cairns

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.  For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did.

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I just hate it when pastors say things that are untrue about God and contrary to the overwhelming evidence of scripture.  Yesterday I heard a local pastor give a mostly very good message about the role of the church in reaching out to others.  But, as he talked about the obstacles to actually getting up and doing something, he repeatedly said that we are not allowed to question God.  Of course, I know his denomination all too well.  They believe God speaks to the body through the staff and elders and what they really mean is, “Do not question what we tell you.”  That is bad enough in my book, but that is not what he said.  He said, “Do not question God.”

The most basic perusal of the Bible narratives will show that this is an unsupported view.  They all questioned God.  Abraham, Moses, Job, the psalmists, the prophets and kings, the disciples, Ananias, (and now us.) The problem is not in asking questions.  The problem comes into the narrative when people do not pay attention to the presence of God at all, or refuse to obey the answers they are given.

People have questions, especially if called to live outside the norms of their own cultural narrative.  Who are they supposed to ask?

Themselves to see if it fits into what their own culture deems normal or acceptable?  That is contrary to the Biblical accounts and leads to inaction — or action that only supports the direction their culture is already traveling.

Their neighbor? I have no problem with this one if the neighbor is a mature person who can help with discernment.  But, it often leads to gossip, doubting, and undermining of valid decisions by church leadership.

God?  I do understand the problem the pastor was getting at here.  We ask our questions through inaction and rationalization.  We talk to the ceiling not truly believing that God has or will speak, and are answered only by our own norms and fears.  Then we fail to live lives of adventure and service.  Or, we word it so that we appear to be questioning (humbly because we are so ‘virtuous’) our own skills, talents, or ‘calling.’  But, we are letting ourselves off the hook of doing and being what we are called to do and be.

No, I think honestly questioning God is exactly what we ARE supposed to do.  Then we are to listen for the answer and obey.  Ananias (called to go cure and witness to Saul of Tarsus) was the example used in yesterday’s text.  Question God is exactly what the text says he did.  It does not indicate that God is offended.  It indicates that God gave a clear emphatic, also read unmistakable, answer.  He went, and the history of Christianity changed.  I see no problem with the asking.  The obedience to the answer is everything.

Even for the pastor giving the sermon, within his “we tell you what God says” framework, would be better off to invite folks being called to do something new TO ask their honest questions of the leadership that claims to speak for God.  If they really are delivering a message true to divine intention, they will have the answers and be able to support their followers into action.

The alternative is well known to anyone who has studied leadership.  If they do not ask you, they will ask somebody else and undercurrents will form.  (I know the military, under the possibility of orders given in battle conditions, does not use this model.  But, they are not the scriptural model and most of life’s situations do not match theirs.)  Or, people will lie awake at night questioning themselves, their faith, their worthiness because they have questions for God and their pastor has told them it is forbidden.  They just will not be free to ask for help, because that would label them as spiritually unfit instead of human like every hero in the Biblical narratives.

The same pastor, in the same sermon, was talking about inviting people into a relationship with God.  What kind of relationship, other than dictatorial, allows for only commands and obedience without questions?  Certainly a relationship with a loving God cannot mimic those demeaning human behaviors.  Relationships call for honesty.  When one party has questions, they should be asked.  Then answers should be carefully heard.

THAT is what the heroes of the scriptural texts DO.  They hear and see, they question, they listen, and they obey.  There is nothing evil or forbidden in that pattern.

peace

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People who stay in people jobs long after they have given up on people, especially ones who work with children –

Conservatives criticizing government for siding with big business after chanting my whole life that what is good for big business is good for America–

Republicans after the Bush/Cheney years claiming the Democrats are too friendly with big oil –

Democrats who are still running away from the label of liberal and trying instead to present themselves as a “reasonable” version of the Republican platform –

How we keep believing that electing people who say they hate the system, but spend a fortune to get into it, will change our lives –

People who trust any talking head of any ilk to speak the Truth when their obvious agenda is building their listener base and advertising take –

People who believe that government, the church, a protest movement, education, or any other organization of man can solve the world’s problems, or even tries to do more than protect and promote itself –

People who believe that multinational corporations are more interested in their well being than their own elected government–

People who still believe there is AN answer to be found that will work for everyone in politics, education, religion, or any other life category–

People who believe school accountability programs which are based on the premise that everyone can be in the top half of any type of category (and after passing fourth grade math class!) –

People who believe that education is the problem with business while all of the jobs are being outsourced to uneducated sectors of the world willing to work as slaves–

Well, most of today’s realities :-/

Things I do understand:

Children love to learn, learn to love by being treated with loving respect, and grow up to be our future.

People deserve the right to be who they really are; their narratives are unique, life giving, and deserve to be honored.

God loves them both, and we have no right to do less.

peace

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Just found this in Elizabeth Johnson’s Quest for the Living God,

Grounding this praxis is a stunning principle first articulated by Pope John Paul II in 1990: ‘respect for life and the dignity of the human person extends also to the rest of creation.’  Pragmatically, humans shall survive together with the other creatures on this planet or not at all.  The issue is more than practical, however, for respect for life cannot be divided.  Not only human life but the whole living Earth is God’s beloved creation, deserving of care…

‘Who is my neighbor?’ asks Brian Patrick, ‘the Samaritan?  The outcast? The enemy?  Yes, yes of course.  But it is also the whale, the dolphin, and the rain forest.  Our neighbor is the entire community of life, the entire universe.  We must love it all as our very self.’

S, if you still read here, doesn’t that sound like what our native cousins tried to teach us when we got off the boats?

peace

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Do you have a place in the world where your soul and body know they belong– to each other, to this planet, to this creation and creator?

Last night my daughter was telling me of a conversation with a teacher surprised to find that she knew of Chafee County, had been there, had summited Mt. Princeton as a twelve year old.  And it swept over me like a wave.  Thank you Chafee County for every moment I ever spent within your borders.  Thank you for the Young Life years and the trips with my daughter, and earlier with my father.  Thank you for Goldbrick Delaney’s, Seven Thieves, and the ice cream shop.  Thank you for the small town fireworks, the history, and the fun.

If heaven turns out to be here, not ‘out there’, look for me in Chafee County when I am gone.  My soul rests just by allowing my mind to travel to the slopes my body remembers so well.  If I could transport myself to anywhere on earth tonight, you would find me now sitting on a rock in the collegiate peaks and I would breathe, oh deep sweet breath, I would breathe deep and long.

peace

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In the midst of everything else, there is this man on TV claiming to have found the Ark of the Covenant. Really?

I have been to Ethiopia where every church is said to contain the “ark” and one in the north is said to hold the original “ark.” This fellow has pictures of a large object in Africa that looks like a big bowl. I have seen Raiders and enjoyed its action and nonsense. But, I think it all misses the point in ways that point out a real danger in literalism. We literalists and former literalists get so hung up on the “real” thing, that I fear we miss the real point.

With all caution about assuming things of the ancient Jews to be meant for us, it seems to me that the description of the Ark of the Covenant as the seat of God can give us, who claim that our hearts are now that seat, valuable territory for meditation and growth.

It was made of wood, living stuff of Earth, as are we — material that is mortal and subject to decay, yet beautiful and a symbol of life nonetheless. How do I embrace my formation from the stuff of Earth, my relationship to the world I am created from, my own mortality?

It was covered with gold, made pure and permanent by its covering as we are covered by the blood of Jesus and thus made pure and eternal. How do I celebrate my covering, treasure it, appreciate its incorruptible nature?

It contained God’s law, as God’s people were instructed to contain His Word in themselves, to study it, memorize it, know it, reverence it. I don’t think we like this part anymore. We prefer to speak of containing grace and love, not the law, commands, and instructions. But, Bonhoeffer was correct in pointing out that this is a very cheap grace. Indeed it is counterfeit feel good nonsense. Jesus proclaimed the fulfillment of the law, not the destruction. I believe we are still to cherish and hold the Word in our hearts. How much time to I spend with the Word of Life and how much with the trivial and banal word of my culture? How much of each is permanent in my memory?

It contained the manna — the bread of life in the wilderness, the strength to continue against all odds in hard places, evidence of provision directly and unmistakably divine, a foreshadowing of He who would declare, “This bread is my body given for you.” Do we hold within our innermost selves the promise of life through and only through God’s provision? When my church consumes “emblems” am I filling my ark?

And it was guarded by cherubim, the same guards as the tree of life — I believe we have neglected this aspect as well, our very being and life guarded through God’s chosen warriors, a protection which is beyond our flesh, our mind, our emotions, our understanding. How many fears and anxieties do we suffer, how many faults and weaknesses do we allow in, by leaving the ark of our hearts uncovered and unguarded as separate and holy?

And it was made for transport. I believe this gives cause for meditation as well — where did we get the idea that we house God in palaces of pews and offering plates with teaching and worship only for ourselves and those who are willing to come and join us? Until there was a temple in Jerusalem designed for worshippers from all peoples, the ark was designed to be on the move — so are we. Until there is a new throne in Jerusalem with a tangible and ever present King, I believe our hearts are to be moved — physically to teach and be taught in distant places, to notice and be moved to action by the plight of life around us, to be moved to places of worship by noticing the still uncontainable presence of God.

I will spend my time meditating on the condition and use of this ark, my own and my loved ones’. If the physical remains of a real ark carried by Aaron’s descendants is held by Africans until its appearance in Revelation, if it rests somewhere beneath Mideastern sands, if it perished long ago or even was a mythical symbol of the power and glory of God’s presence, matters not as much to me.

I claim to be a priest and minister of the living God. I am contemplating whether you will perceive the presence of our Lord when we are together. Truth is, my ark has gotten in a bit of disrepair and I think I need to spend more time in the tabernacle alone with I Am.

peace

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