Ron Cole : unplugged, unorthodox, heretic

The Mystery of Advent...

 

 

 

    ( image courtesy of Ben Bell )

It, defies logic, but, I believe.

I believe the mystery of Advent is new creation.

I believe in the Spirit of God, as in the beginning,

hovered over a poor marginalized girl on the fringe of society.

I believe in her vulnerability, openness and willingness,

the Spirit impregnated her with the presence of God.

I believe the same Word as in the beginning became flesh.

I believe for a time humanity nurtured God.

I believe as in the beginning the Word spoke creation into existence,

and from the womb of humanity, the Word made flesh speaks a new creation.

I believe now through God the Father, and Son the Word...the Spirit hovers,

speaking, ready to bring the new creation into being.

God with us, God within us,

building a new creation.

The Kingdom.

I believe.

( by Ron Cole ; 30th November 2009 )

the Truth...plain and simple

                                  ( painting by Mattia Preti 1655 )

It's remarkable that the greatest theologian that walked in the midst of humanity was Jesus. After all, was he not God in the flesh.

⁴⁴But Jesus loudly declared, The one who believes in Me does not [only] believe in and trust in and rely on Me, but [in believing in Me he believes] in Him Who sent Me.

⁴⁵And whoever sees Me sees Him Who sent Me.

⁴⁹This is because I have never spoken on My own authority or of My own accord or as self-appointed, but the Father Who sent Me has Himself given Me orders [concerning] what to say and what to tell.

⁵⁰And I know that His commandment is (means) eternal life. So whatever I speak, I am saying [exactly] what My Father has told Me to say and in accordance with His instructions. ( The Amplified Bible ; John Chapter 12 )

So although no one has seen God except maybe Moses who saw the Glory of God tucked away in the cleft of a rock, away from the radiation that might have vaporized him. I think we can say with some confidence, as humanity, we have seen God, and heard God...and tend to ignore it.

If Jesus  thought theology had to be all figured out, that his rag tag band of ragamuffins all needed to march to the same tune, why didn't he just rent classroom space in local synagogue. I don't think Jesus came to create an institution who's biggest concern seems to be believing the right things.

To begin with, the faith that Jesus reveals to us is LIVED out in the wide open spaces of everyday life. It's to take a salt shaker and shake it every where, every last granule, into every nook and cranny of creation. It's to shine light into the path of your daily living. It is living in the reality of " CHRIST IN US ", allowing that truth to shine visibly into our daily living.

There is No Where in the gospels where the disciples make a statement of faith. Peter comes close on the road to Ceasarea Philipi, the others juggle answers between teacher, rabbi and prophet. You would think if you were a teacher and one student in the class gets the answer right you might want to look at your methodology, or maybe set the bar a little higher in terms of prerequisites for class enrollment.

But Jesus knows in the faith he has come to reveal there is far more learned in belonging and following. I find it fascinating, and breathlessly beautiful that Jesus opens the door to their faith journey, and leads them across the threshold into a wedding at the village of Cana. John in the opening of his gospel says that Jesus pitched his tent in the midst of humanity. Here Jesus reveals to his followers that they are to be his incarnational presence in the midst of humanity. The wedding is a snap shot of humanity, community and culture. There is the young and the old; family and friends. There is the messiness of dysfunctional family relations. But Jesus pours himself like kegs of wine into the midst of it all. Rather than have his students working out faith with ink and scroll in the sterile environment of the synagogue...in the midst of humanity is the scroll, the landscape on which real faith is worked out.

In the gospels you don't find propositional theological truth, you find the redemptive imagination of Jesus in radical scandalous eye opening parables about the Kingdom. It was a profound truth that captured imagination on one level. On another level it was a truth that couldn't be seen until it was lived out. I am the Truth, the Life, and the Way. Living Truth is Jesus. He lived the truth of his parables. This was the faith he came to reveal.

The evangelical preoccupation with “propositional correctness of Christian doctrine” tends to destroy the vitality of the Christian faith. The reason is that such an emphasis views faith as “little more than intellectual assent to propositions, losing the vital and dynamic connection with the person of Jesus Christ, who, for Christians, alone is the truth.”

In his survey of the rise of evangelicalism, Stanley Grenz claims that the “new evangelical theology,” which was formed in the fundamentalist battle with liberalism, “oriented itself to questions of propositional truth, in contrast to the issue of one’s relationship with God characteristic of classical evangelicalism.”

In our pursuit of propositional truth we have lost sight of the historical nature of theologizing. We treat Scripture passages as timeless and culture-free statements that can be assembled to yield a timeless and culture-free theology that stands over and above the shifting sands of our postmodern culture.

Similarly, Stanley Grenz and John Franke complain that because conservative theologians view the Bible as a “storehouse of theological facts,” the goal becomes that of compiling the “timeless body of right doctrines.”

For thousands of years we've been trying to figure God out with our theological construction, laws to keep us in line with our belief. The closest religion has come to nailing God down was on a cross, and we know how that turned out.

Jesus is the transcendent truth of God. It is a truth more like the laws of physics, an invisible force beyond human imagination that holds all creation together. Jesus, the Word that spoke creation into existence; is the same Word, made flesh that spoke radical scandalous theological truth in parables that sparked the redemptive imagination of the Kingdom. It was a truth that had to be wrestled with, a truth that unravels us, unnerves us, taking us to a space where we are no longer in control, a liminal place where we confront grace, mercy and love. It is a truth that can't really be etched out in granite. It's a truth in which it's timelessness, it's eternity is discovered when it is lived out.

I had coffee with an 84 year old friend a couple of weeks ago, a saint who has a real gift of sowing seeds of encouragement. He knows that the truth of Jesus can only be discovered by following Jesus. Faith has to be lived, not just believed. He's been phoning people in his church community to live the truth, to get out into the wide open spaces and live out the gospel.

In the Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov is a parable of the Grand Inquisitor, where Jesus returns during the time of the Inquisition. Jesus performs a number of miracles echoing the miracles of the gospels. People recognize him and adore him, Jesus is arrested by the religious leaders of the day and sentenced to be burnt to death. The Grand Inquisitor visits Jesus in his cell and tells him that the church no longer needs him.The main portion of the story is the inquisitor explaining why Jesus return would interfere with the mission of the church.

The Inquisitor states that Jesus rejected the three temptations in favor of freedom, but thinks that Jesus has misjudged human nature. He does not believe that the vast majority of humanity can handle the freedom which Jesus has given them. The story ends when Christ, who has been silent throughout, kisses the Inquisitor on his "bloodless, aged lips" instead of answering him. On this, the Inquisitor releases Christ but tells him never to return. Christ, still silent, leaves into "the dark alleys of the city." Not only is the kiss ambiguous, but its effect on the Inquisitor is as well. Ivan concludes, "The kiss glows in his heart, but the old man adheres to his idea."

Dostoevsky's story is just that, a story, but I wonder if we haven't become more enamored with our ideas of God, our theology. I wonder if Jesus came back today, if he wouldn't mess things up for us.

The truth really is simple...the truth is Jesus. It isn't a profound theological statement...it's a person. You want to know the truth...follow the person. The truth is found in the gospels. The truth becomes tangible when we live it out. When we live the gospels out daily, the truth becomes visible.

faith...eutrophication, and new maps

I was reading these quotes from Gandhi in a devotional last night, and I got to think of my own faith journey.

Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.

Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into.

Faith... must be enforced by reason... when faith becomes blind it dies. ( Mohandas Gandhi )

In my 10 years in the army ( 3 PPCLI ), I spent most of time in a Reconnaissance (Recce) Platoon . In that time I became very proficient in navigating with topographical maps and compass. You realize quickly that both are needed to navigate properly. Using just one or the other, honest positioning becomes more of a guess than truth. A reality is maps change, but compass bearings are constant. But another important truth is, maps need to be constantly updated. Land has the ability to change over time.

Examples would be eutrophication, a natural occurrence where lakes, streams and rivers can disappear. Or where climate and weather can erode or alter the shape of the topography of the land. What was one on the map 100 years ago is not there now. But that's not to say that the 100 year old map was not true. We can understand its truth back then, but we need to reinterpret the truth on the land we stand now. I hope that makes sense, because I want to transition the metaphor of maps and compass into a journey of faith.

Old maps at one time justified crusades, slavery, marginalizing women, in some churches women are still excluded from ministry. But new maps where we reinterpreted our position in history, and our experience have changed our position on truth. Combined with the Holy Spirit, this eternal compass will cause us to reposition ourselves. I believe Gandhi reveals a great truth, that faith is a state of constant development, that to navigate by old maps and dogma will always lead to a false position. That reason is very much apart of faith. That we don't grasp faith...we grow into it.

I think we need to reposition ourselves on new maps.

Jesus...his political disciplines

Randy said this in the comments on the last post...

I think we have to face the fact that Jesus was killed because he was perceived to be a political threat ("King of the Jews"). His language was more political than it was religious. His manifesto (Luke 4) was political in nature. A de-politicized gospel is no gospel at all. But what kind of politics did Jesus practice? Ah ... now there's a question.

Jesus certainly understood politics. From political science in which we examine the acquisition, and the application of power. From political philosophy which seeks a rationale for politics, and an ethic for public behavior. From political economy which seeks to understand the relationship between politics and economy and the governance of the two. And, from a public administration understanding the practice of governance.

I don't think you can read the gospels and not see it's political nature. Jesus understood the politics of earthly empires. But Randy raises an extremely important question. What kind of politics did Jesus practice?

A couple of years ago Jim Wallis was asked by a reporter, was Jesus a politician? Here is Jim's answer...

Of course not. But he had a vision of the Kingdom of God which was spiritual, personal, relational, social, economic, and yes, political, because it talked about allegiances and loyalties and authority, and if Jesus was Lord, Caesar was not. His confrontation that he provoked in Jerusalem was with the religious and the political leaders. They saw him as a political threat. If they saw him just as a private pietist, why would they worry? [If he was] helping people get their lives together, helping their marriages, making them better parents and make them go to less Roman orgies and drunken parties, why would that have been a threat to the ruling powers? They regarded him as a threat. I remember I was at Wheaton College once and I asked this class, "Why was Jesus killed?" and they had no idea. They just couldn't comprehend the question. And then one young student said, "Well, to save us from our sins." And I said, "So you think Pontius Pilate was sitting there thinking, 'How am I going to save these American evangelicals from their sins? I'm gonna kill this guy and that will do it.'" Albeit that our theological understanding of the cross and our redemption -- I'm orthodox on all those questions, but he was killed because he was seen as a threat to the rulers both religious and political. In the book I talk about how Jesus confronted the major political options of his day. All four of them were there, they're always there: One was collaborationist, one was pietist, one was withdrawn -- you know, the kind of counter culture -- and one was political insurrection, or revolutionary violence. He confronted them all, he rejected them all. There was a fifth option called the Kingdom of God, and that's our option.

Jesus death was political. Jesus was killed because of his politics. He was killed by the religious and political power of the day. Jesus was sentenced to death because he was a threat. The kingdom is a threat to any empire.

Interestingly Jesus didn't merge, entering into the political arena of the day to reform politics to give the roman empire a more liberal tone. He did the same with religion. As Christians, we are delusional if we think we can vote and elect the Kingdom into being. The Kingdom can only be lived into being. Jesus lived and spoke the Kingdom into being on the fringe of empire. It was not to be seen of as part of the empire, but to be seen as a profound alternative, " the city on a hill."

There is only one ruler in the Kingdom, It is not a democracy. If it is a democracy, it is a democracy of 3; Father, Son and Spirit. Always as one, in perfect unity. If we are Kingdom people, this is where our allegiance lies. And if we want to practice the disciplines of the Kingdom, be disciples of it's ruler...then we try to the best of our ability to live the gospels on a daily basis. We live them out in the comings and goings of our day, we live them out as individuals, and live them out as a community. On earth, as in heaven...may your Kingdom come.

UPDATE...

James Kingsley, graphic artist extraordinaire puts the thrust of the post in an image.

(After reading Ron's post I just couldn't resist adding a little twist to Fairey's Hope poster)

 

James Cone...on church success

A great clip, short, (7min) by James Cone of Union Theological Seminary on Tavis Smiley's "State of the Black Church."  It would be a gross injustice to not hear this message for the whole church. The gospel is far more about failure, than success. This is so very timely, especially in the context in which so many churches struggle to only survive.

 

prison...finding hope on the horizon of desperation

 

( image courtesy of Pamela Suran www.jerusalempropheticart.com )

To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light:  opening blind eyes, releasing prisoners from dungeons, emptying the dark prisons. ( Isaiah 42:7 Eugene Peterson's The Message )

Although we've only been doing the prison ministry thing for awhile now, a few things are becoming more clear, or should I say less clear. It is in a sense, the blind leading the blind. Some might say that that is the perfect scenario for a disaster. Yes, it could be...if someone wasn't leading the blind.

I think often in the church we have a preconception of where the Kingdom is. It's usually when we have preconceptions of where it is, and predict and point and say it's here or there, we end up getting it wrong. Sort of like the shell game. We point, " there it is!" Nope. We point again, " Well, there it is! Nope. Well where is it then? The only preconception we need is that the Kingdom is where Jesus is. And the gospel makes it fairly clear where Jesus is.

So we went to the Ferndale and Mission Institutions with nothing more than this, the words of Jesus...

I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me with help and ministering care, I was in prison and you came to see Me. ( Matthew 25:36 ; The Amplified Bible )

If Jesus is in prison, we knew the Kingdom had to be near and close at hand. Now, I'm not saying once we cleared security we could point and say there it is, and look there it is over there too. I'm saying, I was pretty much blind. It is in this darkness that we navigate by the Spirit's prompting, gentle nudge this way or that way.

It was interesting this time playing in prison, in that in both Ferndale and Mission we played in the Chapel. There was sense that this was a sacred foothold in this place. But more profound for me was the sense, that Christianity and church should be more like prisons. Here, I didn't have to convince anyone that there life was not manageable. There was a sense of desperation. Everyone knew they were a sinner.

And in this place, and with these people I could say things that I never have before. Even in " church " people have known snippets of my life, even my friends in the band know some, but not all. Living in abuse growing up; drugs; running away; living on the streets in Toronto and London for short periods; shoplifting as a survival skill; dropped out of school in grade 9; my Dad enlisting me in the army on my 17th birthday for more discipline than he could dish out. A young man with anger issues and a thirst to self medicate...in the army where alcohol is cheaper than water. Got married, life was more controlled, but drugs were still an issue to the point where my wife gave me an ultimatum...the marriage or drugs. I found Jesus in a little shed beside the house, when I finally said I can't do this on my own anymore. Maybe desperation is the horizon, the lowest point in life in which hope can rise like the dawn of a new day.

I can't mention names, and we couldn't take any pictures, but, I talked to one man who had been in prison for 32 years.

Another man had just been convicted 10 months ago for shooting his estranged wife and killing her while his daughter was in the back seat. This was a guy with no previous convictions, in his late 40's, that just snapped. I asked him when he might get out. He told me, he's not he has no chance of parole.

Another young man in his late twenties, biker, been shot, stabbed; he walked in and caught his girl friend and partner in bed; he killed them both with an axe.

I had the opportunity to pray for all these guys, and again, I'm totally blind and the inmates are blind. I'm blind in that I don't really have any idea what to pray for, I've got no script, no prayer book. And the inmates are blind, they've lost there identity, they've lost sight of any horizon in which they might see hope rise, and they are blind to the reality of freedom. Can freedom be found in prison?I pray that the Spirit will move, giving me the words of Jesus, and the inmates to hear. The words come.

They need to see themselves in the drama of the story of the prodigal son. They have done some awful stuff, the broken relationships, the hurt, the pain, the suffering, the drugs and alcohol addictions. They need to own the truth of that, and seek forgiveness. The also need to know that that is not what identifies them. They need to know who they really are, " children of God." They need to know that life might seem hopeless, but that you can't out spend life. There is a Father that stands at the end of the driveway, that sees the horizon of your desperation, but makes hope arise at the dawn of a new day. Joyously, he dances, he sings, he kisses and hugs you, welcoming you home again. You might be behind bars, but real freedom is found living in that truth.

Grace, the Kingdom, and the gospel are the outrageous scandalous unending love of Jesus. So I went to the prison blind, and I return seeing all these things more clear. The Kingdom is where Jesus is, and Jesus calls us to follow...

inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world.  For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

Mirrors and Maps...inspiration from the margins

I know what you're thinking...Arghhhhhhh! not another conference. I think this one will be good on 2 counts; a great line up of speakers, and cheap. 19$ for Friday evening, or 49$ for both Friday evening and Saturday. Now, if I can just lay hands on my 92' Honda Accord and pray some healing into it...I just might be there. Anyways, if your looking for a weekend getaway this might be it.

In the 50s and 60s, when the music industry was in search of a breakthrough sound, they found it on the margins. Artists like Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Tina Turner and other African American artists provided The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Elvis the inspiration and songs that would become the soundtrack for the majority culture. Today, Jesus followers all over the world are looking for their own breakthrough sound – something that brings heaven to earth.

It turns out that once again the African American church has been developing this kind of spirituality on the margins for years.  What we call new, they call normal.

Elvis and The Beatles did pretty well drawing on this inspiration.

We think Jesus followers could as well.

The missional church that gave us Martin Luther King Jr. has something to say.

Join in the crazy creativity that happens when people from the margins get together.

You can check out all the details >>>> Here