Culture pt I

I came across this article (linked in the title) recently and it really got me thinking about culture.

In it the author describes three fundamental types of culture:

Power Cultures - where people are driven by fear and a desire to control the world around them. Predominantly in ancient peoples, and animistic tribal peoples today.

Justice Cultures - where people are driven by a sense of guilt and a desire to discern right from wrong; to promote good and punish bad. This is Western culture in the Greco-Roman tradition.

Honor Cultures - where people are driven by a sense of shame and a desire to cover shame; to promote the honor of their family. This is Middle Eastern and East Asian culture.

The paper spent more time dealing with the last two. In large part the paper seemed to be attempting to explain honor cultures to a Western audience, while simultaneously making Westerners aware of how our own culture shades our understanding.

I won't rehash the paper, it is longer but well worth the read.

But here are some reflections:

I have had cross-cultural experiences, but these could be expressed as 'learning different answers to the questions.'

For example, what is a proper greeting? Shaking hands?

What is normal personal space?

How do you express thanks?

But this paper made me realize that all of my cross-cultural experience has been with other 'justice-cultures' and that crossing into an 'honor' context would require, not merely learning different answers to the same questions, but rather learning different questions altogether.

Revolution

What do you do with people who have dedicated themselves to the overthrow of the established order? They propose an alternative way of living that is based around loving service instead of power and control. Their lives are so beautiful and attractive that they (by simply being who they are) are inviting people to ignore the status-quo and shift into their paradigm... But they aren't approaching the city with swords or threatening to nail people to crosses, nor are they attacking with diatribes; they don't wish to leave and start an alternate community but proclaim, rather, their intention to subvert this one from the inside, and they are unwilling to compromise, they won't bow to threats of death, nor cave in to promises of reward... such a people must be eradicated, or else they will be the cause of the greatest political/social/economic/spiritual upheaval in world history.

Will

"There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘Thy will be done.’"

C. S. Lewis

This is Theology!

The 'In Between' People

"And the early Christians are encouraging one another to live precisely as points of intersection, points of overlap, between heaven and earth."

NT Wright

Theology?

Theology shapes and informs our praxis...

We talk about how this happens, and try to make it happen in holistic and comprehensive ways...

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While it is true that theology shapes praxis, it is also true that praxis communicates theology.

Why did Jesus choose 12 men to be set aside in a special way from the rest of His disciples?

He was saying something!

Praxis communicates theology...

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We read in Philippians 2 that Jesus 'being in nature God became obedient to death on a Cross.'

We are used to thinking about the Cross as something that Jesus suffered, but often in terms of something that required Him to set aside His power, glory, and divinity...

Yet Scripture speaks of the crucifixion, not as setting aside divinity, but as the full expression of it!

Why?

Why is my first response to antagonism simply to return the hostility?

I must face the simple truth, I am (in the words of Dallas Willard) "prepared to do evil."

Catherine LaCugna

The life of God - precisely because God is triune - does not belong to God alone. God who dwells in inaccessible light and eternal glory comes to us in the face of Christ and the activity of the Holy Spirit.

Divine life is therefore also our life.

The doctrine of the Trinity is ultimately therefore a teaching not about the abstract nature of God, nor about God in isolation from everything other than God, but a teaching about God’s life with us and our life with each other.

Hell

I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked on the inside.
All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened. And yourself, in a dark hour, may will [a grumbling] mood, embrace it. Ye can repent and come out of it again. But there may come a day when you can do that no longer. Then there will be no you left to criticize the mood...
--excerpted from The Problem of Pain and The Great Divorce

Emerging Theological Conundrum

Emerging theology compels us to engage in theological reflection with diverse voices.

However, emerging theology is largely the construct of post-conservative, evangelical, white people. Conversely, those diverse voices we feel compelled to listen to, are decidedly less-than-emerging theologically and practically. We are compelled to enter into partnership with people, (not merely allow them into the country club, but share power with them) and allow them to change things.

This is an interesting problem.

Our theological compulsion is leading us to a place where our theology might be significantly shifted, perhaps into directions that we have consciously rejected with disdain!

U B U

The Solution is Serving God

As I start my regime next week, I am prepared for what the old chemo pros call “the hump”, which is the second round of chemo. From there I will almost be half way and can set my mind on the good things to come. I decided that while I am going through this, I am going to try to the best of my ability to make new friends, encourage others, and let God use me in this place. I am not doing this because I am noble, but because I know that it is the solution. Happiness and peace are a byproduct of right living, and being of service to my fellow man has always helped me to somehow forget about my problems and be momentarily freed from the bondage of self centeredness.

Click on the title link to read more...

Culture Driven Atonement Theory pt IV

Here of course, is the million dollar question:

What are culturally significant ways of talking about the Atonement?

Reconciliation?

New Creation?

...?

God of this City

Culture Driven Atonement Theory pt III

So what are the problems our culture does acknowledge?

Where are people 'feeling the pinch' so to speak?


I would suggest at least the two already mentioned:

Broken relationships

Global injustices

But I would love to hear other thoughts...

Culture Driven Atonement Theory pt II

His paper was followed by an interesting experience on the plane ride home:

I sat next to a woman who self identified as 'agnostic, daughter of hippies who rejected God.' She expressed, not antipathy towards spirituality, but rather apathy. She claimed to have no real concern for even the questions raised by spiritual experience, and to have never had a spiritual experience.

We had quite a lengthy, and cordial, conversation that included the gentleman on the other side of her. He was an elder (?) in a local Baptist Church.

At one point early in the conversation she made a point of communicating her belief that religion offered no real answers, and that she had no personal need for it. She even went so far as to say she was a fundamentally good person who had done no wrong. In short, she had no personal experience of guilt.

With Steve Burnhope's paper ringing in my ears I suggested an alternative to the problem of personal guilt: I described the brokenness in our world, broken families, broken marriages (she was in the middle of a divorce), broken social structures, unjust political and economic structures, environmental pollution that is embedded in our way of life.

She began to nod her head with vigor.

It was at this point that my Baptist friend introduced a Chesterton quote that went something like this, "The real problem with the world is me."

My hippie friend refused to acknowledge this. She spent almost the whole rest of the plane ride communicating her own personal goodness, and trying to convince the both of us that we were good people as well, despite our good, Christian protests to the contrary...

I didn't have the presence of mind to move away from the language of personal guilt and back to the language of cosmological and relational brokenness until we were ready to disembark...

Culture Driven Atonement Theory

One of the more intriguing papers at the recent conference was by Steve Burnhope entitled, Culture, Worldview, and the Cross: Penal Substitutionary Atonement and 21st Century Mission. The main thrust of the paper was to undermine the idea of a central theory of atonement and, in our attempts to communicate atonement, to shift out of a content centered approach and into a learner centered approach. (To borrow language from the realm of education...)

He repeatedly referenced the stereotype of evangelism; "let me explain to you why God hates you, okay, now that you have a sense of guilt and fear, let me tell you the Gospel of Penal Substitutionary Atonement!" We are offering a solution to a problem most people don't think they have, and so we must first convince people they have the problem that we have the answer to!

His paper's main argument was that Scripture itself is more concerned with communicating atonement to culture on culture's own terms rather than in terms of some sort of 'timeless truth.' If this is so, then we have a mandate to do three things.

1) Get into Scripture until it gets into us... it must become the soil we are rooted in.

2) Exegete culture... it is the surrounding environment that provides the opportunity for pollination and propagation (to continue the plant metaphor).

3) Engage culture on it's own terms... we must provide fruit that is attractive to others! It would be an odd strategy for a fruit tree to produce fruit that made other creatures sick in the hope that someday they would adapt to it!

Our Great Cultural Divide

There are many lines of division in our culture. We divide along racial lines, economic lines, educational lines, political lines, spiritual lines, and perhaps some others; but all of these divisions relate in interesting ways with what I believe is the greatest cultural divide in the American context today.

The urban/suburban* divide.

Now, this is actually a surprise to some people. People are used to thinking of the more obvious divisions, but think about it...

...if you tell someone you live in the city or suburbs, they are able to make a pretty good guess at your politics, your spirituality, your economic status, and your education. Conversely ethnicity is a fairly good indicator of where someone might live. In short, the cultural milieu within the city limits is markedly different than outside of it. In fact, changing other factors is less likely to result in as great a cultural shift as changing the geographical location. Ethnic minorities in the suburbs are much more likely to fit into stereotypical 'suburban culture' when it comes to politics, economics, even spirituality. Caucasian city dwellers are likely to look very different than their suburban counterparts when it comes to spirituality, politics, and many other aspects of culture.

My goal here is not to minimize the more obvious cultural dividing lines, but rather to elevate the geographical dividing line. Race, politics, religion, economics, etc. are legitimately significant; however, geography is at least as significant, if not more so.

*My apologies to you rural folks out there, but there really just aren't too many of you left. There are plenty of suburbanites living in the country and erecting their cultural values out there, but the true rural paradigm (farmers, ranchers, loggers, pioneers) is a very small segment of the population; small, and ever diminishing...

David was a godly man?

God proclaims His affirmation of David, He calls him "a man after my own heart."

Is this the same David who slept with his friends wife, while his friend was out fighting to protect David's kingdom? Is this the same David who had his friend killed to cover up the fact that his adultery had led to pregnancy?

Murderer, adulterer, man after God's own heart...

Now God is no dupe, He was aware of David's crimes; God even forbids him from building the Temple because of the life of bloodshed and warfare. (1 Chronicles 22:7)

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I have heard many a sermon on the need for contrition, (one of my favorite Psalms is the 51st which arises directly in response to David's brokenness over his horrible actions) but I believe there is another lesson in this man's life as well.

It is true that David models repentance, and an earnest desire for godliness in the midst of a life marred by sin, but what if we shift the focus of our storytelling from David, to God? What happens to our story? What echoes might we hear then?

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What is going on in the heart of God?

While God was not blind to the evil in David's heart, He chose to interact with David's good. God saw what was best about David, not what was worst...

This speaks volumes about God's character!

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I regularly read 1 Corinthians 13 as either a ringing indictment of my failure to love, or as an exhortation to that love. How instead if we read it as a description of God's character?

God is patient, God is kind, God doesn't rejoice with evil, but rather with truth! God doesn't keep a record of wrongs, God perseveres in love and goodness, and His love always wins out over evil and human brokenness!

David's story then becomes, not a revelation of David's heart after God which we must emulate, but rather a canvas on which God's heart is displayed for us which we should wonder at!

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When God looks at you, He doesn't look at your failures and sins, but at your sincerest efforts! We discount our earnest desire for God because of the presence of sin. God instead discounts the presence of sin because of our earnest desire for Him!

Because of God's goodness it is not the presence of sin that defines us, but rather the presence of righteousness!

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In short, God is not disappointed when we are a pile of ash with only a negligible spark of holiness within, rather, He is overjoyed at the presence of the spark! He guards it, cherishes it, and works with it. He longs to nurture that smallest glimmer of faith and righteousness and to fuel it, and breathe on it until it flames!

As Scripture says, 'a bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out.'

If you are a bruised reed, barely standing upright, or a smoldering wick, barely lit, God will not cast you aside, but rather work with joy to encourage the life that is present within you!

Training Wheels Pt IX

So what?

How does this become practical?

Hopefully in two ways:

1) A closer, and more contextual, reading of the Law. A more nuanced approach to what is going on in the Old Testament passages, and the New Testament itself specifically in reference to the Law. Consequently, a greater understanding of what God has been up to throughout history, so that we might gain greater understanding of what God is up to now!

2) A deeper desire to become righteous in Christ! A growing passion to engage the Spirit of God, and the source of righteousness! A heightened resolve to open our souls to our Father through prayer, fasting, study, worship, giving, serving, and sharing.

Society of Vineyard Scholars

I just returned from the First Annual Conference, here are some reflections:

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I was very blessed by several papers in particular. Matt Croasmun's delightful juxtaposition of the Johannine gospel with the Synoptics (proposing that we lay John's gospel over the top of the Synoptics much like watching a movie with the director's commentary turned on). Jared Boyd's paper demanding that we name specific evils as a necessary first step in working to eradicate injustice. Jason Clark's paper exploring ecclesiology and consumerism. Steven Burnhope's deliciously intelligent, and timely paper exploring various Scriptural metaphors for the Atonement, and more specifically, how those theories were rooted in the surrounding culture of the biblical authors. Subsequently, (aside from prompting me to deeper awe at the marvelous repository of wisdom and power that is the Bible) we are compelled by the Scriptures themselves to engage culture from Scripture with freedom and fluidity...

Of course, I was blessed by each paper! The above just touch more on areas of personal interest, but I felt a little intimidated to be set alongside any and every of the presenters!

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I wasn't sure what to expect, but certainly was not expecting the Spirit's presence during the paper presentations! I was moved to tears by many of the papers, and heard God's promptings during many of them as well.

There were times of worship and prayer, as well as prophecy. I was greatly blessed by all of this. There were even some specific prayers that arose directly in response to some of the papers and/or discussions...

I was humbled by the amazingly intelligent people doing playful things, remarkable things, necessary things. I look forward to being able to read through several of the papers when they become available.

I was able to make some new relational connections that I believe might possibly be quite significant personally...

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I was also extremely blessed at the overall attitude and posture of the people.

The Movement we belong to is a phenomenal one! I am overjoyed that God connected me with this people at this time! I have always been encouraged by what I know of the movement, but (even though I am a Vineyard Church planter) my connection to the movement is largely through my sending pastor and the church community who sent us...

...so this was really my first Vineyard event above the local level, and I was so blessed to see how much I share the values of this community, and even more, how much it seems there is a real hope for a next generation of Vineyard leaders to put their finger-prints on the movement...

Training Wheels Pt VIII

So lets take a look at a few specifics...

Jesus Himself set aside, as we have seen, the food laws laid down in the Law. He additionally set aside much of the Law pertaining to ceremonial cleanliness; He routinely came into contact with those who were considered unclean, and proclaimed that His cleanness made them clean, not the other way around.

He did, however, affirm much of the Law in its dealings with human ethical behavior surrounding economic, sexual, and interpersonal behavior. In fact Jesus took these portions of the Law and made them much more deeply binding on His followers, precisely because the issue is not obedience to the Law, but learning to become the kind of people who would fulfill the Law without trying to; who would not murder, cheat, or steal, regardless of the existence of the Law.

So what do we do with new claims to do with the Law what Jesus did?

Do we allow Jesus' innovation because He is Jesus? Do we ban others' innovation because they are not Jesus? Or are we each and every one of us expected to do what Jesus did with respect to the Law?

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A perfect example is the sexual ethic. In recent decades we have heard very unique voices within the Church. Throughout the history of Christian thought the sexual ethic has been quite homogenous: sexual pleasure is, and should remain, a culmination and a reflection of the vow to lifelong partnership between a husband and a wife. Throughout history there have been dissenting voices from outside the Church, however, we now see a growing minority within the church advocating that we set aside this clear consensus of Christian teaching on sexuality, and that we do so for precisely the reasons (according to these voices) that Jesus encouraged us to set aside certain portions of the law in His day.

I disagree with these voices, and here is why.

1) The traditional sexual ethic is consistent with agape love, the love that has grown up under the tutelage of the Law, and then come out into its own maturity. The inconsistency claimed by these advocates (if we love people we will allow them to express their love, and so we must change the sexual ethic) is based on a notion of love that is rooted in popular culture and has grown up under the tutelage of that culture, in many ways in opposition to the wisdom offered by the Law.

2) While it is my contention that God desires for us to come to a place of maturity wherein we are able to judge for ourselves where 'Love fulfills the Law' prudence demands that we recognize the primacy of Jesus' judgment! His words should carry more weight than our own. What seems wise to our minds must be set aside whenever it contradicts His wisdom.

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We Christians have disparaged the Law, in some ways this is consistent with New Testament teachings, but in other ways we have gone too far. The Law is not evil, nor is keeping it evil; quite the opposite, the Law is good, and keeping it is what God desires. The evil is in us. It is in how we approach the Law, how we use it, or more precisely how we misuse and abuse it. The Law was never intended as a means for making men righteous, but rather as boundary markers pointing towards righteousness. The Law is God's tool, and we must use it consistent with His purposes for it. As the Messiah's people it still has a function for us, albeit muted since the coming of the Messiah. It serves for us, the purpose of providing the backdrop to Jesus' teachings. Like students who occasionally read through their old Algebra text to be clear about what it is that their Calculus professor is teaching, or read through their old American History texts to gain understanding into contemporary affairs.

Training Wheels Pt VII

Follow the link to a wonderfully illuminating essay on Scripture by Bishop Wright

Sean did it!

So I am getting ready to head to Stafford, TX today...

Yes, it is all Sean's fault. Sean McMasters of the clan McMasters! (send hatemail here)

He convinced me that we had to write papers for the Society of Vineyard Scholars' first annual conference. I submitted mine, he never finished his! And lo and behold, mine was accepted.

So I am off!

(And no, Sean isn't coming with me! He didn't even offer to pay for my airfare! Can you believe some people?)

Training Wheels Pt V

If all of this is true, if Jesus then, is able to set aside portions of the Law, with the claim that 'love fulfills the Law, and love commands this or that action,' then we are faced with a rather important question, and a rather serious practical problem...

How do we know what is or isn't moral? Is the Law to be completely set aside? Or even if it is not, what do we do with other people's claims that we should set aside different portions of the Law, because 'love has led us to do so?'

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We read earlier the scriptural truth that 'love is the fulfillment of the Law,' let us think upon this...

We know what the Law is:

it is the commands God gave us to govern action; telling us to do certain things, or to avoid certain things, also telling us to value certain things, even to think and feel certain things. The Law also provides for the eventual breaking of the Law; punishments and sacrifices, what should happen when this or that aspect of the Law has been broken, how does the individual or community get back on the path after leaving it...

...but what is love?

Here we come to an interesting realization; love in our culture is not defined in terms that would line up with the Law. It would be a hard sell to say 'Love fulfills the Law' if we defined love in accordance with our culture! Our culture defines love primarily in terms of desire. We love people when we desire to be around them and with them. We love people when we free them to pursue their desires unhindered. This kind of love (and it is a form of love) would be hard pressed to encourage obedience to the Law in any way shape or form...

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Our love itself, then, is in need of shaping. It is not a pure thing, not a holy thing, and needs the Law itself to direct that passion, to form it into the kind of Love that will indeed fulfill the Law. This sort of love is less about desire, and more about a concerted effort of the will to effect good on behalf of another. This is what is meant by the word agape.

When Scripture talks of a 'love that fulfills the law,' then, it is speaking of a love that was tutored by that law, and grew up under it, and so whenever that love 'revises' that law, it does so in the spirit of the very law it is revising; a love that is defined by our concept of God (namely Jesus), not a God that is defined by our concept of love (namely desire)!

Training Wheels Pt IV

We read the words of the Law inLeviticus 11 that expressly prohibit the eating of certain foods, they are declared unclean. Yet Jesus tells a crowd of observant Jews to ignore this command!

Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.'
Matthew 15:10-11

How then are we to account for Jesus words about the Law in the Sermon on the Mount?

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:17-20

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Jesus is 'fulfilling the Law' yet also seemingly breaking the Law and even encouraging others to set aside what it says, at least one specific portion of it...

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If you have ever been around someone who has mastered some skill, albeit a sport, painting, a musical instrument, woodworking, or cooking, you will see the same thing. I am not talking about someone who is good, or even great among their peers, but rather, a practitioner that stands as a giant above the generations before and since.

Think Albert Einstein, Claude Monet, Florence Nightingale, or Thelonious Monk, I am personally familiar with wrestlers John Smith (2x Olympic Gold Medalist) and Stephen Abas (3x NCAA Champion). These were people that in some sense 'broke the rules' of their craft, setting aside the decades, or even centuries, of wisdom from previous practitioners, and yet, in doing so they were not setting aside the craft itself, but rather somehow extending it, making it better, and more true to itself. We could easily add to the list of names...

What these individuals possessed was a mastery of craft that actually exceeds the craft itself! They were each able (in the case of science, painting, medicine, music, and wrestling) to take the craft and learn it, understand the rules, the guidelines, the practices, the craft itself, to such a degree that they were able to move beyond the rules, guidelines and practices, yet remain true to the craft itself!

This is precisely what Jesus is with respect to the Law.

He is a Master of the Law, a Master of Righteousness, a Master of Love. The course of righteousness to which the Law is a guide is the constant path of Jesus' feet, and even without the Law to guide them, those feet would stay the course...

Jesus is the 'fulfillment' of the Law.

Training Wheels Pt III

So the Law was given to point towards righteousness, and in fact is the path of righteousness, but does not itself give us the power to be righteous nor enable us to walk the path. Rather, righteousness (or more specifically agape love) fulfills the requirements of the Law. Righteousness is the ability to walk the path.

It is with this understanding that we begin to talk about improvisation upon the Law.

The training wheels that keep a small child from falling over are taken off of the bike as soon as possible, but why not keep them on? Professional speed-cyclists can get their bikes outside of the range that would be allowed for by training wheels. On slanted tracks these cyclists can get going fast enough to get their bicycles nearly horizontal; BMX riders do tricks with their bikes that would not be possible if the training wheels were still on the bike. Even normal riders would feel hampered by training wheels if they remained on the bike.

In the same way the Law is not the same thing as love, and when operating from a place of love and righteousness we are able to move beyond Law, and at times even perform acts that might be seen as breaking that Law if seen only from the perspective of the Law itself, and not from the perspective of the righteousness to which the Law points.

This is why Jesus (operating from true righteousness) could set aside portions of the Law in certain circumstances, and even revise whole portions of it in others, while at the same time proclaiming that He was not doing away with it.

Training Wheels Pt II

because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
Romans 8:2-4

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Previously we quoted Dr Willard saying, "the Law is, has been, and always will be, the course of righteousness..."

However, he finishes that sentence by saying, "but the Law is not, never has been, and never will be, the source of righteousness!"

Training wheels are not the source of bike riding skill, or the ability to travel from point A to point B, or to navigate a route. Those skills come from some other place. The training wheels are a guide, pointing towards 'upright.'

The Law performs a similar function. It is not able to create people of righteousness, people cannot become good by obeying the Law, but by obeying the Law they are kept from 'falling over.' It is a way of staying alive long enough to actually learn righteousness. You will not learn how to ride a bike if you cannot stay upright, and training wheels are an aid to this; you cannot learn to be righteous if you are breaking the Law, and so obedience is an aid to righteousness, but not its source...

Christ is the source, the Law is the course. Jesus is the method for making men righteous. He transforms hearts by His Spirit, He 'writes the law on the tablets of our hearts.'

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For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, " YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Galatians 5:14, 18, 22-26

Training Wheels Pt I

We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
1 Timothy 1:8-11

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The Law is like a set of training wheels. They are for people who don't know how to ride a bike, not for people who do. The Law is for people who are unrighteous, not for the righteous.

This, of course, doesn't mean that 'the righteous' can break the law, anymore than people who know how to ride a bike should try to tip over sideways now that the training wheels are no longer in the way. Rather, 'the righteous' will live according to the law without trying! There is no 'obedience' necessary for those whose natural course of action is 'righteousness,' just as one who knows how to ride a bike will remain upright without the training wheels to hold them up.

As Dr Willard says, "The Law is, has been, and always will be, the course of righteousness..."

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Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for.
Galatians 3:23-24

Apples, Oranges, and Live Birds

Do we think apples (unified whole) or oranges (dissected parts)?

Do we dissect the bird to understand it? Or seek to discover it in its natural environment?

How do we approach the Scriptures? God Himself?

A Seed...

Something is growing...

I don't know what it is, perhaps only the hope of something.

...but there is a new thing growing inside of me.

NT Wright meets Dallas Willard

Paul

"Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor..."

From his letter to the Church of Rome

Thanks Kyeunghi

Spiritual Bundle Packs

Time Warner is the local cable service provider in our area.

They offer bundle packages for hi-speed internet, cable tv, and voip phone service; you can pay one bill that includes all of those services. The problem is, you can't have just internet and phone, you have to have the cable service as well to get the discounted rates.

Unfortunately, we have no desire for the television service, and so we can't get the deal on the bundle package.

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Unfortunately the same thing is true of our faith:

I want to follow Jesus, but unfortunately there are other things 'bundled' to following Jesus that I am not interested in 'subscribing' to. But just like people think I am weird for not watching cable, Christians will think you are weird if you don't sign up for the bundle package deal they are attempting to sell.

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Political affiliation, specific stances on social issues, affirming or denying specific activities, these and many others are often bundled together with confidence in Jesus. At some points in recent Church history it was quite common for Christians to think of card-playing as a sin. At other points in Church history it would have been unthinkable to hold a Christian worldview without also perceiving of the universe in the geo-centric astronomical model. This would be humorous if there weren't contemporary equivalents...

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So the real question is, what are the things that I 'bundle' with my faith? Where are the places that I add my own opinions onto those of Jesus? What do I consider essential that Jesus would think peripheral; or that I think peripheral, but Jesus would claim to be central? What do I call good, that my Master would call evil; or those things that I call evil, that my Master would call good?

Communication

Why is it so hard to understand each other?

Seems like most of the disagreements I have with people aren't actually places where we fail to agree with each other, but rather places where we fail to understand each other.

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Two professors, in a public debate, after spending a good length of time going back and forth, interrupted the evening to address the crowd.

"You have no idea how rare this is," they stated, "the two of us have actually agreed upon our disagreement." They went on, "it is very difficult for two people to ever come to an agreement about the exact point at which they fail to agree, but we have come to that place, and now real debate can actually begin!"

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Too often we are like athletes on a field of contest, I am convinced that you have broken the rules of the game of volleyball, while you are convinced that you are winning the game of soccer. Very rarely do we realize that we are both playing different sports, and reading different rule books...

A Supernatural Question...

Can I pray for you right now?

A PostModern Manifesto

My right to say what I want
And think the way I wanna think
My right
I wanna speak my mind
My right to yell my right to scream
My right
No one's ever gonna
Tell me what I have to do

I'll live my life the way I want
I don't care about your little world
And I can't believe you're telling me
What's good for me how do you know what's good?
And I can't believe you're telling me
What to believe, get away from me - my right

No matter what I do
To you, its one big mistake
Well I'm sick of you I know I'm right
You sleazy money grubbing fake
My right, my life, my soul, my mind
My body, my existence means
That I don't have to listen to you
It's my right cause I'm a human being

Crazy Days...

I have been given reason to ponder lately...

We have had several people make decisions to leave our community in the past month. We have also had some people decide to move to Buffalo to step intentionally into this community, and a few others who have called to say they are praying about moving here.

We also have relationship with several people who still look to us for pastoral care and friendship, but no longer want to be a part of our church community, and are now involved in another church here in the city.

In the midst of all of this, we have had some struggles financially, nothing traumatic, just a little boat rocking...

And just today we had another church in the area offer to support us financially in what we are doing.

Taken together, it all has my head spinning a little.

======================

It all has me pondering about relationships.

So just what is a healthy way to leave a church?

What are legitimate reasons for Christians to pick up and move?

What is a healthy relationship between churches supposed to look like?

How does Christian community work with people who belong to different church communities?

How should we respond to Christians who leave their church to join ours?

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When it comes to moving and leaving, I think, more than anything else, the process is the important part of the equation. The outcomes may vary from situation to situation, but there are certain fixed points in the way in which the decisions should be made:

1) Decisions should come out of community discernment not individual desire.

2) We should have the blessing of the community.

3) We should have a clear sense of the underlying motivations to our decision.

And a few cautions to think through:

1) Relational funkiness should never be a reason to leave.

2) If I am unwilling or unable to do something here and now, then it is imprudent to think I will be doing that something there and then.

3) I am the cause of most of my problems, and I will be going with me.

4) The grass is rarely greener on the other side of the fence, but when it is, we are probably called to stay and water the grass on our side.

======================

I am still thinking about relationships with other churches, but I do think there is at least one thing I am sure of:

When people show up to my church from another church, I have an obligation to their spiritual well-being to make sure they have the blessing of their former community.

Triage

PLEASE! don't major on the minors!

For Grandpa

Christmas/Birthday Fun

Here are pics of the kids enjoying presents from Zane's B-day, and from Christmas...

Emmanuel: Christmas Reflections

An Unexpected King and an Upside Down Kingdom:

We read in John's prologue that Jesus came to the world that He made, and that world didn't want Him. Jesus' life is framed by a birth in a feeding trough, and a death by public execution. Hardly the way a king should enter the world, or leave it. Of course His birth was announced by battalions of angels, but they sang only to shepherds; and He did rise and then ascend, but only a few women and fishermen were witness...

God's power and glory look very different than we might imagine. This is Emmanuel, God with us; and it isn't what we could have thought up for ourselves. In fact, it turns out that our notions of the gods are almost stood on their heads when the real God actually does show up.

Becoming One of Us:

Jesus, the Second Adam, is not merely God among us, but God become one of us. Fully God, and fully man.

Colossians 1:15-20 gives us a picture of a Cosmic Savior, a fully divine being, and an exact representation of God. Hebrews 2:14-18 paints a picture of the perfect human, a flesh-and-blood savior, and a perfect image of humanity as it should be. Hebrews 4:14-16 goes on to explain the significance of Jesus nature. Because He is a perfect representative of heaven, and of humanity, He gives us access to the throne of grace.

Christmas is Jesus bridging heaven and earth. I would turn to my Kenyan friend Dus to prepare for a trip to Kenya, or to my Rwandan friend David for information about Rwandan culture, precisely because they live here, but came from there. I can turn to Jesus to find access to God's Kingdom, precisely because in his very person He has brought heaven to earth.

Affirming our Humanity in Order to Heal It:

The leper approaches, even though he knows he shouldn't. He is banished from human contact, yet desperate hope propels him forward, "If you are willing, you can heal me!" Jesus doesn't heal him.

He touches him!

It is not until after Jesus affirms this man's humanity, proclaims his dignity and worth as a son of Adam, that Jesus speaks the word of healing that ends leprosy. First, Jesus chose to deal with the spiritual leprosy of alienation and humiliation.

Emmanuel is God touching us in the exact places where we have surrendered to sin's dehumanizing effects. He places His hands on us, not on the clean parts, but on the wounds, the ugliness, the blood and puss, the stench, the filth... It is only after He proclaims us loved and cherished by the Father that He then restores us. Christmas is God with dirty feet, stained clothes, bloody head, and pierced palms; entering our world fully.

Good and Evil

"But abuse does not destroy the proper use."

NT Wright tossed this little phrase into paragraph about political power, but it implies a definition of good and evil that bears exploring and repeating.

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Sin is not a thing. Evil is not a thing.

Good is a thing (or rather many things). Pleasure, beauty, purpose, power, existence! These are good, in and of themselves. Some of the typical targets of Christian vilification, sex, alcohol, dancing, gambling, tobacco, etc. are not evil, nor is engaging them inherently sinful.

They are not evil, because evil is not a thing!

Evil is the perversion of good, not its opposite. Therefore adultery is the sin, not sexual pleasure; drunkenness is the sin, not alcohol; addiction not smoking; titillation not dancing; you get the picture. Something is evil when it takes some good thing and misuses it; a public official using his political clout to oppress the poor; a woman using her beauty to diminish other women; enjoying the pleasure of food with no regard to issues of larger importance; separating sexual intimacy from personal intimacy; again, you get the picture.

Sin, truly, is "missing the mark."

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...and so, we must realize that engaging in perverse behavior is no greater an evil than abstaining (or encouraging others to abstain) from behavior that is healthy!

Of course, there are appropriate times to set aside pleasurable and otherwise good activities (1 Corinthians 8:13), but there is the equal danger of allowing prudish people to set the agenda in a way that denies the inherent goodness of God's creation (Colossians 2:16-23).

Jesus is the Lord of Life, who has come to share that abundant life with us, and we must learn to embrace His creative goodness. We can no longer be the prudish people who cannot talk about sex without getting red cheeks and hot collars, instead, we must begin to recognize (and to teach the world) that it is not the porn star who is sexual, but the monogamous husband and wife. We are the possessors of the reality, of which the world has only parody.

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Our witness is hampered by drunkenness, surely; but we must begin to acknowledge that our witness is just as tarnished by an inability to enjoy fine wine.

NT Wright

... once God decides (with the call of Abraham) to work to address the problem of evil through people who are part of the problem as well as part of the solution, there is going to be an awful lot of messiness, which will reach its climax when God not only gets his feet muddy with the mess of the world but his hands bloody with the nails of the world.

On Earth as it is in Heaven

"We cannot, then, pray the Lord's Prayer and acquiesce in the power and glory of Caesar's kingdom. If the church is not prepared to subvert the kingdoms of the world with the kingdom of God, the only honest thing would be to give up praying the Lord's Prayer altogether."

NT Wright

(Taken from the article linked in the title)

Christmas

Open Hands

It is such a difficult thing to hold God's gifts to us with open hands, instead we 'white-knuckle it,' holding tightly to what we have...

...and in so doing we are telling God we don't trust Him. If He were to take away what He has given us, we feel we are lost. What does this say about us? What does this say about our faith in the Giver?

St Paul says that he 'had nothing, yet possessed everything." (2 cor 6:10)

Theology

Jesus chose fishermen.

How does that communicate theology?

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What theology is communicated by our practices?

Los Dos Banditos

Halloween Costumes, Autumn Revelry, and a Goofy Haircut

My Rights

Wanna Start a Movement?

"In fact, in the mind & heart of God, church is another word for church planting school."

Sean McMasters

More Lyrics From Another Life

All the perfect people- Shallow and deceitful
Staring back at me on TV in magazines
Look so good like a box of fresh wrapped twinkies
What the heck happened to me?

So I took a drive to a rich and wealthy country
Saw everything I wanted and everything I need
Went right up and tried to join their party
You oughta seen the look when they saw me

Crossed up eyes- Stupid grin
Perfect people won't let me in
Who's who list- Where's my name
They won't let me join their game
I bet you think that I'm insane
There's no one left for me to blame
Screw the perfect people
Man, they all look the same

We're not much to look at
Too short, dumb and so fat
Never gonna win a beauty pageant it's a curse
Always gonna be a better doorman
At the best clubs
How could thing's be any worse?

Don't have much to go on don't want your opinion
Don't have much to gain and I ain't got much to lose
Looks like you got it all and I'd really like to
Get some
You got something I could use

Heteropraxy Revisited

I can't begin to count the number of conversations I have had with friends about theory that quickly moved to practice.

"Yeah, but how does that get lived out?"

That question was sure to be asked early and often amongst the women and men that I was discipled by, discipled with, and those that I was fortunate to disciple.

In a community of practitioners, scripture and theology becomes a lively and practical conversation!

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The reality is, you and I can be on the same page in terms of language, we can sign our names to the same statements of faith or doctrine or ministry philosophy, but be worlds apart in what those statements actually mean. I have seen it happen time and again. Deep and meaningful conversations lead to (what are seemed to be) real and lasting agreements about God, ministry, and life. Then we live or work together, and we discover that we have very different ideas about just what we meant by what we agreed upon.

A simple example:

"God is good!" Does this mean, "I need to embrace suffering in order to discover what God is trying to accomplish through it," or does it mean, "God would never allow anything hard or painful to happen to me?"

We could easily talk through how this applies in every sphere of theology, scripture, ministry, and life.

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Here is the sticky point:

It is precisely this 'fruit' of our theology that God is concerned with addressing. Another way of saying this is, if your theology is good, and your life is bad then your theology is bad!

So the only way to really discover our respective theologies is to engage in lasting intimacy with each other, and to repeatedly ask, "Yeah, but how does that get lived out?"

Mega Church Envy

I came across an interesting comment on a blog post the other day, it was in response to someone critiquing a Church building a multi-million dollar bridge to ease their parking issues, instead of building wells in poverty stricken places:

"I was an Atheist for a decade until Jesus decided to reach me at Andy Stanley’s mega-church. When I was an Atheist I didn’t donate any portion of my income to build wells in Africa. Now I do.

You call it a waste. I call it an investment."

Wonder what you think?

Click on the title for the link to the church web site specific to the bridge.

Shift

We must do the theological work of defining Kingdom power and purpose as seen in the Cross, and then move to a more practical, and more important purpose: attempting to call Church practitioners to account for our complicity in ‘better business practices’ that largely ignore the implications of the theology we espouse. While we have given some thought to the implications for individual lives, practitioners are often ignorant of the ecclesiological implications of kingdom theology, and specifically the Cross. The Cross reveals an approach to power and justice that threatens to shift our paradigm. We must allow this shift to happen, not just theologically, but also in terms of praxis.

Practice Makes Theory

Church planting is a unique crucible for ecclesiology.

Heteropraxy

If you want to know what someone holds to be valuable, powerful, or true, you are better off watching them live than hearing them speak. The unfortunate truth is that our most carefully crafted statements of theology say less about our understanding of God than the simple everyday choices we make. In the area of Church praxis this is most unfortunate, because our practices communicate a theology that is far from orthodox.

We are Haunted

In spite of all of the literature, conferences, and personal exhortations to ‘administrate your way to a mega-church;’ we cannot shake the nagging suspicion that God’s Church could actually be something revolutionary in its beauty and purity. All over the earth, in every denominational stream, there are those of us who have grown weary and wary of a Church that feeds on high-dollar advertizing, well-funded ministry teams, and the latest and greatest technologies. We are haunted by the suspicion that our notions of Church ‘success’ might actually be an idolatrous distraction from God’s true purposes.

Leadership

I came across this comment on a blog a while back, and finally got around to posting it, (the title link is to the place I lifted it from), it seems to get at some important aspects of discerning calling, and the role of existing leadership in the training, and releasing of new leaders.

"Despite being late on this one, the last few comments intrigued me. In particular, I find out some of the comments on personal "calling" troubling.
For instance:"But at the end of the day, this is about a particular person's unique calling which always trumps whatever opinions or ideals that any of us could have."
And: "What about the trained, called and gifted women, who are never even considered for ordination simply because they're female?"
I don't find all ordination processes entirely biblical. But one thing that seems to be missing here is that so-called "callings" are supposed to be affirmed by current, qualified leaders. I don't get to, my heart and track-record unquestioned, get to say "I have a calling, therefore you have to give me authority over God's people". NO! Wolves still exist and the most likely wolves are those that claim a "calling" from God. Have you ever heard of a wolf that felt called to pick up after church? I doubt it. It's those that are "called" who prey. Therefore, it is the job of qualified leaders to affirm the calling for the good of both the "called", who may just end up crashing when they actually aren't called, and for the flock, who are vulnerable to poor leaders.
I don't usually get aggressive with my comments. But those who believe that "individual calling" always trumps current, qualified leadership on just word of one's so-called "calling" are quite likely either very ignorant sheep or very wolfish themselves...they certainly aren't shepherds."

Paul Dalach

Labeling

I had an intriguing conversation with Amy and Nathan about labeling. It was at a neighborhood mixer. They were talking specifically about the labels we place on everyday items and how those labels can actually effect our perceptions of products, our choices of consumption, and so, whole economic patterns...

For example, what do you read on the labels of your foodstuffs? Probably just the price per quantity, right, maybe some of the health information. How does that effect what you choose to purchase? How much you are willing to pay? Etc.? What if there was no health information on any of our food labels, how would that effect purchasing decisions?

My new friends were talking specifically about environmental impact statements on everyday item labels, and how that might effect our purchasing habits. For example, if the carbon footprint of that item was placed on that label, (let's say in units of trees) how would that effect your purchase decisions? This gallon of milk costs $2.50 and .75 trees, that one costs $3.00 and .07 trees; which one would you choose to buy?

Or how about the percentage of the purchase price that would be recycled into the local economy?

...or the average wage of the person(s) who produced that item?

...etc.

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The basic idea is, that what we choose to put on the label effects how we see the product, and in turn effects our choices with respect to that product. In one sense, nothing has changed about the product itself by changing the label (those things were always true about the product, even though we may have been largely unaware of them), however, by making that reality public, by labeling it, we are potentially effecting change on a large scale.

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My mind immediately went to how we label in the world of Church and religion.

What goes on the label for most spiritual communities?

The number of rear-ends in chairs

The size of the facility

The technological 'wow' factor

How would changing the 'label' effect how we thought about church? What if we found a way to get justice issues, or personal holiness, or cultural diversity, on the label? What if we found a way to get equipping lay-leaders into ministry, or planting new churches, or helping people discover calling, on the label? Not only would that effect the 'purchase' decisions people make (how do I decide which church to commit to), but it would probably begin to have serious effects on a system-wide level. Changing the way churches define themselves, and changing the whole system we have built that equips churches to increase attendance, buildings, and budget, as a sign of 'success.'

May it happen soon, Lord!

Arthritic Hand

The Power of Art

Eucharist and Justice

This theology of the Eucharist, which I am offering to you today, or sketching out with you today, therefore is extremely closely conjoined with a holistic view of mission. Of the mission of God in the world, which is of course all about the challenge to you and you and you and you to repent, to believe, to accept Jesus, to know him for yourself, to rejoice in His salvation, in and through your whole being. But also simultaneously and for the same reasons, the challenge for you to become agents of new creation, where there is hunger, where there is poverty, where there is injustice, where there is danger anywhere in the world.

And, as I said before, this is because God's work in the world is never merely pragmatic. It isn't just we can organize a program to go and do this. If you think you can do God's work like that read the lives of people like Wilberforce and think again. You can't. You need prayer, you need the sacraments, you need that patient faithfulness, because we are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and the world rulers of this present darkness.

Read some of the great Christian biographies and see how they did it. Read about Desmond Tutu. Who would have thought forty years ago that at the start of the 21st century there would be a black archbishop of Cape Town chairing a commission for truth and reconciliation listening to white thugs and black thugs confess their sin? Who would have thought that? But God had other ideas, because that black archbishop used to spend three or four hours on his knees every morning, day after day and week after week, and get other to do the same, and was living the life of the sacramental life of the church and claiming the victory of Jesus over the principalities and powers.

You can't do it by just a little bit more politicizing, social techniques. You can only do it through being energized in the sacramental and prayerful life of the church, whatever the "it" is that you have to do.

-NT Wright

Christian Storytellers Pt VIII

There is a scene in the film A Time to Kill where the lawyer tells the story of the young African-American rape victim. It was her rape, torture, and humiliation that motivated her father to kill the two Caucasian men who committed the act. As he tells the story to the all-white jury he ends with a picture of the young girl brutalized, and then instructs the jury, "now imagine she is white." This elicits gasps from the jury and the entire chamber full of people...

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Art is able to speak to people in one world, about realities in another world. Art speaks in the language people know, but invites them into a world beyond. It is this very thing that is so perplexing and compelling about the parables of Jesus. He invites his listeners into a story that they are familiar with, but it drops them into another world! A world where our enemies are the good guys; where moral people are on the wrong side of God; where rich people are the truly needy ones; and where honest, hardworking, and resentful older brothers are revealed to be just as self seeking as prodigal younger brothers...

...but of course, the real deal is not telling the story, it is living in the Story!

It is entirely possible to tell a story, without it being the controlling narrative of your life, and with this story, that would be a bummer...

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If the call of the Christian artist is to tell the story in the language of the world, then the call of the Christian, is to live the story in this world. To know the plot, to understand our role, our relationship to the plot and the other characters, and ultimately, to take our cues from the playwright!

We are supposed to be living parables, not by our own creativity and voice, (perhaps, not even directly aware of it) but because we are connected to the One who tells the story best...

Safety and Agitation

One of the questions I often grapple with as a pastor and as a professor is, how do people change? How do they grow? Particularly when I teach a course on discipleship, this question seems to emerge repeatedly. My theory on spiritual growth is that growth does not occur without the combination of two factors: the creation of a safe place coupled with the introduction of discomfort. Having just one of the two factors is not sufficient for growth. If you only create a safe place, you can become too comfortable and feel no need to change and grow. If you only have the presence of discomfort, you generate too much stress to allow for growth. Both a safe place and discomfort must exist to move towards growth. My book is an attempt to introduce a bit of discomfort to the overly comfortable culture of American evangelicalism.

Professor Soong-Chan Rah

Why Should You Care?

Courage

Click on the title link to read a story of a friend of mine...

(This is EJ's mother, for those of you who met him on the youth trip)

Paul tells us that God works all thing for our benefit. This woman understands that when Paul says 'all things' he means 'even cancer.'

May we have courage like hers.

Best of Both (Hopefully)

Christian Storytellers Pt VII

...and so the call goes forth!

The world (and the Church) is in dire need of Christian storytellers. Women and men who will tell the story not merely accurately, but compellingly, beautifully, with skill and power. Exciting the imagination, stirring the emotions, challenging the intellect, and directing the will; the creation of culture must not be left in the hands of those who listen (willfully or ignorantly) to other stories...

I have often thought of art as a valid, but peripheral concern to the purpose of the Church. I have in recent years been chastened. The arts are indispensable.

In a very real sense the arts are the medium for telling the story at the meta-cultural level.

The call of the Christian storyteller is neither superficial sentimentality, nor is it raw self expression; rather it is something more closely approaching prophecy. To return to the grey room and the glorious spring of our previous post; much of Christian art is essentially describing the spring flowers; secular art describes the colorless gloom; some Christians in an attempt to avoid painting daisies collapse into the secular pursuit of painting grey windows in grey rooms...

The call of the Christian storyteller is neither to describe the flowers outside the window, nor to describe the shadows inside the window; the call of the Christian storyteller is to break the window!

We must tell the story of the Spring within the world of the room.

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In drama and dance, in narrative and screenplay, in music and lyric, in clay and in paint, in philosophical treatise and in political speech, we need to tell the story. Not in a polemical or proselytizing manner, but in a provocative and intriguing tone. We are not convincing, but rather inviting; we are not fighting, but rather dancing; we are not conquering, but rather wooing...

Thought Provoking

The Prosperity Gospel from The Global Conversation on Vimeo.

Click on the title link for an article by the theologian interviewed in the video...

Christian Storytellers Pt VI

So we have introduced the framing story as a concept, as well as compared several false stories to the story...

...so what?

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Christian Art often falls into one of two categories. Kitsch or a not-so-subtle attempt to avoid kitsch...

Neither rises to either originality or, more importantly, the grand legacy and calling of the christian artist...

Much of Christian art is kitsch, a candle-holder that spells Jesus, or a painting of an idyllic Church building. This is simply an unreflective sentimentality about superficial aspects of our faith that are pawed at through the use of some artistic medium, but there is not much depth or power behind it. There are many Christians who decry such stuff. They create art that is as far from this as possible, and in so doing end up falling into the stories of the world. Art simply becomes an excuse for self-expression. A way of sharing personal experiences, thoughts, or feelings...

Again, neither approach rises to the calling of Christ on the author, sculptor, playwright, musician, or painter.

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We live in a room with a single window. The glass is stained and tainted with soot and grime, impossible to get clean; only distorted glimpses of the outside world can be caught with strained eyes. The grey window colors everything behind it with smokey haze.

Outside the spring is dancing and singing! Delightful colors and sounds, new life, budding flowers and gurgling waters...

The sounds are faintly available to life inside the room, but impossible to see, and so easily dismissed as fantasy.

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I cannot find the quote, but remember once reading a paragraph or two by C.S. Lewis wherein he describes the common Christian experience. We arrive at a worship service, hear the story told in scripture and the creeds for an hour, and then march back out into a world for an entire week, (the world in which we work, play, live, eat, and sleep) in which that story is not so often directly denied, but is routinely ignored. Other stories are told, and in fact, in order to successfully work, play, live, eat, and sleep in that world, we must often act is if those other stories are the true ones... and it is the storytellers who are the combatants in this particular confrontation. This is not a war of ideas and truths, but a war of propaganda. The winner will not be the one who tells convincing truths, but rather the one who paints compelling pictures, the one who tells exciting stories...

In our culture we no longer call them storytellers. Instead we call them artists, musicians, professors, even politicians; playwrights and directors, songwriters and sculptors, philosophers and social critics; advertising executives and tech-company CEO's...

...these are the culture creators, the women and men who tell the stories we live in and live by. And they are largely successful in telling stories so loudly, creatively, and compellingly, that we believe them. Even as Christians who know the truth, we believe the false stories...

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We Christians get to hear sermons about life outside the grey room. We are told, sometimes with wondrous flourish, about the Spring that is erupting outside the window

...we are told for an hour a week.

The rest of the week we live in the room, surrounded by those who tell a different story. "The room is all that there is; the many shades of grey, the taste of ash, the smell of soot, is all that is real."

God help me, I am a sinner

How do we grow in Christ-likeness? What does it look like? I will give you a couple of verses here just as illustrations of where such growth comes out. "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves."1 Now just think of the effects of that, and of what it would be like to learn it to the point where doing it is easy—where it was not a strain but was an expression of who you really are—easy for you habitually to see others as better than yourself. Further on in that same chapter: "Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world."2 That’s basic Christian life from Paul’s point of view. That’s a life that wins the world and provides a model of life under God. That’s a life that has to explain its source to an inquiring public, because it stands out and is so different. That’s the New Testament vision. We’re talking about taking I Corinthians 13 and saying yes that’s for me. I will do that. I will let love dwell in me to the extent that, because love dwells in me, I suffer long and am kind. Love also does not envy, does not puff itself up, does not exalt itself, and so on. That would become my natural character. But in the Evangelical gospel preached today there is no natural connection between what is preached as the gospel among Evangelicals and the Christ-likeness described in these verses.

Dallas Willard

Christian Storytellers Pt V

Jesus's lives out an essentially subversive narrative. He does not push His own agenda on us, but rather subjects himself to the false stories, the destructive behaviors, and the ignorant actors... He offers another story, not by telling the story, but by living it out in such a way that the other stories are shown to be imposters.

He is the actor who arrives onstage and brings a massive course correction to the plotline of the existing play, not in terms of interrupting the play and going over the acts and lines with the actors, but rather from within the story itself, by responding from a place within the world of the play, yet motivated by the realities outside of the play...

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He does not tell the Roman story of progress, nor go the way of the Sadducees who attempt to 'go along to get along' with the Romans. Nor does He tell the various Jewish counter stories of revolutionary aggression, purifying contempt, or retreating isolation. He confronts evil, but recognizes evil in both Roman and Jew. He stands against evil, but not by condemning and shaming people. He spurns evil, but not by retreating from it. He engages the brokenness of the world with love, not violence.

He offers a way of 'being in the world, but not of the world,' a way of confrontation without condemnation, a way of collaboration without collusion, a way of engaging without endorsing, a way of combating without aggression. Jesus clearly shows up the powers of the world for what they are, pretenders.

He does this by living in God's story, even though He is doing so in a world that has largely ignored that story...

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Jesus is the summing up of all of God's hope for mankind, both in terms of Adam (made of dirt and filled with the breath of God, the unique connecting point between God and His Universe; designed to reflect the glory of the Creator into the creation) and in terms of Abram (called from the ranks of sin-stained humanity for the purpose of incarnating God's plan of redemption, the unique connection between the future hope of God's promise and the present reality of brokenness; designed to live out that hope as a light to the dark world). His work, and very person, are the perfect fulfillment of God's original intent for humanity (hence the title 'Son of Man'), and simultaneously the very image and power of the Godhead (hence the title 'Son of God'). His death on the cross is both the suffering of all the brokenness and rebellion of humanity and the victory of God over that brokenness; His resurrection is the foretaste of the fulfilled promises for humanity, and the in-breaking of God's future kingdom into the present.

Jesus is the climax of God's story, the point at which the end of the story crashes into the beginning.

Jesus is also the subversion of the world system; the point at which the alternative power-stories are shown up for frauds and parodies...

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And so we see that Christianity is certainly a meta-narrative all it's own; but it is both controlling narrative and subversive deconstruction of all existing narratives...

Christian Storytellers Pt IV

So now we come to another story...

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Some would say, "Christianity is it's own meta-narrative; it is a framing-story all its own."

...and on the face of it, perhaps, and after we define some terms, it is; but it isn't so simple as "this is the story of the Christians." We have already alluded to the fact that different people have told the Christian story in many different ways, some in an attempt to tell it faithfully, others in a deliberate bid for control, and still others out of ignorance to God's authorship, design, direction, and action...

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From the outset the story of God, is precisely that, a story about His activity and creativity. We tend to tell stories about a reactionary God, we are the primary actors, He the responder. (If we will just X, then He will Y)

The unfolding narrative of scripture says it quite differently... "in the beginning God..." "...and then God spoke..." "...and God said to Abram..."

It is a story of a God who creates, a God who calls, a God who initiates and invents, a God who imbues and inhabits.

This is a story that we are offered a participatory role in, but it is not our story!

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However, the very role that we are offered, the chance we were/are given to shape the unfolding story, to 'put our fingerprints on the world' as it were, is God's risk. He risked love, created something other than Himself, and gave Himself to it in communion. In a sense, God became vulnerable to our choice...

...and we chose poorly. We choose poorly still.

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And so the story continues. The actors on the stage are ignoring the cues of the director, rewriting the lines of the playwright, and abusing the props made by the set director...

Many an author I know would simply pull the play! Fire the actors and find new ones!

God takes another approach. He begins to interact with the actors on their own terms. Within the scope of the story they have hijacked, He makes promises to a man and his descendants, He begins to act decisively on behalf of that people, He teaches and shapes them, He speaks to them of a future hope, of new creation, of redeemed lives, of holy purpose...

And then He writes Himself into the story.