26. Drewidism 101 - The Bible as a Love Story

My wife and I sit at a candle lit table, the river flowing slowly and peacefully beside us, there are lanterns floating in the night sky, it is a full moon.  I look at my wife and she says things like, “You complete me.” and “We were made for each other.”  and “You are my soul mate.”

          I understand this as hyperbole, an analogy of how she feels about me and our live and love together. I respond in kind.   Jesus looks at me and says, “Before I created the sky and the stars I chose you.”

          Suddenly I begin to analyze, and study and create an entire philosophy of how it was predestined that I came to have Jesus in my life.  A titch neurotic don’t ya think?  And it totally missed the point, and messes the moment.  The language of love is hyperbole, that over the top, excessive platitudes that drives home the point of how much we are loved.  And we, so convinced that we are not insignificant, spoil the moment.

          I have no doubt that there are those chosen from the beginning of time.  Paul, in talking to those in Ephesus, talks of how they were chosen.  And I could see that.  But to take that verse and expand it into a theology of some are chosen, some are not, I think misses the entire point of the bible.

          The bible is a love story; God’s love for us.  It is full of romantic exaggeration and allegory.  It is the profound story - our existence has divine origins.  As with all good romances there is the tragedy of separation from our true love, the struggle to come together, and at the end a love reunited. 

          We, okay I, lose myself in the details.  Did he use this word, or did he use that word.  And in all my intelligence I am a complete and utter fool.  As with all love stories, to lose myself in the detail, is to lose sight of the entire story.

          One night Wanna and I are laying bed, and she says to me, “You are the best husband I have ever had.”

          I focus on the, “ever had.” and ask her how many husbands she has had.  She replied, “Only one, so you are also the worst.”

          But how many times, have I focused on a specific statement, thinking that the subtle nuance of the verse may sway the entire meaning of the story.  A detective hunting for clues that God really doesn’t love me, or loves me best.

          The story begins, where else, but at the beginning.  The story of creation, is not the record of the creation of the world, but of our relationship to God.  To argue the factual aspect of the creation myth is to completely miss the point.  You and I were meant to be in relationship to God.  He created us not as his personal fan club, but so we and he could live in love with each other.

          Then tragedy strikes; an interloper.  We are convinced that the story, still so young, cannot possibly be true.  And then we do the unthinkable.  We are told that there are two things that will spoil this paradise.  You do know that the consumption of fruit is an allegory?

          Ask anyone who has had an extramarital affair, and I am sure they will tell you that it is the adulterous one who is the first to suffer the consequences.  And so, just like the adulterous twerps we are, we are consumed by shame, guilt, and grief.  ‘The Curse’ God throws at Adam and Eve, is not a curse, but a statement of what will come.  It is the statement of “Look at what you have done.”

          Just as with someone who has cheated on their spouse, the very fabric of that relationship has been ruined.  That is not to say it cannot be repaired, but it will never again be like what it once was.  It would feel like separation.  I have experienced that sickening feeling of being in the same room as the one I love and knowing that we could be worlds apart.  It is the separation that my conscience imposes.  We are not kicked out of the garden, I know the book says we are, as much as we are unable to enjoy that existence anymore. 

          From there the story is of how we try to get back into God’s good graces.  Really the story is how do we come back to him?  It is us, I believe, that were convinced that God just did not want us anymore.  And we do all sorts of vile, evil, nasty things, to prove our love to God, to appease our conscience. 

          Then God does the unthinkable, he dies for us.  What more vile a thing could happen, than us killing God.  And God, not in so many words, asks us, “Do you finally have enough?”

          The story, the part you and I are living, is the prenuptial story of waiting for the wedding.  If you want something to mess with you, think of me as a blushing bride.  We know he is coming back, and when he does it will be great.

          That is what I see when I read the bible.  I see the broad strokes.  When I get into specific verses and what do they mean and how do they impact my faith, I am simply entertaining my obsessive compulsive nature.  I remember contemplating life when I was stoned thinking that one thought, one insight, would put it all together, it doesn’t.

          He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

          Somehow I don’t think God is interested in much of the detail either.  When asked by the jailers what they need to do to be saved, Paul answered.  “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

          The other uses we come up with for the Bible, I just wonder about.  I know for me, that often it is the tired old crap of I am right and you are wrong.  They are the arguments of those who would load us up with heavy bundles and not help us.

          I was once in a theological argument, hard to believe I know, about one of those kind of  details.  What struck me was that I could provide the bible verses that supported both sides of the argument.  Yet, the argument took us away from the redeeming love and grace of God.

          I leave you with this.

25. Why I Am a Drewid – and you should be too.

Before I stumble too far into this offering, the term Drewid is meant to be a play on my name and the nature based spirituality of the British Isles.  I know that this is probably more than obvious for most of you, but I just never know, and do not want to worry or offend people.

          Oh and this posting will see my 1,000^th page view.  Yes I do keep track, and yes it is kind of a success, or rather an accomplishment.

          I was baptized Anglican, spent my youth as a Drunken Charismatic Lutheran, then went to a quasi Mennonite - Non Denominational Church and now I attend a Baptist church with Southern Baptist roots - but those Southern Baptists don't like cold and snow - so the church is Canadian Baptist.  One of my heroes is Presbyterian another is a Methodist. This is why I am a Drewid.

          I don’t want you to be a Drewid, I would like you to be a whatever you are.  A Kennetheran, Danielist, Janerian.  I want you to have a personal understanding, theology of your own, and for some very good reasons other than my own meandering through the various denominations.

          One reason.  Jesus tells the parable of a master who entrusts his servants with money - the original translation, which I thought was more relevant, was talent.  After giving his servants what has value - he leaves. When the master returns he asks each servant what he or she has done with the wealth entrusted.  I am a Drewid because I will have that conversation, it will be me, not my pastor, not the author of the latest book, who will account for what I have done.

          Yet another reason, we are told to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.  The use of fear and trembling is a hyperbole, an emphasis of the conscientiousness that we are to use in our relationship with God. Also, I truly believe that Jesus worked out my salvation, so I think this reference is to how the Grace of God is lived out in me.

Consider:

          I have heard two doctrines on Baptism, both from those who were sincere in their belief.  Yet it is me that gets wet and water up my nose.  My baptism is a matter of a personal expression of faith. 

          I have heard a number of different doctrines on Communion, all from people who believe what they teach.  It is I, and you, who partake of this sacrament. 

          I have heard a number of theologies of Hell, all presented honestly, some I vehemently reject. 

          There are at least four theologies about the Crucifixion, one of which I believe is heresy.  It is the events on Golgatha that are central to my faith, and I think to yours.

          It does not cut it to believe simply because it is taught from the pulpit.  We are not asked if we believed points of doctrine.  But, just as with Peter, I believe that we will be asked, “Who do you say I am?”

          And who do you say Christ is?

          We have Christ the Son of God, Christ the Word of God, Christ the Good Shepherd, Christ the King, Christ the Redeemer, Christ the Gardner, Christ the Reaper, Christ the Judge, Christ the Saviour, Christ the Activist and I am sure there are more.  And while all those images of Christ are complementary and of themselves legitimate; they also tend to emphasize one part of him over the others.  And thus will impact your faith.

Not to be legalistic – I see no point in creating rules, even my own, when I know that I am going to be the first to foul them up.  I offer these principles.

1. Strive to Love God.  One of the commandments is to have before you no man made idols.  I hate to break it to you, no I don’t, but your concept of God is an idol.  It is based upon your limited understanding, and experience.  Your concept of God, is man or woman, person, made.  Our efforts should always be to love and obey the power that lies behind our beliefs, not what our beliefs had limited God to be.

2. My faith is not a competition.  I love horror movies, and one of the better ones is “Prophecy” the second war in heaven.  Gabriel talks of the war, and the effort to get things back to when God loved them, the angels, best.  This is not about God loving me best.  It is not about God loving me more.  This is about, surrendering myself to him, and allowing him to develop in me what he wants. 

3. Respect contradiction.  One of the aspects of the bible that I love is the apparent contradictions within it.  So, if the bible has contradictions in it, then must not our personal expression of faith have points of contradictions with each other?  Just as contradictions within the bible lends a credibility to it, then contradictions with those around me should lend credibility to our faiths.  Respecting contradictions is about allowing God to develop in you what he wants.

4. Know that the best that you can hope for is to be not wrong.  St. Paul wrote that now he sees through a glass darkly.  If he could not hope but to see things dimly and backwards, well, I certainly don’t have an ability to know with certainty much about a life with Christ.  So many of us try to rest our arguments on the bible.  See above, and understand that the best can hope for is to be not wrong.  It is impossible to know the complete and total mind and will of God.

5. Love each other.  If the best I can do is to hope to be not wrong, then you might be right, even if you are wrong, then we both might be wrong, and just to mess with you, if I am right we both might be right.  We are both struggling to live life as we should, I need to be gentle and loving with you, cause you are part of what I love.

Over the next part of this blog I will cover my personal beliefs, some of them I have already written about, others not.  They are the tenants of my faith, Drewidism.  Someone suggested that maybe I should call myself Drewish.  That would just be silly.

24. A Call to Service

Colossians 3:16 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

It is an hour before dinner.  The third load of laundry for day is drying.  The report that was due last week is up in one window on my computer.  The report due tomorrow is in another window.  My kid is over at his friend’s and is probably getting stoned.  This blog is in the third window I have open.  I am wondering what to cook along with the chicken breasts for dinner.

Then it happens – some inane quote about letting my life exist solely for the greater glory of God goes floating hostilely through my mind.  Suddenly I know what to do.  I get a pad of paper and a pen and write to Wanna and Joey.  I explain that although I love them, God has bigger and better things for me to do, dinner is in the oven, the last load of laundry is not folded but dried, and I am off to preach the gospel to the unsquashed hamsters of Nepal.

I chuckle.  I also reflexively duck out of the way of the swat that God surely intends for me.

If you didn’t already know I am an addict.  I am in recovery, that is I have stopped using drugs, yet I am still an addict.  Narcotics Anonymous defines an addict as a man or woman who decided that they had to have something different in life.  It goes on to say we thought we had found it in drugs, but the underlying issue is we thought we had to have something different in life.

The entire thinking of moving to Nepal to preach to hamsters, regardless of how well intended, regardless of how grounded in scripture, feels like addiction to me.  It smacks of “Life sucks and I want it to be different.”  Life can be a struggle, monotonous, boring, (insert favourite adjective here), and the antithesis of the jest of the entire self-help movement.  The move to Nepal is a fix.

Then I remember who Jesus is, of the night he washed the feet of those who loved him and that he loved.  He was of service to those in his life.  I have written about this act.  He didn’t go out of the upper room to seek others to service, he stayed with those who he knew and loved.

Calvin, not the guy who hangs out with Hobbes, but the theologian wrote of a concept of Total Depravity.  The idea that our separation from God, that our fallen nature, our self seeking and self-centred ways affects everything.  The terminology has suffered over the years because we tend to think of Total Depravity as an absolute loss of morals or ethics.

I think of it as more of that subtle and pervasive tendency that I have to be an idiot.  That any situation that arises in my life I can respond by misinterpreting and acting in haste only to cringe at what I have done later; and it is amazing the situations that I have done that in.  It is also that ever constant view of the world of what is in it for me.

But there I am, in my kitchen, washing lettuce for the salad, thinking about how all I do can be for the glory of God.  I wonder what Jesus wants for dinner.  Does have a load of laundry?  Do they do laundry in heaven?  I know according to the Religious Right they all wear clothes so nakedness would not be tolerated.  The assertion that nakedness is not allowed in Heaven does give me a moment of pause.

My next post, and yes it is just like me to rush, is on glorifying God.  Not to spoil it, but glorifying God has much more to do with our state of mind and the inclination of our hearts, than it does with the acts of worship we confine to churches.  And to steal a concept and distort it for my purposes, I think, all acts of love and joy are acts of worship. 

There are two people that I love intensely, four if you add my brother and his wife, but the top two are my wife and my kid.  They are the ones that I, or God, or the shifting sands of time, have moved into my life.  They are the ones that God wants me to love and care for the most. 

This evening, I fold clothes as an act of worship.  I finish the report due last week as a means of glorifying God.  The potatoes I bake are done with prayers that those who eats them may walk closer to God, as well as the broccoli and salad.  This blog, I do so that you may be encouraged to find what God wants for you.

Matthew 11:28, 29 & 30

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I do think there are those that are called to pick up roots and go to distant places and spread the Good News.  There are also those that are called to put down what they are doing and go and be of service.  The rest of us, you and me, are called to a nobler missionary field, our family, our neighbourhood, and our community.

As for letting every act be for the glory of God?  Well, let what I do be for the service and benefit of others, and thus for the glory of God.

23. Is Faith A Personal Matter - Take Two

1 Cor. 10:31 – 33 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.

In my earlier post by this name I suggested that my faith, my relationship with God made a direct difference to the world.  I have wondered this numerous times as the entire aspect of salvation and redemption seem to be rather self-centred affairs.  In that post I considered, and asked you to consider, that our faith extended beyond ourselves to the entire world.  Considering that our faith made the world a better place and made us “the salt of the earth.”

Today, I want to take that another step.

Could it be that my spiritual life, what I do away from the church, impacts your faith?  We show up Sunday morning, if we can get away with it we play a pre-service game of tag, we sing songs together, listen to the teaching, have communion and go home.  Maybe we go for lunch, maybe not.  But then at home, I live my faith out.

Paul tells us, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it”

Can anyone part of the body, be healthy, and not affect the rest of the body?  Does my praying benefit you, even though you are not the one I am praying for?  Does my studying scripture make a difference in your life?   Do my acts of generosity benefit you?

Likewise, do my acts of sin and rebellion have an adverse consequence on you?  Does my swearing at the idiot that cut me off in traffic, encourage you to be rage filled?  Does my tolerating my looking at women in lust, create you an acceptance of reducing another person to how you can use them?  Do my acts of selfishness throw an obstacle in your way of being Christ-centred?

I think so.  I am not sure how, maybe it is that original sin is that of being Self-Centred and Self-Serving, but I have always considered acts of faith, obedience and gratitude as being beneficial mostly for me.  “Hey Jesus, remember when you were in trouble and I showed up?”

Likewise, my attempts at not sinning kept me from being punished.  “Honest God, I did not swipe those other three cookies like I wanted to, so spare me from punishment.”

Jesus told his disciples to go into their rooms and close the door to pray.  While this is admittedly an admonition to not engage in public displays of adoration (PDA), does it reveal a deeper truth?  Do our private acts have public consequences?

What is called for is not only a shift in personal faith, but in the concept of God. 

Most of my self-centred and self-serving faith and obedience comes out of a concept of a God just itching to send me to hell.  In this scenario, Jesus died on the cross not to save us from our sins but to yell at us “After all I’ve done for you!”  Yes, products of a tortured mind, but I don’t think I am, or was, alone in this vision of God.

This approach to faith, in my opinion if you didn’t already realize that, calls for an understanding of the nature of salvation.  We have been freed from a system of worship that called for obedience to a list of rules that we would never be able to satisfy.  We have been freed from our self-serving, short sighted, self-centred way of life.  We have been freed from those appetites that in the end destroy us.  It is based on the belief that we are able to approach the Throne of God with confidence.  That God loves us, that he wants to be involved in our lives.

This approach to faith calls us to acts of gratitude and compassion arising out of the grace that has been so freely showered upon us.  It calls us to act in ways of inviting others to this celebration.  It invites us to recognize that we have been created in the likeness of God.

Anyone who knows me, knows my love of paintball and bruises.  I offer to take people with me, I show the wonderful rainbow colour splotches on my skin.  It is clear that I thoroughly enjoy the sport, and my love of the sport can be infectious.

Sadly, I don’t do quite as well with my witness for Christ.  Those who know me, do know I love Jesus, and what he has done in my life.  But I am also mindful that other people have for various reasons decided that Christ is not for them.  Some of those reasons are legitimate, us Christians have often acted in very unethical ways, others of those reasons not so much.  There are times that my enthusiasm is not quite as contagious.

Back to my point.

I am becoming convinced that what we do in the secrecy of our lives has an impact on those around us.  That your acts of kindness, grace and compassion extend to those not present at the moment.  Even when we try to keep the left hand from knowing what the right hand has done, it changes everything.

Suddenly these words don’t seem as intimidating:

“Everything that is secret will be brought out into the open. Everything that is hidden will be uncovered. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight. What you have whispered to someone behind closed doors will be shouted from the rooftops. Luke 12:2 & 3.

22. The Idolatry of Church – Part Two

Romans 5: 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Truly, I am not a good Christian.  And this is not false humility, as far as I can muster real humility, it is an understanding of a life of faith, or at least my life of faith.  In reconciling my fallen nature, the glory of God, my family, my work, my obligations to my community, and my participation in the body of Christ I will always come up short.  And perhaps the complacency of recognizing this is in and of itself a sin.

Personally I know my sins.  I eat too much, I lust after women, I am greedy, and lazy.  I am often cranky and rude, often vulgar, and really not a poster child for the redeemed.  I tend to repent of those sins of anger and violence; I would include fantasies of smacking someone across the back of the head as being violent.  I am less repentant of my sins of gluttony, lustfulness and laziness. 

I also know my righteousness.  Let me pause by saying that as I talk of knowing, I mean to the best of my ability.  I also tend to agree with Martin Luther, that “every good work is a sin.”  It is not that I am without grace and Fruits of the Spirit, but as St. Paul points out even my faith is a gift from God. 

It is this nature of my faith, my uncertainty, that does not allow me to close the church doors to my queer brother or sister or anyone else.  In fact, it is this aspect of my faith that insists that the doors be kept open.  It is not up to me to decide who comes in and who doesn't. And if I decide that this person can't come in, who is next?

Those verses where homosexuality is discussed always includes other sins.  Always.  I believe the point of this is to remind us that none of us belong to the Church based on our own merit.  That we all fall short of the Glory of God. 

I also believe that we called to have a new world view, not one of seeing what is broken, what is wrong, and what should change.  I believe we are called to see what each other has to offer the world.  That we are called to see whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.

An acquaintance of mine could be considered greedy.  He earns the kinds of money that we talk about when we talk about winning the lottery.  Yet, in his wealth he is also one of the more wonderful people I know, who is generous, kind and truly interested in those around him – compassionate.

The church gossip, the one who makes the coffee and sets the chairs, not in the church I go to these days, is one of those that helps others feel welcome in the church.  Could it be that his gossip is nothing more than his sharing his concerns regarding others?

And even I manage to make a contribution to the church and the community around me.

So what do I believe?

Galatians 5:14 & 15 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

That we should stop advertizing that certain people are not welcome in the body of Christ before they even show up.

That our church should have open doors and no other agenda than to help each other walk closer to God.  That in our time together that we support each other to allow God to realize his glory in each of us as he sees fit.  That we carry on the conversation of how do I live out a life of faith in my fallen nature.

I believe that I should be mindful of those around me and to take my freedom cautiously, so as not to cause others to stumble. 

I think I need to give up the idea that your expression of faith needs to look like my expression of faith.

I believe that we are all doing our best.

Philippians 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

I believe that I should trust in God that he will complete his good work in you as he will in me.