What theologian influenced you?
"If we return evil with evil then all we will ever have is evil."
While not original, this little line came via a Lutheran sermon I listened to on Sunday in Colorado. It is good to hear the non-violent Jesus being preached in all areas of the Church.
I asked the minister after worship if he was aware of Rene Girard because the sermon was very much in line with Girardian thought.
The minister said no.
I asked him what theologian influenced his sermon this morning. To which the minister looked blankly at me and stated with the a bit of surprised tone in his voice, "Jesus."
I felt kind of stupid.
All of this to say that I continue to hope and pray that the Church can join this Lutheran minister and rediscover the message of Jesus in order to help save Christianity from being a naive hallmark card that is mostly concerned about the afterlife.
While not original, this little line came via a Lutheran sermon I listened to on Sunday in Colorado. It is good to hear the non-violent Jesus being preached in all areas of the Church.
I asked the minister after worship if he was aware of Rene Girard because the sermon was very much in line with Girardian thought.
The minister said no.
I asked him what theologian influenced his sermon this morning. To which the minister looked blankly at me and stated with the a bit of surprised tone in his voice, "Jesus."
I felt kind of stupid.
All of this to say that I continue to hope and pray that the Church can join this Lutheran minister and rediscover the message of Jesus in order to help save Christianity from being a naive hallmark card that is mostly concerned about the afterlife.
Worshiping worship - Part 3
If we consider that institutions are organizations that protects the gains of previous movements, then we can argue that institutions are rooted in the past. This is not a bad thing at all, it is vital to us that institution protect the past so that we are not apt to repeat the same mistakes. We have laws against slavery as a result of a past movement, and those laws protect the gains of those movements.
If we consider that movements are organizations that call institutions into new social gains, then we can argue that movements are rooted in the present. This is not a bad thing, it is vital to us that movements live in the present so to not become stale but remain nimble and can adapt to the current situation. The "Tea Party movement" is rooted in the present. While not this simple, it might be argued that if there was no debt then there would not have been a Tea Party movement. Movements are rooted in the present which also makes them look odd when we look at movements out of the context they were originally located in. Take the following video:
If we consider that movements are organizations that call institutions into new social gains, then we can argue that movements are rooted in the present. This is not a bad thing, it is vital to us that movements live in the present so to not become stale but remain nimble and can adapt to the current situation. The "Tea Party movement" is rooted in the present. While not this simple, it might be argued that if there was no debt then there would not have been a Tea Party movement. Movements are rooted in the present which also makes them look odd when we look at movements out of the context they were originally located in. Take the following video:
Weird huh. But this was a huge dance "movement" and in the moment it made so much sense.
All of this to say that the UMC spends a lot of time discussing the value of the institution and the need to become a movement again. However, this creates a dualism in which we pit institutions and movements against each other only to see which one will come out the victor in the end.
Christians are called to be Trinitarian in our thinking and in our lives. Which means that these two aspects of Church are not enough.. If institutions are rooted in the past and movements are rooted in the present, then we ought to consider what is rooted in the future to help us avoid dualism and idolatry.
I do not have the answer, but I would submit that perhaps the thing that is rooted in the future is imagination.
When we are rooted in the future we have to use our imagination because that future is not completely known.
All of these past three posts are all an attempt to encourage us in the Church to not only value the institution (past) and praise the movements (present) but also to have courage with our imagination (future).
If we are are busy working on preserving the institution or finding the popular trend in culture, then we have limited resources to dream and vision a future that is not yet here. As we read the story of Jesus it is clear that Jesus was very much a leading from the future sort of guy.
He had harsh words for those who preserved the institution. He was not against the institution, but when the institution becomes an idol then that is idolatry and this is in part why Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6 a couple of times in the gospel of Matthew. Many people worshiped act of the sacrifices to the neglect of mercy.
Additionally, Jesus did not spend much time crafting the movement around him, he trusted his disciples to tend to that. For instance when he was faced with feeding 5000 people, Jesus told the disciples to do that! Jesus knew that when we get wrapped up on the movement that it can quickly devour us and we do not have resources or the ability or time to do the vision and imagining that is required for the Kingdom of God.
Jesus spoke in parables, he spent a lot of time in prayer, he fasted, he isolated himself from the group regularly, he was constantly on the move - all of these are evidence that Jesus was doing the imagining work that was required for the revival of the Jewish institution and the progress of the movement that was forming around him.
The work of imagination is hard, labor intensive, valuable, necessary and vital to the life of the Church but we seem to not be very good at it. If we want to reclaim the way of Jesus and imagine like he did, then I think it would not be a bad start to practice the things he did:
Pray.
Fast.
Isolation and meditation.
Move with purpose.
Contemplate and reflect.
We might call these tools of imagination.
We also might call these spiritual disciplines.
All of these past three posts are all an attempt to encourage us in the Church to not only value the institution (past) and praise the movements (present) but also to have courage with our imagination (future).
If we are are busy working on preserving the institution or finding the popular trend in culture, then we have limited resources to dream and vision a future that is not yet here. As we read the story of Jesus it is clear that Jesus was very much a leading from the future sort of guy.
He had harsh words for those who preserved the institution. He was not against the institution, but when the institution becomes an idol then that is idolatry and this is in part why Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6 a couple of times in the gospel of Matthew. Many people worshiped act of the sacrifices to the neglect of mercy.
Additionally, Jesus did not spend much time crafting the movement around him, he trusted his disciples to tend to that. For instance when he was faced with feeding 5000 people, Jesus told the disciples to do that! Jesus knew that when we get wrapped up on the movement that it can quickly devour us and we do not have resources or the ability or time to do the vision and imagining that is required for the Kingdom of God.
Jesus spoke in parables, he spent a lot of time in prayer, he fasted, he isolated himself from the group regularly, he was constantly on the move - all of these are evidence that Jesus was doing the imagining work that was required for the revival of the Jewish institution and the progress of the movement that was forming around him.
The work of imagination is hard, labor intensive, valuable, necessary and vital to the life of the Church but we seem to not be very good at it. If we want to reclaim the way of Jesus and imagine like he did, then I think it would not be a bad start to practice the things he did:
Pray.
Fast.
Isolation and meditation.
Move with purpose.
Contemplate and reflect.
We might call these tools of imagination.
We also might call these spiritual disciplines.
Dumb sheep, hidden treasure and Jesus
Quick little parable of Jesus about the Kingdom of God (KoG):
‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.'
When reading this parable, you may be like me and consider that the KoG is like this treasure in which we find, sometimes stumbling across it, and when we do we rejoice and give all we have in order to obtain this treasure. Sounds good to me.
Until I realize that nowhere in that interpretation of this parable is there any room for God. In fact, in this understanding of this parable, it is we humans who are doing all the work and God is absent. Which is radically different than what the rest of Jesus' message is about, in which God is the one who is acting first and primary.
Take the parable of the lost sheep. The shepherd leaves the other ninety-nine to find the lost one. We get it. God is the shepherd and we are the sheep. Notice that God is acting first and primary in this common interpretation of this parable. God is the good shepherd and we are the dumb sheep.
Christians have a bit of a self esteem problem sometimes. We are okay with identifying ourselves as dumb sheep and a man who "stumbles" across a treasure. But we are not usually comfortable with identifying ourselves as more.
Back to the parable of the treasure in the field.
What if this parable is God is the one who found a treasure and put that treasure in the field? Then God so delights in this treasure God gives all that God has in order to be one (reconcile) with this treasure? What if humans are God's treasure?
The KoG is like God first found treasure (human beings), then put that treasure in the field (the earth). And then God gave all that God had (God became human and lived, died and resurrected) in order to be one with this treasure (reconciliation with humanity).
In a world (and sometimes in the Church) in which you and I are constantly told we are not good enough, not smart enough or pretty enough, could it be that Jesus is saying to us - God thinks you are good enough.
What if the Good News is that God holds you as treasure?
We are comfortable with the idea that we are dumb sheep, it validates to us what the world says to us. However could it be that a counter-cultural message that is the Good News be that you - yes, you- are God's treasure?
If that is an uncomfortable idea, then perhaps we are beginning to see how some people really thought Jesus was wrong.
‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.'
When reading this parable, you may be like me and consider that the KoG is like this treasure in which we find, sometimes stumbling across it, and when we do we rejoice and give all we have in order to obtain this treasure. Sounds good to me.
Until I realize that nowhere in that interpretation of this parable is there any room for God. In fact, in this understanding of this parable, it is we humans who are doing all the work and God is absent. Which is radically different than what the rest of Jesus' message is about, in which God is the one who is acting first and primary.
Take the parable of the lost sheep. The shepherd leaves the other ninety-nine to find the lost one. We get it. God is the shepherd and we are the sheep. Notice that God is acting first and primary in this common interpretation of this parable. God is the good shepherd and we are the dumb sheep.
Christians have a bit of a self esteem problem sometimes. We are okay with identifying ourselves as dumb sheep and a man who "stumbles" across a treasure. But we are not usually comfortable with identifying ourselves as more.
Back to the parable of the treasure in the field.
What if this parable is God is the one who found a treasure and put that treasure in the field? Then God so delights in this treasure God gives all that God has in order to be one (reconcile) with this treasure? What if humans are God's treasure?
The KoG is like God first found treasure (human beings), then put that treasure in the field (the earth). And then God gave all that God had (God became human and lived, died and resurrected) in order to be one with this treasure (reconciliation with humanity).
In a world (and sometimes in the Church) in which you and I are constantly told we are not good enough, not smart enough or pretty enough, could it be that Jesus is saying to us - God thinks you are good enough.
What if the Good News is that God holds you as treasure?
We are comfortable with the idea that we are dumb sheep, it validates to us what the world says to us. However could it be that a counter-cultural message that is the Good News be that you - yes, you- are God's treasure?
If that is an uncomfortable idea, then perhaps we are beginning to see how some people really thought Jesus was wrong.
Be the change by Jason Valendy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.