Sin and Salvation: Transforming the Heart

Part 9 of 12 | Based in part on Marcus Borg's The Heart of Christianity

Think back to your earliest impressions of the Church and the Christian faith – the two are often intertwined.  What was the point or goal as you understood it?  My hunch is that if you grew up in the United States, the dominant message articulated was that sin was and is an issue that needs to be addressed to restore our relationship with God.  Salvation is what we called accepting that forgiveness, which was mediated on the cross which killed Jesus, who was considered a final, eternal, complete sacrifice canceling the power of sin.  You no longer need fear hell, and could confidently look forward to heaven.

This has been the dominant message from Western Christianity for the past few centuries.  In the United States in particular, the emphasis became more individualized: the idea of a personal relationship with a personal savior became paramount.  “Are you saved?” became a leading question in evangelistic strategies, which was really asking, “have you accepted the forgiveness of God to cancel your sin so that you can go to heaven?”  Fear of death is universal, and fear of eternal punishment is certainly correlated!  For people with minor to major awareness of sin issues in their lives, this is truly good news, and has been received as such for millions and millions of people, including me!  If we were creating a resume for God, we could put “Sin Forgiver and Heaven Provider” right at the top.

Concern about death and afterlife weren’t always the central message communicated from our faith tradition.  In fact, there is little evidence that the Jewish people were even thinking about the afterlife much before 150 B.C.E.  For them, there was a bigger issue: getting back home.  The people of Israel were scattered by the Babylonians, and longed to go back home.  The message of the prevailing prophets for a couple of centuries was that God was going to lead them back home.  That was “salvation” for them, and it was truly good news.  So, add “Guide” to the resume.

Before Israel was decimated, the focal point of the Jewish faith was the Exodus event, where Israel was rescued from the bondage of slavery in Egypt, and God miraculously redeemed them from there, eventually leading them into the Promised Land.  Salvation for those early Jews meant being saved from slavery.  The remembrances of God in worship all centered around that great event, which was truly good news.  So, add “Liberator” to God’s resume.

These are three major themes that work through the entirety of scripture.  They provide great hope for people who are worried about how mistakes and sin in general might affect our afterlife; hope when we feel lost and want to get back home; and hope when we feel oppressed and need liberated.  And yet, as sweeping as these themes are, there is so much more that God provides.  Here are a number of examples from the life and ministry of Jesus to give you an idea:

·       He taught people a new way to live based on a new identity from God.

·       He spoke words of hope to people who felt hopeless.

·       He healed people of every disease.

·       He demonstrated how to achieve peace with enemies.

·       He restored sight to the blind.

·       He brought those who strayed back into the fold.

·       He fed hungry people.

·       He challenged those who were abusing their power.

·       He touched people who were untouchable.

·       He kept judged people from dying.

·       He brought dead people back to life.

·       He taught and modeled how to forgive and restore people.

·       He chose to come alongside people no matter what.

·       He modeled nonviolence.

·       And more…

That’s a pretty strong resume.  I wonder how many people shortchange faith because they just don’t quite see all that God is capable of doing.  I think we sometimes miss out on a lot because we just don’t ask God for help in ways that God can.  It’s like asking Bill Gates to just help you connect your computer to your printer.  Or Warren Buffett to just help balance your checkbook.  Or Steph Curry just to teach you how to do a proper lay-up. Or guitarist Tommy Emanuel how to play a “E” chord. Or Thomas Keller to just teach you how to fry an egg.  So much more depth than we ask, partly because we’ve siloed faith to the sin management and afterlife realm.  Important?  Of course.  Complete?  In countless ways, no.

So, take a look in the mirror.  As you examine yourself, keep that resume handy.  How have you sold your faith short because you simply haven’t looked to God for guidance on so many areas God has expertise?  Having trouble feeling good about yourself?  Or forgiving others – or yourself? Or unsure how to deal with enemies? Or feel hopeless?  Your faith speaks into all aspects of life -  have you wondered how God might help you find your way home, or help rescue you from captivity?

In our culture today, it is all too easy to stop there.  We discover anew what’s in it for us, and feel like we’re done.  God surely is personal and definitely does want to help us become more whole in every regard.  And yet if we could place ourselves in Jesus’ culture, we would quickly recognize that they were not driven by a “what’s in it for me” mentality, but were much more interested in their community as a whole. It wasn’t okay if they were well fed if their neighbor was starving.  We need to shift our gaze away from our reflection in the mirror and look through a window into our world so that we can see how we might help everyone experience all that God provides. 

This is a tough sell for us unless we are facing a crisis.  Tragedies of all kinds bring out the best in people – we know we have it in us.  But when the urgency is gone, we often resort back to just looking after ourselves.  If it’s not our problem, or if it’s not our experience, then we feel like we needn’t lift a finger.

Unfortunately for you (if you are a CrossWalker), we have this little phrase that we say a lot: Go Be Jesus.  Jesus didn’t just look after himself – he spent his life looking after others.  I don’t think he would have been as fully actualized had he not have spent his life serving others.  Jesus is our model.  If he’s going, we need to be following.  If he’s on the move, it must be a good idea, so we need to do it.

The question isn’t will you serve others, it’s how will you serve others? So now, look out the window onto the world, and as you do, hold that resume in your hand.  The things Jesus did still need doing, and he needs you to do them.  You need you to do them.  The people who need to be served need you to do them.  What are you going to do to live into the footsteps of Jesus?

Thin Places: Opening the Heart

Part 8 of 12 | Based on The Heart of Christianity, by Marcus Borg

In the eighth chapter of his book, The Heart of Christianity, Marcus Borg shifts to addressing God breaking into our consciousness as individuals and community, then draws attention to why God would do such a thing: to open our hearts.  When we use the term heart in a non-medical sense of the word, we are generally talking about a person’s deeper self, their identity, their passion, their emotional life – a range of things.  This is similar to how biblical writers employed the term as well, using it to refer to the inner self as a whole.  If a person’s heart was off, or not “in it”, or closed, it meant there was something deeply wrong.  This is because, as Borg notes, “The heart is an image for the self at a deep level, deeper than our perception, intellect, emotion, and volition.  As the spiritual center of the total self, it affects all of these: our sight, thought, feelings, and will” (120).

A closed heart, therefore, would refer to a person who wasn’t seeing fully, thinking correctly, has a poor attitude, and isn’t likely manifesting itself in the kinds of behavior God would encourage.  There are times when our closed heartedness catches up with us and slaps us in the face (or worse).  When we see it, we know we’re in a mess, which often brings us to a fork in the road where we humble ourselves and open up to God, ourselves, and others about it and begin moving in a healthier direction.  Or we double down and stay stuck, choosing instead to beef up our pride, puff up our chests, deny any wrongdoing and pretend things never happened.  This latter choice makes our hearts harder still.  The former choice, however, opens us up to the experience of God by created “thin places” that allow God to be especially present right here.  Thomas Merton expressed it well:

Life is this simple.  We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent, and God is shining through it all the time.  This is not just a fable or a nice story. It is true. If we abandon ourselves to God and forget ourselves, we see it sometimes, and we see it maybe frequently. God shows Himself everywhere, in everything – in people and in things and in nature and in events. It becomes very obvious that God is everywhere and in everything and we cannot be without Him. It’s impossible. The only thing is that we don’t see it.

The reason God chooses to come close is to help open and keep open our hearts, our deepest selves, to God’s presence and purpose for life.  We are a part of the whole, we impact the whole, and when we are open, we bless the whole.  Open hearts allow people to see more fully, think more openly, walk through life with life-giving attitudes, and act as God leads.  This is where beautiful things can happen.  Borg notes: “The Christian life is about a new heart, an open heart, a heart of flesh, a heart of compassion.  The Christian life is about the Spirit of God opening our hearts in thin places” (131).

A concept Borg noted in his chapter on being born again that stuck with me fits this pursuit of thin places.  He wrote about “spirituality as midwifery”, that what we do with our lives, and in particular our spiritual lives, fosters the born again experience.  Only God can truly make it happen, but our actions play a role in improving the likelihood of the new life being born in us.  So, how do we move beyond closed hearts toward open hearts?  We allow for, we facilitate, we create opportunities for thin places where God is more likely to get through to us.

Borg highlighted a handful of “tools” that help us cultivate thin places in our lives.  Music, for many people, has the capacity to take us to higher heights and deeper depths.  Sometimes it’s the lyrics that connect.  U2’s Grace comes to mind for me.  Sometimes the song doesn’t need to have lyrics to be powerful.  Barber’s Adagio for Strings comes to mind.  Worship provides a thin space where music, community, and learning come together.  Study is a means for me – when I read something of depth, or listen to a good podcast, or watch an engaging video, it opens me up to God’s voice somehow.  For many, nature is the quickest path to thin places, where we are caught up in creation which always reflects the Creator. 

For our culture – now more than every before in history – I think we need to consider one other variables that I believe will provide space – think places – for God to break in: silence.  We surely live in the noisiest time in history.  If the sounds of traffic, construction, emergency vehicles and the like aren’t enough to pollute your auditory senses, there’s always that gadget in your pocket or purse.  Our phones.  Which are TV’s, juke boxes, and – oh yeah – telephones, berate us with an assault of noise.  Seemingly constantly.  Biblically, however, silence seems to go hand in hand with experiencing the inbreaking of God’s voice.  I would even suggest that the Way of Christ whispers.  Constantly.  That Way – God’s Way – is all over the Bible.  The creation hymn in Genesis 1 begins with silence, broken with God speaking everything into being.  Adam and Eve were hiding in silence when that critical, post-forbidden fruit talk needed to happen.  Abraham no doubt heard God in silence.  Joseph, his great grandson, experienced God’s visions in the silence of dreams.  Job only heard God responded after his friends stopped talking, and when he himself finally shut up.  Samuel heard God calling only when he was alone and quiet.  Isaiah had a vision which undoubtedly necessitated silence as well.  Elijah heard God in the still, small voice – literally in the sound of silence.  Zechariah was quiet before God in the Temple when he heard the news that he was going to father John the Baptist.  Mary had to be quiet enough for the angel to speak, and Joseph had to be asleep – quiet! – for the angel to get through to him.  Jesus himself, after his baptism, spent 40 days in the wilderness alone in the quiet to sort out what God wanted him to do.  Peter was quiet in meditation when he received the message about including Gentiles.  Paul was quieted by Christ’s surprising visit, then spent a season in quiet learning about what was true and what wasn’t.

We may not be comfortable in silence, but how are we to hear the whisper of God if we constantly keep the noise on?  We need to learn how to quiet ourselves.  It takes time and work.  Olympic athletes don’t suddenly become incredible – they started somewhere and kept learning and growing.  Some folks can barely go 10 seconds before their minds are wandering all over the place.  Depth cannot develop with such short attention spans.  So, get an app that will help you develop the skills of meditation, so that you can be quiet, then quiet before God.  Imagine all you have missed over your life because you simply weren’t listening!  Imagine what awaits!  Listening in quiet provides a thin place which become sacred space which leads to open hearts which leads to life at its best for everybody.

Dag Hammarskjold, Swedish diplomat and Secretary General of the United Nations (1953-1961) understood what cultivating an open heart represents, as witnessed in his journal which he used while on a peacekeeping mission in the Congo.  May his pray be ours:

Give us pure hearts, that we may see you;

Humble hearts, that we may hear you;

Hearts of love, that we may serve you;

Hearts of faith, that we may abide in you.

The Kingdom of God: The Heart of Justice

Note: Due to technical difficulties, there are no audio or video recordings of this teaching.

Part 7 of 12 of Marcus Borg's The Heart of Christianity

“Don’t talk about politics or religion.”  That’s how we avoid fisticuffs in social settings.  Luckily, reading this blog or listening to the podcast or watching this teaching on YouTube isn’t social, so we can talk about both.

At what point in your life were you able to clearly articulate the political position of your parents?  At what point were you able to (as objectively as possible) recognize the differences between your positions and theirs?  My kids took a Political Science/Government class in High School.  One of their earliest assignments was to take a brief survey, and then have Lynne and I take the same survey separately.  I knew what was up as soon as I heard what was being asked.  The teacher wanted to discover to what extent his students reflected their parents’ political leanings.  As you might guess, nearly every student was closely corelated to their parents.  Of course.  Parents are the primary influence for the first 18 years of their kids’ lives.  How they see and articulate the world is passed along to their children.  And, unless something causes the child to seriously evaluate those positions, they are likely to be held well into adulthood – perhaps their entire life – without serious reflection.

So, I ask again in another way: when did your political opinions become your political opinions and not just a parroting of your parents? 

Jesus, Son of Man.  Jesus was human, if you haven’t heard.  He was born at a particular time in history, in a very specific geographical location, into a demographic none of us would choose.  He was raised in rural northern Israel while it was under Roman occupation.  Very, very few (like .1%) of Jewish people were living what we might call a Middle Class existence where they had more than enough to live on.  99.9% were poor, very poor, or extremely poor.  The poorest were day laborers, which likely included people with carpentry skills.  Jesus, like his father who trained him, was a carpenter by trade.  He was very poor like most of the people around him.

Like his contemporaries, Jesus struggled throughout his life to get food on the table and avoid debt – two chief concerns of normal everyday folk in first century northern Israel.  Like all others around him, Jesus undoubtedly had strong opinions about Pax Romana – the Peace of Rome – which made  sure peace was kept by strong military presence and action.  Rome called it keeping the peace.  Israelites like Jesus and the vast majority of others called it oppression.

Two Kingdoms.  If you ask biblical scholars what the chief themes of Jesus’ teaching would include, at the top of the list will be the Kingdom of God.  When Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of God, he was really talking about what things would be like on earth if God were in charge.  These teachings would, by their very nature, stand in sharp contrast to the Kingdom that wielded power of their lives every day:  Rome.  Rome led by domination.  They were politically oppressive – allegiance was mandatory.  They were economically exploitative – someone had to pay for the Roman Road and Caesar’s excessive pageantry.  And unfortunately, as it seems to always go for humanity, since they were the dominant “Super Power” in the world at that time, it surely must have meant that the gods were smiling on them, legitimating everything they stood for and the actions their stance led them to take.

Except for the Jewish aristocracy leading in Jerusalem and a few Jewish people who were in the right place at the right time, everybody agreed that Rome was ripping them off, making it harder and harder to live.  Everybody knew that being poor sucked, and that the Roman system made sure they stayed poor by over taxing those they oppressed.  If you couldn’t pay the taxes, you owed a debt.  If you couldn’t pay the debt, you went to jail, which made it harder to pay the debt, which led to a cycle of generational oppression which carried with it a hopelessness that is hard to overcome.  All of this while you wonder if God sees you through the same lens as Rome?  And, at the end of the day, while Rome gave plenty of room allowing for people to continue Jewish cultic practices, when you were asked to pledge allegiance, it had better be to Rome and her Caesar.  Or you may be put to death under certain circumstances (like on Tuesdays or Wednesdays or other days ending in “day”).  Nobody in the first century needed a history lesson on the politics of the Roman Empire because they all lived it.

When Jesus spoke of the way things would be if God were in charge, everybody knew he was drawing a contrast and implicit criticism of the Roman Empire.  They knew it because they were living it.  Jesus’ rhetoric, lifestyle and ministry were boldface challenges to those who held power – political and religious – and everyone knew it.  When Jesus was inviting people to “Follow me!”, it was an invitation to pledge allegiance to a different Kingdom that operated in sharp contrast to Rome.  Just because you and I don’t readily recognize it doesn’t change a difficult-to-swallow reality: Jesus was extremely political.

Politically Speaking.  There are words attributed to Jesus that we float on by and even quote that were direct challenges to Rome and we probably didn’t realize it.  We have sanitized and sanctified some words and phrases so much that they only now refer to matters of heaven.  But when Jesus used these words, and especially when he said that the power of such words is sourced in God and not Rome, he was giving the finger to the Empire.  Evangelism.  Salvation.  Peace.  Savior.  Lord.  Cross.  Bread.  Debts.  Resurrection.  All of these were deeply meaningful words used in Roman rhetoric before Jesus used those same words to speak of God’s Kingdom.  The Good News (evangelism) that Rome came to declare was that the Empire was the source of salvation for all who pledged allegiance to the Savior and Lord, Caesar, who would in exchange provide peace.  For those who did not comply, the cross was provided as a symbol of Roman dominance.  Of course, the oppressed knew the taxes such allegiance required would not be adequate to provide daily bread, and would usher them into servitude as their debt to Rome climbed.  Rome legitimated itself with direct proof from the gods: when an emperor would die, they would look to the heavens and behold: a shooting star would eventually appear: a sign that their Lord had been resurrected to life in heaven among the gods who ruled from on high. 

Jesus challenged all of that.  Since the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem were charged with keeping the Jewish people in line with Roman politics, Jesus’ threat to Rome was also a threat to them, their position, and their authority.  Of course, plenty of things Jesus said and did threatened their authority in myriad ways; the politically-charged, insurrectionist vibe was just the icing on the cake.  Jesus was a threat.

Pledging Allegiance?  When Jesus invited people to follow him, he was asking people to pledge allegiance to the Kingdom of God, to strive toward the things God would strive toward if God were running the show.  This meant that life on earth would be lived differently because the world and the people in it needed help now, not just after life on earth was over.  Why?  Because, as New Testament scholar John Dominic Crossan explained, “Heaven is in great shape; earth is where the problems are.”  Marcus Borg (The Heart of Christianity) continues: “Seeing the political passion of the Bible and Jesus calls us to a politically engaged spirituality that affirms both spiritual and political transformation.  What we see in Jesus and the Bible answers our deepest personal longing, to be born again, and the world’s great need: the Kingdom of God.”  The systems of the world throughout history has failed.  The ones who it has failed the most are the most vulnerable in the world – the poor, the suffering, the immigrant, the outcast.  Those who pledge allegiance to the Kingdom of God are pledging to care for them, because the systems of the world can’t, don’t and won’t.  Regardless of what lips are saying.

As Jesus followers, this means we are called to follow in his political footsteps.  You may reel at this, shaking your head as you shout: “I refuse to be political!”  Well my friend, I have some potentially unwelcome news for you: you already are, and you have been your entire adult life.  Whether or not you realize it, you have been pledging allegiance all along with your words, your time, your wallet, your behavior, your passion, your gifts and skills, your dreams, everything.  Perhaps you already understand this to a degree as you have seen the lack of potency the various world systems have offered in their failed attempts at leadership.  For some of you it’s personal: you are a woman who realizes that it is not right that you are not treated equally to men.  Or maybe you’re among those in the LGBTQ community or love someone who is.  Or you’re an undocumented immigrant or love someone who is.  Or you are poor and know you’re stuck.  Or you’re facing health challenges and can’t afford treatment even with “affordable care” that still isn’t for so many.  Or you’ve taken an Alaskan cruise and seen for yourself the retreating glaciers caused by global warming.  Or you’re beginning to become numb to the horror of school shootings because they are so frequent and you realize that is problematic and something has to be done.  Or a hundred other scenarios.  Jesus is saying there is another way, another Leader who is calling for allegiance that will help bring about the healing the world cannot do on its own (and won’t).

This means you and I need to wake up to the fact that this is bigger than a Republican v. Democrat issue.  That our pledge has to be higher than the American Flag.  That our vision has to be broader.  That our love has to run deeper.  That our hopes need to soar higher.  Because God is behind God’s own Kingdom, and it is everlasting.  Pledging allegiance to this Way means at times you are going to challenge whatever the Republicans are saying.  And at other times the Democrats.  And at other times you will be called to take issue with U.S. stances on who knows what.  Because the United States is not God, even though we feel like we rule the world at times.  The Kingdom of God is globally focused and not simply nationalistic.  It is deeply personal and individual and yet is about all people everywhere, and the entire creation not just for now but for the future as well.

You already are political.  The question is, to which Kingdom are you pledging your allegiance?

Before you click out of this, I have a dare for you.  Now that you know that Jesus was deeply political in his life, ministry, and teaching, I dare you to read and pray the dangerous prayer Jesus taught, but with new eyes.  May it challenge you to consider your politics and get your butt in gear to help do your part in bringing the Kingdom Come.  By the way, it’s hard.  If it’s really easy for you, you’re probably not paying attention. It was meant to be a model to riff on, not just something we recite like programmed minions.  “Our Father (our Identity), Who art in Heaven (not Rome), Hallowed be Thy Name (may you be revered and seen as holy).  Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven (as Crossan pointed out, ‘heaven is in great shape; earth is where the problems are’).  Give us this day our daily bread (because we’re not sure we’ll eat today otherwise), and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors (which is an economic mechanism that is used to control people into submission).  Lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil.  For Yours is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory forever (again, not Rome).  Political, political, political.

The Lord’s (Dangerous) Prayer: Our Father Who Art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name.  Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.  Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory forever.  Amen!

Born Again: A New Heart

Part 6 of 12 | The Heart of Christianity, Marcus Borg

The Gospel of John is my favorite of the four “biographies” of Jesus.  John’s agenda is not merely giving the story, but weaving it along theological lines. One of the first stories provides an allusion for one man named Nicodemus, and for all people everywhere trying to find God and their way in the world.  The third chapter starts with Nicodemus coming to see Jesus under cover of darkness.  He was a very well educated leader who held a seat on the Sanhedrin Jewish leadership table.  He had undoubtedly heard about Jesus’ renown as a gifted teacher and healer, and he wanted to see for himself what kind of man he was.

It’s no accident that he came at night – he didn’t want to be seen visiting this upstart.  More than that, he was in the dark personally, not yet exposed to the Light shining in the darkness, the bright Spirit that was illuminating Jesus’ life, teaching, and ministry.  Breaking the ice, Nicodemus started the conversation with a compliment about Jesus’ clear connection to God.  A bit of a setup, actually, to see how arrogant Jesus was.

Jesus jumped right into the deep end of the pool, dragging Nicodemus with him.  He spoke of the need to be born again to see the Kingdom of God – a phrase denoting space that is particularly infused with the presence, characteristics, priorities and practices of God.  Nicodemus took Jesus literally, and wondered how, exactly, a grown human would get back inside the mother’s womb.  At that, Jesus probably rolled his eyes and let out a sigh (murmuring “METAPHOR!”) before he continued:

     Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the 'wind hovering over the water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.
     "So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be 'born from above'—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone 'born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God."

This “born again” thing, becoming something new – different, more God-inspired – than before, is not just a Jesus thing.  This theme runs through the entire Bible.  God is always inviting people into a new way of being that is grounded in who God is and empowered by the Spirit God provides.  Abraham sensed God calling him to leave everything behind to start fresh, different, led by God.  Throughout Israel’s history we see consistent invitations from God to get back to who they were meant to be – the people so close to God that God just oozed out of them in myriad ways.  The talk of wind?  That’s a reference to a vision God gave the prophet Ezekiel about what God wanted to do with Israel: even the deadest, driest bones can be brought back to life with the power of God’s Spirit. 

Borg notes (The Heart of Christianity, 107), “In the Gospels and in the rest of the New Testament, death and resurrection, dying and rising, are again and again a metaphor for personal transformation, for the psychological-spiritual process at the center of the Christian life.”  Here are just a few examples:

Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! – 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (The Message)

I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ.  My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.   – Galatians 2:19-20 (The Message)

I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. – Romans 8:38-39 (The Message)

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
     If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.  If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. – 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (The Message)

Everything God has done, is doing, and will do is related to this invitation to be born again – as individuals, as relationships great and small, as an entire human race.  Jesus’ whole reason for living and dying was related to this invitation.  His mysterious resurrection provided experiential “proof” that God was indeed with him through it all, and that there is more to life than flesh and blood.  This may come as a shock, and initially disappointing, but this entire exchange between Jesus and Nicodemus is all about this life, right now, here on planet earth.  Not heaven.  This matters a lot, because part of the conversation gets to the famous quote of Jesus used in evangelism: For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever would believe in him would not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16).  This has become a proof text to assure folks that all it takes is belief to get to heaven (and if you don’t believe, you are toast).  Biblical scholars of every stripe agree on this – it’s about this life, being born again into life God wishes for us, empowered and led by the God who created us to live our True Self.

I love how Eugene Peterson phrased it in his Message translation: "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.”  The “born again” life is the eternal life that comes by believing.  Which leads to another really important and disturbing point for many of you: believing isn’t what you believe it to be.

In our time and context, we think of belief as mental assent or agreement.  “I believe the world is round.”  “I believe in love.”  “I believe the United States is the greatest country in the world.”  “I believe the United States stands for peace in the world.”  “I believe the United States has the largest military in the world.”  “I believe in God.” Some of these statements are more fact-based than others that are more subjective.  The key thing to remember here is that for most of us in our time, to believe is to agree with a statement or sentiment on an intellectual plane.  That kind of belief isn’t very effective, however.  Certainly not enough to bring about eternal life, which Jesus stated was the key component for such a pursuit.  Could it be that Jesus’ remembered saying here about belief being the key to eternal life (and by necessity being born again) be based on a different rendering of the word?

The Greek language gives us the word that is translated “belief”.  That word connotes three different nuances, or facets that make up the whole.  Think of “belief” as a three legged stool.  Our Western, still-guided-by-scientific-thinking viewpoint does support part of what our first century ancestors in faith regarding belief.  Intellectual assent is part of it, one leg.  So, it matters.  But the stool won’t stand on one leg.  Belief isn’t belief if all it has to stand on is intellectual assent.  What are the remaining legs on the belief stool?

Another leg of the belief stool has to do with “heart”.  When we wonder if a person’s heart is “in it”, what are asking?  We’re wondering if they have any passion for the pursuit, any genuine concern or care about it.  If a person lacks heart, it means they have no drive, probably give their task weak effort, and are likely fairly apathetic, even if they mentally understand it.  I don’t know anybody addicted to smoking cigarettes who thinks it’s a good thing for their health.  They mentally agree.  But they don’t have the heart to quit.  In the ancient world, to believe was more than to agree intellectually.  Belief meant your heart was in it.  But head and heart are still just two legs.  The stool won’t stand.

The third leg of the belief stool relates to one’s hands.  Action.  Changed behavior.  Without action, your intellectual assent and heartfelt passion don’t account for much in your life and in the world we are called to serve.  Action can be as subtle as new behavior toward yourself and those you are in relationship with, like not adding to the problem when provoked, but seeking something redemptive in your response.  Action can be as magnificent as giving your life to a cause much bigger than yourself.  This is not in any way to be construed as “earning your way into God’s favor.”  On the contrary, this is in response to the favor you already have.  Perhaps Jesus’ brother, James, said it best: faith without works is dead (James 1:22, 2:17).  No life, eternal or otherwise.  Definitely not conducive to being born again.

One mistake I think the Church has made in articulating the “you must be born again” Good News is that we have overly focused on the initial “YES!” and have not adequately communicated that the first yes is one of perhaps thousands of yes’s to come.  We’ve done this because we’ve overly played up the “get your butt to heaven” piece of the message, so much so that we speak of being “saved” as a once-and-done thing, when in actuality, salvation is a process that lasts a lifetime.  We’re fully saved when we draw our first breath in heaven.  Until then, we’re invited to pursue and enjoy – with God’s help – as much eternal life as we choose.

I think one of the reasons so many people are leaving the church is because so many professing Christians stopped looking like Jesus not long after their first yes.  We’ve tucked our salvation away and adopted a warped version of life that is symbolized more by the American flag or the Almighty dollar than it is by the cross.  More by the pursuit of self than the giving away of self.  We’re not invited to be born again.  We’re invited to be born again and again and again and again and again – 70 X 7 times – as we work out what eternal life looks like as we mature, then choosing to believe with our head, heart, and hands.

When was the first time you were born again?  When was the last time you were born again?  When do you suspect will be the next time you will be born again?

Christocentric Alphapoem by Linda Murphy

Wonderful God who

Has always

Owned my heart

Down through time

Over years of humanity

You have

Opened us

Up

Sensed our

Anguish

Yearned to

Teach us of Your

Healing

And

Tender

Incredible

All-encompassing

Memory of who we can become in You

Some (hopefully) helpful stuff…

Reflection Questions: The Way of Exile and Homecoming

From Experiencing the Heart of Christianity, by Tim Scorer

The Road into Exile.  Exile is an inevitable feature of the human journey that leads us from birth, through the growth of self-awareness and self-concern, and into a place where we live lives that are conferred on us by our culture more than chosen by who we are truly meant to be (Marcus Borg, The Heart of Christianity, 117)

1.       Recall a time in your childhood when you remember yourself as a unique child, relatively unshaped by societal, parental, cultural, and religious messages.

2.       Recall a time in adolescence or early adulthood when you remember yourself as self-conscious and significantly shaped by the three A’s: appearance, achievement, and affluence.

3.       Recall a time in adulthood when you would say that you were living “a false self” and were exiled from your true identity.

The Road of Return and Exile.  The road of return is the road of recovering true self, the path to beginning to live from the inside our rather than the outside in.  Being “born again” involves dying to the false self and being born into an identity centered in God. The born-again experience happens in many ways.  Marcus Borg describes four.  Personally, we may know about one or all of them.  Reflecting on the born-again experience in these ways can help broaden its definition.  How have these been part of your experience?

1.       A sudden and dramatic moment in your life (a revelation, a life-changing epiphany, a sudden conversion).

2.       A gradual lifetime incremental process (experiencing the self-forgetfulness that accompanies a deepening trust in God).

3.       The shorter rhythms of our lives (may occur several times in periods of major change or transition).

4.       The micro-rhythms of daily life (each day forgetting God – becoming burdened – remembering God – rising from confinement).

Jesus: The Heart of God

If you’re reading this out of your own volition, I assume there’s something in you that finds Jesus compelling, or at least intriguing. 

Christianity is the only major world religion that says God is seen primarily through a person, which is both deeply compelling and, as it turns out, results in some pretty strong disagreements. Jesus may be the most compelling, controversial and fought over person in human history. Wars have started in his name, and peace movements have been spawned by those imitating him. People have killed each other over disagreements about who he was, and others have been killed for following him. You can find any version of Jesus you want - rich, poor, handsome, ugly, hippie, prude, party-animal. You name it, there’s a Jesus to match.

This is pretty understandable. We disagree about the significance of people who are a live, much less a person who lived 2000 years ago before journalism, history books and media. So then, in the sea of Jesuses, how do we choose? What do we make of him? 

Fortunately, Marcus Borg is here to help us. If you’ve been following along for the past few weeks, you’ve journeyed with Borg, via Pete, through some of the most fundamental aspects of Christian faith. And now, we arrive at the central figure of the whole Christian story: Jesus. 

Let me start with a confession: exactly what I believe about Jesus changes, almost weekly. So I’m not going to try to defend any particular understanding of Jesus. But I think that’s ok. To me, what we believe about Jesus isn’t as important as where Jesus leads us: to God.

As Borg has pointed out, we have a tendency to focus our faith on literalism. Literalism has boiled Jesus down to a set affirmations: Son of God, born of a virgin, physically resurrected, etc. But is the revelation of God just about agreeing to a set of facts? How boring is that? No one person can be boiled down to a set of facts, much less one of the most compelling figures in history. As Richard Rohr says, the literal meaning is always the least interesting.

When we get past our inclination to boil Jesus down to a set of literal facts, we just might end up somewhere more interesting: the heart of God. As Borg say, “Jesus is what can be seen of God embodied in a human life…He shows us the heart of God.”

Pre-Easter vs Post-Easter

Before getting too far into the weeds, Borg wants to make a really important distinction about the voices in the Gospels that give shape to Jesus. Namely, our Pre-Easter understanding of Jesus and our Post-Easter understanding of him. Here’s what he means. 

The Pre-Easter Jesus isn’t where most disagreements are found. The Pre-Easter Jesus was a first century Jewish man. He taught throughout Israel with a moderate following, and was executed by the Roman empire. This Jesus is gone, which sounds controversial ,but isn’t really.  Jesus does not currently exist in flesh and blood, like he did in the first century. Even the most conservative and liberal Christians seem to agree on this. Most people don’t think Jesus is roaming around in a human body somewhere, stuck on an island with Elvis and Tupac. 

The Post-Easter Jesus is a bit more wide-ranging.  It revolves around what Jesus became after his death. Particularly, how he was experienced by his early followers, and how we experience him today. These experiences are broad, and have branched off throughout history in many directions.

The difference between pre and post Easter understandings of Jesus may seem small, but it is important, especially when we read the stories about Jesus’ life. Namely, it means we let Jesus be a human being. We don’t assume that because he was entwined with God that he never worried or felt pain. We let him grow, learn and suffer. As it turns out, this is a way more interesting way to read the Jesus stories, and otherwise, we miss the point of a lot of those stories. 

Let me give you an example. In both Matthew and Mark, there’s a story that goes something like this:

From there, Jesus went to the regions of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from those territories came out and shouted, “Show me mercy, Son of David. My daughter is suffering terribly from demon possession.”  But he didn’t respond to her at all.

His disciples came and urged him, “Send her away; she keeps shouting out after us.”

Jesus replied, “I’ve been sent only to the lost sheep, the people of Israel.”

But she knelt before him and said, “Lord, help me.”

He replied, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and toss it to dogs.”

She said, “Yes, Lord. But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall off their masters’ table.”

Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith. It will be just as you wish.” And right then her daughter was healed. (Matthew 15:21-28)

People bend over backwards to try to justify how Jesus acts here, because it doesn’t seem very loving and God-like. But, if we actually let Jesus be a human being here, the story gets really compelling. It shows Jesus learning and growing. 

What we find in the beginning of the story is Jesus reflecting the prejudices of his day. He treats this foreign woman like most ancient men would - as less than, as a dog. Then something crazy happens. She doesn’t take it. She shames Jesus by saying “Ok, but you’re treating me even worse than a dog. What does that make you?” Then something even crazier happens. Jesus agrees! He learns. This foreign woman puts him in his place, points out his prejudice and he changes his mind. 

So if we want to experience the heart of God, perhaps we need to learn to face our prejudices and learn from those we think are less than. But we’d miss all of that if we don’t let Jesus be human.

The Nature of the Gospels

To really see where Jesus leads us, Borg suggests we need to understand the nature of the Gospels - the texts that narrate Jesus’ life. First, he points out that they’re a product of a developing tradition about Jesus. They were a collection of oral stories that where eventually written down about 40-60 years after Jesus’ death. Those early Christian communities where wrestling with who Jesus was, and trying to make meaning of the stories they had heard. 

This is important because it means we’re not reading a literal history of Jesus. We’re reading the reflections of Jesus’ followers as they look for the significance of his life.  

This realization can be jarring for some of us, especially if we’ve been taught to read the texts like a history textbook. But, when we look closer, we realize that trying to make these stories into literal historical accounts does a disservice to the texts. We’re holding them to a standard that didn’t exist at the time and keeps us from seeing what the texts are saying. 

Our version of history didn’t exist at that point in time. No one was trying to, or thought they could, record events exactly as they happened. How could you without pen, paper, wide spread literacy, photos or videos? 

Look at what Plutarch, an ancient writer says as he records events, 

“For it is not Histories that I am writing, but Lives…Accordingly, just as painters get the likenesses in their portraits from the face and the expression of the eyes, wherein the character shows itself, but make very little account of the other parts of the body, so I must be permitted to devote myself rather to the signs of the soul in men…”

When ancient writers wrote about the lives of others, they were more interested in expressing their “soul” or the essence of who they were. Of course, many of these stories were based on actual events, but they felt the liberty to fill in the gaps and paint with different colors. The writers of the Gospels were no different.

So then what are the ancient stories of Jesus? Borg thinks they’re a mix of memory and metaphor. They’re profoundly true, but not always literal. They combine the limited memories go Jesus’ followers with deeply true insights they learned from him, often expressed in symbolic stories.  

He gives the example of Jesus’ first miracle: turning water into wine. At face value, it seems like a pretty cool trick. And it kept the party going, so that’s great. But is the point just for Jesus to amaze people who were probably really drunk? Perhaps the writers were using familiar images to evoke something in the reader. 

For instance, when a reader heard a story about a wedding, they’d know that was a familiar metaphor for God’s relationship with humanity. When the story referenced the  third day, they almost certainly would have thought of resurrection. The writer isn’t just recording history. They’re stirring up the reader’s imagination, and asking them to see the deeper meaning beneath the story.

For instance, weddings weren’t hour long celebrations. They were huge parties, that lasted days. These celebrations sharply contrasted with their normal peasant lifestyle. Instead of working constantly, they were celebrating with friends and family. Instead of eating meager helpings of affordable food, they were feasting and enjoying things like meat and wine. 

And all of this is at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. As Borg says, it’s as if the writers are trying to show where Jesus is trying to lead us: a wedding banquet. Not just a wedding banquet, but one where the wine never runs out. Not just a wedding banquet where the wine never runs out but also where the best is saved for last. We’re being invited to see the world as a divine celebration, and even when it seems like the celebration has ended, God is in the business of saving the best for last.  

Son of God: Statement or Image?

For some strange reason, we tend to think that the Bible is mostly making claims about Jesus. But if we look closely, the Bible speaks of Jesus in metaphors, which is quite a bit different than a declarative statement. We acknowledge this with some metaphors: bread, door, shepherd, vine, hen, and many more. But Borg thinks there’s one big metaphor we miss understand: Son of God.

While it sounds like a declarative statement about Jesus, it’s actually an image as much as those others. It conjured up certain things in the reader’s mind. In the Hebrew scriptures, Israel and some of its kings were called Son of God. Around Jesus’ time, some mystics called Son of God. Culturally in that time, a son could speak for their father in all matters. 

Politically, it made a statement about Caesar and power. Caesar was though to be a son of the gods, so the image challenged Roman imperial power. 

When we boil it down to a doctrinal statement, we miss what’s going on. The texts are trying to show us what it means to be full of God, in a way Israel had been longing for and that a political empire could never provide. As Borg puts it, “Jesus is, for us as Christians, the decisive revelation of what a life full of God looks like.” 

Here, and throughout the chapter, Borg chases an important rabbit trail. Namely, does Jesus being a decisive revelation of God mean the market is cornered on the divine? What about other religions? In short, no. Borg thinks that God is defined by, but not confined to Jesus. While is a really humble statement. We can claim that our path has led us to a life full of God without saying or knowing that others don’t.

I heard a helpful metaphor recently. Imagine that you’re staring at a wall full of holes. On the other side of those holes is light - divine light. If you want to see the source and shape of that light, you have to get up close and look through one particular hole. 

Or, as the Buddha said, if you want to strike water, don’t dig five shallow wells. Dig one deep one. 

The Death of Jesus

Jesus was killed. Executed by Rome to be exact. This was a fate left only for political troublemakers. These few facts are pretty well documented event in Roman, Jewish and Christian writings. So, while these ancient writings aren’t modern history textbooks, it’s a fairly safe bet to think they happened.

But there’s a deeper question. What does Jesus’ death mean? Was it part of a divine master plan, or a natural consequence of living an authentic life connected to God? Christians have argued about the meaning of Jesus’ death for centuries, and scripture doesn’t give a clean cut answer. Borg sees five main understandings of Jesus’ death described in scripture, which are: 

1. Rejection and Vindication. This sees Jesus’ death and resurrection as a political statement. The governing authorities rejected Jesus, but God vindicates him, proving that his way has power. 
2. Defeat of the Powers. This one starts with the same explanation as the previous theory, but goes a layer deeper. It assumes there’s something behind the authorities, namely “the powers”. While this sounds odd, it’s essentially the idea that evil can take on a life of its own, in the form of oppressive systems, wars, destructive ways of thinking and more. So Jesus’ death is about defeating any force that seeks to dominate, control and oppress.
3. The Way. This idea sees Jesus’ death and resurrection as the path to spiritual and psychological transformation. The world is full of smaller deaths. Jesus shows us how to be transformed and experience resurrection. 
4. Revelation. In this theory, Jesus’ death reveals how much God loves us. We see the depths of God’s compassion in how God’s willingness to experience our suffering. 
5. Sacrificial. Jesus died for our sins. (More below…)

This last one needs some unpacking. It is likely the most common understanding today, at least in American Evangelicalism. But many of us have found it weird, troubling and not particularly compelling. Specifically, it seems to have some weird implications for God. It assumes God is angry and needs a sacrifice. God needs death to forgive. 

Borg is incredibly helpful here. He suggests that we’ve lost first century meaning of the metaphor of sacrifice. In Jesus’ time, God’s presence was confined to the temple. If you wanted to connect with God, you went to the temple. But, if you did something that made you unclean or broke part of the Mosaic law, you couldn’t go into the temple. Some of these “sins” required sacrifice before you could worship and enter in to the presence of God.

This is why Jesus was so angry when the temple was turned into a marketplace that exploited people. If you were poor, you literally couldn’t afford to experience God. God’s presence had gatekeepers.

So Jesus as a sacrifice isn’t making a statement about an angry, violent God. It’s making a statement about who can access God - everyone. It’s showing us what was always true. 

Here’s the ironic thing: we’ve put up another gate. We make mental ascent to certain statements about Jesus the new gatekeeper to God, when the whole thing was about knocking down gates. 

Metaphor and Sacrament

So if Jesus connects us to God, how does that happen? Borg sees Jesus leading us to God in two ways: as a metaphor and a sacrament. As a metaphor, we see God through Jesus. For Christians, Jesus is THE metaphor for God. Just as a metaphor reveals something to us, Jesus reveals to us who God is. 

As a sacrament, we experience God through Jesus. Sacraments are those things things that lead us to experience God. There are formal ones: communion and baptism. And there are informal ones: good conversation, music, art, family. For Christians, Jesus is the primary sacrament. Like a straw that leads you to a much needed drink, Jesus leads us into the depths of God. 

So, I’m pretty sure what I believe about Jesus will continue to change, but I’m equally confident about where he’ll lead me: into the heart of God.

God: The Heart of Reality

This is part four of a twelve week series based on Marcus Borg's The Heart of Christianity.

Why are you bothering with this whole faith thing?  Seriously – what’s your motivation?

I imagine that your responses are along the lines of learning about God, learning how to be a better person, making a difference in the world, etc.  Awesome.

If you blow the whole faith thing, what is your greatest fear?  If you turned your back on God entirely, what would you be most terrified might happen? Sorry for the clumsy wording – you get my point.

In the fourth chapter of his book, The Heart of Christianity, Marcus Borg walks the reader through three sets of comparisons: competing Worldviews, dominant Concepts of God, and resulting notions of the Character of God.  Here is a picture of those three sets for your observation:

Most of you reading this are at least open to the idea that there is “MORE” to life than the particles and force fields that hold everything together in the universe.  I think I can safely assume that.  (For further reading on this subject I recommend Rob Bell’s What We Talk About When We Talk About God).

Assuming we’re on the same page in our pursuit of “MORE” leads us to thinking about God.  How we get our minds around God matters, as Borg notes: It makes a difference how we see the character of God, for how we see the character of God shapes our sense of what faithfulness to God means and thus what the Christian life is about (The Heart of Christianity, 66). 

With this last quote in mind, slowly read through the Concepts of God and The Character of God comparisons and imagine how these different perspectives shape what being “faithful” might mean.

For some of you reading this, your greatest fear if you blow off the whole faith/God thing is that you will pay a very serious price as soon as you die: hell.  Since CrossWalk is a church that seems to attract folks with no significant church background or those looking to recover from a damaging church background, I know this is true for a good number of you.  The reason you have this deeply rooted fear is because you have been operating in the Supernatural Theism way of orienting yourself to a God of requirements and rewards; a God of law.  Walk away from God and you’re screwed.  Forever.  Sucks to be you.  This view of God has been so strongly set in your brain that you experience real anxiety at the thought of challenging that view.  Yep, really sucks to be you – you can’t even question it without fear of burning for eternity.  Better not question anything.  Just keep doing what you’ve been told will keep God pleased and your butt out of hell…

I questioned it at a fairly early age – I was 13 years old.  I grew up in a mainline denomination as opposed to an Evangelical/Fundamental one.  This means that Supernatural Theism ruled the language, but the “turn or burn” rhetoric was absent from our pulpits.  The notion of forgiveness itself bothered me.  I couldn’t understand the whole “Jesus died as a sacrifice for my sins” piece.  I knew the story and the argument, but it just didn’t add up.  I even asked my sister  Ann, who went into a flurry of activity to help me “get it” – at one point she murmured under her breath, this kid is really screwed up…  True – I was not fitting into the Evangelical/Fundamental/Orthodox story even then.  That understanding of grace didn’t seem like grace at all.  It seemed incongruent that a loving God would punish someone forever if they didn’t believe the right thing.

Some people freak out when they hear or think this. They immediately jump to supposed heretical thinking about universalism, and counter with “axe murders and war mongers better not be in heaven”.  Borg has a good response to this: Unconditional grace is not about the afterlife, but the basis of our relationship with God in this life.  Is the basis for our life with God law or grace, requirements and rewards or relationship and transformation?  Grace affirms the latter (Ibid., 67).  Further, Borg connects the dots between hosting a view of Supernatural Theism versus Panentheism and the life it fosters:

What’s at stake in the question of God’s character is our image of the Christian life.  Is Christianity about requirements?  Here’s what you must do to be saved [and stay saved]. Or is Christianity about relationship and transformation?  Here’s the path: follow it.  Both involve imperatives, but one is a threat, the other an invitation (Ibid., 68).

If Supernatural Theism works for you and is making you more Jesus-like, then keep it going.  It is biblical – it’s just not the only biblical way to view God.  It is a way readily understood by our ancient ancestors who lived in a time when sacrifices were a regular component of religious cultic practices.  I can understand that perspective.  I can respect and appreciate the view.  But I do not espouse the view.  It does not resonate with me, and in many ways creates dissonance, is a distraction, and even a road block in my relationship with God and my quest to know God and become more aligned with God in my life.

The panentheistic alternative – also biblical – resonates deeply with me.  In that view there is room for wonder, mystery, awe.  As Borg notes, God is not separate, but right here, and more than here.  Expansive, yet deeply personal in God’s intention and interaction in my life.  I can tell you that I have experienced the reality of the presence of God in this approach, even at times when the other view would tell me it would be impossible to enjoy such presence given my state.

For those of you who have been reared in a Supernatural Theistic paradigm, making this shift really hard work.  Keep it up.  It is worth it.  If you cannot live with it, trust me as one you know personally that there is more to learn.  You can still respect what you were raised with and respect those who really resonate with it.  The songs and verses can still play a meaningful role when viewed in context.  But the good news is that there are new songs to sing that speak a different way that brings life and love into our lives and into the world, that raises the bar on behavior away from law and into covenant and love.  It leads to a deep, mature life of response to the love we experience, and helps us to love more fully personally and as proponents of social justice.  It is rich and deep.  A life-pursuit of discovery and growth.

The Bible: The Heart of the Tradition

This is the third teaching in the twelve part series based on Marcus Borg's book, The Heart of Christianity.

The Bible is foundational for the Christian faith.  Yet many people have left the church because of how the text has been handled, and how earlier Christianity has demanded that the Bible to be understood.  For people who grew up with the earlier Christian view, the Bible is seen as God’s product, so powerfully influenced by the Holy Spirit that it is inerrant (there are no errors) and infallible (it cannot be wrong).  To question this way of thinking about the Bible puts one immediately on thin ice, and may even call one’s faith into question.  According to foundational statements that support both Fundamental and Evangelical Christianity (both are earlier expressions of the faith), you are not a “real” Christian if you don’t see the Bible as God’s product.  And if you’re not a real Christian, you have no real hope.  Better invest in some fire-resistant pajamas for your afterlife experience…

If you’ve been raised in that earlier tradition, messing with the idea of the Bible as God’s product feels like heresy because that’s how you’ve been taught.  This is a terrifying venture.

Millions of people – and that number is growing – have simply walked away from even thinking about the Bible at all because they know enough to know that to see it as God’s product doesn’t make sense.  Yet the Bible is central to the Christian faith – to chuck it essentially destroys the faith, because it is the central text that shapes the faith in the first place.

This chapter of Borg’s book will be helpful for both types of readers, giving you a way to embrace the Bible without checking your brain at the door, and giving you confidence that your hope may not be in jeopardy – in fact, it may be emboldened.

The primary difference between the earlier-and-currently-loudest rendition of Christianity and what is emerging ultimately comes down to determining how the Bible came to be.  The earlier version quickly quotes from Paul’s letter to his protégé, Timothy: All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17).  This quickly led to people creating the bumper sticker that says, The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it.  Essentially, that verse is interpreted as saying that God wrote the Bible, even if human hands were used.  It’s not a good or even correct interpretation, but it’s popular, and has been used to justify a lot of awful treatment of people in the world: slaves, women, the LGBTQ community, people of other faith traditions, and people who don’t agree with this interpretation.

The emerging view of Christianity view the Bible as a human product in response to God, written for their current audience with great care and prayer.  The Spirit of God was surely sought and received, but the scrolls the biblical writers wrote on were filled with their fingerprints: their worldview, their sensibilities, their agenda, everything.  If we think about who God is, we can affirm that God would not want to wipe those fingerprints away, as God uses people as they are, capitalizing on who they are, working in cooperation with people’s total identity to bring redemption into the world.  In this view, the Bible is an historical product of two historical communities: Israel and the early Christian movement.  The truth that it contains is related to the time and place in which it was written.  Some of those truths easily relate to all times.  Others are clearly time-specific, need to be appreciated, yet kept as a relic from the past that no longer speaks directly to our current reality.  When the Bible is approached this way, a lot of the problems disappear.

Within the emerging paradigm, the Bible is still understood to be divinely inspired: the Spirit of God surely moved in the lives of the people who produced the Bible.  Their written response to God’s movement is the Bible we hold.  By extension, this way of viewing the Bible has implications for the sacred texts of faith traditions beyond Judaism and Christianity.  Using the same criteria, we can appreciate what they are communicating in their time and place in history, too.

In the emerging view, the Bible is Sacred Scripture.  Our ancestors declared that what we have were the most important documents to the faith in it’s earliest expressions.  The Bible provides the foundation for our belief, identity, and wisdom for how we think about reality and how to live.  The text is sacred in the sense that it serves to connect us to the divine.  The Bible is no less important in the emerging tradition than the earlier tradition – the primary difference is essentially on who gets the most credit for producing it.

The final major distinction Borg recognizes as it relates to the Bible is that it needs to be appreciated as metaphor, and not necessarily literally.  This might initially freak people out who have been raised with the earlier paradigm, as it might conjure up the idea of the Bible-as-fiction, or worse, Fake News.  Borg notes that modern Western culture identifies truth with factuality, and devalues metaphorical language.  When we ask the question, “Is that story true?” we are usually asking, “Did that actually happen?”  This bias toward factuality blinds us to metaphorical truth – something we all operate and employ quite frequently and comfortably without apology, even while we denounce it. We are hypocrites in this regard, as I would guess the two most memorable teachings of Jesus which communicated great truth were parables.  The parable of the Prodigal Son and the parable of the Good Samaritan are widely known and embraced as communicating great truth about the love God has for people and what love looks like when it’s lived out faithfully.  Yet they are stories.  Not factual events.  They never happened, yet they’ve happened a million times.  Metaphor, as Borg notes, is not to be understood as less-than-factual, but rather more than literal.  Read that again.  Borg further contends that “the more-than-literal meaning of biblical texts has always been most important,” and that “only in the last few centuries has their factuality been emphasized as crucial.”

One of my favorite musicals is Into the Woods, which dovetails multiple children’s fables together into a crazy mish-mashed adventure.  I love it because of the truth it speaks about the human experience.  Great truth is communicated through the lyrics and characters and storyline.  The metaphor is more than factual.

With the understanding of the Bible as historical, sacred, and metaphorical, let’s take a look at a text (Luke 8:22-25, NLT) and see what we can do with it, and what God might do with us.

One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and started out. As they sailed across, Jesus settled down for a nap. But soon a fierce storm came down on the lake. The boat was filling with water, and they were in real danger.
     The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”
When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves. Suddenly the storm stopped and all was calm. Then he asked them, “Where is your faith?”
     The disciples were terrified and amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “When he gives a command, even the wind and waves obey him!”

Debate all you want as to whether this story is literally true.  At the end of the day, however, the metaphorical truth is what will be of actual value.  I am confident that over the millions of times this story has been shared, the application has not been, “So, if you’re ever in a small watercraft in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, and a storm comes on real fast and threatens to capsize you, remember that Jesus calmed the storm.”  I am certain the power of the story has come across something like this: “I felt like the storms of life were going to take me out.  I cried out to God for help.  Somehow, some way, a peace came over me that I cannot explain, and I got through it.  It’s like God gave me calm in the middle of the storm like Jesus did with the disciples.”  For a group of Christians in the first century who may have been consistently hiding from those who threatened to literally kill them, this was particularly comforting and true.  Truth spoken into their historical context.  It was part of the sacred story that helped them understand the nature of God and everything else, shaped their identity, and provided wise counsel to help them move forward in the way of Christ.  This story provided great truth, regardless of whether or not it actually happened literally. 

Here is a helpful tool to help you gain metaphorical truth from a text:

When I hear the story of ______, I see my life with God in this way: _____________.

Let’s  end with a Psalm and a reflection in light of the text we viewed.  Held together, we see that Luke was tying God and Jesus together, to encourage readers to see that thread and have hope.

God visits the earth and waters it.

God turns a desert into pools of water,

a parched land into springs of water.

The river of God is full of water.

God waters the furrows abundantly,

softening the earth with showers,

and blessing its growth.

– Adapted from Psalm 65:9-10

Christ sails with us to the other side.

Christ turns a raging storm into calm waters,

a place of terror into amazement.

The sea of Christ is full of possibility.

Christ rebukes the wind,

softening the storm with authority,

and accompanying our way.

So true.

Faith: The Way of the Heart: Experiencing the Heart of Christianity

What constitutes a “good” cup of coffee?  What are the first few thoughts that come to mind? 

Maybe for you, a good cup of coffee is a free cup of coffee!  For some of you, a good cup of coffee means that the beans were roasted to perfection, which means there is no bitter, burnt taste.  Also, it means the beans used were of good quality, and from regions around the world that produce varying flavor profiles.  You want nuttiness, so you throw in some beans from Guatemala.  But you also like a bit of a fruity, winey taste, so you add in some beans from Ethiopia.  Then is has to be ground correctly – and not too long after it was roasted.  Naturally, the coffee has to be brewed appropriately and served at the correct temperature.  For it to be really good, it needs to be served in a decent mug, in a great setting with some of your favorite people, with the right playlist in the background.  That’s a good cup of coffee – for me, at least. 

The way we define “good” varies from person to person depending on a wide range of factors, doesn’t it?  The words we use to define “good” sheds light on a lot of things, including who raised us and where, how much exposure to different coffees we’ve experienced, and much more.  We don’t think about why we define good the way we do until something encourages us to do so.

What does it mean to have faith in God?  What are the first few thoughts that come to mind?

The way we think about faith also varies from person to person, but the prevailing way most people in Western culture understand faith is simply believing in God, and believing certain things about God.  There is billboard on I-80 that states in huge letters, “There is proof that God exists!”  For agnostics and atheists alike, faith and belief are about God’s existence.  Is that how people have always thought about faith?  Addressing primarily Jewish Christians everywhere, the Letter to the Hebrews in the Bible’s New Testament gives us a picture of faith:

By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.
     By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said. That's how it happened that from one man's dead and shriveled loins there are now people numbering into the millions.
     Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that—heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them. – Hebrews 11:8-16 (The Message)

The word faith is obviously a critical part of the equation in these verses.  In fact, some refer to the whole eleventh chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews as The Hall of Fame of Faith because it lists so many people in Jewish history who were champions when it comes to faith.  Did they understand faith the same way most Western people do today?

In short, the answer is no.  It’s not that we get it totally wrong so much as we don’t appreciate the fullness of the meaning of the word as those who have gone before us.  This is largely due to the massive paradigm shift that took place in the 1600’s whereby the scientific approach to everything bled into theology.  The reason we can be confident that we’re missing out on something is related to the meaning of the word faith over time in the Christian tradition.  In the history of Christianity, there have been four ways to think about faith, each described below.

Faith as Assensus (think “assent”).  The most dominant way most Western people think about faith is that it is an assent to belief in something as true.  Factually true, to be more precise.  Factually true even in the absence of evidence.  As Borg stated, “Faith is what you turn to when knowledge runs out.  Even more strongly, faith is what you need when beliefs and knowledge conflict” (30).  In contemporary culture, the earlier Christian view calls for faith that God created the world just as Genesis portrays, that the Red Sea really was parted, that the sun really did stand still during a battle, that a virgin really did become pregnant, and every other miraculous thing happened just as it reads in the Bible.  Borg points out that there was no conflict between belief and knowledge prior to the scientific revolution, because the conventional wisdom of the day (regarding everything) was totally aligned with theological thinking.  Faith required no effort then as it does now.  The opposite of this kind of faith is doubt and disbelief, which is often viewed and articulated as sin.  Borg contends that this faith as belief is relatively impotent because it holds very little transforming power.  This way of faith is one that remains largely in the head – a thinking exercise.  In contrast, the remaining three are relationally understood uses of the term.

Faith as Fiducia (think “trust”).  Rather than giving assent to a list of beliefs about God, this way of faith is “believing in God as trusting in God”.  Kierkegard described faith as akin to floating in a deep ocean.  Panicking and flailing your arms struggling to stay afloat will get you drowned in a hurry.  But trusting the ocean – that buoyancy is real – and relaxing will find you floating.  Think of Peter walking on water to meet Jesus.  When his trust shifted from the Spirit of God to the choppiness of the waves, he sank.  The Bible depicts God as a rock, a fortress upon which we found our lives.  Jesus invited us to consider the birds of the air and the lilies of the field to teach about this kind of faith.  The opposite of this is mistrust, which leads to anxiety and worry, which is what motivated Jesus’ birds/lilies analogy.  Jesus taught that little faith, little trust in God led to anxiety.  The hope offered in this mode of faith, then, is a less anxiety-ridden life, which is a free life, free to live and love.  That kind of radical trust offers great transforming power.

Example: Kevin Durant & Nick Young.  I am a Golden State Warriors fan.  Last year, the Dubs acquired Kevin Durant.  This year, we picked up Nick Young.  Both of these players came from teams with a very different culture than the Warriors.  Each player came in reflecting the team culture they left behind. I knew it would only be a matter of time before the the Warriors’ culture worked into them.  It happened.  The Kevin Durant who was interviewed during his first few months as a Warrior compared to now is stunning in contrast.  The 2016 Durant was guarded, “tough”, spoke few words, and was fairly defensive and short in his responses.  Today, Durant is open, warm, relaxed, engaged, and generous with his love for his teammates and the fans.  Nick Young’s first few games showed everyone that he was used to shooting the ball every time he touched it.  That’s not Warriors culture – we’re known for passing the ball around to open up shots.  Now, after half a season, Nick Young is much more Warrior-like, playing like the culture that has welcomed him.  The culture wins, and wins every time.  I trust the culture of God to win, too.  It may take time, but love really does win.  I have faith in God to do that everywhere.

Faith as Fidelitas (think “fidelity”).  This kind of faith refers to a loyalty to a person, a relationship.  Allegiance and commitment of self at the deepest level are intended here.  The opposite, of course, is infidelity.  Cheating on God – choosing not to be faithful – was an issue the Jewish nation struggled with in the form of idolatry.  The prophets told Israel they were guilty of adultery. Fidelity means much more than “not cheating”, however.  Faith in this way implies a radical centering on God so that to love God means to love what God loves.  Bells might be going off in your head as you recall the greatest and second greatest commandments: love God and love your neighbor with everything you’ve got.  It’s ethical, not just a head trip.

Example: Pete and Lynne Shaw.  The household I grew up in put high value on music and the arts in general.  My sisters introduced me to musicals at a young age, which undoubtedly contributed to my eventual participation in many shows and singing in groups since high school.  I still love a good musical.  My wife, on the other hand, was raised on Kansas City Royals baseball.  She fondly remembers Sunday afternoons sitting with her dad watching a game on the single channel their rabbit-eared TV could pick up.  She is a baseball junkie.  Faithfulness for us means that Lynne has learned to appreciate – even love – musicals.  And I have learned to appreciate – even love – watching games with her (now add Warriors, Niners and Chiefs).  We have done so because we love each other, and have therefore learned to love what the other loves.  When I spend time watching a game and she spends time watching a musical, we show love to each other.  I think this is how it works with faith, too.  As I learn what God loves, I am interested in knowing more.  There are many things I now love that I did not before.  I grew to love them because I love God, and God loves those things.  To love those things is, in a very real way, loving God.

Faith as Visio: “Vision”.  In this mode, faith is a way of seeing, our vision of the whole, of what is.  Borg nods to theologian Richard Niebuhr in his unpacking three ways of seeing.  A first way of seeing envisions the world as hostile and threatening, which leads to a defensive posture warranting our desire for greater and greater security.  In earlier ways of thinking about Christianity, Godself needs to be feared as one who will “get us” in the end if we don’t get things straightened out.  A second way of seeing has us looking at everything as indifferent and uncaring.  While this does not breed the same level of paranoia as the first, it still makes us walk with a tight grip in order to maintain security.  The third type of vision sees “what is” as life giving and nourishing, even gracious.  Faith involves seeing God as generous which leads to radical trust in God, and a willingness to spend oneself for the sake of a vision bigger than self.  It is a marked that is recognized by freedom, joy, peace and love.  The Christian tradition itself in all of its fullness is a metaphor for God – to live within one is to live hand in hand with the other.

Aside.  Borg points out that Martin Luther’s life changed dramatically because of his faith.  Earlier in his life he committed himself to a life of faith in the assensus kind of way.  In fact, it was after he tried his best to live in assent to beliefs about God and beliefs about rules to follow that he came to the conclusion that there had to be another way than the works of and assensus-type faith.  His transformation led him to see differently, trust God, and be faithful – the last three relational modes of faith. 

Example: Pavement weeds.  When I was a kids, our street got a fresh few inches of asphalt.  When they laid it down, it “bled” beyond the original pavement, covering over dirt and grass and weeds.  Whatever it covered, it apparently killed.  The next spring, however, much to our surprise, through a small crack near our mailbox emerged a lone weed!  To quote a great recurring line from the Jurrasic Park movies: life found a way.  We are all too familiar with how destructive fire can be, leaving behind black mountainsides that were once lush and green.  But even just weeks after the devastating fires, after a rain came, so did fresh green shoots of grass.  It is easy to feel overwhelmed and hopeless after you’ve been burned.  It makes us tighten up in every way.  But the nature of God’s creation and everything in it speaks of more, of life that comes despite the burn.  Faith means I choose to see the world this way.  In doing so, I naturally become part of bringing it about.

Is there value in the mode of faith that calls for assent to certain beliefs?  Borg says yes.  Within the faith tradition, there are some big notions that deserve big affirmations: the reality of God, the centrality of Jesus to the Christian faith, and the centrality of the Bible.  He notes that our heritage who created and affirmed the creeds of old weren’t simply making statements of items of belief, but that they were committing to a person – God.  Their affirmations were statements of loyalty.  For them, to believe was to belove.

So, what makes for a “good” cup of coffee?  I wonder if your way of thinking about that word “good” has actually whet your appetite to rethink wasting your taste buds on crappy sludge, even if it is cheap or free.  Maybe you’ll think about it a little more now, and enjoy a more satisfying cup because you did.

I wonder also about your faith.  As I’ve noted throughout, it is very likely that the dominant way you have understood faith is through the assensus vein.  Now that you have learned or been reminded of more ways to think about faith, I hope your appetite for God has been whet as well, that perhaps you’re realizing that you may have sold faith short, that there is more here than we’ve thought before.  Something incredibly rich, life giving, rewarding, inviting, and compelling.

Which aspect of faith do you sense God inviting you to explore more?  Here’s an idea.  Pick one of the ways to develop.  It’s not hard, just reflect on it, pray about it, and ask God to lead you toward it.  Then keep your eyes, ears, mind, heart, and hands open and see what develops.  If you need help, I’d be happy to sort some ideas out.  The point is to develop a robust faith that fosters more divine and less dust…

We conclude this session – as with each session – with a paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer (Jim Cotter):

Eternal Spirit,

Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,

Source of all this is and that shall be.

Father and Mother of us all,

Loving God, in whom is heaven.

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!

The way of your justice be followed by peoples of the world!

Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!

Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.

In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.

In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.

From trials too great to endure, spare us.

From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

For you reign in the glory of the power that is love now and forever. Amen.

*Note: This is a twelve week series based on Marcus Borg’s seminal book, The Heart of Christianity, with significant input from  the group discussion book, Experiencing the Heart of Christianity by Tim Scorer.

The Heart of Christianity in a Time of Change

1 | Experiencing the Heart of Christianity: The Heart of Christianity in a Time of Change*

How many different makes of cars have you owned throughout your lifetime?  What led to your decision to choose those particular makes and models among so many options?

The story of The Road to Emmaus is toward the end of Luke’s Gospel, and shares the account of two disciples en route from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  During their journey, they are accompanied by the resurrected Jesus whom they do not recognize.  The disciples were distraught over the brutal, unjust death of their beloved leader, and it showed.  Jesus queried into their remorse, then proceeded to explain to the disciples how what had happened to Jesus fit into their Jewish history from which he came.  Only when they arrived in Emmaus and broke bread together did they recognize who had been with them all along, at which point Jesus disappeared before their eyes.  At once, they rushed back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples of their experience.

The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus radically challenged people’s understanding of God then and now.  We are living in a time of great transition right now in many ways, including how we see Christianity.  We are transitioning from an earlier view of Christianity which originated around 1600 C.E.  We are emerging, and have been since around 1900 C.E.  While the two views can be easily identified by the sticking points of gender equality, acceptance of the LGBTQ community, and religious exclusivism, the following chart provides a little more detail on the distinctions between the earlier view and the emerging view:

The way we see the whole impacts the way we see the details.  We are in a conversation, even if we didn’t realize it, as noted by Kenneth Burke (The Philosophy of Literary Form):

“Imagine that you enter a parlor.  You come late.  When you arrive, others have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about.  In fact, the discussion had already begun long before any of them got there, so that no one present is qualified to retrace for you all the steps that had gone before.  You listen for a while; then you put in your oar.  Someone answers; you answer him; another comes to your defense; another aligns against you, to either the embarrassment or gratification of your opponent, depending upon the quality of your ally’s assistance.  However, the discussion is interminable. The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress.”

Do you know you are in this conversation?  Do you know what make and model of Christianity your traveling in?  If it’s fostering spiritual fruit, helping you become more and more like Jesus, which is marked by compassion, the pursuit of justice, and humility, then stick with it.  There is no one Christian view that represents Christianity perfectly for all time.  But there are wrong views, such as those that have led to or perpetuated the horrible mistreatment of humanity (Ku Klux Klan, Nazism, etc.).  If you’re interested in developing a faith that develops you, and helps you develop more of the beauty of God in the world, then you’ll enjoy this series.

We conclude this session – as we will each session – with a paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer (Jim Cotter):

Eternal Spirit,

Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,

Source of all this is and that shall be.

Father and Mother of us all,

Loving God, in whom is heaven.

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!

The way of your justice be followed by peoples of the world!

Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!

Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.

In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.

In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.

From trials too great to endure, spare us.

From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

For you reign in the glory of the power that is love now and forever. Amen.

*Note: This is a twelve week series based on Marcus Borg’s seminal book, The Heart of Christianity, with significant input from  the group discussion book, Experiencing the Heart of Christianity by Tim Scorer

Happy New Year

Jesus’ Younger Years

We don’t know much about Jesus’ life between his birth and adult ministry, which started when he was about 36 years old or so.  All we have in the canonical text about his post-birth-to-twelve-years-old is found in Luke 2:25-52.    Before we jump into this, take a moment and reflect on a few questions.

What is something good you are taking away from 2017?

What is something you are glad to leave behind in 2017?

What are you looking forward to in 2018?

What do you know will be a challenge in 2018?

A couple of things jumped out at me from these texts that seemed apropos to New Year’s Eve.  First, at the end of the childhood texts, we read that Jesus “grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.”  Religion as a whole and Christianity specifically has lost a lot of adherents because, in my humble opinion (which is backed up by a lot of statistical research), some very loud Christian voices have not appeared to be wise and have lost a lot of favor with God and all people.  Some very loud Christians have perpetuated a God who loves some, not all, and loves even them conditionally (don’t tell them – it won’t be received – they haven’t realized that’s what they’ve been saying all along).  Some very loud Christian attitudes and behaviors have repelled the public – and God, I think – all while claiming to be the bearers of Good News.  But nobody hears them as good news.  They hear bigotry, judgement, hatred, etc.

I recently attended the memorial service of a friend’s wife of sixty years.  Harrel Miller gave concluding remarks toward the end of a beautiful service, reminding us of the day we received our yearbooks at the end of each school year.  On that day, every student is consumed with looking through the pages, and writing notes to friends on the back pages.  Words of encouragement and thanksgiving.  Words of well wishing and fond remembrance of good times shared.  Harrell challenged us to think of our lives as writing on one anothers’ yearbook pages, that what we do and say are written on the lives of those we share life with.  If we get it right, we will leave a legacy of blessing, love, joy, and hope.  I really like that metaphor.  It makes me want to enter every relational transaction with intentionality.  To make it Good News.  Beautiful.  This doesn’t come as a burden, either.  I think we can look forward to it and pursue it with strength because we will find energy for it from the very heart of God.  It makes me wonder for you and for me:

Who are we becoming in 2018?  Why? How?

The other thing that jumps out at me this year about Jesus’ pre-adult passages is the prophecy offered by Simeon.  Unfortunately, Simeon missed the course on “tact”, saying things that a total stranger shouldn’t to a new mom.  But, there it is, and on purpose.  Luke wants to allude to what will be coming in his account of Jesus’ life.  “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.”

Thanks, Simeon.  Thanks for being a total buzzkill on a special day.

I wonder, however, what this prophecy means for those who strive to follow Jesus?  Should we expect similar outcomes?  I think so.  I think living in the footsteps of Jesus is what we are called to do.  Living in this way will bring Good News to many people we interact with.  But for those who perpetuate injustice and oppression of myriad kind, our Good News is bad news, because our very presence – being conduits of God – shines light into darkness, illuminating what needs to be addressed.  The #MeToo movement is a good case in point.  Simply holding people accountable in an effort to shine a light on a culture-wide problem is a good thing, but has certainly caused some squealing among those who have operated in darkness.  As we stand with those who need our voice to find justice, we will stir the pot.  That’s good.  But some will not like it, and we need to be prepared for that.  The Harvey Weinsteins of the world will squeal.  As we head into a new year, I think we need to be open-eyed, asking and reflecting on the following question:

What can we expect as those who follow Jesus?

God is always inviting us into what God is doing in the world.  God calls our True Self into being, but always as an invitation.  I end this post with reflection from Richard Rohr on what it means to say yes to God.

Saying Yes

Faith in God is not just faith to believe in spiritual ideas. It’s to have confidence in Love itself. It’s to have confidence in reality itself: at its core, reality is okay. God is in it; God is revealed in everything. Faith is about learning to say yes to the moment right in front of you. Only after you say your yes do you recognize that Christ is here, in this person, in this event. God is in all things; this universal Presence is available everywhere.

Most of us learned to say no without the deeper joy of yes. We were trained to put up with all the “dying” and just take it on the chin. (When I entered the novitiate, we still had whips for self-flagellation in our cells.) Saying no to the false self does not necessarily please God or please anybody, and surely not you. There is too much resentment and self-pity involved in this kind of false dying. There is a good dying and there is a bad dying. Good dying is unto something bigger and better; bad dying profits nobody. It is too much no and not enough yes. You must hold out for yes! Don’t be against anything unless you are much more for something else that is better. “I want you to be you, all of you, your best you!” is what true lovers say to one another, not “I do not like this about you,” or “Why don’t you change that?”

God tries to first create a joyous yes inside you, far more than any kind of no. Then you have become God’s full work of art, and for you, love is now stronger than death, and Christ is surely risen in you. Love and life have become the same thing. Just saying no is resentful dieting, whereas finding your deepest yes, and eating from that table, is a spiritual banquet. You see, death and no are the same thing. Love and yes are even more the same thing.

The True Self does what it really loves and therefore loves whatever it does. I am sure that is what Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) meant by his oft-misunderstood line, “Follow your bliss.”

May you have a truly Happy New Year!  May it be especially happy – and joyfully deep – because you have said yes to the invitation to follow Jesus fully.

Mangered: Sticks and Stones

“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.”  This is one of the awful phrases of old we teach our children that is completely false.  Maybe we said it to ourselves and others thinking it would actually come true if we said it loud and often enough, like politicians do with the media.  But we now know better (about both).  In truth, the hurt often caused by sticks and stones for most people goes away pretty quickly – a week or two and you never knew anything happened.  But words cut deep.  Sometimes words said at an early age affect a person’s trajectory so significantly that they find themselves making decisions based on hurt they never knew they needed to process.  Words have the power to cause far greater damage than other weapons simply because of their lasting power.

There were plenty of hurtful words flying around at the time Jesus was born.  If you were a woman, you were property.  If you were an immigrant, you were suspect and unwelcome.  If you were poor, you were obviously not blessed by God.  If you were born with some sort of birth defect, or somehow acquired a disease like leprosy during your life, it was evidence of God’s condemnation due to your sin.  If you were a Gentile, you were seen as unloved by God.  If you were a Samaritan, you were detested by God.  If you were gay, you were told that you were an abomination in God’s eyes.  Tax collector?  Prostitute?  Expect some especially choice words to remind you what scum you are.

It’s interesting, then, that the birth narrative of Jesus involves lots of people who were on the receiving end of such words.  Much more than Joseph, Mary is the heroin of the story, a young woman who may have had royalty in her family tree but lived in abject poverty.  Joseph, who got his share of the limelight by not divorcing Mary, was a carpenter.  Don’t think finish carpenter or artisan creating fine furniture.  Think day laborer hanging around the Home Depot parking lot hoping to get picked up for a job.  The place where Jesus was born?  Drop the Hallmark card image of a nice, tidy barn.  Instead, picture a poop filled cave, reeking, with filth everywhere you look.  Imagine ex-cons tending sheep in the middle of the night because that’s the only job they could land.  They were the ones who were the first to hear the news of Jesus’ birth.  The wise men?  Foreigners who would not be looked upon favorably by conservative Jewish purists due to their ethnicity and their penchant for astrology.  The critical characters in the birth narrative?  People who were intimately familiar with words that levied more damage than sticks and stones. 

The meaning for them?  God wasn’t swayed by the labels.  Or, perhaps God was so filled with compassion because of the labels inflicted upon these people that God’s response was love and inclusion, both of which overshadowed the insults and undoubtedly fostered healing.  This God who was bringing a new way of being into the world was a sticks and stones breaker.  A God who loves humanity despite how they treat each other.

The response of the shepherds?  They brought their stick-shafts with them – a part of themselves that were part of the gift of their homage paid that night at the stable.  And the Magi?  They brought their stones of gold to offer to this poor couple as an expression of their belief that Jesus was a newborn King.

What does this night mean to you?  What is your take home, knowing that God chose to use some of the most vulnerable people of the day to pull off something incredible, and chose to announce what happened to vulnerable, wounded people first?  I hope it comes across as good news to you, because it is.  You are inherently loved.  No matter what you may feel about yourselves, the message of Christmas is: God loves everyone – and most poignantly those who have been told otherwise. 

And what is your response to the good news?  Will you receive it?  Will you own it?  Will you process what it means for your life?  Will you let it work itself out in your life?  Will you proclaim it? 

May you find yourself singing from personal experience and witness this night into tomorrow:

Joy to the world the Lord is come

Let earth receive her King

Let ev'ry heart prepare Him room

And heaven and nature sing

And heaven and nature sing

And heaven and heaven and nature sing

Joy to the world the Savior reigns

Let men their songs employ

While fields and floods

Rocks hills and plains

Repeat the sounding joy

Repeat the sounding joy

Repeat repeat the sounding joy

He rules the world with truth and grace

And makes the nations prove

The glories of His Righteousness

And wonders of His Love

And wonders of His Love

And wonders wonders of His Love

Mangered: Overshadowing

This Christmas season I have been taken by how often vulnerability comes into play in the birth narratives of Jesus.  The account of Mary’s being informed of how Jesus was to come about is no exception:

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”
     Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
     Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
     The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”
     Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her. – Luke 1:26-38 (New Living Translation)

Aside: Some people, upon reading or hearing the above text, go to some challenging places.  Some go to places of sheer doubt – the science side of us says this is impossible, the critical historian side of us says Luke and Matthew’s birth narrative were fabricated for their respective audiences and are not to be taken literally.  Some others find themselves going to less intellectual places and instead struggle with the emotional side of things.  Perhaps they were told that if they didn’t sign off on the doctrine of the virgin birth they were not truly in the faith at all and would suffer the consequences – hell to come, and a taste of it between now and then from the displeasure of those who demanded allegiance.  Still others relate to Mary as one who was not seeking to become pregnant but became so from an unsought guest.  Some take the whole thing on faith and immerse themselves in the miracle of it all.  My encouragement to you is to allow the story to be what Luke (here) intended it to be.  He is telling us something about God, about Mary, and about the future child to be born.  In other words, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater!  Appreciate the story “as is” and milk it for all it’s worth.

What strikes me most about the story this year is how quickly Mary got to such an astonishing response to the angelic announcement/invitation and subsequent overshadowing.  If the angel was accurate, this good news was going to be accompanied by a lot of bad news that she alone would have to bear.  Who would believe her?  How would people treat her as one who was legally promised to another man yet carrying someone else’s child?  What kind of public disgrace should she expect?  And what of Joseph?  We know he didn’t buy the story until an angel confirmed it – what kind of hell did he put her through?  Taking the story at face value, she undoubtedly had an inkling about what was ahead of her, yet her response was, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.”  Astonishing!

The greatest thing I am seeing this year is her humility and the vulnerability it requires and risks.  As a thirteen-year-old young woman living in a severely male-dominated era, she was used to living humbly, which gave her an advantage over menfolk like me regarding her capacity to be vulnerable, simply because she was used to it.  Nonetheless, she got there quick, and I think her decision and words speak volumes.  First and obvious, she chose to embrace her role as a servant of the Lord.  Hers was a decision to be second, to acknowledge that something bigger than her was taking place.  This actually speaks volumes about her faith, because at that time people thought God has gone mute.  For God to act in such a way – and with a poor, ordinary young woman instead of someone important at the Temple – was preposterous.  This required a childlike trusting to really believe.  A childlike trust that not only would God be capable of acting, but that the God who was acting would be good.  And of course, her body was about to go through an unbelievable transition, with few sympathetic bystanders to help, I bet.  Lots of scorn instead.

Despite her young age, she made a very mature decision, didn’t she?  She could have easily given in to doubt, skepticism, and cynicism given her context.  But she instead trusted that this spiritual thing was really real, and really included her.  She was dialed into what the Spirit was doing when nobody thought the Spirit was doing anything at all!  Her choice to trust and move forward in vulnerability is why Jesus drew such a contrast between Mary’s move and the alternative, offered below in two translations (Matthew 7:13-14):

“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to destruction is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. (New Living Translation)

"Don't look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don't fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.” (MSG)

Mary had chosen the very narrow, difficult road that felt risky, requiring all of her attention.  The easy rout would have been to deny it, ignore it, maybe even reject it in some way.  Embracing was a choice for challenge.  Kind of makes you wonder that if the faith we’re living is a cakewalk, it may mean one of two things: we’re either not really on the narrow path at all and are actually on the same path as the rest of culture, or we are so completely dialed into faith and God that the consequences are overshadowed by the work of the Spirit.  I think the latter is where Mary found herself, and kept herself, which not only got her through the hell she was going to live and beyond, but actually added a good deal of heaven in the process.  She chose to be a servant, trusting the nature of God to be good.  The love-filled overshadowing of God overshadowed the overshadowing of her circumstances.

The Apostle Paul chose to get on the narrow path himself after he had a remarkable encounter with a spiritual, post-resurrection Jesus that overshadowed his thinking, changing him from that moment forward.  He stayed overshadowed by God by remaining faithful, open, vulnerable to however the Spirit of God would lead.  He shared the secret to staying in the zone in his letter to the church in Philippi:

     Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
     And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. – Paul, Philippians 4:6-9 (NLT)

The narrow way requires some focus to stay on it.  But if it means we are immersed in the Spirit and part of what God is doing in the world – part of Life! – it is so radically worth it!

I seriously doubt that any of us will be visited by God in such a way, with such a request.  But I am certain that we are continually invited to join God in what God is up to in our lives and in the world.  God is always speaking, always inviting, always wanting to overshadow what is overshadowing us that we might live.  A few weeks back we looked at the Jewish understanding of humanity: we are dirt clods animated – given life – by the Spirit of God as breath.  Mary’s prayer that everything come true was an affirmation that she wanted the words of God over her to be realized.  She wanted more of Life that she might truly live according to her potential as a spiritually infused dirt clod.  Her choice to say yes to the Spirit was a decision to be more and more a work of the spirit versus a clod.

The truth is that we are all Mary in terms of receiving an invitation to believe God’s word about us – words of hope, possibility, potential, Life!  To say yes, however, means we are saying yes more and more to what God has for us, which may appear difficult.  Some things we are overshadowed by are obvious and awful.  Traumatic childhood experiences.  Traumatic adulthood experiences!  Abusive relationships.  Dependency on alcohol or drugs or food or any number of things that we use to numb our pain.  Things said to us that were incredibly hurtful.  Things we’ve done that have brought shame to ourselves and families.  Things that we couldn’t have expected, like a pink slip, or lost job, or fire.  Or a horrible medical diagnosis.  These things overshadow our lives and we know it.  We obsess over them.  We can’t shake them.  We feel like we can’t do anything about it.  We’re stuck.

Some other things that overshadow us are more difficult to discern because they include the means and ends of the system around us – the system, the road, that leads to destruction that Jesus talked about.  Winner and loser thinking.  Greed.  Refusal to see all other people as humans just like us.  Politicized rhetoric that too quickly defines reality as right or wrong, black and white, without regard to the complexity of issues or the people it tries to define.  We do not even know we are overshadowed by such things until we are  forced to see it by crisis or example.  Mary is such an example, as are all of the faith heroes we celebrate.  People who heard the beat of a different drummer, who decided to live differently, decided to pursue being more whole than being more rich.  Difficult choices that brought some pain.  When we trust what God is doing, and doing in us, and doing around us; when we say yes to God’s invitation, we experience an overshadowing that overshadows that which overshadows us.  It brings peace that passes understanding as Paul said.  As the prophet Isaiah said centuries before, the overshadowing provides an exchange of beauty for ashes, strength for fear, gladness for mourning, and peace for despair (Isaiah 61).  These are things we all want, I think.  These are things available to us.

But they require a yes.  Which requires humility.  Which assumes perpetual vulnerability.  Which is terrifying.  Yet results in an overshadowing of the Spirit that overshadows all that overshadows us. 

Mangered: Diapers and Dung

If we let the Christmas story of Jesus’ birth be the story and enjoy it for what it offers (even if we struggle believing its literal historicity – which is fine), we have to wonder what Joseph and Mary must have thought.  They were told God was going to bring the Messiah into the world through them.  Divine royalty.  What would you expect the God of all creation to pull off for the reception of God’s child?  When you have absolutely every possible resource at your fingertips, and cannot run out because you can always make more, just how luxurious can you make something?  Can you imagine what Joseph and Mary must have been dreaming of?  Deluxe accommodations for sure.  All inclusive.  Lots of service at your fingertips.  Better than Rome could conjure. 

What would over-the-top hospitality look like to you?  If you were hosting a very special guest and had an unlimited budget, what would you do to make that person feel welcome and honored?

Now picture a typical manger scene you might see on display at your home, on a card, in a park.  What is the name of the animal that goes “moo”?  What is the name of the animal that goes “baaa”?  What is the name of the animal that goes “hee haw”?  What is the animal with two humps and spits?  There is one thing that they all had in common that we don’t often talk about (for some unknown reason) at Christmas.  They all pooped.

Maybe not right then and there at the same time – that would totally change the Hallmark card, right?  But at some time or another, and likely all of them within a 24 hour period, they all pooped.  The setting into which Jesus was born undoubtedly manifested a stench that warned you to watch your step!  Whether or not this birth narrative story of Jesus is historically accurate, what is certain is that Luke chose to include it in the biography of Jesus he wrote, and not because he invested early in a figurine company that would make the scene by the millions to adorn people’s homes and eventually end up in their garage sales.  Our imaginations don’t really do the scene justice.  In reality, it was likely a cave where the animal’s owner would keep his livestock away from thieves and predators.  A cave.  Little ventilation.  Dark, dirty, and stinky given the poop on the ground.  That’s the setting for the entrance of the Divine into the world in a new, powerful way.  Certainly not what anyone would have expected.

Why in the world would God choose the cave-stable for the grand entrance of God’s beloved, chosen child?  Because it so clearly represents so much of what God is really all about.  This is both absolutely wonderful and deeply disturbing at the same time.  Wonderful because it is so accessible.  Disturbing because it is so counter-intuitive to how we think about majesty and power (which drives our vision and fuels our motivation).

Mangered.  Brene Brown’s research has helped her come to the conclusion that vulnerability is key to spiritual awakening.  What is more vulnerable than a baby?  What environment would communicate vulnerability to the world than a cave-stable?   The very humility inherent in a manger birth surely served as a catalyst for growth in unexpected ways toward unparalleled heights and depths.  As his followers would eventually learn, the vulnerable humility that started for Jesus in infancy was the mode he lived all the way through his life.  As Cynthia Bourgeault notes:

What makes this mode so interesting is that it’s almost completely spiritually counterintuitive. For the vast majority of the world’s spiritual seekers, the way to God is “up.” Deeply embedded in our religious and spiritual traditions—and most likely in the human collective unconscious itself—is a kind of compass that tells us that the spiritual journey is an ascent, not a descent… Jesus had only one “operational mode”… In whatever life circumstance, Jesus always responded with the same motion of self-emptying—or to put it another way, of the same motion of descent: going lower, taking the lower place, not the higher.

How interesting that the cave-stable was the most humble of spaces, humble enough for a lowly third-shift shepherd to feel at home.  A space the forced humility by whoever entered – the smell and whatever was on the ground would level the playing field for all who entered.  The fancy camels ridden by the Magi did not impress the cows or donkeys, and the fancy robes the Wise Men wore would have looked silly in a barn.  Yet this was the space God chose to show up in a profound way, communicating to everyone everywhere that all are welcome, no matter what you look like, smell like, dress like; no matter what your occupation or backstory, you are welcome in the presence of God – the gift, after all, is for you.  The Christmas scene also reminds us that when we find ourselves in “poopy” situations,  we should remember that God is comfortable in such spaces, and is probably very much present.  We tend to look for God in pristine majestic places like mountains, oceans, streams, redwoods, and lakes.  God surely is there, displayed in the majesty of creation.  But God is equally present in the ICU, the homeless shelter (or encampment), the brothel, the car wreck, the cancer unit, the foxhole, wherever injustice rules, wherever people are treated inhumanely, and whatever awful situation you can conjure.

The scene also provides instruction.  If God chooses to come in the flesh in this setting, how should we interact in the world with our flesh?  Richard Roher provides insight on how we choose to engage the world impacts how united we feel with the Divine:

The more we cling to self-importance and ego, the more we are undoubtedly living outside of union [with God]… We were created for union. But the place of union feels like nothing. We spend most of our lives projecting and protecting our small, separate self-image. Living instead from our True Self, hidden with Christ in God, feels like no thing and no place. It doesn’t come with feelings of success, others’ approval, awards, promotions, or wealth. In fact, others may think us foolish or crazy. And so we put off the death of our false self. We cling to our ego because it feels substantial and essential… But the saints and mystics say, “When I’m nobody, I’m everybody!” When I’m no one, I’m at last every one. When I’m nothing, I’m everything. When I’m empty, I’m full. This is why so few people truly seek an authentic spiritual life. Who wants to be nothing? We’ve been told the whole point was to be somebody.

To be mangered like Jesus means to fully embrace all of the implications inherent about God making entrance in the cave-stable, and it also means to fully embrace this: following Jesus keeps us there. 

What does the manger context tell us?  We need to rethink where we look for God, not limiting our gaze to the gorious heavens, but including the depths of despair as well.  And since the human experience invariably and inevitably leads us to those darker, dirtier spaces, when we find ourselves there, wondering why we’ve been abandoned by God, we need to remember the manger: God is present, even there, in a powerful way.  Finally, as people who know this good news, when we see others struggling in poopy places, feeling alone and abandoned, wondering if anybody cares (including God), we know where we need to go: right alongside them.  To be present.  To be love, hope, strength incarnate.  The Spirit of God is within us not just for ourselves, but to share.  When we do, the poopiness doesn’t seem as poopy anymore.

Idea: To help your children more fully get their minds around this, set aside some time to work through it.  Ask them the question about how we honor special guests when they visit, where we have them sleep, do we clean before they come, do we offer special food, do we ignore them, etc.  Help them think as lavishly as possible so that you can then draw a contrast with the space Jesus was born in.  You could even make it a game, like Scattergories, where players have to keep thinking of ways we honor guests until only one player remains.  To help them imagine the cave-stable, play a game of Pictionary where the images drawn are a cow, donkey, sheep, camel, and the baby Jesus.  Highlight the fact that all of these characters were present in the story.  If you want to hear some childish giggles, remind them that all of the characters had at least one thing in common: they all pooped!  Ask why God would be okay having Jesus born in a stinky stable instead of a really nice hotel or palace.  Tell them the good news, that this was a way for God to let us know that God is present even in the nastiest of places.  When we’re feeling like we’re in a poopy place, feeling all alone and like nobody cares, we can remember the manger scene, that God was there, and that means God is with us no matter where we are.  Finally, ask the kids what the most expensive gifts are that their friends are asking Santa to bring for Christmas.  Would kids be excited to get those gifts?  Would it bring them joy?  When the Wise Men brought gifts to Jesus, it brought them a lot of joy, and reminded them that God was with them.  The material gifts were impressive, but what was most impressive was that they made the trip in the first place.  When we see someone who is really sad or lonely or afraid or sick or hurt, we get to be like the Wise Men to them.  The greatest gift we can give is ourselves, so we should go. Ask the kids if they know anybody who is sad or lonely or afraid or sick or hurt that they could do something thoughtful for, like visiting or sending a card, and help them do it.

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Mangered: Todei or Tomarrow

Bonus!  We only have audio of the teaching today - check out the podcast.  We did enjoy the San Francisco Brass Company - enjoy their version of Joy to the World.

Alien abduction.  We visited our kids last weekend to hear them perform in two concerts – one on a Thursday evening, the other the following Monday evening.  That left us an entire weekend to fill.  My family has a deep fondness for Disneyland, so we spent Saturday and Sunday reliving old memories while we created new ones.  Pretty early on, however, we were shocked by our daughter Laiken’s behavior.  When we rode Thunder Mountain Railroad, she informed us that she would be riding along with the rest of us.  Laiken, historically, has never wanted to ride coasters.  I’m pretty sure Lynne and I fostered her fear by pushing her to try it too early.  So, for her to offer herself to this sacrifice without coercion, bribery, or guilt-tripping made us wonder, who are you and what have you done with our daughter? 

We all have identifying characteristics that make us who we are and signal to others that its really us.  I bet you have some things unique to your person, but I am certain there are things about you that betray your heritage – where you’ve come from.  Skin tone.  Surname.  Language.  Accent.  Music preferences.  Fashion.  How you decorate your home.  What you do for Christmas.  What are some of those things for you that are very specific to just you?  What about things that reach back to your heritage?

Todei or Tomarrow:  The Divinity/Dust Tension.  We know there are things that tip us off to who we are and where we’ve come from.  What’s your take on Jesus?  I grew up in church.  Given that both of my grandpas and my father were pastors, you can imagine that I grew up well versed in the faith.  I knew the Christmas story from day one of my life.  Mary, always translated as a betrothed virgin, was told she would become pregnant with the Messiah via the Holy Spirit of God so that the child would be extra holy.  Joseph, after hearing she was pregnant and having trouble believing her explanation, was going to end the relationship as graciously as possible until he got a vision from God confirming her story.  The wedding was still on, but he didn’t get to know Mary, as it were, until after Jesus was born.  Then they had a bunch more kids. 

This story always served to create a certain amount of awe in me.  How mysterious!  God breaking into our dusty existence on planet earth to come in the flesh, to create a unique person who would save the world from the hopelessness and despair caused by living under the curse of sin.  The context that was generally provided for me – and the prevailing message that still commands the most airtime today – is that the old sacrificial system wasn’t adequate, and something needed to be done.  So, Jesus was gifted to humanity to become a final sacrifice to claim for the forgiveness of sins, in order that humanity might gain God’s favor now and, most importantly, after we die.  Sacrifice meant death.  Jesus came primarily to die in a particular way to satisfy God’s need for justice.  As it was communicated to me, Jesus’ birth was clearly foretold in the Jewish scriptures, and everything lined up in his coming.  God pulled off one incredible miracle out of love for the whole world.  A great gift.  The first century context that was steeped in the sacrificial system of appeasing the gods would readily get their brains around it.  And it was easy enough to simply adopt the same way of thinking because so much of the arguments for Jesus in the early church letters referenced this way of thinking.  Merry Christmas!  The whole thing is a beautiful package for humanity to open year after year.

It is really important to immerse yourself in the first century sacrificial system context to fully appreciate how the message of Jesus’ life and, more importantly, his death were understood.  Embrace it as fully as possible to appreciate what this facet of Good News was communicating to the original audience.  This enables us to join the untold hundreds of millions of people who have gone before us who celebrated Jesus’ birth from that vantage point.  Join them in the celebration.

I mention this because for many people, the entire birth narrative, when placed under a broader academic microscope, reveals some challenges to traditional, less critically-informed orientations to the story.  For instance,

·       The prophecy about the virgin birth actually was about a young woman who lived centuries before Jesus was born.  She was no virgin; she was married.  The Hebrew word in the original prophecy doesn’t give us “virgin”, but “young woman.” 

·       The two birth narratives (one in Matthew, the other in Luke), do not jibe – the geography doesn’t line up right – one or both of the stories is factually off.  Attempts have been made to reconcile it, but they are not particularly satisfactory.

·       Essentially Jesus, at face value, was a demigod.  This held no place in Jewish theology at that time or since.  That idea was prevalent in other cultures and theologies, but not Judaism.  The idea that God would deliver the long-awaited Messiah through a means that ran completely counter to such a core Jewish understanding is unthinkable.  This isn’t a mere scriptural interpretation issue.  This is a radical shift of theology that would not likely happen or be embraced by a Jewish audience.

·       Now that we are far removed (in our culture, anyway) from a sacrificial system of faith, the very idea that God would create Jesus simply to become the perfect, blemish free Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world via a horrific, torturous death to satisfy God’s need for retribution is more than ugly.  It’s abhorrent.  This is not an attractive image of God.  Who would want to do life with that kind of tyrant?

·       In a book offering two differing views of the central character of Christmas (The Meaning of Jesus, 170), N.T. Wright, one of the most revered-by-conservatives Jesus scholars admitted that if we never had the birth narratives in our Bible, it would not impact his faith.  The virginal birth was not really the point to latch onto.  Whoa!

Because of the above concerns (and more), a lot of people opt for Santa Claus over Jesus.  The story itself appears to be so vulnerable that it cannot hold weight.  So they walk away from that celebration of Christmas and instead focus on expressing love to people in various ways, including giving gifts.  “Drop the divinity thing,” skeptics say under their breath, “it makes you look naïve.”  Holding onto the demigod idea is great for movies, but not for real life.  How can we relate to a demigod, really?

Dropping Jesus’ divinity may be going too far, however.  Perhaps there is another way to think about it that is deeply relevant to us today, a way that allows the manger to stay in our celebration.

At the very beginning of the Bible we have the book of Genesis, a story of beginnings that lays out a Jewish understanding of the nature of God and the world.  At the very beginning of the book, two stories written by two different author groups provide two renderings of how humanity came to be.  The first story simply says that God created male and female in Gods’ image, and that in contrast to all of the good things God created before humanity, these image-bearing creatures were very good. God is seen as a proud parent.  The second, more primitive creation story imagines God creating man from dust, like a potter with clay.  Once made, God “breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostril’s, and the man became a living person” (Genesis 2:7 NLT).  First, dirt.  Then, breath.  Dust brought to life by divinity.  Deity and marrow.  This is how the Jewish culture understood human beings: dusty yet divine; divinity and dust; walking incarnation.  All of humanity has this origin.  By extension, we remain a mixture of divinity and dust.  Centuries into the Jewish nation’s story when things weren’t going well at all, a prophet is given a vision of a valley of dry bones.  God asks the prophet, “Can these bones live?”  The prophet Ezekiel is invited to call the breath of God into play.  Once the breath-wind of God comes, what was mere dust before comes to life (Ezekiel 37).  A mix of divinity and dust.

As I said before, we need to let the birth narratives be what they were for the original audience with all of its complications intact.  But in terms of relating to the story now, and relating to Jesus more specifically, what if we look upon Jesus, the Son of Man (as he preferred to be called – “everyman”), as divinely infused dust (John 3)?  What if that is a better way to think about divinity?  What would that or our understanding of Jesus?  What would that mean for our understanding of ourselves and every other human being on the planet?

Some might go all John Denver and take this to mean that our divine-dustiness implies that we are gods, and that one day we will get out own planets to rule.  That’s certainly alluring, I suppose, but appears to be a bit arrogant as well.  Being created, infused, and animated by God doesn’t make the created the creator.  That might sound good to some, but it flies in the face of Jewish thought as much as the demigod idea does.

A perhaps healthier way to really think about our dusty divinity is with great humility, which requires tremendous vulnerability.  We’re all pretty clear, I think, on our dustiness.  We see plenty of examples of our dirt in the world around us and up close and personal.  To think that we have divinity in our DNA, that perhaps we are animated by the same Life force we call God can change how we think about ourselves.  We’re not just dirt clods.  We are people of tremendous possibility and potential and power.  We need not be defined any longer by the dirt of our past because we are infused with the divine.  At least in part, I think this was Jesus’ growing understanding of himself and others.  It’s why he was so strong, so full of the Spirit to heal and teach and call out dusty expressions of faith.  It’s also why I think he looked upon the outcast with great affection and attention – he saw in them what nobody else could (including themselves): the breath of God.  Divinity in the mix of dust.

I think Jesus realized that this great potential would remain unrealized potential is he didn’t cultivate it.  Jesus was clear, I think, that he needed to recognize his vulnerability as a human being, that we tend toward pride and apathy pretty easily.  I believe he was a lifelong learner and meditator because he knew that left to his own dustiness, he would miss the divinity.  He cultivated the divine in his dust.

This, by the way, is one massive reason why we do things like come to church, discuss stuff in community, read the Bible and related works, and meditate: to form our minds more in divinity than dust.  You may today feel some inner peace at the notion that you don’t have to think of yourself as a dirt clod anymore.  But inner peace is just the beginning.  Hope after death is just the beginning.  Forgiveness of sin is just the beginning.  You have inherent divine potential because divinity courses through your veins and fills your lungs with every breath.  Left alone, it won’t do much for you or anybody else.  Cultivated, however, it can change your world and the entire world toward the better.

You want world peace?  You want to see things change for the better?  You want to see your family system health up?  You want to see your work environment shift toward health?  You want to see everything, absolutely everything impacted by grace?  Cultivate what is already within you.

How do you approach this?  Paul gives us a clue in a letter to the church in Philippi:

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion. – Philippians 2:5-8 (Message)

May you cultivate the divine within your dust.  May you be mangered in the way Jesus was, deeply humbled by what was taking place within him, so much so that he spent his life working out what it meant.  May you see the world redeemed as you do.

Mangered: The Foundation of Christmas

Today kicks off the beginning of a new Christmas series, "Mangered".  We will be looking at a range of things that I think contributed to Jesus growing into the person he came to be.  I am wondering if we learn from him if we might grow into the person we are here to be?

Today we get help from an outside expert on one of the key issues underlying Jesus' ethos: vulnerability.  I believe vulnerability is the foundation of Christmas - it's what makes the story so compelling, so sticky, and so applicable to us today.  World-renown social researcher Brene Brown offers the bulk of the teaching this week in a TED Talk she gave on this very subject..  Enjoy!

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Sweet Water, the U-Turn, and about 4 ½

Today, a twist.  In an attempt to help you experience a fuller, deeper thanksgiving, I’m inviting you to do some reading, reflecting, responding, and for kicks, a few videos to help you feel thankful.

Sweet Water.  Take a moment and read Luke 7:36-50.  The story is pretty straightforward, as is the point Jesus was making.  Jesus made the woman feel completely valued, welcome, respected, safe, whole.  God does this for everybody, including you.  Is there anybody in your life that has acted Jesus-like in that regard, someone who has accepted you “warts and all”?  It would probably be inappropriate to weep on their feet, wash them with your hair, and anoint them with oil, but when was the last time you thanked them in some way for being such a loving, friendly support in your life? Take a few minutes to think about that.  Then cap off this moment by enjoying this peach from the vault, Thank You For Being A Friend by Andrew Gold.

U-turn.  Take a moment and read Luke 17:11-19.  The basic point of the story is obvious: one of ten healed lepers had presence of mind enough to take a moment for gratitude.  There are a couple of things worth remembering that allow the story to shine all the more.  First, recall that lepers -  folks who suffered not just from leprosy but many skin diseases/conditions – were forced to live in encampments away from the rest of society for fear of the disease spreading.  Those in the colony undoubtedly felt ostracized (because they were).  The lone “thanksgiver” was extra-ostracized, which probably added to his sense of gratitude.  He was a Samaritan, part of an entire group of people loathed by the Jewish people as a whole back in the day.  The fact that he took time to say thanks was impressive and startling in contrast to the others.  Do you think you would have made a U-Turn that day if you were healed?  How about in your life now – when do you find it easy to give thanks? When is it difficult?  Why not take a moment and look at your week ahead.  When could you carve out space each day to pause and give gratitude – a time that does not come easily or naturally?  If you do this exercise, I’ll bet you a doughnut your week will be better than if you hadn’t.  To help you consider unexpected reasons for gratitude, enjoy Alanis Morissette’s Thank You.  Yes, she is naked.  Why do you suppose she made that artistic choice?  I would like to say that I am grateful for well-placed hair and blurred images!

About 4 ½.  If you grew up going to Sunday School, you will remember this story about the vertically-challenged Zacchaeus found in Luke 19:1-10.  His short stature makes for a memorable story, but what is really striking is his expression of gratitude at being befriended by Jesus.  He stated he was paying restitution for ripping people off through his tax-collecting (cf. Exodus 22:1), which is appropriate, but he was also giving half his wealth to the poor as an offering.  In a broad sense, Zacchaeus chose to give back to people who had given to him.  Who has given to you that you might offer some expression of thanks?  What might “4X” mean in terms of the scale of your tangible thanksgiving?  In light of all that you have in comparison with the majority of our fellow earth dwellers, what “half” would you be willing to gift to the poor this week?  Half your Starbucks spending?  Half your lunch money?  Get the point and do something generous for the poor.  If you don’t already have a place in mind to donate, CrossWalk’s missions are awesome, and very cost-effective.  As you decide how you can be generous toward the poor, enjoy this song which Zacchaeus would have liked as a remembrance of the day that changed his life for good: Thank You, by Dido.

May your Thanksgiving usher you right into the season of joy and giving that is now upon us.

Participation Ribbon Faith

Gaylord Focker was a champion in his father’s eyes.  So much so that he created the Wall of Gaylord to celebrate his son’s achievements.  Unfortunately, some of those achievements were essentially participation ribbons - "awards" for basically just showing up but not really doing anything worthy of merit.

Toward the end of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells three parables all speaking to the same theme (chapter 25).  Parables were teaching devices used with expertise by Jesus.  They were nearly always provocative.  Disturbing, in fact, so that you couldn’t hear the parable and simply walk away forgetting about it.  Not Hallmark movie stories here.  He would often take shots at those who abused their power or privilege directly or otherwise.  Some people hate parables, asking me, “Why didn’t he just tell us what he wanted us to “get” and be done with it?  Why confuse us with these strange stories?”  Your frustration is exactly why Jesus used parables.  If you want faith to work, it takes some work.  You’re transforming your life, after all!  If it was easy, it would not likely be transformation.

In each parable Jesus presents two groups of people: those who got it right and those who didn’t.  Those who got it right were rewarded with exactly what they were motivated by in the first place – honoring the object of their affection resulted in greater exposer, access and intimacy with the object.  Those who did not get it right were similarly rewarded with what they had garnered – they were estranged from the central character, keeping a distance – which is exactly what they got as their reward.

When we read parables like this, we need to remember that there are three audiences involved, with each hearing the parable differently than the others.  Jesus likely told the parables many times in many places over the course of his ministry.  Each of those original audiences got the basic message that genuine faith involves faithful living.  But they likely interpreted the groom, the Master, and the King as God, as they waited in expectation of the time when God would remove the Roman Empire from their land and put them back in control of their homeland.  Matthew wrote the Gospel sometime between 80-100 C.E.  His audience also got the faith-involves-faithful-living message, but they were awaiting Jesus’ return.  The third audience is us.  Hopefully we can get the faith/faithfulness message, but I think for many, the waiting for the return of Jesus and threat of judgment is an anachronistic distraction that trips us up.  We’ve got to address it.

The Jewish people developed the idea of divine judgment in the afterlife after hundreds of years of no apparent justice coming from God.  In their collective minds, the absence of God’s powerful hand simply meant God was going to handle it upon death, or upon the end of the world.  Christians tied this idea in with the return of Christ, where people would be judged appropriately.  Decades before Matthew wrote, Paul encouraged people to keep waiting – Jesus would be back any moment.  Maybe Tuesday.  But it could be Tuesday many years down the road.  But he’s coming, so don’t lose hope.  Because when that day arrives, the faithful will be rewarded, justice will be served, and everybody will get what they deserve.

I wonder if Paul would have maintained the same perspective if he could have known that we’d be sitting here 2,000 years later with no return in sight, and such global atrocities that made the Romans look like amateurs – surely there have been moments where God would have been moved to act?  But no.  Perhaps we need a new way of thinking about such things that honors the heart of what our Jewish and early Christian ancestors were yearning for that does not require Jesus to literally ride the clouds back to earth from the heavens.  If that imagery works well for you, keep it.  But for others – myself included – I wonder if there is another way to think.  Because the idea of a loving God that morphs into a vicious, actually unjust judge doesn’t add up.  The tension eclipses the charge to be faithful, and also irreparably alters the motivation for faithful living in the process.  If the threat of eternal torture looms, we will be driven in part by fear, and we will use the same to move them to action.  You can say love, love, love all you want.  When you bring out the whip or sword or gun or nuke, nobody hears love anymore.

Grace and accountability are not mutually exclusive, however.  In fact, they are dependent on each other.  I think the characters in these stories who got it right, who naturally lived faithfully as an inevitable expression of their faith, got it right because of grace.  I believe they learned that the nature of God really is love in its fullest sense, described so beautifully by Paul (1 Cor. 13) and so modeled by Jesus.  I believe they let that love take root and grow deep within them.  When we are engrossed in love, it is so easy for us to be loving.  Sometimes the way of love is foreign to us, but when we see it and move in that direction, we discover that love fills in where fear and uncertainty were once present.  I think about acts of love that take us out of our comfort zones, like serving people who are not like us, or forgiving someone who wounded us, or treating enemies humanely.  These don’t come naturally.  Sometimes we need to be shown the way.  They feel like a high price to pay, but the reward is love, because God is in those acts and spaces.  The motive of their behavior is love, and so is the reward.  Makes total sense.

The characters who didn’t “get it” however, the ones who knew enough to do better but didn’t, who thought they knew faith but were unfaithful, I suspect had not really caught on to the love thing.  The disconnect is startling in contrast to the others.  They’re not really making sure they’ll go to the party.  They don’t really care about what was entrusted to them.  They aren’t really seeing or caring about the most vulnerable around them.  In short, their behavior is the antithesis of love.  They are out of touch and out of love in every possible way, so that when the judgment comes, it’s really just another day – they are no closer or further apart from the Groom, Master, or King than they were before.

The Apostle Paul gave an interesting metaphor for this where he envisions that day of judgment as a refining fire when all of our chaff is burned away and we are left only with that which can survive the flames.  Those who live faithfully long for the chaff to burn away and I think are thrilled to discover that their lovely living has produced gemstones upon gemstones – all to reflect the beauty of God.  Those who don’t really get it and therefore don’t live faithfully find everything burned off except the only thing that can’t be – their very soul.  Undeveloped, unadorned, but survived by the skin of its teeth.  Diamonds survived the firestorm.  Participation ribbons did not.

My advice to you is to not get hung up on the judgment aspect of the story.  That wasn’t really the point, anyway.  The point is to live faithfully because it matters.  Living faithfully matters to the Groom who wants the celebration to be the best for his beloved, and it won’t be the same without you.  Living faithfully matters to the Master because he wants to expand his portfolio so that he can continue on doing even greater things and your good work helps make that possible. Living faithfully matters to the King, too, because the vulnerable are his subject, too, and need care.  While it is not the motive, living faithfully matters to you, too, because you are rewarded with closer proximity, access, and intimacy with the Groom, the Master, and the King.

You have been invited to the wedding!  You have been entrusted with the portfolio!  You have been given the great honor of serving the King disguised as the hungry, thirsty, homeless, cold, sick and imprisoned!  Beauty longs to be built within you as you build it into your attitude and behavior.  So love in ways that you know are truly loving.  And learn to love in news ways because God loves you endlessly in ways we can only begin to imagine.  His mercies are new every morning.  New, fresh, different than the day before.  May your expressions of love be the same.  May you have the spiritual eyes to see the gleaming sparkle that is growing within you – the Light of God reflecting and refracting off of the beautiful person God has made you and is making you to be. Which is so much better than a participation ribbon.

Remembering Religion

Religamenting

Psalm 78 is a song to help people – especially children – remember their faith story.  Why is this important?  Is it important today?  Why not let our children figure it out when they are old enough to care?  That’s a good idea.  Why would we want to brainwash them?  Certainly there are plenty of testimonies of people who had poor experiences from their church ranging from benign to horrible.  Let’s do our kids a favor and let it slide.

I guess we should only want to foster a healthy, thoughtful faith in our children if we care about their:

ü  Quality of life

ü  Healthy self-esteem

ü  Work ethic

ü  Ability to forgive

ü  Live in peace

ü  Future marital health

ü  Capacity to parent

ü  Physical health

ü  Grief management

ü  Anger management

ü  Healthy sexuality

ü  Mney management

ü  Good citizenship

ü  Student skills

ü  Life balance

ü  Life ethics

ü  Planet

ü  Respect

ü  World peace

ü  Friendships

ü  And everything else.

This may seem bold, and you may object as you think of examples when religion caused more harm than good.  I bet I can think of more of them than you can, yet I am still a fan of the idea that religion can lead to the best that life can offer.  What is the difference?  When I think of the worst examples of how religion perpetuated oppression and violence – slavery (especially in the U.S.), the Crusades, Hitler’s Nazism, ISIS and its predecessors, etc. – I am painfully aware that religion wasn’t living up to name.  In all of these aforementioned examples, the goal was to separate, to divide, even to wipe out entire people groups based on heritage or faith.  By definition, that’s actually irreligious.

Religion literally means to re-ligament, to reunite the parts into a whole.  Religion is supposed to help put us back together, not pull us apart.  Put us back together in connection with God.  Put us back together as whole individuals who find themselves fragmented.  Put us back together as a human race.  Re-ligament.  Whenever we see religious expressions that seek to dismember, we’re looking at fraudulent religion.  This presents a tension, because the way of faith is counter-cultural and seen as foolishness to the world.

Religion at its best, however, seeks to understand the nature of God and, since we are deeply tied into that nature, religion is supposed to help us reconnect ourselves into that nature.  To use language from the Jewish creation story, if we really believe that we are created in the image of God, then religion exists to help us more and more reflect that image.  If we believe that God is the source of life, that God is the heartbeat of creation itself, then being increasingly reunited with God will mean we will experience more of life as our heart beats the same as God.

The problem comes when we begin thinking of religion as the end and not the means to the end.  The end is to be “religamented”, reconnected to God and each other and all creation.  Religion is supposed to help with that.  Too often, however, we settle for religious certitude, finding great strength in the clean lines it provides, which I think define and protect our comfort zones.  But God cannot be boxed.  When we try too hard to define God, God outgrows us, and we experience joints stretched out of place.  Dislocated.  Imagine a person living for a long period of time with a dislocated shoulder. Incredible pain.  Imagine entire populations living that way.  Religion is supposed to put things back in place.  In this metaphor, religious leaders are supposed to act as chiropractors and physicians who help put things back where they are supposed to go in order for life to be more whole.

When we foster this kind of thinking with the children under our care, we are setting them up for a life that continually seeks that connectedness.  That’s a life tied into the source.  That’s a life that is maturing, that is deep, that is grounded, that makes an impact, that prevails even when pain and failure come.  It’s a life that I believe everyone actually wants and tries to find one way or another.

Our goal today is to explore how to allow religion to help put us back together, to religament us with ourselves, others, our world, and of course, God.  We get a clue from Psalm 78:1-8 (NLT) below:

O my people, listen to my instructions.
Open your ears to what I am saying,
     for I will speak to you in a parable.
          I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—
               stories we have heard and known,
                    stories our ancestors handed down to us.
We will not hide these truths from our children;
     we will tell the next generation
          about the glorious deeds of the Lord,
               about his power and his mighty wonders.
For he issued his laws to Jacob;
     he gave his instructions to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors
     to teach them to their children,
          so the next generation might know them—
               even the children not yet born—
                    and they in turn will teach their own children.
So each generation should set its hope anew on God,
     not forgetting his glorious miracles
          and obeying his commands.
Then they will not be like their ancestors—
     stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful,
          refusing to give their hearts to God.

An oft-quoted proverb is related to this:

Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it. – Proverbs 22:6 (Amplified Bible)

Jesus was raised with good religion, which paved the way for the life he lived:

Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people. – Luke 2:52 (NLT)

Thinking of all three together, we are talking about remembering the faith, training related to that remembering, resulting in growth in wisdom and stature and favor with God and all people – that’s religamented!

What I want to share with you are practical things that helped shape me, as well as one big thing I wish were more normative in our culture that I have tried to do with my kids that I think may help faith stick with the people you influence.

You are the model.  I can honestly tell you with complete confidence that my brother and sisters are good people.  They are human, meaning they are not perfect.  But they will not treat you with disrespect.  They are not jackasses.  They are compassionate, kind, graceful, centered, giving, sacrificial with their time and resources, and are deeply committed to their faith, practicing it as a lifestyle (not an accessory).  I hope I am the same.  I can tell you that my parents never taught a class on how not to be a jackass, or how to respect others, or graceful, compassionate, sacrificial, etc.  We had no formal training.  What we had was exposure to people who made this their life ethos.  My parents lived the faith.  We attended churches that did the best they could, but that’s not where we picked up the faith.  We lived it.  It was a top priority for my parents.  It defined their attitudes and behavior.  We caught what faith was and how it plays out simply by watching them.  They are human, which means we all had unlearning to do here and there, but the fact is that we all caught faith and have lived raising our own kids to do the same.  Those around you are aware of who you are and what you really value.  Your character and person are the primary message, not your words.

At an early age, both of my parents chose to devote their lives to following in the footsteps of Jesus.  They believed this connected them to God who provided life now and forever.  That primary choice led to every other choice, and together they all fostered a God-filled life for them.

Tomorrow Morning & Next Sunday.  Short and simple, church was a non-negotiable priority in our household.  It was never a Saturday night or Sunday morning decision whether or not we would go.  This was part of our rhythm, a given.  There were very few exceptions throughout my entire growing up years.  I think this is akin to the command to keep the Sabbath.  I think perhaps the Ten Commandments included keeping the Sabbath because if it wasn’t stated that clearly, we wouldn’t do it.  People have always tried to cheat it, and it doesn’t work out well.  It’s not a legalistic thing.  But when you make that choice, it pulls a lot of other things into order.  Saying yes to church led to a host of passive no’s to any number of things.  Related to that, and especially witnessed in my mom, was a commitment to connecting daily with time set aside for a brief reading, meditation, and prayer.  These two things were modeled all while growing up.  I never had to ask them if they valued these things – that was obvious.  Now, just to push this a little bit…  If we say with our lips that we deeply value our faith but can’t seem to make the gathered-community-Sabbath-reset-experience a priority, what are we actually communicating?  Talk is cheap. This seems really obvious, but when we are intentional about reconnecting with God we find ourselves more religamented than when we try to squeeze it in on our commute.

Prom 1986.  No matter what my wife tells you to convince you otherwise, I want you to know I am not perfect.  In fact, my personally history would indicate that this has been the case since I drew my first breath.  There were a handful of times in my life when I did some impressive work making the case for my imperfection!  Once was when  I got home late from the high school prom.  Well, actually, I got home early – early morning when I was supposed to get home late at night.  My parents held me accountable for sure.  It was not a pleasant homecoming.  As a parent who raised kids through high school, I can appreciate what they must have been going through.  Well, at least my Mom.  Was I in a car wreck, perhaps?  Was I blacked out somewhere? Was I abducted by aliens?  These are things parents entertain.  They were rightly upset, and they calmly let me know that.  Then they calmly grounded me for an appropriate amount of time (until I turn 50).  They were graceful as they held me accountable, and they were graceful moving forward.  They were not the types to remind me about my “sin” for the rest of my life.  This taught me to be that way with others, to hold accountable but not hold a grudge, to give people a second chance, to seek redemption.  I never attended a “how to be graceful” class taught by my parents – their lives were the lesson.  Gracefilled living religaments us to God who is the very source of grace.  When we grace, we are more immersed in the presence of God who is Grace.

Olds Delta 88.  My parents were solidly middle class.  We always had enough, but never a lot more than that.  Yet they always supported the church financially no matter what.  And always first.  Their support was non-negotiable.  That sacrifice meant not eating out as much, not buying the same clothing labels others could, living more modestly.  I think they realized that they could enjoy a richness of life that did not require riches, which enabled them to share more than less.  Because they did, a lot of mission work got done in the world and through the churches they belonged to.  A lot of lives changed because they shared their precious nickels.  There is an interesting truth about giving to the work of God in a budgeted way (some refer to this as tithing) rather than an occasional offering here and there.  You’ve heard the phrase “put your money where your mouth is”.  When we put our money toward something, we literally value it.  Jesus said that where our heart is, that’s where our treasure shows up.  My parents put a regular, budgeted part of their treasure toward what God was doing in the world.  It was an amount they felt.  It was an amount that could have upgraded their car situation or home’s square footage considerably.  When you do that, you not only make a value statement, you realign your values every month.  This stretches you in ways you won’t unless you have skin in the game.  We have done the same thing.  This valuing religaments us to the Spirit of God who continues to stretch us as well.

Guild Girls.  My dad’s career was serving the church.  For over a decade of time, my mom was on staff at a church as well in music ministry.  But when she wasn’t, she was serving somewhere.  Helping with women’s ministry was her passion – helping girls mature in faith through girlhood into womanhood, then serving with women. She’s 82 years old now, and still leads a Bible study in the two churches she attends (one in Michigan, the other in Kansas).  Showing up and helping out was the family M.O.  I learned it without questioning it.  Maybe being the youngest I was used to taking orders, but I never minded it.  I was just pitching in.  It felt right and good.  I felt like I was contributing.  I really didn’t get upset when others didn’t, because the feeling I was getting was better than their “getting off the hook”.  That’s the amazing thing about serving out of the right motive.  When it’s done out of love, service may be exhausting, but it gives back more than it takes.  It really ties you to a deeper source.  Serving religaments us to God, because the Spirit of God is always serving towards someone’s or something’s restoration somewhere.

Zau Ya.  Zau Ya was born and raised in what used to be called Burma.  He was hoping to get an education so that he could return as a missionary.  He lived in an apartment that was attached to our church in downtown Lansing, Michigan.  I can’t tell you how many times we traveled the 30 minutes from our suburban home into the downtown area to help Zau Ya out in one way or another.  He was alone, and my parents knew it.  They did what they could to make sure he made it.  We even set him up for Christmas one year.  Zau Ya lives in the Bay Area, and pastors a sister church of ours.  I saw him a couple of years ago.  He has a great fondness for my parents because they walked alongside him when he was alone.  They saw a man who was torn apart from his wife and kids, and they sought to religament him.  I didn’t need a class on incarnation – I simply witnessed them.

Lynne’s family experience in this regard was nearly identical.  We were so fortunate to find each other.  We speak the same language.  We raise our kids with the same True North, mimicking so much of what was done for us, tweaking things here and there that fit us better.  We know our kids will improve on our work.  We know there are some things we could have done better.  But we also know that our kids’ faith was more caught than taught for them.

The Closet.  There is one thing that I think we as human beings are learning to embrace that is very challenging simply because it is so counter-intuitive.  That thing is vulnerability, something we touched on last week and will touch on again in a few weeks.  Our own Karie Nuccio, sitting in my Bible Study last week gave a good working definition: the ability to laugh at yourself.  Laughing at ourselves means we recognize that there is something funny – usually something a little off – that reminds us that we’re not perfect.  Being able to laugh at ourselves requires vulnerability.  It requires letting down our shields that protect us so that we can be honest about ourselves.  I think with kids, we as parents want them to think the best of us, and know that they are looking up to us.  So, it is easy to keep the shield up and be defensive when our goofiness is pointed out.  On a much deeper, more challenging level, vulnerability also takes the risk to be honest about what we’re hiding in the closet.  Our wounds, our uglier mistakes, our great failures are definitely a part of us, and definitely inform us whether we acknowledge them or not.  Getting them out of the closet and looking at them frees us from the tyranny of hiding from them.  And if we risk vulnerability by sharing our experience with our kids, we give them perhaps the great tool for their lives – a model for potential resurrection.  The deaths we hide in the closet become the seed of resurrection and new life.  How are we being open with our kids and those closest to us with what in our closets?

You have already communicated what faith you already have to those around you.  The closest people around you can speak fairly knowledgably about your faith, even if you have never uttered a word about it.  They can do this because faith isn’t expressed as much by our lips as by our life.  Our lives communicate what we believe.  This leads to an important question.  Does your life proclaim a faith that remembers the Story of God, that serves to religament you toward wholeness?  Or does your life proclaim something altogether different? 

What faith would you like to proclaim?  What areas of your life are saying something you don’t really believe? What needs to change?  These are critical questions.  For parents with younger kids, you are modeling what they will intuitively take to be normal and correct.  Beyond kids, you are communicating a faith to everyone around you – is it what you want to communicate?  Is your life what you want to say to God about God?  Is your life what you want?  Is the faith you are living religamenting you and others, or are you more disconnected than you need to be?

The goal here is not to guilt trip, but to examine ourselves for the sake of clarity.  The witness of Jesus gives us great hope that there is more worth pursuing, and that the Spirit of God is with us toward that great hope.

Letters After Your Name

What do Benjamin Franklin, Ed Sheeran, and Stephen Colbert have in common?  They each have doctoral degrees.  None of them, however, earned the degree by undergoing the academic process.  Each of them received honorary degrees.  There is ongoing debate as to whether or not a person should use the title “doctor” if their doctorate was honorary.  If an institution granted such a degree, so goes the argument, then they are deeming the recipient worthy of the title, and therefore one should use it freely.  After all, they worked so hard in life that an institution recognized and rewarded them with the prestigious honor.  Generally speaking, however, this way of thinking largely comes from those who have been awarded such a degree without earning it academically.  Those who went through the rigors of academics to earn the degree view the use of the honorary title on a range from “needs and asterisk” to tacky to unethical.  Proper etiquette is to designate the degree as honorary when listing the letters after the name of such a recipient.  Ben Franklin, however, enjoyed being called Dr. Franklin.

Today, the title Reverend could mean different things to different people.  Among historical denominations, a Master of Divinity degree is prerequisite before going through an ordination process where one’s written and oral defense of faith must stand up to the scrutiny of ordained peers and denominational leaders.  Depending on the tradition, this can range from a long, challenging process to an incredibly long, excruciating process that ends with a meaningful ceremony at which point the title is bestowed.  The point is that it is difficult to achieve.  In some churches, especially Baptist and independent congregations, the local church can ordain whomever they deem worthy of the title.  It is usually handled with great seriousness and is typically given to pastor-types.  Since the educational criteria is not necessarily required, the title may not be recognized by other churches or denominations, which creates problems at times, especially when moving from one ministry to another.  Finally, if you want the title, you can also get it for free online with a mouse click.  Most people who acquire it this way do so in order to perform a marriage ceremony.  Others do it to impress folks.  For taxation purposes, the IRS, interestingly, primarily defines ordination in terms of the role performed.  If a person does not perform the duties typically assigned to pastors – traditionally defined by the handling of the sacraments in a corporate worship setting – they don’t pass muster.  The “Reverend” before a person’s name carries different weight depending upon what letters come after that person’s name.

Kyle Barwan was got arrested for more than taking a woman’s money.  He was cuffed and stuffed because he stole someone’s valor.  Barwan worked his way into his victim’s life and home with the help of a military uniform.  He told her stories of his military experience, close calls and heroism, which certainly must have impressed her.  They moved in together, and the woman got to know him more and more with each story he shared.  After a while, however, she noticed some details that didn’t add up.  She did some research, and soon thereafter called the police.  She believed that her live-in boyfriend was a fraud.  She was right.  Barwan had never served in the military.  But he sure enjoyed the respect people gave him when he pretended that he did.

What is your response to the three subjects above – honorary doctorates, mouse click ordination, and stolen valor?  Why do people get upset about these alleged infractions?  Why do people want the titles, anyway?

By the time the Gospel of Matthew was finalized and written onto scroll, Jesus had been gone for over three decades.  A lot changed, yet a lot stayed the same.  The Pharisee branch of Judaism was in charge of “running” the official religion, and scribes (think Jewish Law Lawyers) were handling the details.  The Sadducee branch that held power in Jesus’ day was gone – literally wiped out when the Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E. after a Jewish uprising caused Rome to come down hard – extremely hard – on the city.  So, there was a massive changing of the guard, so to speak.  The Pharisees represented a more rural mentality than urban.  Most were not formally educated.  The title Rabbi was mostly honorific at that time – it did not become a formal, earned title until later in the first century C.E.  Essentially, the title meant “highly esteemed teacher” in the minds of those who attributed it to people in Jesus’ day.  Of course, there were well known scholars in that period, but that does not mean that most people who were given the title Rabbi were necessarily formally educated.  There are numerous examples of this in Jewish antiquity, and should be allowed to be appreciated for the honor it meant to bestow even if it would not meet our standards of education-based titles today.

The Pharisees in Jesus’ crosshairs at that time were reveling in their title.  When we place our identity and worth in a title, we know we are vulnerable.  If that identity is threatened in some way, we go down with it.  Somewhere inside of us we know this is true, even of titles that seem solid.  If it’s popularity we’re building on, we’re one nasty Facebook post, Snapchat or Tweet away from being cast to the bottom of the heap.  If it’s our successful business or practice, we’re one bad Yelp review or allegation away from trouble.  Do we even need to talk about physical health?  Nope.  Even if we build a long career where everything goes smoothly all the way to retirement, we will soon discover that we will become another picture on a wall somewhere that will very soon lose influence, and eventually fade from memory of the organization we served.  No matter what the title, we are vulnerable because titles fade.  Because we intuitively know this, so long as we are building on the foundation of title we are naturally prone to puff ourselves up and will be defensive when it is threatened.  No wonder these Pharisees were so threatened by Jesus – he was constantly pointing out their vulnerability simply by speaking about the truth of life, as was the case below.

Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. "The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God's Law. You won't go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don't live it. They don't take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It's all spit-and-polish veneer.
     "Instead of giving you God's Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn't think of lifting a finger to help. Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called 'Doctor' and 'Reverend.'
     "Don't let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don't set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of 'Father'; you have only one Father, and he's in heaven. And don't let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them—Christ.
     "Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty. – Matthew 23:1-12 (The Message)

Jesus was calling for the opposite of putting our stock in title.  He was calling us to embrace the fact that we are all very human, very fallible, and therefore vulnerable.  When we embrace the fact that we are vulnerable instead of trying hard to mask it, we are no longer captive to the fear of failure.  This is what servanthood is all about.  We do a lot of things to avoid paying attention to this vulnerability because it’s painful to think about.  Yet avoiding reality only adds to our sense of vulnerability, which makes it even harder and more painful to live.  So, we self-medicate in a wide variety of ways.  The result?  We are the most overweight, over-spent, and over medicated people in our country’s history.

According to the highly respected social sciences academic Brene Brown, vulnerability is actually something we need to embrace, not avoid.  People who are the most alive, who experience the most of the things we want the most in life – love, joy, peace, meaning, etc. – embrace their vulnerability instead of avoiding it.  Why?  Because they recognize that what makes them vulnerable is what makes them beautiful.  When they fully embraced that which made them vulnerable, recognizing it as part of the human condition, they became free from the torture of being found out – because they outed themselves.  This is not a celebration of sin, or elevating brokenness – this is simply living humbly in light of reality.

I think every human being navigate these waters in one way or another as we are faced with the decision about who we are.  How we identify ourselves is what we take pride in.  Taken loosely, we can even take “pride” in our painful past, turning our struggle into a badge of honor that can get in the way just as much as an honorary doctorate, mouse click ordination or wearing a uniform you never served in.  Maturing in our identity is not easy work, either, as we need to constantly be aware of the value we give out titles – even the good ones.  I have been proud of many good things in my life: my family name, my academic achievement, my musical talent, my world-famous dancing skills (at least in my mind).  I have even taken “pride” in some of the uglier parts of my story: personal choices that led to me brokenness, leadership decisions that got me in trouble, etc.  The trouble comes when I forget that these things are not really my true foundation.  These titles are an important part of my story, but they are not the genesis of my very existence.  At the center of everything, I am simply a child of God.  At my core, I look like my Father in Heaven more than my dad here on earth.  That is a foundation worth building on, and necessarily keeps me on the humble side when I realize that every other person on the planet has that same core.  This way of seeing leads to serving more than being served because I am reminded that we are all on the same journey together and need each other’s help to make it glorious.

In the face of leaders who loved their titles and the power they endued, Jesus told his followers to do exactly the opposite of the Pharisees.  Instead of propping themselves up, choose to power down.  Choose to serve others fully, not as a new form of gaining title, but because it is in serving where we find connection with others.  When we are connected with others, we are more whole, more well, more human in the best sense of the word.

Bottom line: embrace vulnerability.  It will help align your steps with Jesus’.  It will open you up to the anointing of God which is Christ present.  It will naturally lead you to serve others out of love.  And ironically, it will make you stronger than when you were trying so hard to be strong.  Do it for a lifetime and you might even be given an honorary doctorate, find yourself a reverend, but all with legitimate valor.

Field Guide to Thessalonica, USA

Have you used the “n” word recently?  How about breast feeding?  Do you have any particularly strong feelings about nursing mothers?  We’ll come back to that in a bit.

My wife and I recently joined my parents, brother and sisters (and their spouses) on an epic trip to Alaska.  It was incredible from start to finish.  One thing that helped us get the most out of the experience was knowledgeable people who informed us about wherever we were and whatever we were looking at.  We would have enjoyed the trip without them, but they enhanced the trip immeasurably.

I want to provide that kind of service for you as we look at a passage from a letter written by the Apostle Paul and his associates, Silas and Timothy.  The letter was written to the church he helped get started in the town known at that time as Thessalonica, called Thessaloniki today.  In the event that you stumble upon a time machine and venture back to 51 C.E. or so in that region, I want you to be prepared! 

The city named after a former Emperor’s sister was one of the most cosmopolitan cities of its day because of the strong trade routes due to the Via Egnatia, an ancient Roman Empire freeway that paved the way for global commerce.  People from all over the ancient world lived there, and they brought their traditions with them.  As a Roman city of import, they were also dependent on Rome for financial support.  In terms of religion, the two biggest influences were Greek Mythology and it’s Roman Mythology counterpart.  Above all, the reigning Caesar demanded to be acknowledged as divine, demanding worship in one way or another (a few decades later, Domitian would demand that his subjects refer to him as Lord and God).  Emperors, holding the power to sustain or end life, saw themselves as the saviors of the world – they held salvation in their hands.  They believed that their rule was Good News, and were quite evangelical about it.

Enter Paul and company.  Paul, Silas, and Timothy had started a church in nearby Philippi, and were hanging out in that city, funded by a wealthy woman referred to as Lydia.  She was a very successful business woman, selling rare, expensive purple fabrics to royalty.  She was compelled by the Good News she heard from Paul, decided to be led by the example and teaching of Jesus, realizing that his path led to doing life with God.  Through a very interesting number of events, Paul was eventually asked by the city officials to leave the city, which he did.  Where did he go?  Thessalonica.  What did he do?  He started letting people know about the Good News of Jesus.  What happened?  Like Lydia, people understood that it really was good news and embraced this new way of life and faith.  Like before, however, things eventually went south, which prompted the letter. 

Have you ever bought something you really wanted and needed, but then discovered related costs afterwards that you had not thought about?  Maybe you bought your first car but you didn’t consider what insurance might run.  Or gas or oil changes or tires or fuzzy dice or fragrant deodorizing hanging trees you hang from the rearview mirror?  Or have you ever fallen in love and entered into a relationship you want and need but then realize that being in that relationship is going to change the dynamics of every other relationship in some way?  That’s what happened to the Thessalonians when they embraced the Good News Jesus shared about the nature of God and the implications for living.  They no longer maintained their relationship with the other religions, and didn’t make any offerings to them, either.  This strained their relationships with those whom they used to worship.  Furthermore, they didn’t get the same business deals they got before because they switched religions – the new faith cost them in real terms.  Some people even treated them harshly for not worshiping the Emperor as commanded, fearful that Rome might withdraw support.  Paul and company had to leave the city, and the new Jesus followers were on their own.

After some period of time, Paul got word that the new believers were still being harassed and wrote them the letters we now call 1st and 2nd Thessalonians.  He tells them to hold on to the hope that God is still with them, at work right where they are bringing about the salvation he alone can bring, and that one day, should they die soon, they will be welcomed into heaven.  As for living in the midst of people with very different beliefs and practices?  Paul and company reminded them of their posture when they first arrived in the diverse city:

You yourselves know, dear brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not a failure. You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News to you boldly, in spite of great opposition. So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery.

For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts. Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know. And God is our witness that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money! As for human praise, we have never sought it from you or anyone else.

As apostles of Christ we certainly had a right to make some demands of you, but instead we were like children among you. Or we were like a mother feeding and caring for her own children. We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too. – 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 (NLT)

As you can clearly see, the “n” word now comes  into play.  Not the “n” word you might be thinking of but rather a Greek word which biblical interpreters continue to debate about:

It should be noted that interpretations of v. 7 vary because the manuscript evidence is divided. A single Greek letter, ν (n), is added to the Greek word ἤπιοι (ēpioi, “gentle”) in some manuscripts of 1 Thessalonians but not in others. So scholars wonder if Paul actually wrote “we were gentle” or “we were infants [νήπιοι nēpioi]” (see the NRSV note to v. 7). In the latter case, Paul would be saying that “the apostles were not `heavies,’ making much of themselves through various demands (v. 7a), but were as unassuming among the Thessalonians as infants.” – Abraham Smith, New Interpreters Bible, The First Letter to the Thessalonians

The “n” word Paul used, nēpioi, is both informative and instructive.  Essentially, Paul was saying that even though they believed they were proclaiming the truth and had God behind them, they chose to proceed with humble strength.  They chose the posture of an infant, or perhaps a nursing mother.  Have you thought much about infants and nursing mothers?  I know when I picture an infant or nursing mother in my mind, I naturally think “warrior”, “cage fighter”, and “threat”.  Okay, that’s not quite right, is it?  The posture Paul was saying he took with them was vulnerability.  They were very confident in what they believed, but they chose to take an approach that would create the least amount of hostility from their audience. Instead of shouting from street corners that people were going to hell, they walked alongside in vulnerability, placing their trust in God to open doors and hearts to change lives.  Infants rely on others to survive – so did Paul and company.  Nursing mothers are the very picture of nurturing out of love.  Paul was writing this to them to remind them that this is the way of Jesus, who took the peaceful route all the way to his torturous death.  They are not only bearers of the Good News, they are heralds.  As such, they need to be very thoughtful in their approach.  The way of Jesus is the way of peace, the way of the cross. 

So, there you have it.  Just in case you travel back in time and take heat for not practicing the popular religion in Thessalonica, you know what to do.  Go vulnerable.  Choose to nurture like a nursing mother.

Oh, and one more thing.  We live in ancient Thessalonica today, right here and now.  Worship is happening all around us.  It may not be Greek or Roman gods or Emperors, but there is plenty of worship going on.  And it isn’t necessarily happening in a sanctuary.  Because worship is really about what we praise, what we value, what we say is worth our allegiance.  Strip away religious lingo, and that’s what it’s really all about.  We are saying we value God, that the reason we praise God is because God is worth it, that God has our allegiance, which means we are choosing to have our lives led by the God of Jesus over every other god.  We are exclusive in that sense, choosing this Way over every other way.  Truly living this way will get noticed in a world that celebrates bravado, self-absorption, greed, and winning at all costs (each of these is exclusive, by the way). 

You who follow in the footsteps of Jesus are bearers and heralds of Christ.  You are anointed with the very Spirit of God to be and proclaim Good News wherever you go.  How should you proceed?  With a megaphone to voice judgment?  With harsh, inflammatory words that demean others?  Nope.  Think vulnerable infant.  Think nurturing, nursing mother.  Think Jesus.

Following Jesus will mean saying no to worshiping as others worship (think about that awhile).  There will be pushback because the Way of Jesus is countercultural and counterintuitive.  Important side note: if you are pretty much just like everybody else in a culture that does not really worship God, perhaps you aren’t worshiping God, either. 

Who do you worship?  If God, then what is your posture? How are you behaving in a world of other-god worshippers?

Denali National Park and all the glaciers we saw were stunning.  But they were much more so because helpful guides pointed things out that we might otherwise may have missed.  When we choose to listen to those who study Jesus, we are receiving wisdom from field guides who want us to see what we otherwise might miss.  Once informed, we are blessed to get to do the same for others, all with the humble posture of an infant or nursing mother.