Episode 106 :: Kat Armas :: Stories of Abuelita Faith, the Wisdom of Survival, and Jesus of the Bible
Today I am sitting down with the incredible Kat Armas. Kat is a Cuban-American author and podcaster who is passionate about elevating the voices of women of color, asking big questions and wrestling with American culture to have a more clear view of God and how He makes Himself known through people and their experiences. She invites readers into the wrestle of our ideas about wisdom, or ideas we have developed about what makes someone a “theologian,” and perhaps how we limit who is influential in our faith development in beautiful book Abuelita Faith: What Women on the Margins Teach Us About Wisdom, Persistence and Strength. After being raised in Miami, Florida, surrounded by Cuban culture, and then moving to predominantly white evangelical world in seminary, Kat struggled to find her footing as a woman in male-dominated space, and as a woman of color, raised by women, and called by God to use her gifts for His glory.
We’ll talk about things like: What do you do when your life doesn’t pan out into what may be described as a typical “American” family or faith? How do you really wrestle with the Christianity that has been passed down to you when that’s its history? We’ll define some buzzword terms and try to take the sting out of them that can keep us from actually having productive conversations about them like patriarchal vs. matriarchal society, a colonized Jesus vs. Jesus in the context of the Bible. Decolonizing, Deconstruction, etc
We’re going deep, friends. This is an opportunity for you to sit at a table where you may not be the most comfortable, but where there is such beauty to behold, things to learn about a culture unique from your own, and a fuller picture of how God makes Himself known in other communities in the world, and how He may have something to share specifically with you about who YOU were uniquely made to be in our homes, in our faith families and the body of Christ as a whole.
Reading Kat’s book, and spending time with her has really stretched me. One thing that encourages me so much is that God is there in the midst of our complicated and messy stories of being a human. Jesus meets ALL of us exactly where we are, Living in the middle place, where so much of what we have known and seen, where we’re from, and being willing to process a more robust view of God, and seeing Him through the eyes of our friends and neighbors in scripture has just made God all the more powerful, merciful and beautiful to me. It makes the call to go and share the Gospel with ALL nations so much more powerful and dare I say possible? When we are willing to learn about what life may look like for various nations, tribes, tongues and cultures unique from mine, then there is compassion to come together as we are, where we are, and there we can talk about Jesus. There, we can see how much all our stories matter. Your story matters, friend. You matter.
Connecting with Kat:
Episode Sponsor: Tony Crabtree of Crabtree Homes with Exit Realty
Home buyer guide: http://bit.ly/buyersguidecrabtreehomes
Seller guide: http://bit.ly/sellerguidecrabtreehomes
References:
- the idea that white people do or don’t have a culture
-”Machismo” - (literally defined as sexism / dictionary defines it as “strong or aggressive masculine pride”)
-Martin Luther King Jr. - discussing the concept of “class” in America
-Patriarchy- “rules of the father”
-Dr. Miguel De La Torre, The Jesus of “los humildes” (the humble)
-un baile divino- “a divine dance” (where we dance in the middle_
-“El mundo zurdo” - the left-handed world (on the other hand)
-Rome conquered Greece (for the record lol)
-Willie James Jennings- After Whiteness: An Education in Belogning
-What is systemic racism? (What is redlining? Addressed in the video and also here)
-What’s happening in Canada unveiling the mass graves at residential schools (See our insta live about this and listen to my episode with Jane Kirkpatrick as well)
-Holocaust History (just scratchin the surface here)
-The mass exodus from the western Church // (Also an interesting article specifically about single women leaving the Church)
-Barbara Brown Taylor - The Preaching Life
-The book of Habbakuk is all a minor prophet wrestling with God
-The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church’s Complicity in Racism- Jemar Tisby
-Episode where we discuss cultural paradigms
-What happened with Fidel Castro
-”subiendo” - survival day to day
-John MacAruthur and “go home” -- Just a little editor thought drop here. I am not a” throw the baby out with the bathwater” person. I think this was a really unfortunate moment in JM’s ministry. The Lord can use anything for good, and I’ve seen Him do it. What happened that day through his comments is still hurtful on so many levels to me personally and so many women that I know and love in this ministry life, and had truly astounding ripple effects I am still feeling in my own life and faith community. I left it as part of the conversation with Kat because I think it's important to hear the hurts of people, but I also don’t mean to leave it in there to act as a “cancelling” of someone who I do believe is passionate about God’s Word, he’s just also human, and God is God in his life, and is still bringing the work in him to completion. Additionally, I don’t know who Kat’s hermeneutics professor was that said what he said to her, but I pray the Lord meets him and shows him the gift that the daughters of Eve offer to the Kingdom of God no matter where God leads them and regardless of their marital status. We’re all being stretched. Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father and says “I will complete the work I began in them.” Further up, and further in.-xo, Em
*UPDATED NEWS ON THE CUBAN CRISIS AND WAYS TO SUPPORT CUBAN PEOPLE DIRECTLY:
-Monday the 15th- there was a worldwide march for Cuban freedom.-N15 // NBC’s aritcle-- You can also see a lot more current updates from the instagram accounts and Twitter accounts posted below. Its honestly challenging to get updated news accounts at the moment.
-As things stand as the date of publishing this podcast, Wednesday 11/17
-NYT Article from Sunday 11/14about the food shortage, internet censoring and more that has sparked the huge planned protest for 11/15.
-Washington Post article about the lengths the Cuban government are going to in order to discourage participation in the 11/15 demonstration and the role of U.S. politics and current policies happening on the hill affecting the Cuban people.
-Marissa Daniela- a Cuban creator who is passionate about connecting what’s happening in Cuba to the world and to the Cuban diaspora.
-The #freecuba hashtag from Twitter.
-The #N15Cuba hashtag from Twitter
-Support the search for the hundreds of missing people
-Human rights violations in Cuba
Scripture References:
Genesis 16, Genesis 38, Exodus 1:15-21, Joshua 2, Judges 4, Ruth and Naomi, 2 Samuel 11-12, Luke 18:1-8, Luke 8:3, Acts 16 (JUST TO NAME A FEW!!!!) - Women using the wisdom they gained from survival and God blessing it, using it,
Jesus reflects the humble -- link to 100 verses about this
Luke 2:1-20-Jesus was born in a stable/cave, etc.
Matthew 2-His parents were young people fleeing their land
Revelation 19:11-Jesus in Revelation- the rider in white who is faithful and true
Jesus appears in the Old Testament in so many places (Awesome scripture list and commentary)
God really cares about the righteousness of his kids (Big list!)
Book of Ezekiel - (Watch this super helpful Bible Project video about this) Babylon is coming and making it really ugly, God meets them in exile
The book of Esther happens in exile (hear us talk about it and read the book aloud on the podcast)
Mark 3:13-19,Matthew 10:1-4,Luke 6:12-16- -Jesus’ disciples were a diverse group of people
Ruth and Naomi,-Ruth and Naomi
Genesis 38-Tamar
Genealogy of Jesus with the women, (links to all of them in the top reference)-The women in the genealogy of Jesus and their complicated stories of survival
Matthew 7:24-26-Built on rock or on sand?
Psalm 103:6, Micah 6:8, Hosea 12:6, Psalm 37:27-40, Amos 5 -God is passionate about justice
Deuteronomy 15:7-11, Deuteronomy 24:17-21, Psalm 82:3, Isaiah 1:17, Luke 14:12-14 (just as a few examples) -God is passionate about caring for women, orphans and those in the margins
Acts 15: the council of Jerusalem (is circumcision necessary, do you have to stop being a Jew, etc.)
Connecting with Emily and Simply Stories Podcast:
Instagram (Em life // Podcast Life)
Facebook
Twitter
Blog
*Intro and Outro music is from audionautix.com