On truth and Heschel
Abraham Joshua Heschel (second from right) marching with MLK and others in Selma, AL
I think I can safely say I’ve come to a conclusion in my spiritual journey. I’d like to make a statement of that conclusion. Some may find it absurdly simple and self-evident, and I’m ok with that. I’m just processing out loud here.
I’ve come to the conclusion that I judge the truthfulness of a belief system/philosophy/religion by the impact it has on healing and restoring human relationships and human relationship with the rest of creation. Today, not tomorrow, not a thousand years in the future when everything will be ok. Whatever I may hear of, I ask myself, “Does this approach offer hope for the world today? Reconciliation? Radical love? Forgiveness? Today?”
By this standard (though I’m coming from a specific biased place), with my semi-limited knowledge of world religions/belief systems/philosophies, I find historical, traditional Christianity to offer the greatest sense of hope and potential for healing and restoration of all that I’ve come to know.
While saying this, I should add that the religion most caustic, most opposed to radical healing and restoration of God’s creation that I’ve come into contact with is modern Christianity.
There are many reasons why I say this, but the primary one that struck me today is modern Christianity’s world-nial and primary focus on questions of heaven and hell at the exclusion of real, physical life today. In this system of thought, the radical commitment to love of neighbor and enemy, humility, forgiveness, respect for and cherishing of all of God’s creation, the centrality of church to redeem the world; all of these are relativized, made less important, than questions of eternal reward and punishment. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard (and have myself said), “This world is fallen and cursed because of human sin, irrevocably broken beyond fixing. God is not concerned with saving the world, but instead saving humans from the world. And God will be blowing up the world and starting all over anyways, so we’d better be ready for his return.”
In fact, in a discussion with a person who’s been a self-confessed Christian for a long, long time recently, they told me, “You’re going to Cincinnati to address problems of poverty. You probably won’t change much.” It was almost as though I was confronting the Nathan of several years ago, the Nathan so concerned about “saving people” for heaven without a deep understanding of the call for justice today. The Nathan more interested in living in a place that is comfortable, safe, where I can shake my head and talk about people “over there” (most often in the city), spend time with persons most like me (in ethnicity and common commitments and social class). Meanwhile, I would be offending and ignoring God’s call to radical reconciliation in the world; the Biblical mandate for Christians, out of all the people in the world, to be the most committed to breaking cycles of poverty, violence, abuse, and social neglect. People of the resurrection, of a God more powerful than the fear of death, should be the most free to be people of reconciliation, yet more often we retreat into our cultural homogeneity. And what’s worse, we justify it with our theology.
We have literally wrapped the gospel of the Bible around the American individualist dream. Shoved the gospel into a hole that doesn’t fit, and therefore trimmed off the gospel to make it more palatable, less invasive, less life-altering.
I’m come to realize how how absurdly out of touch that belief is with the Bible, how it destroys the desire and the motivation in people to work for bettering this world. If God’s just going to start all over again anyways, why invest in a world that’s just “a-passin” away? When we believe this, our Christianity becomes irrelevant, insipid, evil, and empty. And something always fills that void. In America, it is the second-most evil approach in life in my book; self-centered individualism. It is an infection, a cancer in Americans that has metastasized into a disease unto death. I have become so progressively disgusted with this individualism and its unholy blend with modern Christianity that I deeply struggle with self-righteousness when I come into contact with it. Because the God of the Bible is much less focused on my individual life, and much more focused on recruiting people to join him in His project of setting things right in His world again. Or, as I like to say these days, “Christianity is not about God finding his place in my story, it’s about finding my place in God’s bigger story.” The truth of Christianity is thus much less dependent on my personal feelings of God’s “realness” or what have you and much more dependent on whether I see something transcendent, something deeply hopeful, in Jesus and in the God of the Bible. And I do. Much more deeply today that before, which makes my heart ache to see God’s justice and God’s agenda come to pass.
I don’t mind as much when American consumers worship at this altar as their primary belief system. But modern Christianity has so deeply bought into this cultural message. Our worship songs focused on “I” and “me” desiring emotional connection with the God who “fulfills the desires of our hearts” and “has plans for us, plans to give us hope and a future,” who “makes all things work for good” in our lives (all Scripture ripped out of context to focus on the individual, with God being judged on whether we sense His care for our individual lives on a daily basis). Our churches with professional pastors working their butts off to teach well and worship leaders to sing and play and provide an interesting experience for others to consume. Our budgets devoted to buildings for each individual church filled with the latest in modern technology to attract the crowds; flat-screen TVs, Max Lucado book studies full of sappy self-help reassurance that we matter, etc. Sometimes I just want to prophetically vomit in the aisle of the church worship gathering and leave it as a testament to how I think God feels.
This feeling became more acute tooday I was listening to Krista Tippett’s Speaking of Faith while scrubbing at brick with a wire brush for hours on end. She interviewed Arnold Eisen, chancellor of Jewish Theological Seminary, about Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel; his legacy, and his prophetic voice in the world. This was the third time I listened to this interview because I became absolutely captivated by the words and leadership of Heschel the first time around, and want his words to sink deeply into my life. One of his key phrases was this;
“The opposite of good is not evil, it is indifference.”
I see the truth, and find great meaning in that, though I would rephrase it to state, “The opposite of good is evil, which is most often expressed through indifference.”
Listen to the interview here. I promise you, if you have a soul that even mildly cares about the world around you, you will be inspired by Heschel to be a more active, more honest, more hopeful presence in the world.
My thoughts here have been jumbled, I’m sure, but I’m still sorting them out. I welcome comments on my thoughts on other religions if anyone’s interested, but I didn’t want to write forever and ever.
“I would say about individuals: an individual dies when he ceases to be surprised. What keeps me alive — spiritually, emotionally, intellectually — is my ability to be surprised. I say, I take nothing for granted. I am surprised every morning that I see the sun shine again. When I see an act of evil, I am not accommodated — I don’t accommodate myself to the violence that goes on everywhere. I’m still surprised. That’s why I’m against it; why I can fight against it. We must learn how to be surprised, not to adjust ourselves. I am the most maladjusted person in society.”
– Abraham Joshua Heschel
Why move? Why not professional ministry? Why?
Some people have been asking why we’re moving to Cincinnati, why I’m not going to be a “minister” there…
Others have desired that I update them on the next steps we’ve been taking since my announcement of our life change.
To all of you, I say, no huge specifics yet.
We have bought a house in a crossroads neighborhood called North Avondale, we will be there in May, it does have a sewage line backup, so yes, we have wet crap in our basement, and yes, we’re excited and nervous and afraid and wanting so desperately to have community and wanting so desperately to live the kingdom of God and evangelize by the way we live a hope worth fighting for.
But for now, I heard a song today that illustrates the why; “Why give up comfort? Why share a living space so closely with others? Why leave this area? Why?” Because we are a part of God’s church, God’s holy nation, called out of the darkness and into his wonderful light. And as the church;
God has chosen us, God has chosen us
To bring good news to the poor.
God has chosen us, God has chosen us
To bring new sight to those searching for light
God has chosen us, chosen us
And to tell the world that God’s kingdom is near,
To remove oppression and break down fear,
Yes, God’s time is near, God’s time is near
God’s time is near, God’s time is near.
God has chosen us, God has chosen us
To set alight a new fire.
God has chosen us, God has chosen us
To bring to birth a new kingdom on earth.
God has chosen us, chosen us;
And to tell the world that God’s kingdom is near,
To remove oppression and break down fear,
Yes, God’s time is near, God’s time is near
God’s time is near, God’s time is near.
God is calling us, God is calling us
In all whose cry is unheard.
God is calling us, God is calling us
To raise up the voice with no power or choice:
God is calling us, calling us:
And to tell the world that God’s kingdom is near,
To remove oppression and break down fear,
Yes, God’s time is near, God’s time is near
God’s time is near, God’s time is near. *
And to those who think we’re utopian, that we just “need to grow up” and be like everyone else, who think this is a phase we’ll get over, to those who believe the world’s going to hell in a handbasket and all we should do is save some souls and wait for Jesus to come back, I say one thing;
“Watch us. Watch us, and you can even have a little chuckle when our middle-class white world gets blown to bits as we encounter some other facets of human life. But watch us. And see if we don’t show something a little different. If we don’t find some refining that burns away some of what we didn’t need.”
We just might surprise someone. Or we might be utopian and crash and burn. But let’s raise a glass to seeking first God’s kingdom.
*the song actually says, “God has chosen me,” but that sounded pretentious in this context; a little vain.
I’ll miss you, Shenandoah Valley
The changing of the seasons where I’ve called home for many years. Cincinnati, here we come, but not without loss.
Fall
Winter
Spring
*sigh* God’s country, this place is.
Rwanda’s National Mourning Day (Genocide Remembrance Day)
I was driving up to Eastern Mennonite Seminary yesterday morning to participate in chapel when I heard on National Public Radio that April 7 is a national day of remembrance in Rwanda. For those not familiar with world events, in the year 1994 ethnic and tribal tensions in the central African country of Rwanda spilled over into a horrendous systematic genocide perpetrated by the majority tribe (the Hutus) mainly against another tribe (Tutsi), though other minority tribes (like the Twa) and Hutu moderates were killed as well. Over the span of approximately 100 days, about 1,000,000 (yes, six zeroes) people were killed, largely by the Hutu militias hacking them apart with machetes.
This was a sad, horrendous time in Rwanda, but it was also a sad, horrendous time in the world. The U.S. called Rwanda a “local conflict” and refused to use the word “genocide” because it may invoke moral responsibility on their part. President Bill Clinton later publicly expressed contrition for standing idly by during this time. In addition to U.S. non-action, significant charges have been made that the French government supported the Hutu perpetrators by both encouraging the Hutu death squads and turning a “blind eye” to the systematic killings when their troops were the only foreign forces in the country in June 1994. A damning report was released in August 2008 by a Rwandan commission of inquiry. According to journalist Linda Malvern,
The report – the fruit of two years’ work that includes the testimony of 638 witnesses, including survivors and perpetrators of genocide – is damning. It says that certain French politicians, diplomats and military leaders – including President FranÁois Mitterrand – were complicit in genocide. The French authorities knowingly aided and abetted what happened by training Hutu militia and devising strategy for Rwanda’s armed forces. Training and funding was also given to Rwandan intelligence services on how to establish a database later used to draw up a ìkill listî of Tutsi.
The most shocking allegations come from survivors who allege that French soldiers participated in the massacres of Tutsi. These soldiers were a part of Operation Turquoise, a French military intervention in June 1994, an ostensibly humanitarian mission that had the backing of the UN Security Council.
So from a world that uttered the phrase “never again” following the Holocaust in the 1940’s, passive ignoring and active assisting were the policy in the Rwandan “Holocaust.” This is one horrendous perspective of reflection on Genocide Remembrance Day. But I’d like to offer another that the typical journalist wouldn’t offer.
We Christians like to talk about “missions” a whole lot, and we like to talk about Matthew 28, Jesus’ “Great Commission,” where he said to “Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Many Christians have left the comforts and relationships of home to go to foreign lands, spurred on by this call to proclaim the name and mission of Jesus to the world. And when they have done so, they’ve met mixed results. In Africa, specifically, Christians often lament the big obstacles that meet them there; extreme poverty, tribal religions that maintain holds on the people, and other religions (especially Islam).
But with all of the struggles of Western mission in Africa, Rwanda was considered one shining example of success. Of all the nations in Africa, Rwanda had the highest conversion rate, and eventually the country could claim about 80-90% of its citizens as confessing Christians. Yet in 1994, in the most “Christian” country of Africa, one tribe of Rwandans slaughtered one million of their own people. For persons who care about the gospel (which should be all Christians), that leads to a big question,
“What in the world happened here? How can such a success story become such a tragic story of hatred and murder?“
And what investigators have suggested is that the gospel that was preached to Rwandans by Western missions groups was one that focused salvation on life after death, essentially, “Jesus died for your sins so you could be forgiven and go to heaven and not go to hell when you die.” This gospel, because of its focus on the afterlife, didn’t address its hearers’ (and eventual converters) everyday existence. Specifically, it had very little to say about social class, tribal, ethnic, racial, and familial relationships other than sexual behavior and marital boundaries. As a result, when a powerful racial hatred story came along (Hutu power), there was no counter-story in the “Christian” people of Rwanda to nullify the Hutu power story. To make this message come a little closer to home, this Rwandan gospel is the gospel most American Christians proclaim, which makes this more than a Rwandan problem; it makes it a global-church-wide problem.
To state this situation differently, it raises another important question. Is what the Rwandans received “the gospel”? And if it is, does this gospel have anything substantial to say about distinctions between people that lead to bloodshed? And specifically for the readers of this post, Does what you believe is the gospel only focus on the death of Jesus and its forgiveness of sins for eternal life, which means only heaven and hell after natural death?
If that is your gospel (and I wouldn’t be surprised if it is, because most of the Western world believes it is), I contend, Biblically, you’re missing the point of the gospel proclaimed by Jesus. And when you proclaim such a gospel in the world, it has disastrous results on the people hearing such a message.
I’m literally saying here that the Western church bears significant responsibility for the genocide in Rwanda. I’m not saying this to say the church is completely twisted and never has done anything good. I’m simply saying that when we miss the point of the gospel, and preach our missing-the-point as “the gospel,” it has consequences. Sometimes disastrous ones.
I saw the most recent example of the “gospel” we believe in when watching a video of a panel ostensibly put on to make Tony Jones look like a heretic (judging from the other panelmates) that ended up with statements from Tony, his “more orthodox” friend Scot McKnight, and his “definitely orthodox” (by American evangelical standards) panel-member Kevin DeYoung making statements about the gospel. I quote their three statements in full. In light of Rwanda, tell me which “gospel” wouldn’t significantly challenge the way of life of the Rwandan people and which ones would present to them a transformative message.
Jones: “The gospel is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. That none of us should be lost. He’s given us the ministry of reconciliation, therefore we are ambassadors for Christ. That’s the gospel. God is the protagonist. God does the work. We put our faith in God through Jesus Christ and that our job then is to take the message of reconciliation out to the world.”
DeYoung: “The most important thing is…to be absolutely solid on what the gospel is. The gospel is not first of all what we need to do for God, to go out and change the world or bring about shalom. The gospel is first of all about what God has done for us…The beginning point, the ending point, the thing that holds it all together is that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and rose again on the third day and without that we are lost in our sins and we are facing eternal punishment.”
McKnight: “Here’s how I define the gospel… I think it’s the work of the Triune God (Father, Son, Spirit) through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit to restore cracked eikons (which is what I call human beings) to union with God, union with others, for the good of others and the world. And the same apostle Paul called the gospel “the gospel of peace.” Shalom is the word he would have used there.”
What do you think? Regardless of the way you may respond to each statement, which one do you think most Western Christians would say is the gospel? And how might the story of Rwanda change the way you think about the gospel?
When our “gospel” is primarily focused on life after death, something powerful will occupy that vacuum of how to find meaning in this life. I saw another example of how that something powerful co-opts and changes Christian symbols on the back of a Ford Explorer today too.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, the gospel that we preach must be Biblically-rooted, must never take away from God’s dream for the world, and must lead to transformed patterns of living in this world that extend out through eternity. the world must see a visibly distinct group of people in the world to have something either to hate or model their lives after. A people pursuing God’s justice and God’s shalom. Anything less than that and we are setting our sights far too low.
Rwanda reminds us that lives hang in the balance.
Emerging church panel discussion…
For those interested in this thing called “emerging church,” wherever you might be coming from, here’s a good video as an introduction for you. Here’s the link to the video.
I encourage you, even if you find this stuff stupid drivel, meaningless chatter, or an unwise discussion for the church to be having, listen to these panel members. Tony Jones, especially in this panel discussion, has his finger on the pulse of why the “emerging conversation” matters for the church and for the world we live in.
Tony is already talking about it on his blog at Beliefnet, and I’ve posted my initial reflections in the conversation there. After you watch the video (and only IF you DO watch), I’d encourage you to join in the conversation. While I don’t agree with some significant theological positions Tony has developed, I was extremely impressed by his integrity, passion, and commitment in this panel. And Scot McKnight as well, though McKnight kept using the word “orthodox” in unwise, overly confident ways.
Panelist Kevin DeYoung, on the other hand, should be ashamed of himself and should publicly repent for his ill-advised book “Why we’re not Emergent” and perpetuating in his public persona the oversimplistic, demonized image of the emerging church conversation that evangelicals carry. I don’t expect him to, though, because he’s getting plenty of backslaps in the conservative evangelical community for it. A community, I should add, that loves drawing huge generalizations and massive stereotypes of people unlike them. In other words, a community perpetuating unwise distinctions that lead to masses of evangelicals being unwise stereotypers. And when they engage in that sort of behavior, that lack of wisdom obscures some of their solid, Biblical teachings that our culture needs to hear and see lived out.
Nate
I won’t say this often…
…but I say, “Fair enough, good point Glenn.”
“We’re being marched toward 1984.” (article linked)
And to think that Glenn Beck could express a thought that’s balanced between left and right. I applaud thee, Mr. Beck, I applaud thee.
*update* I would add, as a short commentary on Beck’s little article, that the big problem is not the typical conservative “government,” but rather the marriage of government and big business. Beck mentions big business earlier in the article and spends his most foreboding rhetoric on the government. If I were writing an article like this for the sake of raising awareness, I’d flip the order to focus on big business. It is they who are the ones lining the pockets of government officials and writing the legislation that Congressman slap their name on, by and large.
Perspective…
And to guide the direction of your reactions a bit I would suggest several things.
1) If this video makes you guilty or uncomfortable, don’t run from it, but don’t let it destroy you either. Though wealth and poverty ARE relative (a dollar has less purchasing power in America than in, say, Bangladesh), yet generally those who read this blog could stand to significantly alter their spending habits and lifestyle (myself included).
As an example, consider a man I respect named Cliff Kindy. Cliff serves in Christian Peacemaker Teams, has served several tours of duty in Iraq for CPT, is an organic farmer in Indiana, and committed to non-violence as a disciple of Jesus. In other words, Cliff sees the destructive violence of this world, puts himself in dangerous situations for the love of Christ and peace, and backs up his words with action at home too, by giving away every cent he makes over the poverty line so he doesn’t have to pay taxes because the bulk of them go to the military.
Kindy believes in the God beyond the chaos who calls us to witness to another way, and that leads to courageous statements like this;
“We didn’t come into Iraq with armed guards, we don’t wear flak jackets, we don’t ride in Humvees or tanks. And I think we’re alive today because that’s how we operated in Iraq. There’s no way anybody who is armed could have done the things we’ve done. We’ve been in the razor-wire cities. We’ve been in the homes of Iraqi families in Fallujah, Ramadi, Karbala. Abu Hishma village that was razor-wired for eight months, we slept overnight in that city. People would say, ‘Well, that’s naive.’ In fact, it’s realistic. If you’re going to run around with guns, you’re going to get killed.”
Do you see how Kindy, once confronted with the violence of this world, did not run away from the discomfort of the truth nor become paralyzed by the problem? He’s working proactively in all areas of his life to bring it into line with the peace of God and the selfless giving of one’s life for others. And in so doing, Cliff has become an example of courage to look up to.
In a society of passive people who live their lives vicariously through the success and failures of athletes and reality TV stars, we need people whose examples stick like a thorn in our sides. People who inspire us, frustrate us, and remind us that all is not lost yet, people who inspire us to “be the change we wish to see in the world.”
All this to say; if this video makes you guilty, consider how to reject cowardice and passivism to put that guilt to work in proactive ways.
