Fully alive!

I have really enjoyed reading Waking the Dead by John Eldridge. I wish I had read it when it was published some 4 years ago. He is in most respects “bang on” in diagnosing the deadness in most Christians lives, and in providing some real food for thought if we are to recapture the lives we were meant to live.

He starts out by pointing out something I think we all know. Let’s be honest. This life we are living is not what was promised. “There’s talk of freedom and abundant life, of peace like a river and joy unspeakable, but we see precious little of it…” It is, I think, why Christianity looks so uninviting to the unbelieving world.

There are a number of responses to the reality that our lives are so at odds with "life to the full" that was promised. Which one is your excuse for not living abundantly?

The first is that God is not as claimed in the Bible or Christians. While many Christians wouldn’t admit this, they live their lives as though God is irrelevant. Others say that we are in some kind of different “dispensation” – what is described in the Bible is no longer available to God’s people. And so they live a religious life – emphasizing Bible teaching and sin avoidance – but except for some slight difference in speech and conduct their lives do not appear different from the world around them. Another response, is that we are blowing it. It's our fault because we aren’t good enough and despite all our resolve to read more, pray more, etc., we continually fail to live up to some standard. If we did God would hear and use us. It’s depressing, but we soldier on, attending services, involved in programs and groups, perhaps going to various revival or abundant life conferences, trying to break out. Sometimes we get excited for a while.

Eldridge makes a startling claim. This is not what God wants for us. In support he quotes Saint Irenaeus, “The glory of God is man fully alive”, and asks: “Could it be?” And I think “Hallelujah!” It’s not just my issue. Even the ancients understood. God cares that we reflect Him in lives that are transcendant and it is a dishonor to live boring, predictable, religious, dull lives. If we do not live glorious lives, God’s glory on earth is diminished.

How could we miss it? Read John 17:4 whereJesus summed up his earthly life, saying to God the Father, “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given me.” He was God’s glory on earth in what He did. Thereafter John applied it to us; “…the one who abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” Jesus did not live a life of quietness, religious duty, churchgoing and struggle for character development. He sought out and did a work He was given. And like Him, we are to do the same.

Don't "do ministry"

On December 31st Judy and I leave Canada for Kenya where I will teach English at a little elementary school. Judy is preparing to work with women, teaching literacy or other skills, doing hospice work, tutoring students from a nearby orphanage, and she would like to put together a little library of English books at the school we will be at. We are not going with a mission organization. There has been no advance planning. We will have no other North Americans to talk to or rely on. We know only that this little school and a nearby orphanage are needy. I am excited, but also a little afraid. However I believe these people are worth our taking the risk.

This, I believe is the call to every Christian - to stake out a territory to give oneself to, at home or abroad. We are to be missional. Our heart is to beat for making God evident to other people. And so I get discouraged when I am asked about our plans, and I tell Christian people about our upcoming adventure. Invariably I find that they have absolutely no concept of what it means to desire a life that finds its meaning in being Jesus to other people. I have thought about simply not even mentioning what we are doing, even if asked. I don't need their money. I don't count on them for prayer. Yet when asked, I continue to tell them about our future plans. I long for them to become engaged in some way. I would be so excited if they too cared. We could do so much together. Like Jesus when He encountered the centurion, I keep hoping to find someone who "gets it".

I listened to a youth pastor a few weeks ago tell how he had taken a group of teenagers to Kenya for 2-3 weeks to “do ministry”. His words reveal the problem. While the word “ministry” is biblical, used in various places to speak of performing a service or carrying out a work given by God, I think today we have no concept of what God desires of us. We live in a world of cheap grace and cheap service that is mostly self-centred and rarely engages our heart. It's time to reconsider our use of this word.

First, let me just say that I have concerns about the value of short term missions, except where they are very purposeful. I'll maybe say more about this at some other time. While a short term trip may occasionally be the start of a real response to God’s call on a life, it is a perversion I think, to call many of them “ministry”. From my personal experience, compassionate ministry which is not built on a thoughtful spiritual foundation can be more often than not, simply an exercise in pride, i.e. aren't we good to be here doing this work.

Mostly however, I think a careless use of the word "ministry" demeans those who we visit and suggests that we are above them somehow. It suggests that we give and they receive, when in fact, if the visit is successful at all, we are the ones that receive. The people we know in Kenya are happier, have greater faith, know more about prayer, sacrifice and service than we will probably ever know or have. They truly deserve to be called saints. (You can read about Matthew in a March posting to this blog.) Our service is often pathetic in comparison. We have little to offer except our affluence and it’s a shame to call the little we do “ministry”.

I recently reminded of real Christian compassion when I read again of Father Damien in John Orton’s book, God is Closer Than You Think. Father Damien lived and served the lepers on Molokai. He lived with them, ate with them, “bandaged their wounds, embraced the bodies no one else would touch, preached to hearts that would otherwise have been left alone”. He helped organize the community, built homes and coffins. He kept no distance between himself and others. He shared his life. “One day he stood up and began his sermon with two words: ‘We lepers…’ Now he was truly one of them." I don't think he ever thought of himself as "doing ministry".

Thomas Merton wrote the following:
Love in fact is the spiritual life, and without it all the other exercises of the spirit, however lofty, are emptied of content. The more lofty they are, the more dangerous the illusion.
Love, of course, means something much more than mere sentiment, much more than token favours and perfunctory almsdeeds. Love means an interior and spiritual identification with one’s brother so that he is not regarded as an “object” to “which” one does “good”…Love takes one’s neighbour as oneself, and loves him…From such love all…domineering and condescension must necessarily be absent.

I am not a Father Damien. I wish to God I were. Soon Judy and I will be in Kenya, but we will not be "doing ministry”. We hope to love those we meet. Maybe we'll be loved in return. We hope that we are able to serve others and that God will use us in some way, "to bring up there, down here" -thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Jesus told the Pharisees that he desired compassion, not service.They never did get it. I wonder if the contemporary church and its people ever will.

Real Religion

I have another candidate to add to my image list – people we should celebrate because they inspire us to be what God wants us to be. I just finished listening to Brian McConaghy, October 07, 2007 at www.tenth.ca/resources/audio I hope you will listen to this as well. It will touch you and challenge you. Better yet, I hope you will listen, then pray. What are you saying to me Lord? Are you calling my name? What are you asking me to do? If you are moved to become involved in Cambodia find further information at http://www.ratanak.org/index.htm

Images

About two weeks ago I read The Gospel According to Starbucks, by Len Sweet. In the book the author looked at Starbucks in order to illustrate those things that this society of ours is seeking. He used the acronym “EPIC”, to organize the discussion; E for experience, P for participation, I for image and C for community. His point was that these things are those very areas where the church often fails to deliver these days.

Most of what he said was true, although I was troubled by the idea that the church is in a place that she need look to business success as a pattern for what she does. However the chapter on image started me thinking.

Today’s culture is all about image. Unfortunately most are of the wrong kind. But image has always been powerful, is particularly so today, and we need images in church; those things and people that remind us that we were meant to live as part of the amazing story we claim to be committed to. More than ever we are limited by our lack of imagination, and images can help us recapture the wonder.

Images found in movies, art and music are often moving and exciting and the church should not be afraid to use these. But God at work in the lives of real people are the images inspire me. I’m not talking about biblical characters. They are important but they are the images of the past. Nor am I talking about the silly stories used so often to introduce or illustrate some sermon point. I’m talking about more contemporary heroes, like C. S. Lewis, Chesterton, Jackie Pullinger, my missionary friends with YWAM, Rich Mullins, Mother Theresa, Henri Nouwen and a number of Grahams. (You will have your own list I’m sure.) We should be talking a lot about these people and their faith and work. Their lives challenge us to step out of our comfort zone and leave a legacy of our own. And we should be constantly celebrating what they have done and are doing.

As you might guess from the photo I used in this post, recently I was reminded of Kim Phuc. What a story of God’s work in a hopeless situation. She of course, was the child in the photo running down a muddy Vietnamese road, naked, her clothes and skin burned away by napalm, her arms open wide as she screamed out her fear and pain and the loss of life as she had known it. Our God still speaks into people lives as they travel life’s roads. He makes beauty from ashes. Kim now inspires thousands and her faith reaches out in compassion to war ravaged children all over the globe. Go to http://www.kimfoundation.com/ and be reminded of what God can do with a life. Be inspired.

Images like Kim Phuc give me hope. They cause me to turn to God and say “More, more. Take my mean little heart and make me like her, who is now so much like you.” Don’t you agree? Who would be on your list?

God is for people

Thomas Merton wrote “A Vow of Conversation” in the time of Martin Luther King and some of the worst race relations in the States. Racism he said, was the logical conclusion of a certain style of thought. It (the style of thought) decided on the definition of a man “and then nail(ed) him down to his definition so that he can never change.” I am convinced that modernism has done the same to mankind. We were defined as rational creatures (“thinking things” in the words of James Smith) and so are treated as such – minds into which knowledge can be poured with consequent change. The listener conforms (or at least gives the appearance of conforming), or (because salvation is personal) he listens and leaves to live his own way. Our theology and church practice naturally supports this. Our practice is built on modern principles (i.e. the 5 point sermon), although in some areas we have no guiding principles for what we do ( our music – giving rise to the worship wars, a batle of nostalgia versus the current, thinking hymns vs. emotion driven choruses).

I am nearly convinced that for most churchgoers God is little more than a mental object and our faith life is little more than a collection of ideas, some of which we act on. As I drove town the street the other day I recognized a churchgoer out walking, who could probably use a little encouragement. “I should stop” I thought to myself. “That would be the right thing to do.” Yet I drove on because I had a project I wanted to finish that morning.

Brennan Manning wrote about “intellectualizing” the cross, making the reality of what occurred on Good Friday an idea instead of a monumental transaction of flesh and blood, cruelty, unspeakable suffering, death followed by renewal, all in the name of love, which if we really understand this, compels us to really love (all) others – in reality, not in theory. Action born out of this changes the world! I wonder if we rather prefer not to think about that; but instead prefer the sanitized, cold intellectual idea (intellectualizing). It is easy believism. We pretend we are different because we think differently. There is no compulsion to change radically in fact. We can remain indifferent to reality. “The cross? Been there. Done that. Know all about that.”

So I get excited when I start to rethink our practice and consider a new approach, one based on people. Post modern principles can help us recapture what church (both the Sunday gathering as well as God’s people) are to be. God is for people.

Church can be more than a place for the transmission of knowledge from the “knowers” to the rest of us, and as a place to be involved in programs serving ourselves. It can be an opportunity to focus on the grand story and find our part in it, rather than endless gospel messages and sermons reiterating the “truth” (nothing more than a pastor repeating his favoured interpretation), and exhorting the hearers to change. God loves his creation and wants to redeem it and make it beautiful again and we are part of a wonderful mystery. I need to be reminded of this. This is what I celebrate!

The claim to know the truth has created division, led to authoritarinism, intractability and exclusiveness. (Think of the 5 point Calvinists you know.) At the moment there is no room for conflicting ideas or views in the church – honesty is inhibited, community is stifled. The questioner is driven away. A post-modern view accepts particularity, it invites discussions, it honors difference. It gets rid of the climate of fear in which people are afraid to be honest either because they aren’t living up to the moral imperatives or because they question the dominant interpretation. Church becomes a place of grace.

The Bible continues to be the central text, but it becomes a “living word” again. We have no idols, including the Bible. We respect the Holy Spirit to lead in fact. The culture does not set our agenda in thinking or practice, nor does the past. Modern evangelicalism has essentially ignored God’s activity except for the life (time) of Christ and first century apostolic activity, and it has made the doctrine and practice of this time normative for contemporary times, as though it too was universal. What has enfolded thereafter through godly people of all denominations thereafter is rejected as not having any present importance. It is as though the Holy Spirit had nothing to add in the past 2000 years until fundamentalism began. The result is an aversion to change, except where Pauline texts might be interpreted to allow for the change. The post modern church rejects universalism in doctrine and practice. The Holy Spirit has not been bound. The church is both catholic and progressive. She is rooted in the past – all of it. The work of the Spirit in the past is taken seriously and we reclaim past practices and acknowledge the thinking of those who have gone before us. As Chesterton said, we are a “community of memory” and “a democracy of the dead”. But the nostalgic past does not enslave us. We march into God’s future, open to change, not controlled by notions of universal past paractice, yet mindful of the thinking and decisions of our spiritual ancestors. The community of faith interprets scripture – led by the Spirit. There are no pre-established givens or values – but the thinking and decisions of those who have come before us are held in the highest regard, thus protecting against a drift to liberalism. In the end, individualism does not have free rein, the interpreted text remains central, and we commit to our interpretation although we respect those communities who have done likewise and have interpreted the scripture differently.

Finally, whereas modernism transcended history by advocating truths and principles that applied always, postmodernism acknowledges time and place and this makes people more important than ideas. We are to be incarnational in our present time, individually and as a community, locally and globally. A sense of mission is in our blood, led by the Spirit. Our hearts give us direction as much as do our minds. We see God revealed in people and the material world. We are “proper materialists” (again citing Chesterton) who can enjoy the things of creation without being thought of as fleshly or worldly. We honor and protect and seek justice for all of God’s good creation . We see ourselves as created for stories, drama, action – not as minds alone - and so we celebrate experience, action and the participation of God’s people of all denominations, past and present. We are not afraid of emotion and we seek to engage all of the senses and our imagination using poetry, drama, music and the like to tell our stories.

Do these things resonate with you? Are these things missing in your church experience? I get so sad at times. What can we do to be the bride we are called to be and to impact our world?

A call to shine

I reread a favorite passage this morning from Matthew 5, the Beatitudes. I have occasionally wondered about the verses (13 –16) that follow. They are:

13 You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become
tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything but
to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be
hidden.
15 Nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on
a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may
see your good works, and glorify your father in heaven.

I have never understood the placement of these seemingly unrelated ideas, nor have I ever felt satisfied with the usual interpretation with the first, which is that salt (Christians) are a preservative in the decaying world. Rather, as I suggested in a sermon I preached in Kenya, in the first word picture Jesus was referencing 2Kings 2:20-22 where salt was used to miraculously purified bad water and unfruitful land. Salt refers to disciples that can change the world for good. This then connects to the next word picture. While my listeners seemed unimpressed at the time, I still feel confident in this, and this morning the verses spoke to me, again, saying to me that Christianity has become “tasteless”, rejected and scorned by most in its present form. God wants to make us salty again so that we can transform this world. We can only do this if we make our light visible. At the moment it's hidden, and instead of lighting the world we preach mainly to the converted and are excluded from public discussion. God calls us again to “let our light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your father…”

What way is that in our time? Is the post-modern worldview an opportunity given to us to allow us to rethink and replace theology and practice that has not served God well for many years now? It makes alot of sense to me.

As indicated in the last post, a post-modern approach may require that we give up our fundamentalist pretension that we know objectively and with certainty what God wants. This does not mean abandoning our belief. Rather we confess that we believe God has in Christ reconciled the world to himself, but acknowledge that our belief is the result of revelation, not objectively verifiable and therefore a matter of interpretation and perspective.

Surely this is nothing more than honesty. For instance, I didn’t see the Spirit descend on Jesus at his Baptism, or hear God’s voice (in fact it’s not clear that anyone other than Jesus did; the disciples weren’t called yet, nor do they say that they were there and heard it. John reports only the dove descending, which he apparently learned from John the Baptist). Yet I accept the gospel writer’s account (interpretation) of these events as a result of faith, the Holy Spirit at work in me.

As well, I often wonder if we haven't fooled ourselves in claiming that we know the “truth”? Assuming that in each Biblical passage there is wholly unfiltered, unvarnished, untainted truth, untouched by the individuality of the author, waiting to be revealed, who is the one to be trusted to determine that truth? I am certain God knows. But in reality doesn’t the average Christian either simply accept an interpretation by some theologian, which appears reasonable, perhaps even profound? Or alternatively, don’t we read and decide upon our own view (interpretation)? Is this not why some believe in election, others free will; some are pre-, mid-, post-, whatever- millenialists; why there are charismatics and dispensationalists, various beliefs in types and timing of baptism, the role of women – the list could go on and on. Are there not somewhat different accounts in the gospels of the same event, which we have reconciled? Have Christians not made mistakes in interpretation in the past – leading to some very regrettable conduct (the crusades, slavery, apartheid) that even now haunts our witness?


Finally, our modern claim that only we have the”truth” has marginalized the church. As Chuck Smith Jr. wrote in Stories of Emergence, we gather in our buildings decrying immorality, wanting to be the epicentre of revival, holiness and the inspiration to the world that would cause them to forsake their lives, and outside of a small circle of influence no one pays any attention to us. No one (including many that are in church) is listening. We have been “ghettoized”, portrayed as mean spirited and bigoted. Accepting that we have no right to claim that only we have the truth creates a climate of dignity and respect. Other interpretations of reality including those of science, other faiths, government, right and the left wing ideologies have no higher claim to superior knowledge than do we. The post-modernist knows that they too have agendas and religious beliefs which affect their view of truth. In this climate we can humbly assert our interpretation. We can reenter the discourse. We can be the shining and evident light He called us to be?

I wonder.

Truth decay?

Let’s think a little more about the suggestion that the church abandon its insistence that it alone knows universal, objective truth. This does not mean there is no truth. Jesus said "I am the ..truth..." Rather we stop claiming that we and no one else knows it. Its a matter of humility at worst. I know the fear that says that if we do this we will be left with nothing. I have felt this fear, although lately I have been thinking what a marvelous opportunity God has given us. We repeat our truth endlessly and the world is no longer listening. We have all this knowledge – and not much else as part of our Christianity. Accepting a new way of looking at the world, giving up our rational arguments allows us to consider new ways of reaching out to the world, new ways of church practice, new ways of looking at the gospel and working it out in our lives. And as we shall see, "truth" will still be honored.

Post-modern Christians acknowledge that the Christian story which cannot be “proven”, cannot be imposed on a diverse nation where there are other communities each with their claims of knowledge and morality. Only a few people will respond to our message if we fail to understand this. Where there is no longer a common set of beliefs, we are not credible when we demand that our story be the only acceptable story.

To be credible we must first acknowledge that faith precedes belief. Isn't this what the Bible has said all along ("It is by grace you are saved through faith…")?We hold to what we believe because we believe God has gifted us by His grace. We have no intellectual superiority that allows us to demand that others believe what we do, or condemns them if they do not.. This humility has a wonderful levelling effect. Where we start with this admission we can we can expect that those communities holding to other creeds do the same. In other words, post modernism has provided a level playing field and our meta-narrative is no longer excluded from the marketplace of ideas. Science, reason and all the other "isms" are no longer in power. Non-believers cannot claim that there is no truth, then claim as a truth that Christianity is nonsense.

Secondly we must understand that post-modernists are looking to communities to find knowledge and morality. (This in fact was the downfall of the meta-narrative claimed by science, which claimed to be supported by a universal community of reason, when no such community existed in reality.) What is vital then, for the Christian message to be accepted, is not to continually propound a set of propositional truths, but rather to be a community in which we live our story, telling it from its beginnings and position ourselves in it in the present. We stop offering religious ideas. Spiritual knowledge can be found in our narrative, our story as a community of faith. James K. A. Smith in his book calls the thinking and practice that flows out of this, “radical orthodoxy”. We ground our community of belief in God's history. We recount our ancient Biblical stories from Genesis to Revelation, sing our ancient songs and hymns of victory, continue historic practices and rites such as baptism, communion, etc. and symbols that remind us of our heritage. I believe we also honor historical men and women of faith, as well as look to our spiritual ancestors of all denominations for wisdom. And at the same time we make the story contemporary by positioning ourselves in the narrative. The story in which we participate is ongoing; it is past, present and future. We do this through the use of contemporary music, media, present day illustrations. We use the arts and stories of participation in this grand story which motivate, challenge and bring the story to life. We stop talking in propositions and celebrate the mystical nature of a relationship with God. The disciplines and practices of fasting, prayer etc. are offered as aspects of participation and are not merely matters of personal habit and growth. God's story, and our part in it as a community is both historical and contemporary. It is transcendent and practical. It is about God’s unfolding love of mankind which includes a role for us.

BUT ALL OF THIS MEANS NOTHING if we do not act out our role in the story, actually living as representatives of a community of love and justice, when we leave church. This is what will communicate truth to our post-modern world. We abandon pretensions to absolute knowledge or certainty, but we don’t give up on knowledge altogether. We confess our beliefs, but acknowledge that it is the result of revelation (faith imparted by the Holy Spirit) and therefore there may be other perspectives and interpretations. Then we live what we believe. We become a people of doing and not just listening and thinking and talking.

I saw a church sign the other day. It said “Avoid truth decay. Read your Bible daily”. I thought it was well-intentioned but unsatisfactory. It means nothing to most of the world. Truth (as a concept)is dead as far as they are concerned, and I think we Christians helped kill it. We claimed to have the answer to living the abundant life, then carried on living no differently than everyone else. So maybe it's time to recognize the obvious. In the end our concern is not with truth anyhow, but rather with belief. I say, "Avoid belief decay. Live your Bible daily". Someone might be attracted to a life of passion, adventure and integrity!