or any other form of gathering. Rather, it was in the negotiation of space and living habits, traversing the “in betweens” of community life, where I sensed growth happened the most” (128). Trying to negotiate a life together across multiple cultural backgrounds, Humphrey recalls, required both vulnerability and courage.
Active Disciplemaking
Humphreys describes an active disciplemaking that is rooted in our radical kinship. Part of the work of making disciples into which we are all called, he argues, is learning to stay committed to our sisters and brothers in our local congregation who come from different cultural backgrounds than I do, often “an exercise in disorientation and discomfort” (80). We are all called into this work, and our faithful commitment to being shaped into the image of Christ reveals to our neighbors and the world the hope of Christ, who is reconciling all humanity.
Participatory Worship
Not only do we all participate in disciplemaking, but we also participate together in worship. Worship, as Humphreys understands it, unfolds in two key modes: the dirge and the dance. The dirge, he writes: “is an invitation to mourn and a way to deal with suffering and loss in all of its different forms. Followers of Christ get to know Christ in suffering while being in fellowship with him and others.” In contrast: “the dance is our participation in and celebration of the sign. We get to know Christ in the glow of resurrection, in the abundance of life.” We all participate together in knowing Christ, both in dirge and in dance, in the suffering of Christ as well as in his celebration.
Staying Put
One of the crucial themes of this book is the practice of staying put, which in his case is in the community of East Harlem. Thus, we stay put, by “dwelling richly with God and others while occupying and holding space together as church communities.” He also writes: “Flourishing through love takes place when disciples remain in a web of relationships facilitated and joyfully nourished by God. … The very content of our theological thinking and our actions will be in connection with God through others, and with others through God. This leads us to arrange our lives around dwelling with Christ, while seeking belonging in one another” (123-124).
Slow, Patient Work
Seeing Jesus in East Harlem is an important book because it invites us to envision the urban landscape and ponder the ways in which the church is and can be present. While being present is not easy, congregations like Metro Hope offer us a vision of what might be. This isn’t a plan for amazing church growth. This is a vision of presence and incarnation, while discerning God’s presence in the community. It’s a cliché, but perhaps that old adage about blooming where we’re planted has some meaning here.
In the closing paragraphs of the book, Humphreys writes presciently that “while I believe we in North America are experiencing to some degree the end of the American evangelical church as we know it, we now have an opportunity to maintain a different vantage point as a church that shows up, stays put, and sees God’s loving work in the world. When one follows the crucified Christ, it’s inevitable that the character of love will go beyond sentiment” (222-223). Yes, this is a call to move beyond a sentimental backward-looking triumphalist form of Christendom where nation and church are merged at the hip toward a church that is truly present, and truly represents the Gospel revealed in Jesus. Here’s the kicker—this is generational work. It won’t happen overnight. But, as he notes, “faith will nourish our imaginations in such a way that we begin to envision things once impossible as now inevitable, happening in ways only God can orchestrate” (223). These words are an expression of hope in what can be true when we join with God by staying put and showing up.