137. Reflection of Easter

Hebrews 2:14 & 15  Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 

The mystery of the cross is that what occurred there on Golgotha was so profound on so many levels that to understand the true significance of Good Friday would be next to impossible. There are four major concepts of the crucifixion; Penal Substitution, Christus Victor, Ransom, and Satisfaction. It makes for an interesting hour as one Googles each of those.

          The entire event, from the evening in the garden, to the resurrection, is the core of our faith. Each of the four major theories of atonement, reflects an underlying perspective on the nature of our existence, the nature of God, his love for us, and the substance of our relationship with him.

          For me the crucifixion, I see an act of healing, of liberation.

 

Granted, my personal theology focuses more upon the resurrection.  Romans 10:9 declares that we need to “believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.” For without the resurrection, there is no victory. So previously, I have seen the crucifixion as a radical act of healing. That by taking on our sin, and defeating it and death, we are healed. (I Peter 2:24)

          This year, I am struck by another perspective on the crucifixion.  This year, I have posted about how God came to join with his creation. Thus, I was struck by how in his birth, he became one of the despised ones. In his ministry, he always seemed more interesting in being with those deemed unworthy, unrighteous, or just plain unacceptable.

          Although Jesus was fully human, and for this celestial sleight of hand, he needed to have been fully human.  He did not experience sin.  Thus, could he be our high priest if only knowing part of being human?

          We tend to misunderstand the idea and nature of sin.  We imagine that it is simply God not wanting us to enjoy ourselves: that obedience to God is about docile submission. We have made sinful to mean mischievous, and self-indulgent. But is that really correct? Do we honour a God who does not want us to enjoy either ourselves or what the world has to offer?

          When I think of sin, I think of despair.  I think of Pauls’ words “I do that which I do not want to do, and don’t do that which I know I should.” I think of the pain, and harm that I have inflicted on others in acts of greed, selfishness, and ego-centeredness. Sin is what separates us from each other and from God.  Thus, sin is neither a delightful indulgence nor an act that annoys and offends a petty deity. 

          Thus, the concept of Jesus taking on our sins becomes the sacrifice.

To my mind, the crucifixion is the easy part.  He is God after all.  Yes, he is tortured – beaten and whipped – then hangs on the cross for three hours. For God, it seems a simple task. Not quite the process to cause him to sweat blood.  Not that I am meaning to diminish the act of the cross.

          It is his taking on my brokenness, that seems the hardship.  It is in his humanity, where his sacrifice lies.  In taking on my sin, he took it on to its destructive conclusion; death.  It is this part, the messiness of our lives, that would be the most challenging. It would also be quite like him to do so.

          There are those that Jesus words of “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” as being a complaint.  I am amongst those who think he was drawing our attention to Psalm 22. Yes, the separation from God was real at that moment.  It is the same separation that the parent of a dying child feels, it is the same separation that the addict feels, it is the same separation we all feel within our lives. 

         

The Easter Celebration reminds me that the separation I experience is temporary, and there will come a time when I will be fully in the presence of God.

136. There will come a time

Galations 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forebearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

There will come a time when, regardless of how much scripture you read, your status in your church, or how well versed you are in theology, that life comes down to your character.  In those dark moments, and we all have them, when there is no easy or ‘right’ choice, it is who you are as a person that determines your path.  It is for those times that our spirituality, our life in Christ, needs to prepare us.  Thus, our faith must be built on the cornerstones of love, grace and compassion. In otherwords, our faith is about our relationship to God.
For me, this is the point of faith; to be that better person. That better person comes through living one’s faith.  Often, I think we get side tracked into other pursuits.  But we need to come back to the point of our faith, being restored.
There are those that hold that faith is a transaction.  That by believing in Christ we are saved from an eternal torment for not believing in him.  Thus, when we follow the encouragement of working out our salvation with fear and trembling, we are working out our avoidance of punishment.  The entire pursuit of our faith leaves our lives in a perpetual state of self-centredness; that asks the question, “What’s in it for me?”

It is not that I don’t believe in salvation, for I do.  I just don’t believe in eternal damnation.  The salvation that is offered to me, is the salvation from myself and a world gone insane.  This is why I am grateful that I am an addict and have mental health issues, it is clear that often left to my own devices, that life can be painfully chaotic.  It is my life in Christ that allows me to live life differently. It is more than just no longer drinking, drugging, and being self-absorbed. My faith is learning to live beyond myself, making a tangible difference in the world.
I also believe that the salvation that is offered is from the insanity offered in numerous religions, including ours.  I have said this before, I know I can not act good enough to earn the grace of God.  Jesus himself offered the obvservation that teachers of the law, the religion of the time, burden people with heavy loads.  Thus, I see the salvation is from the religious striving that often is just an end in itself of trying to prove that God loves me best.

There are two aspects of faith that I see leading to being that better man.

Matt 6:6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

The spiritual aspect of my life is intensely personal. Most people will know that I am a Christian.  But most do not know what I believe, such is the nature of popular Christianity, that there are a large range of belief identified as Christian. For the most part, I don’t want the arguments that ensue. I see the same approach to faith in this verse, that our faith is mostly between God and I.
If I live my faith based on those seeing me, then those difficult moments come, my choices, my character is based on receiving that approval, not on being the creation I am called to be.  It is the same idea as not letting the left hand know what the right hand is doing.

The other aspects of faith is the challenges that we all go through.

James 1:2 – 4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

It is easy to be spiritual when all goes well. And those moments I wrote of at the beginning of this entry, those dark moments, never come when everything is good. It is when life is hard that character is built.

135 #thisismyfaith

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Right now, there is a great evil threatening the world. There is no other way to state it. The result of a single person put into power will decimate lives.  This single person was put into place in large part by my sisters and brothers of the Evangelical Right. I do not want to get into a pissing match over scriptural interpretations or how one lives out their faith.  I did have planned a posting that it explained that was not my faith.  This is what I offer instead.

#thisismyfaith

I am pro-life. I have walked a woman past the protesters at an abortion clinic for she feared the violence they presented. They insisted that the fetus in her was sacred life, but denied that same consideration to her children. Forgotten was the place in God’s heart for the widow, the orphan and oppressed. Thus, when no one else would, I did. I believe that we have a responsibility to care for each other, this includes health care. I am pro-life; I stand against the death penalty.  Though I appreciate the sentiment, the death penalty is little more than a racist act against people already oppressed.

#thisismyfaith

I oppose assisting terrorists in devastating entire populations by refusing the admission of refugees into countries.  If you think that the presidential decree is aimed at keeping people safe – think again, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates home of 17 of the 19 terrorists of 9/11 is not on the list of banned countries.   This ban on Muslims is bullshit in so many ways, and is simply religious discrimination. The parable of the Good Samaritan seems to call for compassionate action to those despised ones. Faith, at least the one that I am called to, leaves few safe quarters. Yes, while we care for refugees, we need to care for our own homeless, our First Nation’s people, these are not mutually exclusive.  Further, we have to step up to care for those that you and I sent into harm’s way; our veterans.

#thisismyfaith

Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. Isaiah 1:17

#thisismyfaith

The faith I celebrate recalls that it was women, and one man, that stuck with Jesus as he was crucified.  And that it was to women that his resurrection was first announced.  While the men were off doing something, it was the women that came to take care of Christ’s body. Women are not property or possessions to be ridiculed, judged on a scale of one to ten, nor are they to be grabbed by the pussies. And yes, if you voted for him, you too endorsed his view of women. And yes, I took exception to Clinton. Women are sacred.  Only women can create life, and it was a woman only that actually carried Christ in her body. I agree with Jimmy Carter, that it is only through self-serving interpretation of scripture that man can use such to subjugate women.

#thisismyfaith

The faith I celebrate embraces the culture of others.  It is more than just my love of food. I take Matthew 25:36 seriously, “I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Thus, my faith is worked out with the person in front of me. I am keenly aware, that Christ was not white. I believe that these rights we talk of are our responsibilities to each other.  And I am commanded to love my neighbours, whether their gender, sexuality, religion, colour, fashion sense, choice in music, or choice of TV shows meets with my approval. 

#thisismyfaith

I see the pollution of the world as the competition, the hatred and greed that we engage in. Christ taught us that we are to be in service to each other. Mark 9: 35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” I believe the church must be kept safe from the corruption of greed – greed for money and power over others.  I also am fortunate to be in such a church.


#thisismyfaith

I do not claim anything like perfection. I swear too much, I watch porn too much, I am cranky too much, there is a lot of shit I do too much of, and not enough of others. I am tired of having to explain my faith in the light of what many see as contemporary Christianity.  I am tired of those that think taking God’s name in vain is swearing; much of what I have seen from the Religious Right has been taking his name in vain. I offer this simply as encouragement.  That if this is your faith, and this is nowhere near a comprehensive list, you know that you are not alone. 

#thisismyfaith

134. When religion is worthless.

Let me be clear – I am not a fan of political correctness.  I see Donald Trump’s victory as being indicative of the outcome of this attempt at social control. We see a nation that learned that it was not alright to say obnoxious crap, but that lesson never made it beyond their vocabulary.  The first opportunity that the populace had to push back, they did so. 

         What we did, is to stop a dialogue that could have changed how people perceived the world around them. Instead, we stifled that conversation. Yes, it is not good on so many levels to use racial slurs. Humour based on sexual violence is truly not funny. And in changing our language, there can be a change in sentiment. It can also lead to such biases coming out in other ways.

          People think that years of progress have been lost.  They weren’t.  The progress we thought we had because people talked nicely, was simply a charade.  While I am given to profanity, I have heard some of the vilest crap spoken by sweet sounding people.  Hatred is hatred, no matter how you speak of it. 

Then I come to James, “Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.” James 1:24.

Rather a strong message.  Your religion is worthless if you do not keep a tight reign on your mouth.  James repeats this admonition later in his letter.  In fact, his second message is stronger. 

My brother tells a story of when I was first clean from drugs.  We were going through a McDonalds’ drive-through.  We had placed our order and were asked if we wanted fries with that?  My answer, and I wince, “If I wanted fucking fries with that I would have asked for fucking fries.”

As I have become less angry, maybe less fearful of others, I talk less and less with others in that way.  Yes, I am still mouthy, still profane, but nowhere near as abusive.  It has been a process of following God, but also doing what I can to clean up how I talk with people.  As I have been healed, my language is less angry, and as I have cleaned up how I talk with people, I become less angry.

That said, or written, I am a stickler for language.  While what I say might use profanity as punctuation, I believe that we need to be clear about what we mean.  It is more than simply saying what you mean, it is understanding that how we talk about life, and issues, and beliefs, shape our perception of that which we talk.

          A case in point. Last week I was in a discussion about children trafficked for sexual purposes.  One of the people involved in the discussion made reference to sexually exploited children. While it might seem to be petty to point out the difference between being exploited and trafficked, there is a significant difference. I pointed out that difference. (Of course)

Could it be, that part of working out my salvation is paying attention to how I speak to people? I think so. For me, the challenge of this verse, and others like it, is understanding that there is a dynamic within language that I use. One that is between heart, soul and tongue.

         As with all else, we can become legalistic.  We can harness our mouth.  Even I can manage periods of time when I don’t use profanity. When I work, in meetings, in explaining the dynamics and processes of the work my cohorts and I do, I do so without profanity.

         Thus, as I write this I reflect on my language of faith.  Yes, I occasionally swear when I pray.  Often, my profanity laden prayers seem to be the most effective. It is not that God pays attention to the profanity, but rather the intensity.  But my language as I talk of my faith, shifts as I mature.  As I let God soften my heart, and learn to live in love, my language has shifted. How I talk about others most the time, is gentler. 

         In his letter, James promotes a faith that changes in how we are in the world. He recognizes that salvation is an inside job. For me, the message seems clear. If my faith does not lead to me changing how I talk, how I relate to people, I need to question my faith. Just as faith devoid of change is not really faith. I also need to pay attention to what I say and how I say it.

Thank you for letting me share.

133. Christ the Refugee

Matt 2:14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and left for Egypt.

While there is good reason to be skeptical of the story of Herod slaughtering all boys in Bethlehem under the age of two; the threat would have been very real. Herod was a man who killed three of his own sons in order to protect his reign. He would not have been pleased that a “King of the Jews” had been born. Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, getting out of town would have been very prudent. If we digress into the discussion as to the historical accuracy, I think we miss the point.

          There is a natural tendency to draw a correlation between worshipping Christ and receiving refugees. As well, there is an intriguing commentary on the story of Sodom and Gomorrah that places the emphasis on how foreigners were received - a much more challenging perspective for most Christians.  If we focus on the sexual aspects of the story of Sodom, for most of us it remains safe. It is in understanding that these ‘visitors’ were poorly greeted, it becomes a much more convicting story for us. Later in his teachings, Christ taught, “Even foxes have holes and the birds have their nests, the son of man has no place to lay his head.” Matt 8:20 DJMV)

          As I write this, there are more refugees in the world than there are people in Canada. Add to that our own population of people displaced by mental illness, addiction, and poverty. The impulse to care for such is a human, not just Christian, instinct.  Thus, there is good reason to consider our attitudes about those refugees, foreign and domestic.

But I am more interested in another aspect of the story.

My friend and pastor refers to this as the side of Christmas that no one talks about. We want to sanitize a faith that has as its core the mess that us humans can be.  I think the messiness of it amplifies the glory of God, and stops us from sliding spirituality into convenient slots.  I believe that Christianity was never intended to be convenient, sanitized, or safe. 

          In the nativity story, dark and otherwise, there is so much that seems upside down, or ass-backwards.  The flight into Egypt is one of those. Jesus, the child-king is in peril.  The response is not to call in a strategic airstrike of angels to take Herod out.  It is to flee until the threat has passed naturally.  It reveals a deeper agenda and a unique way of addressing conflict.  And, no it is not simply to avoid it.

          I have written about our binary view of the world.  The us or them, only one person can win, and there are only winners and losers perspective on life. In this story we are taught in no small means that are other ways.

          Herod was going to do what Herod was going to do.  It is a difficult part of the story. Would interfering in the actions of this tyrant have an adverse outcome?  It is an important question to ask.  There is much that happens in this world that is vile, evil and corrupt.  Is it God’s role to intervene?  I take great exception to those that would suggest that such events fulfill God’s purpose.  There is significant difference between using whatever event to his purpose and creating events for his purpose.  The puppet master God must be beyond callous in a world where events such as genocides are created by him to glorify him.

          The flight into Egypt, the point of this wandering post, is an example of how to manage conflict.  And lessons in managing conflict would come in useful these days.  We are currently back in an arms race on a global level.  It might be going on unnoticed, but it is going on.  The morality of any arms race, is one of there can only be one victor. The reality, is that in any conflict, there really is no victor.  For the moment we enter into conflict, we have both lost.

So how do we live out this morality in a polarized world?  As always, the answer comes to how do we live our lives out? 

On a personal level, we are called, I am called, to shift away from the binaries of which I wrote awhile ago.  We are called to recognize that there is no “us vs them.” That we are all part of this together.  It is my hope that in our maturity, we realize that there are really no winners if there are those that are oppressed.  We are also encouraged to understand that often the correct course of action is to wait for a more opportune time.

132. What if?

Happy New Year.  We have made it to another year.  The skeptical part of me wants to say, that we just made it to another day, and this entire New Year – New Me crap is really just the emotional hangover of our glut of commercialism.  I can be rather cynical at times.

What if this year we did life differently?

What if this year we came to understand how much Jesus disagreed with the religious institutions of his time? Yes, he was a devote Jew. Obviously, he loved God. But, consider his comment, “They ties up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” (Matt 23:4) We are not called to be religious, we are called to be of service, to offer up ourselves as a living sacrifice, of living life differently.  Often, I think we play the game of ‘God loves me more’ when we enter into religion

What if this year we came to understand that we are called to work on our own righteousness and not that of those around us? We are told to remove the plank from our own eyes.  I think by the time that I get my biases and prejudices out of the way, that I might just understand how to help those around me. Consider also, Romans 2:1, “You, therefore, have not excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.”

What if this year we came to realize that if we lived our faith, the message would be stronger? It seems to me that Christ was always more interested in how people acted, than what they believed. In the parable of the sheep and goats, he said this, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Matt 25:35-36

What if this year we started to take the words of Christ seriously when he taught that we are called into compassionate service of each other? How many different ways did he have to say that the greatest in heaven is of service here on earth?  Faith is not about feeling good, it is about being of use.

What if this year we realize that our commitment to church is not just about attendance? It is not about attending the cool church with the edgy hipster pastor and great music.  It is about coming together to say that these are the people that I stand with in Christ. And then, it is not about what we do when we are there, but what we do out in the world around us.

What if this year we came to realize the privilege that scripture affords us?  It is not a reference book for demanding that other believe as we do, or act as we want them.  If your morality is based on scripture, and not on the leanings of your heart, you are in serious trouble. The bible allows us a view of how other people lived their faith in a different time and culture.  It is sad that the messages of the Creation Myth are lost in our insistence that the world was created only six thousand years ago, and that it was done only in 144 hours.  We fail to grasp just how wonderful it is that we are an expression of love, and that women are of the very same fabric as men – a radical message for that time.

What if this year we understood that we are all works in progress? The person standing next to you in church, at the cashier, at the bus stop, or in the coffee shop is just trying to make their way through life the best they can.  And this included the person you just thought who you don’t believe that they are. Maybe if our interest in them is in how we can help, rather than how good they are living up to our expectations, we might achieve something miraculous.

What if this year we asked why we are not doing something about (fill in whatever dastardly event you want)? We are the body of Christ, if we are waiting for God to do something, we are only waiting on ourselves to take action.  It is up to us to take compassion measures. For may, we are the face of God.

This entry is not about living missional lives elsewhere in the world.  It is about living ordinary lives in extraordinary ways.  For me, it is realizing that how I treat those who work with me is more important than what I might say in prayer.  It is realizing the generosity of spirit is more important that the financial arrangement of tithing I might try to make with God.  It is realizing that this way of life can only start with me, if I wait for others, it might be a long wait indeed.

It is my wish for you that this year is filled with Joy, Love, Health, and PEACE.

131. My Wish for You this Christmas

Most of the people who read my posts are those who have found Christianity lacking.  Not the faith so much, but the translation into an organized religion.  It is easy to see how we have managed to create this rift; the rift between what is possible, and what we limit ourselves to having.  It is this rift, that keeps many people out of the church, and seeking faith elsewhere.

          To be honest, we limit Christ and his call to compassion from the time he was born, to the sacrifice he made on the cross. We not only limit our understanding of this divine drama, but the power that he has in our lives.

Consider the Nativity Story; we have sanitized it beyond recognition.  We have taken a drama, that threatened even the life of Mary, and made it into a romantic made for TV version.  It is a shame.

The Christmas story, the real one, is about Christ coming to earth as an illegitimate child.  Mary, being pregnant out of marriage, should have been stoned to death if the Old Testament law was followed. So Joseph, either the most stand-up guy in history or the greatest patsy of all times, gets her out of harm’s way. A donkey ride to Bethlehem gets Mary out of Nazareth – a town so insignificant it was almost forgotten – and to the safety of another village.

          There was no census as the bible tells us, I think Mary traveled for safety, it was a trip of necessity, not of inconvenience https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Census_of_Quirinius Scholars tell us that the narrative was changed to make it a better story.  Yet, the truth holds greater truth, obviously, greater mystery, and greater power.

For me, the nativity story is mostly why I am a Christian. God sought to join us as we are. God so loved the world, that he sent his own begotten son to us. It is a reversal of the temple system where we would prepare ourselves to enter the presence of God. He has come to us, he still does.                              What is curious is that he did not stop there, for we are told, that he descended into hell.  This is based on few scripture verses, Acts 2:31; Ephesians 4:8-10; 1 Peter 4:6; and, most importantly, 1 Peter 3:18-20. His descent into hell strikes me as such a Christ thing to do.

           

So, my wish for you this Christmas?  That you allow Christ to enter your life.  It is a dangerous thing to do.  Christ himself warns us from doing so, why else would he tell you to weigh the costs.  Christ does not respect our agendas, dogmas, or theology.

          Do not worry about the overly dramatic being called to a foreign mission field – it is unlikely that you will be called to minister to the unsquashed hamsters of Nepal. That would actually be easier than what we are called to do. Nor, would I worry about joyless lives of obedience to God.

          Rather, we are called to do two things.

First, we are called into relationship with he, or she, who has made us.  The dramatic coming of Christ that happened two thousand years ago, is repeated on a daily basis.  He comes into our lives with little respect for what we want, he comes with power and compassion.

          We are called to simply enjoy the presence of the divine. There is no other agenda than simply knowing that we are loved, and lovable. Most of us, skip this step. And in the wise words of someone else, we cannot pass on what we do not have. 

Yes, there are the obvious changes that we are called to make.  If you are beating your spouse or children, please stop.  If you are destroying yourself through addictions and other means, again, please stop. But we need, must, learn the presence of God if we are to follow him, or her.

Second, we are called to treat those around us with the same compassion and love that we are shown.  That is why we need the first step.

          I look at Christ and his ministry to others.  He always seemed much more interested in being with people, than he did in correcting them.  In fact, those he was most interested in correcting were the religious.  Even the often quoted verse, has that he will come into our lives and dine with us. So be with people, love them, let their worry be yours, let their sorrow be yours.

It is my wish for you this Christmas, that you are able to without agenda, or desire, to allow God into your life.  It will not make your life easier.  Doing so promises to put you into conflict with the world around you, and in particular the church. Yet, there is joy and freedom to be found in such love.