Ron Cole : off the map...navigating life.

Advent...re-imagining everything

Two thousand years of wandering down the corridor of history and things are looking a little dilapidated. We look out the window and see a climate that is less predictable, in some cases best described as extreme. We see a global economy that has best looked like a poker game where none of the big name players had the sense to fold their cards and walk a way...and realize it wasn't just money, it was lives. As the gap between rich and poor widens, the middle class vanishes, slipping way, and the chasm widens even further. Social well-fare by government and society, taking care of the least, is now dog eat dog, every man for himself. What was once short term unemployment has become a constant way of life for many. Oppressive, dictatorial political regimes can no longer control the message in cyberspace,in a internet connected world. The middle ground of level headed, hospitable and open-table conversation has been lost in the polarization of left and right, liberal and conservative...democrat and republican. And the west continues to try and preserve the status quo, to maintain it's deserved life style...it grows increasing more blind to third world poverty. The so called dark continent becomes darker only because we have turned the lights out. In the world of religion there have been some break through, but still there can only be one that is right, and the rest wrong. As the church in many places shrinks it has the distorted perception it is being persecuted by the secular world.

So on the threshold of Advent 2011 again humanity waits, and is more desperate than ever for some kind of divine intervention.

We want a divine Mr. Fix It, some one who can do an extreme make over, some one who can do an extreme renovation. We want divine business administrator who can wave a wand and generate jobs, and at the snap of a finger...make money. We want a kind of divine farmer whose good a building fences keep " us " on the greener side of the fence...and everyone else over there. We want a God that's like us, and likes what we like. And well, we want a savior that is more of a retirement planner that can guarantee a reservation in an all inclusive resort when time on earth winds down to nothing.

Again, as every christmas, Christians want everything except...Jesus.

 Maybe we're asking for something Jesus never really offered? Maybe, we just didn't get Jesus? We, as humanity were asking for one thing...a savior, a divine Mr. Fix It...and Jesus offered something just too profoundly redemptive beyond our imagination. In John's gospel it say's, Jesus pitched his tent, moved into our neighborhood...into the midst of humanity. He didn't move in with them, the others or just " like " us...he moved into the reality of all humanity, all its diversity, and beauty. Jesus embraced it " all "...he became one of " Us " all of us. Emmanuel, " God with us."

In his divinity, this God-man gravitated towards the oppressed, the poor, the hungry, the marginalized, the sick, the sinner, the widow and orphan...it's because it's the reality of what God is, " compassion and justice." The arc of this God, who Jesus described as " Love " has always bent towards compassion and justice. But that is not to say Jesus did not engage the wealthy, and the middle class. He erased borders, boundaries and knocked down fences to where we could see the image of God in each other.

It was here in this messed up world in the midst of poverty, oppression, war, the empire selling it's story of prosperity and security...where we kept asking and waiting for a Messiah. Fix the mess, put the people we like, and the people like us in charge...and affirm " our " religion and we'll be happy. And Jesus had the nerve to say " you can't mark the time on a calendar; you can't say it's over there or over here...because " it's " here among you...it's in your midst."

" It ", was the " Kingdom " this wild scandalous redemptive place the blew the mind of humanity. It was world so unlike ours, it was the world upside down...or really " right side up. The manifesto of the Kingdom could be summed up in the opening of his journey in which he shared on the side of a hill. For the most part we have avoided it like the plague, or have reduced to mere spirituality that we light now and then like incense only to snuff it out should we think to deeply about it.

The Kingdom was where the last would be first, the hungry would be fed, the oppressed would have a voice, the widow and orphan taken care of, debts forgiven, swords and weapons turned into farming tools, loving your enemies, the prodigal sons and daughters would come home, it wouldn't matter where you worshipped...church, temple, mosque, synagogue or mountain, country and politics didn't matter...it was how big is your humanity. It really was about how much you love God and your neighbor...this where what it meant to be human hung in balance.

Jesus, the God-man saw everything, and lived life differently...he was the reality of what happens when divinity and humanity merge. It's is not a cosmic collision of destruction of judgement and violence. It is an embrace of divine love when heaven comes to earth...when a new earth, a new creation comes into being. Jesus saw that it could be here now, that it was in fact among us, in our midst...if we had the eyes to see and the ears to hear.

As quickly as he came, his message was to dangerous, to wild, and crazy...we killed the messenger.

This Advent I am focusing on " Emmanuel " this God that is with us...this Jesus that was one of us. But more this world that consumed his imagination, his words and his life. But more than that, he caught glimpses of its beauty and reality among us.

I believe more than ever that Kingdom is here. And if we dared imagined, and built it as Jesus saw it we could see the fullness of all humanity and new world...a new creation. Dare we just imagine this christmas...imagine and live profoundly differently.

 Doh! thanks for the heads-up Jeremy...here's the links to the rest of the folks that were involved in the Advent Snchroblog...

A few days ago Christine Sine  invited people to join us for Advent beginning with a synchroblog November 23rd and moving through Advent with daily reflections drawn both from these and other contributions. Here are the first of those links which will be reposted on her blog together with other contributions throughout the Advent season. Enjoy! 

• Liz Dyer at Grace Rules – Expect the Unexpected
• Sarah Styles Bessey at Emerging Mummy – In Which I’m Expecting Something from Advent
• Miz Melly at Perchance to Dream – Parousia
• Kathy Escobar at The Carnival in my Head – Present, Humble, Vulnerable
• David Perry at Visual Theology – Advent As A Mirror of Possibility
• Christine Sine at Godspace – Jesus Is Coming What Do We Expect?
• Liz VerHage at Living Theology
• Sally Coleman at Sally’s Journey – Come Spirit of Advent
• Glenn Hager – Antithetical Advent
• Tammy Carter at Blessing The Beloved – His Gift … the way of escape!
• Ellen Haroutunian – Remember Our Story
• Carol Kuniholm at Words Half Heard – What I’m Waiting For
• Mihee Kim-Kort – Advent Expectations: Keep Awake
• Wendy McCaig – We’re Expecting A Baby
• John Reid at Blog One Another – Undiscovered Advent: The Second Coming of Christ
• Dave Wainscott – For Advent I’m Expecting What I Desire and What I Deserve
• David Henson – Reflections on the Second Sunday of Advent
• Jeremy Myers - Jesus is Reurning Today                                                                    

Make sure to visit, read and engage in the conversation...some really thought-filled and provocative musings.

hijacking the gospel...

Years ago as moved further to the fringe of christianity and beyond I was constantly confronted by the reality of life and the gospel. Somehow the gospel had been hijacked. This profound scandalous redemptive story of resurrecting a new creation, and alternative new world...the Kingdom of God, became a transaction of belief for a room reservation in heaven. We may do charitable good deeds in the world...but the transaction of salvation dominates the reality of christianity today. Living out of the profound depths of the gospels of Jesus' life...his divine redemptive imagination that turned the world upside-right has changed my view of what faith is really about. This past summer I read a lot of the writing of Walter Rauschenbusch...he offers christianity much wisdom in this fragile place the global village finds itself today.

During Walter Rauschenbusch's eleven years of ministry in Hell's Kitchen he located the social problem of his congregation, which was largely the working class poor, in the unfair capitalistic economic system, which at that time had no security or safety for the welfare of the poor. He found a discrepancy between his familiar faith, which was largely traditional evangelical, and the social ills the members of his church experienced. The discrepancy made him reassess his faith and re-approach the Bible with this question in mind. He was receiving resistance from his friends who began to urge him to give up social work...and devote himself to "Christian work", preaching the salvation message. Some of them grieved for him, but he knew the work was Jesus' work, his redemptive faith and he went ahead, although he had to set himself against all that he had previously been taught. He had to go back to the Bible to find out whether he or his friends were right.

Rauschenbusch had been rocked by life and he went to the Bible to translate his experience, and discover the profound reality of the Kingdom of God. And he was amazed to see all that he had missed before. This is a parable written by Rauschenbusch:

"A man was walking through the woods in springtime. The air was thrilling and throbbing with the passion of little hearts, with the love wooing, the parent pride, the deadly fear of the birds. But the man never noticed that there was a bird in the woods. He was a botanist and was looking for plants. A man read through the New Testament. He felt no vibrations of social hope in the preaching of John the Baptist and in the shouts of the crowd when Jesus entered Jerusalem. Jesus knew human nature when he reiterated: 'He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.' We see in the Bible what we have been taught to see there. We drop out great sets of facts from our field of vision. We read other things into the Bible which are not there."

I am consumed by the gospels. I read my life into them, and live my life out of them. Some people might say my faith is myopic, narrow short sighted...I can only say my faith has become panoramic, cosmic...in which my imagination runs wild. I know in Jesus, and in the profound mystery of the gospels...there is in fact abundant life. If we dared grab that mustard seed of faith, and dared live, speak Jesus...we could re-create the world a new. We could see the Kingdom of God, on earth as in heaven. As christians we really need to ask...how much are we willing to imagine, and how much are we willing to live.

Occupy...Heart, Mind...and Soul

    My wife, Colleen and I decided to head downtown last Sunday to Occupy Victoria for the inter-faith service. In the past days and weeks the movement seems to be occupying less space. The cooler wet weather, the police, the fire department's daily inspection to ensure folks are complying with by-laws have all caused the site to evaporate somewhat. There are some people who would no doubt say this is a good thing...out of site out of mind so to speak. I think in many cases people have painted the " Occupy Movement " with a very broad brush stroke trying invoke an image of people just looking for a cause, any cause, to pitch a tent and make a lot of noise. There have been incidents involving drugs and alcohol. But to say it's a symptom of the " Occupy Movement " is not being very honest. Anyone involved in the inner city know addiction is a constant reality. But if we can some how connect, and attach these things to the " Occupy Movement " we can some how dirty its image, and muffle its voice.

Another critique of the " Occupy Movement " is that is lacks focus, the picture that it has painted for the city, the country and the global village to see is too abstract. Why can't the movement just come up with one focused issue...banking reform, employment, poverty, homelessness, the environment, climate change, military spending, social justice? Just pick one and present it to the political powers of the day in the form of a bill to be debated and swept under the rug.

Do yourself a favor, if you already haven't, read the " Declaration by the People's Assembly of Victoria." What has really intrigued me is why the " Evangelical Christian Church " for the most part has not engaged in the conversation, or has occupied space in the midst of the movement. The projected image of the Occupy Movement may appear abstract, it's many diverse voices may appear more like noise and static...but, what it really reveals to me is a systemic failure of life on all levels. Life is broken, the world is broken.

The movement wants to occupy space for conversation towards action...the church would rather occupy a building and hope for a new world dropped from heaven. I scratch my head in disbelief...how does a person of faith read the Bible and miss the "big " picture. I'll give you the " Cole's Notes " version...it's about creation, stewardship, justice, re-imaging a new world, co-creators building a new world where justice for all is an eternal reality.

It's not hard to read the " Declaration by the Peoples Assembly of Victoria " and see that everything points in that direction...the whole arc of the movement and conversations bends towards justice.

If mankind is on a journey we've climbed to the pinnacle of that mountain...to get to the top we have embraced un-abandoned capitalism, unregulated free market economics, rampant consumerism, that rape of the planet for natural resources, a reliance on the speed of cyberspace to make our decisions...all the while leaving the poorest and most marginalized to fend for themselves. You can not pick up a daily paper and not come to the conclusion we are teetering, just trying maintain balance...hoping the status quo will once again settle down and we carry on life as usual. The perverted answer is, " if we could just create more jobs, we could spend our way out of this."

OK, I'll say it again...LIFE IS BROKEN, THE WORLD IS BROKEN.

We, all humanity need to re-imagine life. We need to come to the conclusion that life is not about trying to climb to the top, that success is not defined as wealth and power. That humanity is about a journey in which we all travel together. It's not a race in which we leave the poor, the sick, the uneducated, the other scattered in ditches along the highway of life. The health of humanity will be defined on how well we take care of the sickest of the sick. The wealth of humanity will be defined on well we share with the poorest of the poor. The life of humanity will be defined on how well we care for this planet, this global village we all live in. Humanity can no longer be sliced and diced into " us " and " them "...we have to come to terms of the reality of " one " and " All of Us."

I think it is really a sad statement that the " Evangelical Christian Church " has absolutely no voice. Where is the prophetic voice that could speak into this moment...not a voice of condemnation, offering the option of hell, or the myth of an eternal retirement home. But a voice that can pull wisdom out of this divine narrative, this written journey of humanity and creator...of a liberated world of peace and justice for all.

Jesus was the reality of humanity and God living in equilibrium. It caused Jesus to see, and speak differently...but also caused him to live differently. Jesus constantly lived in this alternative world he called " The Kingdom ", the world constantly being created " New." It was a world of unity, of justice, of peace...of radical scandalous redemptive Love...for one another, and all creation.

We as people of faith pray...

Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.

Have we said it so much that it has lulled us to sleep...that as soon as it leaves our lips it evaporates before even touching heart, mind and soul. Those words of Jesus should ignite the flames of imagination deep with in each one of us. What would it really mean to see the Kingdom come on earth as in heaven.

I can only imagine a " whole " new world. The tents may come down, the noise, the protest and the conversation of the Occupy Movement may die down...but we must never let the truth of what it revealed to be evicted from our heart, mind and souls. And its time for Christians to engage in this world, not placing all your hope in this new earth that might drop from space. In the deepest sense of reality, Jesus' faith was about living in the now...not the future.

The world continues to teeter precariously. Faith is about hope...but is also about " action " Will we as a humanity do more than just hope, or will we have the courage and the collective will, to live differently and build a new world. Time will tell.

leaky churches...

 

                                     

If you remember one prophetic word, this is it: Soul slips away easily from a church or an institution. You may go to any of these places and find that the Spirit has departed; the Shekinah is gone. When a local church loses its soul it begins to slip into mediocrity and is unable to give life. The average person doesn't even know when a church begins to lose its soul. It takes unusual deeper wisdom to see it, and then when we see it, it is costly beyond words to retrieve it. ( N. Gordon Cosby...a quote from Regent College )

What if... ... ... what would our lives say?

What if one day the entire body of Christ was struck dumb? What if we couldn't write a word; couldn't speak a word, and we couldn't move our lips to mouth one.

 

What then? What would be left? 
Our lives.
And what would our lives say?

What would they say about who we are and who our God is?

What would they say about what we believe?

 

If we were to take away the words, how much of the gospel would the world understand? Would we discover the world is illiterate? Or that our lives are illegible?
Would the writings on the pages of our lives, which we always took to be literate, turn out to be the scribblings of a preschooler? Or would the pages simply be blank?

"Preach the gospel," Saint Francis said, "and when necessary, use words." And he said that, I think, because he realized that the most impactful words are those incarnate in our lives. Words that are made flesh and dwell among the world.

 

Who do you say I am ?

I am in the cold bitter wind the blows through the back alleys of the inner city,

I am in the loneliness of the just released inmate who hears, " there's no room in the Inn tonight",

I am in the shit-stained, urine soaked clothing of the incontinent alcoholic,

I am in the desperation and hunger of the crack addict,

I am in the poverty of the dumpster diver,

I am in the pain and suffering of the woman who lives in the memories of her children,

I am in the frenzied and scattered thoughts of the mentally ill trying to communicate,

I am in the shivering and shaking body of the man covered in cardboard in the dark door way,

I am in the broken, and rotting tooth smile of the bag lady,

I am in the calloused hands reaching for your spare change,

I am in the tears of those who have lost a friend to the street,

Who...do you say I am,

Have you ever thought of finding me here?

( my musing...Matthew 25:31-45 )

the price of selling churches = some won't get fed

About a few years ago I was involved in Victoria's Homeless Awareness Week wich usually happens every November. I was organizing a table down in the Bay Center building for the Mustard Seed Church and Food Bank. There were many other social non-profit agencies occupying the lower floor of the Bay Center; Our Place, Cool Aid, Salvation Army, Youth Empowerment Society, Street Link and many more. It was a chance for all of us to engage the Greater Victoria public, to let them know what we were about and to answer their questions. But what I discovered through out the week was that, " WE ", all these different non-profit social justice agencies were sort of aware of each other...but, we really don't know a lot about each other. I'm not saying we don't care, or that we somehow create our own little empires. It's that some times we can just get consumed with " mine " and miss what's going around " Us ".

Rather than have the reality of social justice in Victoria be a piece seamless fabric, it can be sometimes more patch work...a little ragged...or occasionally a hole in it. The idea of seamless means we communicate more, network more with one another...get together and talk about what's happening at street level. That way we are duplicating services, stepping on someone elses toes...and we can share resources. And, maybe we need find the space to pray more together be bring into concsiousness that the same Spirit fuels, and guides all " WE " do. This will make us mindful that social justice should be a seamless fabric...in which we cradle and support all the marginalized in Victoria. No one falls through the "holes".

There is a group that makes up part of the fabric of social justice in Victoria that needs our prayers and support, and that is...The Rainbow Kitchen. Situated on the border of Victoria, and Esquimalt is Vic West, it is here on the corner of Henry and Catherine Street that the Rainbow Kitchen serves the marginalized community of Victoria. ( You can read their history...here ) They have been serving the poor, the addicts, the homeless, the working poor, seniors and handicapped since 2001.

The Anglican Diocese of British Columbia acouple of years ago started to down size, re-structuring the parish model of doing church in Victoria. The outcome was closing churches...and placing them on the real estate market. St. Saviours the home of the Rainbow kitchen was one such church with a " for sale " sign on it. This reality has been hanging around the neck of the Rainbow Kitchen for awhile. Like a dark cloud, it does cast a shadow which has been hard to avoid. Now in the midst of the clouds there is thunder rumbling through the Rainbow Kitchen that it has been sold. There are still somethings that need to fall into place...but, the reality...the Rainbow Kitchen's future is fragile at best. " We " all need to be praying for the future of the Rainbow Kitchen. If lost, its ministry will have a huge impact in the marginalized community of Victoria. 

It is not just the loss of a meal, which is huge when it may be your only meal of the day. But, think about this reality...since 2001, five days a week, even on holidays...lunch has been served. There is something profound when people gather around a table and eat a meal. It is the " miracle " of community. It's where conversations are kindled, walls come down, borders are crossed...community happens. There are some people who have eaten together here for 10 years. People with in the community have passed away...there loss is very tangible. And in the midst of it, yes...God does show up.

So please pray for the future of the Rainbow kitchen...with out the Rainbow Kitchen there will be a huge hole within the fabric of social justice in Victoria.

Finding Life Beyond Religion…Is There A Way Forward

In my faith journey I find my self again at the cross roads. I’m beginning to see the reality of religions 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.

My latest article...PROVOKETIVE MAGAZINE.