Thoughts and Ruminations

I have a desire.  A pretty simple one, really.  I just want people I know to connect one oft-quoted passage of Scripture to another oft-ignored passage of Scripture.  The connection between the two is deep and without question.  Yet we in our Scriptural ignorance seek to make the first say something it doesn’t, simply because we want it to.

The first.  Romans 8:1a, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,”

The second.  I John 2:5, “This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.“

The first is often used to say Christians are saved from God’s wrath because they “accepted Jesus” or “got saved” or whatever other catchphrase is used these days.  And “saved from God’s wrath” means from now until eternity something cosmically shifts when we “accept Jesus.”  The focus is generally on eternal destiny, with Jesus serving as the “get out of hell free” card.  If this was solely and obviously what this passage meant, then fine, we can deal with that.  But two things stick out at first reading.  First, there is a “Therefore” at the beginning of the passage, which suggests the next stage of an argument.  Here’s an example.  ”I have become aware that many Biblical passages are ripped out of context so we can make them say what we want.  Therefore, I resolve to read and interpret Scriptures in context.”  Here are the thoughts that go before Romans 8:1a;

“So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!   So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.“

And second, some reading the above Romans passage may have caught the comma at the end of the line. The comma is an indication of a pause in the middle of a larger thought.  Here’s how the larger thought moves on,

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.  Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”

Central question:  ”Is Paul addressing the idea of how someone might obtain eternal salvation or freedom from hell in this passage, or is he addressing something entirely different?”

(read the passage again)

I would suggest Paul is addressing something entirely different, and I think it’s pretty obvious in the larger passage.  Paul is struggling with the fact that he has met God, has been humbled by God, desires to honor God, wants his actions to follow this desire to honor God, and yet struggles to consistently match his actions to his inner desire.

“How is it that I desire one thing so much yet consistently do something different?” Paul asks.
“It’s because of this struggle between what I was created for and the rebellion which is rooted so deeply in the human heart and actions.”

“What can be done?” he asks.
“Celebrate God’s gift of Jesus, who both mystically gave himself as a sacrifice to unify humanity and God, and gave a piercing example of the kind of life that God desires from his creation.”

“What does God now expect?”
“Living in the Spirit.”

“What does that mean?”
“Desire what God desires.”

“What, practically, does that mean?”
“From the words of John, ‘This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.’”

This is the most powerful truth of the Romans passage. It is not focused on an afterlife, or a magical transaction released by a one-time prayer. It is a rigorous focus on the dual questions:

“Who is the authority?” and
What do I desire?”

The message is this. There is no condemnation in God’s nature directed toward those who commit to walk, speak, act as Jesus did. There is no mystical removal from God’s wrath that happens when we “pray the Jesus prayer” or “get saved” or any of that mess. There is no one-time-salvation-moment. It is about re-learning, embracing, seeking to live as we were created for.  To be “in” Jesus is to commit to walk as Jesus walked, which is a lifetime process.  This is God’s salvation…day by day.  It is a struggle, and time will make some things easier and more natural while exposing other, deeper rebellion within us that  must be confronted and striven against.

No more, no less.

How about we let Paul speak for himself, rather than twisting his words to make them fit what we want to see? We just might find a much more fruitful, joyful, challenging humbling message than we ever imagined Christianity to be about.

In the video I’ve linked to below, Brian McLaren is interviewed by Scot McKnight.  Both are vital voices in the church today helping the church shake off all kinds of excess baggage we’ve carried for many many years.  Both come down at very different places theologically, depending on the issue.  The video itself is provocatively named (I would say sensationally named) “Conversations on Being a Heretic.”  I absolutely HATE that title, because the whole “heretic” thing has been used by religious border patrols and by ridiculous individuals who think they’ve found some “secret” about spirituality alike throughout history.  Brian McLaren is asking important, essential questions about the message and lifestyle of Christianity from within the constraints of a deep respect for Scriptural authority and for Jesus….and the reward he gets for such searching is vitriol from heresy-hunters and outsiders who think he’s like them.

Brian McLaren is the single most important voice short of Jesus who has opened up space for me to breathe when I’ve felt something was horrendously wrong, when faith felt like a giant weight squeezing the life out of me.  He has led me in my spiritual quest not away from the Scriptures, but deeper into the Scriptures. He has led me not into the arms of any religious guru “because they’re all saying essentially the same thing,” but into a deeper trust in the words, example, and authority of Jesus in a way that has given me conviction beyond anything I’ve ever experienced before.  And yet Brian seems to be assailed from all sides in exploring his curiosity.  This video, in 19 short minutes, is Brian laying out in concise, straight-forward ways what he places his hope in, what structure he works within, and what he believes God’s agenda is all about.  And it. remains. beautiful.

Q | Conversations on Being a Heretic from Q Ideas on Vimeo.

Here’s some vital quotes from the video from Brian:

“I don’t think the primary question being asked by the Bible is the question, “Who goes to heaven, and who goes to hell?”  I think the primary question being asked is, “How can God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven?”  I think the primary question is “How can this creation that has been damaged by human sin, injustice, evil, lust, greed, the whole shebang, how can this creation be healed and how can we participate with God in the healing of this creation?”

…

“You just used the word salvation.  And for so many people, as soon as they hear the word salvation, they have a whole set of definitions in their mind.  I was a preacher for 24 years.  I really read the Bible, I still do!  And what I was always troubled by, was when I read the word “salvation” in the Bible, I would import a set of assumptions about what that word meant, and they didn’t fit what I saw in the text.  So when I read the text, the word salvation starts in the Old Testament, and it means liberation.  Salvation is what God does for the Jewish people getting them out of slavery. It’s not about getting them out of hell in the Old Testament, it’s about getting them out of Egypt.  So I’m trying to be hon est about those things.”

I’ve been having a bit of a conversation with some others on my Facebook page about the previous post here.  It was suggested that my intent in what I originally said was to “put America down.”  I spelled out my basic position as clearly as possible in response to that suggestion.  I quote it below as an addendum of sorts, a “going further” from the starting point of my initial comments to get down a little closer to the nuts and bolts of what I believe and how that affects America’s place in my thinking.

On this point of whether my words were intended to “put America down,” my response is the following.

Memorial Day is an American holiday (root meaning, “holy day,” set-apart) among others official (Veteran’s Day and Independence Day) and unofficial (Flag Day, Pearl Harbor, D-Day, etc) where a specific story is told that goes a bit like this,

“America is a free country. It is a free country because men and women have fought and died to make and keep it free, and it will only remain free as long as this continues to take place. Their gift to us is sacred, and it is our obligation to honor them, and our country, with shows of loyalty. Freedom isn’t free.”

As a Christian, speaking bluntly, I have huge, huge problems with this story. As a result, I believe it is the responsibility of all Christians, and specifically Christian leaders, on or close to these dates where this story is told, to tell an alternate story, one more like this.

“America is one of many countries. It has good qualities that deserve to be reflected on. We value freedom, but any “freedom” that requires demeaning or killing someone else to attain it is not freedom, but slavery to hatred and selfishness. Jesus taught and gave us the example of freedom: that we are free to love without boundary or thought of our own safety, that, yes, “Greater love has no-one than this, that they lay down their life for their friends,” but we don’t forget the next sentence, “And you are my friends if you do what I command.” And Jesus commanded us and showed us that we love and give our lives for our friends and enemies. America’s gift of its children to warfare is not sacred, but a tragedy. We should not spit on or disrespect soldiers for their commitments, but we should not worship militarism either. America is not exceptional, it is not the center of what God is doing in the world, and it has been a mixed bag of blessing and curse for our world. Pledge allegiance to Jesus and his kingdom, not an earthly kingdom. Now go, and speak and act accordingly.”

Unfortunately, where I’m from, and all over America, Christians show that America is most important to them by bringing all the American images into their worship; the soldier, the flag, the patriotic songs, the prayers for success, the belief that America is exceptional and righteous and good. Bluntly, this is IDOLATRY, which is the most heinous sin any of God’s creation can commit. We wrap God, Jesus, and Christianity in an American flag and think that’s ok.

So, do I go out of my way to “put America down”? I don’t think it’s the only thing I do, and if I “put America down,” I most often trumpet the beautiful vision of God’s kingdom that transcends ethnic, social, and national boundaries to include everyone committed to obeying him. Now THAT’S an exceptional group of folks!

I made lots of mistakes in my four years as the pastor of a church.  I have lots of regrets, lots of things I wish I did and didn’t say, people I wish I loved better, teenagers I wish I had been a better mentor for.  I have lots of things I think I did right, people I loved well, sermons I considered well, though too.

One of the things I do not regret at all, not in the least, the most courageous and responsible thing I did, took place two years ago on a Sunday morning on the eve of Memorial Day.  On that Sunday, many churches in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia were engaging in singing patriotic songs like “My Country Tis’ of Thee” and “The Star-Spangled Banner” and reciting the “Pledge of Allegiance” with their hands over the heart, while some had some song speaking of freedom with American flags rippling on the screen behind the projected words, finishing with a virtual flyover by some F-14s.  Because of those ridiculous displays of idolatry, and the twisted idea of a freedom to fight and die for rather than a freedom that leads you to lay down your life and die for your enemies and your friends, I felt a responsibility to distinguish what it meant to be Christian on that Sunday, and why we were different than our other American brothers and sisters.

I handed out a paper that had my words verbatim on the sheet, I prefaced my comments by telling persons if they disagreed with me or were frustrated or angry, that they had the words I was about to say in front of them, and I would love to speak with them in their homes.  Midway through my short talk, one couple got up and left (and afterwards, vowed they would not ever be at a worship gathering led by me again), others became angry, and several people’s relationship with me became fundamentally different that day.

After reflection, I’m convinced that was the  most courageous day of my life, that I did the right thing, that the anger of others was the conviction of Jesus confronting their idolatry, and that my relationship with those who left allowed me to practice loving my enemies.  The words I spoke that morning are quoted below:

We will not be focusing on the cultural holiday of Memorial Day in worship today, and I want to tell you why.

The kingdoms of this world and the kingdom of God are not the same.  The kingdom of the United States is a kingdom of the world with different purposes than the kingdom of God, and it is not the center of what God is doing in the world.  Now I’m not isolating the United States as being the only nation that is not the center of what God is doing in the world, because every kingdom of this world, all around the world, is not equal to the kingdom of God.  If we are willing to look beyond our cultural and national boundaries to the world as God sees it, we come to an understanding very quickly that the people group God is most concerned about in the world are His faithful people.

In Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, he wrote, (11-13, 19-22)

“Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ… Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”

We are fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.  If we are fellow citizens as disciples of Jesus, what are we citizens of?  (Israel, not the modern kind, but the faithful people of God; God’s kingdom).  We are centrally citizens of God’s kingdom.  And when we read today Paul writing to Gentiles who are no longer foreigners and strangers, but united as citizens of one kingdom, who is he writing to?  (those all over the world who have become disciples of Jesus, people who now are fellow citizens of the same nation, the same people).

What that means practically is that Christians in South Africa are not South African Christians, but just Christians living in South Africa, those in Britain are not British Christians, but Christians living in Britain, those in the United States are not American Christians, but Christians living in the United States, and those living in China are not Chinese Christians, but Christians living in China.  In all of these places, their primary citizenship is not the country they live in, but the kingdom of God’s people.

This is not something we can argue over.  It is not an opinion, it is fact.  And everyone here should know how careful I am when I speak to say most of what I say is my perspective on the truth.  But this is not my perspective.  It is the truth.  If we are Christians, we are primarily citizens of God’s global kingdom.

And all of these countries have their own cultural holidays, and all of the Christians living in those countries have to be able to separate between which holidays to focus on and which not to.   In regards to Memorial Day, if we’re asking whether God has ever used the United States in military action to accomplish his purposes, the answer is yes.  But the same answer would be given to all the other countries across the world as well. If we’re asking, has the United States in military action ever committed evil acts? The answer is yes.  And the same answer would be given to all the other countries across the world as well.

What should be troubling to us is the blank check that many Christians in America give to military action.  We are all over the board in this room on whether military action is ever justified to accomplish God’s purposes, and when we wrestle with this question, our perspectives must be rooted in the Scriptures.  But one thing we all can agree on is that military action is not justified in all circumstances at all times. If it is true that the unjust loss of life has taken place at the military’s hands, which it is, the military has acted in opposition then to the kingdom of God.

As we discern which cultural holidays to focus on a bit and which not, this is a consideration that should guide our worship. We are members of a global kingdom that does not see boundaries the way other persons do; we do not fragment the world into little pieces like other people do.  We are different.  We are Christians.

This is why Memorial Day is not appropriate for Christian worship because it focuses on America at the exclusion of the rest of world.  Because America is not the center of God’s world, it is not appropriate for it to be the focus of our worship.

From the daily lectionary today;

“Jesus called (his disciples) to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

- Matthew 20:25-28

Disciples of Jesus stand today just two days from the beginning of Advent.  It is one season of two in the year (Lent being the other) where disciples are encouraged to step back, reflect, and consider our lives under the gaze of a holy God.  Both are seasons of stripping away, of thoughtfully engaging in deprivation rather than sense indulgence, taking away things that provide us comfort and meaning in order to focus in on the meaning of the upcoming time.

Advent, and Christmas, then, are about remembering God’s great love for us, which is so great that he sent his Son as the fullness of truth.  Jesus emptied himself of power, and chose to embrace the human experience, beginning as a deeply vulnerable child.  He was such a threat to the powerful even as a child that a king committed genocide to seek to remove the threat.  He was not born to the elite, but to a common man and his wife.  And over the course of his life, he proclaimed this simple message from the lectionary today;

“Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant.”

Why?

“Because the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

That last phrase has come to mean so much more to me over the past year.  Jesus gave his life as a ransom.  In his life and teaching, he ransoms us from our selfish, rebellious way of life that makes us comfortable but spits on and denies the dignity of God and his creation.  He redeems us to be people of radical humility, unconditional love, and simple obedience.  In Jesus’ death, he ransoms us from the fear of death; facing his conspirators and his eventual murder with quiet strength.  In this act, even as we crushed him in our rebellion, he showed the love of God and the depth of God’s commitment to forgive and reconcile us.  And we are to do the same.  In his resurrection, he ransoms us further from the fear of death, revealing the power of a God more powerful than death; a God who rewards his people in life with abundant life and meaning, and a God who rewards his faithful people in death with life that extends into eternity.

Jesus ransoms us.

In the absurdity and sadness of what the Christmas season has become.
In the detached time of busyness, complexity, stress, and insane spending.
On this day, Black Friday, the day where we are encouraged to wait for stores to open at absurd hours so we can give them our money to “save.”
This official beginning of the Christmas season, the season where we follow the example of Santa Claus, raining down gifts everywhere in blissful disregard for the cost later,
may one single voice, the voice of the reason for the season,
whisper through,
“One’s life is not found in the abundance of possessions. Cease your striving. Simplify. Give your life, your energy, your money, to those who need it most. Spend your time and money primarily among the marginalized.”
Few will listen to this voice,
in a world where for Christmas, our parades sing the theme, “I believe in imagination. I believe in childlike hope. I believe in love. I believe in…
Santa Claus.”
Yet may disciples of Jesus strip away the stress of the season, taking on the resentment of friends and family who have grown used to the way of materialism, gathering that burden on our shoulders for the sake of our King, and say;
“Jesus is enough.”
Quiet.
Still.
Listen.

“God’s kingdom isn’t about our successes or failures; it’s about God’s movement in this world.  We must learn to simply join in, wait, and hope.”

-Russell Jeung

PSALM 147:1-11

Praise the Lord!
How good it is to sing praises to our God;
for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
He heals the brokenhearted,
and binds up their wounds.
He determines the number of the stars;
he gives to all of them their names.
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
his understanding is beyond measure.
The Lord lifts up the downtrodden;
he casts the wicked to the ground.

Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
make melody to our God on the lyre.
He covers the heavens with clouds,
prepares rain for the earth,
makes grass grow on the hills.
He gives to the animals their food,
and to the young ravens when they cry.

His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.

As I heard these words from the daily lectionary in our house morning prayers, my mind immediately shifted to a couple key issues I am often occupied with these days. The first is my ever-expanding understanding of God’s purposes with His creation, and the second is the role I am to play in participating in God’s purposes.

So, first things first.  This Psalm stands among many other testaments to God’s care in the Scriptures.  While the Psalms are prayers and not necessarily theologically correct or truthful to the purposes of God all the time, their poetry and artistic beauty illustrates the truth through a different method than simple statements.

Psalm 147 has become one of my favorites.

The Psalm begins with God’s intimate care for His people.  He binds up the broken-hearted, lovingly cares for their wounds.

The Psalm progresses immediately to the big-picture; that this intimate God also created the stars, those massive heavenly bodies in this expansive universe.  ”Great is the Lord, and abundant in power.”

The Psalm swings back to the intimate, communicating God’s care for the downtrodden; He is aware of their circumstance, and is not ok with the status quo of oppression. This powerful God who created all things is not an American liberal in the sky; hating that things happen outside his plan, yet unwilling to do much more than wring his hands or carry a protest sign.  This God will destroy the wicked; they will face consequences at some point.  He is intolerant to wickedness, and working to bring healing and dignity.

Then the Psalm deals with the big picture and the intimate at the same time.  He prepare rain, makes grass grow, gives food to His creation, not just creating but sustaining it.  And this powerful God is not impressed foremost with the power and strength of His creation, whether it be the rippling muscles and raw power of the horse or the swiftness of the human runner.  No, the Lord foremost takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in his steadfast love. I find this distinction to be powerful to reflect on.

This God is all-powerful, wants us to aspire after and imitate His character, yet wants us to “know our place” as well. There is a great tension in the Scriptures on this point; we are to shape our world the way God wants, yet we are to do it as radically humble, non-violent, suffering-love people.  God reserves the right to break the wicked, but we love them and give our lives for them unconditionally; even as we long for justice to be done. Spoken of negatively, we could say, “How hard this task is, and seemingly impossible!”  Spoken of positively, we could say, “How worthy a goal to devote our lives to, how all-embracing and all-consuming a task!”  To speak then of conversion as a one-time experience, or to use terminology like “got saved” as a past-tense event is to do a great disservice to the life of returning to God and being a responsible, joy-filled disciple of Jesus.

…and it is on this matter that I shift to the second issue I’m occupied with these days, which is the meaning our role as human beings to participate well in God’s creation.  We touched on this point specifically in our house church gathering on Sunday, and God’s people run into this point nearly every time they gather, discuss, and consider questions of larger significance.  It is the unacknowledged elephant in the room almost every gathering I’ve been a part of.  Most times it’s expressed as this;

“God has a plan and a purpose for his creation that he will carry out, and it’s my responsibility to be ok with that, to stop striving and let myself be a part of God’s plan that He’s going to carry out anyways.” Does anyone else hear that basic message in their gatherings?

We human beings are good at striving; we strive for possessions, we strive for comfort, we strive for power, we strive for emotional highs (whether from drugs or experiences), we strive for intimacy yet strive for it elsewhere when it becomes inconvenient.  Most of what human beings strive for is not a positive thing.  It seems that persons aware of this problem often live in reaction to this, and propose that the solution is to cease striving and accept.  To quit chafing at the bit and be content.  And like all over-reactions, there is some truth in this; we should spend time accepting, seeking contentment, and resting.  But what is the net result of the overreaction?  A people are created who believe striving itself is bad, who think the utmost of spirituality is to submit, to embrace.  I used to think this too, and with good reason.  Religious leaders would highlight verses like the above in Psalm 147 that “(God’s) understanding is beyond measure” or Isaiah 55 and “My ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts,” or the book of Job, which is a testament to the limits of human understanding.  The basic sense of the book is expressed in Job 40 and the interplay between God and Job,

The LORD said to Job:
“Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?
Let him who accuses God answer him!”

Then Job answered the LORD :
“I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?
I put my hand over my mouth.
I spoke once, but I have no answer—
twice, but I will say no more.”

All of these Biblical passages are important. They remind us that we are not God, that we are not free to do whatever we wish, that the journey to healthy humanity begins with submission and obedience to a Being much more powerful than we who has sovereignty over our lives.

Yet the religious leaders of my life either outright lived in ignorance of passages with different variations or were aware of them and chose to mute their voice. In doing this, they removed them from my knowing unless I was willing to read and ask questions of the Scriptures myself, which I was not willing to do at that point.

But over time, I got to know passages like Genesis 18, where Abraham negotiates with God to respond in certain ways according to the actions of the people of Sodom.  He does this by appealing to God’s righteous character that may be besmirched among humanity by their observing his devastating action.  I got to know about characters like Elijah and Jeremiah and Isaiah and Ezekiel who, instead of simply ceasing to strive when in relationship with God, simply cast their striving in a different direction.  They altered their goals and dreams to fit those of their Creator and found their world shifting around them; whether they found success or became unwanted persons because they didn’t fit in anymore with their old groups.  I looked at the wider context of the above-quoted Isaiah passage and found that the teaching there is for the wicked and the evil to abandon their old thoughts and embrace new ones, worthy ones, and that abundant life would flow from such a commitment.  So far from God wanting us to passively accept what we think are His ways, He wants to be invest the totality of who we are in something different.

And maybe the capstone of this much different perspective comes in Exodus 32 when Moses comes down off the mountain and observes that the people of Israel had grown impatient and begun worshiping a golden calf.  The interplay between himself and  God is interesting;

“I have seen these people,” the LORD said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. “O LORD,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’ “

Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.”

It seems like when God’s creation lives in depraved rebellion, God (acting alone because no one will join Him) shoots a little loose from the hip, so to speak.  God is more willing to use the destructive qualities He possesses to awaken his creation to the destructiveness of their ways.  But when someone choose to join Him, not just becoming mindless obeyers but really entering into relationship with Him, God alters His ways to be more relational, more healing, more patient.

What I’m saying is this; It seems that God has built into his purposes that He will act in direct relationship with the human beings He has made in his image.  When these humans forsake that calling and actively oppose Him, He will strike us down (whether in the short or long term).  When these humans cease striving against Him, even if we become benign persons who see our primary role as persons who just nod at what happens and say, “That is God at work in ways I don’t understand,”  God kind of prefers that, though the lack of an all-encompassing desire leads to lukewarmness (either with the person or succeeding generations).  Passivity will be a midpoint from active rebellion to active obedience.  But God’s highest purpose is that we would trade in our former, darkened, depraved strivings for new, enlightened, redeemed strivings. And that when we transcend striving against and benign obedience into active justice-seeking, He will reward our efforts by more actively working through us to redeem His creation.

What kind of spirituality is in your community? By and large, I think, most communities I know advocate the passive acceptance of “God’s will” as the proper sort of spirituality to seek after in this life.  But I just don’t see passive acceptance of the ways things are to be the primary method of the righteous in the Bible.  I see active pursuit of the true, the just, and the right. And that pathway involves agitating against the present order to transform it into its intended state.

And that pathway even includes questioning and cajoling God, which God not only doesn’t reject, but in fact embraces, appreciates, and acts in response to.  He may need to punch us in the mouth from time to time when we get too uppity and forget who we are, but He loves the activity, the striving, the justice-seeking.

“The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.”

A worthy pursuit. This God has me in His grip, and is beginning to consume me, leading me to place every thought and action captive to the grand question of whether it fits the vision of His kingdom coming and His will being done on earth as it is in heaven.

For those unaware of CCDA, the letters stand for Christian Community Development Association, an organization 20 years young.  The organization grew out of the reconciliation work of John Perkins, a long-time faithful, courageous disciple of Jesus whose work for racial justice began in the 1960s and has continued long beyond when “civil rights” didn’t carry quite the sexy feel that it did in the 60′s.  In that sense, then, Perkins is a persistent prophet and practitioner of God’s justice who, because of his persistence, has shaped a generation of people to God’s deep concern for reconciliation.

I’m volunteering at CCDA in a variety of roles while being limited by my work schedule, but each night from 7-9 is a public session of music and teaching open to all.  Last night, I was on video camera #2 in that public session, where Barbara Williams-Skinner and Soon Chong Rah were the main speakers.

Barbara was the first speaker, and I found great wisdom in her sharing.  She spoke of Moses speaking to the people of Israel from Sinai, exhorting them and encouraging them to consider where they came from and to focus on where they were going.  She spoke of the temptation to “remain in Egypt” in their minds while neglecting God’s providence and protection to get them where they were.  She spoke of the temptation in our day to neglect the deeper call to reconciliation, to settle for what little progress has taken place in the area of racial reconciliation.  It’s progress, but “we” (primarily whites and blacks) can’t say we love each other unless we’re spending time with one another.  Her words shaped for me the larger question; “How can brothers and sisters in Christ from different races be creative to be ‘with’ one another to show the world unity rather than fragmentation?  How do we overcome settling for institutional segregation to love one another and be leaders in the challenge of reconciliation?”

The next speaker was Choong Song Rah, a professor at North Park University in Chicago.  Prof Rah offered his perspective on how the church can pursue reconciliation, primarily by emphasizing the issue of power.  He challenged those of us in positions of relative power (usually white, middle to upper-middle class) to seek God’s justice through putting ourselves in the position to give up power.  It was here that Rah was most convicting, especially given his statistics that showed that Christianity has already undergone a huge demographic shift over the last hundred years.  Meanwhile, while this shift has been taking place, we’ve maintained a theology and leadership that remains largely Western and white to this day. We must change our leadership structures and ways of relating to represent this change! One of Rah’s provocative statements was this,

“I’m for the commitment to caring for the environment, for creation care, for being stewards of God’s earth.  But because this has become the ‘in vogue’ thing to care about in the larger evangelical movement (mostly white churches), everyone cares about it.  But what I find interesting about that is that caring for the environment, instead of seeking racial reconciliation, allows people to seek justice without giving up power.  They don’t have to radically humble themselves with others.  So the creation care movement can be pursued in a way that ignores other, more challenging aspects of social justice.”

Now, granted, I’m paraphrasing Rah there because I didn’t record his message, but I think I struck at the heart of it.  And that’s a powerful statement that strikes me as wise.  There’s a deep temptation in humanity, even those of us who serve the God of justice, to take the path of least resistance; the path that requires the least energy for the maximum amount of recognition of our good work.  And it is true that the cause of environmental justice requires less interpersonal giving up of power.  It’s extremely tough to seek true, deep humility, and to give up power once attained.  I want to live with that challenge.  I would add, though, that seeking environmental justice requires a very real and very deep self-emptying and self-sacrifice.  It is a giving up of the idol of my individuality (comfort, and decision-making centered on self) to the greater communal good, which God is much more concerned about.  But that’s just me working out some of the specifics that follow Rah’s proclamation.

Another strong statement by Rah was this; “If you, as a white person, want to move into an urban setting and do ministry, and you don’t have any non-white mentors, you’re not a missionary, you’re a colonialist.”

That statement hurts, but it rings true to me. Can we truly be reconcilers without our lives living and breathing reconciliation?  Can we teach reconciliation if we are not modeling it?  In that sense Rah’s comment reflects Skinner’s earlier comment that we need to be with one another in order to love one another.  We cannot deeply love others by remaining at a distance from them, especially if we live next door.  By submitting ourselves to the mentoring of persons of different races and cultures, we are forced out of our own cultural lenses to see the world from their shoes.  And that’s essential.  ESSENTIAL.

Rah placed these strong statement in the wider context of God’s grace for broken people.  It was Rah’s shaping of the wider context that saddened me, however.  Rah’s emphasis was the same most evangelicals emphasize, which is “It’s not about human works, it’s about God’s grace.”  There are other variations on the same theme; “Human striving doesn’t accomplish anything unless God’s power is present,” “We all fall short, so God’s forgiveness is what matters,” etc etc.  I am saddened by this line of thought because the deeper I travel into the Scriptures, the more I find the dignity of human striving.  Not a striving to achieve salvation (which, by the way, isn’t a Biblical concern, but is an evangelical concern), but a striving to be obedient to our Creator (which is salvation, as I explain from my perspective in another place).It seems clear in the Bible that God wants people to be obedient to what they were created for, and when we do so, we find joy and meaning and fulfillment.  God clearly knows we have shortcomings, and reveals himself to be grace-filled and deeply forgiving, but that aspect of His character doesn’t negate the central call to obedience.

And it’s that last sentence that leads me to be saddened and disappointed when people keep making the main issue of Christian faith a works/grace issue.  Clearly, when we are aware of the call to total obedience, we have a strong temptation to “make lists,” as Rah highlighted through his personal story.  And it is true that God doesn’t stand over us, waiting to punch us in the mouth or make us feel like hell when we fall short.  Yet isn’t it also true, Biblically, that when we are aware of our shortcomings, we have a strong temptation to make life all about grace in a way that completely de-emphasizes our strivings for faithfulness?  What I’m saying is this.  Can’t we shape a message for God’s people that holds together God’s great grace with God’s great expectation of obedience?  And when we take this message seriously, won’t that dignify human effort and put it in its proper place as the natural response to the call of our Creator? And when we dignify human effort, we might find some scales fall off our minds to see that salvation, Biblically understood, is centered on being saved from rebellion and saved to humble obedience. That includes life after death, but is centered on God redeeming humans to be faithful today.  It is that message, and not Rah’s, that gives me ultimate hope, that gives me a life worth throwing myself into.

So I’m grateful for Rah’s willingness to speak courageously and boldly, but I’m saddened that he placed his comments in an, ultimately, unhelpful context.  Just some reflections from Day 1.

It’s questions like this that deserve to be paid attention to.  This is a question of goals, of what matters most, and whether the church we often see is one with proper and wise goals, with a strong sense of what matters most;

“Are our churches and broadcasts and books and organizations merely creating religious consumers of religious products and programs?  Are we creating a self-isolating, self-serving, self-perpetuating, self-centered subculture instead of a world-penetrating (like salt and light), world-serving (focused on “the least and the lost,” those Jesus came to seek and save), world-transforming (like yeast in bread), God-centered (sharing God’s love for the whole world) counterculture?  If so, even if we proudly carry the name evangelical (which means “having to do with the gospel”), we’re not behaving as friends to the gospel, but rather as its betrayers.  However unintentionally, we can neuter the very gospel we seek to live and proclaim.” 

Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo;  Adventures in Missing the Point, pg 11-12

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 today as I  listened 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.

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

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.