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...
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
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).
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).
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
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
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
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
Thursday, June 15, 2006
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
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
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
Friday, June 09, 2006
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!
-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!
Monday, June 05, 2006
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
