cairns

There is another reason I decided against another term for a person of all people.  We already have the word disciple used by Jesus.  Or in the book of Genesis we are told that God originally called both the man and the woman Adam as they were given the command to be and to spread throughout the Earth.  Then the story is repeated in the family of Noah remembered by God and rescued from the chaos (represented by water again) and then sent forth with the animals to spread life throughout the Earth.  And again in the story of Babel we hear God demanding that mankind spread out and become all the peoples of the Earth for God’s glory rather than their own.  Man is to be everywhere on the planet in communion with the Creator and Creation (including each other).

When the covenant is made with Abraham, (even tough often applied to one half or the other of his descendants to the exclusion of all others), the narrative indicates that the blessing was already intended to be for all people.  The slaves in Egypt (the first of many Empires condemned for exploiting the other) cry out and are heard by God, rescued, blessed, and told again to welcome and bless all people.  Solomon built a great temple and dedicated it to the purpose of blessing all people with the knowledge of God.  Having reverted to Empire themselves, they fall and are carried of into exile where the new prophets, and recorders of much of what we call the Bible, emerge.  This time the prophecies are so obviously intended for all creation that gentile (non-Jewish, pagan, “other”) Christians have never doubted these beautiful passages apply to themselves.

(Sadly many chose a broken logic which said the promises no longer belonged to Israel, to whom they were spoken, or the rest of the world as is obvious in the passages.)

Jesus came and declared that God was in our midst, that we would now worship not in one place or another but everywhere in Spirit and in Truth.  And he directed his followers to take the news to the ends of the Earth.  Then John wrote a letter of amazing symbols, images, and poetry to some of the early churches (which many again stole and found a broken logic to apply only to themselves on some magic future day) declaring that after the times of suffering would come a world predicted by the prophets where all the people of the earth worship God in song completing the order intended since creation…

The term for a person who belongs to all people is Adam, human, Jesus.  The term for a person learning to follow this Way from Jesus is disciple.  It has always been intended as the Way for all — to walk humbly upon the Earth loving justice and helping the helpless.  It is what “human” should mean.

But we have twisted the narrative, cut and pasted the passages, stolen the heritage of others and applied them as solely our own.  In my own country we still cling to our pride of Empire claiming like the Romans that we bring peace to the world by conquest.  At times each street corner church seems to believe the descriptions of man in right relationship with God will come true in a special way for only those exactly like themselves.

And, my own country led the way in developing the capacity to destroy the world at one unspeakable command.  Now, we see that our excessive consumption and overuse of the ancient substances from deep within the Earth threatens to bring about nearly the same result more slowly and painfully.  And we, with hubris beyond any the world has yet seen, declare that we do not care as long as we can defend our borders, take other’s resources, and live our lifestyle as long as possible.  We choose ignorance of the facts as our claim of innocence while continuing to make war when and where we choose through both our military and our dollars.  But the fruit was eaten long ago and we are neither ignorant nor innocent.  We have placed all creation in peril by intentional acts of the will.

And still!!  There is a Spirit moving upon the face of the deep!  The voice of the oppressed is always heard and the time for revelation of Truth draws near.  People across the globe, many of them young, are waking up to the joy of each other, to a Spirit larger than their family, houses of worship, cultures or nations.  They are spreading the hope, truth, and love like fire.

Many of us have experienced the joy sung by the prophets in worship with those of other places, colors, and languages.  Join together with global friends in worship of the One beyond all the mind can comprehend and realize that difference makes no difference as voices raise in orchestral harmony, and you are forever changed.

We are outnumbered.

But, we are aligned with the power that holds the universe together.  It is time to unify with each other to pray, to hope, to sing, to dance until the walls again tremble and fall and people are free to be

HUMAN.

peace

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I was meeting with my Masters students today and as we were finishing devotions we started sharing prayer concerns.  Several students shared situations were people were dealing with the loss caused by sudden deaths.  One had mused about the strength of one of the people involved to be able to declare even in the pain that, “God is good.”  We continued sharing and were talking about how families need our prayers, but also our presence for the long haul including knowing that you still remember their loved one, and a sharp visual image hit me which I shared with them.

So often in times of grief we go numbly through passages like Psalm 23.  We read words about passing through the “Valley of the Shadow” and we picture ourselves having strength to survive dark, desperate, frightening places.  But, we claim to live in the presence of the Light!  We claim to have a loving relationship with the Light that will not leave us or forsake us.  If you put the two together a whole new image appears.  When you have light, the darker the surroundings get the brighter your light appears.  Ever seen a match in a cave?

This has been a hard two years.  It has been a hard summer.  But, this image was powerfully healing.  Last school year with physical pain, and personal loss to endure, an important part of that light was my precious group of fourth graders at Hebron, but its source was even deeper.  When a believer walks through dark places, the Light is blazing.  It is time to notice and live.

peace

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We had a nice soaking rain this evening.  Just enough at our house to revive the lawn.

Further into the city where my daughter lives it was more of a problem.  The pavement is above the drains so that they sit down in a hole at the side of the street and clog easily.  My daughter messaged that her husband was at work and she was in the basement bailing water hoping “they” cleared the street drains soon.  Knowing full well that the only “they” is “us,” I took off with a pump for her basement and a heavy rake.  (The rest may sound like bragging about everyday events if I don’t tell you I had selfish motives.  I didn’t want my pregnant daughter bailing dirty water; I didn’t want her things ruined; I didn’t want my granddaughter worried or playing in dirty water; I didn’t want to pay for new things either! Confession done.)

Neighbors a block from her house were trying to stop all traffic from going into the water, but didn’t seem to have much idea what else to do except wait for “the fire department to set up some saw horses or something.”  Got the pump to my daughter and waded down to the corner of her street.  There was one man already there with the drains freed up some.  So, I helped him get all four opened and headed down to the first group of people and started opening their drains.  Had a nice conversation with a young couple standing out watching the water and lamenting the soaking of the decorating they had just done in their downstairs.  The lights honestly seemed to go on as she turned to him and said, “We could do that next time!”  Got them going and went a block the other way to help folks there already working to clear their debris.

Soon the streets were clearing and I headed back toward my wonderful 96 Toyota pickup (water was too deep to reach my daughter’s house without it!) to head home.  Got stopped by a guy begging for a jump.  With obvious alcohol breath he told me he never even saw the water and now his car wouldn’t restart.  He was asking in a way that made it clear he expected to be rebuffed.  I told him it was OK, I would help him as much as I could; said good night to my daughter and headed back his way.  Of course his problem was water not a dead battery, but we tried until he was convinced he had to wait for it to dry out.  Helped him get his car out of the way and locked and gave him a ride home.

On the way he started telling me about how hard things are, working trying to make it, finally got this car on payments, then this.  He asked me, “So, why do these things happen to me?”

There was a time when I might have moralized about drinking and driving and how accidentally baptizing your car is one of the least horrific results a person might expect.  There was a time when I would have felt compelled to tell him about Jesus.  Tonight, I realized he just needed to know that good exists.  So, I simply reminded him that’s why we help each other when we are not the one with the problem.  He affirmed that he believed and practiced that too and that it was important to take care of each other, but still offered to pay me the couple of dollars he had.

I have friends who are experts at having convincing conversations with people about faith in almost every situation.  Tonight, I knew talking about Jesus would ruin the community of people just helping other people.  I wouldn’t be one of the several people helping each other the best they knew how.  I would be some guy taking advantage of misfortune to sell my beliefs.  That wasn’t what any of us needed.  We needed to just be neighbors.  This fellow just needed affirmation that good does happen when we remember to look out for each other.  That was enough, and his handshake when he left was of far more value than his dollars or a notch on my conversions gun!

We shared a little kingdom time in the rain, and it was good.

peace

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It was beautiful to see all of the loved ones who came, some from far away; the excellent weather on top of the little hill at Garrison Chapel Cemetery; and to share in the hope and challenge of a life lived in service to God.

I thought I would include a link to my marked copy of what we shared for some who could not be there.

Moms funeral

Thanks to everyone who attended, who prayed, and who loved our parents.

peace

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My old church is advertising their community Easter event with commentary about the other two crosses.  In part it says, “We do not know what their crimes were.”  And, I confess my first response was, “Because it doesn’t matter!”

However; I was quickly brought up short by my own commitment not to be critical of a place that nurtured my family for years (or any other part of the Body of Christ), by my recent reading of Volf’s book on grace and forgiveness as well as Brueggemann’s analysis of the narratives of the Old Testament, and a blinding flash of the obvious.

The Christian tradition has long emphasized the drama of God on the cross.  I have written in this blog on more than one occasion about God’s ultimate reconnection with mankind in that context.  But, less attention has been paid to humanity on the cross.  Christ, as both perfect God and perfect man, hangs there as both divine and human.  But, it is so easy for us to miss the human side in the wonder that God would do such a thing.  So, there in the narrative are the two thieves representing humanity — clear and obvious.

Once we recognize the thieves it is easy to do what the ad that started this reflection does and focus on the one who experiences union with Christ obviously in the narrative.  I think there is something important about clearly seeing both men there with the Savior.  One recognizes Jesus and asks for His help.  The other is still apparently in unbelief and issues challenges and demands.  If we look at it as a narrative providing metaphor for larger truth than just the specifics of that day, I think the two combine to represent the totality of mankind dying that day with Christ.  On one side we find those whose faith is placed in Christ, on the other those who do not yet know him.  Both die that day.

This morbid thought is important for its life giving conclusion on Easter morning!  We recognize our position as crucified and risen with Christ through passages such as Galatians 20.  But, we tend to limit the death and the life to just one thief — the one we identify with as “saved.”  I now believe there is a clear picture of all humanity in those three crosses, with the hope of resurrection for all humanity implied as well (see passages such as Ephesians 1 discussing God’s plans through Christ to being all things into unity).

Evangelicals may only be able to agree in as much as there was only one crucifixion covering all who died before in faith and all who came to belief later.  In that sense, we were all the thief in the state of unbelief , “while we were yet sinners,” at the time of the crucifixion.  Those with a more universal hope in reading the full narrative of the Scripture will see in the total inclusion of mankind at the cross the promise of the eventual (although mysterious in means and method as God is mysterious) resurrection to Life of all as well.  I clearly see myself in both men — sometimes turning to Christ in faith that overcomes great hardship, sometimes challenging, complaining, and still wanting to be in charge of the world.  My hope is based on the nature of the One on the center cross, not my good or bad days.

And, I now know the crimes of the other two crucified that day.  They are my own.

peace

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To be honest, in many ways I simply gave up on them.  But, most of this will be about where my hope rests.

Mathew 6:25-34 says I do not have to worry about man.  It is God who provides, and man cannot add anything by worrying about things he does not control.

Romans 8:37-39 says we are already the conquerors because nothing is capable of removing us from the love of  God.

The entire Bible confirms that God is profoundly interested in the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the helpless — all those who know they have no other hope but God.

So, I am firmly convinced that the gifts God gives are secure; and no man, government, circumstance, or terrorist can remove them.  I am also firmly convinced that what God chooses to withhold cannot be given by man.

And yet, the Word clearly calls on us to care for the widow and orphan, to love justice, and to provide for those in need.  Because the mystery of our resurrection in Christ through baptism places us as the current body of Christ on Earth, we are called to do those things that God does.  And, this brings me up short of over concern with government on another front.

When the conservatives are in power and want government to serve the interests of war and industry, I am tempted to complain that they do not do what the Biblical texts call on governments to do.  Then, I am brought up short.  It says that I am animated by the very Spirit of God and called to do those things.  I find no mention of the government as an entity experiencing the same grace or call.

When the liberals are in power and want government to step up and do the work of caring for those in need, I am tempted as much as my most conservative friends to grouse about everything the government does costing me more money while providing little to those who work for a living like my family.  Then, I am brought up short.  If I, if the Christian community — (Both Jews and Muslims also claim to believe in the same Old Testament God who compels justice for the powerless.  Native American practiced it most of the original cultures of this continent with no claim to the Gospel mandate. The list goes on.  But, my faith and hope are within the context of Christianity.) — again, if we who claim to know, love, and serve the God of mercy had taken care of the infirm and the destitute [to the measure of their need rather than the salving of our consciences] there would be no issue for the government to try to solve.  I have worked with families in these situations for most of my career, and I know they are real.  I have tried to give their children hope through education and exposure to Truth.  But, I know the issue is real.  I know my God calls us to minister to the need.  So, when my government tries its feeble best to do human engineered solutions the limit to my anger is conviction.  We were supposed to care for our neighbors and enemies as children of the same God.

I am a political cynic.  Whatever the government does will most likely cost me money and solve very few problems.  But, I am an optimist in faith that life does not come from governments.  It is by the ongoing gifts of God that we have our being, our meaning, our sustenance, and our hope.

The king is dead, long live the King.

peace

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I keep reading and seeing writings by American Christians about the gifts of God. They aren’t wrong… completely. God loves to give and everything that exists does so by the continuing gift of creation and grace of God.

But, there is a bottom line. No other gift compares to it in any way. And it should not be transformed to sound like any other gift by verbal gymnastics. To do so is nothing less than sacrilege.

God’s greatest gift is God.

not God’s healing, saving, blessing, wisdom, church, supposed war power, affluence, poverty, transforming love……………………….. or even life

God’s greatest gift to us is God.

But, God is by definition beyond our definitions, our grasp, our full comprehension even as revealed in Jesus. I am grateful that God is revealed in all other true gifts — the creation, the face of our loved ones, the face of strangers, when we do not blind ourselves even in the face of our enemies.

But, we must not confuse those glimpses as the ultimate, final, all transcending gift of God. I can do without many things. But, my only hope for tonight, tomorrow, or eternity is that God blesses me with God.

peace

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After finishing Borg, I just read Tony Campolo’s Speaking my mind.   I think it is far from his best work, but maybe Borg is too tough a competition. Even at less than his best, Campolo’s challenges to the face of modern evangelicalism are thought provoking (and would be acceptable to a larger evangelical audience than Borg).  Of, course anybody in anyway attracted to fundamentalism will find them both intolerable.  I love them.  And the combination of their presentations has provoked this contemplation on universalism/second chances/the ultimate relationship of God and humanity.

What if we read the creation story of Genesis with the end in mind instead of arguing about what is fact, myth, or nonsense about our origins?

What has me going is the idea that humans can reject God and choose to go to hell (whatever we imagine that to actually be).  Campolo gives a reasonably fair discussion of the views that the cross applied to all humanity, and that in the end all will be with God.  Then, he rejects the idea based on the need for justice; the need for a negative choice to make the positive choice real; and Bible verses which speak of judgment after death.  He is mostly trying to cause evangelicals to think enough to admit we may not know everything and quit being so offensive to the rest of the world.

So, back to Genesis!  No matter which approach you take, it is a story of humanity rejecting the instruction of God and trying to become godlike ourselves.  This is very similar to the arguments I just read for eternal damnation — that we are free and capable of rejecting God.  But, that is not how the story of origins plays out.  While God is absent, they are tempted and commit wrong.  And, that is where most sermons focus along with the loss of paradise and the need for a future Savior.

But, something more happens in the story itself.  They only have to hear God coming and they are filled with shame and remorse.  AND, when God calls out to them, they answer!  They accept God’s provision for their shame and nakedness, the consequences of having chosen to know evil, and the promise of deliverance.  I am thinking via keyboard here , but what if we take that as an archetype of the response of humans to actual encounters with the Divine?

When actually brought back into the presence of the Divine; they answer, submit, and live on in relationship with their Creator.  They are saved from themselves and their weakness.  Why should we expect it to be less now or in the future?

Most people I know who reject Christianity are doing exactly that — rejecting a religion and a human organizational structure — not Jesus.  Much of humanity has lived and died without hearing of either Jesus or the Church.  When the gospel has been brought to new groups, it has often been wrapped in the flag of some empire and accompanied by numerous requirements to live like people from the missionaries’ home culture –instead of offering a simple encounter with the Divine Creator, Sustainer, and Finisher of all things.  When they reject our empire, we condemn them to hell as having rejected Christ.

I have a new image as I meditate today (drugs for kidney stones are involved too, so if this is too wild, I have a cop out in place! lol).  Today I am picturing all of us hiding naked in the wonder of this not yet completely destroyed garden of plenty.  I hear God coming.  And I see the natural response of all humans in the actions of Adam and Eve.  We stumble and stutter and try to blame each other.  But face to face with the reality of the Divine (as opposed to the unavoidably flawed face of the human church) I see acceptance of the role of God as God.  I see salvation.

It is no longer a stretch for me to see men and women after leaving this world encountering the Truth that is the loving Creator and worshiping.  I actually find it hard to imagine any other response to coming into the very presence of Life and Love.  I part with my much loved CS Lewis here.  He presented images of people being able to look into that face and be repulsed.   I see them finally having the scales of years of human anti-images of God fall from their eyes and truly behold the face of eternal all powerful Love.  I see them finding salvation.

Others I greatly respect will disagree completely.  It is OK.  It calls me forward not to condemn, but to cease condemning — that is one of the barrier images we have placed between people and God.  It calls me to become closer and closer to Jesus in order to get more and more out of the way of people encountering the Love beyond all reason here and now.  Eternity will take care of itself.  It sits in the hands of that same loving Father.

peace

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My head is still spinning from visiting a China so different from everything I was taught.  So, I continue to process on multiple layers.  This week I have been pondering a possibility that the Communists/Socialists have already learned a lesson we are still struggling to master.

I am pondering it partially because of the extreme anger expressed by the polarized camps over proposed changes in American health care.  It occurs to me, that we are struggling with something bigger than medical care and costs.  Costs certainly do not seem to matter when we choose to destroy people we consider “other.”  I think the real issue just may be the tyranny of grand designs.

Both China and the Soviet Union have already spread power out from one center of control to many localities.  They were in many ways more modern than us in their years of building.  Their true believers thought it was possible to design one system which would work for all people.  They fought for it, killed for it, sacrificed rights for it, and it did not work.  I believe they are ahead of us in the move past it to understanding that man is incapable of creating grand designs that fit all people.

I think our love of individualism and emphasis on individual accomplishment within our system may have blinded us to this same lesson.  We are still arguing about which political party is best suited to creating the country that works for us all.  I think we should look East.  The giant empires are spreading power to smaller units for local control.  There is no longer a faith in human capacity to create plans from the center of power which will work for everyone. We cry out repeatedly that we do not want Washington controlling our lives and choices!  When will we actually listen to ourselves and believe what we are saying?  Creating the one right answer is a task beyond the capacity of man.

Praise God, it was never given to us to do in the first place.  I am not completely post-modern.  I think the Communists still miss the essential fact.  There is One Who Is.  There is a Grand Plan which came into being by the first Word of Being.  The Tao, the Logos, the Word made Flesh contains all the plan the world needs.  We are not capable.  He is. (It’s God’s name after all!)

I hope we learn the lesson before we return to the methods of violence so common to man’s past when any group feels pressed too far, or becomes true believers that their philosophy will be best for all once the opposition is silenced.  The debate was clear and loud at the original US Constitutional Convention — should power be centralized or widely dispersed in the States?  After 200+ years of experimenting, the anger tells me we are not happy with master plans, systems of public welfare, collection and dispersal of taxes, or control of our basic life needs under the control of any far removed representatives.

Perhaps it is time, with faith in a Loving, All Knowing, Victorious God the communists do not know, to follow their lead on human systems and quit trying to build planetary houses of cards.  Perhaps it is time for power and control to be more widely spread, more available to the people who pay for them and depend upon them.  Maybe Washington is never going to be Jerusalem (History clearly shows that there have been people who thought otherwise.)  The Communists are copying us in trying to substitute the God of money even as they break apart the central powers.  We know that path is folly as well.  There is no grand human plan that will save us.

Where should power reside?  How about a manger, a carpenter’s house, an oppressed countryside, a cross, and in glorious mystery both seated in Heaven and enthroned in human hearts?  May we realize again that the power that will decide our fates is unmoved by human whims, votes, Supreme Courts, legislatures, Presidents, Dictators, and tyrants.  The eternal comes as a small child and is still moved by the genuine prayers of a single small child, not decrees of state.

If anybody read all that, thanks for musing with me.  I think we are witnessing the end of the man’s worship of large scale human solutions.  I hope we do not damage each other too much in the process.  I’ll be here with the Babe who made all, sustains all, and completes all.

peace

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OK, I have a combination of pain and exhaustion plus no idea what we are supposed to do for Mom already playing in my head when R posts about whether today is the beginning of the rest of his life.

How weird is it to think that maybe death is the rest at the beginning of our life?

peace

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