« December 2009 | Main | February 2010 »
“Because the life of Jesus has the significance and the transcendency to which I have alluded, I believe that he belongs not solely to Christianity, but to the entire world; to all races and people, it matters little under what flag, name or doctrine they may work, profess a faith, or worship a God inherited from ancestors.”
-Gandhi “The Modern Review: Oct. 1941”
Do you ever get that question emerging in your mind that's like a nagging persistent itch that just has to be scratched? I have dove into the depths of the gospels from it's shores in all directions. And breathless, I come to the surface gasping, empty handed. I can't find it.
Where in any encounter does Jesus confront an individual, like a hostage with a life threatening decision, " believe...or it's to hell with you."
From the opening chapters of Matthew's gospel, after the imprisonment of John, Jesus moves to Capernaum, by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali...
People sitting out their lives in the dark
saw a huge light;
Sitting in that dark, dark country of death,
they watched the sun come up.
This Isaiah-prophesied image came to life in Galilee the moment Jesus started engaging and talking to people. He picked up where John left off: This is the dawn of a new day; it's a new page in the story of humanity; there's a new road to travel. Turn your lives around...it's time for humanity to re-boot the hard drive of it's operating system. " The Kingdom is Here."
From there it's Jesus wandering the shores of the Sea of Galilee, choosing friends to join him in proclaiming, revealing and building the Kingdom. Absolutely, fascinating that there is no conversion moment in the selection of disciples...no statement of faith, no scratch on the scroll to for confirmation of membership. We're not even sure they were baptized in the Jordan. If ritual proof was prerequisite, one would imagine Jesus pulling his disciples out of the baptismal font. Again, we are left to guess. There is no question of, " believe in me...or your going to hell." It is nothing more than the profound simplicity of a friend, inviting friends, to " come and follow."
The journey takes them to the countryside, villages, towns, the sea shore and dusty roads. Jesus shared stories of the radical scandalous redemptive imagination of the Kingdom. As wild as the stories were, it left people in awe to see them come to life before their eyes. People were brought to him who were all ill with various illnesses and disease, the lame, the blind, the demon possessed...and in the presence of Jesus, and the Kingdom, all were healed. Again, this uncontainable, unpredictable, scandalous, forgiving, gracious and healing Kingdom,turned the world upside down...it was " Hope " reimaginined.
I sense with all my imagination, and all my heart...that the Kingdom was so powerful, so beautiful, so miraculously good that it captivated human imagination. Jesus did not have to use " Hell " as a tactic to scare people into the Kingdom.
God's kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field.
Or, God's kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for excellent pearls. Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it. ( Eugene Peterson's The Message: Matt 13:44-45 )
The Kingdom is so profoundly precious that you will sell everything to live in it...it is so spacious, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in it without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of the Life of Jesus. A life we all have access to, a life we can all enter into. A life, through the power of the Spirit of God, we can let Jesus live...if we are humble enough to sacrifice our lives...to let him live.
The gospel, the good news is not a gun point threat of " heaven or hell." It is about the Kingdom. It is about a full-blown re-imagining of all creation. It is about a profound mysterious journey across the threshold of this world, into the redemptive imagination of Jesus and his Kingdom. The good news is the truth, that the Kingdom is here, now. It's not a place where we drift off to in some spiritual trance, a place where we visit occasionally as a tourist. Jesus calls us to live in it, during every moment of our daily living. Not only to live in it...but to build it with him.
We are so consumed with heaven and hell, behaving like landlords, or like inn keepers, micro-managing as to who is getting a room in what place. Wow!...hey did you here that. Stop...listen!
Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you.
For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.
Maybe we're content with just mending our lives, throwing on a patch here and there. Maybe we're content with a nice three point sermon, a nice life application we can pop into our mouth like a placebo, cross our fingers and hope it atleast makes us feel better. Better is only as good as us, and the problem with better...it doesn't last long. Like tylenol, it's better for about 4 hours, and then you back to where you started. Maybe, it's time to knock, to seek with all we have, and cross the threshold into Jesus and his Kingdom.
As humanity lurches along this long corridor of history where we look off into the distance and are really not sure whether there is a horizon where hope might rise. Profound uncertainty, leaves us scared, it breeds fear...and the weight of hopelessness falls like a curtain as the actors prepare to exit the stage. But there is hope. In the gospels people sat ,dwelt, enveloped in darkness, they saw a great Light, and for those who sat in the land and shadow of death, a light dawned. It was, and is the dawning, of Jesus and the Kingdom.
The church, and every follower of Jesus must re-imagine the gospels beyond heaven or hell. We must hunger, thirst for the mind of Christ, to have the redemptive imagination of Jesus. Jesus and his Kingdom are the hope of all humanity, of all creation. Our words, our actions must reveal, and build the Kingdom. It will become that hidden treasure to the by-passer in our neighborhoods, that precious pearl that a friend will sell everything for...just to live in. The hope of humanity will be in the re-booting of its hard drive from a world operating system...to a Kingdom operating system. In the Kingdom is the redemptive imagination of God, for living today, and eternal life...our only hope is in finding it.
Many people get easily confused about what ‘church’ is. They think it’s a building, or a religious institution, or a club for people who “enjoy that kind of thing”. It may indeed need structure, organisation and devotees. But it isn’t about them. ‘Church’, rather, is the name of a public space for risky, experimental living – for doing crazy stuff like forgiving others, offering hospitality to oddballs, sharing what we have in common and with others, learning how to live justly, and re-telling key stories of redemption and change. I’m paraphrasing some key elements from the gospels here. The word ekklesia refers to this kind of ‘zone of action’. ( Simon Barrow )
At one time I had my theology all nailed down. But, there is only one place where theology is " nailed down." Now, I don't attempt hammering any nails. Or, I nail my theology down in the one place where Jesus, the Christ got nailed down; on the cross. It is only at this intersection of greatest danger that I am mysteriously theologically safe, where certitude dies giving rise to paradox. Truth can be broken and renewed. I can have my beliefs, but here I am blind. Here I reach, waving my hand into a misty fog reaching for something beyond belief. Faith.
When I have doubts, God forgive me; when I don't have doubts God forgive me even more. After all, a God who is bound to confirm my conclusions is the god of me looking in the bathroom mirror. God forgive me.
This cross, is where I try to live in the intersection of life. Paul said, in Galatians,
Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ( Eugene Peterson's The Message ; Galatians 2 )
Here all the deep complexity of my theology vanishes into profound simplicity...it comes down to sacrifice, me, dying to everything I think I know. Here, love emerges, rising like the fragrant perfume from an exotic flower. And, from love, not my conditional anemic love. But, from the love of Jesus, that conquers all...comes the power to resurrect.
This is all my theology, profoundly simple to say, but an immense challenge to live. But I know from this simple theology lies the redemptive, imaginative reality of the Kingdom. It is from living this out that I see, reveal, and can build his Kingdom on earth as in heaven.
My theology is living at the intersection of the cross. It's here my gods die, I die. Here, I'm not concerned with the condemnation of things, and people...only to love, and resurrect something new.
The latest issue of Next Wave magazine is out in which Bill Dahl writes the cover story , " The Decline of the Emerging Church?" Bill took an 18 month sabbatical and shares his musing from observations from the periphery of things emergent. For those that are thinking that the conversation is dying like an old man gasping his last breath...well, you'll just have to read the article.
I received an uncorrected proof of Sara Miles, " Jesus Freak ", soon to be released in early February. With " Missional " being the buzz word in much of the church conversation, and with an increasing number of blogs hanging it like a tag for a boxing day sale. It's refreshing to read a book of such profound simplicity, and clarity around the subject of what it is to be " Missional." Sara Miles voice is timely, passionate...and in a language we can all understand.
Jesus in the gospels, in talking to Nicodemus in the dark of the night at a roof top rendezvous, said the Spirit is like, " You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone 'born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God."
And So it was for Sara Miles, carried by the mysterious wind through the door of a church. Invited to the table, she meets Jesus in that profound meal the church calls the Eucharist. In " Take this Bread ", she discovers the living reality of the Bread of Life.
In her new book, it is a continuation of the journey. As you cross the threshold in the the opening pages of the book, it becomes apparent that faith is a journey of discovery. It is walking through the gospel narrative, in which Sara says, " Come and See." Sara reveals to truth of Jesus words, his announcement that the Kingdom is near. Jesus revealed through radical scandalous stories of redemption that captured human imagination of a Kingdom which miraculously could be here now. But Jesus not only talked the talk of the Kingdom, people saw it open up right before their eyes in acts of feeding, healing and raising the dead.
What does it mean to be a Jesus Freak? Or, more to the point, what would it mean to live as if you ____and everyone around you ___ were Jesus, and filled with his power? To just take his teachings literally, go out the front door of you home, and act on them? ( Jesus Freak; page xi )
Through the book Sara weaves three strands of profound truth of the Kingdom...of feeding, healing and raising the dead. The beauty of the book, it is not a truth of disconnect, through out she weaves gospel stories along with stories of everyday living. Each one of us has access to the Kingdom, in revealing it...and, also in building it.
Out of Sara's experience of discovering the mysterious truth of what the bread of life is, the altar at St. Gregory's of Nyssa Episcopal church becomes the center of a food pantry. Out of this place flows the redemptive imaginative power and stories like that of the gospel. As Sara says...
because where ever there is food, spirit and matter intersect. And the power to feed___ and particularly food to share with outside your tribe___ always has the potential to transform lives. ( Jesus Freak; page 21 )
The gospel is filled with profound stories of the table hospitality of Jesus. These become spaces of redemption. Where ever Jesus, food and strangers came to the table, it was like a reaction in a test tube. Out of the process, there was always the potential of a new creation happening. Sara makes it absolutely clear this is not a historical truth, we all have the power to do the same thing today. In the power Jesus has given each one of us, we step into everyday life...and simply live it out. The kingdom becomes glaringly present. Through real stories, in real time, Sara Miles shares stories of the power of feeding.
In Jesus Freak, Sara shares stories of healing in the midst of the community, and on the fringe. Stories of alcoholics, drug addicts, the sick and the mentally ill. Stories of healing that baffled the medical community. Stories that defied reason and logic. And there were stories of ordinary people becoming healers. She tells the story of a woman named Martha, on a trip in South America traveling a country road, they come across a man, the victim of an accident, covered in blood. You can't help reading Sara's story, and see the gospel story of the Good Samaritan cast it's shadow. Martha, thinking the man is dying places her hand on his chest. She says, " If he is dying. I want to make sure the last thing he remembers is the hand of someone caring for him." I'll tell you no more. I'll let you read the rest of Martha's remarkable story.
Sara conveys, a profound truth in her healing stories...relationship.
All prayer can do is heal, because healing comes embedded in relationship, and prayer is one of the deepest forms of relationship___with God, and with other people. And through relationship, there can be healing in the absence of cure. ( Jesus Freaks; page 85 )
In the section titled raising the dead, Sara tells an incredible beautiful story of Laura. A woman dying of advanced lung cancer who phones the church inquiring about a program called, " Scared Dying." Ironically, the real name, was a hospice program called, " Sacred Death." Again, that's all I'm telling you, other than, in it you'll discover the resurrection all over gain. The truth that the resurrection can happen today, and you can be apart of it. Yet, is it impossible...what could it possibly mean to raise the dead?
Jesus Freak, was a breath of fresh air. For those stuck in their pew, like a spare player, a substitute waiting to get onto the field a play...this is the book. And for pastors, and churches wanting to make mission more than a program...to move it into the realm of everyday life...this is the book. In Sara Miles book we once again discover Jesus' truth that I have not left you alone, and empty. That Jesus has given us his words, and his power. That we would do greater things.
Places where you can purchase the book, you can connect here at the following (Links ). I highly recommend you put this on the top of your " To Read " list. Sara Miles, Jesus Freak, will inspire, and encourage you to live your faith boldly in the wide open spaces of everyday life.
In my faith journey I find my self again at the cross roads. I'm beginning to see the reality of faith being stuck, bogged down in one big profound mysterious cross road. And, what makes navigation difficult is the lack of obvious controlled signals for direction; there is heavy traffic;it is getting increasingly noisier as conflicting voices vie for control. This would be the reality of faith in the 21st century, the new millennium...the threshold of post-modernity is barely visible as we look back.
More, and more traffic is backing up here. It's like a clogged artery ready to burst, and in it, trying to push their way to the center are the fundamentalist voices of religious police man. Each trying to direct their commuters forward, or in new directions.
We have culture, technology, religion,the environment, and go(d)ogle..and humanity jammed into this profound mysterious cross road. Yet, this is where faith finds it self these days. This is where we're all living .
I would estimate that most of the church hasn't even lifted their head, to look around. It's like the dazed driver with tunnel vision. They don't even acknowledge the intersection. They know everything has come to a stand still, and are content on inching their way forward. But if they really had a good look around they'd see many have abandoned the vehicle.
Look around what ever "church" vehicle your in. How many passengers under 20-30 are in your vehicle? Then ask yourself why? I suspect most have got tired of waiting in the intersection. They've opted to exit the vehicle and live " in " it.
Is there a way forward?
I think back into the gospel story, Jesus and the disciples on their way to Caesarea Philippi. Fascinating, that this too was a cross road. An intersection of trade and commerce, of religion, of philosophy, and culture. And, mysteriously, it's at the cross road Jesus asks, the provocative question, " Who do people say I am?"
Prophet, teacher...Messiah. There not really sure. They continue to follow.
Again, the gospel story. A roof top rendezvous with a pharisee, a religious scholar of the day. Nicodemus is profoundly aware of the intersection. And also he is captivated by imagination, and mystery of what, and who Jesus is. He sees Jesus as away forward, or what may be more true...is a way to live in the intersection. To live in the intersection, one needs to be born of the Spirit...reborn from above.
So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be 'born from above'—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone 'born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God." ( Eugene Peterson's, The Message: John 3:7-8 )
The following quotes are from Harvey Cox's latest book, " The Future of Faith." He says...
All signs suggest we are poised to enter a new Age of the Spirit and that the future will be a future of faith” (p.224). “Faith is resurgent, while dogma is dying. The spiritual, communal and justice-seeking dimensions of Christianity are now its leading edge as the twenty-first century hurtles forward, and this change is taking place along with similar reformations in other world religions” (p.212). ( my friend Bill Dahl, has a great review of the book )
Again, the gospel story. Jesus meeting a woman on the extreme fringe of her culture, religion and community. So embedded is her identity in that intersection, she is stuck with no way forward. Interesting the well is central to the story, and the metaphor of religion as being a well. She is convinced her well is the only way forward. There's history, family heritage, ritual...and culture. They have always drank from that well. Tradition can be come deep ruts, in the intersection, where we just sit and spin our tires.
But Jesus convinces her that there is way to live in the intersection. It comes from drinking from another well, where it doesn't matter if you worship God on your mountain, or in your temple. What matters, is that you worship in Spirit, and in truth. That is the living, God is looking for, and...that is how you live in the intersection.
"It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."( Eugene Peterson's;The Message:John 4:23-24 )
What has always caught my attention, and my heretic imagination is the profound mystery of the gospels. How the disciples lived out faith in the midst of the cross road. No where do I find the disciples making a statement of faith. Jesus seemed totally unconcerned about reducing faith to doctrine or dogma. Faith in Jesus was far more about the Spirit, of living in that profound incredible divine mystery in the context of the cross road.
So if the church is going to live, and survive in the cross road...it will really need to think seriously about abandoning the vehicle. And I say that more in a sense of structure. To live in that cross road, will in a sense, be to live, more of a profound simplicity of theological structures. In the intersection there is more of a profound sense of mystery. The church will once again have to learn to engage mystery. It will have to ask the big big question, " What is it, to live in the age of the Spirit?"
I think we will begin to find far more profound mysterious truth in the Jesus story, in the gospels. Especially when we can learn to live out the fullness of its theology and practice.I think with the help of the Spirit we will live and grow in the cross road. I really think, that is where the future of faith will be found.
This was one of those things I meant to do long ago. You're right, how do you say...procrastination! Anyways, it's done I hope. And, I hope it's a change that will help readers, or anyone who accidentally drops in for a visit. Cleaner, will make it more focused, and readable.
I've tried to clean up the " side bar ", and move everything up to the top shelf in a navigation bar. The only thing, in the side bar now is recent posts, and Twitter updates.
Anyways, please...give me some feed back.. Likes and dislikes, all feed back is good.
