cairns

Is the western church just as naked when it dares to assert that there is a set body of knowledge to be known, believed, or professed? Are we just as far out on a limb when we assert that there are tests, or markers, that determine “true believers” from the goats?

Maybe theology in our day is discovering a new humility that allows for people having many and varied experiences in their journey with and toward God. There are at least some articulate authors out there calling us in that direction.

At times I think I have become more gentle than in my fundy youth, acknowledging that none of us has a full grasp of the Truth that can exclude all other possibilities. At other times I fear I become just as dogmatic in insisting that people accept my new view of God as bigger and beyond our knowledge and a constant breaker of any boxes we build.

I do acknowledge that church tradition provides us the early creeds, the councils of the various churches, and scripture itself as determiners of doctrine and false belief. But, those are far less solid ground than they are presented to be for general consumption.

At least for now, I shall lean heavily to the side of openness and acceptance unless I see further and more convincing evidence of one sure interpretation on most of the issues we used to think we “knew” the answers to.

peace

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OK, this post reveals enough about my age and true mentality to get the current church to take away my choices and send me packing! LOL

One of the most powerful moments on this summer’s mission trip was watching a tiny girl push away a large adult bully just as our choir broke into This Is How It Feels to Be Free.  It was awesome.

But, it keeps taking me back to my youth.  I do not know how many times I saw The Who’s Tommy at the theater.  I went every time I had the chance and left dancing down the street every time.  Now in the midst of this church debacle I keep hearing a hymn from that un-saintly choir!

“We’ve all been shown the way before.  Messiah pointed to the door, but no one had the guts to leave the temple! I’m Free! And freedom tastes of reality!  I’m Free!”

amen

How far away from the master’s intent are we when even thinking about walking away from an institution claiming to be His church feels like flying to glorious strands of rock music?

peace

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Today I will celebrate my ancestors break with the tyranny of monarchy. I will not celebrate their slave ownership, or permanent neglect of those who already inhabited their new land.

I will celebrate those brave men and women, including my father, who defended this country in times of dire world crisis. I will not celebrate the imperialism which entangled us in places we did not belong or the bad diplomacy which helped create the monsters we then found ourselves fighting. Neither will I celebrate the bully club way we have wasted our strength not the failed diplomacy that has allowed too many atrocities to go unchallenged.

I will celebrate a land which has outdone the world in honoring freedom of speech and religion, allowing men and women many and varied paths to seek the divine. I will not celebrate the pettiness with which we have abused those freedoms, or the new trend to limit free speech about religion in order to shield the ears of listeners. I will not celebrate watching both foreigners and native sons who believe in hate, control, and dominance use those freedoms to further their ends while “nice” folks sit back and say nothing.

I will celebrate the God who allows man freedom to see Truth even as Truth pursues man. I will celebrate the truth that for a time in history, this my homeland, was a leading light in a world of oppression for honoring that freedom. I will celebrate the thousands of missionaries who have gone across the globe to share good news, (without being side tracked by the economic results of too many of those efforts) — those dear servants of God went with clothes packed in coffins to share one thing, the Gospel. I will celebrate the prophets, authors, teachers, preachers, young people, poets, and singers, and perhaps again a politician who continue to call out that we can be what we claim to be.

I will celebrate hope, faith and charity in my land until that day when our global reunion with Jesus Christ renders only love preeminent and final. I will express to God great gratitude for the unbelievable abundance of my life and ask him to make me wiser in helping those who have less. I will celebrate friendship with children from Europe, Haiti, Africa, Russia, Malaysia, Mexico, Yemen and beyond in a land which in spite of fear still allows them to come. I will sing praise to the God who continues to gently guide us toward the day when we all worship Him, the Lion and the Lamb, Creator, Sustainer, Provider, Redeemer, Rescuer, and Ruler together as one.

What if for one day, we put down the explosives and knelt in genuine prayer for His presence? Praying not our way or dominance…just world wide prayer for knowledge of Him and His presence in our lives and affairs? Imagine a world without our self glorification and greed, not because there is no heaven, but because when we turn in worship to Him, its here.

peace

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My pastor friend asked the group what images or words come to mind with the word “deep” as in Jesus told Peter to put out into the deep and let down his nets. The words were all negative — dangerous, tempest, dark, unknown, threatening… It was one of those occasions where I wanted to begin immediately to give opposite answers, but felt the flow of the lesson moving on and felt that it would be disruptive and maybe “show stealing.” My friend did turn to positive adjectives as he moved forward to invite those present to go deep with God while also acknowledging that God is not “safe.”

So, here I sit talking to my blog like a diary I hope somebody will read and maybe respond to as well. Deep? Deep! Deep is dangerous when we are boating on the surface afraid to get wet. The tempest is on the surface. The calm is in the deep. Even friends who have drowned and been revived have told me that in the deep was calm, all the panic and fear were on the surface. My friend Dan had just finished speaking about the ‘woman at the well.’ Deep at the well? It means the promise of water that is cold and pure. Its only dangerous if you fall in where you do not belong. And my mind travels to caving. Now, I do not really like caving and the sense of great weight above me instead of sky. I prefer being on the top of the mountain to being in its belly. Yet cave deep? The temperature levels out and stays the same all year unaffected by surface changes of either heat or freeze. Deep is constant.

Deep in the ocean we now know there are creatures of outrageous beauty living beyond the sun apparently created by the sheer joy and for the pleasure of the creator. Deep is magic. The children know. The sailor can survive below the sea when accompanied by the magic mer-people. Deep is dangerous when we do not belong there and do not have the magic.

I think that is the difference. To come into the deep presence of God is to be undone unless one is already redone by the precious work of Jesus. Then, it is deep into the embrace of Abba. Yesterday a friend offering counsel told me I spend too much energy “striving.” When I am dealing with all the problems of the surface, the issues of life, things, bills, and human institutions — he is right. But in the deep? In the deep, I rest.

peace

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My friend asked just one question, “How have you not given up on public schools?” And I am off in wonder-land again. I wonder if there is anything of man I have NOT given up on.

I have indeed given up on public education as anything more than a government service making grandiose claims and delivering an average product. As far as reaching all children, providing fair access into our society, or truly educating any children truly well, I have given up on the bigger system.

I have also given up on Republicans, Democrats, Socialists, Communists, Unionists, Creationists, Scientists, Environmentalists, Pacifists, Communitarians, Presbyterians–Methodists, Baptists…ad nauseum, most Evangelicals, Fundamentalists, Legalists, Liberationists, Academics, and Capitalists. If the game is bringing hope to mankind’s mess, they are all failures base on any observable results. I never put any any faith in fascists, racists, militarists, nativists, new agists or nationalists to start with, so nothing to surrender there.

I truly believe I have given up on every option known to man, based on man, or on the ideas and ideals of men. My hope and trust is centered in Jesus Christ crucified and risen — nothing more, nothing less. Sounds pitifully like an old hymn and supposedly “outdated” religion. But I have given up on religion too, at least anywhere that means defining the one true/best way to worship, live, and serve.

I am down to the only Truth I know. Jesus Christ, at least as much as I can comprehend of Him, is all I know and all I claim. I go to school, to church, to vote, to shop, to walk among the trees as a disciple and a missionary whose favorite Apostle is Andrew. I have given up on the rest. I am left with, “Have you met this man called Jesus?”

peace

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They are rioting, around the world, in multiple countries, the poor and hungry are rioting.  Food has gone beyond the price of those who used to be able to afford a little, not enough, but a little.  Now they are starving and rioting.  The dictatorial governments they also live under will restore order.  The more they kill in the process, the further the food goes, but still not affordable.  It is partially because of oil, oil that will eventually run out but that right now is through the roof because the wealthy are using it as a futures commodity for speculative trading and insane profits.  So they are starving and they are rioting.

And the ‘caring’ will send relief, bags of rice to last them a bit longer.  We will have our children play computer games that send rice 20 grains an answer and we will sleep thinking we helped.  But we will not re-examine the system.  We do not see any way that we have any power to change the system.  Just like the teachers who could not find a way to help “he” on the micro, we will not find any true answers for “they” in the macro.  So we will accept media spin, truisms, and band-aids to feel better.  We will send some money and some rice, and go to bed.

But they are not OK.  We are not OK.  The cards are quivering.

peace

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By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Thou shall not pollute the Earth. Thou shall beware genetic manipulation. Modern times bring with them modern sins. So the Vatican has told the faithful that they should be aware of “new” sins such as causing environmental blight.

The guidance came at the weekend when Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, the Vatican’s number two man in the sometimes murky area of sins and penance, spoke of modern evils.

Asked what he believed were today’s “new sins,” he told the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano that the greatest danger zone for the modern soul was the largely uncharted world of bioethics.

“(Within bioethics) there are areas where we absolutely must denounce some violations of the fundamental rights of human nature through experiments and genetic manipulation whose outcome is difficult to predict and control,” he said.

The Vatican opposes stem cell research that involves destruction of embryos and has warned against the prospect of human cloning.

Girotti, in an interview headlined “New Forms of Social Sin,” also listed “ecological” offences as modern evils.

In recent months, Pope Benedict has made several strong appeals for the protection of the environment, saying issues such as climate change had become gravely important for the entire human race.

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Finally finished my recent reads on the emergent church and turned to this lengthy commentary recommended by a trusted friend. 

Since my local church is currently on the beatitudes, I started there.  I am finding the book beyond excellent.  There is thorough reference and footnoting of previous scholarship and alternative interpretations.  And yet, the writing remains clear and approachable rather than technical and academic.  I am finding Bruner’s explanations of these passages very insightful.  As a two volume set, it gets a little pricey.  However, it is worth a look for anybody considering a commentary on Mathew — or for that matter on the life and teachings of Jesus in general.peace 

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don’t ask me how my mind is contemplating theology right now, as I begin writing I do not know.

But, this idea is rolling around, growing, and begs to be expressed.  I have always had problems with American Calvinist versions of election and damnation, even when they are billed as free will.  The idea that God will save those who hear and are able to respond to the message, does not seem much different from the hard core teachings of His only choosing a few elect anyway.  I have written about it here before.

But in the past, I have always seen it presented as a driving force for evangelism and mission — got to go to those millions God is going to damn if we don’t get somebody there to tell them!  What is dawning on me now is how it works in the opposite direction.  I believe its underlying message is actually anti-evangelism as in the original American churches, but more subtly.

I know my church history well enough to know that the old order American Calvinists believed in proving your election, not evangelization.  What I am contemplating now is a similar effect among folks who believe they are evangelicals. 

Does a belief that God is willing to damn millions who never hear lead to a belief that we — white, northern, western, literate, wealthy — have a special claim on the call?  Does it lead to a subtle way of neglecting our neighbor who has so many chances to join us in church?  If God will condemn those who never hear, why should we make extra effort to reach out to those who do not come to us?  Again, I am not talking about anything we would verbalize.  I am talking about subconscious justifications of neglecting our brothers and sisters.

Let me push it past “four laws,”  does it subtly let us have hard hearts toward those who live in poverty, who are without political voice, who are left behind no matter how much propaganda we hear?  If we believe that God is willing to send millions blindly off to hell, does that allow us the subtle out we need to ignore their hell which is now?

Ahh, there is the connection.  Will you ignore me and my suffering loved one if you decide decide we are not like you?  Will you condemn us?  Does the prevalent theology of the American church invite you to look the other way, just like your uncaring god?

peace

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Much of what I was looking for Rieger to add in the various chapters is present in the Conclusion. It is also there in the Introduction if re-read informed by the rest of the book.  (Tim probably already knew that!) But, it would not have the same power without working through the ages of empire in the various chapters.  When the book is finally read in full, Rieger’s arguments have a fullness.  I do highly recommend this book to any willing to do the work of encountering all of it.

The relationships of power and empire are everywhere I live and work.  They are in the small daily interactions with children in coerced public education and in the meta structures of the system.  They are as evident in my church interactions as in a Humvee in Iraq.  And I have much to contemplate about my understanding, my role, my theology, and my response.

And I think the questions of basis for argument will have to be part of every conversation from now on.  In a world that has surrendered all notion of absolute, external, verifiable truth neither science nor religion can assume that anyone will respond to our facts or revelations as anything more than opinion.  How do we ‘prove’ anything to anybody in a world where there is no acceptance of the possibility of unassailable first postulates or laws?  How do we shake people out of the comfortable numbness of ignorant surface level relativism — is it not the new opiate of the people?

Meanwhile, as this book points out very well, empire thrives unexamined, unchallenged, unnoticed even if it is now killing us all, not just the 30,000 children a day of the poor.

peace

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