On February 2nd, Bert Newton introduced Rae Huang, pastor and community activist with L.A. Voice. (The snake Bert mentions is a stuffed snake her girls were playing with.) Rae spoke to John 3:13-17, beginning with her introduction to John 3:16 as a child. And though it still holds meaning for her in her Christian journey, her view of the passage, as a pastor and community organizer working in interfaith circles, has changed rather radically.

Rae talks about how this iconic verse has come to represent for her a view that limits salvation to the elect few who have followed the “right” path. And she connects this to our society today: if you have the right skin color, are born into privilege, education and money, grew up in the right neighborhood — if you’re lucky enough, or blessed — you’ll get through life unscathed. You’ll move up in the world. Is this good news? It doesn’t sound like the gospel, and is not our reality.

Hear more as Rae fleshes out the gospel of community: a world where we all belong and are all loved. Listen to how these verses might speak to us today as we grapple with what it looks like to be the Beloved Community — where salvation and blessings belong to us all.

For the other gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke — ethics and individual participation, how to act and live as a Christian, played heavily. Jesus was seen as a radical Jewish teacher who is reinterpreting Jewish values and law — and he had many followers as a result.

Hear these words and more in the audio link below.

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