The Randoms

Here's some random stuff I thought I'd link today. Not much in the way of Christmas/Advent info, but oh well. I guess, in the spirit of Christmas, I'll at least try to make them sound like they fit the season:

*My mom has become a seasoned blogger, for which I'm quite proud of her (especially because hers looks a lot cooler than mine). Recently she blogged about materialism and what matters most. If you don't see the connection between that and this season, I don't even know what to say...

*Unfortunately, my mom isn't the only person to pick up blogging. I guess they'll let anybody get on and start spouting a deadly mixture of arrogance and ignorance, because Tom Delay has started blogging. Just like Christmas in America, Delay is a great example of Christian tradition with Christ sucked out of it.

*Pat Robertson is the antichrist. Or at least an antichrist, depending on your method of reading scripture.

*The Barna group just realeased their 12 Most Significant Religious Findings of 2006.

*NPR's This I Believe series is always a great listen. A couple days ago, though, I heard the best one yet. Listen to Richard Rohr and be happy there's somebody like this getting at least a couple of minutes of air time.

*A better Transformers trailer! That's all I wanted for Christmas!

*Miroslav Volf recently wrote a great article for the Christian Century on forgiveness. A must read.

I feel like I could add links forever, but I'll stop now. I don't know if I'll be blogging much in the next 10 days, so if I don't see you, have a great Christmas and thanks for stopping by.

Matt

Some Christmas Thoughts from Isaiah 42

This weekend I am sharing very briefly on Isaiah 42 at a church service. They are making me write out exactly what I am saying, so I thought it'd be fun to publish it here beforehand to see what you thought of it:

The following is from the 42nd chapter of the book of Isaiah:
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight.
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations.
He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets…
I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles.”

We live in a world of noise.
And holidays can be the worst.
At large Christmas parties, you can typically find me hiding in the corner.
It’s just too loud. There’s too much action going on.
And the only way to be heard is to be loudest.
It’s similar to the way our world works.

To be heard in our world you need to be loud or powerful.
And although they didn’t have the noise of cell phones, cars, pagers, e-mail, YouTube, landlines, iPods, airplanes, car stereos, home stereos, television and instant messenger, the people of the ancient world were still busy.
There was still the noise of neighbors, workers, travelers, and animals.
There was still a lot to do and little time to do it in.
And just like us, the only way to be heard over the noise was to be loud, or to have power.

But in this season, as Isaiah reminds us, we worship a God who does not use noise, nor power, at least not in the way we understand power. And yet he changes the world.

He is referred to as a servant who does not cry out or raise his voice… This is Jesus.
In a backwoods town, in a forgotten Roman territory, a powerless baby is born to poor, common peasants.
Surely the God of the universe would incarnate himself as the next Caesar!
Surely he would show up with heavenly music cranked so everybody notices!

But he doesn’t.
The birth of Jesus is quiet and everyday. It is momentous for a few people, but unnoticed by most.
And this is how Jesus’ ministry works as well. It is subtle, disguised as the commonplace, and easily missed by those looking for something loud and powerful.


After all, what did people see in Jesus as an adult? A man who preached in the countryside to peasants. A poor, homeless man. A man who was neither a zealot nor loyal to Rome. A man who performed outrageous miracles and then said, “Don’t tell anybody about this.” A man who died at the hands of the powerful.

In the meantime, Rome continues to take over the world; Caesar conquers and kills, progressively dominating the world, all the while claiming to be God.

In Isaiah’s time, it was Babylon.

It seems there is always another loud, powerful person or group of people in the world. They make all the noise. They have all the strength.

But on Christmas we remember a quiet, powerless infant and recognize that he really is “a light for the Gentiles.”

After all, Rome is no more. Babylon is long forgotten.

But the Jesus movement is spreading like wild fire.

It’s spreading through South America and Africa so fast that most scholars believe these areas will soon be the new centers of Christianity!

In New Zealand and Australia, people are rediscovering what it looks like to live for and worship God!

Meanwhile the bamboo curtain continues to rise from China, revealing a church that is not afraid of the powerful rulers who can take their lives, but never their hope, and we see a church that thrives under persecution!

In the Middle East, in a world torn apart, Christians continue to meet and pray and love their neighbors, despite the fact that most have no voice or power!

In North America and Europe, people are asking tough questions and reremembering this man named Jesus and the life he has called us to! The church is going through a rebirth right here in our own country!
The Gospel of Jesus Christ has reached and continues to move forward even right here in Whatcom County changing lives, families, institutions and power structures.

Not bad for something that begins with a quiet, powerless infant in a forgotten town, in the middle of nowhere, with nobody parents.
Of course, it actually begins with a prophet, speaking hope to an exiled people.
And of course we really know that it begins with God, whose creative love found yet another way to express itself; in the form of a child.

Peace,
Matt

Somalia

We seem to have forgotten this country that dominated our news a decade ago. Apparently they think God has as well, and with all that is happening to them and will probably continue to effect them for the next year, I can't blame them. Drowning, eaten alive, losing homes to floods, starvation, cold nights, malaria, war, instability, and the obvious fact that they have been forgotten by the world... What do we do, as followers of Christ, in the midst of hearbreaking, catastrophic amounts of death and pain everywhere? We cannot fix everything, so I guess the better question is, how do we remain faithful in the face of continual humanitarian crises' that rarely even make our evening news, let alone anybody's daily conversations?

Peace,
Matt

Mega Church Ecclesiology

To be honest, I know nothing (yet) about this person or their blog, but I borrowed the link from Jordan Cooper and really enjoyed these questions concerning mega churches and their ecclesiology. Of course, the biggest problem typically seems to be that large churches don't really think theologically at all... Oops, did I say that out loud?

Peace,
Matt

Currently Reading: The Man Called Cash by Steven Turner. Funny how different a biography is from an autobiography. I love Cash, but apparently he had some memory lapses over certain details of his life in his autobiographies. Dan Allender once said that autobiography is the same as fiction, and I would have to agree. Billy Graham's autobiography would be included in that category as well, in my opinion.

Being Manly in the Church

As much as I keep hoping the Church will either move on or find better answers to its questions, the search for true Christian manliness has popped-up again. And it has the same stupid answers again. Wild at Heart seems to have either disappeared, or at least lost a lot of its steam. And though Mark Driscoll's church is growing with its blatantly male-centered, "we're 1,000 years behind the times" attitude, people seem to be realizing the truth behind his postmodern fundamentalism.

But apparently Nashville and Brad Stine have something (not) new to offer for the macho Christian male. You can read all about it in this LA Times article. These men have discovered a truth that I wholeheartedly agree with: Jesus was no sissy. Of course, they take it to a different place than I would. Apparently, Jesus' non-sissiness means he would have swore a lot, bossed women around, watched football, and basically be a stereotypical American male. I guess he'd go hunting and fight in the military also...

Of course this is just another attempt to make Jesus look more like us: specifically Americans in the 21st century. Jesus was brave and wild. But he was brave and wild for the kingdom's sake, not to have fun, fulfill his testosterone-driven desires, or to look tough for his friends. The bravest thing to do is to be meek when you have the power to do otherwise. A real tough guy takes up his cross and follows Messiah to the foot of Calvary, choosing the way of Jesus over the way of Barabbas. Or, to put it in John Howard Yoder's words, "Jesus rejected the way of Barabbas, not because he was a revolutionary, but because he wasn't revolutionary enough." In the same way, I reject the way American Christian manliness, not because it is all about being tough and brave, but because it is neither tough enough, nor brave enough to equal what it means to follow Christ.

Peace,
Matt

National Youth Workers Convention: More to come...

This is my note to self to post some more on the NYWC: bare minimum, I plan to at least blog about Tony Jones and Shane Claiborne, as their sessions were very helpful/thought-provoking.

I've been much more intentional about this blog lately, though I'm not sure if many people are looking at it these days. I guess one of the things I've learned is that that just isn't as important. What is important for me is to get some thoughts out of my head and to use this as some sort of spiritual/mental discipline. It keeps me going in a lot of ways.

This morning I have added even more links. They are everywhere. Check 'em out! There's some good stuff over on the right side!

Peace,
Matt

This Year's Nobel Prize

In case you didn't see it for yourself, a Nobel Prize was just given to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen bank. They have been giving out small loans to people who are too poor to prove that they can pay it back or put anything down in case they don't. Yunus had a lot to say about the East/West divide, terrorism, poverty, and how they are all linked. And I think he's right. There are some big issues in there concerning power and wealth. But I guess it's easier to just divide everything into us/them, good/bad, since that provokes a lot less guilt within us. All I know is that while rich Christians in the West work to kill off more and more poor muslims, some muslims in the East are taking big risks in the name of helping the poor and disenfranchised. Hmm...

Peace,
Matt

National Youth Workers Convention: Tony Campolo

Tony actually spoke twice at the convention, but I only was able to see him once. His second message was titled Becoming Red Letter Christians, and I bought the CD's, which I plan to listen to very soon. I think it will be great to listen to these, though I'm pretty sure what he's going to say. And honestly, I know I'll probably just agree with it. But onto the message I did hear.

Campolo spoke for one of the general sessions, which means this: he stood up in front of thousands of Southerners and, to summarize in my own words, "what part of love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you do you not understand?" He talked about the way we treat homosexuals, our support of Middle East domination, and torture and how all of these things are contrary to the teachings of our faith.

What I especially appreciated was a few words he brought up about situational ethics. You know the questions: if somebody is about to ________ (something horrendous), and you can stop them by killing them, isn't it the Christian thing to do? Campolo was blunt as he crushed this kind of thinking down, asking us how our faith has gotten so far off track that we can start entertaining questions of situational ethics rather than simply listening to and following Jesus. Oh, I just wanted to make everybody in my entire church listen to it! Tony Campolo really is a prophet speaking to a people who have moved away from the God they claim to follow.

More than learning anything as far as information is concerned, I learned from Campolo that I can be bold about what I know God desires for myself and his American followers. We are so far off track, and I for one do very little about it when it comes to my preaching and teaching, because quite honestly I'm usually too afraid. That is BS. I keep losing my male students to the military and I somehow think that being "subversive" and trying to give them different dots that lead up to a correct answer will work, but it never does. Yesterday there were people literally outside my office door singing "God Bless America" and I just keep working at a place where the idolatrous cocktail of worshipping God and Empire together is stirred and drank to the dregs on a daily basis. Enough. There is another way, and I realize that I have to follow.

Peace,
Matt

One quote from Campolo: "Maybe we should start getting our eschatology from Jesus rather than Tim Lahaye."

Reading: I'm way into The Other Journal, which I've added a link to. Check it out!

National Youth Workers Convention: Kenda Creasy Dean

This is the first of (I hope) a few posts reflecting on my time at Youth Specialties' National Youth Workers Convention in Charlotte, NC. I haven't had the time to sit down and organize my thoughts, but knowing the way things work for me, that may never happen. So at least now I'll be able to say something, and in the process be forced to at least reflect a little bit.

I heard Kenda speak twice during the week, but want to mainly focus on just one of those, as it was much more specific and challenging. She presented some of the results of a long study that was done on teens and can be found in the book Soul Searching. More importantly, she presented her own conclusions that she came to after examining the research: while most teens believe in a "God" of some sort, the "religion" they practice can best be summarized as moralistic therapeutic deism. This deity wants them to be good people, be happy, be nice to others, and will provide heavenly residence to all of these nice people. Although Dean didn't say it, my experience with young people (and most people in general) is that this admission includes everybody except some barbaric dictators from the past and certain terrorists living in certain regions of our world today. Other than that, everyone is in. But after talking about this trend in youth religious beliefs for a little while, Dean hit us hard...

Our youth practice MTD because that's what we teach them in the church! Ouch! We present a version of God that is general, that is not offensive, that is blatantly American, that tones down the Biblical narrative and/or skips that tough stuff (you know, like selling all your possessions, dying for our faith, pacifism, etc). That's rough. Especially because it's true. Even for a self-righteous guy like myself, I had to admit that that has been me on too many occassions. But she wasn't done dishing out the pain yet...

The reason, says Dean, that we teach students MTD is because we do not want them to really practice the faith. What?! Why wouldn't we want them to practice the Christian faith? This is where it hurts folks: because if they really started living into and out of a deep-seated faith in YHWH, it would be an indictment on the American church and how we live and move and find our being. We don't want them to live it out because we practice moralistic therapeutic deism and don't want to be called out into true faith. That sucks. And it sucks because it's true. And it sucks because there were more speakers to come who only made this stick out to me even more. But for that, you'll have to wait.

So what does this mean for the way I live and teach? A lot. But it's all very scary.

Two sidenotes from Dean at the convention: first of all, she talked about Nothing But Nets. I have added a link on this page (I've actually been adding a bunch of new links lately, so check them out!) and you should look into it because it is great and I am already looking into some crazy fund-raising ideas to do for it (outside the church, of course). Some friends and I were even allowed to sit in on some focus groups put on by Princeton/the UN to help think about how youth ministries can partner in all of this. Secondly, my friends and I disagreed about who said this because I thought Dean had, and they didn't, but somebody at the conference (maybe Tony Campolo?) mentioned the Biblical challenge to pray for our enemies and how they had gathered to pray for specific terrorists. How cool is that?! Oh boy, I am gonna get into some big trouble soon!!!

Peace,
Matt

Books: I have been reading... I read Heschel's The Prophets, along with The River Why by David James Duncan. It wasn't quite as good as The Brothers K, which is my second favorite book of all time, but it was still a great read. I also read Shaine Claiborne's The Irresistible Revolution, which was profoundly life-changing and will get it's own blog post, along with comments about his discussion time at the convention, very soon. Also, this morning I finished Martin Luther King's book Why We Can't Wait. What can I say, except that I feel cheated every time I think of his untimely death. And I highly doubt George W. would have honored him like he recently did, if King were still alive. Lastly, right now I am reading Jurgen Moltmann's God in Creation, which will likely take a long time, because it is rich, thick, profound, and challenging.

Matt is Back!

I'm back from the YS conference in North Carolina. I want to blog a little bit about it, but until then I thought I'd at least add this little link, explaining why Mars Hill Church in Seattle is a fundamentalist church, not in fact an emerging church. 'Bout time somebody said it.

Peace,
Matt

Let it snow

Last night I got back into town from the wonderful city that is Yakima, WA. And to welcome me properly, the skies began to drop a large amount of white goodness: snow. I love it. The picture above I took while on a short hike just outside of Yakima. It's the sun beginning to set behind the Cascades and Mount Rainier, though both are covered by clouds. Just use your imagination.

Peace,
Matt

Reads: A while back I forgot to mention that I read The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. Right now I'm just finishing up Marcus Borg's Jesus: A New Vision. The fact that I agree with 90% of it is a little bit disturbing to me, considering what most people say about him. I'll have to get back to you on that one...

Two Prayers for this Day and Week

Jesus, I desire to start this day with you. And yet, my mind keeps flitting to so many things: the projects I want to accomplish, the people I want to talk to, the people I wish I didn't have to talk to.
I wonder. Are these things distractions to spiritual concentration or invitations to see God in the ordinary? I'm not sure. Jesus, I know that you are the Center who knows no distraction. So I offer up my mental fragmentation to you, O Lord my God. May my scatteredness become your gatheredness. As I'm contemplating a thousand things, Jesus, may I somehow be contemplating you.
-Richard Foster

Listen, GOD! P lease pay attention!
Can you make sense of these ramblings,
my groans and cries?
King-God, I need your help.
Every morning
you'll hear me at it again.
Every morning
I lay out the pieces of my life
on your altar
and watch for fire to descend.
-Psalm 5 (Message)

Peace,
Matt

Mark Driscoll: Pride of the Northwest

So I'd be lying not to say that Mark Driscoll makes me ashamed to call myself a Christian sometimes. Recently he stepped over the line again in another declaration of learned ignorance, and I'm glad to see he's being called out on it in a bigger way than usual.

A Prayer from Richard Foster

Let me enter your heart, O God.
Let me see what breaks your heart.
Let my heart be broken too.
Amen.

Random Links, Thoughts, Etc...

These are just some things that have been running through my life lately...

What is most frustrating to me this week is the fact the George W. restarted the School of the Americas and nobody in the US even blinked. If you don't know what this "school" is for, I'll fill you in quickly. The SOA is a military training camp in Georgia. At this camp we train Latin/South American men to kill, torture, and brutalize, then send them back to their home countries to do just that. Besides nuking Japan, it's probably one of the most shameful things in our past (and that's even including slavery). So right now you are probably wondering why the hell we would restart such an evil program. The answer is simple: our neighbors to the south are turning to the left again. US business interests need right-wing governments down there so we can get rich off the backs of the people, so we are going to have to eliminate democracy and bring back the good ol' days of massive "disappearances," burning of villages, raping of nature, women and children, and of course displacements of whole people groups. Not to mention violent of overthrows of democratically elected persons by the government of the one nation that claims to desire nothing less than the spread of freedom and democracy across the world. Golly gee, who doesn't want to get excited about this one! For more info, you can check out the SOA Watch link on my sidebar.

Another interesting website that has been of great interest to me lately is Naomi Klein's No Logo site. I thought about linking one article, but every single one she writes is great and extremely relevant to what is going on today.

There is a great new (or at least new to me) satirical website called The Church You Know. Watch some of the videos and see if you don't think it's brilliant. Of course the people who need to see this will probably get nothing from it, but I love it all the same.

Also, I'm glad to see this Christian Vision Project coming to life. It's far from being a deeply theological movement, but it is a step in the right direction for evangelicals trying to find a voice in the missional church movement.

Peace,
Matt

Currently Reading (and loving): The Trinity and the Kingdom by Jurgen Moltmann. This is his fourth book I've read, but also probably my favorite yet. It is brilliant, beautiful, and still needs to be engaged with and talked about now, 26 years after it was written. I think I might blog a bit about it in the coming week or two. But either way, you need to check it out.

A Glorious Week Brings Some Questions

Having no desire to gloat, nor to declare myself a member of the democratic party, I am nonetheless very excited about the departure of one our government's biggest facists/neocons, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld. It's great to see a swing in power within the halls of government as well, though I know better than to base my hopes on such things. Especially with George W. still in power for another two years.

So here is where I'm at with these news items in mind. It has been brought to my attention that we (as in, the Western church) look too often to government to bring about the Kingdom of God. I agree. And plead guilty to the charge. So how much involvement should the Church have in politics? Or structures of power in general? Yes, I believe we should definitely vote. But what about lobbying people in power to push for certain laws that are Biblically-based? Or trying to persuade friends to vote in ways that agree more with Biblical ethics? And what about being a Christian running for political office?

I used to think these questions were easily answerable, but no longer. God's work is done through God, who works through us when we lay down our rights/power and give it all to Him. So if we are trying to work through government, are we allowing God to work through our weakness, or are we seeking power as a way to personally advance God's kingdom? I feel like this is inappropriate for us to do, yet feel like the church is still called to have a prophetic voice when it comes to speaking truth into our culture. But how can we call a culture to follow God's call, when it does not believe in Him? Feels like a catch-22.

Any (thoughtful) thoughts?

Peace,
Matt

Just Read: Powers, Weakness, and the Tabernacling of God by Marva J. Dawn. Years ago I read her book about Sabbath, which was good. But this book was brilliant. She dealt with biblical concepts of power and weakness, took on Jaques Ellul and Walter Wink, and basically called the church out on its blatant hypocrisy and idolatry. Read this book.

Christianity in a nutshell???

This morning I arrived at work and noticed an Awana 24-7 ministries booklet and found myself flipping through it. This pleasant little children's workbook was all about one of the important things a child apparently needs to live a life of faith: doctrine. Near the beginning, 1 Timothy 4:13 and 16 are quoted, after which it says the following; "he [Paul] was talking about the power of God that would save Timothy from falling into sin and error - if he continued holding onto correct doctrine."

So what is this "correct doctrine" that kids need to learn so God can save them? For one thing "God is the truth [and] only truth brings certainty. God's truth is given to us in His Word" To paraphrase, this means we need to read the Bible and gain certainty from our reading. If we don't, does that then mean we have not experienced God? But I digress. It goes on to state that God is omnipotent, eternal, immutable, omnipresent, triune, and sovereign. Funny how most of these words are not in the Bible, which is of course where they claim all truth lies... Beyond that, is God really immutable or omnipotent? I'm not absolutely certain. Guess I don't read the Bible enough... And what about the fact that God is love? I guess love isn't as important as words referring to power and strength. Sounds pretty American to me.

And then there's Jesus. Actually, that's not entirely true. Then there's the death of Jesus. The gospels are not quoted once in the chapter on Jesus. All that is mentioned is how his death gets us into Heaven. Sounds like a pretty full teaching of the Gospel to me. And after this death? The Holy Spirit arrives, who apparently comes only to keep us from sinning and strenghening our faith, but not for any sort of mission. Darn it all, this sounds almost too good to be true (yes, that is sarcasm)!

I don't even want to talk about the angels/satan chapter. It honestly made me want to vomit. As does the humanity chapter. Ad the chapter on salvation? Well, apparently salvation is all about going to heaven after you die.

There is a pretty decent chapter on the Church though. For a kid, I think it's probably a good teaching, though far from complete.

Then we get to the section that really set me off; The Future. What does "The Bible" say God has in store for us? It depends who "us" is referring to? If by us you mean Christians, we get to be raptured before the tribulation! Yippee! As for everyone else, they get to experience the tribulation, in which the Antichrist and Satan rule the earth (my antichrist money is on either George W or Tim Lahaye, but we'll just have to wait and see). And after this, of course, Jesus will reign on earth for 1,000 years, kick Satan's booty, and then take everyone he likes to heaven, which is somewhere up in the sky, and sends everyone on his naughty list to hell, which "is a place of constant, conscious torment," where you feel like you are on fire "over your entire body forever with no releif in site." So live by faith. Then do some crossword puzzles at the end of the book, and you are set up to be a Christian for life.

The reason I rip apart this curriculum, which was designed for kids, is that this is what a lot of the adults I know believe. And when these kids reject their faith, they may not even know that the faith they are rejecting isn't faith at all! If this is Christianity in a nutshell, count me out. Consider me the rodent who's job is to bury the nut and move on to something better. Or crack it open and take out the good bits, leaving the rest to decompose as it should.

Peace,
Matt

Currently Reading: Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God by Gordon D. Fee.

Mennonites and Mining

The Mennonite Central Committee is a very impressive group of people living out their faith in some very practical but important ways. I've been impressed by their worldwide efforts in the past, and was happy to read about their recent efforts to fight destructive mining habits within the U.S. Between that and the British announcement about global warming (unfortunately it was economically rather than humanitarianly based, but what else is new in the terrible world of capitalism), I'm feeling rather upbeat about being an agent for change today. Add into the mix the nasty moustache I grew for my Halloween outfit, and I would have to say that I am feeling invincible!

Happy Halloween, you heathens!
Matt

New Movie

This new Dixie Chicks movie looks pretty interesting. Check out the trailer!

Peace,
Matt

Reads: Recently read Camus' The Stranger, and am currently reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.

Finding Truth in our Stories

This was a great quote in Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue that I think can really speak to the Christian life as well as life in general:

"Man is in his actions and practice, as well as in his fictions, essentially a story-telling animal. He is not essentially, but becomes through his history, a teller of stories that aspire to truth. But the key question for men is not about their own authorship; I can only answer the question 'What am I to do?' if I can answer the prior question 'Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?'"

I know I'm a decade (or even decades) late in announcing this sort of thing, but we still need to recognize that we are involved in a grand narrative written by God. We have to find our spot in a mixture of stories all corresponding in the here and now. I believe this includes everything from the garden in Genesis to the Reformation, from 1776 to 9/11. The difficulty is in bringing a plethora of stories together and trying to bring coherence to all of them. But I think the more stories we recognize and inhabit, the more we move into some form of truth. Then the question becomes 'how do we live in community with people who all live into many of the same stories, but also many different ones?'

Does that make sense? Any thoughts?

Peace,
Matt

Recently Read: John Adams by David McCullough and Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. Last night I read Chris Seay (and friends') new book The Dust off their Feet and found it to be a complete let down. I really don't even know what else to say about it.

Currently Reading: Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. I've also been slowly reading through Richard Foster's Prayers from the Heart which is a great prayer book!

A Prayer From Richard Foster

Praying this prayer this morning felt more open and honest than anything that could come out of my own mind, though I think something similar was already in my heart...



"Spirit of the living God, be the Gardener of my soul. For so long I have been waiting, silent and still - experiencing a winter of the soul. But now, in the strong name of Jesus Christ, I dare to ask:
Clear away the dead growth of the past,
Break up the hard clods of custom and routine,
Stir in the rich compost of vision and challenge,
Bury deep in my soul the implanted Word,
Cultivate and water and tend my heart,
Until new life buds and opens and flowers.
Amen."



Peace,
Matt

Recently Read: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, On Christian Liberty by Martin Luther, The Call to Discipleship by Karl Barth, and Night by Elie Wiesel. I've also read a massive load of Yoder articles, speaches, outlines, etc in the past few weeks and plan to read more in the coming weeks.

Currently Reading: After Virtue by Alasdair C. MacIntyre.

Seeking Peace

Last week I took part in a march right here in Bellingham celebrating the International Day of Peace. It was great to be a part of such a great group of people. I will say that it seemed a little more negative than last year's march, which involved more singing than chanting/yelling. It was still peaceful, but more in actions than words. Maybe all these years of Bush have had an even worse impact than I even realized, where the idealistic and hopeful are running out of both. Not that I'm very good at having either, but I like to borrow both from those who have them. May God give us hope, inspiration, and peace.

Peace,
Matt

Welcome Back, Mr. Lennon

If you haven't already heard about it, coming hopefully to every major city in the US is this documentary, The U.S. vs John Lennon. As a massive Beatles fan, I'm pretty excited. As a blatantly anti-war, peace-lover, I am extremely excited. Watch the trailer, and have your hopes rekindled, knowing there are still people in this world who believe in the right to life for all people.

Peace,
Matt

Currently Reading: East of the Mountains by David Guterson.

United Nations Gets Rowdy

So Chavez is a bit wild, but boy is he willing to speak up when needed.

The Danger of Being Black and White

So between the Pope's harmful words on Islam, and George W.'s insistence that there is a new revival beginning in America, I'm a feeling a bit more pessimistic than usual. Beyond the fact that George is becoming known as torturer-in-chief, not to mention Germany also going right-wing and electing some more nazis, there is the problem of being black and white.

When I read what W said, my biggest problem with it, beyond the pure arrogance dripping from all of it, was the way certain people were labeled as "evil-doers," implying in the process that we are a force for good. And now he sees his war of terror as a major source of Christian revival in our country. It may be, though it is not a form of Christianity I would want anything to do with. It is more like Zoroastrianism mixed with Platonism than it is Christianity. Between the Pope's words and George's actions, what choice does a non-Westerner have but to hate us?

Life is not black and white. The second you try to label somebody, you have already failed in understanding them or God. I do believe we are all fallen. I also believe we are created in God's image and redeemed by Jesus. So we are all evil, as well as good. To be blunt about all of it, I think labeling another human being shows at minimum a disregard for Jesus and his teachings, if not an outright hatred of God and what he is doing and has done in our world.

Why do we have such a hard time seeing the log in our own eye? How do we move away from the arrogant faith that so many of us have allowed Christianity to become? I wonder the men above, but even more so for myself. I see so many problems, but that is always so much easier than living out the solutions. Lord help us.

Peace,
Matt

Currently Reading: Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut and Exiles by Michael Frost. Though very different, they are also very similar, and not surprisingly, wonderful to read.

My Book Love

I like to read. I read constantly. I wake up hours earlier than I need to every morning so I can read. I don't have cable so I can have more time to read. At night, I read to my wife in bed. After she's asleep, I grab my booklight and read some more. I really like to read.

And I will read nearly anything. It's not that it doesn't matter. It's more like there is so much to see and discover and I'm becoming more and more interested in all of it! The other night I learned some history of Java and Morocco! How often do you get to hear about that? This morning I was reading about what it was like to grow up Catholic in England in the late 1950's. Again, what a fascinating subject, but how often do you hear about something like that? So I read fiction, children's lit, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, poetry... I really love theology, biblical studies, and church books, but I try not to limit myself to blatantly Christian books (though I do read a fair amount of "heretical" stuff as well).

Of course, books aren't everything. I still enjoy my fair share of magazines, newspapers, and do not consider myself above reading a good comic book even.

So why do I read all of this craziness?

I feel a lot like Whitman, wanting to suck the marrow out of life. In Jared Diamond's book Collapse he explains how societies who were on the verge of collapsing would break open the bones of the animals they ate so they could also consume the marrow inside the bones. This basically meant they were starving and needed every last bit of food possible. I think I'm starving for more as well. I want the "view from manywhere," to see the world both through my own eyes, but also through the eyes of as many people as possible. There is so much to be gained through the mad ramblings of Nietzsche, or the tedious scholarship of Jared Diamond, or the poetic visions of St John of the Cross. Why limit yourself to one subject and miss out on the musings of Clifford Geertz, the pessimistic optimism of Kurt Vonnegut, or the war ravaged mind of Tim O'Brien? I would love to slow down and savor every word of every one of my heroes, but there is to much to be gained for me to not currently choose bulk and obsession. I'm starving for more and am going for the marrow yet again.

Peace,
Matt

Currently Reading: Father Joe by Tony Hendra, Islam Observed by Clifford Geertz, and Erring by Mark C. Taylor. In the last few days I also finished Nietzsche's The Anti-Christ and A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut. Oh, and I read the newest issue of Mother Jones magazine, as well as three older editions of Rolling Stone (with some great interviews with Bob Dylan and Kurt Vonnegut, among others).

Radio Shack is Evil

Okay, maybe that's a bit of a stretch. If you hadn't heard the news yet, Radio Shack just laid off a large amount of employees... by e-mail! After high school I worked for Incredible Universe, a lame store that was owned by the Tandy Corporation, the same company that is now remembered for making very crummy computers, and also owns Radio Shack. When the store went out of business, they promised all of the employees severance pakages if they stayed the remaining six months that the store would be open. What they failed to mention was that over half of those employed there were on "seasonal" contracts and would not be receiving the package, even though all of us had stayed on well past the holiday season. When I uncovered this and confronted the powers that be (and this is no joke), the store managers told me I could get a severance package as long as I didn't tell anybody else about it. I thought about it for about 5 minutes, then told every single employee in the store. It was beautiful.

And I still received a severance package (though it was half what it was supposed to be), along with every other employee.

That was my first experience dealing with the evils of corporate America, and is why I lean against shopping at Radio Shack, and other well-known exploiters of labor (yes, I know it severely limits the shopping I can do). So thanks for listening to my story, and please boycott Radio Shack, who can't afford to take the time to talk to employees before laying them off, but still managed to climb in the stock market yesterday.

Peace,
Matt

Still reading Jared Diamond's Collapse. I'm close to done, but am sick and have been watching movies instead, including Why We Fight, which is a great documentary on the American Military Industrial Complex. And of course tonight I will be glued to my TV watching season three of Arrested Development.

Back with Quotes!

Well, I'm back. I might try to throw up a pic or two from either my mission excursion or my Texan vacation. For now, I'll just throw out a small tidbit of conversation I read in The Name of the Rose. I had no idea how good of a book it would be; and on so many levels! Anyways, here's a bit of discussion between Adso (the narrarator) and William (the "detective" and elder of the two):

“But then…” I ventured to remark, “you are still far from the solution…”
“I am very close to one,” William said, “but I don’t know which.”
“Therefore you don’t have a single answer to your questions?”
“Adso, if I did I would teach theology in Paris.”
“In Paris do they always have the true answers?”
“Never,” William said, “but they are very sure of their errors.”
“And you,” I said with childish impertinence, “never commit errors?”
“Often,” he answered. “But instead of conceiving only one, I imagine many, so I become the slave of none.”

Peace,
Matt

Reads: The Name of the Rose, A Consumer's Republic, The Symposium (by Plato), and am almost done with Jarred Diamond's book Collapse. My nerdiness is at an all-time high.

Where has Matt been?

For the few who check this blog on a regular basis, or just drop in from time to time, you may have noticed less entries than usual. That has to do with my lack of computer access as of late. I spent the last 9 days in San Francisco with 16 high school students. We worked with CSM doing urban missions, which was a great opportunity for them and eye-opening for myself as I continue to wonder what God might have in store for me in the years to come.

Also, I am leaving this coming Thursday for a much needed vacation and won't be back until late August! Of all places I am going to Texas... but it is a secluded, beautiful part of the strange state to the south. I will be spending my mornings with 100's of deer and cheap coffee, the daytime sitting in a deep, slow moving river with a Corona in hand, and the nights sitting on the front porch reading books. How blissful is that picture?

On a nerdier note, I did manage to recently read Nietzsche's Twighlight of the Idols, as well as a book called Nietzsche in 90 Minutes. I got a library card yesterday and put it to use with the latter book. While I'm away I plan to listen to David Guterson's Our Lady of the Forest (which I checked-out in audio books from the library). I read his wonderful story Snow Falling on Cedars nine years ago and am hoping this one is as great. Also, I'm bringing Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose (also from the library) and Aldous Huxley's Eyeless in Gaza (thrift store, not library). I also borrowed A Consumer's Republic from a friend, but can't seem to find it so I may not be reading it. In other words, I have chosen some non-theological reading for my vacation, even though Amazon just pulled through with some amazing books for me in the last two weeks... Okay, I'm a total nerd. Have a great week and a half and I'll hopefully be up and posting more randomness in the coming weeks!

Peace,
Matt

A News Link

Here is a small bit of reality concerning what is happening in the Middle East. I don't get TV news, so it's the first bit of video I saw concerning Israel's bombing campaign. So sad.

Peace,
Matt

Postmodern Tillich?

I'm glad to see many new Christian thinkers are engaging with some Mennonite thinkers. Now I'm hoping they'll start looking at Tillich and realizing how important he is for what the faith is going through today. This quote is from the introduction of Paul Tillich's The Protestant Era. It starts off slow, but is worth reading through to the end. I can't help but think that Tillich was pointing to the shift in the church that is becoming more apparent today than when he wrote this in 1948.

"The Protestant principle is not the Protestant reality; and the question had to be asked as to how they are related to one another, how the life of the Protestant churches is possible unter the criterion of the Protestant principle, and how a culture can be influenced and transformed by Protestantism... In every answer suggested [in Tillich's book], the need for a profound transformation of religious and cultural Protestantism is indicated. It is not impossible that at some future time people will call the sum total of these transformations the end of the Protestant era. But the end of the Protestant era is, according to the basic distinction between the Protestant principle and Protestant reality, not the end of Protestantism. On the contrary, it may be the way in which the Protestant principle must affirm itself in the present situation. The end of the Protestant era is not the return to the Catholic era and not even, although much more so, the return to early Christianity; nor is it the step to a new form of secularism. It is something beyond all these forms, a new form of Christianity to be expected and prepared for, but not yet to be named. Elements of it can be described but not the new structure that must and will grow; for Christianity is final only in so far as it has the power of criticizing and transforming each of its historical manifestations; and just this power is the Protestant principle."

Better than any of this, Tillich asks and answers some questions that would be good for today's emerging church to hear and think about: "How can a spiritual Gestalt [structure] live if its principle is the protest against itself? How can critical and formative power be united in the reality of Protestantism? The answer is: In the power of the New Being that is manifest in Jesus as the Christ. Here the Protestant principle comes to an end."

The role of Protestantism is to criticize and transform, to be critical and formative. For some, like myself, the challenge then is to not just gripe, but to dream of new ways of being the church, God's people. As new creations, citizens of God's kingdom transformed by the redeeming work of our trinitarian God, we have moved into a "New Being" and through the power of Jesus Christ can begin to work those dreams out. This is the most evangelical I've ever heard Tillich sound, but he's got a point. Change must continue to happen, and it must come only through the power of our Lord. Like Michel Foucault, who promised to challenge the existing authority structures even if the one he was pushing for came into power, we have to continue to challenge what is there, dreaming of and building something better. If we continue to follow the status quo, we will never be anything but status quo.

Your thoughts?

Peace,
Matt

Recently read The Alchemist Paul Coelho, and am currently reading The Protestant Era by Paul Tillich (obviously), and Deadline by Randy Alcorn, which is pretty good when he isn't getting too distracted by his massive evangelical biases.

An Example of God at Work

I found this blog totally by accident yesterday. It is sad but amazing at the same time; a couple recovering after the husband's sexual wanderings. It is a hope inspiring thing to see redemption acted out before us. Personally I thought it was honoring that she would share her journey with us.

Peace,
Matt

Currently Reading: Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano. It's awesome. Of course, that's not surprising since it is Kurt Vonnegut... Everyone should be required to read at least one of his books in their lifetime.

Great Article by Martin Accad

Check out this amazing article by Martin Accad on what is going on in Lebanon! I can't believe Christianity Today would allow such a great piece!

Peace,
Matt

The Great Giveaway

I bought The Great Giveaway yesterday, and wasn't really able to start reading it until late last night. But then I couldn't put it down! I barely slept at all last night because I just wanted to read this book! This book gives Frost and Hirsch's The Shaping of Things to Come a run for its money!

As somebody who is now working in his second mega-church job, this book makes a lot of sense. And it is healthier than most critiques; it points out problems, looks at the roots of said problems, then has helpful (even Biblical!) suggestions on what to do about it! Best of all, he looks to the best sources for help: Mennonites, real postmodern thinkers (Foucault, Derrida, etc, rather than Christian wannabes), and of course, Hauerwas. What more could you ask for?

To make it short - buy this book. Read it immediately. Then read it again. Then give it to somebody who needs to read it, even though we both know it will offend them. This book calls us out and it is about time somebody did. I'd put a quote from it here, but there are way too many good ones to choose from!

I hope my massive amount of exclamation points shows how good it is. Perhaps I'll come back with more direct thoughts about the whole book when I finish it. I'm only half done, but still would wholeheartedly recommend it.

Peace,
Matt

Cancer

NPR is currently running a series called "My Cancer." Since cancer is currently causing a tremendously terrible situation in my family, I find it helpful to read/hear stories from all over the board on the issue. I guess it's the solidarity that's nice. So many people have been hurt by it, be they family members, friends, survivors or victims.

I typically keep this blog from being very personal, but if you read this, please pray for my dad as he continues to fight. This is definitely the most difficult thing I've ever faced in my life, and obviously it's even harder on him.

Peace,
Matt

George W

Oh George, your brilliance astounds me yet again.

Paradise Now

I watched the movie Paradise Now last night. It had been sitting around my house for the past two weeks because I haven't been up to watching anything that intense until last night. I just have to say it was an amazing, well made movie. If you care at all about what is going on in the world today, you must watch this movie. It is the story of two Palestinian friends who basically get called up (to use baseball terminology) as suicide bombers. Although you only see things from their side, I thought the movie was balanced as you followed these two men around the strange place they call home.

I continue to hope that Americans will begin to really look into what the modern nation of Israel has become and gain a better view of it than the one they have from a poor reading of the Old Testament. Israel, our ally, continues to this day to commit major attrocities (just read the papers). Watch this movie. Or read Naim Ateek's book, Justice, and only Justice to see Palestinian liberation theology in action and gain a hopeful attitude about how things can yet be worked out in one small part of the turbulent Middle East.

Peace,
Matt

Just Read: Leslie Newbigin's Foolishness to the Greeks. I honestly think it is a much more important book than The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. Newbigin is more direct in this book, and very challenging. A must read.

War Crimes are Subjective...and Jurgen Moltmann has a say

Israel bombed Beirut yesterday (as well as Gaza, as usual) killing 36 civilians. The civilian deaths weren't surprising, considering Israel was bombing civilian targets. Luckily the US stood up for what is right...by condemning Hezbollah. Of course with the war crimes the US is currently committing everywhere, I guess we have no option but to support Israels raw agression. What a sad state of affairs we are witnessing today.

"Heavenly Father,
it is time for you to come,
for our time is running out
and our world is passing away.
You gave us life, one with another,
and we have destroyed it in conflict.
You made your creation in harmony and balance.
We want progress, and are perishing through our strivings for it.
Come, Creator of all things,
and renew the face of the earth.
In our unhappiness give us hope for your day,
the day when we can laugh in peace with all created beings,
and praise you to all eternity.

Lord Jesus Christ,
our brother on our way.
Give peace to our enemies.
Take from us our fear of death.
Make us ready to walk beside you
and to love our enemies.
We hope for your kingdom
as we hope for peace.
Come, Lord Jesus, come soon.

Holy Spirit,
we know you as power from on high
and as consolation in the depths.
We cry to you,
and you respond within us.
We fall silent,
and you speak for us with your yearning.
Come, Creator Spirit,
give us dreams of peace
and visions of freedom.
Make us inconsolable when they are betrayed.
Console us when they are disappointed.

God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, triune God:
unite with yourself your torn and divided world,
and let us all be one in you,
for it is in you that we all live and move and have our being."

-Jurgen Moltmann, 1981

Peace,
Matt

Recent Reads: Operating Instructions by Anne Lammott, The Transforming Vision by Brian Walsh and Richard Middleton, and The Truth about the Truth by Walter Truett Anderson. Anderson's book is a great introduction to postmodern thought (rather than just another lame Christian view on it). I am currently reading Jurgen Moltmann's The Power of the Powerless, which is where the prayer above comes from.

The Trade

I found myself inside a massive concrete shell
lit by glass tubes, with air pumped in, with
levels joined by moving stairs.

It was full of the things that were bought and made
in the twentieth century. Layed out in trays
or shelves

The throngs of people of that century, in their style,
clinging garb made on machines,

Were trading all their precious time
for things.

-Gary Snyder

Woe Is Me

My wife and I made a very conscious decision when we got married 6 years ago: we did not need television. But in the last few weeks all I hear about is the World Cup, and now I hear that the Tour de France has started up and the win is up for grabs!!! It's almost enough to get me to call up the cable people. Woe is me!

Poor Advertising

How funny is this article that Relevant.com linked to? What makes it funny, beyond the fact that somebody's Dell laptop exploded during use, is the fact that at the bottom of the page there are advertisements for... you guessed it, Dell laptops! Enjoy!

Peace,
Matt

Recently Read: I forgot to mention some books I read, specifically Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, which was as worth all the hype, and Jim Collins' monograph, Good to Great for the Social Sectors, which was an okay read. I was very interested, but then realized how little he really said in it...

Faith in Mother Jones Magazine

I am a subscriber to Mother Jones magazine, which could be described as somewhat radical, liberal, and typically non-Christian. This month's issue just arrived the other day, and I was surprised by the fact that most of the main articles mentioned Christians. Sometimes it was in a negative sense, but not always. Anyways, I thought these would be good discussion starters...

As a sidenote before starting, it was interesting to see a short article on the Ma Jones website concerning Jim Wallis and the Sojourners gang and their newest good works. Good to see they are getting the recognition they deserve. Of course, their One Nation Under God article goes quickly the other way in pointing out the massive amounts of hypocrisy in the American church, as Christians in their Mercedes and SUV's push to establish the Kingdom of God through right wing political agendas. Ouch.

So on to the magazine itself. The first article deals with a politically active Spanish language radio host named Eduardo Sotelo, who was huge in stopping the DC politicians from making undocumented immigrants into felons. Pretty cool guy, it seems to me. Of course, the magazine describes his actions as his SUV approaches a crowd of people. He bows his head, offers a short, audible prayer, then immediately autographs a woman's chest for her. What do you do with that?

Or how about the Reverend John Rausch, who sits in the Appalacians trying to stop coal miners from tearing down every Kentucky mountain. Can Christians begin having a voice in the fight to save the environment, or do we even have a right? Why do we sit on one side or the other, saving souls or saving lives/the world? What would it look like for us to embrace the full meaning of salvation in this day and age?

Of course there is also an article on Fred Phelps' Baptist group who show up at funerals for soldiers with signs that say "Thank God for Dead Soldiers." I'm against war and still have to say that is nuts. Especially their reasoning for the protests, which is that the dead troops are being punished by God for "America's tolerance of homosexuality." What?!

Now for the really wild stuff. In JoAnn Wypijewski's article, The Way of All Flesh, she describes in detail a Christian sex website. Apparently two Texas pastors (a husband and wife team) have started this site that offers advise for Christians, telling exactly what is and is not permissible in the Christian wedding bed, and offering advice on how to please your mate. The sad thing is that while reading this, I realized that even though more Christians are starting to discover that sex isn't a bad thing, they are still obsessed with rules rather than faith (apparently the site is very explicit about the exact things that are sins and not - depending on your thoughts at the time, what the toys resemble, etc...). Honestly, to me it just made our whole faith look pathetic, even before the author began editorializing how Christians are making strides forward but still leave singles, teens, and homosexuals out of the loop. Not a very good article for us...

And then there is Charles Taylor, the "butcher of Liberia," who may finally be going on trial. An evil man like many of the men who have come to power in Africa in the last century. Of course, he is also a born again, Christian according to his own words, a believing Baptist. What do you do with that? And can we see the log in our own eyes while we're noticing the (very large) chip in his?

After all of this, we get to an article on in vitro fertilization. We quickly learn in the article about a woman who wass refused insemination at two different places because she is a lesbian. What should a Christian response be, especially after yesterday's headline claiming scientists may have found some scientific reasons for homosexuality in some men? Who decides who should have a child? And where does it stop? There's a lot of baggage in that controversey, and sooner or later we'll have to wade into it.

Speaking of reproduction, what do we do with leftover embryo's after IVF has worked? As it turns out, nobody knows or wants to really figure it out. According to the MJ article, Souls on Ice, it isn't just Christians who are disturbed at the thought of destroying unused embryos. The majority of the rightful owners of embryos seem to find themselves in a moral quandry, as they don't want to have more kids, don't want to sell the embryos and later see twins of their children running around who are ten years younger, but also cannot deal with the thought of destroying them. But of course the dilemma is that if these are treated as human life, which many are claiming they are, the abortion debate is influenced. And not surprisingly, everyone has an opinion on that. What to do, what to do...

Last, and best. An article called Rock the Junta. Apparently the only people challenging the status quo in the repressive, Orwellian nation of Myanmar (formerlly Burma) are the members of a Christian heavy metal band called Iron Cross. In a country where imprisonment and death are commonplace for even the slightest hint of rebellion, these young men pour out passionate music that draws in massive crowds of young people and keep the government on their toes. The best thing is that their lyrics are subversive, and the only people who can afford to go to the shows are the kids of government employees. In other words, they are influencing the youth who will one day be in power, which just might be enough to provide the Myanmar people with hope for a better future.

I don't know if anybody will read all of this, or even care, but I thought it was wild how much impact (good and bad) we seem to be having on the world around us. I guess the big thought is that we really are being watched. So the question is, what are we representing?

Peace,
Matt

Currently Reading: Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene Peterson. It's a great book (not surprising).

Score one for the PNW

Apparently Seattle is the most literate city in the U.S. I don't know what that says about those of us 1 hour north, but I'll take it as a sign of all around brilliance for those of us in northwest Washington. In your face Minneapolis and Doug Pagitt!

Moltmann on Mission

Mission is taking part in the messianic sending of Jesus and as such taking part int the people, with which he so much identified himself, to the extent that mission stands as a representative for him: 'Whoever visits them, visits me.' Therefore this mission should neither bring the people again into the church nor the church into the people, but rather discover the church of the people and live the brotherhood of Jesus in the brotherhood of 'the least of these.'

This happens best in and through basic communities and groups which live intensively with the gospel and their neighbors and which come together in prayer and in the breaking of bread. This can lead to a break with the churches as we know them up to now. But it cannot lead to a break with Jesus. The church of the people will then ask how it can become independent of the money, the programs, and the staffs of the missions of other churches. The talk of a "moratorium on Western missions" for the purpose of allowing the indigenous churches to become independent has...a kernel of truth: The indigenous, national churches should become the subject of their own history and therefore should become independent from other churches. The "world mission" should begin...

Participation is an expression of solidarity. When people have common goals, they work together. It is good to be engaged in this way. But in this common work people also criticize and correct each other. When we work in common with non-Christians for liberation, for human rights, and for the life of the people, the people must stand at the center in all of our commonality and in all of our mutual criticism - not as objects of our common efforts but as subjects of our common life. The functionary ideology and the staff mentality hinders this, for they seperate an elite from the people. It seems to me that the Christian community is singular in that it discovers Jesus in the people, and the people as the people of the kingdom. Before this community initiates programs and concludes historical alliances with other groups, it eats and drinks with the people and breaks the bread of poverty in the common hope... Participation means in the first place to eat, to drink, to live in common...

In conclusion my thesis is this: Hope in the struggle of the people is to be found in the people's becoming subjects of their own history. To take part in the community of Jesus means to take part in the history of the people and to rejoice with the people.

-Jurgen Moltmann, 1977

Peace,
Matt

Latest Book

I just finished reading Return to Babel yesterday. The book puts out different passages of the Bible, each of which is then commented on by somebody from South/Latin America, Africa, and Asia. I mostly picked it up because Walter Brueggemann wrote a good review on the back (I know, I'm a sucker for the Bruegg), and because Elsa Tamez wrote two of the commentaries. But I would have to say that it really opened up some texts for me in ways that no Western scholar ever could! I read different theologians who talk about the ways we can open up scripture for one another and how amazing a global body of Christ is, but it's in reading a book like this that it becomes reality for me. I am energized to pray for my brothers and sisters throughout the world, and to learn and grow from their wisdom.

As a sidenote, I also learned too much about the IMF. I knew it was sketchy, and typically pride myself on knowing about these sorts of things, but one chapter in particular painted it from the perspective of an oppressed Latin American, and altered my thinking dramatically in the process. The rich are getting richer off of somebody...

Peace,
Matt

Updates

FYI, I updated some links that were no longer working, such as Miroslav Volf's, which now goes to his Wikipidea page. Also changed Jurgen Moltmann's and Doug Pagitt's, as if you care. Lastly and most importantly, I added a link to the Mennonite Central Committee page, which is definitely worth checking out for a few minutes (or much longer).

Peace,
Matt

God is Active

"The Old Testament writings confine themselves to representing Jahweh's relationship to Israel and the world in one aspect only, namely as a continuing divine activity in history. This implies that in principle Israel's faith is grounded in a theology of history. It regards itself as based upon historical acts, and as shaped and re-shaped by factors in which it saw the hand of Jahweh at work... (106)

A world of religious concepts later systematically arranged is of course an abstraction, for such a thing never existed in Israel in so complete and universal a way... There were up and down the land many traditions which little by little combined into ever larger complexes of tradition. Theologically, these accumulations were in a state of constant flux. Religious thought cannot be seperated out from these traditions and represented thus in abstract. If we divorced Israel's confessional utterances from the divine acts in history which they so passionately embrace, what a bloodless ghost we would be left with! If, however, we put Israel's picture of her history in the forefront of our theological consideration, we encounter what appropriately is the most essential subject of a theology of the Old Testament, the living word of Jahweh coming on and on to Israel for ever, and this in the message uttered by his mighty acts. It was a message so living and actual for each moment that it accompanied her on her journey through time, interpreting itself afresh to every generation, and informing every generation what it had to do." (112)

These two quotes come from Volume 1 of Gerhard Von Rad's Old Testament Theology. Reading them reminded me that there is a reason the Bible does not include a systematic theology within it. We so strongly desire a god like the Greeks described that we forget the importance of the God of all gods, who walks among us and literally does life with us!

Currently I am reading Tom Sine's Mustard Seed vs. McWorld, in which he attacks current-day Christianity on the grounds of it being ruled by a dualistic version of discipleship (Plato; physical is bad, spiritual is good), modernity (Western progress, objective truth), and the American dream/nationalism (everything this blog stands against). So what does this have to do with Von Rad's quotes above? Everything.

I believe that the people who wrote the Bible were amazingly in touch with what was going on in the world around them. They saw God working through history right up to their current time in such a way that they could look around them and see what God was blessing, what God was allowing to thrive but would soon destroy, and what God was already dismantling in their world. These days we often assume God isn't extremely active in our world because he only cares about getting us into heaven (where we float on clouds and play harps). We don't really look for God working once we give up on any walk on water, part the seas, kinds of miracles happening around us. And of course, as rugged individualist Americans, we have taken it upon ourselves to push a "Christian" agenda on the world, tied closely with capitalism, materialism, and ignorance.

What Von Rad is challenging us to do is to get into the muck and mire of our world right here and now and see what God is doing. We are to look back on history, the past 1900 years included, and see how God has acted and continues to act. It's from this standpoint that we then describe God. Before we begin shouting his amazing attributes and systematically writing them down in 500-page treatises, we open our eyes and look around. We have our heads in the clouds too often, and really need to stop and look. I think every day we have to reinterpret who "God for us" really is today, and what it looks like to live in a relationship with him. God is active, and requires active participation to be with.

Jahweh is on the move. What is he doing in our time? What is he calling us to do?

Peace,
Matt

Two Quotes

"We don't negotiate with terrorists. I think you have to destroy them."
-Dick Cheney

"We don't mind offering you a long-term truce with fair conditions that we adhere to... There is no shame in this solution, which prevents the wasting of billions of dollars that have gone to those with influence and merchants of war in America."
-Osama Bin Laden

Peace,
Matt

Currently Reading: The Passion For Life by Jurgen Moltmann. It's supposedly more for the lay person, though I doubt all would think so. Nonetheless, it is not-surprisingly a wonderful little book!

6-6-06

Just an FYI for my few but loyal readers: I have not been raptured today.

Nobody seemed to be very worried about the date. Hollywood got excited about a new way to make money in the horror business, but that was about it. I am (slightly) hopeful that we are beginning to respect the Biblical authors a little bit more, especially John and his revelation, and realizing that they had more creativity than to just say, "hey, here's the date that the world ends." It's a nice change. Or am I too hopeful?

Peace,
Matt

Just Read: Humanity in God by Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel and Jurgen Moltmann. Not surprising, it was an amazing book.

Currently Reading: Contemplative Youth Ministry by Mark Yaconelli. I took a class at Mars Hill Graduate School with him that I would describe as life changing. The book ain't half bad either.

Time For The Prophets

So I finally received my copy of Gerhard Von Rad's Old Testament Theology a few days ago. Of course it is dense, crazy, and thoroughly German all-over. But it's also extremely thought-provoking. On page 64, referring to the formation of the state of Israel and the emergence of the prophets, he wrote this; "the emergence of the prophets is very closely connected with four data which were all prepared long in advance." So let's look at these now, because honestly I think we are more than ready for a prophetic emergence in our culture today!

First, there was "the degeneracy of Jahwism because of syncretism." A friend of mine was listening to a lecture the other day from Michael Frost, who claims that we have continually done church wrong since Constantine. I would agree, and would claim that sycretism is behind it. It's more than morality in the church, it's ethical. It has to do with taking bold, counter-cultural steps of faith rather than simply sinning less.

"The second was of a political nature, the systematic emancipation from Jahweh and the protection which it offered, due to the formation of the state." The state had "her armaments and alliances," and consequently did not need to trust Jahweh anymore, since she could trust her strength and wits instead. Does that sound like any countries you know?

Thirdly, the divide between the rich and the poor was growing at breakneck speeds, due specifically to taxation to keep the monarchy in power and powerful. Of course for the subsistence farmer this made mere subsisting more difficult and caused them to move from getting by to poverty levels, no doubt forcing them into an economic system that exploited them or else having to become slaves to their fellow Israelites. Of course our government and their big business friends have no relation to all of this...

The last development was the rise of other powerful nations. Israel grew strong during a time when there were no real superpowers in the world. But then Assyria grew to power, followed immediately by "neo-Babylon," then Babylon herself. The prophets saw God's judgment within the growing strength of these nations.

Could it be that God is raising up powers to humble our strong nation? The Puritans came here to be a city on the hill, but instead we have become a place of sycretism, where there can be rich Christians in a world of poverty and idolatrous views of nation and possessions are encouraged and welcomed in the church. We have the most powerful army in the world, no doubt to protect our massive amounts of wealth, never realizing the amount of fear and anxiety that are burried within our desire for a stronger military, not to mention our complete lack of faith or trust in God. It reveals our inability to even understand who God is and how he works.

As our "Christian" nation continues to exploit the people and resources of the world for itself, I wonder if God will begin raising up prophets right here. I wonder what will happen to them. I can't imagine that they'll be invited to the Presidential prayer breakfast...or the Willow Creek Leadership Summit...or even into most churches. But all the same, I believe that it is time for the prophets to reemerge.

Peace,
Matt

Currently Reading: Von Rad's Old Testament Theology, Volume I.

One More Poem from John of the Cross

Without a place and with a place
to rest-living darkly with no ray
of light-I burn my self away.

My soul-no longer bound-is free
from the creations of the world;
above itself it rises hurled
into a life of ecstasy,
leaning only on God. The world
will therefore clarify at last
what I esteem of highest grace:
my soul revealing it can rest
without a place and with a place.

Although I suffer a dark night
in mortal life, I also know
my agony is slight, for though
I am in darkness without light,
a clear heavenly life I know;
for love gives power to my life,
however black and blind my day,
to yield my soul, and free of strife
to rest-living darkly with no ray.

Love can perform a wondrous labor
which I have learned internally,
and all the good or bad in me
takes on a penetrating savor,
changing my soul so it can be
consumed in a delicious flame.
I feel it in me as a ray;
and quickly killing every trace
of light-I burn my self away.

St. John of the Cross

I read this the other day in the poems of St. John of the Cross and for some reason these few lines really stuck out to me. Enjoy!


I gave my soul to him
and all the things I owned were his:
I have no flock to tend
nor any other trade
and my one ministry is love.

If I'm no longer seen
following sheep about the hills
say that I am lost, that
wandering in love I let
myself be lost and then was won.


Peace,
Matt

Currently Reading: The Poems of St. John of the Cross (obviously), though I have a different translation than the one linked here (bought it at a thriftstore, not surprising if you know me at all). I'm still waiting very impatiently for my used copy of Gerhard Von Rad's Old Testament Theology to show up in the mail. It's gonna be great!

The Alien Amongst Us

"Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt."
Exodus 22:21

"Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt."
Exodus 23:9

"Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God."
Leviticus 19:10

"When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God."
Leviticus 19:33-34

"You are to have the same law for the alien and the native-born. I am the LORD your God."
Leviticus 24:22

"...the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants."
Leviticus 25:23

"The community is to have the same rules for you and for the alien living among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the alien shall be the same before the LORD. The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the alien living among you."
Numbers 15:15-16

"He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt."
Deuteronomy 10:18-19

"And rejoice before the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, the Levites in your towns, and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows living among you."
Deuteronomy 16:11

"Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns...Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge...When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands."
Deuteronomy 24:14, 17, 19

"Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien."
Deuteronomy 27:19

"The LORD watches over the alien."
Psalm 146:9

"This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place."
Jeremiah 22:3

"'In whatever tribe the alien settles, there you are to give him his inheritance,' declares the Sovereign LORD."
Ezekiel 47:23

"'So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,' says the LORD Almighty."
Malachi 3:5


Okay, okay, I know that was a lot of Bible verses, and most people will probably just skip over half of them. The point, though, is that the Bible obviously has something to say about caring for the alien in our presence. It is a no-brainer in my book and I am eagerly waiting to hear somebody tell me otherwise!

A recent AP article spoke of evangelicals being tightlipped over current immigration issues and the nation wide debates currently raging. The reason why, according to the article, is not what I would have expected. Apparently even I don't have a negative enough view of my evangelical brothers and sisters. The issue is that they want to support the legislation, but don't want to piss off their hispanic members. It has nothing to do with any sort of inner war within Dthem, wondering if maybe they should follow God's guidance rather than American racist policies.

Honestly it just makes me sick. I love Jesus, I really do. I do not know how much longer I can stand to live amongst those who ignore him, trying to be a subversive presence rather than an angry, outloud opponent of idolatrous patriotism and arrogant hatred. How could we do this with no shame or repentance? What will become of us? Biblically, it's a frightening concept to me.

Peace,
Matt

Currently Reading: Dakota: A Spiritual Geography by Kathleen Norris.

Justification

"If we may be freed by self-critical scholarly objectivity no longer to have to assume that the authority of the Bible resides in its saying things that we agree with, we may be free as well to hear more clearly what it really says instead of giving it credit for saying what we already think."

John Howard Yoder wrote this in The Politics of Jesus in a chapter called Justification by Grace through Faith. The chapter title was not very appealing to me, but I pushed on and was astounded by what I read! Yoder begins with the hypothesis "that for Paul righteousness, either in God or in human beings, might more appropriately be conceived of as having cosmic or social dimensions. Such larger dimensions would not negate the personal character of the righteousness God imputes to those who believe; but by englobing the personal salvation in a fuller reality they would negate the individualism with which we understand such reconciliation." In other words, it's not this big issue about whether or not we are now right in the eyes of God, but what to do in community knowing that we are in the grip of a gracious God.

Yoder positions Paul's argument about justification in the context of the early church's issues between Jewish and Gentile Christians. "In sum: the fundamental issue was that of the social form of the church." It seems that we have often over-spiritualized some passages of scripture that were meant to govern how we live in community.

In Ephesians 3 Paul writes about a "mystery" made known to him. Mystery here implies a strategic purpose of God which is now made known to everybody. This is prefaced with Ephesians 2:11-26, which speaks of Gentiles being "seperated from Christ" at one time, but also says they were seperated from "the commonwealth of Israel," but Jesus "is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility." So Christ eliminates the once existing hostility between different groups of people, becoming their peace and creating a new kind of community that would not have existed otherwise.

We can see how this works regarding justification in Galatians 2. Verse 14 says we are "justified by faith in Christ," but what does it mean to be justified? Verse 14 cannot be divorced from the earlier verses of Galatians 2, which pushes for Jews and Gentiles to "live together acceptingly in one fellowship. To be justified is to be set right in and for that relationship." This is the same, then, as the making peace of Ephesians.

One more thought before wrapping up with my own thoughts on all of this. Yoder points out that in the book of Romans, Paul never addresses the total Roman community as a "church," only the group that met in the house of Aquila. Could it be that they cannot be a true church until their differences have been set aside and they embrace the other as equal and worthy? As Yoder wrote, "it is the Good News that my enemy and I are united, through no merit or work of our own, in a new humanity that forbids henceforth my ever taking his or her life in my hands."

In a word, what Yoder is claiming, and I thinkI agree, is that to be justified isn't all pie-in-the-sky, I look good to God now, types of thinking about our faith. It is ethical and sociological, involving neighbor love, calling us to embrace the other. It isn't accepting Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior and then remaining the same person you were before. This is radical life change that involves being a part of a new community that signals a new creation, the Kingdom of God being glimpsed in the way people who should not even like each other are living in unity. In the middle of this chapter, Yoder disects 2 Corinthians 5:17, which typically says something along the lines of "If anyone be in Christ he is a new creature." The truth, though, is that "he is" is not in the original text. The literal translation of this would be more like "if anyone is in Christ, new is creation," or "there is a whole new world." For us to be justified means we begin finding new patterns and ways of life which demonstrate and provide a foretaste of the Kingdom. Wow.

Peace,
Matt

Currently Reading: A Social Reading of the Old Testament by Walter Brueggemann. It is mind-blowing. I also just read A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, which was quite entertaining.