cairns

Leave it to Schaeffer to even criticize Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia! (right along with colleges which claim to love his works and would never have associated with the man) lol

But, it opened a door for me. I love Lewis and his associates for using fiction to get at truths we usually obscure in prose.  And, Lewis?  I have practically made him an idol.  Now, FS goes and points out that Lewis has never been canonized! (even to dare to suggest that books that were are subject to question!)  I don’t know why I need an invitation to think critically about books I like.  I have taught that in other contexts for years.  But, I did need the invite here.

In Lewis’ case the one thing I now admit doesn’t make sense to me  (if you don’t know the books of Narnia, that is hilarious considering they are full of talking animals playing out Biblical themes in magic land) occurs more than once in the books.  What I cannot buy within the story’s logic is from the first book to the last when Aslan (creator, protector, and finisher of the world) cannot overcome the will of those who choose to be blind to him.

In the opening scenes it is the evil magic-meddling uncle Andrew from our world.  By the final book it includes most of the remaining inhabitants of the world, especially dramatized by the dwarfs sitting blindly on the edge of heaven in their imagined stable prison.  (not the only time Lewis discusses inoculating people against God by keeping them focused on a stable)  Aslan is more powerful than all enemies, than nature, space, time, and even the separation of magic worlds.  But, he isn’t strong enough to reach characters he loves?  It fractures the limits of even a children’s fantasy!

I don’t buy it.  Lewis didn’t really buy it.  In the Magician’s Nephew, the evil uncle returns home to live a different life — a back door mechanism for having been changed in the encounter.

Now, I am spending a lot of my meditation time (thanks also to books like Re-Jesus and Re-Enchanting the Church) on whether it holds up in theology.  If man is capable of rejecting God and choosing hell, doesn’t that make man’s will superior to God’s?

I know all of the old fundamentalist-evangelical contortions about God creating it that way; so that it is really His will, even though He really loves everybody and wants to save them, but plays by his own rules enough to damn them all for eternity for making the wrong choice with the free will He gave them, knowing from the beginning the outcome of the failed experiment…I’m not sure anymore that it makes any better sense in theology than fiction.  God calls the world into being by spoken thought, sustains the universe by Word, pursues reunion with man throughout the narratives of the Bible, and in the end sends most of creation into damnation because it chooses to reject its author?

I feel like I have been blind to the obvious (FBO!) for years — either God is Supreme or God isn’t God.

peace

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Today’s deal was mostly winds, lots of straight line wind. Power stayed out long enough for my daughter and I to go set up the generator. We were just getting it out of the garage when the lights came on for a second. Then from behind the house across the street one humongous explosion, a scream, lots of smoke.
Recent events have left my family and I very careful outside in the dark. But, we both took off running to make sure nobody was over there seriously hurt. Got far enough not to be able to see where lines might be in trees and neighbor’s house looked fine, no people hurt or otherwise and no signs of fire. So we retreated and set up the generator.
Power came back on about as soon as we settled down to watch TV. Think I will leave the cords and such all out since the rest of the night is supposed to be “breezy,” translated up to 45 miles per hour.
Lost even more limbs, but mostly another night of sleep last night as the conditions were too similar to the night of the ice storm and events we have only shared with some people.
Something has to give. Our stress load is off every chart ever made. Prayers of anyone who reads this blog (regardless of who or what you pray to!) are very welcome here right now.
Almost left out, the preacher’s wife from the tiny Saturday night start up church we visited actually called to check on us and to offer for the three of us to come and stay at their house if we didn’t get power back!  Nice little ray of light in the middle of much darkness.

peace

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Still contemplating the boys in the boat with the Master, I began to wonder, what happens  if we seriously look at it as a story of Christ rather than of us?

It is a beautiful story of the presence and power of the Divine. It is a story of the easy relationship of Creator and creation.  While Jesus is sound asleep, He is there on the lake in their foundering boat — not far off in space and time. He demonstrates His power with a few simple words, echoing the power of creation itself. He saves the day while they shiver.

To be direct, what I am now seeing in the story is that  their faith or fear is not the point at all. Jesus is the same whether nature seems out of control or calm and safe. Jesus is, and has not changed from Genesis to this account. He speaks and the world is.  The condition of the fellows and their faith have no bearing on the actual circumstances or the outcome.  It is about Jesus.

The answer to the problem had nothing at all to do with whether the boys had enough faith, the right prayers, or practiced their religion enough. It has everything to do with the presence of the Divine, here with us, calm, in charge, needing no help from us.  And in response, we worship, “What kind of man is this?”  To dwell on us, is to fail to respond to the demonstration of majesty. Our response should be one of wonder and awe not self absorption.

I also wonder that we do not ask, “What kind of world is this that obeys the Divine Voice while we rebel, struggle, and destroy?”  But, that will need more thought and a different post.

peace

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“until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone he wishes.”

I am still in the process of escaping my supposed literalist (literalistic on anything that favored us and damned others) past.  So, my musings on today’s brief political statement also set me to wondering about the nature of our treasured system of democracy in the light of passages like this one that say the establishment of rulers is God’s business.

Does our cherished democracy set up a false belief that we humans decide who will be in power?

Is our supposedly empowering democracy a more recent version of the casting of lots to see who has already been chosen?

Or most heretical of all, does our democracy give God a less bloody method for conducting His business?

peace

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is not running for President.  Like him or hate him, he is not the candidate.  I would hate to labeled by some of the pastors whose church’s I have attended.  There many reasons people attend churches and few with IQs above 70 agree with everything they hear.  But, I do not believe this mess is about any of that.

To be sure its about filling the news with the most titillating, lowest denominator water cooler gossip fodder.  Never mind thousands dying around the world because of our policies, actions, and in-actions.  Do not focus on the true causes of anything, or actually investigate a story beyond the latest pronouncements of paid mouthpieces.  Just put up garbage that fuels conversations and fights for ratings to boost the cost of advertising.

But, it is worse.  It is about not daring to give voice to the disenfranchised — your race!  We might vote for you with black skin, but do NOT voice any views that are not easily swallowed by middle class whites.  Apparently, you are not allowed to have any friends who do either.  This tempest in a teapot, is not innocent.  This is power intimidating all other voices.

I would like to reassure myself and say, “now people just want to be careful of the views of who ends up in the White House.”  But, the truth is that if you dare to voice any viewpoint we don’t like, then we will not buy your music, attend your movies, allow you to gain tenure where you might be safe to profess it…..  we have sold our souls to gods of sameness, niceness, supposed correctness which are actually disguises of domination, intimidation, and racism.  And, Hillary had better not enjoy it too much.  If they manage to reverse the situation and make her the candidate — she will be next.  True public debate is dead.

I fear we are brain dead waiting on the switch to be pulled.

peace

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I have started to put several quotes from this book up, it is worth reading. Here is one small sample.

Relinquishing Power

 

In order to acknowledge our real need for other people and to receive their unique perspectives and expertise, we will need to relinquish the power and control that keep us from being changed or influenced by them. This is not an easy thing to do…

…Little do we know, but it is “high noon” and we are wearied from our journey.  It is high time for us to recognize that we will die of thirst if we don’t acknowledge our real  need for others and empower them to give the water that only people different from us can bring.

Brenda Salter McNeil

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A few more thoughts on the ark. Maybe they should be obvious, or maybe others will disagree. But, these seem like part of what would become a sermon.

I have also read a lot of nonsense about what gave the ark its special powers. One even claimed that it was a nuclear device because of something in the tablets Moses brought down from the mountain. The text says the power was the holy presence of God.

So with everything they remind us of and cause us to contemplate;

the wood — nature, the power of earth — is not the power,

the gold — wealth — is not the power,

the law — instruction in the ways of God — is not the power,

the manna — souvenir and memory of God’s provision — is not the power,

the presence of the angels — the aid of powerful warriors of heaven itself — is not the power,

the mobile nature of the ark — moving, doing, serving, the work of heaven (so easy for me to mistake as the goal!) — is not the power,

only the presence of God; witnessed by the glory, the cloud, the fire; but not the glory, the cloud, or the fire — the very presence of very God brings the power. Because God is the power.

Compared to the presence of God, the rest is an intriguing antique.  When we meet, do we bring each other into that presence?

peace

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My sixteen year old looked like she was bouncing right back, then her stomach revolted.  Home the rest of the week, doctor and meds yesterday, trying to eat today…one step away from being admitted for loss of fluids and nutrition.  Going to try and go along to see our African friends tonight and get out of the house.

Meanwhile the oldest is waiting on the arrival of funds to cover the cost of a vehicle she already paid a deposit to hold and they appear to be in cyber limbo — out of one account but three days later not deposited in the target account.

Masters students waiting until the last minute to submit work, ask for help on work, say they need extensions on work…

One daughter calling about unexpected death in an acquaintance’s family.  Another daughter moping to not miss the attention or something.  Wife showing symptoms again as soon as antibiotics ran out…

Makes me wonder where we ever got the illusion of living as anything but helpless and small. 

Where do we get the illusion that we control life?  What is it like for our brothers and sisters who live outside the hedge of our economic privilege?  How can the theology of my youth possibly be attractive to them with its no-doubts tolerated everything works just like this ‘as long as you have faith’ lies?  What world were my elders preparing me to live in? 

I choose the one I am in!  God, grace, truth, and my brothers and sisters live here.  Keep the flannel boards.  I’ll bring some gas and a match (and some marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers) for the next time we meet.

peace

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The preacher’s final message of 2007 was on a traditional roll.  It was a two point sermon on our redemption and adoption.  There were heart tugging videos on the big screens and strong supporting music.  But, I got sidetracked by the word “heirs.”

He kept talking about how we as adopted children of God are joint heirs.  And he was obviously talking future tense.  We have this wonderful promise of heaven when we die…And I found myself thinking past tense and a different death.

Basically, the whole idea of heirs put me to thinking about when the inheritance is given.  Isn’t it when the benefactor dies?  What kind of heir gets the goodies when the heir dies?  That is a nonsensical image! 

So when does God die?  In the 1900’s announced by Time magazine?  Did we inherit anything then?  Did the Christ with whom we are said to be “joint heirs” recieve His inheritance then?  I don’t think so.

The only gospel answer to the question is that Christ, fully God as well as fully man, died on Golgotha.  I do not know of any other time when God dies in the past narrative or future prophesies.  If God indeed died on Good Friday, then it makes linguistic sense if the will was read on Easter!  So it raises the question of whether we have evidence that the inheritance has already been given. 

If we focus on the concept of “joint heirs,” that question is easier to answer because the theology of the resurrection very clearly claims that Christ received His reward and has — past tense — been exalted above all others.  Ephesians 2:6 adds us to the equation as already seated on the throne as well in Christ.

So I am left contemplating the issue and its questions.  The only way this whole “heirs” language makes sense to me is if the inheritance is given when the benefactor dies, and that was 2000 years ago. 

I am still contemplating the helplessness of the Christmas Babe and the Crucified Man and I am drawn into this new arena.  How do I live differently tomorrow if I truly believe that I am a joint heir for Everything and the account is already full?

peace

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Fifth grade enquiring mind asked me why everyone at school was so weird about saying, “winter” party, break, holiday, etc. instead of Christmas.  I started to explain the political correctness of non-offensive language and Muhammed (who voluntarily participated in the Ramadan fast even though he was the only one in a school of 750+) interrupted as soon as I said somebody might be offended.  “Yeah! He means me!” and laughed an open friendly laugh.  His mom was one of the parents who came and helped with the party today. 

As much as I agree with the need of those in power to be sensitive to the subtle applications of that power, I do long for a world where more of us adults could take ourselves as seriously as this twin culture young man does.  He is my teacher as well as my student.

peace

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