re-membering the body (or how to name a festival)

My shoes are still caked in mud, my tent is drying out in the back yard and my smelly clothes and I are about to go on a little trip to the laundromat. I just got back from the Wild Goose Festival 2013 late last night and I am feeling inspired to break my hiatus from the blogosphere and do a little writing. I have a few ideas but for now I'm going to start with the theme of this year's festival: Re-Membering the Body.

Friday night I was sitting in the Still Mt. Pub having dinner with a couple of friends and fellow festival goers. We were talking about the theme for this years festival and what we liked about it. In our little discussion we came up with four things that the name could mean and how they all worked together and played against each other. These four ideas revolve around the multiple possible meanings of the words in the title which we decided are remembering (as in not forgetting or bringing to mind), re-membering (as in bringing back members), body (the physical structure that you call your body) and body (the collection of God's children).

1. remembering the body
Reverend William Barber's talk was titled "'We' is the most important word in the social justice vocabulary" and one of the ideas at the heart of this years festival was remembering that we are all in this together and as Mother Theresa said we belong to each other. Perhaps the thing I enjoyed about the festival the most was the living out of a radically different kind of economy. I saw so many examples of people sharing things, giving things away, praying for each other and staying up late or missing performers they wanted to see to sit and talk with people who just wanted to talk. I often find it difficult to imagine living in way that doesn't participate in the rat-race. I'm worried that if I don't "play the game" and try to get ahead then I will be left behind but the Wild Goose was full of people who were not trying to get ahead, but rather were trying to simply be together and live in an economy of abundance. It was a beautiful reminder that has awakened in the midst of my cynical soul a re-imagining of how to do life together.

2. re-membering the body
For a very long time the established church has been very good of silencing so many different voices. One of the things that Wild Goose does it re-members, re-includes and re-introduces people whose voices have been ignored. In the tradition I grew up in I never once heard a woman preach, or an African-American and definitely not a person who had a different sexual orientation than what I was taught was normal. People who were different than me were to be corrected and rebuked, I wasn't supposed to listen them and learn from them.

3. remembering the body
A few of my new friends and I were joking that we were rocking the unofficial Kid's Tent volunteer shirts. They are just like all the other volunteer shirts except by Sunday they were speckled with paint and mud and glitter. That's what happens when you hang out with a bunch of six to twelve years old all weekend. Following Jesus isn't merely an abstract, intellectual pursuit. It's something that you live. You do it with your hands and your feet, your ears and eyes, your strenght and your patience and you heart and your voice and even your wallet. It looks like high fives and piggy back rides and dancing in the kids tent. Elsewhere around the festival it looked like eating, hugging new friends, a friendly arm around your shoulder, picking up trash or directing traffic with your hands, parading through downtown with your feet and dancing with your whole body.

4. re-membering the body
This last idea of what re-membering the body would have likely never occurred to me if I had not recently listened to Krista Tippet interview Bessel van der Kolk on her public radio show, "On Being". They talked about his research in memory and trauma and how re-integrating our physical body can help restore a sense of goodness and safety in our lives. I highly recommend you go listen to the podcast to hear more about it, but for my purposes here I simply want to say how that podcast got me thinking. I started thinking about how the physical liturgy of the Wild Goose Festival not only re-integrates your physical body but in doing so brings about a new imagination, a new sense of community, a new awareness of the divine and a new sense of belonging.

Grace & Peace

An invitation into Conversation

Walter Brueggemann (probably the most respected OT scholar alive) says repeatedly in his book that I'm currently reading "Finally Comes The Poet" that when the prophets, moses, etc.. speak on behalf of God to the people of Israel they are always inviting them into a conversation with God, which is exactly what God desires of them. He says Moses makes it a clear distinction between the oppressive pharaoh who demands unquestioning allegiance and the God who initiates a conversation.

I think maybe just like God wrestling with Jacob at the fords of the jabbok river it is only by wrestling (as opposed to merely accepting a certain list of things that is true) that true transformation can occur and Israel can be given this new name. It's only in participating in the conversation that they can be co-creators in God's new kingdom that he has chosen them to embody as his people. The world doesn't need another king that looks like Pharaoh, the world needs a king that looks like Jesus

Doctrine

“Indeed the word doctrine, a word fallen on hard times in contemporary culture, actually means a ‘healing teaching,’ from the French word for doctor. The creeds, as doctrinal statements, were intended as healing instruments, life giving words that would draw God’s people into a deeper engagement with divine things. When creeds become fences to mark the borders of heresy, they lose their spiritual energy. Doctrine is to be the balm of a healing experience of God, not a theological scalpel to wound and exclude people.”* – Diana Butler Bass (Christianity after Religion)

*Excerpt from "Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha and Mohammed Cross the Road?"

Book Review: "Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?" by Brian McLaren

"It seems ridiculous to imagine that he would be insecure among them, considering them his rivals, or that he would find it necessary to extract from them explicit agreement on fundamental doctrines before condescending to cross a road with them. It's unthinkable, if one of them came to confer with him by night like Nicodemus, or in broad daylight like the rich young ruler, that he would intimidate them, threaten them, call down fire upon them, patronize them, or humiliate them. Maybe his followers would pull out a sword and slash off their ears, or herd them and their followers into ghettoes, concentration camps, or reservations where their influence could be limited. But never Jesus. Never."

It is all too easy to imagine two alternative approaches to the Christian faith. The first one being a strong and hostile faith and the second one being a weak and benign faith. The first approach having a distinctive Christian identity and at the very least a strong suspicion of people of other faiths. The other approach is one that is benevolent towards other faiths but lacks any thing to make it distinctively Christian. A third approach we could imagine is one which tries to make the two meet somewhere in the middle, a faith expression that is moderately strong and moderately benevolent.

For Brian McLaren none of the above approaches is good enough, so he sets out to find something better with the words of his (unnamed) mentor in mind:

"Remember, Brian: in a pluralistic world, a religion is judged by the benefits it brings to its nonmembers."

The question that this book wrestles with is if it is possible to have an expression of the Christian faith that is both strong and benevolent. Can we remain faithful to the distinctive movement of Jesus without having distrust and hostility towards other faiths? In doing so Brian, through out the book, effectively re-orients the question as How can we not and still be faithful to the movement of Jesus?

Why?

Because we may not have a choice... If we don't find a way to re-form our Christian (as well as Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist,Native American Spirituality, etc...) faith communities then we may very well find that we not only have not lived up to the best that our traditions offer but we have destroyed ourselves in the process.

I cannot recommend this book enough! Brian McLaren is truly a gift to the Christian community and I have learned so much from all of his writings. In light of the events of recent decades this may be one of the most important books you can read (whether you claim any religious faith or not) in regards to how we can live together as well as create a livable world for future generations.

You can grab you're very own copy of the book here and while you wait for it to arrive you can look forward to a few excerpts that I plan on posting.

Grace & Peace

Passion, Human Trafficking and the hope of a post-liberal/conservative church

 Slavery is a loaded word, especially for American Christians who have had a less than stellar past in regards to this issue. Which is why I’ve been excited to see and hear about the over 60,000 young people at this year’s passion conference in Atlanta that have made a clear statement that modern systems of slavery and especially human trafficking need to be confronted.

I’m excited because young  evangelicals are making a definitive move away from the hyper-individualistic, hyper-spiritual ideology that plagued the faith experience of my conservative, evangelical childhood. These young people are waking up to the reality that the Christian faith is not solely concerned with ‘my heart’ and ‘my personal relationship with God’. It’s a move towards a more materialistic* faith that understands that the community of Christ has a responsibility to oppose the systems of violence and oppression, the principalities of darkness of the world.

I’m excited because of my friends who are proclaiming that in Jesus, God was not just offering us (spiritual) freedom from (spiritual) sin; God was proclaiming freedom, in the fullest sense of the word, from the sinful systems that enslave and exploit people.

I’m excited because American Christians (as well as Christians all around the world) have a desire to own up to the failures of our past and are committed to not making the same mistakes.**

I’m excited about the possibility of a world in which human trafficking is no longer tolerated, and where the captive are set free.

I’m excited because these young evangelicals are bringing energy and passion (see what I did there?) to the conversation that the occasionally jaded churches on the left have not had in a long time. I’m excited because people on both sides of the aisle are getting excited about ending human trafficking.

And I’m excited about the way in which this issue transcends the old conservative/liberal divide. Human trafficking is the one issue where we agree that something has got to change, and we can be a part of that change. This is an issue that has the potential to bring all of us together.

I’m not saying that our doctrinal differences should be minimalized or ignored, and I’m certainly not saying that our differences and disagreements don’t matter.  However, I do think that for the sake of our future and for the sake of the world we need to come together in spite of these differences and  be united by the reconciling, redeeming, restoring, ‘on earth as it is in heaven’ movement of Jesus.

 Grace and Peace

*When I say materialistic I do not mean one of the common uses of the word that means something like “greed for material riches”. I’m also not referring to the materialism of philosophy which says that physical matter is the only reality and that everything, including thought, feeling, mind, and will, can be explained in terms of matter and physical phenomena. When I say “more materialistic” I mean a faith that is not only concerned with hyper-spiritual matters, but rather a holistic faith that sees the physical and spiritual as deeply intertwined.

** To be certain there were many Christians in our history that also spoke out against slavery and we would do well to not be so arrogant as to think that we finally got it all right when our ancestors couldn’t. Like them, we are haunted by the ghosts of our colonialist past and we run the risk of having an attitude of ‘We are from America and we’ve come to solve all your problems for you’ that reflects our colonial arrogance and sense of superiority. This attitude does not reflect Christ and usually does more harm than good.

If you are interested in getting involved with countering human trafficking I suggest checking out Slave Free Earth.

"The Little Vagabond": Poem by William Blake

The Little Vagabond

by William Blake

Dear mother, dear mother the Church is cold,

But the Ale-house is healthy and pleasant and warm;

Besides I can tell where I am used well,

Such usage in Heaven will never do well.

But if at the Church they would give us some ale,

And a pleasant fire our souls to regale,

We'd sing and we'd pray all the livelong day,

Nor ever once wish from the Church to stray.

Then the Parson might preach, and drink, and sing,

And we'd be as happy as birds in the spring;

And modest Dame Lurch, who is always at church,

Would not have bandy children, nor fasting, nor birch.

And God, like a father, rejoicing to see

His children as pleasant and happy as He,

Would have no more quarrel with the Devil or the barrel,

But kiss him, and give him both drink and apparel.

An Open Relational View

               In Genesis 18 Abraham is standing with God looking out at the city of Sodom when God reveals to him that the cries of injustice coming from Sodom are very serious and that he has decided to destroy the city because of this.

                

               But Abraham, being ever so bold, argues with God saying, “It’s not like you to do this, killing the innocent with the guilty as if there were no difference. It’s not like you! Will the judge of all the earth not act justly?”

                So God changes his mind and tells Abraham that if there are just fifty innocent people in Sodom then he will refrain from destroying the city. Still Abraham persists to argue and eventually works God down to just ten innocent people being enough to redeem the whole city.

                In Exodus 32 Moses is standing with God on a mountain and God reveals to him that because the people of Israel have rejected the one true God for idols made of gold he has decided to wipe them all out and start over new with Moses.

                But Moses responds, “Calm down your fierce anger. Change your mind about doing terrible things to your own people,” and reminds God of Abraham and the promise God made him. So, “Then the Lord changed his mind about the terrible things he said he would do to his people.”

                If, as some presume, God knows the future then how can he change his mind? If God changes his mind about something then wouldn’t that make the future he previously thought he knew untrue? Or if God knew he would change his mind then wouldn’t it be dishonest to say that he was going to do something that he knew he wasn’t going to do? And what about all the times in the Bible when God is genuinely surprised? How about when God is genuinely disappointed?

                You could say that the language about God changing his mind or being suprised is just humans projecting onto God (It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that happened). But let’s imagine for a minute that it’s not a projection.

                This would raise some really interesting questions about the future.

                For example, if people truly have free will and are free to change our minds, then how can God know for sure what will happen? If the future is already foreknow by God are we truly free to act in a way that is not in line with that?

                If people really can and do make actual choices then it seems that there must be different possible futures? So it could be said that the future exists not as actualities but as possibilities. But if the future exists only in the realm of possibility then can God know the future?

                Well yes and no…

                God does not know one future but rather all of the possible futures. In this sense God’s knowledge is not limited by the nature of the future, but rather expanded by it.

                But if God only knows the future in the realm of possibility then how can God make specific promises about the future? How could God have promised a Messiah to the people of Israel without misleading them?

                We could say that God is very creative (as you might imagine the creator of the cosmos would be). Not only does God know all of the possible futures but God also knows a creative way to bring about his desired results in every potential future. So if there are an infinite number of potential futures then God has an infinite number of ideas of how to redeem each future into the future he is creating. The example of Jesus then becomes a first fruit or a foretaste of the way in which God is redeeming the brokenness of the world into new creation.

                Still, another question persists. If God knows all the possible futures is he completely in the dark as to which possible future we will make actual?

                We can so no to this by remembering that God knows us in an intimate, relational way. God knows us like a person knows a very close friend or sibling, like a teacher knows their students or a parent knows their children to use just a few of the examples found in the Bible. When we are with a very close friend we generally know how they will react to certain things. We know what will make them happy and what will make them angry and we know what not to say when they get upset.

We don't know these things in a scientific sort of way, like we know that two plus two always equals four. We have relational knowledge of the person, as opposed to empirical knowledge. Likewise, God knows us very well and has relational knowledge of us in regards to what possible future we will make actual.

This understanding allows for humans to actually make choices as well as be in a genuine relationship with God, as opposed to a manipulative one. It also allows for God to promise specific things about the future and still be genuinely surprised when things happen or change his mind in response to human actions, like Moses speaking up for the people of Israel or any petitions of prayer.

Grace and Peace

Book Review: "Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul" by JRD Kirk

"Paul was not a systematic theologian in the Christian tradition of that enterprise. He was a missionary whose Pastoral letters strove to help churches faithfully play the roles God had assigned them in the drama of Israel as that drama was being brought to its head in Christ. He was a director, cuing the understudies to imitate the Master Actor's performance. He was a narrative theologian, writing letters to churches to help them see more clearly how God had written them into the cosmic story of salvation. The upshot of all this is that we are being the most faithful stewards of the Pauline correspondence if we use these letters to help us narrate our own communities' participation in the Jesus story."

      Paul, unfortunately, has been used to champion all sorts of things that in our modern worldview do not look very good. Were as Jesus is seen as the liberator of the oppressed, Paul is soon as someone who supports slavery, bigotry, sexism and most recently the rejection of equality for homosexuals. He is also accused of being someone who is only concerned with a "heart" religion and has done little to continue the imminent physicality (healing, feeding, clothing, freeing, mourning with, etc...) ministry of Jesus. This apparent disconnect has left many people who want to follow Jesus but have not found an ally in Paul thinking something like Jesus have I loved, but Paul have I hated.

      So Kirk sets about the task of deconstructing this, what he considers misguided, view of Paul in exchange for a view of Paul that locates him in the narrative of the God of Israel who is bringing about new creation. This reading requires us to understand Paul as situated in a specific time and place with a specific mission and expectations. Furthermore when we read Paul in the narrative of the God of Israel we recognize that the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus is the climax of that narrative, and Jesus has to be the lens which we view Paul through. 

    With that in mind Kirk works through issues like new creation, community, inclusion, women's roles, slavery, justice and sexuality. On every issue he starts with Jesus and works his way over to Paul, always reading him with the larger, cosmic narrative of God's redemption in mind. He concludes that Paul is always inviting us into more faithful participation in the incoming Kingdom of God, which involves figuring out what exactly that looks like in our own place and time.

      "There is, of course, a danger here, that we might confuse 'what is happening in the world' with 'what God is doing in the world,' as though these two statements meant the same thing... But there is a danger in falling off the other side of the horse as well, the danger of so restricting the activites of God to the church or to issues of personal spiritual growth that we miss our calling to praise God for what God is doing in the world and our summons to participate with this broader work as a component of our own Jesus stories."

    JR Daniel Kirk is a New Testament Professor at Fuller Theological Seminary. You can find him at his blog and you can order "Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul?" and his other book "Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God" at his Amazon Page.

Deconstruction

·        

“   "I believe that leaving religious status quo unquestioned is potentially destructive. The word destructive is often associated with the word deconstructive, but the association is erroneous. Deconstruction is not destruction, it is hope. It arises from the belief that sometimes our constructed laws get in the way of unseen justice, our undeconstructed words get in the way of communication, our institutions get in the way of the purposes for which they were constructed, our formulations get in the way of meaning, our curricula get in the way of learning. In those cases one must deconstruct laws, words, institutions, formulations, or curricula in the hopes that something better will appear once the constructions become obstructions have been taken apart.” – Brian McLaren

 

On the Mother of God

   
 “Obedience is an unpopular word nowadays, but the artist must be obedient to the work, whether it be a symphony, a painting, or a story for a small child. I believe that each work of art, whether it is a work of great genius, or something very small, comes to the artist and says, ‘Here I am. Enflesh me. Give birth to me.’ And the artist can either say, ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord,’ and willingly become the bearer of the work, or refuses; but the obedient response is not necessarily a conscious one, and not everyone has the humble, courageous obedience of Mary.

     Mary did not always understand, but one does not have to understand to be obedient. Instead of understanding—that intellectual understanding which we are so fond of—there is a feeling of rightness, of knowing, knowing things which you are not yet able to understand.”

-Madeline L'Engle

13 Blogs You Should Follow in 2013

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 2012 is coming to an end and the new year is upon us. Here are 13 theology blogs in no particular order that are well worth your time to read in the year 2013!

1. Rachel Held Evans Blog

    Rachel Held Evans is the author of "Evolving in Monkey Town" and her new book "A Year of Biblical Womanhood" just came out this year. She is a witty writer who takes gender equality seriously. My favorite part of her blog is the "Sunday Superlatives" she does highlighting the best from around the web each week.

2. Homebrewed Christianity

    Trip Fuller and Bo Sanders serve up the best theological ingredients to brew your own faith on this blog. They also host the Homebrewed Christianity podcast, Homebrewed Christianity TNT (Theology Nerd Throwdown) Podcast, and now have Christian Piatt and Jordan Green hosting the Homebrewed Christianity Culture Cast. The podcast regularly has amazing guests so listen, read and enjoy the brew!

3. Johnathan Wilson-Hartgrove Blog

    Johnathan Wilson-Hartgrove is the founder of the Rutba House in Durham, NC and one of leading voices in the new monasticism movement. His blog over at Patheos is a powerful, personal look into the life of a new monastic.

4. Emergent Village Voice

   This brand new blog over at Patheos is a collaborative of emergent voices. Already the blog has featured Phyllis Tickle, Doug Pagitt, Michael Bobo and more. It could potentially be one of the best blogs of 2013 if they keep bringing in great thinkers.

5. The Work of the People

    These guys bring some of the best videos on the web and they do it with regularity. If you don't believe me check out their Vimeo Channel. Stay updated with the most recent works they put out over at Patheos.

6. The Christian Humanist

    David Grubbs, Michael Farmer and Nathan Gilmour discuss a wide range of topics from philosophy, literature and theology at their blog/podcast.

7. Peter Rollins Blog

   Peter Rollins is a sought after writer, speaker and a master story-teller. His blog always has challenging and insightful posts, as well as updates on what he is up to. His new book "The Idolatry of God" comes out in January.

8. Sarcastic Lutheran

    Nadia Bolz-Webber is a smart and yes, sarcastic blogger. She is also the mission developer for House for all sinners and saints which is "an urban liturgical community with a progressive yet deeply rooted theological imagination."

9. Christian Piatt Blog

    The same Christian Piatt who hosts the Homebrewed Christianity Culture Cast has his own blog. The Epic Church Sign Fails alone, is worth subscribing. It is seriously funny!

10. Theoblogy

    Tony Jones always seems to be kicking up dust on his blog. I really love it when he gets into arguments with Tripp and Bo from HBC. This a fun blog to read if you are looking for a little trouble.

11. ReKnew

    Greg Boyd is one really smart dude. This blog has plenty of videos to watch and more importantly a fair share of good ol' Open Theology, which I can't get enough of. By the way, if you haven't read "God of the Possible" you really should.

12. Slacktivist

   Fred Clark is a self proclaimed "snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist" but other than that he seems like an okay guy.

13. Peter Enns
    Peter Enns is rethinking biblical Christianity and he is doing an excellent job. Enns is a biblical scholar who specializes in the Old Testament and has taught classes at Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia), Harvard University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary, Lutheran Theological Seminary (Philadelphia), Biblical Theological Seminary, Temple University, and Eastern University. Even still his blog is not a bunch of Academic jargon, it makes for a very good read.

If you know if any other blogs you think people should be reading let me know.

Jesus, John and religious pluralism

A conversation that I've been having a lot recently is the conversation about religious plurality and the Christian faith, or to put it very simply how should followers of Jesus think about and interact with people of other religious faiths. Which is interesting because my friends over at Homebrewed Christianity have been having this conversation as well.

In a blog post on their website Tripp Fuller brought up that whenever Christians try to have a reasonable conversation about how plurality and the Christian faith someone always brings up John 14:6 and uses it as a trump card. As someone who has been a part of these kinds of conversations I find that troubling, because in my experience the way that verse is used is often as a conversation ender. Basically someone will say, "well Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father except by me.'" And act as if that's all that needs to be said about other cultures and religions.

So for that reason I want to engage with the John 14:6 text and explore what it really has to say to the issue of religious plurality. I want to start out by looking at the immediate context of the verse, and believe it or not Jesus wasn't talking about muslims or any other religion. Jesus is not looking to say which religion is right and which are wrong Jesus is simply saying that wherever I am present people can experience God.

The other problem I have with the trump card usage of this verse is that it assumes that Jesus is automatically not present in other cultures and religions. But consider what Paul says in Colossians 1:

       "The son is the image of the invisible God,

        The one who is first over all creation.

        Because all things were created by him:

        Both in the heavens and on the earth,

        the things that are visible and invisible.

        Whether they are thrones or powers or rulers or authorities,

        all things were created through him and for him.

        He existed before all things,

        and all things are held together in him."

Paul makes it very clear that all of creation was created by Jesus, in Jesus and for Jesus and Jesus is present in all of creation. Paul goes on to say that Jesus is in the business of restoring all things in creation, and that means all people, cultures and religions.

So I'm totally okay with saying Jesus is the way, truth and life and no one gets to the Father except through him but I also have to believe that Jesus is in at least some ways present in every community and Jesus is actively working towards every community being restored to how God intended creation to be all along.

And I think that distinction matters when it comes to the way we think about missions. Whenever you find yourself in a community of people who have different religious beliefs than you rather than assuming you have an absolute monopoly on truth; what if you took the time to be patient, listen, pay attention and pray to try and discern the ways in which Jesus is already present and working to restore this community to the way God intended it to be. Then once you start to get a good idea what that is you can participate in what Jesus is already doing.

Grace & Peace

The God Void (Audio Clip)

This is a short talk I gave at Crossings Knoxville in June. 

It was part of a series they do called 'My Most Important Question' in which people in the community come up and talk about the big questions that they have been wrestling with. It's worth pointing out that I reference a book called 'Insurrection' by Peter Rollins when what I meant to say was 'How (Not) to Speak of God' by Peter Rollins

a creative reordering...

"It is incumbent upon us, therefore, to relate the actual order we find in the world to the redemptive order which lies at the heart of the Christian message. In the Christian faith we look for a new order in which the damaged order, or the disorder which inexplicably arises in the world, will be healed through a creative reordering of existence as it is reconciled to its ultimate ground in the creative love of God." - Thomas Torrance, Scottish Theologian

In what ways are you promoting the 'damaged order' of the world?

In what ways are you participating in the creative reordering?

Parable of the Temple

It has been said that there once was a man of God who lived and preached in a small rural town. One day this man received a vision in a dream, that he believed had come from God. In the vision a great voice told him to construct a magnificent temple of worship so that people from all over the world would be drawn to the one true God.

Up until this point the preacher's small congregation had been meeting in an old wooden barn that barely, if at all, kept out the wind and the rain. And even though they didn't have much money the preacher excitedly set about the work of the Lord, trusting that He would provide for them. The church raised the money very quickly and within a year they had built a wonderful little chapel with a beautiful high-vaulted ceiling and ornate, handmade stained glass windows.

During that same year a factory was built in that same small town. The factory brought in a lot of workers, most of which were poor immigrants. The workers suffered greatly in the factory and since many of them were not legal immigrants and only a few spoke English they could not speak up about the poor working conditions or the unfair wages.

Many of the people from the town distrusted the surge of immigrants. After all these people didn't speak English and they were taking away jobs from good, hard-working locals. And they worshipped the wrong gods as well. Most locals thought the religion of the immigrants was suspect at best.

After seeing the poor working conditions and unfair treatment that the immigrants received the small town preacher became overwhelmed with compassion for them. Upon realizing that this group of people had no money and could not afford to build a place of worship for their religious services he made a brash and hasty decision to give the brand new chapel that his church had built to the immigrants, asking nothing in return. They gladly accepted the offer and immediately set about taking down the crosses and other Christian decorations around the chapel and replacing them with their own.

When the congregation saw this happening they inquired unto their preacher as to what was going on. He explained what he had done and informed them that they would have to continue meeting in the old wooden barn for the time being. The small congregation was confused and a little upset by this news. Some people said that it would be better for the immigrants to come and worship the Christian God with them in the new chapel if they wanted to, but giving away the building was foolish. Those same people decided that day to go find a more reasonable church to worship in. But most of the people just shook their heads and went about their business.

The preacher left feeling defeated and unsure of himself, after seeing the people leave his church. That night as he was sleeping he received another vision. Once again a great voice told him to construct a magnificent temple of worship so that people from all over the world would be drawn to the one true God, This time more sternly.

So the next Sunday the preacher spoke about his vision to his congregation and announced that they would once again be starting on a new building. So they set about raising the money and started the construction. Once again the Lord seemed to provide generously for them and in about a year's time they had built another beautiful chapel, this time bigger and more ornate than the last one. The congregations disappointment about the old chapel quickly gave way to excitement about this new one.

But in that same year two more factories were built in the town and the population began to boom. More and more people, again mostly poor immigrants, poured into the city to take jobs at the factory. This new wave of immigrants was from a different part of the world and followed an entirely different religion. Once again the preacher's heart was overwhelmed with compassion for these immigrants and once again he offered the new chapel his church had built to them, asking nothing in return.

As the years rolled by the preacher continued to have visions in which a great voice told him to construct a magnificent temple of worship so that people from all over the world would be drawn to the one true God. The town continued to grow as more and more factories were built and so more and more workers from all over the world came in search of jobs.

Every time as a new building was being built by the small church a new surge of workers would come into town, and every time the preacher (and his congregation over time) would see the poor conditions and unfair treatment of the workers they would be overwhelmed with compassion. They they would give away their new building to them, asking nothing in return.

They say that to this day in this town full of factories and beautiful places of worship for every religious group under the sun, there is still a small congregation that meets in an old, falling apart barn just on the edge of town. A small church that joyfully continues their calling to construct a magnificent temple of worship so that people from all over the world would be drawn to the one true God.

Bombs & Jesus

"You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.But I say to you that you must not oppose those who want to hurt you. If people slap you on your right cheek, you must turn the left cheek to them as well."/Matthew 5:38-39

“You have heard that it was said, You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who harass you so that you will be acting as children of your Father who is in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both the evil and the good and sends rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love only those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore, just as your heavenly Father is complete in showing love to everyone, so also you must be complete."/Matthew 5:43-48

I want to ask a serious question...

And I know that it deals with some seriously sensitive subjects, so I don't want to be callous. But it's a question that I can't just overlook...

Why is it that in the evangelical church it is widespread for people to use the Bible to support homosexual marriage not being legalized, and yet we gloss over the teaching's of Jesus that would suggest that Christians should not support war?

If we are going to argue that some archaic laws from Leviticus and a couple of lines from Paul are enough to define what our nation's policy should be towards gay marriage, then shouldn't Jesus' clear teachings on non-violence define our foreign policy?

What if we 'turned the other cheek' when people attacked us?

Wouldn't anything else be inconsistent?

And Jesus didn't just teach 'turn the other cheek' and 'love your neighbors', he lived it. Jesus sets a radical and yet clear example with his life and death that in God's Kingdom love is infinitely more powerful than violence.

Jesus doesn't try to kill those who oppose him. Jesus lets them kill him. He is willing to die rather than harness his power against his murderers, even though he was innocent. 

As followers of Jesus are we not called to be willing to do the same?

Are we not called to love and pray for terrorist rather than try to kill them?

And I know that some people will say that if we don't kill the bad guys they will come kill us. We have to use violence to keep ourselves safe.

But doesn't Jesus call us to be a light into the dark world? 

Using violence on others to protect yourself from violence sounds a lot like trying to overcome darkness with more darkness. What if when the world threw darkness our way we refused to resort to darkness ourselves?

If vengeance belongs only to the Lord then how can a follower of Jesus take it upon themselves to kill another person, rather they deserve it or not?

Let's not forget that Jesus was willing to die for every single terrorist that ever lived.

Let's not forget that Paul himself was a violent terrorist who specifically attacked Christians at one point in his life. Not even the most ardent extremist is beyond the reconciling power of God's love.

I grew up believing that violence and murder were the only reasonable answers to violence and murder. But nothing about that sets me a part as a Christian. We are called to be set apart from the world by our unlimited, unreserved, grace-filled, Christ-like love.

That's how the world will recognize us as followers of Jesus.

Grace & Peace

Burning Man

"Hurtling down the road to the Black Rock Desert, the colors paint themselves like a spice cabinet — sage, dust, slate gray. Maybe you're in your trusty car, the one that takes you to and from work every day. Perhaps you've got a spacious RV, your Motel 6 on wheels for the next days in the desert. Or you're driving your glittering art car, complete with poker chips and mirroring to do a disco ball proud.

The two-lane highway turns off onto a new road. You drive slowly onto the playa, the 400 square mile expanse known as the Black Rock Desert. And there you've touched the terrain of what feels like another planet. You're at the end — and the beginning — of your journey to Burning Man."

These are the words of Molly Steenson describing her experience at the massive 10-day festival that over 50,000 people will attend this summer in Nevada's Black Rock Desert.

The infamous Burning Man.

Burning Man is basically a huge gathering of people seeking to experience an alternative way of living. The gathering is guided by a set of values known as the ten principles. They are as follows:


Radical Inclusion,


Gifting,

Decommodification,

Radical Self-reliance,

Radical Self-expression,

Communal Effort,

Civic Responsibility,

Leaving No Trace,

Participation

and Immediacy.

And every year thousands of people drive all the way out to the middle of nowhere to be a part of a community built around these values.

Every time I look at this list I think to myself that there is a reason so many people go searching for this out in the desert. This radically alternative lifestyle is - in a lot of ways - very much in line with the lives I think God created us to live. Now of course, I would not say that everything that happens at Burning Man is okay. But I also don't think that should stop me from celebrating glimpses of beauty, creativity and wholeness when I see them. 

Which is why I want to set out to find what the Church can learn from Burning Man.

What would it look like to be a radically inclusive community? Where we not only welcomed people who looked, thought, and felt differently than we do; but also did not seek to invalidate there opinions and experiences?

What if we thought of our communities as a place where one does not come to consume a message or a good feeling but rather to participate in and be consumed by the life God created us to live?

What would it look like if we truly looked out for the people in our communities and neighborhoods? What about the 'least of these' by the world's standards? What if we personally invested in people's lives rather than relying on 'the system' to help people who are hurting?

What if the reason so many people are drawn to Burning Man every year is because it's a glimpse of what God's Kingdom coming here to earth looks like? 

The very Kingdom that we are called to help usher in...

Grace & Peace

Psalm 22 (a visual liturgy for Joplin)

This is a short visual liturgy I created in remembrance of all the people affected by the tornadoes in Joplin. It's a lament based off of Psalm 22. The Music is 'Mary" by Yellow Ostrich.

Creation Care (Video Liturgy)

This is a short video liturgy I created that highlights the Church's long and diverse tradition of caring for  God's creation. The music is 'The Earth is Yours' by Gungor.

I do not condemn you

In John 8 we see a story unfold in which Jesus has just retured from the Mount of Olives and goes into the temple. He is greeted by a group of pharisees who are dragging in a woman who was caught in the act of a sexual sin.They throw her on the ground before Jesus and then they remind him that their religious laws require that they stone her to death. According to John they are trying to trick Jesus.

At this point I imagine Jesus looking down at the humiliated, and likely still naked woman who is on trial for her sexual sin.

Then Jesus does something amazing,

He bends down next to her.

Now any one who knows much about communications will tell you that non-verbal communication speaks much more than what we say. And by bending down right next to this broken, sinful outsider Jesus is saying a lot.

Now Jesus could have stood tall and proud against this sinful woman. After all sexual sin is an abomination to the Lord right? The religious laws that the Jews followed gave them every right to stone her.

Jesus could have stood defiant against this sinful woman.

He could have made a bold and clear statement that God hates sexual sin and the law is there to enforce God's will.

But Jesus does things all wrong doesn't he?

He doesn't stand tall... he lowers himself. With his physical posture he places himself on the side of the outsider. He finds himself shoulder to shoulder, eyes down, hands in the dirt with a sexually sinful person.

But the religious law-keepers keep pushing the issue, so Jesus stands up. But at this point when he stands up it's not against the sinful woman is it?

He stands up for her!

Jesus stands up against the people who are supposedly on God's good side, and he stands up for the sexually sinful person who is supposedly not on God's good side. And then he reminds the religious law-keepers that they are just as messed up as she is and that they have absolutely no right to be so harsh.

And then, as the law-keepers are walking away Jesus looks down out the woman and says something truly amazing:

I do not condemn you.

Once again Jesus has a chance to stand firm against this sexually sinful woman but he doesn't. I imagine as he is saying this he reaches out his hand to help her up.

And then (and only then) after he has

lowered himself to be by her side,

stood up for her,

and made it clear that he does not condemn her,

does he look her in the eye and invite her to leave her old ways behind.

Now I don't know what happened next with that woman but I have to imagine that she took Jesus up on his invitation.

Why?

Because Jesus loved her.

He earned her trust.

He didn't try to threaten her with wrath or punishment.

He didn't even condemn her.

It's that kind of love that has unbelievable power to change people's hearts.

It's that kind of radical love that allows people to get to a place where they can accept God's grace and allow God to transform them.

It's that kind of love that we, as followers of Jesus, are called to embody.

Lately I've heard a lot of people talking about defending God and standing up for God. We are very insistent that we stand up and exercise our political power and privilege as the people on God's good side.

But Jesus says the way we treat outsiders is the way we treat Jesus himself.

And all of this is critically important right now because there are people all around us that have been hurt by Christians in our state exercising their immense political power. Most notably the lgbt community.

These people are not going to come seek us out. They are not going to come to our churches or show up at our campus ministry meetings. There is just to much pain and tension standing in the way.

But Jesus calls us to GO make disciples of ALL people.

Which means now is the time that we have to go to them. Sitting back and doing nothing is simply not enough. We have to go and reach out to them.

Be with them.

Love them.

Stand up for them.

Not condemn them.

Be Jesus to them.

We can no longer view them as enemies who are against us and our way of life. We have to see them as God's children (just like us) who need Jesus (just like us). Because God loves all of us.

grace & peace