In our conversation on Friday morning we talked about some of Jesus' sayings that are commonly known as the beatitudes. He says things like "blessed are the poor" and "blessed are those that mourn." We agreed that these are difficult sayings, not so much because we don't understand them, but because they sort of rub us the wrong way. We imagined it might be like the feeling a cat would have if we petted its fur from the tail end toward the head rather than stroking it the other way.
We found it interesting that Jesus said that things we view as bad actually contain a blessing. The question came up about what could possibly be good about being poor. Linda suggested that when you are poor you appreciate things more and that you learn that money can't buy the things that are really important in life. And George shared how he learned how to paint with pastels when he was in prison (he was taught the technique by a man on death row). So we had to acknowledge that good things can come out of bad situations.
Someone said that maybe "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, because there is more crap over there." We thought this was funny. We talked about how sometimes things can get so bad that we might be tempted to give up. Linda told us that she had reached that point last February and had tried to commit suicide. She took 45 pills and then went and lay down in a cemetary to die where no one would bother her. She lay there for hours experiencing frightening hallucinations. But she also remembered praying to God that she had made a mistake and that she wanted to live. Amazingly she woke up hours later and then admitted herself into a 30 day treatment program.
We also discussed a bit about the saying, "blessed are the peacemakers." We talked about how the government spends so much money on weapons (56% of the national budget on defense) and so little on peace. Someone said that peacemaking is harder than troublemaking. Linda told us that someone had ripped the top of her tent in the night and that she woke up half wet the next morning. At this George told us about a man he knew in prison named "Mule-Head" Hunt. This man was on death row for the murder of over 30 people. We realized what a difficult and yet extraordinary thing it is to make peace in a world filled with so much violent and destructive behavior.
In closing we decided it was encouraging to know that we could find blessings even in midst of all the crap in our world and in our lives!
If You're Not Living on the Edge You're Taking Up Too Much Space
3.25.2011
Dream Big and Live Large
In our conversation Wednesday morning we talked a bit more about the "Don't System." This is a major theme of the book of Galatians that Carlos has been leading us through when he is with us. We have learned that the law/don't system isn't bad in itself but that it is designed for children rather than mature adults. And that we can't really form good friendships on the basis of what we don't do to people although that can be a good start.
We had a bit of fun exploring the don't system when someone suggested that it includes things like, "Don't pick your nose." Sheila said that it's ok to pick your nose but just "don't show it to anyone." We got a good laugh at this. Carlos pointed out how ridiculous it is for us to try to gain God's approval either through the things we don't do or through the things that we do.
We talked about how there would be no need for the don't system if people would just respect and love each other. We wondered if there would even be a need for prisons in a world where people had grown up into mature adults. Carlos suggested that it is not a very good sign in a relationship when we start to say things like, "Don't you treat me like that."
Somehow we got into a bit of a discussion about sibling rivalry. We talked about how kids will often compete for a parent's approval. Someone also said that this same thing happens in religious groups that act like they are in a competition for God's approval by either not doing certain things or by doing things better than other groups. This seemed a bit ridiculous to us and yet we all knew from experience that it happened.
As our conversation wrapped up we turned toward the idea of what kinds of things we could do to be better friends to each other. Our friend Cheronne told us about how he was confronted the night before by some guys that insulted and physically threatened him because he was different. He said that he wasn't going to let this bother him because he was going to change the world even though he didn't know exactly how. We discovered that Cheronne has a non-profit organization called The Who We Are Movement and he also has a FB page called Difference Makers. His youthful optimism made us smile but we all encouraged him to do just that and to not let the harsh realities of life keep him from dreaming big and living large!
We had a bit of fun exploring the don't system when someone suggested that it includes things like, "Don't pick your nose." Sheila said that it's ok to pick your nose but just "don't show it to anyone." We got a good laugh at this. Carlos pointed out how ridiculous it is for us to try to gain God's approval either through the things we don't do or through the things that we do.
We talked about how there would be no need for the don't system if people would just respect and love each other. We wondered if there would even be a need for prisons in a world where people had grown up into mature adults. Carlos suggested that it is not a very good sign in a relationship when we start to say things like, "Don't you treat me like that."
Somehow we got into a bit of a discussion about sibling rivalry. We talked about how kids will often compete for a parent's approval. Someone also said that this same thing happens in religious groups that act like they are in a competition for God's approval by either not doing certain things or by doing things better than other groups. This seemed a bit ridiculous to us and yet we all knew from experience that it happened.
As our conversation wrapped up we turned toward the idea of what kinds of things we could do to be better friends to each other. Our friend Cheronne told us about how he was confronted the night before by some guys that insulted and physically threatened him because he was different. He said that he wasn't going to let this bother him because he was going to change the world even though he didn't know exactly how. We discovered that Cheronne has a non-profit organization called The Who We Are Movement and he also has a FB page called Difference Makers. His youthful optimism made us smile but we all encouraged him to do just that and to not let the harsh realities of life keep him from dreaming big and living large!
3.22.2011
Be Extraordinary!
In our free store conversation on Saturday morning we talked about some of the things Jesus said in one of his most famous sermons that we know as the sermon on the mount. We noted that just like Moses received the ten commandments on mount Sinai and brought them down to the people (who were in the act of breaking them, which for some reason made us laugh) so Jesus brings something new to the people from the Mount of Olives. "You have heard" but "I say."
We talked a bit about how Jesus was not stuck in tradition but was very open to new ideas and new ways of looking at things and doing things. The question came up why people tend to cling to the old way and reject the new. Someone said that maybe we just get comfortable with doing things in a certain way and so we can be threatened by change.
We grappled with what Jesus meant when he said, "love your enemies." Well actually we didn't grapple with it because it seemed very clear but we thought it was a bit crazy if not impossible to put into practice. Our friend Dave suggested this was like a saying he heard about keeping your friends close but your enemies closer. Debbie later told me that this was a line out of "The Godfather." It made me smile to think of Marlon Brandon with his slow forceful drawl quoting Jesus to his slow-witted and brutal associates! We did agree that Jesus was calling us to go beyond the social norm when dealing with people. If even "tax-collectors" and "pagans" can love their neighbors how hard can that be!
We talked about how it is fairly easy to be friendly to people that are friendly to us (unless it is too early in the morning and the person is too damn chipper!). And it is not that hard to love the people that love us. Although someone mentioned that we are not always open to receive the love that other people want to give us. So in effect we felt that Jesus was telling us to go beyond the social norm in our dealings with people. We talked about how sometimes it is the hard things in life that are the most worth doing. In the movie A League of Their Own the star baseball player quits before the final game because "it's too hard," to which the coach says, "If it was easy everybody would do it. Hard is what makes it great."
At this point Dave told us a story about when he was younger and spent fifty bucks to ride a horse that ended up bucking him off and giving him a very sore backside. Apparently he was trying to impress some girls. Someone also shared a story about our friend Jonathan who did an amazing canon ball when he was five years old in a diving contest. Unfortunately he did it before the judges were ready and ended up losing the competition to a pretty little four year old that most likely won it on the strength of her cute looks. We weren't exactly sure how these stories fit in but they were entertaining and we enjoyed them a great deal.
In wrapping things up we talked about how we thought that Jesus was calling us to go beyond the ordinary and to become extraordinary people. We think he was telling us to do the hard thing and love even our enemies rather than just taking the easy "you scratch my back I'll scratch yours" approach to relationships. It felt good to know that we could be extraordinary!
We talked a bit about how Jesus was not stuck in tradition but was very open to new ideas and new ways of looking at things and doing things. The question came up why people tend to cling to the old way and reject the new. Someone said that maybe we just get comfortable with doing things in a certain way and so we can be threatened by change.
We grappled with what Jesus meant when he said, "love your enemies." Well actually we didn't grapple with it because it seemed very clear but we thought it was a bit crazy if not impossible to put into practice. Our friend Dave suggested this was like a saying he heard about keeping your friends close but your enemies closer. Debbie later told me that this was a line out of "The Godfather." It made me smile to think of Marlon Brandon with his slow forceful drawl quoting Jesus to his slow-witted and brutal associates! We did agree that Jesus was calling us to go beyond the social norm when dealing with people. If even "tax-collectors" and "pagans" can love their neighbors how hard can that be!
We talked about how it is fairly easy to be friendly to people that are friendly to us (unless it is too early in the morning and the person is too damn chipper!). And it is not that hard to love the people that love us. Although someone mentioned that we are not always open to receive the love that other people want to give us. So in effect we felt that Jesus was telling us to go beyond the social norm in our dealings with people. We talked about how sometimes it is the hard things in life that are the most worth doing. In the movie A League of Their Own the star baseball player quits before the final game because "it's too hard," to which the coach says, "If it was easy everybody would do it. Hard is what makes it great."
At this point Dave told us a story about when he was younger and spent fifty bucks to ride a horse that ended up bucking him off and giving him a very sore backside. Apparently he was trying to impress some girls. Someone also shared a story about our friend Jonathan who did an amazing canon ball when he was five years old in a diving contest. Unfortunately he did it before the judges were ready and ended up losing the competition to a pretty little four year old that most likely won it on the strength of her cute looks. We weren't exactly sure how these stories fit in but they were entertaining and we enjoyed them a great deal.
In wrapping things up we talked about how we thought that Jesus was calling us to go beyond the ordinary and to become extraordinary people. We think he was telling us to do the hard thing and love even our enemies rather than just taking the easy "you scratch my back I'll scratch yours" approach to relationships. It felt good to know that we could be extraordinary!
3.19.2011
Is It Really Possible to Live Without Worry?
In our free store conversation on Friday morning we talked about some of the things Jesus said in Matthew 6. It struck us as pretty radical that he basically told people, "Don't worry." We joked about how if anybody else would say that to us we would probably think they were a bit crazy. We agreed that it seems very unrealistic to tell people not to worry. But we knew that Jesus didn't say this because he had a soft cushy life with nothing to worry about.
We also talked about how he didn't just say, "Don't sweat the small stuff." Jesus actually told people not to worry about the big stuff, like eating and drinking, and having clothing and shelter, or about the future. So we talked a bit about the things that had us worried and kept us awake at night. Linda said that she often worried about being attacked in her tent at night, either by wild animals or those with "two legs." Then she shared with us how a little mouse had come to her tent last night and it made her feel good that someone cared about her. Tony said that he worried about his aging parents and his 18-year old daughter and her future. At this heads were nodding in agreement so others were also worried about their families. George said that he worried about getting his driver's license and his GED and having to go back on the street if his roomates move and he loses his room. Someone mentioned how worried the people in Japan must be today. It was sobering to realize all of the serious things that people have to worry about in our world.
At this point in our discussion we wondered how Jesus could tell people not to worry. And we discovered that his logic was fairly simple but that didn't mean it was easy to accept or put into practice. He said that we don't have to worry because we can trust in a God that cares for us as well as all of the natural world. And he also said that worry was not profitable because it doesn't add anything to our lives (not even an inch to our height which we thought was a very clever way to make the point!). If anything worry can be destructive rather than constructive. Linda shared how her mind snapped and she became severely depressed and had to be hospitalized because of anxiety at one point in her life.
Near the end of our conversation the question came up about what would be the perfect worry free day? George said that would be a day that he could mow seven lawns which the rest of us then teased him about. But George said that he felt best when he could keep busy. Someone else said it would be a day on the beach listening to the waves lap the sand with the warm sun shining down. Linda said that she hadn't been to the beach in ten years. And then Rick shared about a time he fell asleep on the beach and ended up with a blistering sunburn! But we all agreed that a day on the beach is overall a pretty good day.
Interestely, we all seemed to feel a little more relaxed and less stressed after talking about these things. We decided that although Jesus sayings can be very radical and challenging they also contain profound wisdom that can really make our lives better.
We also talked about how he didn't just say, "Don't sweat the small stuff." Jesus actually told people not to worry about the big stuff, like eating and drinking, and having clothing and shelter, or about the future. So we talked a bit about the things that had us worried and kept us awake at night. Linda said that she often worried about being attacked in her tent at night, either by wild animals or those with "two legs." Then she shared with us how a little mouse had come to her tent last night and it made her feel good that someone cared about her. Tony said that he worried about his aging parents and his 18-year old daughter and her future. At this heads were nodding in agreement so others were also worried about their families. George said that he worried about getting his driver's license and his GED and having to go back on the street if his roomates move and he loses his room. Someone mentioned how worried the people in Japan must be today. It was sobering to realize all of the serious things that people have to worry about in our world.
At this point in our discussion we wondered how Jesus could tell people not to worry. And we discovered that his logic was fairly simple but that didn't mean it was easy to accept or put into practice. He said that we don't have to worry because we can trust in a God that cares for us as well as all of the natural world. And he also said that worry was not profitable because it doesn't add anything to our lives (not even an inch to our height which we thought was a very clever way to make the point!). If anything worry can be destructive rather than constructive. Linda shared how her mind snapped and she became severely depressed and had to be hospitalized because of anxiety at one point in her life.
Near the end of our conversation the question came up about what would be the perfect worry free day? George said that would be a day that he could mow seven lawns which the rest of us then teased him about. But George said that he felt best when he could keep busy. Someone else said it would be a day on the beach listening to the waves lap the sand with the warm sun shining down. Linda said that she hadn't been to the beach in ten years. And then Rick shared about a time he fell asleep on the beach and ended up with a blistering sunburn! But we all agreed that a day on the beach is overall a pretty good day.
Interestely, we all seemed to feel a little more relaxed and less stressed after talking about these things. We decided that although Jesus sayings can be very radical and challenging they also contain profound wisdom that can really make our lives better.
3.18.2011
What On Earth Is God Doing? (by George Dunn)
I recently heard a marvelous story. A little 6 year old girl was in a drawing lesson. She was in the back of the room. She hardly ever paid attention in class but was doing so this time. The teacher was fascinated and walked over to her and asked, “What are you drawing?” And the girl said, “I’m drawing a picture of God.” The teacher said, “But nobody knows what God looks like!” To which the girl replied, “They will in a minute!”
I'm reminded that Jesus was asked by his guys, his students (disciples), "Show us the Father?!" In a nutshell His response was: “He who has seen me has seen the Father."
Whew, this adds a new dimension to the little girls’ story. If "He" (Jesus), who we say is very God, lives His life in and through us, perhaps the only way the world can see Him, is by looking at us. As if to say, “Want to know what God is like? Wondering what on earth God is doing! “Look at me!” We are his picture!
How does the world see God? And…What on earth is God doing? This question is the beginning, for me, of a new journey of exploration, contemplation and especially self examination.
I can tell you from experience that lately God has been doing some stuff. Just yesterday He spent some time with His friends Dennis and Paul and with his wife Nancy, talking about responding to homelessness, poverty and the needs of those in our community. Later, He helped his wife pack and get ready for her trip and yes, God IS married. Later, God spent time purchasing and programming a new cell phone for Nancy’s trip to Michigan and ordering Nancy’s special vitamins and protein foods to be delivered to where she will be staying. Later He (in me) made and confirmed Nancy’s rent-a-car and Hotel reservations. God even washed some of her clothes – reluctantly. Earlier, that morning, God spent some time at the Free Store in downtown Charlotte. It is run by his friend Paul Fisher. As He does every week, God conducted a devotional bible study with some homeless folks and fed them donuts and coffee instead of loaves and fishes. Around noon He (God in me) had lunch at Dim Sum with Dennis, Paul and Nancy. Together they had a lively theological discussion. God, it seems, is quite fond of Chinese food – especially sweet and sour pork! Oops, not kosher. It’s worth noting that He left the waitress a very generous tip. God is not cheap! He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He loves to give and He wants you to have your best life NOW!
In the early evening God spent a lot time just relaxing. He rested from his labors. Later in the evening it became evident that God is fond of Netflix! He especially enjoys reruns of the TV series 24! He and Jack Bauer are in the same business – saving the world! After watching episodes for much of the evening - God (in Christ, in me) undertook reading and responding to some spiritual e-mails. Then He did some blogging and of course journaling followed by prayer! Amen! God is good! Then He curled up with a good “Christian” book by theologian Howard Snyder. As you probably know, God is very keen on intellectual and theological writings and discussions. He religiously spends countless hours daily in such pursuits. About midnight, God was seen asleep in his favorite chair with his feet propped up on his favorite ottoman.
Just this moment it struck me that I may have to rethink this, see God or Jesus by looking at me stuff. I’m somewhat uncomfortable with this new revelation. It seems like strange fire – not very evangelical. Right now I find myself in uncharted theological waters. I’m feeling uncomfortable with this new faith. “Want to see God look at me” sounds kind of brassy and showoffy! Come to think of it, I’m too unpretentious for that approach. I don’t like to be in the limelight or to bring attention to myself! I’m more comfortable with, “Want to see what God is like – don’t look at me - look at Jesus!” That’s just the kind of guy I am. Humble.
I'm reminded that Jesus was asked by his guys, his students (disciples), "Show us the Father?!" In a nutshell His response was: “He who has seen me has seen the Father."
Whew, this adds a new dimension to the little girls’ story. If "He" (Jesus), who we say is very God, lives His life in and through us, perhaps the only way the world can see Him, is by looking at us. As if to say, “Want to know what God is like? Wondering what on earth God is doing! “Look at me!” We are his picture!
How does the world see God? And…What on earth is God doing? This question is the beginning, for me, of a new journey of exploration, contemplation and especially self examination.
I can tell you from experience that lately God has been doing some stuff. Just yesterday He spent some time with His friends Dennis and Paul and with his wife Nancy, talking about responding to homelessness, poverty and the needs of those in our community. Later, He helped his wife pack and get ready for her trip and yes, God IS married. Later, God spent time purchasing and programming a new cell phone for Nancy’s trip to Michigan and ordering Nancy’s special vitamins and protein foods to be delivered to where she will be staying. Later He (in me) made and confirmed Nancy’s rent-a-car and Hotel reservations. God even washed some of her clothes – reluctantly. Earlier, that morning, God spent some time at the Free Store in downtown Charlotte. It is run by his friend Paul Fisher. As He does every week, God conducted a devotional bible study with some homeless folks and fed them donuts and coffee instead of loaves and fishes. Around noon He (God in me) had lunch at Dim Sum with Dennis, Paul and Nancy. Together they had a lively theological discussion. God, it seems, is quite fond of Chinese food – especially sweet and sour pork! Oops, not kosher. It’s worth noting that He left the waitress a very generous tip. God is not cheap! He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He loves to give and He wants you to have your best life NOW!
In the early evening God spent a lot time just relaxing. He rested from his labors. Later in the evening it became evident that God is fond of Netflix! He especially enjoys reruns of the TV series 24! He and Jack Bauer are in the same business – saving the world! After watching episodes for much of the evening - God (in Christ, in me) undertook reading and responding to some spiritual e-mails. Then He did some blogging and of course journaling followed by prayer! Amen! God is good! Then He curled up with a good “Christian” book by theologian Howard Snyder. As you probably know, God is very keen on intellectual and theological writings and discussions. He religiously spends countless hours daily in such pursuits. About midnight, God was seen asleep in his favorite chair with his feet propped up on his favorite ottoman.
Just this moment it struck me that I may have to rethink this, see God or Jesus by looking at me stuff. I’m somewhat uncomfortable with this new revelation. It seems like strange fire – not very evangelical. Right now I find myself in uncharted theological waters. I’m feeling uncomfortable with this new faith. “Want to see God look at me” sounds kind of brassy and showoffy! Come to think of it, I’m too unpretentious for that approach. I don’t like to be in the limelight or to bring attention to myself! I’m more comfortable with, “Want to see what God is like – don’t look at me - look at Jesus!” That’s just the kind of guy I am. Humble.
3.16.2011
The Don't System and the Do Way
Our friend Carlos, one of the owners of Area 15, led us in a fascinating conversation Wednesday morning. He is walking us through the book of Galatians when he is with us and was talking about chapter 4.
Carlos referred to the Apostle Paul's references to the law as "The Don't System." Don't lie. Don't rape. Don't spit on your brother. This system is based on external motivation and is primarily rooted in fear of consequences and punishments. Although such mechanisms of control help to bring order to society they don't go far enough because they don't create mature and loving people. Someone observed that the don't people don't throw very good parties!
The question came up about what happens when you do the very things forbidden by the don't system? George suggested saying "sorry" which gave us a good laugh! And though that is a good thing to do we all intuitively sensed that it would not be enough. Carlos said that if the cop pulled you over for speeding and you told him you were going home to do the dishes for your wife you would probably still get the ticket.
Carlos also suggested that the don't system is part of the child mentality and not the mature adult. It might prevent us from kicking each other but that is hardly enough to make for good relationships with others. We laughed when someone suggested that the not kicking would probably be "a good start."
We then switched gears and talked about "The Do Way" of living our lives. This way is all about faith and internal motivation. This is the way that we become mature loving people. By focusing on the positive things that we can do to make our relationships with others more satisfying we grow in ways that we could never grow by focusing on the don't system with its rules and restrictions.
We explored the question, "What would someone have to do to be your friend? Sheila said we could help her clean her house which gave us a good laugh. George said that a friend should be honest and not make up stories about having more than they really do. Ron said that a friend should be willing to listen and talk about things that really matter.
For some reason we ended up talking about the things we all liked about our friend Rick. Rick has a great sense of humor and has made many of the signs we hang at the free store. One of our favorites was when he wrote on the sign on the front door, "The Free Store is Closed Because It is Not Open."
Carlos referred to the Apostle Paul's references to the law as "The Don't System." Don't lie. Don't rape. Don't spit on your brother. This system is based on external motivation and is primarily rooted in fear of consequences and punishments. Although such mechanisms of control help to bring order to society they don't go far enough because they don't create mature and loving people. Someone observed that the don't people don't throw very good parties!
The question came up about what happens when you do the very things forbidden by the don't system? George suggested saying "sorry" which gave us a good laugh! And though that is a good thing to do we all intuitively sensed that it would not be enough. Carlos said that if the cop pulled you over for speeding and you told him you were going home to do the dishes for your wife you would probably still get the ticket.
Carlos also suggested that the don't system is part of the child mentality and not the mature adult. It might prevent us from kicking each other but that is hardly enough to make for good relationships with others. We laughed when someone suggested that the not kicking would probably be "a good start."
We then switched gears and talked about "The Do Way" of living our lives. This way is all about faith and internal motivation. This is the way that we become mature loving people. By focusing on the positive things that we can do to make our relationships with others more satisfying we grow in ways that we could never grow by focusing on the don't system with its rules and restrictions.
We explored the question, "What would someone have to do to be your friend? Sheila said we could help her clean her house which gave us a good laugh. George said that a friend should be honest and not make up stories about having more than they really do. Ron said that a friend should be willing to listen and talk about things that really matter.
For some reason we ended up talking about the things we all liked about our friend Rick. Rick has a great sense of humor and has made many of the signs we hang at the free store. One of our favorites was when he wrote on the sign on the front door, "The Free Store is Closed Because It is Not Open."
Is It Bad to Love Myself?
Why are we socialized to think that somehow love of self and love of others are in conflict? That is one of the questions that we discussed at The Free Store on Tuesday morning. Many of us have been raised in conservative religious traditions that have told us that we have to love others more than we love ourselves and that self-love is bad and sinful.
We looked at a text in Ephesians 5 that makes the point that "the man should love his wife as he loves his own body." Most of us know how to love our own bodies because we instinctively protect ourselves from harm (the characters in the movie Jackass seem to be the exception!) We wondered if people that stop caring for themselves physically have lost their ability to love in some way.
The text also says that "the one who loves his wife loves himself." We talked about how this only makes sense if the two are connected in some deep, mysterious, almost mystical way. We agreed that this could idea be extended to relationships beyond a husband and wife. It is as if the other person is an extension of the self and so the way that we treat that person is actually the way that we are treating ourselves.
We wondered if maybe loving ourselves and loving others is really just the two sides of the same coin. Our friend George said that before he went to prison he didn't care about anyone else and was very hard inside. We were fascinated by this because George is one of the most sensitive and artistic people we know. We talked about how it might be possible to extend our circle of concern ever outward to embrace more and more people recognizing that every person is part of us in some mystical but very real way.
Interestingly, at the end of our discussion George pulled a coin out of his pocket that had heads on both sides! Maybe that coin was a message to us that only emphasizing self love or other love is really a distortion of the authentic two-sided coin of genuine love. We don't think there is any real tension between loving ourselves and loving others. When we love another person we are loving ourselves. And in loving ourselves we learn to love others.
We looked at a text in Ephesians 5 that makes the point that "the man should love his wife as he loves his own body." Most of us know how to love our own bodies because we instinctively protect ourselves from harm (the characters in the movie Jackass seem to be the exception!) We wondered if people that stop caring for themselves physically have lost their ability to love in some way.
The text also says that "the one who loves his wife loves himself." We talked about how this only makes sense if the two are connected in some deep, mysterious, almost mystical way. We agreed that this could idea be extended to relationships beyond a husband and wife. It is as if the other person is an extension of the self and so the way that we treat that person is actually the way that we are treating ourselves.
We wondered if maybe loving ourselves and loving others is really just the two sides of the same coin. Our friend George said that before he went to prison he didn't care about anyone else and was very hard inside. We were fascinated by this because George is one of the most sensitive and artistic people we know. We talked about how it might be possible to extend our circle of concern ever outward to embrace more and more people recognizing that every person is part of us in some mystical but very real way.
Interestingly, at the end of our discussion George pulled a coin out of his pocket that had heads on both sides! Maybe that coin was a message to us that only emphasizing self love or other love is really a distortion of the authentic two-sided coin of genuine love. We don't think there is any real tension between loving ourselves and loving others. When we love another person we are loving ourselves. And in loving ourselves we learn to love others.
3.15.2011
The Healing Power of Friendship
We had a very interesting conversation at the Free Store on Friday morning that started as we reflected on Psalm 23. It is a psalm that is so familiar that we can recite it or hear it without even thinking. So even though it is one of the most well known verses in the bible it is also probably one of the least understood.
We talked about how God is pictured as a shepherd and what that might mean. Why a shepherd? Isn't that a bit of a step down for God? And we decided that maybe that is exactly why that image is so important. It gives us a view of a God that identifies with low status positions and by doing that raises the status of people that don't get the respect they deserve in the world. We joked that maybe we could paraphrase the verse to read, "God is our garbage collector" or "walmart greeter." There are many very important but relatively low status jobs in our society. However, God identifies with people at the low end of the status spectrum! That struck us as a a pretty subversive act of imagination.
We then talked a bit about going from "green pastures" and "still waters" (which we liked to think of as a party with plenty of food and drink!) through the valley of the shadow of death to the house of God. This got us thinking about dark times in our lives.
One of our friends shared that she tried to commit suicide with alcohol and pills when she was 44. Another friend told us that he had been run over by a truck on his bicycle and found himself laying under the truck thinking he might die. Another friend said that he was in a bad car accident when he was younger in which his best friend's girlfriend was killed. As we sat there listening to these painful stories it struck us that unless we get beneath the surface of other people's lives we have no way to know what trauma may lie hidden deep within.
Trauma comes from a greek word which literally means, "a wound." We talked a bit about how we never really know what traumas people have been through in their lives. And yet those wounds may lie just under the surface but never really heal.
We came away from that conversation with a renewed appreciation for the hurt that people often carry around hidden deep within. We also sensed the healing power of relationships where such painful things can be talked about without fear of further injury.
We talked about how God is pictured as a shepherd and what that might mean. Why a shepherd? Isn't that a bit of a step down for God? And we decided that maybe that is exactly why that image is so important. It gives us a view of a God that identifies with low status positions and by doing that raises the status of people that don't get the respect they deserve in the world. We joked that maybe we could paraphrase the verse to read, "God is our garbage collector" or "walmart greeter." There are many very important but relatively low status jobs in our society. However, God identifies with people at the low end of the status spectrum! That struck us as a a pretty subversive act of imagination.
We then talked a bit about going from "green pastures" and "still waters" (which we liked to think of as a party with plenty of food and drink!) through the valley of the shadow of death to the house of God. This got us thinking about dark times in our lives.
One of our friends shared that she tried to commit suicide with alcohol and pills when she was 44. Another friend told us that he had been run over by a truck on his bicycle and found himself laying under the truck thinking he might die. Another friend said that he was in a bad car accident when he was younger in which his best friend's girlfriend was killed. As we sat there listening to these painful stories it struck us that unless we get beneath the surface of other people's lives we have no way to know what trauma may lie hidden deep within.
Trauma comes from a greek word which literally means, "a wound." We talked a bit about how we never really know what traumas people have been through in their lives. And yet those wounds may lie just under the surface but never really heal.
We came away from that conversation with a renewed appreciation for the hurt that people often carry around hidden deep within. We also sensed the healing power of relationships where such painful things can be talked about without fear of further injury.
3.11.2011
Words Can Never Hurt Me? Really?
We had a great conversation yesterday morning at The Free Store about the power of our words. Words can actually wound and heal, build and destroy. Our friend George shared about how his father could be very abusive and harsh with words and as he spoke I noticed a lot of heads around the room nodding in sad agreement. As a kid I remember my mom used to say, "Paul you are enough to make a preacher cuss, and I ain't no preacher!" And I knew to prepare to have my ears singed (bless her heart).
So we intuitively and through personal and often painful experiences know that words are powerful so we try to protect ourselves from their power. We say things like "Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me" which we know isn't really true. But that is our way of trying to minimize the harmful power of all the damaging words we have both heard and spoken.
We also talked about how difficult, if not impossible, it is to control our words. We agreed that the tongue is a very unruly part of the anatomy! And it can get us into a whole lot of trouble in short order. But we can tap into a power greater than ourselves and gain self-control if we want. The Genesis story tells us that God created the world through speech. That same story tells us that we are made in the image of God so we felt empowered knowing the incredible power of our words to create new and beautiful things in our lives, our families, and our communities.
George ended our discussion by encouraging us to use the power of our words to heal rather than harm, to bless rather than curse, to create rather destroy.
Go ahead, create something beautiful with your words today! As Nike says, "Just Do It."
So we intuitively and through personal and often painful experiences know that words are powerful so we try to protect ourselves from their power. We say things like "Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me" which we know isn't really true. But that is our way of trying to minimize the harmful power of all the damaging words we have both heard and spoken.
We also talked about how difficult, if not impossible, it is to control our words. We agreed that the tongue is a very unruly part of the anatomy! And it can get us into a whole lot of trouble in short order. But we can tap into a power greater than ourselves and gain self-control if we want. The Genesis story tells us that God created the world through speech. That same story tells us that we are made in the image of God so we felt empowered knowing the incredible power of our words to create new and beautiful things in our lives, our families, and our communities.
George ended our discussion by encouraging us to use the power of our words to heal rather than harm, to bless rather than curse, to create rather destroy.
Go ahead, create something beautiful with your words today! As Nike says, "Just Do It."
3.09.2011
My Life As of Today: To Be Healed (by Liz Eagle)
So yesterday morning I caught the tail-end of the conversation at the Free Store. Our friend, Gary, was sharing about a man he knew who was a "serpentine" (or something along those lines. Please keep in mind I came in at the end :)...) The story's summary is that the guy worked with snakes and would systematically inject himself with small amounts of venom in enough increments to where he had developed immunities to the multiple types of snakes he worked with. A while after this, an individual he knew was bitten by a snake and had no anti-venom nor a way to combat his wound. The guy flies to his friend was and is allowed somehow to have his blood injected into his friend, thus healing him and saving his life.
That's some pretty powerful blood.
As we continue talking, our friend Paul, begins to speak on how frequently we pray for miracles, not realizing we're sitting on one everyday. He speaks of a book that takes pages and pages to describe the complex process of the healing process your body goes through when you, for instance, knick yourself while shaving. The blood rushes to the wound, and immediately goes to work to, in essence, heal itself.
That's some pretty powerful blood.
Now, praying for healing is a dangerous thing, much like praying for patience. You pray for patience, you get trying situations. You pray for healing, and, well, you get wounded. We often don't see our miraculous emotional and spiritual healings until we are first hurt and wounded.
So, for me, lately I've been feeling "off". Like something just wasn't right. There had been a lot of bitterness and anger in some aspects of my life. I courageously began to pray for healing, understanding it was an often painful process. Through this prayer, I found myself back in 8th grade, (a scary time for everyone), to an situation I had all but forgotten about.
Sometimes, I realized, things happen to us that inadvertently shape who we will become. We have no control over it. I realized I had let one lie control everything I had become. As I prayed through this healing, I realized the growth could not have come without the pain. The healing could not have come without the acceptance.
As Gary shared of the man with the anti-venom blood's healing ability for his friend, we learn how we can be this for others. The man injected himself with venom little by little, which was painful and uncomfortable. As time went on, the doses became stronger. He also thought it was solely for himself- to allow himself to combat a potential attack. What he found, instead, was that this blood of his was not only good for himself and his own healing, but for others suffering the same types of attacks.
So our wounds and our healings are not just for us. Paul also mentioned that as we are looking for these miracles, we forget that we have the power within us to heal. God has given it to us. This blood flows through our veins. If he is our healer, and he is in us, we are never alone and are never without our Great Physician (both spiritually and physically). You kind of come to accept that there is a greater purpose behing everything, you just have to be willing to let yourself go there.
*Dedicated to my Best Friend/life partner Jamie Smith, who heals me more than she knows*
That's some pretty powerful blood.
As we continue talking, our friend Paul, begins to speak on how frequently we pray for miracles, not realizing we're sitting on one everyday. He speaks of a book that takes pages and pages to describe the complex process of the healing process your body goes through when you, for instance, knick yourself while shaving. The blood rushes to the wound, and immediately goes to work to, in essence, heal itself.
That's some pretty powerful blood.
Now, praying for healing is a dangerous thing, much like praying for patience. You pray for patience, you get trying situations. You pray for healing, and, well, you get wounded. We often don't see our miraculous emotional and spiritual healings until we are first hurt and wounded.
So, for me, lately I've been feeling "off". Like something just wasn't right. There had been a lot of bitterness and anger in some aspects of my life. I courageously began to pray for healing, understanding it was an often painful process. Through this prayer, I found myself back in 8th grade, (a scary time for everyone), to an situation I had all but forgotten about.
Sometimes, I realized, things happen to us that inadvertently shape who we will become. We have no control over it. I realized I had let one lie control everything I had become. As I prayed through this healing, I realized the growth could not have come without the pain. The healing could not have come without the acceptance.
As Gary shared of the man with the anti-venom blood's healing ability for his friend, we learn how we can be this for others. The man injected himself with venom little by little, which was painful and uncomfortable. As time went on, the doses became stronger. He also thought it was solely for himself- to allow himself to combat a potential attack. What he found, instead, was that this blood of his was not only good for himself and his own healing, but for others suffering the same types of attacks.
So our wounds and our healings are not just for us. Paul also mentioned that as we are looking for these miracles, we forget that we have the power within us to heal. God has given it to us. This blood flows through our veins. If he is our healer, and he is in us, we are never alone and are never without our Great Physician (both spiritually and physically). You kind of come to accept that there is a greater purpose behing everything, you just have to be willing to let yourself go there.
*Dedicated to my Best Friend/life partner Jamie Smith, who heals me more than she knows*
3.05.2011
Bruton Smith or Chilly Willy?
This morning at our free store bible study we talked about a very interesting passage in James chapter 2 about showing favoritism to people based on external appearances. We often size people up based on what we see on the outside, whether it is beauty, fancy clothing, or other symbols of status and wealth. James challenged such judgments and questioned the motives behind them.
We talked about what it would be like if Bruton Smith (the owner of Lowe's Motor Speedway) walked into our meeting followed by Chilly Willy (the most famous homeless man in Charlotte). Why would we be tempted to treat Mr. Smith any better than Chilly? Would we want to give Mr. Smith the best seat in the free store (we laughed because none of the seats would have been nearly nice enough for Mr. Smith!). One of our friends suggested that Mr. Smith may not be nearly as nice and loving as a person as Chilly if you got to know them personally. You can't really see the most important part of a person from the outside!
We talked about how the poor can be rich in faith. And how in God's kingdom everybody would have a place and there would be no one left out in the cold or exposed to the elements. We also observed that those that have the most wealth and power can mistreat and exploit others. Such a kingdom has no future because it is based on violence and fear, but God's kingdom has no end because it is based on peace and love!
One of our new friends told us that he had recently come to Charlotte from New Jersey. He said that he had been homeless for two weeks now but that he was viewing it as a "pilgrimage" and that he was learning a great deal about himself and about his faith. He said that he noticed how some people treated him differently because of it but that he found much to be grateful for.
We decided that making judgments about people based on external appearances is not a very good way to live. The most important things about a person are internal and can't be seen from the outside. And we are all the children of God and have been created in the image of God so at the most basic level we are all equally valuable and important! And that is very good news for all of us.
We talked about what it would be like if Bruton Smith (the owner of Lowe's Motor Speedway) walked into our meeting followed by Chilly Willy (the most famous homeless man in Charlotte). Why would we be tempted to treat Mr. Smith any better than Chilly? Would we want to give Mr. Smith the best seat in the free store (we laughed because none of the seats would have been nearly nice enough for Mr. Smith!). One of our friends suggested that Mr. Smith may not be nearly as nice and loving as a person as Chilly if you got to know them personally. You can't really see the most important part of a person from the outside!
We talked about how the poor can be rich in faith. And how in God's kingdom everybody would have a place and there would be no one left out in the cold or exposed to the elements. We also observed that those that have the most wealth and power can mistreat and exploit others. Such a kingdom has no future because it is based on violence and fear, but God's kingdom has no end because it is based on peace and love!
One of our new friends told us that he had recently come to Charlotte from New Jersey. He said that he had been homeless for two weeks now but that he was viewing it as a "pilgrimage" and that he was learning a great deal about himself and about his faith. He said that he noticed how some people treated him differently because of it but that he found much to be grateful for.
We decided that making judgments about people based on external appearances is not a very good way to live. The most important things about a person are internal and can't be seen from the outside. And we are all the children of God and have been created in the image of God so at the most basic level we are all equally valuable and important! And that is very good news for all of us.
3.04.2011
Goals Can Fail But a Mission Has to Be Accomplished
In our Free Store bible study this morning we explored a segment of the life of Nehemiah. We discovered that Nehemiah was a man on a mission. And as my daughter's friend Brittany said recently, "Goals can fail, but a mission has to be accomplished." That's some profound wisdom from a teenage girl.
Nehemiah had the daunting task of rebuilding the city of Jerusalem that had been sacked and lay in ruins for about 70 years. Amazingly, he did the job in 52 days! Now that was certainly an incredible accomplishment. For 70 years those walls lay in heaps of rubble but in only 52 days Nehemiah had the rubble cleared and the walls stood strongly erect as a symbol of the renewal of the people living within them.
How is something like that possible? There are many things that could be said about such an achievement but our discussion revolved around one verse in particular. "When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites." (Neh. 2:10) We think that Nehemiah was successful in his mission because he was doing it for the "welfare" of others. He was motivated by a desire to improve the lives of others and in doing that he tapped into a power greater than his own. In stepping outside the circle of his own personal concerns Nehemiah was empowered by a greater power to do what did not seem humanly possible and had not been done for 70 years.
Our small group was encouraged by Nehemiah. We felt empowered to think that we could achieve things that we might not have thought possible in the past, hard things that remained undone in our lives, in our families, and in our communities. Our friend George felt encouraged that he could complete his studies and get his GED at the age of 51. Another friend said that she felt that God would help her attend the funeral of a friend that she was afraid would be too diffult and painful to attend.
It is extremely empowering to think that we can achieve great things, things we might have thought impossible, by taking upon ourselves the "mission" of promoting the well-being of others!
Nehemiah had the daunting task of rebuilding the city of Jerusalem that had been sacked and lay in ruins for about 70 years. Amazingly, he did the job in 52 days! Now that was certainly an incredible accomplishment. For 70 years those walls lay in heaps of rubble but in only 52 days Nehemiah had the rubble cleared and the walls stood strongly erect as a symbol of the renewal of the people living within them.
How is something like that possible? There are many things that could be said about such an achievement but our discussion revolved around one verse in particular. "When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites." (Neh. 2:10) We think that Nehemiah was successful in his mission because he was doing it for the "welfare" of others. He was motivated by a desire to improve the lives of others and in doing that he tapped into a power greater than his own. In stepping outside the circle of his own personal concerns Nehemiah was empowered by a greater power to do what did not seem humanly possible and had not been done for 70 years.
Our small group was encouraged by Nehemiah. We felt empowered to think that we could achieve things that we might not have thought possible in the past, hard things that remained undone in our lives, in our families, and in our communities. Our friend George felt encouraged that he could complete his studies and get his GED at the age of 51. Another friend said that she felt that God would help her attend the funeral of a friend that she was afraid would be too diffult and painful to attend.
It is extremely empowering to think that we can achieve great things, things we might have thought impossible, by taking upon ourselves the "mission" of promoting the well-being of others!
3.22.2010
Touch the Fire
I've been thinking a lot lately about finding your way when you feel lost. About getting your bearings when you feel disoriented. About finding your mojo when life has sucked you dry. All these things are painful in themselves and we often struggle in isolation to understand our lives. But we don't have to be alone!
So often though it is our own hardness that creates and then perpetuates the isolation. We put up strong defenses in the form of emotional and mental barriers against others, even those we are closest to. I think we do it to protect the spark of the soul, to preserve that one final reservoir of vitality from being snuffed out in a cold and dark world.
And we suffer because we can't really connect with those around us. Well, we connect but its rarely at that deep center that we are trying to preserve. Because real connection with real people is risky. They may quench the fire! No. No. Or they may stoke the fire. Gasp. Gasp. And either way that is the end of us, or so we think. "Oh that is just way too dangerous," we think to ourselves! Not consciously but at the deepest core of our being which we aren't even aware of for the most part.
However, it occurred to me that the fire at the center of our lives is in reality a divine fire. That fire can't be blown out or even stoked by another human being (although there are other fires in us that can be!). It's just a small spark of that divine fire that penetrates the coldness of an infinite universe and draws out the dormant life that is there.
And there are special moments when that divine spark in one soul touches the divine spark in another. It can happen between friends, and spouses, and even maybe somebody we've just met. And it is truly magical and beautiful but hard oh so hard to manage. It seems to me that such experiences remind us that life is a gift and grace is alive!
So often though it is our own hardness that creates and then perpetuates the isolation. We put up strong defenses in the form of emotional and mental barriers against others, even those we are closest to. I think we do it to protect the spark of the soul, to preserve that one final reservoir of vitality from being snuffed out in a cold and dark world.
And we suffer because we can't really connect with those around us. Well, we connect but its rarely at that deep center that we are trying to preserve. Because real connection with real people is risky. They may quench the fire! No. No. Or they may stoke the fire. Gasp. Gasp. And either way that is the end of us, or so we think. "Oh that is just way too dangerous," we think to ourselves! Not consciously but at the deepest core of our being which we aren't even aware of for the most part.
However, it occurred to me that the fire at the center of our lives is in reality a divine fire. That fire can't be blown out or even stoked by another human being (although there are other fires in us that can be!). It's just a small spark of that divine fire that penetrates the coldness of an infinite universe and draws out the dormant life that is there.
And there are special moments when that divine spark in one soul touches the divine spark in another. It can happen between friends, and spouses, and even maybe somebody we've just met. And it is truly magical and beautiful but hard oh so hard to manage. It seems to me that such experiences remind us that life is a gift and grace is alive!
Opening Up to the Life That is Waiting
"We must be willing to get rid of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us." (Joseph Campbell)
It is no easy thing to give up on one's plans. At least if it's a plan in which we have invested significant amounts of thought and energy. And it is often quite inspiring to hear the stories of those that have persevered in spite of difficulties to achieve something against the odds! However, we also instinctively know that the life we planned is not always the life we get to live. And if we refuse to open ourselves to a reality other than that which we intended we might become embittered by what seems like failure.
Great literature reminds us that life is a journey over which we have little control. The stories of heroes such as Gilgamesh and Oddyseus remind us that life is a road with many twists and turns along the way. Life is determined largely by the way that we respond to the circumstances that impinge on our plans and frustrate our desires!
The book of Genesis records the story of Abraham, one of the great heroes of the Jewish faith. "Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'" (Gen. 12:1-3)
Abraham is here asked to leave the life he was planning for himself and to embark on a journey with no roadmap. He was asked to leave the security of his nation, his culture, and his immediate family into an unknown and seemingly insecure future. Abraham experienced this as a divine invitation to step out and embrace the life that awaited him. And in giving up the life he had planned for himself and embracing the life that was waiting on the distant horizon he became a different man than he would otherwise have been.
Sometimes it is in letting go of the life that we planned for ourselves that we open ourselves to the life that is waiting!
It is no easy thing to give up on one's plans. At least if it's a plan in which we have invested significant amounts of thought and energy. And it is often quite inspiring to hear the stories of those that have persevered in spite of difficulties to achieve something against the odds! However, we also instinctively know that the life we planned is not always the life we get to live. And if we refuse to open ourselves to a reality other than that which we intended we might become embittered by what seems like failure.
Great literature reminds us that life is a journey over which we have little control. The stories of heroes such as Gilgamesh and Oddyseus remind us that life is a road with many twists and turns along the way. Life is determined largely by the way that we respond to the circumstances that impinge on our plans and frustrate our desires!
The book of Genesis records the story of Abraham, one of the great heroes of the Jewish faith. "Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'" (Gen. 12:1-3)
Abraham is here asked to leave the life he was planning for himself and to embark on a journey with no roadmap. He was asked to leave the security of his nation, his culture, and his immediate family into an unknown and seemingly insecure future. Abraham experienced this as a divine invitation to step out and embrace the life that awaited him. And in giving up the life he had planned for himself and embracing the life that was waiting on the distant horizon he became a different man than he would otherwise have been.
Sometimes it is in letting go of the life that we planned for ourselves that we open ourselves to the life that is waiting!
8.06.2009
The Good News of an Unauthorized Act of an UnNamed Woman
Mark 14.1-11 tells the story of an unnamed woman that creates a stir by anointing Jesus with a ridiculously expensive aromatic oil. Let’s unpack the story and see if we can get a glimpse of what may have caused such a flash in that ancient social pan. And maybe along the way we might just extract some significance for our own lives.
Mark tells us that the incident takes place during the feast known as Passover. And that Jesus' enemies were plotting out the most politically expedient way to arrest and kill him. Now the Passover was the ancient equivalent of a national holiday. Like the American 4th of July celebration I imagine most people were just glad to have off work, to be with family, and to drink and eat way more than is really necessary for survival. But like the 4th of July celebration there would have been a deeper symbolic significance to the celebration as well. I wonder if it is appropriate to view The Passover as the ancient Jewish Independence Day. It seems to me that the Passover defined a people that had once been slaves but had become an independent nation through the power of a liberating God known as Yahweh. There was a reason that Passover made imperial Rome more than a bit nervous.
Now Mark tells us that Jesus is enjoying a good meal at the table of a man known as Simon the Leper. Unlike the plotting priests at the Temple center of Jewish life Jesus is on the social edge just chowing down on some chalah bread with people excluded from the sacred precincts of power and prestige. I wonder if these were people that still had the audacity to consider themselves included under the tent of a liberating God. Is it possible that Jesus just loved being with people that wouldn’t let the narrow interests of those in power totally exclude them from a promise as expansive as the world itself?
Enter the unnamed woman and heroine of the story. Ironic that no one bothered to record her name in a story that Jesus said would be told in memory of her! But those at the bottom of the social ladder well know the reality of being a nameless nobody.
So the woman brings with her a jar of obscenely expensive aromatic oil that she is about to drop like a grenade onto a playground. She swiftly breaks it open and pours it on Jesus' head to the dismay of all and disapproval of some of those present. The extravagance rankles some. Or maybe they were just hiding behind a façade of concern for the poor? Nevertheless the comment is made that the oil could have been sold and the money given to the poor. Surprisingly maybe, Jesus doesn’t side with those that side with the poor in this instance. Instead he defends the woman’s controversial action and gives her a place at the table of his most trusted disciples. In fact, this unnamed woman becomes the prototypical disciple in Mark’s gospel. In a world of posers, wannabees, and imitations she is the real deal!
Let’s look at her action a little more closely. She poured the aromatic oil on Jesus’ head. Anointing was a powerful act in the ancient world. It is something that was done to kings and priests as a way to signify their ascent to power. Her act is reminiscent of the prophet Samuel anointing David to kingship outside of the established kingship of Saul. Ironically, it is an unnamed woman that anoints Jesus as king outside of the authorized channels of power. Hers was a very subversive act in that ancient culture. And Jesus embraced and defended her in doing it.
Jesus was no defender of status quo with its established traditions. In this case he elevated a woman that rebelled against narrow social constraints and had the audacity to perform an act typically reserved for male prophets and priests. Ironically, it was an anointing of a king for burial! Such is the upside-down wisdom of the gospel story. The gospel is a story that turns the world on its head by elevating the status of an unnamed woman and promoting the cause of a crucified king.
Anyway, it’s a great gospel story. And it leaves me wondering about the implications for my own life and culture.
Mark tells us that the incident takes place during the feast known as Passover. And that Jesus' enemies were plotting out the most politically expedient way to arrest and kill him. Now the Passover was the ancient equivalent of a national holiday. Like the American 4th of July celebration I imagine most people were just glad to have off work, to be with family, and to drink and eat way more than is really necessary for survival. But like the 4th of July celebration there would have been a deeper symbolic significance to the celebration as well. I wonder if it is appropriate to view The Passover as the ancient Jewish Independence Day. It seems to me that the Passover defined a people that had once been slaves but had become an independent nation through the power of a liberating God known as Yahweh. There was a reason that Passover made imperial Rome more than a bit nervous.
Now Mark tells us that Jesus is enjoying a good meal at the table of a man known as Simon the Leper. Unlike the plotting priests at the Temple center of Jewish life Jesus is on the social edge just chowing down on some chalah bread with people excluded from the sacred precincts of power and prestige. I wonder if these were people that still had the audacity to consider themselves included under the tent of a liberating God. Is it possible that Jesus just loved being with people that wouldn’t let the narrow interests of those in power totally exclude them from a promise as expansive as the world itself?
Enter the unnamed woman and heroine of the story. Ironic that no one bothered to record her name in a story that Jesus said would be told in memory of her! But those at the bottom of the social ladder well know the reality of being a nameless nobody.
So the woman brings with her a jar of obscenely expensive aromatic oil that she is about to drop like a grenade onto a playground. She swiftly breaks it open and pours it on Jesus' head to the dismay of all and disapproval of some of those present. The extravagance rankles some. Or maybe they were just hiding behind a façade of concern for the poor? Nevertheless the comment is made that the oil could have been sold and the money given to the poor. Surprisingly maybe, Jesus doesn’t side with those that side with the poor in this instance. Instead he defends the woman’s controversial action and gives her a place at the table of his most trusted disciples. In fact, this unnamed woman becomes the prototypical disciple in Mark’s gospel. In a world of posers, wannabees, and imitations she is the real deal!
Let’s look at her action a little more closely. She poured the aromatic oil on Jesus’ head. Anointing was a powerful act in the ancient world. It is something that was done to kings and priests as a way to signify their ascent to power. Her act is reminiscent of the prophet Samuel anointing David to kingship outside of the established kingship of Saul. Ironically, it is an unnamed woman that anoints Jesus as king outside of the authorized channels of power. Hers was a very subversive act in that ancient culture. And Jesus embraced and defended her in doing it.
Jesus was no defender of status quo with its established traditions. In this case he elevated a woman that rebelled against narrow social constraints and had the audacity to perform an act typically reserved for male prophets and priests. Ironically, it was an anointing of a king for burial! Such is the upside-down wisdom of the gospel story. The gospel is a story that turns the world on its head by elevating the status of an unnamed woman and promoting the cause of a crucified king.
Anyway, it’s a great gospel story. And it leaves me wondering about the implications for my own life and culture.
5.21.2008
Jesus Mean and Wild
I used to wrestle in high school. And those wrestling matches were some of the most physically intense experiences of my life. No other sport that I have played quite compares to the intensity of a wrestling match in which constant pressure must be exercised against one's opponent. Every muscle is fully engaged and pushed to the limit if you are doing it right. The only match that didn't leave me completely exhausted was one that almost killed me when I was pinned in the first 10 seconds by a three-hundred pound dude that fell right on my chest!
That experience came back to my mind this week as I meditated on the intensity of Jesus' life experiences. Obviously there are many levels on which Jesus' life was very demanding. The man travelled hundreds, if not thousands of miles, on foot in extremely high temperatures! And his attitude reflected the toughness characteristic of such a hard lifestyle when he commented on John the baptist, "What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothes? No, those who wear soft clothes are in kings' palaces" (Matt. 11.7-8). That dialogue is worthy of a line in a Clint Eastwood movie. Jesus and John were not soft men in soft clothes saying soft and soothing things! They were rough and tumble prophets, men hardened by tough circumstances. They were willing to stand up and speak out against the religious and political powers that were grinding the poor and oppressed in the dust!
Consider the following texts:
1.) "Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him." (Mark 1.12-13)
Jesus led a Spirit-driven life. And the Spirit will not be controlled by the human demand for comfort and convenience. It is a dangerous thing to pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit! The Spirit will drive us right into the ring where we will be forced to confront the powers of oppression and injustice in our world. Such a life may be difficult but it will be far more meaningful and rewarding than the easy way of just "going along" to "get along."
2.) "In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house." (Mark 3.27)
Jesus came into the world to bind the "strong man," that symbol of all tyrannical power, whether it be religious or political. Jesus' life was difficult because he challenged the authority of every power that diminished and demeaned human beings. He angered the rich, strong and powerful because he stood up for the poor, weak and powerless. More than that Jesus actually empowered the poor, weak and powerless which undermined the ability of those in power to control them! An example of this is Jesus' teaching that the "Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath." The Sabbath command is not a means to dominate and control human beings, although that is how it was interpreted and used by the Jewish religious elites (and many since them have done the same!). Rather the Sabbath is a divine law that actually serves human need, and human need takes precedence over Sabbath law. Now that is truly revolutionary!
3.) "And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Mark 8.31-33)
Jesus rejected every attempt to divert him from the extraordinary difficulty of his mission. Jesus even called one of his own disciples "Satan" when he (Peter, of course) suggested that Jesus would not have to die. Here again, just like in the wilderness with the great tempter, Jesus rejects the offer of imperial power. He rejects the path toward domination over others and chooses instead the path of service for others. And that choice and the iron will that carried it out ultimately established the Kingdom of God over the Domination System!
Jesus' life was intense because of the tension created by the incredible conflict in which he was engaged. As the bearer of the Kingdom of God he was engaged in nothing less than a jihad against the religious and imperial powers of his day. The only place that Jesus seemed to get any relief from this struggle was in the company of those that lived under the boot of the beast. Jesus enjoyed many parties in the presence of such people!
That experience came back to my mind this week as I meditated on the intensity of Jesus' life experiences. Obviously there are many levels on which Jesus' life was very demanding. The man travelled hundreds, if not thousands of miles, on foot in extremely high temperatures! And his attitude reflected the toughness characteristic of such a hard lifestyle when he commented on John the baptist, "What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothes? No, those who wear soft clothes are in kings' palaces" (Matt. 11.7-8). That dialogue is worthy of a line in a Clint Eastwood movie. Jesus and John were not soft men in soft clothes saying soft and soothing things! They were rough and tumble prophets, men hardened by tough circumstances. They were willing to stand up and speak out against the religious and political powers that were grinding the poor and oppressed in the dust!
Consider the following texts:
1.) "Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him." (Mark 1.12-13)
Jesus led a Spirit-driven life. And the Spirit will not be controlled by the human demand for comfort and convenience. It is a dangerous thing to pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit! The Spirit will drive us right into the ring where we will be forced to confront the powers of oppression and injustice in our world. Such a life may be difficult but it will be far more meaningful and rewarding than the easy way of just "going along" to "get along."
2.) "In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house." (Mark 3.27)
Jesus came into the world to bind the "strong man," that symbol of all tyrannical power, whether it be religious or political. Jesus' life was difficult because he challenged the authority of every power that diminished and demeaned human beings. He angered the rich, strong and powerful because he stood up for the poor, weak and powerless. More than that Jesus actually empowered the poor, weak and powerless which undermined the ability of those in power to control them! An example of this is Jesus' teaching that the "Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath." The Sabbath command is not a means to dominate and control human beings, although that is how it was interpreted and used by the Jewish religious elites (and many since them have done the same!). Rather the Sabbath is a divine law that actually serves human need, and human need takes precedence over Sabbath law. Now that is truly revolutionary!
3.) "And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Mark 8.31-33)
Jesus rejected every attempt to divert him from the extraordinary difficulty of his mission. Jesus even called one of his own disciples "Satan" when he (Peter, of course) suggested that Jesus would not have to die. Here again, just like in the wilderness with the great tempter, Jesus rejects the offer of imperial power. He rejects the path toward domination over others and chooses instead the path of service for others. And that choice and the iron will that carried it out ultimately established the Kingdom of God over the Domination System!
Jesus' life was intense because of the tension created by the incredible conflict in which he was engaged. As the bearer of the Kingdom of God he was engaged in nothing less than a jihad against the religious and imperial powers of his day. The only place that Jesus seemed to get any relief from this struggle was in the company of those that lived under the boot of the beast. Jesus enjoyed many parties in the presence of such people!
5.16.2008
The Good News is That Jesus is Stranger Than You Think But Better Than You Can Possibly Imagine
The great theologian and missionary Albert Schweitzer said that Jesus was "a stranger and an enigma" to his generation! In his amazing review of Lives of Jesus written in the 18th-19th centuries he made the point that scholars had simply been making Jesus into their own image. Schweitzer's challenge was powerful when it was first written and it is powerful today. The temptation for all Christians is to shape the materials we have about Jesus to fit our own preconceptions and ideals. As much as possible we all want a Jesus that looks and acts an awful lot like us!
The problem is that Jesus just doesn't fit in any of the boxes in which we put him. For example, what happens when we try to fit everything that Jesus said and did in the "nice-compassionate-man" box? Well, Jesus actually breaks out of that box. Not only in the nasty outburst in the temple scene but in his encounter with a Canaanite woman seeking healing for her daughter. In response to her plea, "Lord, help me" Jesus said to her, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." Now that hardly seems like a nice or comassionate response by any cultural standard. And yet there it is. So we either have to worm our way around the not-niceness of the response and offer lame reinterpretations to make this incident fit our conceptions of niceness or maybe we just throw out the nice box altogether.
Here's a thought. Jesus doesn't have to be "nice" or "kind" or "loving" or "compassionate" or anything else. Maybe we shouldn't try to apply any external standards at all to the words and actions of Jesus. When we do this it actually places our human concepts above Jesus. In this way we turn ourselves and our human values and morals into the standard by which Jesus is judged! The result of this approach is that we just squeeze out all of the challenging material about Jesus' behavior and focus on the things that match our cultural and psychological conceptions of what is good and right. And whether the end result is a liberal or a conservative Jesus doesn't really matter. Either way we have an image of Jesus modified (in reality falsified) to suit our own tastes and preferences.
Let me suggest an alternate approach to the strange and difficult materials about Jesus in the gospel records. When asked by Moses to reveal His name God said, "I Am That I Am." Nothing like answering a question with a riddle! Interesting that Yahweh puts the emphasis on the "That" of his existence rather than the "What." Ultimately, what God is is dependent on the fact that God is! By focusing on the "That" of God's existence we come find a true answer to the question, "What is God?" The same is true of Jesus. Our task is not to judge "what" he said and did by our own human standards and values but to focus on the mere "That" of his existence. Instead of letting our concepts determine our image of Jesus we need to let the existence of Jesus itself shape our notions of what it means to be human, truly human!
The problem is that Jesus just doesn't fit in any of the boxes in which we put him. For example, what happens when we try to fit everything that Jesus said and did in the "nice-compassionate-man" box? Well, Jesus actually breaks out of that box. Not only in the nasty outburst in the temple scene but in his encounter with a Canaanite woman seeking healing for her daughter. In response to her plea, "Lord, help me" Jesus said to her, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." Now that hardly seems like a nice or comassionate response by any cultural standard. And yet there it is. So we either have to worm our way around the not-niceness of the response and offer lame reinterpretations to make this incident fit our conceptions of niceness or maybe we just throw out the nice box altogether.
Here's a thought. Jesus doesn't have to be "nice" or "kind" or "loving" or "compassionate" or anything else. Maybe we shouldn't try to apply any external standards at all to the words and actions of Jesus. When we do this it actually places our human concepts above Jesus. In this way we turn ourselves and our human values and morals into the standard by which Jesus is judged! The result of this approach is that we just squeeze out all of the challenging material about Jesus' behavior and focus on the things that match our cultural and psychological conceptions of what is good and right. And whether the end result is a liberal or a conservative Jesus doesn't really matter. Either way we have an image of Jesus modified (in reality falsified) to suit our own tastes and preferences.
Let me suggest an alternate approach to the strange and difficult materials about Jesus in the gospel records. When asked by Moses to reveal His name God said, "I Am That I Am." Nothing like answering a question with a riddle! Interesting that Yahweh puts the emphasis on the "That" of his existence rather than the "What." Ultimately, what God is is dependent on the fact that God is! By focusing on the "That" of God's existence we come find a true answer to the question, "What is God?" The same is true of Jesus. Our task is not to judge "what" he said and did by our own human standards and values but to focus on the mere "That" of his existence. Instead of letting our concepts determine our image of Jesus we need to let the existence of Jesus itself shape our notions of what it means to be human, truly human!
5.07.2008
Are Jesus' Sayings Radical Or Are Christians Too Conservative?
“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Luke 12.32-34)
I have a book in my library that is entirely devoted to the "hard sayings" of Jesus. Interestingly, most of the hard sayings are actually pretty straight forward and clear. Maybe they are hard not because we don't understand them but precisely because we do. Take Jesus' statement, "Sell what you have and give alms." Is it really that difficult to understand or is it difficult precisely because it is absolutely clear? There is no argument that such an imperative would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for most of us to practice. But then why would we expect Jesus' sayings to be any less personally challenging then his lifestyle itself? Maybe his sayings are as unique and unrepeatable as his life itself. And if the bar is set too high for most people to follow is that so surprising?
Maybe the problem isn't with the radical and difficult sayings of Jesus but with our comfortable and affluent capitalistic lifestyles that are offended by such radical concepts as "selling" our possessions and "giving" to the poor. Maybe Jesus isn't too radical, maybe we are just too conservative. Admittedly, it would be nice if Jesus' sayings were less challenging to our innate self-interest and love of personal comfort. But we should be careful about wishing Jesus to be other than he is! If we make him into our image then we'll be left with no savior but ourselves. Better to have a Savior that challenges are very existence then to have no savior at all!
Beware of paring the claws of the lion! Let us be careful not to water down Jesus' radical sayings until they fit our comfortable, materialistic, 21st century lifestyles. We don't need a Jesus that validates the consumersitic pursuits of our consumption-obsessed culture. We need instead a savior that can free us from the fierce grip of greed that ultimately dehumanizes all of us, rich and poor alike. We need the radical Jesus and his sayings precisely because they challenge the equally radical demands of our consumer-culture world!
I have a book in my library that is entirely devoted to the "hard sayings" of Jesus. Interestingly, most of the hard sayings are actually pretty straight forward and clear. Maybe they are hard not because we don't understand them but precisely because we do. Take Jesus' statement, "Sell what you have and give alms." Is it really that difficult to understand or is it difficult precisely because it is absolutely clear? There is no argument that such an imperative would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for most of us to practice. But then why would we expect Jesus' sayings to be any less personally challenging then his lifestyle itself? Maybe his sayings are as unique and unrepeatable as his life itself. And if the bar is set too high for most people to follow is that so surprising?
Maybe the problem isn't with the radical and difficult sayings of Jesus but with our comfortable and affluent capitalistic lifestyles that are offended by such radical concepts as "selling" our possessions and "giving" to the poor. Maybe Jesus isn't too radical, maybe we are just too conservative. Admittedly, it would be nice if Jesus' sayings were less challenging to our innate self-interest and love of personal comfort. But we should be careful about wishing Jesus to be other than he is! If we make him into our image then we'll be left with no savior but ourselves. Better to have a Savior that challenges are very existence then to have no savior at all!
Beware of paring the claws of the lion! Let us be careful not to water down Jesus' radical sayings until they fit our comfortable, materialistic, 21st century lifestyles. We don't need a Jesus that validates the consumersitic pursuits of our consumption-obsessed culture. We need instead a savior that can free us from the fierce grip of greed that ultimately dehumanizes all of us, rich and poor alike. We need the radical Jesus and his sayings precisely because they challenge the equally radical demands of our consumer-culture world!
5.02.2008
Miracles are More Than Miraculous
"Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” (Mark 2.12)
There is no doubt that the things Jesus did while on earth were stunning and even shocking to those that witnessed his acts! Two thousand years later we still talk about them and try to understand them. And yet miracles are difficult for us to reconcile with the way that we normally experience the world. The daily grind of our lives is pretty routine and mechanical. Life for most of us consists in a series of mundane routines that feel as natural as the ceaseless spinning of the earth on its axis. And yet deep down we probably all long for a little more of the miraculous!
The thing about Jesus miracles is that their significance lies in more than just the miraculous element. In every miracle story in the gospels there is a surplus of meaning that goes beyond the isolated event. If it was only a matter of one man on one occasion walking on water, then so what? How in the world could that possibly be good news for all people in all times and all places? Such an act may very well be miraculous but that doesn't make it the good news!
Miracle is more than just supernatural physical event. There is a spiritual, social, political, and symbolic meaning of miracle that makes those acts of Jesus significant for us all. For example, in the story of in Mark 2.1-12 there is a message of good news that goes beyond an isolated act of healing for a single individual. In that story, Jesus offered forgiveness, the remission of debt, to a paralytic (2.7). However, that claim was challenged by the "scribes" (2.8). Now, the scribes as a social and religious class were the guardians of the temple, and above all the temple existed as an institution to ensure that sin was forgiven through the offering of animal sacrifices.
Jesus was essentially challenging the authority of the scribal class by offering forgiveness apart from the temple-based order. For this the scribes called him a "blasphemer." They essentially accused him of being a practitioner of unauthorized religion. And no matter how ridiculous the charge seems to us in retrospect, it stuck. However, the good news in the story is that in Jesus we find forgiveness of sin apart from any human institution, no matter how sacred, ancient, and venerable!
Jesus' miracles are tremendously good news because they symbolize the truly radical and subversive nature of the kingdom of God. It is a kingdom that cannot be controlled or manipulated by any human power, because it is itself a manifestation of that which is beyond all human power. It is a kingdom that turns the social order of the world on its head. It is a kingdom that embraces the poor, the weak, the marginalized, the unholy and the unclean! It is the anti-kingdom in relation to all worldly empires. And that is a message of good news for all excluded and oppressed people, for all those that long for more than just the same old corrupt and corrupting business-as-usual world!
There is no doubt that the things Jesus did while on earth were stunning and even shocking to those that witnessed his acts! Two thousand years later we still talk about them and try to understand them. And yet miracles are difficult for us to reconcile with the way that we normally experience the world. The daily grind of our lives is pretty routine and mechanical. Life for most of us consists in a series of mundane routines that feel as natural as the ceaseless spinning of the earth on its axis. And yet deep down we probably all long for a little more of the miraculous!
The thing about Jesus miracles is that their significance lies in more than just the miraculous element. In every miracle story in the gospels there is a surplus of meaning that goes beyond the isolated event. If it was only a matter of one man on one occasion walking on water, then so what? How in the world could that possibly be good news for all people in all times and all places? Such an act may very well be miraculous but that doesn't make it the good news!
Miracle is more than just supernatural physical event. There is a spiritual, social, political, and symbolic meaning of miracle that makes those acts of Jesus significant for us all. For example, in the story of in Mark 2.1-12 there is a message of good news that goes beyond an isolated act of healing for a single individual. In that story, Jesus offered forgiveness, the remission of debt, to a paralytic (2.7). However, that claim was challenged by the "scribes" (2.8). Now, the scribes as a social and religious class were the guardians of the temple, and above all the temple existed as an institution to ensure that sin was forgiven through the offering of animal sacrifices.
Jesus was essentially challenging the authority of the scribal class by offering forgiveness apart from the temple-based order. For this the scribes called him a "blasphemer." They essentially accused him of being a practitioner of unauthorized religion. And no matter how ridiculous the charge seems to us in retrospect, it stuck. However, the good news in the story is that in Jesus we find forgiveness of sin apart from any human institution, no matter how sacred, ancient, and venerable!
Jesus' miracles are tremendously good news because they symbolize the truly radical and subversive nature of the kingdom of God. It is a kingdom that cannot be controlled or manipulated by any human power, because it is itself a manifestation of that which is beyond all human power. It is a kingdom that turns the social order of the world on its head. It is a kingdom that embraces the poor, the weak, the marginalized, the unholy and the unclean! It is the anti-kingdom in relation to all worldly empires. And that is a message of good news for all excluded and oppressed people, for all those that long for more than just the same old corrupt and corrupting business-as-usual world!
4.16.2008
The Reality of Jesus' Humanity
"Divinity and humanity were mysteriously combined, and man and God became one. It is in this union that we find the hope of our fallen race." (Ellen G. White, in Signs of the Times, July 30, 1896)
The union of divinity and humanity in Jesus is an empowering symbol for all human beings. The good news is not only that God was in the one man Jesus Christ but that through him we see God in and with all human beings. As one theologian has said, "To be human is to be with God" (Karl Barth). Ultimately, there is no secular or autonomous man for in God "we live and move and have our being."
Jesus is the God-man and the man-God. The good news of Jesus is not only that God came down to embrace humanity but that humanity is elevated with God. Human nature itself was taken up and exalted. Human beings are in this way empowered and not oppressed! This is in stark contrast to the way elitist leaders of all stripes have treated human beings through the ugly centuries of human history. Take for example, ancient Babylon's (the archetypal human empire and thus the mother of all abominations) concept of human beings.
"You are the womb-goddess (Mami), creator of mankind!
Create primeval man, that he may bear the yoke!
Let him bear the yoke, the work of Ellil,
Let man bear the load of the gods!"
(Atrahasis Epic, Babylon, 1700 BCE)
"Let me (Marduk) create primeval man.
The work of the gods shall be imposed on him,
and so they shall be at leisure.
(Epic of Creation, Babylon, 1000 BCE)
Apparently being a god is hard work! So hard to that human beings had to be created to do the work so the weary gods would have time to play. Unfortunately that story wasn't just a Babylonian counterpart to a Saturday Night Live skit. Such oppressive ideology was ultimately used to justify the institution of slavery. Obviously, if human beings are slaves by nature then those that rule in the name of the gods must honor that divine order by subjugating the people. Maybe that is why the people of God celebrate the fall of Babylon in the Apocalypse (Rev. 18)!
The good news of Jesus stands in contrast to every form of oppressive theology that strips humanity of its power and dignity! To the parent that crushes the spirit of a child to the interrogator torturing an enemy, the incarnation of Jesus sounds a loud and clear "No!" The words of God in the great liberation story still ring in our ears from the distant past, "Let my people go!" The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Jesus has come to lift us up and not to beat us down!
Jesus came, not to exalt just one of us or a few of us, but to lift up every human being! Such a radical idea calls into question all our human strategies of exlusion. The friendliness of God toward us, all of us, knows no limits and no boundaries!
"One thing is sure, that there is no theological justification for setting any limits on our side to the friendliness of God towards humanity which appeared in Jesus Christ." (Karl Barth)
The union of divinity and humanity in Jesus is an empowering symbol for all human beings. The good news is not only that God was in the one man Jesus Christ but that through him we see God in and with all human beings. As one theologian has said, "To be human is to be with God" (Karl Barth). Ultimately, there is no secular or autonomous man for in God "we live and move and have our being."
Jesus is the God-man and the man-God. The good news of Jesus is not only that God came down to embrace humanity but that humanity is elevated with God. Human nature itself was taken up and exalted. Human beings are in this way empowered and not oppressed! This is in stark contrast to the way elitist leaders of all stripes have treated human beings through the ugly centuries of human history. Take for example, ancient Babylon's (the archetypal human empire and thus the mother of all abominations) concept of human beings.
"You are the womb-goddess (Mami), creator of mankind!
Create primeval man, that he may bear the yoke!
Let him bear the yoke, the work of Ellil,
Let man bear the load of the gods!"
(Atrahasis Epic, Babylon, 1700 BCE)
"Let me (Marduk) create primeval man.
The work of the gods shall be imposed on him,
and so they shall be at leisure.
(Epic of Creation, Babylon, 1000 BCE)
Apparently being a god is hard work! So hard to that human beings had to be created to do the work so the weary gods would have time to play. Unfortunately that story wasn't just a Babylonian counterpart to a Saturday Night Live skit. Such oppressive ideology was ultimately used to justify the institution of slavery. Obviously, if human beings are slaves by nature then those that rule in the name of the gods must honor that divine order by subjugating the people. Maybe that is why the people of God celebrate the fall of Babylon in the Apocalypse (Rev. 18)!
The good news of Jesus stands in contrast to every form of oppressive theology that strips humanity of its power and dignity! To the parent that crushes the spirit of a child to the interrogator torturing an enemy, the incarnation of Jesus sounds a loud and clear "No!" The words of God in the great liberation story still ring in our ears from the distant past, "Let my people go!" The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Jesus has come to lift us up and not to beat us down!
Jesus came, not to exalt just one of us or a few of us, but to lift up every human being! Such a radical idea calls into question all our human strategies of exlusion. The friendliness of God toward us, all of us, knows no limits and no boundaries!
"One thing is sure, that there is no theological justification for setting any limits on our side to the friendliness of God towards humanity which appeared in Jesus Christ." (Karl Barth)
4.11.2008
The Mystery of His Deity
"The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." (Mark 1.1)
"Whereas Providence has adorned our lives with the highest good: Augustus, and has in her beneficence granted us and those who will come after us a Savior who has made war to cease and who shall put everything in peaceful order, with the result that the birthday of our God signalled the beginning of Good News for the world because of him, herefore the Greeks in Asia Decreed that the New Year begin for all the cities on September 23 and the first month shall be observed as the Month of Caesar, beginning with 23 September, the birthday of Caesar." (Roman Decree in honor of Emperor Augustus in Asian Temples)
We often think of the deity of Jesus Christ as a religious statement. And it certainly is that! However, it is much more than that. Mark's gospel refers to Jesus as both "Christ" and as "Son of God." As Christ he stands in opposition to the religious elites ruling in Jerusalem. As Son of God he stands in stark opposition to imperial Rome. Mark is engaged in an ideological war with both the Jewish hierarchy in Jerusalem and their Roman overlords. As Mark tells the story, Jesus has come to bring a new kingdom, a kingdom of God that challenges the supremacy of the ruling powers! But who is this Jesus to make such an audacious claim? Well, Mark says, he is "Christ" and "Son of God." And for the orginal hearers that was a potent and dangerous claim and a powerful and radical statement. Is it for us as well?
The Christian terminology of "good news" regarding the "Son of God" is a radical symbolic counter-claim to the imperial veneration of the Roman Emperor. It is anti-imperial rhetoric in the service of a subversive counter-claim, a claim calling for the veneration of a humble Jewish man named Jesus. Who is the true son of God? Augustus on his imperial throne or Jesus hanging on the imperial cross? How would we have answered that question?
In Mark's gospel it is no less a figure than the Roman centurion, that said of Jesus, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15.39) How ironic! Think of it. A soldier of the imperial armed forces testifies that Jesus is the Son of God. This was a man that had been brought up on the ideology of empire in which the Emperor Caesar Augustus was God and his reign the beginning of good news for the world! As the divine Son of God the Emperor was destined to establish the kingdom of Rome in the world. However, at the cross of Jesus this soldier realized that his Emperor had no clothes. And thus the centurion committed blasphemy and treason by daring to name another as Son of God, a victim of imperial violence no less!
I wonder if we really realize what it means to call Jesus the Son of God. It is much more than just a nice devotional exercise. It is nothing less than a subversive claim that can get an individual in trouble with the powers that be in any society. To call Jesus the Son of God effectively strips all other leaders, both political and spiritual, of ultimate authority. To call Jesus the Son of God is the beginning of a life of freedom from all forms of imperial domination. Such freedom ultimately puts us in opposition with all the many forms of unfreedom in our world. Do we understand what such freedom entails and if so do we actually desire it?
"Whereas Providence has adorned our lives with the highest good: Augustus, and has in her beneficence granted us and those who will come after us a Savior who has made war to cease and who shall put everything in peaceful order, with the result that the birthday of our God signalled the beginning of Good News for the world because of him, herefore the Greeks in Asia Decreed that the New Year begin for all the cities on September 23 and the first month shall be observed as the Month of Caesar, beginning with 23 September, the birthday of Caesar." (Roman Decree in honor of Emperor Augustus in Asian Temples)
We often think of the deity of Jesus Christ as a religious statement. And it certainly is that! However, it is much more than that. Mark's gospel refers to Jesus as both "Christ" and as "Son of God." As Christ he stands in opposition to the religious elites ruling in Jerusalem. As Son of God he stands in stark opposition to imperial Rome. Mark is engaged in an ideological war with both the Jewish hierarchy in Jerusalem and their Roman overlords. As Mark tells the story, Jesus has come to bring a new kingdom, a kingdom of God that challenges the supremacy of the ruling powers! But who is this Jesus to make such an audacious claim? Well, Mark says, he is "Christ" and "Son of God." And for the orginal hearers that was a potent and dangerous claim and a powerful and radical statement. Is it for us as well?
The Christian terminology of "good news" regarding the "Son of God" is a radical symbolic counter-claim to the imperial veneration of the Roman Emperor. It is anti-imperial rhetoric in the service of a subversive counter-claim, a claim calling for the veneration of a humble Jewish man named Jesus. Who is the true son of God? Augustus on his imperial throne or Jesus hanging on the imperial cross? How would we have answered that question?
In Mark's gospel it is no less a figure than the Roman centurion, that said of Jesus, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15.39) How ironic! Think of it. A soldier of the imperial armed forces testifies that Jesus is the Son of God. This was a man that had been brought up on the ideology of empire in which the Emperor Caesar Augustus was God and his reign the beginning of good news for the world! As the divine Son of God the Emperor was destined to establish the kingdom of Rome in the world. However, at the cross of Jesus this soldier realized that his Emperor had no clothes. And thus the centurion committed blasphemy and treason by daring to name another as Son of God, a victim of imperial violence no less!
I wonder if we really realize what it means to call Jesus the Son of God. It is much more than just a nice devotional exercise. It is nothing less than a subversive claim that can get an individual in trouble with the powers that be in any society. To call Jesus the Son of God effectively strips all other leaders, both political and spiritual, of ultimate authority. To call Jesus the Son of God is the beginning of a life of freedom from all forms of imperial domination. Such freedom ultimately puts us in opposition with all the many forms of unfreedom in our world. Do we understand what such freedom entails and if so do we actually desire it?
4.04.2008
Who Was Jesus?
"We can relate to God as human beings because God is truly Human." (Walter Wink, The Human Being, 42)
I came across an interesting fact about Jesus a number of years ago that has stuck with me. I'm not certain about the meaning of its significance yet but it has become something of a fixed point in my thinking about Jesus. Jesus referred to himself using the phrase "son of man" more than any other title. Interestingly, the original disciples rarely used that term for Jesus and the church has used it even less, both groups preferring the title "son of God." However, the fact stands that Jesus's favorite designation of himself was "son of man" (the phrase is used 84 times in the gospels).
What does this mean? Was Jesus more comfortable with his true humanity than those that followed him? Do we tend to ignore Jesus's human nature because we are so preoccupied with his divinity? Does our concept of Jesus's divinity tend to obscure the reality that he was a finite human being subject to the same limitations as all other human beings? These are all good questions that deserve careful consideration. In fact, that is what the quest for the historical Jesus has been doing for over the past two hundred years. Since the Enlightenment scholars have been attempting to understand something of the human Jesus. Such a quest may lead into some scholarly dead ends but the quest itself is certainly important, especially if Jesus truly was the "son of man." His humanity cannot be simply absorbed and overshadowed by his divinity, because that would be to make of Jesus another false christ!
Consider these two important texts about the phrase "son of man." First, Psalm 8.3-6, "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, the son of man that you care for him? Pay attention to the parallelism of Hebrew poetry, "human beings . . . son of man," "mindful of them . . . care for him." The plural "human beings" is equated with the singular "son of man." From this we begin to see that the "son of man" is not strictly an individual but a symbol of a larger group. Second, carefully study the vision of Dan. 7.14 where the "son of man" appears as an individual with the interpretation in vss. 21-22, 27 where the kingdom is given to the "holy ones," the "people of the Most High." "His kingdom" in vs. 14 is "their kingdom" in vs. 27. Again we see a collective dimension of the "son of man" symbol. The "son of man" is more than just a single individual.
What does all this mean for us? The "son of man" is a liberating and empowering symbol. It is also the antidote for the imperial "son of God" christology that has dominated the church since the time of Constantine. The church has often used its image of Jesus as "son of God" to force believers into submission to the will of a dictatorial leadership. It has taught that human beings are ignorant and cannot be trusted to think for themselves. That human beings are faithless and must be coerced with rules and regulations to act responsibly. In short, the imperial "son of God" of the Constantinian church has been used to beat people into submission to church traditions rather than to liberate them into the spiritual freedom of the children of God!
Jesus is the head of a true and new humanity. As "son of man" he does not wish to subjugate us as other imperial leaders, both secular and religious, seek to do. Jesus wants to liberate us from all forms of imperial power and to empower us to resist such power by assisting in the work of his kingdom. Through the "son of man" we are given "glory," "honor," and "dominion" in an "everlasting kingdom" that "shall never be destroyed."
I came across an interesting fact about Jesus a number of years ago that has stuck with me. I'm not certain about the meaning of its significance yet but it has become something of a fixed point in my thinking about Jesus. Jesus referred to himself using the phrase "son of man" more than any other title. Interestingly, the original disciples rarely used that term for Jesus and the church has used it even less, both groups preferring the title "son of God." However, the fact stands that Jesus's favorite designation of himself was "son of man" (the phrase is used 84 times in the gospels).
What does this mean? Was Jesus more comfortable with his true humanity than those that followed him? Do we tend to ignore Jesus's human nature because we are so preoccupied with his divinity? Does our concept of Jesus's divinity tend to obscure the reality that he was a finite human being subject to the same limitations as all other human beings? These are all good questions that deserve careful consideration. In fact, that is what the quest for the historical Jesus has been doing for over the past two hundred years. Since the Enlightenment scholars have been attempting to understand something of the human Jesus. Such a quest may lead into some scholarly dead ends but the quest itself is certainly important, especially if Jesus truly was the "son of man." His humanity cannot be simply absorbed and overshadowed by his divinity, because that would be to make of Jesus another false christ!
Consider these two important texts about the phrase "son of man." First, Psalm 8.3-6, "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, the son of man that you care for him? Pay attention to the parallelism of Hebrew poetry, "human beings . . . son of man," "mindful of them . . . care for him." The plural "human beings" is equated with the singular "son of man." From this we begin to see that the "son of man" is not strictly an individual but a symbol of a larger group. Second, carefully study the vision of Dan. 7.14 where the "son of man" appears as an individual with the interpretation in vss. 21-22, 27 where the kingdom is given to the "holy ones," the "people of the Most High." "His kingdom" in vs. 14 is "their kingdom" in vs. 27. Again we see a collective dimension of the "son of man" symbol. The "son of man" is more than just a single individual.
What does all this mean for us? The "son of man" is a liberating and empowering symbol. It is also the antidote for the imperial "son of God" christology that has dominated the church since the time of Constantine. The church has often used its image of Jesus as "son of God" to force believers into submission to the will of a dictatorial leadership. It has taught that human beings are ignorant and cannot be trusted to think for themselves. That human beings are faithless and must be coerced with rules and regulations to act responsibly. In short, the imperial "son of God" of the Constantinian church has been used to beat people into submission to church traditions rather than to liberate them into the spiritual freedom of the children of God!
Jesus is the head of a true and new humanity. As "son of man" he does not wish to subjugate us as other imperial leaders, both secular and religious, seek to do. Jesus wants to liberate us from all forms of imperial power and to empower us to resist such power by assisting in the work of his kingdom. Through the "son of man" we are given "glory," "honor," and "dominion" in an "everlasting kingdom" that "shall never be destroyed."
3.26.2008
Patterns of Discipleship
"Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely you have received, freely give." (Matt. 10.8)
Given Jesus's expectations of disciples most of our visions seem pretty insignificant in comparison. Even on a really great spiritual day raising the dead wouldn't make my list of things to do! The behaviors that Jesus commands of his disciples in this verse are more than most of us could imagine even in our wildest spiritual fantasies. We have too many Adventist' psychological defense mechanisms in place to permit that kind of reckless pentecostal spirituality. But maybe it is exactly this kind of thinking beyond-the-possible that is the meaning of faith itself.
Even science would not be possible without a willingness to think beyond the possible. Especially if we think of the possible as that which is, as the status quo way that we conceive of the world. As it turns out the way that we conceive the world can change dramatically, and those that catch a glimpse of the changing paradigm in advance find themselves outside of the realm of the possible. Prior to the twentieth-century the conception of flight itself was merely a fantasy, something that went well beyond what was thought as possible by the vast majority of thinking people.
When viewed through a naturalistic lens the kingdom of God is an utter impossibility. The hard logic of cause and effect as well as the second law of thermodynamics teaches us that wishing for the raising of the dead is foolish. And yet wild hopes for divine healing and life beyond the grave persist. Why? Are we just foolish dreamers that can't handle the harsh truth of the real world? Are such hopes simply compensations for the hard reality of life in a cold, Newtonian universe? Or do such hopes actually connect us with a kingdom of God that challenges all conceptions of what is possible? A kingdom that teaches us to imagine that which is not possible as the first step toward the transformation of what is to the amazing prospect of what could be?
Is it possible that a church that began with a bunch of dreamers and visionaries has become so stunted by the unimaginative status quo that we have lost touch with that kingdom that breaks all boundaries and explodes our conceptions of what is possible?
Given Jesus's expectations of disciples most of our visions seem pretty insignificant in comparison. Even on a really great spiritual day raising the dead wouldn't make my list of things to do! The behaviors that Jesus commands of his disciples in this verse are more than most of us could imagine even in our wildest spiritual fantasies. We have too many Adventist' psychological defense mechanisms in place to permit that kind of reckless pentecostal spirituality. But maybe it is exactly this kind of thinking beyond-the-possible that is the meaning of faith itself.
Even science would not be possible without a willingness to think beyond the possible. Especially if we think of the possible as that which is, as the status quo way that we conceive of the world. As it turns out the way that we conceive the world can change dramatically, and those that catch a glimpse of the changing paradigm in advance find themselves outside of the realm of the possible. Prior to the twentieth-century the conception of flight itself was merely a fantasy, something that went well beyond what was thought as possible by the vast majority of thinking people.
When viewed through a naturalistic lens the kingdom of God is an utter impossibility. The hard logic of cause and effect as well as the second law of thermodynamics teaches us that wishing for the raising of the dead is foolish. And yet wild hopes for divine healing and life beyond the grave persist. Why? Are we just foolish dreamers that can't handle the harsh truth of the real world? Are such hopes simply compensations for the hard reality of life in a cold, Newtonian universe? Or do such hopes actually connect us with a kingdom of God that challenges all conceptions of what is possible? A kingdom that teaches us to imagine that which is not possible as the first step toward the transformation of what is to the amazing prospect of what could be?
Is it possible that a church that began with a bunch of dreamers and visionaries has become so stunted by the unimaginative status quo that we have lost touch with that kingdom that breaks all boundaries and explodes our conceptions of what is possible?
2.21.2008
Experiencing Discipleship
As I see it the experience of discipleship is captured in Jesus' saying, "Follow me." Being a disciple is being on a journey with Jesus. I don't focus so much on the relationship (probably because as a man that is simply too difficult) but on the journey. I don't know if you've seen the movie, "Lord of the Rings" but in the first movie of the trilogy there is a great scene in which Frodo and Sam have set out from home. They come to a spot in a field and Sam suddenly stops. Frodo then turns around and asks Sam what he's doing. Sam replies, "If I take one more step I'll be farther away from home then I've ever been before." I think that captures the meaning of discipleship with Jesus. It is both a great risk and an incredible adventure. It is a leaving of certain securities behind and a going out into an unknown future. The risk part is captured in the words "deny yourself" and "take up your cross." However, even that has a liberating dimension because it can free us to engage in something greater than our own concerns, the kingdom of God. It also frees us from the fears that hold us back and inhibit us from truly living! To embrace the cross of Jesus is simply to say in the face of the horrors in the world, "I am not afraid!" And that is an amazing thing.
Also, the emphasis in John's gospel on eating and drinking the body and blood of Jesus (although gross and distasteful in a literal way!) is a metaphor. It's another way of saying that the believer must "participate" in the life and death of Jesus. It's not enough to know about Jesus or to hold orthodox doctrinal ideas about him. Discipleship means to be engaged; heart, mind, and soul in the work of advancing the kingdom of God, just as Jesus did. God doesn't need more fans in the pews, he needs more players in the game!
Also, the emphasis in John's gospel on eating and drinking the body and blood of Jesus (although gross and distasteful in a literal way!) is a metaphor. It's another way of saying that the believer must "participate" in the life and death of Jesus. It's not enough to know about Jesus or to hold orthodox doctrinal ideas about him. Discipleship means to be engaged; heart, mind, and soul in the work of advancing the kingdom of God, just as Jesus did. God doesn't need more fans in the pews, he needs more players in the game!
1.23.2008
Lessons From Would-Be Disciples
Let's face it. Jesus doesn't want everybody as a disciple. Now I know that goes against the grain of the ideal image of Jesus as a nice guy that we hold in our postmodern minds. But then why would we expect Jesus not to explode our conceptions of him. If the ancient world in which he was born didn't understand him then what makes us think we will do any better? Do we think that we have an advantage because we have two thousand years of Christian history behind us? As if the church has never been wrong about important spiritual things before. Anyway, if you can at least entertain the thought that our popular notions about Jesus could be wrong then consider the following.
In Luke 9.57-62 Jesus actually said some discouraging (I might even say cruel but I know that might really explode your conception of the master! so I won't!) things to a few men that wanted to follow him. At least they said they wanted to follow him and for most people in the leadership business that is good enough. I mean, it's not easy to even get people to want to follow. As one leadership guru used to put it, "If you are leading but no one is following, you're just taking a walk!" So Jesus is really doing something to just stimulate the desire of other people to follow him. And yet this passage in Luke has him making unreasonable demands of those that want to follow him. Listen in on these three conversations:
First conversation:
“Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”
Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
Second conversation:
Jesus said to another, “Follow Me.”
But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”
Third conversation:
And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”
Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Note four things. 1.) Two of the men that want to follow Jesus have other things they want to do first. These are not bad things. In fact, they are actually very good things, honorable things that they wish to do out of a sense of duty and responsibility. But the good is the enemy of the great. And good things can especially get in the way of God-things! Sometimes even doing our duty can take us far from the will of God. Just think of the pilot of the Enola Gay just doing his duty and dropping the atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. And for the soldiers that crucified Jesus it was just another day in the imperial office!
2.) For two of the men that wanted to follow Jesus the focus was on "my house" and "my father." Don't miss this. The patriarchal family was the source of the greatest threat to the mission of Jesus and the kingdom of God. Family is good but it's not the ultimate good or the absolute good. Do we allow our lives to be shaped by family values in such a way that we miss the faith venture of following Jesus?
3.) What does a man that doesn't even have a "place" of his own have to offer those of us that are essentially defined by what we have? Is it possible for consumers like us to follow Jesus?
4.) These three conversations take place at the point in Luke's story where Jesus makes his crucial move toward Jerusalem. Jesus simply didn't have time to coddle disciples that weren't ready for the heat that was quickly coming. That may be tough but then Jesus was no cupcake!
If we're looking for soft and cushy we probably won't want to fill out the application to follow Jesus. We wouldn't make the cut anyway. And that would be a shame because we would miss out on the adventure that is known as the kingdom of God!
In Luke 9.57-62 Jesus actually said some discouraging (I might even say cruel but I know that might really explode your conception of the master! so I won't!) things to a few men that wanted to follow him. At least they said they wanted to follow him and for most people in the leadership business that is good enough. I mean, it's not easy to even get people to want to follow. As one leadership guru used to put it, "If you are leading but no one is following, you're just taking a walk!" So Jesus is really doing something to just stimulate the desire of other people to follow him. And yet this passage in Luke has him making unreasonable demands of those that want to follow him. Listen in on these three conversations:
First conversation:
“Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”
Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
Second conversation:
Jesus said to another, “Follow Me.”
But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”
Third conversation:
And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”
Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Note four things. 1.) Two of the men that want to follow Jesus have other things they want to do first. These are not bad things. In fact, they are actually very good things, honorable things that they wish to do out of a sense of duty and responsibility. But the good is the enemy of the great. And good things can especially get in the way of God-things! Sometimes even doing our duty can take us far from the will of God. Just think of the pilot of the Enola Gay just doing his duty and dropping the atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. And for the soldiers that crucified Jesus it was just another day in the imperial office!
2.) For two of the men that wanted to follow Jesus the focus was on "my house" and "my father." Don't miss this. The patriarchal family was the source of the greatest threat to the mission of Jesus and the kingdom of God. Family is good but it's not the ultimate good or the absolute good. Do we allow our lives to be shaped by family values in such a way that we miss the faith venture of following Jesus?
3.) What does a man that doesn't even have a "place" of his own have to offer those of us that are essentially defined by what we have? Is it possible for consumers like us to follow Jesus?
4.) These three conversations take place at the point in Luke's story where Jesus makes his crucial move toward Jerusalem. Jesus simply didn't have time to coddle disciples that weren't ready for the heat that was quickly coming. That may be tough but then Jesus was no cupcake!
If we're looking for soft and cushy we probably won't want to fill out the application to follow Jesus. We wouldn't make the cut anyway. And that would be a shame because we would miss out on the adventure that is known as the kingdom of God!
1.17.2008
Called to Discipleship by Jesus
Jesus' call to that first brave bunch of disciples was pretty amazing. That simple phrase, "Come, follow me" is packed and loaded with meaning. I wonder if we haven't emptied that radical call of its threat as well as its promise of adventure.
Jesus said (and says) "Come." This going toward Jesus required a leaving of some things, if not all things, behind. I've been thinking about this a lot lately. And it seems to me that the only people that are willing to leave things behind are those that are dissatisfied with the status quo. The status quo may not even be that bad but it may just not be enough to satisfy anymore. I remember a church in the early 1990's that intentionally wanted to reach "the bored, the burned, and the bypassed." It was tapping into the discontent of its target audience and offering something better. That's just beautiful.
Jesus said (and says) "Come, follow me." This is challenging and exciting. Jesus is on the move and following him means that we have to move to keep up. One of my favorite lines in the movie "Lord of the Rings" is when Frodo says to Sam at the start of their epic journey, "As Bilbo used to say, it's a dangerous thing to step out your front door Mr. Frodo because you just don't know where you might be swept off to." Following Jesus is a journey not a destination. And when you follow Jesus you just don't know where you might be swept off to because if you know exactly where you're going it's not a faith journey your're just taking a walk. A faith journey can be messy and exhausting, but the adventure far outweighs the risk. And there is risk. I recently heard a clip of a speech given by Sir Edmund Hillary. He was the first man to reach the top of Mt. Everest and he passed away last week. He said in effect, "If you set off on an adventure in which you are absolutely certain of success. Why bother?" If every step we take just takes us one step closer to death, why play it safe? So we can safely arrive at death?
Jesus said (and says) "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." My brother-in-law Robert and I participated in a prison ministry event in our community last November. The group that organized the event gave us about 45 minutes of training and provided an inspirational concert on Thursday evening and then on Friday took us into a maximum security prison to share our faith and lead the inmates to Jesus. I told the men that I talked with that I was way out of my comfort zone but had come because God had moved me to do it. They laughed and then one of the guys said, "You know I wasn't going to come out here today and talk with you people. But then I got to thinking why would you guys take time out of your weekend to come and visit us. Nobody comes here unless they have to." With tears in his eyes one of the guys told me, "Thanks for coming to visit with us man."
The organizers of the event, Bill Glass ministries, told us that the church is a locker room. And the only purpose of the locker room is to prepare us to get in the game. Following Jesus is about getting in the game. It is risky, messy, and even dangerous but the reward is greater than any other thing that we can do with our lives.
Jesus said (and says) "Come." This going toward Jesus required a leaving of some things, if not all things, behind. I've been thinking about this a lot lately. And it seems to me that the only people that are willing to leave things behind are those that are dissatisfied with the status quo. The status quo may not even be that bad but it may just not be enough to satisfy anymore. I remember a church in the early 1990's that intentionally wanted to reach "the bored, the burned, and the bypassed." It was tapping into the discontent of its target audience and offering something better. That's just beautiful.
Jesus said (and says) "Come, follow me." This is challenging and exciting. Jesus is on the move and following him means that we have to move to keep up. One of my favorite lines in the movie "Lord of the Rings" is when Frodo says to Sam at the start of their epic journey, "As Bilbo used to say, it's a dangerous thing to step out your front door Mr. Frodo because you just don't know where you might be swept off to." Following Jesus is a journey not a destination. And when you follow Jesus you just don't know where you might be swept off to because if you know exactly where you're going it's not a faith journey your're just taking a walk. A faith journey can be messy and exhausting, but the adventure far outweighs the risk. And there is risk. I recently heard a clip of a speech given by Sir Edmund Hillary. He was the first man to reach the top of Mt. Everest and he passed away last week. He said in effect, "If you set off on an adventure in which you are absolutely certain of success. Why bother?" If every step we take just takes us one step closer to death, why play it safe? So we can safely arrive at death?
Jesus said (and says) "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." My brother-in-law Robert and I participated in a prison ministry event in our community last November. The group that organized the event gave us about 45 minutes of training and provided an inspirational concert on Thursday evening and then on Friday took us into a maximum security prison to share our faith and lead the inmates to Jesus. I told the men that I talked with that I was way out of my comfort zone but had come because God had moved me to do it. They laughed and then one of the guys said, "You know I wasn't going to come out here today and talk with you people. But then I got to thinking why would you guys take time out of your weekend to come and visit us. Nobody comes here unless they have to." With tears in his eyes one of the guys told me, "Thanks for coming to visit with us man."
The organizers of the event, Bill Glass ministries, told us that the church is a locker room. And the only purpose of the locker room is to prepare us to get in the game. Following Jesus is about getting in the game. It is risky, messy, and even dangerous but the reward is greater than any other thing that we can do with our lives.
11.27.2007
A Life of Praise
I'm probably not the best person to be commenting on a life of praise. Those vocal "Praise the Lord" type of Christians actually bother me! I suspect that Christians like that are hiding behind a happy facade in order not to deal with the bitter pill of reality.
A number of years ago I called to console a fellow pastor for the loss of a stillborn son. I was more than a little unsettled by his "God-be-praised" lack of grief! I think there is definitely a "time to mourn" and that to be happy during such a time might be a sign of psychosis rather than spiritual maturity. So I'm more than a bit suspicious of "Be Happy" and "Praise the Lord" theology!
But then I did like the movie Pollyanna, well, sort of. I especially enjoyed watching the "Sinners in the hands of an angry God" preacher become a "happy texts" man in the end. If you don't get the reference then you'll just have to watch the movie! And of course the holiday classic, "It's a Wonderful Life" always moves me. And the Bible is full of moving stories of people that refused to succumb to despair but instead found a way to praise God in the darkness.
So in spite of my natural pessimism it is nearly impossible for me to totally discount the power of praise. But what is it that makes praise such a force for good in our lives? In reading the story in 2 Chronicles 20 it hit me that when we praise we are liberated from fear. Praise is evidence that our lives are no longer bound by the fears that paralyze and control us.
Praise is the natural outgrowth of our trust in the love of God in all circumstances. Like king Jehoshaphat in the story we move from absolute fear (vs. 3) to confident praise (vs. 21) by trusting the Spirit that says, "Do not be afraid nor dismayed" (vs. 15) Praise is a sign that we are not merely animals dominated by instinct. We are not like Pavlov's dogs in that our responses are not always determined by external stimuli.
The good news of God is that we don't have to be determined by the negative external forces around us. From a psychological point of view Christians can have an "internal" rather than an "external" locus of control. Our emotions do not ultimately have to be dictated by our circumstances. Obviously we will respond to our circumstances with appropriate emotional reactions. If someone we love dies then we cry! If our lives are threatened we will react with fear. However, beyond these immediate reactions we have the possibility of praise.
Praise is a form of protest against the status quo! In our praise of God we imagine a world beyond what we now see and feel. In praise we enact a world in which God reigns. Praise is an eschatological act. It brings God's beautiful future into our very painful present.
Praise is our way of saying "No" to the present world and "Yes" to the coming kingdom of God. Praise makes the kingdom of God present in the here and now! Like faith, and hope, and love, praise is a piece of eternity that becomes flesh and dwells among us. Praise is our witness to the reality that God is with us, even here, even now!
A number of years ago I called to console a fellow pastor for the loss of a stillborn son. I was more than a little unsettled by his "God-be-praised" lack of grief! I think there is definitely a "time to mourn" and that to be happy during such a time might be a sign of psychosis rather than spiritual maturity. So I'm more than a bit suspicious of "Be Happy" and "Praise the Lord" theology!
But then I did like the movie Pollyanna, well, sort of. I especially enjoyed watching the "Sinners in the hands of an angry God" preacher become a "happy texts" man in the end. If you don't get the reference then you'll just have to watch the movie! And of course the holiday classic, "It's a Wonderful Life" always moves me. And the Bible is full of moving stories of people that refused to succumb to despair but instead found a way to praise God in the darkness.
So in spite of my natural pessimism it is nearly impossible for me to totally discount the power of praise. But what is it that makes praise such a force for good in our lives? In reading the story in 2 Chronicles 20 it hit me that when we praise we are liberated from fear. Praise is evidence that our lives are no longer bound by the fears that paralyze and control us.
Praise is the natural outgrowth of our trust in the love of God in all circumstances. Like king Jehoshaphat in the story we move from absolute fear (vs. 3) to confident praise (vs. 21) by trusting the Spirit that says, "Do not be afraid nor dismayed" (vs. 15) Praise is a sign that we are not merely animals dominated by instinct. We are not like Pavlov's dogs in that our responses are not always determined by external stimuli.
The good news of God is that we don't have to be determined by the negative external forces around us. From a psychological point of view Christians can have an "internal" rather than an "external" locus of control. Our emotions do not ultimately have to be dictated by our circumstances. Obviously we will respond to our circumstances with appropriate emotional reactions. If someone we love dies then we cry! If our lives are threatened we will react with fear. However, beyond these immediate reactions we have the possibility of praise.
Praise is a form of protest against the status quo! In our praise of God we imagine a world beyond what we now see and feel. In praise we enact a world in which God reigns. Praise is an eschatological act. It brings God's beautiful future into our very painful present.
Praise is our way of saying "No" to the present world and "Yes" to the coming kingdom of God. Praise makes the kingdom of God present in the here and now! Like faith, and hope, and love, praise is a piece of eternity that becomes flesh and dwells among us. Praise is our witness to the reality that God is with us, even here, even now!
11.19.2007
To Carry All Our Worry
I have faced machine guns, hit a Mack truck head on, and been stuck up a glaciated mountain overnight in inhospitable circumstances.
But I have also experienced bad stuff. Like times when my relationship with Angela was not what it should be and life almost seemed not worth living. In reviewing the 'crucible experiences' of my life, it is clear that the greatest challenges don't arise out of physical circumstances. I confess that Alister's bad experiences are laughable to most, as God has blessed me with exceptional relationships with my wife, children, extended family, professional associates and friends.
But I have also experienced bad stuff. Like times when my relationship with Angela was not what it should be and life almost seemed not worth living. In reviewing the 'crucible experiences' of my life, it is clear that the greatest challenges don't arise out of physical circumstances. I confess that Alister's bad experiences are laughable to most, as God has blessed me with exceptional relationships with my wife, children, extended family, professional associates and friends.
However, it is also clear, in reviewing the 'crucible experiences' of my life, that life's most mundane experiences can become trying beyond comprehension, as the following story illustrates. They say that the best and worst days of a man's life are the days his wife buys a travel trailer (a "caravan"). And the day she acquires the replacement trailer. And the day she acquires the second replacement trailer. Our correspondence with the travel trailer manufacturer is an inch thick, and I wasn't writing to tell them how pleased we were.
We finally got to the point where for sanity's sake there was nothing we could do but "let go and let God", as they say at Alcoholics Anonymous. We finally got to the point where we had no choice but to "carry all our worry" to God and wait for His deliverance (Wednesday's study, 1 Peter 5:7; Psalm 55:22; Matthew 6:25-33).
Here's an excerpt from Angela's prayer journal.
Right now I feel like the case is hopeless. I feel like I’ve tried so hard – maybe that’s the problem though? I’ve been doing the trying instead of letting go and letting God. But then I wonder if God thinks I am presuming on Him if I do nothing. Does God need my help? Does He expect me to do something? I find it hard to know what is patience and what is doing nothing. What is putting in an effort and what is doing it myself? I am going to leave it with God today – that’s extremely difficult for me to do. I so desperately want to pick up the phone and find out what’s happening. But I’m going to stop myself from doing that ...
Maybe that’s patience because I’ve done my part in calling them.
I don’t know but I pray I’ll learn soon!
10 minutes – later
I just felt like something would happen when I finally wrote this down. And sure enough, 10 minutes after I finished the above, I got a call from [the company] saying they would tag the [best trailer they make] for us, and someone would be calling me later today re the final price...
2 hours – later
This is incredible isn’t it? Several journal entries on the same day within hours and even minutes of each other. When I finally hand it over to God, it all just happens. We need to give up on trying to make it happen! Just got a phone call from [the company] to tell me the final price. He goes through the, “Well, this is a 2008 model whereas the last unit was only a 2006; this is obviously a much better trailer" (yes, we know that ...) and I think, 'just tell me the price!' Then he says, “how about you pay $[x]?” I tried not to sound ecstatic. That’s just over half of what we would have been willing to pay for the upgrade.
"What’s more", he said, "[the company] would take care of [other stuff]."
So there you have it – unbelievable answers to prayer – and I did nothing! That’s just the point though. ... This whole story has taught me so much about God, my faith and trust in Him. At one point I found myself saying, ‘Why can’t I plan my life like other people? Some people plan what they’re doing for Christmas or next year, we don’t even know what we’re doing next week!’ But I realized, that’s where the blessings come in. If we’re totally in control the whole time, how can God have any input? How can we be led by God when we do all the planning? I know we do need to plan, (another, where’s the balance type thing), but I guess it’s ‘make plans but be willing to be flexible and go with the flow’, because it was only when I let all of it go, and said, ‘I can live with whatever’, that God had a chance to do something wonderful for us.
I'm looking forward to hearing your experiences of "casting all your anxiety on Him". Because He cares for you. http://www.absg.adventist.org/2007/4Q/TE/ETQ407_08.pdf
11.13.2007
Indestructible Hope
Hope has more to do with the present than it does with the future. Hope is not simply the ability to see a bright light at the end of dark tunnel. It is more than just a toughness of soul that helps us to hang on until things get better. Hope may include all of these things but from a theological point of view it is much more.
Maybe the starting point for hope is given in Job's experience, "Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me" (40.6-7) To be addressed by God is to be treated as an "I" rather than an "it" and that is a very hopeful beginning. Especially in an imperial world that often treats persons as "objects" with even less value than other material things. An example of this is in Revelation 18 in which the "bodies and souls of men" are listed at the bottom of a list of "merchandise" that starts with "gold and silver." Empire attempts to enslave the mind (psyche) as well as the body. Thus the liberation that God offers from the "principalities and powers" that govern human life is as much psychological as it is physical and spiritual. Hope is thus the liberation of the mind from the oppressive power of empire that seeks to diminish human worth and disempower human beings.
Notice the way that God addresses Israel in Isaiah 41.14, "Fear not, you worm Jacob, You men of Israel! I will help you, says the LORD And your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." Why does God call Jacob a worm? Because the people of Israel had been in captivity in Babylon for decades and they had internalized the Babylonian's negative image of their nation. And that was a big part of the problem when the time came for them to return to their own land and rebuild their nation. The prophetic task involved energizing and empowering Israel for the hard task of nation-building that lay ahead of them. Internally, they were in no condition to do this because their social inferiority to Babylon during the long capitivity had become an inferiority complex for the nation. But God addresses the "worm Jacob" as the "men of Israel" and thus restores the dignity needed for the worms to become men again.
God is always working to empower those that have been disempowered by the violent and imperial powers and empires that have dominated history since nations were formed. The names may change (Assyria, Babylon, Rome, Germany, Russia, Iraq, Iran, America) but the underlying reality is the same. And Christians in all times and all places are called to struggle against the forces that constantly seek to colonize and control both minds and bodies. And in this struggle hope is the power that subverts the powers that be.
Hope ultimately has a christological focus because Jesus is the center and source of our hope, "For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls" (Heb. 12.3). Such hope gives us strength to resist and courage to confront the external forces that make people feel less-than-human and worth nothing. The One that died on an imperial cross says, "Do not be afraid; I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore."
Maybe the starting point for hope is given in Job's experience, "Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me" (40.6-7) To be addressed by God is to be treated as an "I" rather than an "it" and that is a very hopeful beginning. Especially in an imperial world that often treats persons as "objects" with even less value than other material things. An example of this is in Revelation 18 in which the "bodies and souls of men" are listed at the bottom of a list of "merchandise" that starts with "gold and silver." Empire attempts to enslave the mind (psyche) as well as the body. Thus the liberation that God offers from the "principalities and powers" that govern human life is as much psychological as it is physical and spiritual. Hope is thus the liberation of the mind from the oppressive power of empire that seeks to diminish human worth and disempower human beings.
Notice the way that God addresses Israel in Isaiah 41.14, "Fear not, you worm Jacob, You men of Israel! I will help you, says the LORD And your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." Why does God call Jacob a worm? Because the people of Israel had been in captivity in Babylon for decades and they had internalized the Babylonian's negative image of their nation. And that was a big part of the problem when the time came for them to return to their own land and rebuild their nation. The prophetic task involved energizing and empowering Israel for the hard task of nation-building that lay ahead of them. Internally, they were in no condition to do this because their social inferiority to Babylon during the long capitivity had become an inferiority complex for the nation. But God addresses the "worm Jacob" as the "men of Israel" and thus restores the dignity needed for the worms to become men again.
God is always working to empower those that have been disempowered by the violent and imperial powers and empires that have dominated history since nations were formed. The names may change (Assyria, Babylon, Rome, Germany, Russia, Iraq, Iran, America) but the underlying reality is the same. And Christians in all times and all places are called to struggle against the forces that constantly seek to colonize and control both minds and bodies. And in this struggle hope is the power that subverts the powers that be.
Hope ultimately has a christological focus because Jesus is the center and source of our hope, "For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls" (Heb. 12.3). Such hope gives us strength to resist and courage to confront the external forces that make people feel less-than-human and worth nothing. The One that died on an imperial cross says, "Do not be afraid; I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore."
11.06.2007
Wrestling with God
I've often thought that the story of Jacob's struggle with "the Man" in Genesis 32 gives a new meaning to the old hymn, "He Touched Me." Jacob experienced the divine presence not as a healing touch but as a crushing blow that brought great agony. Carl Jung (Freud's most brilliant and wayward disciple) said that if the Bible (particularly the story of Job and the book of Revelation) teaches us anything it is that "though God can be loved, he must be feared." I think that there is something to that assertion although in all honesty it does trouble me.
As in so many other stories in the Bible, in Genesis 32 we again encounter the image of a violent God. But then as Alister suggested in last week's study maybe these stories reveal more about the human misperception of God's character than anything else. Maybe our struggles with the God-that-crushes is really a struggle with our own internal violent demons. Maybe we project our own violent tendencies into the external world and especially onto God. I wish I had more to offer on this but "maybe" is the best I can do right now.
As much as the story troubles me on one level it also deeply inspires me on another. For example, I absolutely love Jacob's defiance, even after having his hip disclocated (or whatever the exact physical injury might have been). The "Man" says, "Let me go" and Jacob says, "I will not." That sort of reminded me of God saying, "Let me people go" and Pharoah responding "I will not." The human will really is an imperial power which is why tyrants and dictators of all stripes attempt to break it with violent force. So I applaud Jacob for refusing to meekly submit to the divine violence. Somehow his faith recognized that behind what he experienced as the divine-power-to-crush was ultimately a divine-will-to-bless.
To me, the most profound moment in the story is the question in vs. 27, "What is your name?" The last time that Jacob had heard that question was when asked by his old and dying father Isaac. At that time Jacob had lied and said "Esau" in order to get what he wanted. As I see it these are the two defining moments in Jacob's life. In both instances the question is "What is your name?" I think Jacob spent most of his life pretending to be what he wasn't (Esau) in order to get the blessing that he desperately wanted. But he finally realized that it was enough to simply be Jacob. And the irony of it is that when he stopped trying to be something he wasn't (Esau) he became a new man and received a new name (Israel). How much of our lives do we spend trying to take what can only be received as gift?
Last summer I had the priviledge of speaking at a Kinship Kampmeeting. For those of you that have never heard of this organization it is a Seventh-day Adventist group composed of lesbians, gays, bi-sexuals and trans-gendered persons. When I told them this story of Jacob many were visibly moved and told me afterward how much they identified with Jacob's struggle. Many of them have spent all their lives trying to be what they are not (straight) in order to get what they desperately need (affirmation and acceptance). I was deeply moved by the stories I heard that week.
Interestingly, the story itself does not name Jacob's assailant. Jacob even asks, "Tell me your name" but rather than an answer gets a probing question instead, "Why is it that you ask about my name?" Why is naming so important to us? Maybe it gives us a sense of control in that what we name we somehow think we know. By naming our children we indelibly place our stamp upon their lives. Giving something a name defines it and limits it and signifies our mastery over it (like Adam naming the animals and then his wife which might have been an even bigger mistake than eating the forbidden fruit!). But in this story God is the nameless One. We can encounter but never control God. Every god that can be named is an idol of our own making. God will never comfortably fit in our small mental boxes.
I like the final image in our story: Jacob limping out into the bright light of a new day. He may not look like much of a hero but then things are not always what they seem on the surface!
As in so many other stories in the Bible, in Genesis 32 we again encounter the image of a violent God. But then as Alister suggested in last week's study maybe these stories reveal more about the human misperception of God's character than anything else. Maybe our struggles with the God-that-crushes is really a struggle with our own internal violent demons. Maybe we project our own violent tendencies into the external world and especially onto God. I wish I had more to offer on this but "maybe" is the best I can do right now.
As much as the story troubles me on one level it also deeply inspires me on another. For example, I absolutely love Jacob's defiance, even after having his hip disclocated (or whatever the exact physical injury might have been). The "Man" says, "Let me go" and Jacob says, "I will not." That sort of reminded me of God saying, "Let me people go" and Pharoah responding "I will not." The human will really is an imperial power which is why tyrants and dictators of all stripes attempt to break it with violent force. So I applaud Jacob for refusing to meekly submit to the divine violence. Somehow his faith recognized that behind what he experienced as the divine-power-to-crush was ultimately a divine-will-to-bless.
To me, the most profound moment in the story is the question in vs. 27, "What is your name?" The last time that Jacob had heard that question was when asked by his old and dying father Isaac. At that time Jacob had lied and said "Esau" in order to get what he wanted. As I see it these are the two defining moments in Jacob's life. In both instances the question is "What is your name?" I think Jacob spent most of his life pretending to be what he wasn't (Esau) in order to get the blessing that he desperately wanted. But he finally realized that it was enough to simply be Jacob. And the irony of it is that when he stopped trying to be something he wasn't (Esau) he became a new man and received a new name (Israel). How much of our lives do we spend trying to take what can only be received as gift?
Last summer I had the priviledge of speaking at a Kinship Kampmeeting. For those of you that have never heard of this organization it is a Seventh-day Adventist group composed of lesbians, gays, bi-sexuals and trans-gendered persons. When I told them this story of Jacob many were visibly moved and told me afterward how much they identified with Jacob's struggle. Many of them have spent all their lives trying to be what they are not (straight) in order to get what they desperately need (affirmation and acceptance). I was deeply moved by the stories I heard that week.
Interestingly, the story itself does not name Jacob's assailant. Jacob even asks, "Tell me your name" but rather than an answer gets a probing question instead, "Why is it that you ask about my name?" Why is naming so important to us? Maybe it gives us a sense of control in that what we name we somehow think we know. By naming our children we indelibly place our stamp upon their lives. Giving something a name defines it and limits it and signifies our mastery over it (like Adam naming the animals and then his wife which might have been an even bigger mistake than eating the forbidden fruit!). But in this story God is the nameless One. We can encounter but never control God. Every god that can be named is an idol of our own making. God will never comfortably fit in our small mental boxes.
I like the final image in our story: Jacob limping out into the bright light of a new day. He may not look like much of a hero but then things are not always what they seem on the surface!
10.30.2007
Is God Our Adversary?
Let me make a confession to begin with. I don't particularly like the Bible. I find many of its stories difficult to understand and then hard to accept when I do understand them. Take the story cited in this weeks lesson; Abraham's almost-sacrifice of Isaac. The thought that God would command child-sacrifice troubles me beyond measure!
Now, let me make another confession. I can't get away from the Bible no matter how much I would like to completely reject it. For some reason I am compelled to struggle with it despite all my critical objections to its content. I'm like Jacob wrestling with the angel and refusing to let go "unless you bless me." And yet I find that like the angel the biblical text often leaves me limping and yet blessed. Or should I say the God of the text leaves me limping and blessed!
So let me limp along here with a few observations on the story of Abraham's almost-sacrifice of his son Isaac that I hope might be a blessing. First, I would love to be able to view this as just a big mistake on the part of Abraham. Maybe he misunderstood what God was calling him to do. I mean, to think that God would command child-sacrifice is quite terrifying. And the reality is that Abraham came out of a religious culture that is known to have practiced human ritual sacrifice on behalf of its blood-thirsty gods.
Although I'm not really sure what this story truly teaches us about God it does contain profound truth. The one thing I do grasp about this story is that Abraham clearly experienced God as an adversary. As Abraham saw it God was threatening to take away the very thing (the son of the promise) that gave meaning to his entire existence. The birth of Isaac was after all the culmination of Abraham's faith journey.
The truly amazing thing about this story is that Abraham continued to trust God. Somehow in spite of what he experienced as the dead-end of his God-sponsored hopes at the hands of God Abraham believed. This strikes me as comparable to Job's stunning affirmation that "though he slay me yet will I trust in him." And Habakkuk's ridiculous assertion, "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord." These outrageous expressions of faith fly in the face of all you-scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-yours theology (as does the whole book of Hosea). Such audacious faith makes the calculating logic of the young Jacob look paltry, "If God will be with me and will watch over me . . . then the Lord will be my God."
Honestly, it is rather easy to trust in the God that blesses and gives and empowers and encriches. The much more difficult, all-but-impossible, thing is to trust in the God that we experience as our adversary. If we let them, I think that Abraham and Job can move us by faith beyond the God-that-takes-and-crushes toward the God-that-gives-blesses-and-provides!
Now, let me make another confession. I can't get away from the Bible no matter how much I would like to completely reject it. For some reason I am compelled to struggle with it despite all my critical objections to its content. I'm like Jacob wrestling with the angel and refusing to let go "unless you bless me." And yet I find that like the angel the biblical text often leaves me limping and yet blessed. Or should I say the God of the text leaves me limping and blessed!
So let me limp along here with a few observations on the story of Abraham's almost-sacrifice of his son Isaac that I hope might be a blessing. First, I would love to be able to view this as just a big mistake on the part of Abraham. Maybe he misunderstood what God was calling him to do. I mean, to think that God would command child-sacrifice is quite terrifying. And the reality is that Abraham came out of a religious culture that is known to have practiced human ritual sacrifice on behalf of its blood-thirsty gods.
Although I'm not really sure what this story truly teaches us about God it does contain profound truth. The one thing I do grasp about this story is that Abraham clearly experienced God as an adversary. As Abraham saw it God was threatening to take away the very thing (the son of the promise) that gave meaning to his entire existence. The birth of Isaac was after all the culmination of Abraham's faith journey.
The truly amazing thing about this story is that Abraham continued to trust God. Somehow in spite of what he experienced as the dead-end of his God-sponsored hopes at the hands of God Abraham believed. This strikes me as comparable to Job's stunning affirmation that "though he slay me yet will I trust in him." And Habakkuk's ridiculous assertion, "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord." These outrageous expressions of faith fly in the face of all you-scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-yours theology (as does the whole book of Hosea). Such audacious faith makes the calculating logic of the young Jacob look paltry, "If God will be with me and will watch over me . . . then the Lord will be my God."
Honestly, it is rather easy to trust in the God that blesses and gives and empowers and encriches. The much more difficult, all-but-impossible, thing is to trust in the God that we experience as our adversary. If we let them, I think that Abraham and Job can move us by faith beyond the God-that-takes-and-crushes toward the God-that-gives-blesses-and-provides!
10.23.2007
The Power of Our Pain
The idea that God needs our pain to make us pure is more than a bit sadistic. Christianity is here dangerously close to the bloodthirsty god Huitzilopochtli that demanded human sacrifices in exchange for victory and prosperity for the Aztec people.
A bloodthirsty god-image stands behind all "this is for your own good" theology (the writings of Alice Miller and Eugen Drewermann have opened my eyes to this twisted theology). Such theology is similar to a kind of thinking that is actually characteristic of abused children.
Abused children tend to internalize their abuse by blaming themselves and excusing the abuser. Sadly, a lot of theology has this same effect in a spiritual sense by teaching that pain is the punishment for our sins and the means by which God purifies us from evil. Such an idea is really no better than the twisted logic of the abused child that says, "Daddy beats me because I am bad."
Although I am more than a bit suspicious of the idea that suffering makes us pure I also see some therapeutic value in it. In a positive sense suffering actually motivates the quest to understand life. If I can make some sense out of what I am going through then the pain becomes more bearable.
Maybe the belief that suffering can purify us is a way that we attempt to regain power in a situation that terrifies us because it reveals our powerlessness. If I can't control the situation then at least I can maintain my psychological mastery by figuring out what is happening and possibly even why it is happening.
On a theological level I see an even deeper link between pain and purity in the Exodus story of the liberation of Israel from imperial oppression in Egypt. Exodus 2.23-25 says that "The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them."
In this text we see the power of voiced pain to get God's attention. It is not the shout of the victor but the cry of the victim that elicits a response from Yahweh. Scripture gives a loud voice to human misery because our pain attracts God's presence to our lives. I don't think that God needs suffering to make us pure but our pain is like a magnet to the divine power. Ironically, that which most exposes our weakness is the very thing that attracts God to us!
A bloodthirsty god-image stands behind all "this is for your own good" theology (the writings of Alice Miller and Eugen Drewermann have opened my eyes to this twisted theology). Such theology is similar to a kind of thinking that is actually characteristic of abused children.
Abused children tend to internalize their abuse by blaming themselves and excusing the abuser. Sadly, a lot of theology has this same effect in a spiritual sense by teaching that pain is the punishment for our sins and the means by which God purifies us from evil. Such an idea is really no better than the twisted logic of the abused child that says, "Daddy beats me because I am bad."
Although I am more than a bit suspicious of the idea that suffering makes us pure I also see some therapeutic value in it. In a positive sense suffering actually motivates the quest to understand life. If I can make some sense out of what I am going through then the pain becomes more bearable.
Maybe the belief that suffering can purify us is a way that we attempt to regain power in a situation that terrifies us because it reveals our powerlessness. If I can't control the situation then at least I can maintain my psychological mastery by figuring out what is happening and possibly even why it is happening.
On a theological level I see an even deeper link between pain and purity in the Exodus story of the liberation of Israel from imperial oppression in Egypt. Exodus 2.23-25 says that "The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them."
In this text we see the power of voiced pain to get God's attention. It is not the shout of the victor but the cry of the victim that elicits a response from Yahweh. Scripture gives a loud voice to human misery because our pain attracts God's presence to our lives. I don't think that God needs suffering to make us pure but our pain is like a magnet to the divine power. Ironically, that which most exposes our weakness is the very thing that attracts God to us!
10.03.2007
Psalm 23 as Subversive Theology
As I see it Psalm 23 is one of those Bible texts that suffers from overexposure! It has been quoted so frequently and memorized so routinely that it is difficult to even hear what it has to say because we are overly familiar with it. The old saying might apply here that “familiarity breeds contempt.” But let me take a stab at it from what I hope might be a fresh point of view.
The fact that Yahweh is referred to as a “shepherd” is very interesting. I see this as a counter-cultural statement of Israel’s faith. In the surrounding cultures deities were often depicted as kings and warriors (an example of the inferior status of shepherds in imperialistic cultures like Egypt can be found in Exodus 46.34). And even in the Hebrew Scripture we find the same imperial images applied to God.
To call the God of Israel a shepherd was a profound and subversive act of the religious imagination. It represented a new way of conceiving of Israel’s relationship to God. I think it would be similar to the effect on our spiritual lives of beginning to refer to God as “our mother in heaven.” It would create an entirely different sense of our relationship to God and would alter the way that we experienced God in our lives.
In a modern context the image of shepherd is probably not so helpful for us because we have no real living connection with shepherds. But I think it is an example of how the Scripture communicates to people within the context of their own culture. Israel was after all, in its origins, simply a humble nomadic people. Maybe in our context we might say that the Lord is our “Dog Whisperer” (for those that don’t watch as much TV as I do that is a reference to a popular dog trainer show).
I also find the progression within the text quite fascinating. We move from “green pastures” and “quiet waters” (vs. 2) to the “valley of the shadow of death” (vs. 3) to a “table” in the presence of enemies” (vs. 5) to the “house of the Lord” (vs. 6). The dark part of life is sandwiched between two highly desirable locations. This reminds me of the words of Jesus in Revelation 1.18, “I am the living one; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!” Death is surrounded by affirmations of life with the emphasis on unending life. Often in the crucible of life’s miseries it is only memory and hope that can sustain our spirits!
Psalm 23 ultimately leads us from a comfortable place through pain and fear to the presence of God. Honestly, I wish it could be different and that the text would lead directly from the “green valleys” and “quiet waters” to the “house of the Lord.” But as Freud taught wishing does not make it so.
Let me encourage you to share your “valley” experiences with each other. I know it can be difficult to be vulnerable and real with each other but it is well worth it.
The fact that Yahweh is referred to as a “shepherd” is very interesting. I see this as a counter-cultural statement of Israel’s faith. In the surrounding cultures deities were often depicted as kings and warriors (an example of the inferior status of shepherds in imperialistic cultures like Egypt can be found in Exodus 46.34). And even in the Hebrew Scripture we find the same imperial images applied to God.
To call the God of Israel a shepherd was a profound and subversive act of the religious imagination. It represented a new way of conceiving of Israel’s relationship to God. I think it would be similar to the effect on our spiritual lives of beginning to refer to God as “our mother in heaven.” It would create an entirely different sense of our relationship to God and would alter the way that we experienced God in our lives.
In a modern context the image of shepherd is probably not so helpful for us because we have no real living connection with shepherds. But I think it is an example of how the Scripture communicates to people within the context of their own culture. Israel was after all, in its origins, simply a humble nomadic people. Maybe in our context we might say that the Lord is our “Dog Whisperer” (for those that don’t watch as much TV as I do that is a reference to a popular dog trainer show).
I also find the progression within the text quite fascinating. We move from “green pastures” and “quiet waters” (vs. 2) to the “valley of the shadow of death” (vs. 3) to a “table” in the presence of enemies” (vs. 5) to the “house of the Lord” (vs. 6). The dark part of life is sandwiched between two highly desirable locations. This reminds me of the words of Jesus in Revelation 1.18, “I am the living one; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!” Death is surrounded by affirmations of life with the emphasis on unending life. Often in the crucible of life’s miseries it is only memory and hope that can sustain our spirits!
Psalm 23 ultimately leads us from a comfortable place through pain and fear to the presence of God. Honestly, I wish it could be different and that the text would lead directly from the “green valleys” and “quiet waters” to the “house of the Lord.” But as Freud taught wishing does not make it so.
Let me encourage you to share your “valley” experiences with each other. I know it can be difficult to be vulnerable and real with each other but it is well worth it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)