For most of us, this moment in time is a bit, well, unsettled. There is more uncertainty swirling around in the world than there usually is. Coronavirus; Politics; Economy; Find Waldo, er, Kim Jung Un.
You get the point.
We are frustrated and, if we’re honest, a bit afraid. Not necessarily afraid of Covid-19. We’re afraid of the uncertainty.
This is completely understandable. Especially, in a society that prides itself on being in control and self-sufficient. A culture where the idea of the Individual is elevated to near god-like stature. It is disconcerting to feel alone and, perhaps more importantly, not in control. So, yeah, I get it.
People need to vent their frustrations. We see this in the protests over stay at home orders. We see it in people ignoring those orders to open businesses and churches. There is a wave of ‘righteous indignation’ flowing over us.
None of us can see the ramifications of these actions.
That’s the problem, though, isn’t it? None of us can see…….
We can, however, see how all of this is affecting us. I look around at the way that business and industry have stepped up to provide necessary equipment for those who put themselves in harms way to care for the rest of us. I see the food pantries and volunteers doing whatever they must in order to help those who have suddenly found themselves in dire need of basic necessities. Those of us who are daily putting our own needs and desires aside and staying home and practicing Personal Distancing so that those who are on the ‘front lines’ may have a chance to do their jobs, well, “Good Job!”
There are people who say that there is little to no hope for our species. Or, the world, for that matter. They say that unless drastic measures are taken immediately we will go the way of the Dodo…soon.
There are others among us who say that this is just the beginning of judgement. Soon God will appear and the whole Cosmos will roll up like a scroll and burn.
I want to take issue with both of these outcomes and any others that would follow this kind of Doomsday script.
We all have choices.
We can choose to be Human. We can choose to let Empathy, rather than selfishness and fear, rule in our hearts and minds. There is Hope. If we can have Faith. And, more importantly, if we can extend Love.
When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.”
He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them.
“The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”
Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Lk 4:16–21). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
I remember well a particular moment in seminary. One of my professors included in our syllabus a book by a guy named Brian McLaren. The book was titled, “A New Kind of Christianity:Ten Questions That are Transforming the Faith.” The reason that he assigned this particular book was because he knew that some time in our ministry we would run across the kind of heresy that McLaren advocated. He wanted us to be able to recognize it and to refute it. So, I read the book. And, it changed my life. I recognized myself in those pages. A questioner. A skeptic. A thinker. Instead of preparing me to do battle against this post-modern heresy, McLaren provided me with language to understand what I was already thinking. For me, knowing that there were others like me out there, this was a moment when a lock on the chains that had me bound to abusive religion clicked open.
If that sounds like a pitch for the book, ok, it kind of is.
However, as I’ve grown and reflected on my faith there is at least one area of McLaren’s book where I take issue.
In the book he provided a couple of images that contrast two views of how the Bible is read and understood. The first way is how many people in Western evangelicalism understand it. For them, the Bible is like a Constitution of a nation. It contains the rules of government and the laws that people must follow. For many, like me, this distills to the Bible simply being a Users’ Manual or a rule book. It contains the do’s and don’t’s that make humans somehow palatable to an angry God. Follow the rules and you win. Break them and, well, just don’t.
McLaren offered an alternative image. He wrote that the Bible should really be taken as a library. In it are 66 separate books that contain the stories of God’s interaction with humanity. Especially, God’s love for us. These books come in all shapes, sizes, and genres. There are legal books. There are stories to titillate our senses. There is poetry and narrative and correspondence. When we read each according to the genre we may glimpse a bit of God’s heart. We may begin to understand the love and pathos that God “feels” toward the Cosmos.
That was just what I needed to hear at that point of my journey in faith. It opened up a whole new way to think theologically. In fact, as I wrote a couple days ago, I had some new encouragement just to “Think”!
Now, however, I’m beginning to view the Bible in a slightly different way. Not to say that McLaren was mistaken. No, I see the point that he made and don’t totally disagree with it. I’m just not sure that he took the idea far enough.
Long before I went to seminary, I was becoming convinced about the error of reading the Bible as a rule book. That idea just didn’t sit well with me. I considered it more as story. Specifically, a love story about Yahweh’s love for us. I couldn’t articulate what I was thinking exactly. Mostly because I wasn’t sure of what a ‘story’ actually was. I did know, however, that I liked me a good story! From the Three Little Pigs to Tokien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, I loved immersing myself in the worlds that these stories inhabited. Now, having learned more about the craft of writing and doing a bit of writing myself, I’m more convinced than ever about the Bible’s coherence as Story.
From Genesis 1 to Revelation there is One story being told. This story has a protagonist: God. God is the main character throughout the entire story. God is responsible for all of the action. The Creation story is all about God acting to bring order from chaos and build a world in which every creature could thrive and grow. God’s activity contains act of power. A flood; a crumbling tower; plagues. Eventually, God’s greatest act of power was through God’s own love for the Cosmos. This was shown to us through the life, death, and resurrection of God’s own Son, Jesus.
The story also contains the necessary antagonist. And, it’s not who you may think. The true villain in this story is Sin. He shows up early in the story and stands in opposition to God and God’s purposes on virtually every page. Now, you may have thought the antagonist was that guy we call Satan. Well, this character is there, for sure. He is better known as the adversary. But, Sin is the one who actually calls the shots. Satan only exploits what Sin has already done.
There is a coherent plot to this story. In the beginning there is an idyllic world where all of God’s creatures lived and thrived in peace. God chose humanity to be God’s helpers in caring for this world. However, this plan was turned upside down by the entrance of the antagonist, Sin, using the Adversary as the means of disruption. The entire rest of the story is about God’s plan to set things right. Yeah, you read that correctly. THE ENTIRE REST OF THE STORY!
As every good story goes, there is a time when an apparent solution is presented. This shows up by way of the giving of Torah to the people who God chose to work with, Israel. This turns out to be a false solution. Torah, as good as it is, could not restore humanity or the creation to the way that God intended. Through many subplots and characters the condition of the Cosmos seems to spiral toward a nasty and messy end. In fact, it appears that all hope is lost. God cannot make things right. Nothing takes our hope away and dashes it on the rocks of despair more than when the story introduces a new character…Jesus. It seems that maybe this guy can be the One who finally performs the miracle of restoring the Cosmos. Yay! Look at him healing people and talking about God’s Kingdom peeking over the horizon signalling a new dawn of hope! Again, order coming out of chaos.
But, then, the story does what a good story must. It shows us that, alas, all hope is indeed lost. This new character, the One who seemed to be able to bring God’s good creation to fruition, Dead and buried.
This would have been a pretty sad story if it had ended here. Darkness and despair defeating Light and hope.
But, the story didn’t end there. We find out that Jesus really was God’s Person of the hour. God’s faithfulness to God’s Purposes and Covenant was vindicated. The new creation had, in fact, begun. And, the Good News of all of this is that all of humanity, already part of the story, can join with God in order see this new creation grow and prosper.
Ok. I can read the papers, too. The world is not a new Eden. It is still a horrible mess. And, it will be until the time when we all get to the end of the story. And, no, I don’t know what that end will look like. I do know what it won’t look like, though. There will not be a mass escape by humans who think that God is going to rescue them before God completely destroys the World. That idea isn’t in the book. In fact, it goes against everything else that the story was trying to build. It won’t be a theocratic dictatorship where everyone walks around bowing in obeisance to some glowing deity sitting on a huge throne somewhere. And, it definitely won’t be a place where smug survivors smile and say, “At least I’m not like those ‘sinners’ who got fried”!
Yeah, the Bible is a long story of God’s faithfulness to the Cosmos. There are a lot of twists and turns along the way. There is drama and tragedy. There is love and war. There is despair and hope. And, lots of action. All elements of a good story. So, rather than reading the Bible like a rule book or a collection of different and disparate books in a library, maybe we should begin to read it as One Story with many chapters. Although there are many different subplots and characters coming and going, it is still the same story.
Besides simply venting my opinions on this here blog thing, I also share a lot of autobiographical musings. I believe that sharing some things may be helpful to others who, like me, may feel that I am the only person on the planet that is experiencing this. Well, I’m not. And, neither are you. We share in this being human thing. Not least, the hurts and miscues and out-and-out total fuck ups. Together, however, we can be “community” to one another. We can encourage and help each other to heal. Or, we can just be a dick and say, “Yeah, I always knew you were an ass.” Hopefully, we won’t be dicks.
That said, I want to share a little background to what I hope to share in the next day or so. I think that having a foundation for these thoughts will be helpful to the structure I hope to build.
I started following Jesus when I was a teen. I was excited about this new faith that had sprouted in my life. My eagerness led me to go ‘all in’ to try and learn about what a Jesus Follower should be. I became more active in my local church. Through the youth group there I became aware of others who were vocally and visibly demonstrating christianity. So, I started to hang out with them. Together we grasped onto something that was more of a lifestyle than a rigid belief. We started our own “Community” that we thought was modeled on the first communities as we read about them in the early chapters of the Book of Acts. We lived together and shared our resources. We were truly Jesus Freaks! And, we loved that identification.
One of the first things that we constructed was a hierarchy of sorts. We recognized a couple of men as Elders. These men exercised absolute authority in our community. After all, didn’t the Bible tell everyone to ‘obey the elders’ and ‘don’t make their job difficult?’ So, we sat at their feet and soaked up all of the God-given wisdom that came out of their mouths.
This was our reality.
We were told how to behave; how to spend our time and money; how to treat our spouses, how to raise our children. We were pretty much told to put our brains on hold and simply follow directions.
As that original community aged, it morphed into a more ‘presentable’ church. We found ourselves in line with most conservative evangelical churches in the U.S. Even in this iteration of community the same power structures were maintained. We gathered so that one of the male leaders, (always male), could unscrew the tops of our heads, pour some kind of propositional teaching into our brains, then screw the tops back on. We called that ‘discipleship.’ We were taught that our ‘minds’ were dangerous things. They were part of what they called the “soul” of a person. That soul defined as the part of humans that contained the “mind, will, and emotions.” These were always seen in opposition to the pure spirit of a person. Let’s see, Spirit-Good; Soul-Bad. Sounds like Plato to me. But, that’s another post. I think that this idea came as a knee-jerk reaction by some christians to the Enlightenment and Modernity. Science was growing by leaps and bounds. And, of course, Darwin! People of faith became alarmed at how human intellect was becoming elevated over faith in God. We are still dealing with the fallout from that today. Just watch the news and see how people react against so-called Intellectuals and the Elite.
But, something happened to me on my journey through this intellectual desert called evangelicalism. I began to think. With thoughts came questions. And, if there’s one thing that evangelicals will not tolerate, it’s questions! I decided that I needed to know more about all of this. I NEEDED answers! So, I entered Ashland Theological Seminary in search of answers.
Something happened there. In my second quarter I took a class, Theology 1. A good place to start, I guess. Now, I had studied theology at my church. We used a systematic theology written by a conservative evangelical man. For those of you who are not familiar with systems like this, let me put it simply. One person has asked the accepted questions about God and the Bible and provided proof texts for the answers. These are then to be poured into your brain and accepted as the way God actually is. Sound familiar? Anyway, back to seminary. My professor quickly dispelled that idea. She opened us up to many different ways that people had done theology over the years. We were shown how those who came before us had wrestled with the Bible and tried to understand what God might say to them in their own time and in their own lives. One night in class I suddenly realized, It’s OK for Christians to THINK! Tears began to fall as this realization washed over me. No. You can’t understand the impact of that if you’ve never been caught up in an authoritarian culture where individual thought and questions were considered “fleshly” and “evil.”
Throughout the rest of my time at Ashland the idea of Thinking Theologically, that is thinking and reflecting deeply, was encouraged. It was demonstrated by the professors every day. these folks were examples of people who knew the importance of using our minds.
All of that brings me to this point.
The Apostle Paul wrote a lot about the mind. He never said that it was the part of that ‘soulish’ trio that I mentioned earlier. In fact, when you come down to it, the will is animated by the mind and emotions are a construct of it. The Mind is central. And, apparently, it cannot be separated from the body. Together, at least according to the earlier testament, the body animated by God’s Spirit becomes a living soul. A single entity. So much for Plato.
One passage that Paul wrote became a key for me as I continued to learn and grow. It is found in his letter to the Church at Rome. He wrote, “don’t let yourselves be squeezed into the shape dictated by the present age. Instead, be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you can work out what God’s will is, what is good, acceptable and complete.” (Paraphrase from N.T. Wright in “Paul and the Faithfulness of God”, Fortress, Minneapolis, 2013, p.1,123.)
Be transformed by the renewing of your minds.
I don’t know, but that looks to me like our Minds are pretty important.
Paul goes on in other places to build an argument that people must be able to think clearly so that they can navigate life with wisdom and integrity. So that they can develop what he calls “the Mind of Christ.” He wrote that we must be able to think, and think deeply, so that we can figure out what salvation looks like right now; in this particular situation. It’s not simply a case of learning rote instructions that one would then copy and paste into unrelated circumstances. But, it is a living, breathing reality to bring all of our faculties to bear on our lives. That includes our mind.
Thinking is not a problem. For too many in the church, and the world at large, NOT thinking is.
God, as I have written before, has promised to never leave us. No matter what storms may rage around us.
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I follow several blogs and news sources every day. Yeah, I like to keep up on what’s happening outside of these four walls that have become a sanctuary of sorts. Most of the blogs I read pick up on some current event or news report. They share the parts that resonate with them. Then reflect or offer their opinion. Every one has an opinion!
This here blog thingy of mine generally follows a different path. I share my thoughts and feelings about a lot of topics. The reasons I do this are manifold. First, I feel an obligation to counter some of the prevailing religious ideas and doctrines that have proven to be harmful. So many people have suffered, have found themselves in emotional and psychological bondage because of false and inaccurate interpretations of Holy Writ. For Christianity, a religion that speaks of Freeing the Captives, this is especially problematic. So, I write about it.
Second, I believe that by sharing some of the struggles that I deal with others may find it easier to share their own. Things that trouble us, our thoughts and feelings, can be extremely harmful if left hidden. People need ways to vent some of the pressure that builds from deep within us. But, because of shame or social stigma, we keep that pressure bottled up. Eventually, the chains that bind the heart may become too strong. So, I share my story. And, thereby, encourage others to do the same.
I also write these things because, well, words are what I do best. My mind has a lot of things bouncing around in it. This is how I get them out so that I can see them and think about them. Because, until I do, I really don’t understand some of them myself. To put it simply, sometimes I don’t know what I think until I say it. I don’t think that I’m alone in this. Until we hear or see our thoughts concretely, they are simply wisps of the æther flowing through the synapses in our brain. Allowing them to form a shape that can be seen is important for me.
That being said, I want to deviate a bit today.
There is something happening in the U.S. today that, I believe, is worthy of a brief report. Yeah, I know, current events. Big deal. No, really, this kind of is. The Covid-19 crisis has shown me something that I think I knew was real. But, because of all of the polarization, hate, and mistrust that usually blankets the airwaves, it has remained hidden from view. This thing is the heart and compassion of a vast majority of American people. Folks have really stepped up to support the so-called “Front Line” workers in the medical field and all of our first responders. I can actually understand that a bit. These are the truly visible people who are trying their best to help, comfort, and heal the sick. So, kudos to all of them!
But, then there are the unseen warriors in this battle. Those who leave snacks for people delivering our food and packages because we don’t want to venture out into the wilderness ourselves. The artists and musicians who draw on the concrete messages of hope and who stand outside the windows of nursing homes to encourage the scared folks who are trapped inside. The educators who have had to completely change the educational paradigm in order to continue supporting and teaching our children. They changed direction on a dime! Way to go, Teachers! Kudos to our state and local governments for getting into the trenches with us in order to ensure that we are adequately protected. Yeah, they get flack for not being quick enough to respond to the unemployment crisis that this pandemic brought on. They are trying, though, with limited resources and personnel.
I could go on to include others. But, I think that you can grasp my point. In a culture where violence and hatred seems to run rampant, there is a spark of hope. This crisis has revealed that their is something good in humanity. We are able to reach deep within ourselves and draw up empathy for others. We can band together to support one another when we really need one another.
My true hope is that, when this current crisis passes, we can continue to do so.
I have spent a lot of time over the years trying to expose the negative side of the Church. The abuses of authority; the harmful theology; the elevation of ME above all else. These criticisms are well deserved. People have been harmed by the Church. And, it really doesn’t matter what flavor Church. Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox are all culpable in the abuses. The public results of these abuses, besides lives ruined, includes the loss of any claim to the so-called Moral High Ground. In other words, the Church has destroyed her ability to be a Blessing to the Cosmos.
So, what should things look like? Honestly, no one can say for certain what God has planned for it. But, we can sketch a few things. Things that, rather than tearing down, may reveal a way forward in Love and Faithfulness.
So, let’s start. In the beginning….
The writers of Holy Scripture were people just like us. They lived in a particular time, place, and culture that colored the words that they wrote. So, for them such things as a cosmos that was created Ex Nihilo was just the way things were. These writers presented their readers with a problem. The problem was, God created the Heavens and the Earth. In God’s abundant Love humans were made for the expressed purpose of caring for the Earth as God’s Special Envoys. The intent was for humanity to embody God’s glory as Eikons of God. They would rule jointly with God over the creation. But, there was a problem. Humanity could not live up to God’s calling. They were, after all, made of the same stuff that the cosmos was…dust. Soon the problem came to a head when humanity took it upon themselves to listen to and embrace other creatures. Idolatry and the corruption that comes with that began to mar the Very Good Cosmos that God had made. But, God was still convinced that humanity MUST be a part of God’s plan for guiding and caring for the World. So, God ‘elected’ a family. For those who know a little about the story of Israel, you will have heard of a guy named Abraham. God chose Abraham and his descendants to become the agents of God’s blessing for the Cosmos. The story continues through Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, to the selection of a community, Israel. Israel’s history was checkered at best. But, God had made a covenant with Abraham that, because of Abraham’s faithfulness to God’s promises, stated that the entire Cosmos would be blessed. God took that Covenant seriously and was faithful to it in spite of Israel’s inability to live up to its calling. In time, God, who had chosen Israel as the people through whom the blessing would come, raised up One Person from Israel. This One Person became God’s own Image-bearer. An image-bearer who would do what the original humans, nor Israel, could. Through the death of Jesus the problem of humanity’s inability to live up to God’s Glorious Calling at the beginning was solved. The resurrection of Jesus from the grave proved God’s faithfulness to set things right.
Ok, nice story. But, so what?
God had done something that no one expected. Because of the faithfulness of Jesus, all of humanity had the opportunity to share in Jesus’ faithfulness. We, in fact, have been joined together into the family of God’s Promise to Abraham. We are benefactors of God’s Covenant with Abraham. God, in God’s own love and Being, put us into a Community. A living Community where God’s own Spirit lives and brings life. We are not a bunch of individuals going about our own personal business. Living in our own personal salvation. No. We are, as Peter wrote, ‘A royal priesthood and a Holy Nation.’
We. Belong. Together.
Together we are to be a blessing to the whole Cosmos. Together we reflect the Glory of God to each other, to God, and to the World. Together! Together!
That is our hope and our calling. And, that’s a good thing.
One of the hallmarks of life in the U.S. is the ideal of the “Rugged Individual.” While it seems that this image had been brewing ever since the birth of the nation, it really didn’t take off and become a mark of American exceptionalism until after the Second World War. We have become a nation where everyone considers their right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness is a personal guarantee that no one, especially not the government, can tell me what I can do, when and where I can do it, or ask me why I’m doing it. After all, the Constitution says so. Of course, when the Constitution says that I can do something that you want to do and there’s a conflict, my rights always supersede yours. And, if you don’t like it, we’ll see you in court. Because, you know, my rights are given to me by no lesser authority than God!
What escapes most people’s attention is that those so-called ‘God given rights’ are not in the Constitution. They appear in the Declaration of Independence. And, as I have said in many other places, Context is everything. The Declaration, besides being a rallying point for the nascent United States, was first a notice to King George III that the American Colonies would no longer put up with British rule. The inalienable rights part, especially the God given wording, let George know in no uncertain terms that God was the only source for these rights. The crown was not.
So, there was a war and a new nation was born that began a long experiment in democratic government that is still under way today.
Soon, individuals began trekking into the wilderness of this land. They fought and worked and died in order to provide for themselves and their families. It didn’t matter what obstacles lay in their path toward this inevitable destiny. They had a God given right to this land and its bounty. So, facts like the land was already populated by Indigenous people were tossed aside. “God gave this land to us. Not to you.” (But, that ‘s another post.)
As I began to deconstruct the Ziggurat that was my protestant, evangelical life, I started to wonder about this. To explain a bit… In Protestantism individual faith is paramount. After all, Jesus died for me. Yeah, he may have died for you, too. But, that’s between you and God and doesn’t effect me at all. It’s all about Me and Jesus! Hallelujah! In the church that I was a part of at that time this was absolutely the underlying ethic to their theology. It was no more apparent than when, once a month, we had Communion. We asked that the head of each family, or family unit, would come and take the bread and cup back to their individual clan. There the elements would be taken. I questioned the leaders about this. Because, to me anyway, it seemed that the celebration of Communion should be a community celebration. Not an individual family thing. This seemed more like a fracturing of the Body of Christ than a joining together in communal Thanksgiving. Silly me for thinking such things!
Eventually, I did leave that church. There are many, many reasons why. But, that idea of fracturing the Body of Christ is near the top.
Here, in an admittedly compressed version, is what I have learned, and am convinced of, since my departure. The church I left, and all of those churches that think that same way, follow a modern version of Reformation theology. Every individual is a sinner in need of grace. Ok, so far so good. This thinking also leads to the idea that every individual is responsible for how they live that faith. That pretty much means that I can do what ever I believe God wants me to do. Of course, there are the big ‘Sins’ that must be avoided. But, if it’s not listed as sin, then I’m good to go.
That idea has driven much of our Western culture as it formed over the ensuing 500 years. It led, inevitably, to our old friend the Marlboro Man. It is readily displayed in the people who yell about their own rights. Just look at the churches that are openly defying stay at home orders during the current Covid-19 crisis. Their rallying cry? “No government can tell me what to do! My God is bigger than you. And, My God has given me the inalienable right to gather. So what if the virus is spread among the congregation and then back to their homes and friends and family.”
And yet, the very Bible that these people tell us that they believe in and follow is clear. “Consider others above yourself.” “Anyone who tries to save their own life will lose it.” All of the letters written by the Apostle Paul are attempts to build communities who live their lives sacrificially in order to display God’s mercy to the world. The idea that we are all just individuals who should live our lives in isolation from one another would be totally foreign to the people who actually wrote the Book.
As I wrote before, the in the Body of Christ there is no room for me; my; mine. It is always “Us.” We are a community. We must live like it.
When I began writing this blog way back in the dark ages, I never assumed that everyone who read it would agree with me. About anything. I did, however, promise myself that I would take any criticism seriously. Yeah, I know that there are trolls out there. They’re different. I won’t engage with them when/if I see them. However, serious comments that call me out for something that I write are welcome.
I received such a criticism yesterday. I don’t recognize the person’s name. So, at first I simply considered dismissing the comment. I didn’t, however. I approved it for viewing and replied.
Just so everyone understands what I’m doing here, let me explain a couple things.
All of us have blind spots. You know, those areas of our character that we simply cannot see. We need others who can point these out to us. Once they do, we have some choices. 1) We can dismiss them and ignore their observations. This may make us feel good about ourselves for a moment. But, the blind spot is still hidden. We will fail in that area again. 2) There’s the good ol’ American knee-jerk reaction that attacks the other person. If we can diminish them through a counter-criticism we can inflate our own ego and sense of self. No positive outcome will come of that. 3) We can deny what the other person says. “Who? Me? No way am I like that! You are soooo wrong!” Again, counter-productive. It keeps us living in Never-Never Land with the other children. 4) Accept what the other person says as plausible and take the time to reflect on it. This is the course that I choose when confronted with criticism.
This approach forces me to self-reflect on who I am and why I do things. It also, for me anyway, forces me to seek God’s Spirit to shine a Light on the area that has been questioned. You see, if there is a blind spot that someone else sees, then I need to have Help to see it myself and deal with it.
So, I sit. I pray. I reflect.
I ask questions of myself. Particularly, what are my purposes and motivations for writing the things that I do. Is it pride? Do I want people to see how educated and intelligent I am? Is it to be known? Do I want to see the number of views continue to grow? Is it anger? Do I desire to make those who have hurt me pay for their sins?
Is it to shine a light in the darkness of today’s culture and the world? Is it to truly offer people hope that the hurt they have experienced through religious or cultural abuse may be alleviated? Is it to reveal the Nature of God that is revealed in Jesus and brought to life through the Spirit to a world that desperately needs to see it?
If I am totally honest, it’s all of the above. And, more.
The apostle Paul is famous for writing about what we call the “Already, but Not Yet” reality of life in Jesus. Yes, there is truth to the fact that we are already living in a world that has been inaugurated into God’s new world. Jesus is risen. Sin and Death have been defeated. Already. But, we are not all the way there. Just look around and it’s obvious. Love has not blossomed all over the world. Hate, distrust, wars, suffering, hunger, etc. are still our lived reality. Not Yet.
For me, personally, that means that my motivations are, and will be, mixed. Altruism; Self-Centeredness. Me; You. Self; Others.
I can’t help that. Not while living in this tent.
It also means that I need people like yesterday’s critic to call me out when they see something that reveals a blind spot in my life. I don’t like it. Who does like the taste of the medicine? But, it’s necessary in this world to have those with the courage to speak out. So, to my critic, Thank You.
I debated long and hard about writing this post. Part of me really wants to sit back and ignore what other people think. Their opinions are just that, “Theirs.” And, if no one appears to be injured by that opinion, why not just leave well enough alone?
Then, there’s that other part of me. You know, that part that causes the hair on the back of my neck to stand on edge when I sense injustice. When people, whether consciously or not, say or do things that may clearly impact others negatively.
Yeah, I think that’s the part that wins out today.
Truthfully, what I have to say today may not mean much to anyone reading this. It may simply seem like a minor disagreement about religious ideas. Bear with me. I’ll get to the point eventually.
Yesterday was Easter. Christian High Holy Day of all Holy Days. It is the celebration of Messiah Jesus’ victory over death. For this the entire Cosmos celebrates.
But, we must remember that the only way that we get to Easter is straight through Good Friday. Most of us know that on that day, Jesus was stripped, beaten, and ultimately nailed to a tree and left to die. Gruesome? Yes. Heinous? Yes. Necessary? Also, Yes. Jesus knew that his path lay along that path. His prayer the night before lets us in on that. “Father, if this cup can pass from me.” He knew what was contained in that cup.
Here’s the part that we don’t usually think of right away. Jesus CHOSE to drink it anyway…to drain it to the dregs. Jesus’ entire public life was characterized by this same self-giving. The apostle Paul recorded this in the letter that he wrote to the Church at Philippi. Jesus, he wrote, “emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.” Phil. 2:7.
Jesus also taught his followers that they must consider others more important than themselves. They must love one another with the Same Self-Giving Love that He had for them. That they must, “Take up their cross” in order to follow him.
Paul consistently told the early Church that they would need to suffer as they followed Jesus. And, that they should count that suffering as Joy!
These are the things that characterized the first followers of Jesus. Distilled to the essentials, “Self-giving, self-sacrificing Love.”
So, yesterday I watched a half hour Easter presentation by the senior pastor of a local Mega Church Wannabe. His message of “hope” revolved around how we can, because of Jesus, turn our graves into gardens. Because of Jesus all of our needs can be met. Our sorrow becomes joy as we kneel before Jesus. We are “saved” from all kinds of evil because, yep, Jesus. All of our tears may be dried and our hope and dreams come to fruition if only we trust Jesus.
Now, all of that sounds kind of ok, right? It’s a positive message. God’s love seems to be displayed in this kind of talk.
But, what is the primary thrust of this?
A close look reveals the lie.
Everything this person said was all about, “Me; My; Mine.”
It is all about what God will do for ME! This is a self-centered false gospel that elevates my wants and desires above those of anyone, and everyone, else.
The danger in this kind of false gospel is that it is a reflection of, and a justification for, the kind of individualist exceptionalism that is far too prevalent in our culture. From the Seven Mountains heresy to America First the idea of God pouring out blessings on Me becomes the main, and only, focus of what it means to follow Jesus. We see this played out every day by people who claim that THEIR religious liberties are being threatened. They cry out that THEIR rights to do this or that should take precedent over YOUR rights. This false gospel reinforces the Reformation ethic of my personal salvation is all that matters. It states that if I was the only person who needed saving, Jesus would still come and die…for ME.
I’m not saying that Jesus would not do that. I am simply pointing out where the focus of such a statement lies.
With ME.
I’m sorry. That’s not the way the Gospel works. That’s certainly NOT what Jesus and the early Church modeled. Make no mistake. The Gospel is all about God reconciling the Cosmos to God’s Self. It states that God’s faithfulness is always trustworthy. God has always loved the Creation and desired to share God’s own Love with it. And, God took the initiative to make it so through Jesus.
