I am dealing with an odd juxtaposition of emotions as I attend my oldest son's high school graduation this morning, prepare myself for preaching tomorrow, prepare for my grandmother's funeral on Monday and a wedding next Saturday. In the midst of all of that we have about 20 people coming for lunch today after the graduation. I realize in this that I am participating in many transitions in the lives of those who are important to me and I feel the pressure to do it well and right and to say something of value and significance in the right place at the right time.
Transitions are important times in our lives and we typically aren't as well prepared for them as we should be. Ceremonies to mark those transitions matter, we are initiating a new phase in life and at the same time saying good bye to the past phase. Baptism is the clearest ceremony of demarcation of transition we have in our culture as it relates to past, present and future. These other ceremonies I will participate in over the next few days all relate most clearly to one or two of those "seasons" but the connection with all three is less explicit.
Standing on the edge of a new season of life is a precarious place to be. We prepare for this transition but at the same time we are aware that we aren't really prepared because we have no idea what actually comes next. The mixture of excitement and uncertainty is what the disciples must have felt when they were called to be Jesus' disciples, when Mary Magdalene told them Jesus had been resurrected and told them to go and wait for him, when they were told to wait in Jerusalem, and on the day of Pentecost. Welcome to the great adventure of life!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
The love of a Grandmother
My grandmother died today. At 47 I am fortunate to have had a grandparent still living. It is even more surprising when I realize that she has been my only living grandparent for 25 years. She never did anything great, she never even attempted anything great, but her life had meaning and purpose, she loved Jesus, other people and me.
In John's first letter (1 John) he makes many profound points but the most important is that we can't just love God and be Christians. We have to love the other people who love God. He says that love must be shown towards others, not a theoretical construct of our imagination. Unless we love the people of God we have a theoretical construct of God not a real God. John gets that from God Himself who sent His only Son to die for us, He showed us love. God's love isn't a theory and our love for Him can't be either, it has to show itself and love and service to others. Love in the Christian world isn't just an emotion, it is an active verb.
My grandmother loved people not in an abstract way, but in ways that you knew you were loved. She would do anything for me, I was the oldest grandson and her favorite. It sometimes made me feel terrible because she so clearly favored me, but deep down I liked it a little too. I didn't do anything to have her love me, I was born the first son of her only son and that was enough for her to love me completely. My faith in Jesus means God loves me just like that.
Brennan Manning tells the story of a man named Ed Farrell, who traveled from his home in Detroit to spend a two-week vacation in Ireland to celebrate hisuncle’s eightieth birthday. When the great day dawned, Ed and his uncle rose early to greet the sun. They walked along the shores of Lake Killarney, loving the emerald green grass and crystal blue waters. For twenty minutes they watched the scene together in silence. Then the uncle began to do an unusual thing for an eighty-year-old man: He began to skip along the shore of the lake, smiling like a schoolboy in love. Ed was puffing hard as he tried to catch up with him.
“Uncle Seamus, you look very happy. Do you want to tell me why?”
“Yes,” said the old man, tears streaming down his face. “You see, the Father is very fond of me. Ah my Father is so very fond of me.”
In John's first letter (1 John) he makes many profound points but the most important is that we can't just love God and be Christians. We have to love the other people who love God. He says that love must be shown towards others, not a theoretical construct of our imagination. Unless we love the people of God we have a theoretical construct of God not a real God. John gets that from God Himself who sent His only Son to die for us, He showed us love. God's love isn't a theory and our love for Him can't be either, it has to show itself and love and service to others. Love in the Christian world isn't just an emotion, it is an active verb.
My grandmother loved people not in an abstract way, but in ways that you knew you were loved. She would do anything for me, I was the oldest grandson and her favorite. It sometimes made me feel terrible because she so clearly favored me, but deep down I liked it a little too. I didn't do anything to have her love me, I was born the first son of her only son and that was enough for her to love me completely. My faith in Jesus means God loves me just like that.
Brennan Manning tells the story of a man named Ed Farrell, who traveled from his home in Detroit to spend a two-week vacation in Ireland to celebrate hisuncle’s eightieth birthday. When the great day dawned, Ed and his uncle rose early to greet the sun. They walked along the shores of Lake Killarney, loving the emerald green grass and crystal blue waters. For twenty minutes they watched the scene together in silence. Then the uncle began to do an unusual thing for an eighty-year-old man: He began to skip along the shore of the lake, smiling like a schoolboy in love. Ed was puffing hard as he tried to catch up with him.
“Uncle Seamus, you look very happy. Do you want to tell me why?”
“Yes,” said the old man, tears streaming down his face. “You see, the Father is very fond of me. Ah my Father is so very fond of me.”
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Apocalypse Then and Now
When the flood waters come on the earth, we have gone back to the state before creation began in some ways, with the exception of this life boat with Noah and his family and the animals on board. All that is left of life is floating on what on dry land would have seemed an enormous boat but on the face of the waters that covered the earth would have seemed remarkably small and inconsequential.
Movies like Omega Man and I Am Legend explore something of what it would be like to be alone on earth, but they always find others and others find them, for good or ill. Apocalyptic movies such as that all understand that ultimately it is man's propensity to violence, rapacious greed and dominance that lead to destruction. There is a certain plausibility structure in them that cuts across the political ideas of conservative/liberal. Inside us we know that ultimately we as a race or species are capable of incredible stupidity such as would be sufficient to bring about an apocalyptic ending of most life as we know it. Isn't that what Genesis 6 says happened? The only difference is that God brings about an ending rather than mankind.
Over my lifetime we have lost not the story but the cohering principle of the story. We don't doubt that ultimately we will blow it and there will be a need to start over again if possible, but we have written God as creator and judge out of the story. Our hope is in humanity, a better bunch of people, who will "get it" and survive the end and build a new society which is based on the right principles. Why do we hope in humanity when we have ample evidence that from the beginning of recorded history, whether biblical or otherwise, that we can't sustain peace among each other?
Movies like Omega Man and I Am Legend explore something of what it would be like to be alone on earth, but they always find others and others find them, for good or ill. Apocalyptic movies such as that all understand that ultimately it is man's propensity to violence, rapacious greed and dominance that lead to destruction. There is a certain plausibility structure in them that cuts across the political ideas of conservative/liberal. Inside us we know that ultimately we as a race or species are capable of incredible stupidity such as would be sufficient to bring about an apocalyptic ending of most life as we know it. Isn't that what Genesis 6 says happened? The only difference is that God brings about an ending rather than mankind.
Over my lifetime we have lost not the story but the cohering principle of the story. We don't doubt that ultimately we will blow it and there will be a need to start over again if possible, but we have written God as creator and judge out of the story. Our hope is in humanity, a better bunch of people, who will "get it" and survive the end and build a new society which is based on the right principles. Why do we hope in humanity when we have ample evidence that from the beginning of recorded history, whether biblical or otherwise, that we can't sustain peace among each other?
Sunday, May 25, 2008
The end of theology
Rather than looking at the purpose of creation from a human perspective, since it is Sunday, it is a good thing to think of it from God's perspective. One of the things I have been telling my congregation lately is that if your theology (words about God) doesn't lead to doxology (praise of God) then you ain't doing theology right. Creation reveals so much about the Lord that it should bring forth incredible praise from us. It tells us what kind of God we serve that He has given us this beautiful earth, imagine its glory if we hadn't screwed it all up in the beginning and continue to do so today.
One of my favorite songs as a wee lad in church was This is My Father's World:
This is the day for worship, O Worship the King.
One of my favorite songs as a wee lad in church was This is My Father's World:
This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.
This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.
This is the day for worship, O Worship the King.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Meaning
Is meaning created by me or is it inherent in my existence? That question is at the heart of the Christian faith, the faith that includes the first book of the Bible. If the world exists because of the sudden expansion of a singularity without reference to a force behind the expansion and that from that this planet had a climate such that life could exist and within that life began from the stuff that was here, then meaning is something that is up to me to create for my life.
If, however, the world was created, by whatever means, by a God, as a place where life like ours could thrive, and that we are the pinnacle of that creation, in His own image, then meaning is up to that creator God. There is someone who knows how it all is supposed to work and for what purpose it was all created. The ultimate revelation of that purpose and meaning is in the cross of Jesus Christ.
In studying the book of Genesis for 2 1/2 years with a group of men, I have been profoundly shaped by the book. It asserts itself in many ways into my reading of the rest of the Bible. The implications of this worldview and what it says about human life and all of creation and our relationships with God, one another and the world around us, are immense. Accepting all of this brings a responsibility for all those relationships and the stewardship we have been given, both of the mysteries of the Gospel and also for stewardship of life. I can't do it alone, I need help, maybe I will eat some fruit or, my personal favorite for knowledge, read a book. Prayer, asking for help, seems a better answer.
If, however, the world was created, by whatever means, by a God, as a place where life like ours could thrive, and that we are the pinnacle of that creation, in His own image, then meaning is up to that creator God. There is someone who knows how it all is supposed to work and for what purpose it was all created. The ultimate revelation of that purpose and meaning is in the cross of Jesus Christ.
In studying the book of Genesis for 2 1/2 years with a group of men, I have been profoundly shaped by the book. It asserts itself in many ways into my reading of the rest of the Bible. The implications of this worldview and what it says about human life and all of creation and our relationships with God, one another and the world around us, are immense. Accepting all of this brings a responsibility for all those relationships and the stewardship we have been given, both of the mysteries of the Gospel and also for stewardship of life. I can't do it alone, I need help, maybe I will eat some fruit or, my personal favorite for knowledge, read a book. Prayer, asking for help, seems a better answer.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Beginning and ending
In his book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey encourages people who would be effective to begin with the end in mind and uses the example of living life so that what your best friend would say at your funeral about you would be what you would want them to say. The book isn't "Christian" but that principle should matter to us. In thinking about knowing and living, it is important for us to consider the end as we begin.
We tend to spend more time asking the question the Talking Heads asked in the song, "Once in a Lifetime," "How did I get here?" That question is an important one because it measures whether what we have done to date is working or not, but once the analysis is done, we either need a new plan or we need to keep working the old plan. Too often, especially when we aren't pleased with the answer to that question, we fail to move on, spending our time on regret and self-pity or self-loathing.
We don't have the details re creation and exactly what it looked like for God to create. The answer to the question, "How did I get here?" is simply that God created me to be here at this moment in time in this particular place (see Acts 17.26-27). What is more important than knowing the mechanics of it all is knowing the end of it all, where am I going and how do I get there. That is the part the first pair of humans got wrong, being like God in knowledge requires God's help, not some fruit.
We tend to spend more time asking the question the Talking Heads asked in the song, "Once in a Lifetime," "How did I get here?" That question is an important one because it measures whether what we have done to date is working or not, but once the analysis is done, we either need a new plan or we need to keep working the old plan. Too often, especially when we aren't pleased with the answer to that question, we fail to move on, spending our time on regret and self-pity or self-loathing.
We don't have the details re creation and exactly what it looked like for God to create. The answer to the question, "How did I get here?" is simply that God created me to be here at this moment in time in this particular place (see Acts 17.26-27). What is more important than knowing the mechanics of it all is knowing the end of it all, where am I going and how do I get there. That is the part the first pair of humans got wrong, being like God in knowledge requires God's help, not some fruit.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
How and Why
I wonder how much time and energy has been spent on the question of how this all came to be. Darwin framed the debate in those terms and since then the church and the world has been consumed by the question of how. It seems that this has done little more than side-track much of our work as the church. It isn't that the question of "How" is an improper field of study for the church, I wonder though if it should be primary as it has been. If we believe in divine inspiration then we have to believe also that we got only the important stuff for life and if we were doing a better job of that we wouldn't be as concerned about this question.
"Why" seems a better question and the Westminster Shorter Catechism begins there, with the question, "What is the chief end of man?" "Why are we?" is another way to phrase that question. The question takes seriously that we exist and now that we are clear on that the next step is to figure out the why of existence. The church's business, it seems is the working out of life, glorifying God and enjoying Him forever.
The how question is partially responsible for much of the mess of the church in my lifetime. We have become consumed with mechanics because of the "how" question when the "why" question of existence is the more important issue. I appreciate the scientific work on biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics and it is fascinating to realize the incredible complexity of life and this universe, but at the end of the day I still need to know why there should be a thinking person like me in that universe and if that means anything. For tomorrow - beginning and ending.
"Why" seems a better question and the Westminster Shorter Catechism begins there, with the question, "What is the chief end of man?" "Why are we?" is another way to phrase that question. The question takes seriously that we exist and now that we are clear on that the next step is to figure out the why of existence. The church's business, it seems is the working out of life, glorifying God and enjoying Him forever.
The how question is partially responsible for much of the mess of the church in my lifetime. We have become consumed with mechanics because of the "how" question when the "why" question of existence is the more important issue. I appreciate the scientific work on biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics and it is fascinating to realize the incredible complexity of life and this universe, but at the end of the day I still need to know why there should be a thinking person like me in that universe and if that means anything. For tomorrow - beginning and ending.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Watergate and Genesis
In the Watergate trial the most famous and important question was "What did he (the President) know and when did he know it?" Genesis asks a famous philosophical question, "How do we know?"
Adam and Eve decided that the serpent was right, there was some knowledge God had kept for Himself and it was to be found outside of God. Throughout the Bible God implores people to ask Him for knowledge, and excoriates His people for searching for wisdom outside of Him. Jesus, in the Beatitudes, turns wisdom on its head. Paul speaks of the wisdom of God which seems like foolishness to men.
Who would think that a man dying on a cross 2000 years ago was the personification of wisdom itself? Does the cross tell us something about how we know things that turns all knowledge on its ear? On Sunday we sang a song with the lyrics, "When I survey the Wondrous Cross" and "The Wonderful Cross." The resurrection of Jesus makes the cross wonderful and wondrous, and knowing, knowledge and wisdom find another source and another goal.
Adam and Eve decided that the serpent was right, there was some knowledge God had kept for Himself and it was to be found outside of God. Throughout the Bible God implores people to ask Him for knowledge, and excoriates His people for searching for wisdom outside of Him. Jesus, in the Beatitudes, turns wisdom on its head. Paul speaks of the wisdom of God which seems like foolishness to men.
Who would think that a man dying on a cross 2000 years ago was the personification of wisdom itself? Does the cross tell us something about how we know things that turns all knowledge on its ear? On Sunday we sang a song with the lyrics, "When I survey the Wondrous Cross" and "The Wonderful Cross." The resurrection of Jesus makes the cross wonderful and wondrous, and knowing, knowledge and wisdom find another source and another goal.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Knowledge and the Holy Spirit
The knowledge gained in the garden, the knowledge of good and evil, failed to produce righteousness. What was begun in sin, disobedience to the command of God, could not possibly produce its opposite. What was gained by the knowledge? The only thing I can see that was gained was a knowledge of sinfulness. As Lewis Grizzard said, naked simply means you have no clothes on, nekkid means you don't have any clothes on and you're up to something. That was what happened in the garden, the transition from naked to nekkid.
What does Jesus say is the first work of the Holy Spirit? He will convict the world of sin (John 16.8). The Holy Spirit, though, is also described as Comforter. Comfort is what was not gained through the eating of the fruit of the tree in the garden, only knowledge. God had another way of giving us knowledge concerning good and evil, the Holy Spirit, living in us, who convicts us of sin, righteousness and judgment and also testifies to the cure for sin, faith in Jesus.
The knowledge we gain by the Holy Spirit is the truth about us and God. The truth is that we have sinned and fallen short of His glory, we must hide ourselves from Him yet the fullness of truth is that Jesus died a sinner's death so we can come out of hiding and receive garments of righteousness (see the high priest Joshua in Zechariah 3 for a picture of a believer's reception in the heavenly courts.)
What does Jesus say is the first work of the Holy Spirit? He will convict the world of sin (John 16.8). The Holy Spirit, though, is also described as Comforter. Comfort is what was not gained through the eating of the fruit of the tree in the garden, only knowledge. God had another way of giving us knowledge concerning good and evil, the Holy Spirit, living in us, who convicts us of sin, righteousness and judgment and also testifies to the cure for sin, faith in Jesus.
The knowledge we gain by the Holy Spirit is the truth about us and God. The truth is that we have sinned and fallen short of His glory, we must hide ourselves from Him yet the fullness of truth is that Jesus died a sinner's death so we can come out of hiding and receive garments of righteousness (see the high priest Joshua in Zechariah 3 for a picture of a believer's reception in the heavenly courts.)
Friday, May 16, 2008
Intimacy and Fear
The cliche is that males fear intimacy. The truth is that we all fear intimacy, being known. We have learned over time that some things aren't safe to tell and some people aren't safe to tell either. Vulnerability is dangerous business, always has been, always will be. Naked and unashamed (Genesis 2.25) is not something most of us relate to very well.
There are times when I am glad God sees and knows but there are times when that knowledge is not so good and I want to get my own fig leaf, knowing it is completely inadequate and doesn't hide the sin but actually draws attention to it.
Sometimes I think we comfort ourselves with knowledge about God and use that knowledge as our fig leaf. It is safe to know about Him and to keep the distance that kind of knowledge affords us. Adam and Eve didn't have that luxury, they knew He was near, walking in the garden, theoretical, doctrinal knowledge is safer. Doctrinal knowledge doesn't have to be intimate and immanent. The incarnation blew away the theologians who knew all about God (or thought they did). They couldn't handle the idea of Him being present with them as He was present in the Garden and they used their theology as their fig leaf. We have even greater intimacy than that with the Holy Spirit. Do I hear footsteps?
There are times when I am glad God sees and knows but there are times when that knowledge is not so good and I want to get my own fig leaf, knowing it is completely inadequate and doesn't hide the sin but actually draws attention to it.
Sometimes I think we comfort ourselves with knowledge about God and use that knowledge as our fig leaf. It is safe to know about Him and to keep the distance that kind of knowledge affords us. Adam and Eve didn't have that luxury, they knew He was near, walking in the garden, theoretical, doctrinal knowledge is safer. Doctrinal knowledge doesn't have to be intimate and immanent. The incarnation blew away the theologians who knew all about God (or thought they did). They couldn't handle the idea of Him being present with them as He was present in the Garden and they used their theology as their fig leaf. We have even greater intimacy than that with the Holy Spirit. Do I hear footsteps?
Thursday, May 15, 2008
In the movie War Games, a brilliant man has created a computer program that the defense department uses to determine strategies for conducting war. A teenager hacks into the system and finds the games menu which includes global thermonuclear war. He believes it to be a game when in reality it is the real deal and begins playing. The computer takes over the game and the country is soon headed towards a doomsday scenario. The teenager and a girl friend track down the designer who comes to help save the day. In the end they three get into the "mind" of Joshua, the computer, and trick it into shutting down the game in futility that in the end nobody wins.
Is there an allegory in this movie? It is interesting that the name of the computer is the name of the designer's son who died as a child, before he reached his potential, and the name happens to be the Anglicized version of the name Yeshua, or Jesus. The doomsday scenario, destruction of the earth because all the countries who possess nuclear weapons fire them, is clearly meant to be a message against the proliferation of such weaponry, a la Dr Strangelove. But could it also not include the ultimate end game of God vis a vis creation and the book of Revelation? We can see in our enlightenment world that many no longer believe that there is an end game, surely God can see nobody wins and therefore would rather just play nice.
God knows us but do we know Him? His desire, like our own, is to be known. The book of Hosea says it again and again, that His people don't know Him but that He wants them to know Him. The incarnation of Jesus is God making Himself known to us, we who are hiding in darkness, just like in Genesis 3, pitifully clothing ourselves emotionally just like Adam and Eve. The knowledge that we are known is too wonderful for us (see Psalm 139.6). They sought knowledge apart from God when they should have sought knowledge about God and from God.
Is there an allegory in this movie? It is interesting that the name of the computer is the name of the designer's son who died as a child, before he reached his potential, and the name happens to be the Anglicized version of the name Yeshua, or Jesus. The doomsday scenario, destruction of the earth because all the countries who possess nuclear weapons fire them, is clearly meant to be a message against the proliferation of such weaponry, a la Dr Strangelove. But could it also not include the ultimate end game of God vis a vis creation and the book of Revelation? We can see in our enlightenment world that many no longer believe that there is an end game, surely God can see nobody wins and therefore would rather just play nice.
God knows us but do we know Him? His desire, like our own, is to be known. The book of Hosea says it again and again, that His people don't know Him but that He wants them to know Him. The incarnation of Jesus is God making Himself known to us, we who are hiding in darkness, just like in Genesis 3, pitifully clothing ourselves emotionally just like Adam and Eve. The knowledge that we are known is too wonderful for us (see Psalm 139.6). They sought knowledge apart from God when they should have sought knowledge about God and from God.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
True intimacy
What does it mean to know and to be known? Through the Old Testament God continually says that he knows us, in fact He has known us since before He formed us in our mother's womb. His knowledge of us essentially has no boundaries, for David in Psalm 139 that is originally a burden and then he finds comfort in that reality, essentially God knows him because he cares so deeply for him. In other Psalms he asks what is man that you are mindful of him. Through Hosea God speaks of having taught Ephraim to walk, through Isaiah He says we are inscribed on the palms of His hands. In the Gospel of John, we are told in the second chapter that Jesus knew what was in man and in other places we are told the same. God's knowledge is complete and yet he loves us anyway.
When I was a kid I was convinced that at some level there were little thought bubbles like in cartoons that floated above my head and that people knew what was running through my brain. Why those weren't there for other people so that I could know their thoughts I have no idea, but I remember being concerned that people would know what I was thinking about and that they would be horrified about that. I can't imagine what horrible thoughts a third grader would have been having but even then I was aware that they weren't something I should share with the rest of the world, sort of like getting caught in a private chat in class and having the teacher say, "John would you like to share that with the entire class."
God doesn't need my presumed thought bubble, He knows my heart. That is the reason that the first thing we do in our worship is pray, "Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known and from you no secrets are hid: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen." We both know that some of the stuff in my heart is a complete mess and that unless it is cleaned up I can't really worship, my sin separates me from a holy God and the intimacy He wants more than I do.
When I was a kid I was convinced that at some level there were little thought bubbles like in cartoons that floated above my head and that people knew what was running through my brain. Why those weren't there for other people so that I could know their thoughts I have no idea, but I remember being concerned that people would know what I was thinking about and that they would be horrified about that. I can't imagine what horrible thoughts a third grader would have been having but even then I was aware that they weren't something I should share with the rest of the world, sort of like getting caught in a private chat in class and having the teacher say, "John would you like to share that with the entire class."
God doesn't need my presumed thought bubble, He knows my heart. That is the reason that the first thing we do in our worship is pray, "Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known and from you no secrets are hid: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen." We both know that some of the stuff in my heart is a complete mess and that unless it is cleaned up I can't really worship, my sin separates me from a holy God and the intimacy He wants more than I do.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Children of God
We use the term "child of God" too loosely, in a way that God doesn't. John says in his Gospel that Jesus' work on the cross gave us the right to become children of God which implies that without faith in that work we are not children of God. We bear his image by default of creation but that doesn't mean we are his children, the family resemblance isn't enough to have it simply in the flesh. We need the new hearts He promised through the prophets and made possible through the giving of the Spirit in order to reveal God to the world. The Spirit doesn't sanctify our desires in the sense that whatever we now do is sanctified, He sanctifies us by changing what we desire. That process though requires effort on our part, the spiritual disciplines matter.
In Romans 8, Paul says all creation eagerly awaits the revelation of the children of God. Why? Because it has been subjected to futility, wasted effort and energy, kept from reaching its potential, because of the sin and sins of mankind generally. If all creation awaits that revelation and groans in childbirth, shouldn't that tell us something of our duty towards creation? Doesn't it also say that all are not children of God?
We need to understand the mystery of Christ in us but we also need to understand the reality that sanctification is a participation sport as well. We need to practice the disciplines of study, prayer and fasting, just as Jesus himself practiced them. As I have started exercising lately I see evidence that my body is changing, I don't have new muscle tissue, but the muscle I had is becoming stronger. The disciplines work in our lives in the same way. Unfortunately, I see my dedication to working out as greater than my desire to practice some of the disciplines, and I see also the results or lack thereof in certain areas of my life.
In Romans 8, Paul says all creation eagerly awaits the revelation of the children of God. Why? Because it has been subjected to futility, wasted effort and energy, kept from reaching its potential, because of the sin and sins of mankind generally. If all creation awaits that revelation and groans in childbirth, shouldn't that tell us something of our duty towards creation? Doesn't it also say that all are not children of God?
We need to understand the mystery of Christ in us but we also need to understand the reality that sanctification is a participation sport as well. We need to practice the disciplines of study, prayer and fasting, just as Jesus himself practiced them. As I have started exercising lately I see evidence that my body is changing, I don't have new muscle tissue, but the muscle I had is becoming stronger. The disciplines work in our lives in the same way. Unfortunately, I see my dedication to working out as greater than my desire to practice some of the disciplines, and I see also the results or lack thereof in certain areas of my life.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Romans 8
When Paul speaks of the law of sin and death in Romans 8, is he speaking about the 10 Commandments or is he simply speaking of Genesis? The law of sin and death can be simply stated as sin brings death, beginning with Genesis, it wasn't a new concept in Exodus 20 with the giving of the law constituting the nation of Israel as God's people. The law of sin and death applies to all flesh.
When he speaks of Jesus setting us free from that law, it must mean more than the 10 Commandments, it is the law that applies to all flesh, not just those who were under the particular laws of Israel. The law of sin and death is the law for everyone, just as Christ's death wasn't just for those who had been circumcised.
John used great wisdom in starting his Gospel with the words of Genesis. In doing so, he connected the creation story to the redemption story, it is all one story. Paul, in speaking of the law of sin and death, does the same in his own way. He says that if we live by the Spirit we set our minds on the things of the Spirit. When they sinned in the garden it seemed their minds were set on the things of the Spirit, desiring wisdom, but they sought it through material things, which were appealing to the eye and good to eat. Truly setting our minds on the things of the Spirit allows us to understand the source of those things isn't found in material things. I wonder when I will ever really get that truth at a heart level that sees me living by it.
When he speaks of Jesus setting us free from that law, it must mean more than the 10 Commandments, it is the law that applies to all flesh, not just those who were under the particular laws of Israel. The law of sin and death is the law for everyone, just as Christ's death wasn't just for those who had been circumcised.
John used great wisdom in starting his Gospel with the words of Genesis. In doing so, he connected the creation story to the redemption story, it is all one story. Paul, in speaking of the law of sin and death, does the same in his own way. He says that if we live by the Spirit we set our minds on the things of the Spirit. When they sinned in the garden it seemed their minds were set on the things of the Spirit, desiring wisdom, but they sought it through material things, which were appealing to the eye and good to eat. Truly setting our minds on the things of the Spirit allows us to understand the source of those things isn't found in material things. I wonder when I will ever really get that truth at a heart level that sees me living by it.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Finding our way
I just read an article from England that says the country may lose one in five churches in the next generation. The sad reality is that the main concern is the loss of the buildings, which represent the country's cultural heritage. The people most concerned seem to be government officials who are prepared to work via tax laws and funding for maintenance of the buildings. When the church simply becomes a building, is it still a church?
The church in many places in the west has given up on its own story. When its leaders ceased to believe the story, when they ceased to believe God had created all that is, ceased to believe He had spoken and had clearly expressed His will for life, ceased to believe Jesus was God incarnate, ceased to believe God in the form of Jesus had died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins, and ceased to believe He had been resurrected from the dead, ensuring our own resurrection to eternal life, its demise was predictable. I would argue that the demise of the civilization created by those beliefs, that story, was equally predictable.
I believe also in the power of the truth of the story so I don't believe all is lost. We may be living in a time when a 1700 year old institution breathes its last breath. "Christian" countries and societies that came into being with Constantine may now be coming to an end. What organizing principle(s) replace those is up for grabs. Maybe it is time for church buildings in England to go away so that Christianity can recover its own identity as "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (1 Peter 2.9)
The church in many places in the west has given up on its own story. When its leaders ceased to believe the story, when they ceased to believe God had created all that is, ceased to believe He had spoken and had clearly expressed His will for life, ceased to believe Jesus was God incarnate, ceased to believe God in the form of Jesus had died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins, and ceased to believe He had been resurrected from the dead, ensuring our own resurrection to eternal life, its demise was predictable. I would argue that the demise of the civilization created by those beliefs, that story, was equally predictable.
I believe also in the power of the truth of the story so I don't believe all is lost. We may be living in a time when a 1700 year old institution breathes its last breath. "Christian" countries and societies that came into being with Constantine may now be coming to an end. What organizing principle(s) replace those is up for grabs. Maybe it is time for church buildings in England to go away so that Christianity can recover its own identity as "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (1 Peter 2.9)
Friday, May 9, 2008
More metanarrative
When John wrote his Gospel he simply picked up in Genesis and tags his Gospel onto it. By using those first three words, "In the beginning God," John says, this is the continuation of the story that begins in Genesis 1.1. It isn't a new story or a different story as Marcionists would have you believe, it is the same story and the same God.
We shouldn't be surprised then when we get to John 3.16 that God loved the world. He created it all and it was (and is) dear to him, it is His desire to save that creation from destruction, as it always has been. Noah and his family were saved from destruction rather than God wiping it all away and starting again with new people being created.
Noah had a rough experience of what it all looked like before creation. Water, water everywhere, a chaotic environment which not only didn't support life but destroyed it, and then, the waters returned to their boundaries set by God in creation and life began again but things weren't as they were, life spans were shortened and the atmosphere was different, there had never been a rainbow before this time. Corruption was even more significant.
The Judeo-Christian metanarrative explains change and degradation by pointing to sin. It explains the power of God and the judgment of God but more than that it explains God's love for us and this creation. The story is the story of love, redemption and mercy for a world gone wrong. Tomorrow we will look at Romans 8 and see a bit more into the heart of God for this creation.
We shouldn't be surprised then when we get to John 3.16 that God loved the world. He created it all and it was (and is) dear to him, it is His desire to save that creation from destruction, as it always has been. Noah and his family were saved from destruction rather than God wiping it all away and starting again with new people being created.
Noah had a rough experience of what it all looked like before creation. Water, water everywhere, a chaotic environment which not only didn't support life but destroyed it, and then, the waters returned to their boundaries set by God in creation and life began again but things weren't as they were, life spans were shortened and the atmosphere was different, there had never been a rainbow before this time. Corruption was even more significant.
The Judeo-Christian metanarrative explains change and degradation by pointing to sin. It explains the power of God and the judgment of God but more than that it explains God's love for us and this creation. The story is the story of love, redemption and mercy for a world gone wrong. Tomorrow we will look at Romans 8 and see a bit more into the heart of God for this creation.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Who needs a metanarrative?
The metanarrative (grand story) of the Judeo-Christian faith begins in Genesis and if we don't take the time to understand the beginnings how can we even begin to understand the final book in the Bible. For a long time Christians have been obsessed about what will be and many trees have sacrificed for the cause of understanding. The Bible is one of the few books I know of that anyone would pick up and read the final chapter without bothering with the first chapter of the story. In this way, Christians have more to do with the loss of metanarrative than the postmodern philosophers. We have completely neglected to immerse ourselves in the story of our faith.
Is the question, how did the world get where it is today less important than the question of what is the ultimate destiny? If we bothered more to understand the care with which God made the world in the first place in order to make it the perfect environment for our lives, we might read the final chapter of the story (Revelation) with great sadness rather than with any sense of triumph. Ultimately, God has to destroy His own creation in order to redeem it.
I have made one piece of furniture in my life and it isn't particularly well-made and we don't actually use it in our house but if Suzanne ever tried to toss it out I would feel an incredible sense of loss. We have been so focused on the ending of the story: destruction of the earth in the end in preparation for the new heavens and new earth that we have neglected to concern ourselves with the preservation of the creation, our original task. The metanarrative that begins in Genesis is important stuff if we are to understand our place in creation, caretakers.
Is the question, how did the world get where it is today less important than the question of what is the ultimate destiny? If we bothered more to understand the care with which God made the world in the first place in order to make it the perfect environment for our lives, we might read the final chapter of the story (Revelation) with great sadness rather than with any sense of triumph. Ultimately, God has to destroy His own creation in order to redeem it.
I have made one piece of furniture in my life and it isn't particularly well-made and we don't actually use it in our house but if Suzanne ever tried to toss it out I would feel an incredible sense of loss. We have been so focused on the ending of the story: destruction of the earth in the end in preparation for the new heavens and new earth that we have neglected to concern ourselves with the preservation of the creation, our original task. The metanarrative that begins in Genesis is important stuff if we are to understand our place in creation, caretakers.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
So What?
So what that the Bible tells me why the world isn't fair? I know that without reading the Bible, I know that by living. What the Bible tells me that the world doesn't is that it wasn't God's design or plan for our lives or for the world. It tells me how things went wrong from the start, and it tells me of the God who has the same ideas about things that I do when I am most idealistic. It tells me that I can have another standard other than the standard of the world and that it won't make life easier to live by that standard but it will make it better and give me the hope of a meaningful life.
Jesus lived by the standard God had in mind and what did it get him? What Adam and Eve wanted was to be like God and instead they brought death into the world, everything from then on was corrupted, nothing worked like it was supposed to work, that was the curse on man and the earth. By living in obedience to the standards of God, Jesus died but his death brought life into the world.
What Jesus did was give us the real hope of being like God if we do the same things Adam and Eve did in Genesis 3, the language is the same as we say every week in our worship, "she took of its fruit and ate." When Jesus was with his disciples on his last day of freedom before the crucifixion he said they were to "Take, eat; this is my body." The difference in the takings and eatings is the difference between rebellion and obedience. Rebellion brought death, obedience brings life.
No matter what popular preachers may say, living by the standards of God isn't the road to popularity and prosperity. In fact, Jesus said that it was exactly the opposite, the road to persecution and poverty (Matthew 5.1-11). He says we have to choose our path and that while the path of authenticity and integrity to the standards we believe are best may be hard, at the end of the road is an eternity where those standards are the order of the day.
Jesus lived by the standard God had in mind and what did it get him? What Adam and Eve wanted was to be like God and instead they brought death into the world, everything from then on was corrupted, nothing worked like it was supposed to work, that was the curse on man and the earth. By living in obedience to the standards of God, Jesus died but his death brought life into the world.
What Jesus did was give us the real hope of being like God if we do the same things Adam and Eve did in Genesis 3, the language is the same as we say every week in our worship, "she took of its fruit and ate." When Jesus was with his disciples on his last day of freedom before the crucifixion he said they were to "Take, eat; this is my body." The difference in the takings and eatings is the difference between rebellion and obedience. Rebellion brought death, obedience brings life.
No matter what popular preachers may say, living by the standards of God isn't the road to popularity and prosperity. In fact, Jesus said that it was exactly the opposite, the road to persecution and poverty (Matthew 5.1-11). He says we have to choose our path and that while the path of authenticity and integrity to the standards we believe are best may be hard, at the end of the road is an eternity where those standards are the order of the day.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Fairness
From the time my kids could talk they have had a concept of fairness, just like all of us. When they were little though they learned to avoid saying something wasn't fair. They heard the "fairness" lecture too many times from me and it was not something to look forward to.
We all have a sense that things should be fair but aren't. As soon as we think we are wronged or that someone else has something we don't but we are equally deserving we trot out the fairness argument. What my kids learned from me (or at least heard from me) is that we tend to only look one way on the fairness street. We tend only to look at those who have more than us when we measure fairness and living in America (apologies to James Brown) in the 21st century and complaining about not having more as unfair is ridiculous. We need a bigger perspective on life in the world to get a true idea of fairness. Just as often we need to remind ourselves or be reminded of what is truly important in order to worry about fairness.
Jesus had to speak about fairness on several occasions (see Matthew 20 for example). In the kingdom of God, fairness isn't measured the same way. We get more than fairness, we get grace. All through the first chapters of Genesis is this concept as people sin and rebel against God and yet He perseveres in the human experiment, even in Noah and his family. God could have started over without Noah and the rest of the menagerie on the ark, He could have made all things new without using any of the corrupted creation. I don't want fairness, I want grace.
(Check out this interview with Bono on the issue of grace v. fairness/karma)
We all have a sense that things should be fair but aren't. As soon as we think we are wronged or that someone else has something we don't but we are equally deserving we trot out the fairness argument. What my kids learned from me (or at least heard from me) is that we tend to only look one way on the fairness street. We tend only to look at those who have more than us when we measure fairness and living in America (apologies to James Brown) in the 21st century and complaining about not having more as unfair is ridiculous. We need a bigger perspective on life in the world to get a true idea of fairness. Just as often we need to remind ourselves or be reminded of what is truly important in order to worry about fairness.
Jesus had to speak about fairness on several occasions (see Matthew 20 for example). In the kingdom of God, fairness isn't measured the same way. We get more than fairness, we get grace. All through the first chapters of Genesis is this concept as people sin and rebel against God and yet He perseveres in the human experiment, even in Noah and his family. God could have started over without Noah and the rest of the menagerie on the ark, He could have made all things new without using any of the corrupted creation. I don't want fairness, I want grace.
(Check out this interview with Bono on the issue of grace v. fairness/karma)
Monday, May 5, 2008
Corrupt
Doesn't that describe the state of the world today? That is actually how God described the world to Noah. It has described the state of the world most of its existence as long as there have been people. Prior to our creation the earth and all that was in it were described as good.
It is a humbling thing to know that we are responsible for the corruption of creation, but it is clearly our fault, due to sins of greed, envy, lust, etc. that causes us to constantly seek more when we clearly don't need more. We are supposed to seek more of the creator and instead we seek more of the creation. Creation is finite, however and He is infinite, as is His capacity to satisfy. It is amazing that however far we are from original creation, the earth continues to provide so much for us to lust after. Think about all the things just on your desk or within the view of your eyes that have come about just in the past 100 years that never were possible to earlier people and you'll be astounded when you realize it all came from what God created so long ago. Nothing has truly been created out of nothing by mankind, it all comes from the original creation.
Corruption though is an interesting word for God to use, it means that we weren't made this way or for this purpose. Corruption implies there was an original intent from which we have deviated, a change from what we should be and that change affected everything so God had to wipe it all out, not just the agents of corruption, men. Corruption points back to origin and intent, creation and design. What was God's answer to corruption in Genesis 6?
It is a humbling thing to know that we are responsible for the corruption of creation, but it is clearly our fault, due to sins of greed, envy, lust, etc. that causes us to constantly seek more when we clearly don't need more. We are supposed to seek more of the creator and instead we seek more of the creation. Creation is finite, however and He is infinite, as is His capacity to satisfy. It is amazing that however far we are from original creation, the earth continues to provide so much for us to lust after. Think about all the things just on your desk or within the view of your eyes that have come about just in the past 100 years that never were possible to earlier people and you'll be astounded when you realize it all came from what God created so long ago. Nothing has truly been created out of nothing by mankind, it all comes from the original creation.
Corruption though is an interesting word for God to use, it means that we weren't made this way or for this purpose. Corruption implies there was an original intent from which we have deviated, a change from what we should be and that change affected everything so God had to wipe it all out, not just the agents of corruption, men. Corruption points back to origin and intent, creation and design. What was God's answer to corruption in Genesis 6?
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Is confession really good for the soul?
What the beginning of the story of "us" tells us is that there is no such thing as human progress, only regression. From one act of disobedience to murder, and not just any murder, but fratricide, in one generation! By the time we get to Noah, we get something like God knew that every intention of man's heart was only evil all the time. That is like saying you don't just have cancer, you are cancer, there is no health in us. In fact, in our tradition that is exactly what we used to confess, "We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done, and there is no health in us..." (We confessed that for the first 400 years of our Prayer Book but apparently we don't want anyone's self esteem to suffer so we leave that last bit out now.)
Isn't actually good to acknowledge before God that we need more of him? Isn't it a bit arrogant of us to pretend otherwise? When Isaiah came into the temple in chapter 6 of his prophetic book, he probably thought of himself as a more or less righteous guy but when God showed up and he saw what real holiness looked like he was panicked and would have confessed to being the most sinful man on earth. When Jesus tells the disciples to let down their nets for a catch in Luke 5 and they haul up an incredible catch, Peter's response to him at the shore is, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."
The less we understand about the reality of sin, the less we make of it, the more it grows in us. Tolerance is an enemy to our souls and confession is the antidote, but not morbid introspection. We don't need that, if we open our lives to the Holy Spirit He will bring those things to our attention that He wants to cleanse. Our only health is from the indwelling of the Spirit. In the first four chapters of the Bible we have great sin but the greater failure is the failure to confess those sins but rather to make excuses for them or hide them. If we acknowledge our sins He is faithful to forgive them.
Isn't actually good to acknowledge before God that we need more of him? Isn't it a bit arrogant of us to pretend otherwise? When Isaiah came into the temple in chapter 6 of his prophetic book, he probably thought of himself as a more or less righteous guy but when God showed up and he saw what real holiness looked like he was panicked and would have confessed to being the most sinful man on earth. When Jesus tells the disciples to let down their nets for a catch in Luke 5 and they haul up an incredible catch, Peter's response to him at the shore is, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."
The less we understand about the reality of sin, the less we make of it, the more it grows in us. Tolerance is an enemy to our souls and confession is the antidote, but not morbid introspection. We don't need that, if we open our lives to the Holy Spirit He will bring those things to our attention that He wants to cleanse. Our only health is from the indwelling of the Spirit. In the first four chapters of the Bible we have great sin but the greater failure is the failure to confess those sins but rather to make excuses for them or hide them. If we acknowledge our sins He is faithful to forgive them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)