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As I drive along I-93, I see a billboard in Dorchester of a white, pale Jesus who looks more like a scary ghost from a horror movie than the Jesus I have come to know in my spiritual journey. I consider myself a Judeo-Christian, practicing both Judaism and Christianity. On any given weekend, you will find me at Shabbat services on Friday and in church on Sunday. I am a conservative Christian who believes in the fundamentals of the Christian faith when it comes to traditional Christian doctrine. 

When I see a ghost-like Jesus, it scares me, and it should scare you too. The ghost-like Jesus is a political statement, and the political values and ideas it represents are scary: primarily white supremacy and white nationalism. In my article, “Whitewashed: How a Jewish and brown Jesus became an Aryan,” I explain the history and politics around the creation of the white Jesus. 

That white Jesus has always been on the wrong side of history, starting with Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant reformation, who was deeply antisemitic. Some scholars have said the Holocaust would not have been possible without his teachings. White Supremacist thinking reflected in the church and state led to the Doctrine of Discovery, which established a religious, political, and legal justification for colonization and seizure of land not inhabited by Christians. 

The Doctrine of Discovery was a church doctrine, not a national political policy, yet it was cited in U.S. Supreme Court decisions as late as 2005 and formed the basis for the 19th century concept of Manifest Destiny — the belief that the United States was destined by God to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent. Through Manifest Destiny, the United States justified the forced removal of Native Americans and other groups from their homes. Similarly, the notion of American exceptionalism argues that the United States is uniquely virtuous and superior to other nations, in part due to its historically Christian roots. 

It should be no surprise, then, that Germany claimed to be practicing conservative Christian values when following Hitler. Nazis worshipped the white Jesus. 

Such beliefs mixed with Christian nationalism and white supremacy form a toxic Kool-Aid ingested by too many Christians today. They worship an orange Jesus, who gazes out from billboards with his fake tan. Despite the four years of his presidency — and more on the campaign trail — during which he was documented as telling more lies than any president in history, many people who identify as Christians are still willing to say with a straight face that this grifter, this orange Messiah, best represents the Christian faith and is the person they want as commander in chief.  

Indeed, the Ku Klux Klan is a Christian organization, and those who participated in the January 6 insurrection describe themselves as patriots in the Christian fight for God and country. The John Birch Society, claiming God was on its side, promulgated the fear that communists had infiltrated the government in the 1950s and 1960s, leading to official steps aimed at removing them, including a blacklist. 

In contrast, consider the revolutionary groups of the 1960s: Black Power groups and others that wanted to overthrow the government. None of them, not even modern-day socialists or anarchist groups such as antifa have traveled an inch in their journey relative to Trump followers, who successfully infiltrated every aspect of our government, from the legislative branch to the Department of Justice, the judiciary, and every level of the executive branch, including the White House. 

The term “Christian terrorism” should be an oxymoron, but sadly it is not. When the extent of the planning involved in the January 6 attempt to overthrow our government was exposed, it demonstrated that Christian insurrectionists were the pros, and all the others were mere paper tigers. We should have been fearing conservative Christians in government all along, not communists or anarchists. 

The Founding Fathers understood this. In reviewing the sweep of history, they saw that consolidating religious and political power was too dangerous, so they required the separation of church and state. 

Now you know why the white Jesus scares me. 

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4)

We had an amazing time hosting the “Again I Say Rejoice” concert on the waterfront with families, college students, and everyone in between! This year, we were joined by local musicians, singers, dancers, and poets who brought their amazing talents to the UniteBoston stage. There were 15 different organizations hosting ministry tables surrounding the perimeter of the gathering, 30+ members of a community choir, and hundreds of attendees and passersby who stopped by for a portion of the evening to listen to the music, learn about the various organizations in the city, or receive prayer.

Read on to see photos and read personal testimonies about the impact of this gathering! You can also click here to listen to the playlist for the concert on Youtube!

“This gathering was amazing and I know so much work must have gone into it… So cool to see a united Christian presence downtown. I had several conversations with folks passing by who were curious… What a huge opportunity for the church to come together… Thanks for all you did to make it happen!!!” 

– Lisa Oelrich, Executive Director – Alpha New England

“The joy I saw at Unite Boston was unlike “normal” worship I’ve been part of! The diversity of music and people truly demonstrated the expanse of the family of God. I sang in the gospel choir, and there’s something about gospel music that just drops all your anxiety about “performing” and instead brings us all into a moment of shared worship. Truly an encouraging and uplifting experience!” 

– Ben Hampson, Riverwalk Church (formerly Highrock Brookline)

“This was a beautiful time of worship with a diverse community. I loved seeing people walking by downtown and then deciding to engage with the music and the message!”

-Caleb McCoy, Emmanuel Gospel Center, Rapper, producer, and creator of The OAK

This year, we brought together the community and had the opportunity to make room for ministries from across the city to share their mission with the city.

“The concert was a really good time! It was nice to catch up with some long-time ministry friends. The weather held off nicely, and the music, as well as the rap songs, were awesome. I really noticed a very diverse crowd stopping by to listen to what was going on. My sense was that people who might not normally go to church were intrigued and stopped to listen, some of them sitting for awhile. Folks in the hotel next door were also commenting on the concert. You guys really shined the light out there in Boston! Great job, God bless you all!”

-Bruce Swan, Victory Church in Sharon

There were a lot of great moments of rejoicing:

We also had the pleasure of building a community choir that brought together members from Gordon College God’s Chosen Gospel Choir and members of the community who have a passion for worshipping God.

“It was an absolute blessing to worship the name of Jesus in the middle of Boston!! Working the Gordon booth, and as an alum myself, it was a gift to see so many Gordon students and alum engaging with the community as worshippers themselves! I met a family that heard the worship from across the street, and they stopped by and stayed the rest of the night. They were from out of town and were so amazed by the faith we have here! God is doing big things in the city of Boston.”

-Deborah Sullivan, Assistant Director of Admissions Events and Strategic Partnerships, Gordon College

“I was on the prayer team and we went around handing out cards before the event as well. We met a lot of people, including someone I met who had volunteered with Spring Water (the new after-abortion clinic) and I was able to get them connected with Boston Center for Pregnancy Choices! We met a few people who said they were not religious but were still open to receiving prayer and they seemed to be thankful for the prayer afterwards. This concert was a great way to connect with Christians and also non-Christians in a fun setting.”

-Adele Chang

Alexis Monroe and DJ were the MCs for the event and Jubilee Worcester’s dance ministry brought their liturgical gifts during the program intermission along with Boston Found acapella group.

“I’ve been a Christian my whole life, grew up in a Christian home, and have been attending church ever since I was very young. I’ve only been to one Christian concert before this event. Attending the “Rejoice” concert made me realize that yes, Sundays are the main days for church, but worshiping God can really happen anywhere, at any time, and while I’m doing anything, and if that means singing out loud in the middle of a park in Boston then that counts too! This was impactful for me because I’ve always had the stereotypical thought that Sundays in general are the main days to worship God, but that’s definitely not true. The more we involve and invite God into our lives and worship Him everywhere we go, the more we can continue to glorify His name and show others His love for us.”

-Melody Kwong, Boston Chinese Evangelical Church 

This week, our featured blogger is Melissa Long, who is the program director of Boy With A Ball Boston (BWAB). She began her journey with BWAB after the Lord called her out of a career in science and into a career of loving others. Since joining the team, her relationship with Jesus has strengthened, and she can’t wait to see what the Lord will do as she and others love the city of Boston. Click below to read about how Melissa is doing the long, slow work of relationship building, and letting go to see kingdom movement take place.

“As I’ve set out to build a team who together will achieve this God-sized task of creating mentorship relationships and small groups based on what individuals need to reach their dreams, I knew that I needed to rely on the Lord’s wisdom, power, and work rather than my own.”

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As a ministry leader, I often meet with individuals, but there has been one meeting that I’ll never forget, where the Lord gave me a taste of His power and work to come. It was a sunny day in late February, and I was with two of Boy With a Ball’s global leaders and one of Boston’s ministry leaders, seated at a picnic table overlooking the Charles River. I was about to move to Boston in a few short weeks to relaunch the local site of Boy With a Ball, a faith-based youth and community development organization whose mission is to help young people reach their dreams and to use their lives to love and transform cities. I came into the meeting with specific ideas of how it’d go and what I’d say, and I became frustrated when the conversation went in an unexpected direction. 

In that moment, I faced a conscious decision: would I remain frustrated by and bound to my own expectations, or would I submit to the Lord and join Him in what He was doing? The meeting continued, and I quickly decided to surrender to the Lord. And just like that, I felt like I was submerged into the river of who He is, going where He was going, unsure of where the conversation would go, but excited to see what He had in store behind each twist and turn. In that February meeting with the Lord, I started to see Him mightily picking up the logs and brambles in my path to clear the way. I had no idea that in the months that followed, He would continue to clear my path in ways even mightier than this.

In mid-March, I arrived in Boston to relaunch the city’s site of Boy With a Ball. We organize a neighborhood-based outreach called Love Your City, our model for loving and serving at-risk neighborhoods. As part of Love Your City, our team and volunteers go on weekly Walkthroughs in the neighborhood each Saturday to meet and build friendships with community members. As friendships grow, we learn about what individuals are facing, and as we see common barriers, we can then create mentorship relationships and small groups (ESL classes, tutoring centers, parent groups, etc.) based on what individuals need to reach their dreams. As I’ve set out to build a team who together will achieve this God-sized task, I knew that I needed to rely on the Lord’s wisdom, power, and work rather than my own.

We’ve been laying the groundwork to launch Love Your City in an apartment community in Jackson Square, and part of this foundation involved building relationships with the office staff managing the apartments. We started with dropping by the office to get to know the staff and see how they were doing. Our friendships deepened as we continued going by and helped out with a maintenance day at the apartments.

Several weeks later, I met with the manager of the apartments to learn more about her office and to share about who Boy With a Ball is. After I shared, the project manager turned to me and said, “You have my blessing and support to go door-knocking here. You’re going to need a way to get into the buildings during the week, and you can see us for access as you need it. I’d also love to show you the conference room we have that you’re welcome to use anytime. And you should have a table with us at a cookout we’re hosting next month to share about what you’re doing with the community!”  I didn’t expect this at all, and I can’t fully convey how amazing this breakthrough is! We thought it would take many more months of loving and serving to see a community partner help us become established in the community. Because of this move of the Lord, we were able to launch our weekly Walkthroughs in early September! We’ve seen the Lord make a way for us each week, and we’re so excited for how He will lead us into deeper relationships with families in the community. 

At this point, there are many areas where we need volunteers to join us and use their gifts to love a hurting neighborhood: joining us on Walkthroughs, learning about the community with us, recruiting other volunteers, grant writing, social media/communications, and fundraising!

But even more than that, we’re so excited to see how the Lord will continue clearing our path and drawing us into deeper relationship with Him as we go with Him into loving this city. It will start with a growing group of volunteers with unique giftings and backgrounds uniting from businesses, churches, and universities all across the city under the mission of Boy With a Ball to love a hurting neighborhood. But our hope is that it would expand to these volunteers uniting in other areas of life under the greater mission of Jesus Christ to love those all around them. As believers, we’re called to share the love of Jesus and advance His kingdom on earth, but just one person, or even one organization or church, is limited in their ability to take on this God-sized calling alone. When only two or three people gather, Jesus is there (Matthew 18:20). Imagine what He could do in a neighborhood or in a whole city when that number grows exponentially.

P.S. If you’d like to learn more about Boy With A Ball in Jackson Square and how you can be involved, you can contact Melissa at melissa.long@boywithaball.com.