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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Stop our dependence on foreign oil, walk.

(That will be the eventual outcome regardless.  Oil is a non-replenishing resource.)

Global warming is not our fault, die guiltless.

(How comforting, not!)

Limit abortions, celebrate gay lifestyles.

(Very offensive to my conservative friends I know, but it is logical!)

Stop illegal immigration, welcome the world’s huddled masses.

(or tear down the statue!)

Stop government tyranny, impeach the Supreme Court.

(all of the most volatile changes to our beliefs and constitution originate and end here, not Congress or the White House!)

God so loved the world that He commissioned us to bomb them.

(Don’t we act like it?)

Love those in need, send your money there instead of the church building fund.

(Tents or seat cushions and chandeliers?)

Or any that proclaim this ancient advice:

⁹ Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. ¹¹ Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³ Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. ^[c] Do not think you are superior.

¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. ¹⁸ If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹ Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” ^[d] says the Lord. ²⁰ On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” ^[e]

²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with 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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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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When a skilled and caring teacher see a person with less skill or heart mishandling a child, it can be depressing.  Everything in the quality teacher’s training, heart, and soul cries out that it doesn’t have to be that way.  They know that children can be lovingly held accountable to achieve excellence in both academics and behavior.  They know that beating a child down with words or actions has never lifted up a healthy adult; neither the adult whom that child will become nor the teacher trying to establish their superiority.  And the pain of having to observe such a wrong can go deep down into the hidden parts of your being to hide as fatigue, illness, or depression.

OR, when a skilled and caring teacher sees a child receiving less than the love their place in the Kingdom of God deserves, they can look up in gratitude and realize they have a reason to exist that day.  They are in the presence of a child who needs them.  They can be the difference between a child’s day of torment, or a child’s finding a place of refuge.  They can participate in the work of heaven by living out their calling with new evidence of the importance of their presence in that place, at that time.

Until the day when The Teacher holds class for all of us little ones forever, may every holy servant of the Truth know without question that they are loved by the One who declared that the Kingdom belongs to children — loved beyond their wildest imagining and given as a gift of light in dark places and dark times.  May they rest in the simple knowledge that a very small light changes everything in the darkest of places.  May they know that the arm they place around a wounded child is met by the hand of God.

peace

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Another bad theology I have often heard in sermons laying out the case for a crime and punishment view of separation from God with its outline of  need for punishment met by the sacrifice of Christ in our place iff we are among the elect — is a statement that God, being holy, cannot look upon sin.  I have searched the Bible and found many verses to the contrary, but so far none supporting this contention on what the “Almighty” cannot do.  In fact the Bible often speaks of God viewing the transgressions of man.

I think the strongest argument against this silly view is attributed directly to Jesus in the story of the prodigal.  The types mentioned above always stress the need for the son to turn toward home in repentance.  I just don’t see it.  The kid is hungry and remembers that the servants at home are at least provided for, so he is thinking through an apology that will get him back from the brink of starvation, maybe as a servant.  I do not see any true “repentance” in the story.  And nowhere in the account is there punishment meted out, or compensation made for the family fortune and name squandered by the wayward boy.  (In fact believing this should happen seems more in line with the description of the older brother which Jesus seems to be using to ask the Pharisees whether they will continue to deny the true nature and commands of the Father!)

The Father doesn’t wait for punishment, payment, or even apology as He sees His son and proceeds to break the rules of decorum by actually running down the road to greet him and bring him home to a great party and celebration.

That just doesn’t match with a God sitting in heaven like a shaming parent saying, “I can’t even bear to look at you.”  I think I will trust the view of God attributed to Jesus in Scripture over the ideas of American syncretists.

peace

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Romans 11:36, Marcus Borg, and New Testament “fire” verses have me thinking.  First, I freely admit that my thinking is of the variety most often labeled mystic by those who need labels.  Everything purely factual and logical, scientific and modern falls far too short of the realities of the Divine I have been blessed to experience.  The following thoughts are heresy in the sense that Tolstoy used the word.  They are outside of the declared truth we use to tell others they must come and be just like us in order to be “orthodox.”  They are outside the realm of the arguments we have long used to tell people they must repent of their difference and become like us.  So, they will have to be labeled heresy by any who choose to continue the old game.

Anyway, the idea that everything is from God, through God, and to God contradicts so much theology I have been exposed to along the way.  But, there it is in Romans.  Tempting as it is to pass over it as just another way of saying that God is the Author and Finisher of all things (with many of them being ended eternally in damnation), I believe it says more.  If current existence is all through God, then perhaps any existence in actual defiance and separation from God is earthly illusion.  From God’s side it may look very different in both the present and future tense (both nonsense when speaking of the timeless I Am).  Perhaps no matter how hard man tries to declare himself separate from God, it is impossible because nothing separate from God exists!  I have a mental image of an ant running about in my hand claiming, “I don’t believe in you.  You don’t control me!” And, even that falls short because I did not give the ant life, I am not its purpose for existence, and I will not end its life.

But what of all those “fire” verses and the interpretation of eternal punishment for those not saved by believing our exact doctrine, praying our precise words, or observing the sacraments in our prescribed ways?  They could fit with the thoughts above in terms of those who refuse God’s love experiencing total destruction.  I think eternal fire could easily be interpreted that way because even at the time of the writing of the New Testament, human mythology included the idea of things returning to life after total consumption by a fire of limited duration (think Phoenix).  To state that there would be no possibility of return, it would be logical to poetically make the fire itself eternal.

But there is another possibility.  There are also verses that speak of coming through the fire as pure gold, or with all of one’s bad works burned away and escaping death as by a near miss.  What if exposure to the Divine is the fire?  There are verses to support that view.  Will the God who knew every person before they were formed in the womb truly consume and destroy most of them? Or will the Holy Fire burn away all their impurities causing them to no longer be who they imagined themselves to be?  Perhaps after exposure to the Fire, every head will bow and every knee will bend — not in submission on the way to hell, but in the worship the verse actually seems to indicate.

Taking these things from a more Eastern view, the two possibilities are not opposites.  To become one with the One by choice, or by ceasing to be separate and “evil”, so that all is unity and holiness are essentially the same when viewed through Eastern eyes.  That gives me pause given that the Divine is far beyond all of our reckoning and arguing.

Brief side trip:

Years ago a secular psychiatrist, who was an atheist, told me the reason he did not believe in sin.  He said in all of his years of practice he had yet to meet a human being able to stand up and defy the significant humans in their lives even when they were causing the person great pain.  He definitely did not believe a human being could comprehend that there was indeed an all powerful Creator and then knowingly defy that Creator.  At the time, I found his comment insightful about human capacities but dismissed his anti-theology because I was of course a prize winning memorizer of many literal verses dictated directly by God at least onto the original scrolls if not the paper of my well used King James Bible that proved his ignorance and evil.  Now, I am not so sure.  How does the idea of willfully living in separation actually match up to either the revealed nature of God or the nature we can observe of man?

Back to the original thought: I know this much.  In this life, now here, where I can feel the effects, to be in the presence and will of the Divine is paradise.  To feel unaligned and separate is to experience hell.  Perhaps in eternity there is only one choice which can be stated two ways. We enter the eternal union in bliss, or we have any perception of separation burned away to nonexistence.  The end would be the same — final unity of all things in the One they were Created by and for all along.

If any of my meaning has found its way into these words, it is a blessing.  What I am typing about is beyond the capacity of words and language as the Divine is beyond all things human.  I am glad that eternity is not in my hands or dependent on my understanding.  I will live now in the presence of the Light and celebrate the existence of the Kingdom which has already overtaken us as I would have said in my literalist days, “Just like Jesus said.”  And, I will invite others to join the party because its worth joining, now.

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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It happened this morning.  I went to a local church because my daughter was in the program.  They stuck to the script; read straight from the Bible, and sang traditional songs.  But, right in the middle of it all, I got smacked by Mathew 1:19.  How many times have I heard that when Joseph found out Mary was pregnant he was going to put her away quietly?  How many times have I even heard that it was out of concern for her and not wanting to disgrace her publicly?  This morning it hit me, the verse says it was “because he was a righteous man!”  Skip forward to Jesus and the woman caught in adultery for what the law said.

The earthly father of Jesus is unwilling to go by the law specifically because he is righteous!  Because he was a righteous man, Joseph was unwilling to subject his beloved Mary to the penalty of law with its public disgrace, and possible death.  It just keeps running through my head, “because he was a righteous man” not a good law abiding believer, but truly a righteous man.  I don’t think we give Joseph enough credit.  What a perfect earthly father for the one who would forgive sin and place love above the law!  Surely when He was old enough, they told Jesus the story.  Later when He was in the center of the crowd with a humiliated woman, was He remembering the lessons of an earthly father as well as the heart of the heavenly one?

Be careful how you react to this.  There is a deeper question hiding in it all.  In Middle Eastern culture to this day, an unwed girl who becomes pregnant is guilty regardless of the circumstances.  In some recent cases, rape victims have been labeled guilty of adultery.  But, Joseph saw her as worthy of protection even before the angel explained what was happening — not because he knew Mary was righteous — because he was (and later found out Mary was as well because the actor in her predicament was God).

If you see where I am going with this, perhaps you are already thinking of passages like Romans 5:15 — If sin could come through one man, how much more righteousness?

And what did Jesus say about the ability of earthly fathers to give good gifts being exceeded by the heavenly Father?

What if the final determinate of whether God is willing to send any of us away to shame and punishment, is not our worthiness but His righteousness and love?  I think there is more Bible to back this up than all of the figurative language and strange  references used to teach me in my youth that most of mankind was bound for hell.  I know it is more in keeping with the God who has accompanied me day by day for half century now.

Will such a heretical (to American legalists) view lead to cheap grace?

Not for me, and I doubt that it would for anyone who truly looked into the abyss and the love.  Love is the only response.  How Mary must have loved Joseph for protecting her from shame before he even knew the details!  How much do we love a Savior who saves us because the Source, Sustainer, and Resolver of all things is righteous and loves us because that is the name and nature of the Divine?  To think that love may finally reach every heart, causing every head to truly bow, every knee to truly bend, and every soul to find its intended end in union with God does not tempt me to rebel.  I doubt that it will anyone else who truly sees its depth, its cost, and its miraculous glory.

peace

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