When rethinking the last time I wrote, I realized an essential element that I had thought about concerning Deut. 21. Along with corporate responsibility in sinful actions is the elimination of the "us and them" mentality.
I tend to look down on people for their actions, and I doubt that I'm the only one. There are people in our society who have committed sins for which they will never be forgiven. In Old Testament language, they would be considered the people who live "outside the camp." Rapists, murderers and wife abusers come to mind specifically. Deut. 21 calls us to see the log in our own eye, rather than standing as perfect accuser towards these marginalized peoples.
We cannot come into judgment on these people without furthering the process of sinfulness in our world. This is how Volf concludes Exclusion and Embrace, pointing out that our violence only furthers violence, and that only forgiveness and God's judgment (not our own) can bring about the solution.
When it comes down to it, are you really better than these people? If you have not harvested bitterness, anger, jealousy or lust towards another person, please step-up and grab your stone.
Thursday, April 28, 2005
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Corporate Repentance
The other day I was in a preaching class at my church and somebody started talking about the infallability of scripture and how it is all inerant, good for teaching, etc. With my usual sarcastic view, I immediately chose Deuteronomy 21 as my text for this week. Funny enough, I ended up actually finding something wonderful in a chapter of scripture that is usually a bit challenging to my view of God.
Deuteronomy 21:1-9 talks about finding a murdered man and no suspects. It's like a typical CSI episode. Rather than talking about how bad some people can be, the people, represented by their political and religious leaders, repent and ask for God's forgiveness for this terrible sin. It is corporate repentance.
It seems to me that in our individualistic culture where everybody has a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ" and spends way too much time focused on themselves, this strange law in Deuteronomy has much to share with us. There is no sense of "us and them" or "me and you" in this text, but more of the feeling that if a murder has taken place, the community as a whole has failed both their God and one another. Wow.
Think of Equitorial Guinea or Angola or Saudi Arabia, where people are murdered and exploited by ruthless dictators. Many have no rights or are starving to death while their leaders get rich. Now imaging yourself, your neighbor, and all other Americans paying $30 a week to those rulers. We buy the oil from Chevron-Texaco, who supports these governments and drills oil off their coasts. Before we point out how evil these men, like President Obiang, are, we must look at ourselves and realize that it is our community that has failed in relationship and must repent and seek out the Lord's forgiveness. The plank is in our corporate eye. That feels like an amazing way to view sin that needs to be regained in our post-Christendom version of faith.
Peace,
Matt
Deuteronomy 21:1-9 talks about finding a murdered man and no suspects. It's like a typical CSI episode. Rather than talking about how bad some people can be, the people, represented by their political and religious leaders, repent and ask for God's forgiveness for this terrible sin. It is corporate repentance.
It seems to me that in our individualistic culture where everybody has a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ" and spends way too much time focused on themselves, this strange law in Deuteronomy has much to share with us. There is no sense of "us and them" or "me and you" in this text, but more of the feeling that if a murder has taken place, the community as a whole has failed both their God and one another. Wow.
Think of Equitorial Guinea or Angola or Saudi Arabia, where people are murdered and exploited by ruthless dictators. Many have no rights or are starving to death while their leaders get rich. Now imaging yourself, your neighbor, and all other Americans paying $30 a week to those rulers. We buy the oil from Chevron-Texaco, who supports these governments and drills oil off their coasts. Before we point out how evil these men, like President Obiang, are, we must look at ourselves and realize that it is our community that has failed in relationship and must repent and seek out the Lord's forgiveness. The plank is in our corporate eye. That feels like an amazing way to view sin that needs to be regained in our post-Christendom version of faith.
Peace,
Matt
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Done With Seminary... Now what?
Yesterday was my last day of classes this semester, and I graduate on the 7th of May. How strange. Mars Hill Graduate School was amazing. I came expecting to gain more head knowledge, but I am leaving as a transformed person. It was hard, both in a time sense, but also in a "let's rip into your heart and see what's really going on down there" kind of sense, but I would do it again in a second.
That brings me to the confusing part of this: what do I do now? For the moment I need a break, but there are thoughts rolling around in my head about a Masters in Theology, or a D. Min., but I don't know if I can take it. I think part of me just wants to be part of something that is beautiful, because I don't see much beauty in the local church. There is potential for it, but I rarely see it, and that is what I want to be a part of. That's what I loved about Mars Hill. I will miss it.
That brings me to the confusing part of this: what do I do now? For the moment I need a break, but there are thoughts rolling around in my head about a Masters in Theology, or a D. Min., but I don't know if I can take it. I think part of me just wants to be part of something that is beautiful, because I don't see much beauty in the local church. There is potential for it, but I rarely see it, and that is what I want to be a part of. That's what I loved about Mars Hill. I will miss it.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Weathering III - Structural Deconstruction
David Bosch, in his monumental work Transforming Mission, along with many authors who have followed in his amazing path, mentioned the difference between church as institution and church as movement. There is much debate still going around these categories, specifically concerning whether any movement can remain as simply that, avoiding institutionalization, while really being a movement that is worthwhile.
I think the Wind of God is there to keep us on the move. A weather pattern, as mentioned in the last post, has the ability to stay for a given amount of time, some longer than others. This is our institutional duration as allowed by Spirit. The Spirit of God guides us in keeping our equilibrium as we try to balance movement and institution.
Sometimes the church can become too much of a movement, blowing in with hurricane force, only to be quickly downgraded to tropical storm, then peter-out somewhere in the mainland. This is the church with no roots, with great energy but no leadership structure, knowledge of its past, little theological depth, and little understanding of the weather patterns that come before or after its wild, ravaging movement. This kind of movement can be damaging to say the least.
Alternatively, the church can become the bogged down institution; a massive boulder in the middle of a field, left there in ages past and refusing to moved. Year after year the Wind blows on it and different weather patterns are brought in to attempt to change it and challenge its stubborn position, yet it refuses to be moved. It has a strong foundation and has built itself up into something old, strong and stubborn. Yet as time goes by, it is slowly weathered away, until it is finally, after years and years, weathered down to nothingness. The irrelevant piece of rock in the field finally disappears to something better can come along and bring health and life to that field.
Getting ahead of the Wind or refusing to be moved by it both lead to the same conclusion. It is in choosing to participate and follow the guidance of the Wind that the church finds health and vitality. It is in choosing to ignore it that our structures are deconstructed, either quickly in the case of the hurricane, or slowly like the rock. The church must be in step with the Spirit, neither rushing nor hindering (grieving) the Wind of God as we are pushed, pulled and moved nearer the Kingdom.
Peace,
Matt
I think the Wind of God is there to keep us on the move. A weather pattern, as mentioned in the last post, has the ability to stay for a given amount of time, some longer than others. This is our institutional duration as allowed by Spirit. The Spirit of God guides us in keeping our equilibrium as we try to balance movement and institution.
Sometimes the church can become too much of a movement, blowing in with hurricane force, only to be quickly downgraded to tropical storm, then peter-out somewhere in the mainland. This is the church with no roots, with great energy but no leadership structure, knowledge of its past, little theological depth, and little understanding of the weather patterns that come before or after its wild, ravaging movement. This kind of movement can be damaging to say the least.
Alternatively, the church can become the bogged down institution; a massive boulder in the middle of a field, left there in ages past and refusing to moved. Year after year the Wind blows on it and different weather patterns are brought in to attempt to change it and challenge its stubborn position, yet it refuses to be moved. It has a strong foundation and has built itself up into something old, strong and stubborn. Yet as time goes by, it is slowly weathered away, until it is finally, after years and years, weathered down to nothingness. The irrelevant piece of rock in the field finally disappears to something better can come along and bring health and life to that field.
Getting ahead of the Wind or refusing to be moved by it both lead to the same conclusion. It is in choosing to participate and follow the guidance of the Wind that the church finds health and vitality. It is in choosing to ignore it that our structures are deconstructed, either quickly in the case of the hurricane, or slowly like the rock. The church must be in step with the Spirit, neither rushing nor hindering (grieving) the Wind of God as we are pushed, pulled and moved nearer the Kingdom.
Peace,
Matt
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Weathering (part II)
Let's say that the Spirit is like a literal wind, and we are what is "blowin' in the wind" to borrow from Bob Dylan. There is even more to say about what this means for the church.
To start with, we don't always get to see our work to friution. If the church is following its Spirit-led calling, we are blown into a situation, and used for God's purposes in that situation for a given amount of time. This could be for a day or less (sunbreaks, showers), for a week (blizzard, heat wave), a few months (season) or even years (drought, global warming). Whatever the time length, the Spirit guides us into new places when God's timing decides it is time.
But when a front moves, another always fills its place. That is what is profound to me. We are always filling somebody else's place when we enter something new. Just because it is your first time ministering in an area doesn't mean they never experienced weather before. The Wind has been blowing and the weather has been changing there since the beginning. We are always invited into a work that God began before we arrived and God will continue working on long after we have departed.
This means that somebody else will fill your shoes when you are blown further down the road. The next weather front is neither better nor worse, though many will have their opinions. People prefer some weather patterns to others, but the truth is that all are needed to keep our earth healthy, so the Wind continues to blow. The communities that make up the community of believers must continue to humbly be led by the Wind of God, working into what was started before them and leaving off in such a way that whatever front follows in their footsteps will be able to easily see the effects of the last pattern and work off of that beginning. That is how I am beginning to see the Spirit working in the church.
To start with, we don't always get to see our work to friution. If the church is following its Spirit-led calling, we are blown into a situation, and used for God's purposes in that situation for a given amount of time. This could be for a day or less (sunbreaks, showers), for a week (blizzard, heat wave), a few months (season) or even years (drought, global warming). Whatever the time length, the Spirit guides us into new places when God's timing decides it is time.
But when a front moves, another always fills its place. That is what is profound to me. We are always filling somebody else's place when we enter something new. Just because it is your first time ministering in an area doesn't mean they never experienced weather before. The Wind has been blowing and the weather has been changing there since the beginning. We are always invited into a work that God began before we arrived and God will continue working on long after we have departed.
This means that somebody else will fill your shoes when you are blown further down the road. The next weather front is neither better nor worse, though many will have their opinions. People prefer some weather patterns to others, but the truth is that all are needed to keep our earth healthy, so the Wind continues to blow. The communities that make up the community of believers must continue to humbly be led by the Wind of God, working into what was started before them and leaving off in such a way that whatever front follows in their footsteps will be able to easily see the effects of the last pattern and work off of that beginning. That is how I am beginning to see the Spirit working in the church.
An Ecclesiology of Weathering
I am not a scientific person by nature, but I do think this thought could be profoundly helpful for the church, at least when it is thought-out more completely. When I began posting less than two weeks ago I mentioned that my goal is to begin discussing that an advanced pneumatology is necessary for us to gain any sort of real ecclesiology. Without the Spirit, I believe there is no church. That being said, I propose we begin an ecclesiology of weathering.
This is a bit metaphorical, but I am also quite serious about it, though it is being worked out as I type. My thought last night as I drove home from school was along the lines of pneuma, and how Spirit is also wind. In the natural world, wind plays a fascinating role. Though I now plan to read-up on this, I will share my initial thoughts and see if they change in the next few months. What I know is that wind is an invisible, but felt, sign that change is literally in the air. As the wind blows, there is a simultaneous sending away of one weather pattern and an ushering in of another. In Biblical categories, we could say that the wind both sends and calls. As it brings these different weather patterns through, the world is impacted and changed. Rocks are weathered, grass is watered. Seasons come and go appropriately. There are tornadoes and sunsets. Such is the way weather changes the world, and each form of weather is ushered in and out by the wind.
As people guided by the Spirit, I am thinking that this has potentially profound implications for our ecclesiology, which of course impacts every aspect of what it means to be the church. The Spirit both calls us into things and out of other areas. We are a sent-out and a called-into people, as the Kingdom weather front continues to be ushered nearer to now. It is when we are in tune with the Wind of God that we make an impact in our world. And the Wind itself makes the biggest impact. We are the people formed from the dust of the earth, but as a strong winds continues to blow dust around, rocks are weathered and trees can be fertilized.
Perhaps the church's role in life, then, is to act like a fair-weather sailboat. We put up our sail, catch a strong breeze, and continue to realize how much easier, not to mention more exciting, it is to go with the wind than against it.
Tom Waits sang "Blow, wind blow. Wherever you may go...Take me away. Take me out into the night. Take me out into the night." I agree wholeheartedly. Hopefully I can take this further as I think it through more fully.
Peace,
Matt
This is a bit metaphorical, but I am also quite serious about it, though it is being worked out as I type. My thought last night as I drove home from school was along the lines of pneuma, and how Spirit is also wind. In the natural world, wind plays a fascinating role. Though I now plan to read-up on this, I will share my initial thoughts and see if they change in the next few months. What I know is that wind is an invisible, but felt, sign that change is literally in the air. As the wind blows, there is a simultaneous sending away of one weather pattern and an ushering in of another. In Biblical categories, we could say that the wind both sends and calls. As it brings these different weather patterns through, the world is impacted and changed. Rocks are weathered, grass is watered. Seasons come and go appropriately. There are tornadoes and sunsets. Such is the way weather changes the world, and each form of weather is ushered in and out by the wind.
As people guided by the Spirit, I am thinking that this has potentially profound implications for our ecclesiology, which of course impacts every aspect of what it means to be the church. The Spirit both calls us into things and out of other areas. We are a sent-out and a called-into people, as the Kingdom weather front continues to be ushered nearer to now. It is when we are in tune with the Wind of God that we make an impact in our world. And the Wind itself makes the biggest impact. We are the people formed from the dust of the earth, but as a strong winds continues to blow dust around, rocks are weathered and trees can be fertilized.
Perhaps the church's role in life, then, is to act like a fair-weather sailboat. We put up our sail, catch a strong breeze, and continue to realize how much easier, not to mention more exciting, it is to go with the wind than against it.
Tom Waits sang "Blow, wind blow. Wherever you may go...Take me away. Take me out into the night. Take me out into the night." I agree wholeheartedly. Hopefully I can take this further as I think it through more fully.
Peace,
Matt
Monday, April 18, 2005
Birthdays and Religion
To those who would care, or even read this, yesterday was my birthday. I had a blast just being with some friends as we barbequed, skateboarded and just talked for hours. What more could I ask for?
For a gift my wonderful wife bought me Scott Adams' book The Religion War. All I had ever read from him was Dilbert, but I was more than pleasantly surprised by what he did with this book. It is set in a not-so-distant future in which the world is divided between the Christian and Muslim peoples. The premise is that both sides are equally ignorant war-mongers who are too confident that God is on their side to listen to reason (boy, that doesn't sound at all like modern America, does it?). Now they are ready to destroy the planet and all life on it just to conquer their enemies.
The twist? It is only through the relationships between average, everyday people that the world is saved. It is through relationships between people who respect one another and desire to pass on humor and kindness to others because of the kindness they have recieved that the world is saved. It is not through hate, punishment, judgment or any sort of proof that the other is wrong, but simply a desire to reach out to the other that saves the world and all who inhabit it. Sounds familiar...
For a gift my wonderful wife bought me Scott Adams' book The Religion War. All I had ever read from him was Dilbert, but I was more than pleasantly surprised by what he did with this book. It is set in a not-so-distant future in which the world is divided between the Christian and Muslim peoples. The premise is that both sides are equally ignorant war-mongers who are too confident that God is on their side to listen to reason (boy, that doesn't sound at all like modern America, does it?). Now they are ready to destroy the planet and all life on it just to conquer their enemies.
The twist? It is only through the relationships between average, everyday people that the world is saved. It is through relationships between people who respect one another and desire to pass on humor and kindness to others because of the kindness they have recieved that the world is saved. It is not through hate, punishment, judgment or any sort of proof that the other is wrong, but simply a desire to reach out to the other that saves the world and all who inhabit it. Sounds familiar...
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Being an Incarnational Church
Paul Tillich wrote about having the "Courage to Be." I think the church needs the courage to be itself right now, rather than what it has allowed itself to become. What does this mean?
First, we need to regain our incarnational ministry, which involves our regaining our vocation as "a sent people" (see Exclusion and Embrace by Volf) who go out into the world rather than having an "attractional" view of ministry in which the people of the world are expected to come to the church building for a taste of the Gospel (Hirsch and Frost). The church is incarnational, the Body of Christ on earth, and I feel safe saying that Christ did not hide in a religious building, nor did he call us to do so.
Second, we need what Doug Pagitt calls "spiritual formation beyond the educational model." Or as Polyanyi called it, we need "personal knowledge." The Gospel we present needs to stop being a head thing and become a matter of the heart. As such, the church and its members need to stop focusing mainly on teaching more facts as if that leads to spiritual growth (though learning is still essential), and instead become true community where what is learned is less definable, yet much more obvious in transformed people. Head-knowledge doesn't produce spiritual transformation, but heart-knowledge does. I think this is where wisdom emerges from, as well as real incarnational orthopraxy.
Lastly, we need to become a fully alive people who are awake to the present. We present a pie-in-the-sky Gospel that is a disgrace to all that Jesus teaches, does, says, and is. If all that he cared about was people going to heaven, why did he teach the sermon on the mount, or spend thirty years on earth before dying, or send the Holy Spirit...? Jesus cares about our lives here on earth, not just after we die. This means becoming aware of our present world and becoming change-agents beyond simply asking people to say the prayer. The church is a missional, revolutionary force by nature, and it would be shameful if she didn't regain this calling.
That's the three ideas that came off the top of my head. Let me know if you have any thoughts, and I will try to imagine more as I continue pondering incarnational orthopraxy.
Peace,
Matt
First, we need to regain our incarnational ministry, which involves our regaining our vocation as "a sent people" (see Exclusion and Embrace by Volf) who go out into the world rather than having an "attractional" view of ministry in which the people of the world are expected to come to the church building for a taste of the Gospel (Hirsch and Frost). The church is incarnational, the Body of Christ on earth, and I feel safe saying that Christ did not hide in a religious building, nor did he call us to do so.
Second, we need what Doug Pagitt calls "spiritual formation beyond the educational model." Or as Polyanyi called it, we need "personal knowledge." The Gospel we present needs to stop being a head thing and become a matter of the heart. As such, the church and its members need to stop focusing mainly on teaching more facts as if that leads to spiritual growth (though learning is still essential), and instead become true community where what is learned is less definable, yet much more obvious in transformed people. Head-knowledge doesn't produce spiritual transformation, but heart-knowledge does. I think this is where wisdom emerges from, as well as real incarnational orthopraxy.
Lastly, we need to become a fully alive people who are awake to the present. We present a pie-in-the-sky Gospel that is a disgrace to all that Jesus teaches, does, says, and is. If all that he cared about was people going to heaven, why did he teach the sermon on the mount, or spend thirty years on earth before dying, or send the Holy Spirit...? Jesus cares about our lives here on earth, not just after we die. This means becoming aware of our present world and becoming change-agents beyond simply asking people to say the prayer. The church is a missional, revolutionary force by nature, and it would be shameful if she didn't regain this calling.
That's the three ideas that came off the top of my head. Let me know if you have any thoughts, and I will try to imagine more as I continue pondering incarnational orthopraxy.
Peace,
Matt
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