More Than Stone

There are both spoken and unspoken rules in Christianity. The laws that we often pick up via the culture of the church. Tithing is mandatory, and the tithe goes to the church. Strong and vocal women are not being “subject to their husbands.” Certain types of music are sinful. Tattoos are unbiblical. There is something slightly “unredeemable” about a girl that loses her purity. The list goes on. I’m sure that we could add dozens more.

I’m ashamed to say that for much of my adult life, I lived by many of these laws. Unfortunately, law does not truly impact personal thinking, except to control behavior. We act or don’t act based on external controls. Judgment or Reward. If I behave this way, there is a price to pay. If I behave in that way, I will get some type of reward, (usually praise, or a sense of virtue).

Every one of my children has lied to me. When they were young, the law was simple. “We do not tell fibs, young lady!” As my children grew in maturity, our interactions became more nuanced. “Sweetheart, when you lie to me, it breaks trust. Trust is essential in our relationship. I want you to trust me, and I need to trust you. Do you understand the damage that happens in our relationship when trust is broken?” The focus was not on the law, but on the fidelity of relationship. Certainly law is useful when awareness is limited. Over time and with maturity, “I am not allowed to hit” becomes “I will not resort to violence, because violence is damaging to relationship. I love this person and do not want to violate our relationship.”

I wonder why we so often never move beyond the 2, or 3, or 5 year old comprehension of God. “I’m not allowed to lie” doesn’t become “Lying damages relationship.” We often do not move beyond “legal” statements to relational fidelity. I am convinced that if we approached God with our eye on fidelity instead of law, we might just find that our laws become unnecessary. Fidelity to Him, fidelity to each other.

Derek Webb A New Law Lyrics
(vs. 1)
don’t teach me about politics and government
just tell me who to vote for
don’t teach me about truth and beauty
just label my music

don’t teach me how to live like a free man
just give me a new law

(pre-chorus)
i don’t wanna know if the answers aren’t easy
so just bring it down from the mountain to me

(chorus)
i want a new law
i want a new law
gimme that new law

(vs. 2)
don’t teach me about moderation and liberty
i prefer a shot of grape juice

don’t teach me about loving my enemies

don’t teach me how to listen to the Spirit
just give me a new law

(pre-chorus/chorus)

(bridge)
what’s the use in trading a law you can never keep
for one you can that cannot get you anything
do not be afraid
do not be afraid
do not be afraid

Sunday morning’s service opened with a video from a local news station. The story was talking about James Cameron’s “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”. A local professor of religion was interviewed about the documentary. She said,

“For some people this is going to be threatening to their faith to think what does this really mean, but for most Christians I think it’s not going to change their faith one way or the other.”

The pastor’s sermon focused on the question “Does the truth of the resurrection matter?” It was a good sermon and the use of the video clip was a great way to address current news events and answer the questions that they may leave.

My tirade today is not about the sermon. It’s about the woman that was sitting behind me in the church service. The professor that was being interviewed was not attacking Christianity. She did not say hateful or insulting things. She simply revealed a basic (but massive) misunderstanding about orthodox Christianity. The professor declared that bones or no bones, the tenets of the faith wouldn’t be altered, because Jesus taught “good” principles.

As the video ended, the picture froze on the professor’s face. The woman behind me, in her outdoor voice, said “She looks better with her mouth closed.” Her husband said “Sounds better, too!”

Now, my children were with me. This is not the type of Christian behavior I want portrayed to them. Why did this woman feel that she needed to make smart-ass and adolescent comments about this professor? Why did the professor’s comments incite anger in this woman instead of compassion? Why did this woman feel the need to attack instead of love? What is it in us, (or some of us) which cause us to spew forth such hatred to non-believers or those who do not understand an orthodox faith?

This woman proceeded to “talk out loud” throughout the whole sermon. You know the drill, “That’s right”, “Amen”, “AMEN!” “MMhm”. First of all, it was distracting. Secondly, she’d already lost credibility by being so hateful.

I wondered…

if I happened to be a non-believer or a young believer walking into that church on an Easter morning….

and I happened to sit in front of this woman…

and perhaps, because I didn’t have a good understanding of the faith, I agreed with the professor…

out of misunderstanding, not contempt….

but, I never really heard the rest of the sermon about why the resurrection matters…

because if being a Christian meant I was supposed to act like that….

I’ll pass.

Technorati Tags: the+lost+tomb+of+jesus, church, christianity

Ok, I was not going to post anything about “The people formerly known as the congregation”, because everyone in the blogosphere was talking about it.

Then came, TPFKAC Part 2 or “The Penguins Formerly Known as the Waddle”

And then TPFKAC Part 3 or “The Community Coming To Be Known As Missional.”

And now, TPFKAC Part 4 or “The People Formerly Known As “The Pastor.”

I realize that not everyone who reads my blog is a big “blog reader”, so I post these for you, my dear non-bloggers…..

Ten propositions on political theology

1. The doctrine of the ascension is the basis of all political theology – and why there can be no such thing as apolitical theology. The church cannot be a cultus privatus because Jesus of Nazareth, “crucified under Pontius Pilate,” reigns and his edict is public truth. Remove Christ from the forum and it does not remain empty: nature abhors a vacuum; idols love one and soon fill it.

2. God is political. Cut the political bits out of the Bible – as Jim Wallis and some friends once did – and you’re left with “a Bible full of holes.” God is political – and God takes sides. In the Old Testament, Yahweh’s exodus and covenant “bias / preferential option for the poor” is now a well-worn phrase – but an undeniable fact. And the New Testament – Luke in particular – doesn’t drop the ball: the Magnificat and the Jubilee Manifesto suggest the game plan.

3. In my view it is legitimate to speak of an “epistemological privilege” of the excluded and oppressed. Bonhoeffer, writing in prison, was avant la lettre of liberation theology: “We have for once learnt to see the great events of world history from below, from the perspective of the outcast, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed, the reviled – in short, from the perspective of those who suffer.” Here is the “more rewarding principle for exploring the world in thought and action than personal good fortune.”

4. With a shrug of their shoulders, conservatives love to quote the text, “You always have the poor with you” (Mark 14:7), as if poverty were an order of creation (cf. “the rich man in his castle, / the poor man at his gate”), and there is nothing we can – or should – do about it. But Jesus was not being cynical, or even realistic, about the inevitability of an excluded underclass, rather he was reminding his disciples where they will be found if they are faithful – among the poor and oppressed.

5. The point is not that the poor and oppressed have a monopoly on virtue, let alone that they are an elect group, rather it is simply that they are the ones who get screwed – and God doesn’t like people getting screwed. So God sends his servant Moses, his spokesmen the prophets, and finally his Son Jesus, their Big Brother, to take care of the bullies, though he fights with his mouth not his fists. Not, of course, that God loves the oppressor any less than he loves the oppressed; indeed his rescue mission is to liberate them both, the latter from their humiliation and suffering, and the former from their pride and violence.

Read the other 5 propositions….

Here are some more links for the talks by N. T. Wright

St. John’s

Church Of The Holy Spirit

Have fun!

Technorati Tags: N.T. Wright,

Often times, I find that when I speak of idolatry, it doesn’t quite seem applicable to my life. I think that, though I know this isn’t true, I still think of idols as little statues that people worship.

Now, I know that’s not true. I know that we have idols in our lives. Sometimes we hear about people being idols. About money being an idol. Ok. I can see that. But aren’t there other idols that we currently accept in the church?

Comfort?
Education?
Class?
Safety?
Health?
The bible?
The church?
The nuclear family?

What do you think of these? Do you have more to add to the list?

So, Through a series of discussions here, here, and via email, the question seems to be “what are Jamie’s eschatological beliefs?” Well, well, wouldn’t we ALL like to know the answers to this question.

I have taken to reading blogs that are written by well trained theologians. A theologian I am not. Theology has only recently grabbed my interest and boy, I’m hooked. I am fascinated. Why have I not been taught this before? Why is that the average Jane (or Joe) in the pew isn’t encouraged to explore the width and breadth and beauty of the different interpretations of Scripture? Why have I always been taught that people who hold different interpretations of Scripture are just wrong, (and probably going straight to hell) instead of being taught the scriptural basis for WHY they believe the way they believe.

Thanks to Virgil, I am exploring preterism. (And Virgil, I think I’m leaning towards a partial preteristic view….but that remains to be seen). Thanks to TA for enlightening me to the beauty of reformed theology (even when I pushed back hard). Thanks to Scot McKnight for putting brilliant, sensitive and thoughtful words to my current frustrations with the evangelical church. Thanks to Rob Bell to helping me understand the Gospel in a more holistic sense. Thanks to NT Wright for helping me understand that “Heaven’s nice, but it’s not the end of the world.” Thanks to people like Phil, John and Molly for showing me what it looks like to come out of one set of theological beliefs, into another. Perhaps not unscathed, but stronger and loving Jesus more. To Brian McLaren for showing me what a generous orthodoxy might look like.

There is so much to learn about why people believe these different views. The Church Universal is exciting and intriguing. All this to say, that I’m still not sure what my eschatological beliefs are, BUT I’m questioning people, I’m searching the Scriptures, and I’m seeking God for the answers. While I’ve been frustrated and hurt by the local church, I’m discovering that the Church (both visible and invisible) is beautiful.

Wright maintains that many Christians start off with personal salvation, and there it begins and there it ends. New Creation is often simply an appendage. Did God create the world and say “It is Good”, only to then say “Well never mind, on second thought, it’s not that good, but I WILL save you from it (creation or the world)”

Romans 8
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

What is our inheritance, Wright asks. Is it heaven? No, it is New Creation.

“Heaven is important, but it’s not the end of the world. The Holy Land has not been abandoned, but broadened. “

Range of metaphors for new creation;

Harvest: God is sowing new creation

Marriage: New Jerusalem is the bride. Heaven and earth will be one

Military victory: Final battle whereas sin and death will be defeated.

Birth: Groaning in travail, the new creation from the old.

Court setting: The God of justice. God will sort it all out.

In Judaism, the temple was viewed as a place where heaven and earth overlapped. Torah study was also a place that this overlap took place. Jesus isn’t “coming back”. He’s already here. He will appear. The curtain will be torn apart. As new creations, we, by the Spirit, can sometimes see through the curtain as a thin veil and glimpse the new creation.

Wright maintains that many Christians today have forgotten about new creation and bodily resurrection. This can be seen by the change in tombstone engraving. Up until the mid-18th century, many tombs were engraved with things such as “I shall arise”. Now, we see “Gone Home” on many tombs, as though heaven is the final destination. He tells a joke about an Anglican and a Baptist:

Baptist: What is your position on eschatology?
Anglican: He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. There will be bodily resurrection, and his kingdom will have no end.
Baptist: That’s all?
Anglican: That’s enough.
Baptist: That’s refreshing.

What God did for Israel and Jesus, He will do for you and I, but also for the whole of creation.

Technorati Tags: N.T. Wright, Tom Wright, New Creation, Baptist, Anglican

HT JR Woodward

To quote Bono…

“His Truth is Marching on….And to those in the Church who still sit in judgment on the AIDS emergency, let me climb into the pulpit for just one moment. Because whatever thoughts we have about God, about who He is, or even if God exists, most will agree that God has a special place for the poor. The poor are where God lives. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is where the opportunity is lost and lives are shattered. God is with the mother who has infected her child with a virus that will take both their lives. God is under the rubble, in the cries we hear during wartime. God, my friends, is with the poor.”

Technorati Tags: bono, AIDS, Africa, NAACP