The Response to Suffering?

As I reflect on what it means to have faith in a loving God in the midst of a tragedy like the one being experienced in Haiti, these words ring with a profound truth:

For the language of faith is not primarily interested in communicating information (Jesus did not come as a scientist or a theologian), but in forming healthy, healing, transformative relationships.  Giving someone a “reason” for suffering and a promise that things will work out in the end should never be confused with communicating the truth of faith.  When faced with situations like the Holocaust, or modern-day genocides, it is offensive to offer reasons for the horror (such as a divine test or punishment).  Here the response of the faithful is not to be found in the offering of a theodicy but in drawing alongside those who suffer, and fighting on their behalf.  The truth of faith is not articulated in offering reasons for suffering, but rather in drawing alongside those who suffer, standing with them, and standing up for them.  This is pastoral care at its most luminous.”

-Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic and other impossible tales, pg 42.-

The Dangerous Instrument

I wonder if a man handing another man an extremely sharp, polished, two-edged instrument would hand it over with the air, gestures, and expression of one delivering a bouquet of flowers?  Would not this be madness?  What does one do, then?  Convinced of the excellence of the dangerous instrument, one recommends it unreservedly, to be sure, but in such a way that in a certain sense one warns against it.  So it is with Christianity.  If what is needed is to be done, we should not hesitate, aware of the highest responsibility, to preach in Christian sermons – yes, precisely in Christian sermons – AGAINST Christianity.”

-Soren Kierkegaard, Works of Love, p.191-

I’ve read this a good number of times and each time I think I understand it a bit more.  What do you think?

Advent

Heavenly hosts burst forth in hallelujahs (not tears) at the sight of their naked, helpless Creator in the straw.  Heaven’s best lavished on the least of earth.  Glory to God, they exclaimed.  The first fruits of the new world order have come, and he has revealed the values of his kingdom:  vulnerability, obedience with abandon, lavish giving, faith that defies reason, volitional downward mobility.

Foolishness.  God has chosen the weak to lead the strong and the foolish to confound the wise.  His end?  That all may know his utter dependability to care for those who will risk trusting him.”

-Robert Lupton-

Their’s is the Kingdom: Celebrating the Gospel in Urban America

Snarky Morality Club

Christians believe some things very deeply, but they don’t always see things clearly or express them with Gospel wisdom. When they forget the Gospel, they forget who they are and start finding ways to be justified in comparison to “real sinners.” There’s nothing about the Kingdom of God in a snarky morality club, but too many people don’t know the difference. They usher people out as if they are the angels gathering the elect at the last day, not signs pointing every person, no matter what their sin of the day, to the savior and the wedding feast at the end of the world.”

-Michael Spencer @ iMonk-

Freedom

Today, in the USA, it is Veterans Day.  This is a holiday reserved for honoring those brave men and women who have given up so much for a cause greater than themselves.  And as I sit here and reflect on what exactly that means I am in conflict.

For those who have served your bravery and sacrifice is admirable.  If all people were so selfless this world would be a better place.  My conflict is not with you.  My conflict lies in what is being fought for – freedom.

Fact: I live in a place where I can voice my opinion free from prosecution.

Fact: I’ll go to bed tonight in relative security – I’m pretty sure that I’ll sleep safely and free from worry.

I admit those liberties.  They are nice to have.  But as a Christian those are not necessities for a life of following Jesus.  Jesus speaks of freedom and Paul won’t shut up about it but the freedom they speak of has nothing to do with speech, national security, cheap fuel, debt, trades, or even safety.

Sometime around A.D. 110 Ignatius, an early church father, was arrested and sentenced to fight in the Roman Coliseum .  For those of you who have seen the movie Gladiator the story is similar: Ignatius was captured as a slave and forced to enter an arena designed for slaughter.  On his way he wrote a letter to his contemporary and dear brother in Christ, Polycarp.  He wrote, “..let the slaves serve more faithfully to the glory of God, that they may obtain a better freedom from God.”  He died in the arena the death of a slave but with a few final exhortations that I believe should help to focus our thoughts on this subject.  He, like Paul, encouraged slaves to serve more faithfully in their captivity so that they might understand freedom to be something deeper than social liberty (this does not validate slavery but refocuses our understanding of freedom).  Jesus calls us to “a better freedom.”

A paradox of following Jesus is that we are to be both in the world, but not of the world.  This manifests itself most clearly in the early church of Acts.  They paid their taxes because they knew that Caesar was not Lord.  From their end they lived in peace and when persecuted, even violently, they died willingly for the sake of love.  They literally formed a new way of living that was so different than the rest of the world that people flocked to join – even at the risk of death.  They did not live for security but lived to further the Kingdom of God in their midst.  History tells us that when Rome was plagued with disease and people were leaving by the thousands the Christians intentionally stayed to take care of the sick who were being abandoned, again at the risk of death.  They were in the world but believed so much in another world that they couldn’t “help but enact it” in their midst (Claiborne).  The freedom they believed in was a freedom that was better.

If America’s freedom is taken away the Christians should be the first to embrace their lot because the Kingdom we believe in is better than any earthly kingdom.  If our “rights” are violated that’s not a problem – we have given up our rights for something better.  If we are called to die for the sake of love may it be added to our credit as righteousness.

But where in our great tradition is our call to take life?  It can’t be found.  At what sacrifice is our security bought?  Security is superficial.  I am thankful for our police force, I am thankful for anybody willing to sacrifice their life to save another.  I admire the great virtues espoused by our veterans.  But I cannot celebrate taking life for a freedom that, like all earthly treasures, won’t last.  Our freedom is found in Christ and that is enough.

How would I react if my family were being threatened?  I have no idea.  I admit that I might even act out in violence but one cannot be sure until they are faced with such circumstances.  What I hope is that I am such a slave to Christ in that moment that I act only out of Love both for my family and my enemy.

Galatians 5:22-26

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

 

To Quote Tony Jones, “The Most Important Cartoon of the Year.”

It breaks my heart that we live in a world in which poverty stricken children dieing daily has become common place.  Not only that but we accept it.  It is the status quo and though we might pause for a moment every once in a while to reflect on the horror of it all it doesn’t affect us in any tangible way.  I am compelled to wonder, if it were as common place for white children to die like this would the western world rise up and take notice?

But when something that isn’t as “normal” happens – like a child allegedly getting stuck in a homemade balloon – we drop everything and are glued to the television.

Sorry this is just a rant.  I’m fairly disgusted by it all and as I sit here complaining I have to ask, “So Joey, what are YOU going to do about?”  I don’t know….

 

Less Than a Student

“All services which a slave does for his master a pupil should do for his teacher, with the exception of undoing his shoes.”

-Rabbi Joshua ben Levi-

Mark 1:6-7

“John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.  And this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.”"

Sitting On A tack or, Thoughts On Joy

I think if we are honest with ourselves very few of us could explain joy.  I’ve been on a quest for it.  Maybe not even the experience but just the understanding of it.  What is joy?  It certainly isn’t happiness.  Happiness is fleeting.  It’s wonderful but doesn’t even come close to the joy spoken of in scripture.  James says that we should even be joyful in the midst of suffering.  That’s tough.  I don’t have a lot of collected thoughts on joy but today I read a story I thought I would share.  It’s from St. Francis.

I returned from Perugia and arrived here in the dead of night;  and it is winter time, muddy and so cold that icicles have formed on the edges of my habit and keep striking my legs, and blood flows from such wounds.  And all covered with mud and cold, I come to the gate and after I have knocked and called for some time, a brother comes and asks: ‘Who are you?’  I answer: ‘Brother Francis.’  And he says: ‘Go away; this is not the proper hour for going about; you may not come in.’  And when I insist, he answers: ‘Go away, you are a simple and stupid person; we are so many and we have no need of you.  You are certainly not coming to us at this hour!’  And I stand again at the door and say: ‘For the love of God, take me in tonight.’  And he answers: ‘I will not.  Go to the Crosiers’ place and ask there.’  I tell you this: If I had patience and did not become upset, there would be true joy in this and true virtue and the salvation of the soul.”

Joy in rejection birthed from patience is true virtue.  Oh that we would all know that to be true.

Missio Dei: Communal Exhale

I like breathing. One of my favorite aspects of breathing is that I don’t have to think about it. It just happens as a natural part of who I am: a living being. When I do start to think about breathing, though, I become much more aware of the process. Breathe in. Breathe out. But even then there is a lot going on that I am not aware of.

Inhale. This is the part of breathing that feels the best. Each time I do it I am refreshed, and when I haven’t taken a breath for some time nothing feels better than sucking in couple liters of oxygen. This oxygen enters my blood and permeates my whole body with life.

I work at a church. I spend a good deal of time reading and communicating scripture to people. They come to our gatherings because they have learned that scripture is like bread. It sustains us. We take it in and, like Daniel, it fills our stomachs. Through song and prayer we ask God to enter into our midst, to fill us with the Pnuema, that Holy Breath. We take it in, and it nourishes us. We inhale.

Exhale. This part of the breath has to happen. Eventually you exhale or you die. It is the release that the body has to have after it has been nourished, in order that it might make room for more nourishment.

Missio Dei. Mission of God. That grand and wonderful narrative into which God calls us. One of my favorite parts of a life of faith is that each practice is intended to aid another practice. There is no end to the full life that Jesus promises. We are fed so we can serve, and we serve so we can worship, and by worship we are fed. God’s is a mission that calls us to participate in His Kingdom and to invite others to do the same. We practice Kingdom living on earth, as it is done in heaven, and we do it along side of our friends and neighbors who haven’t seen the Kingdom, who haven’t even been shown a glimpse. It is the most natural and necessary reaction to encountering the living Christ. We step into His mission.

As a church, it becomes our place of comfort to participate in a weekly service dedicated to being fed. We like food, even if it is baby food. Eventually, however, there comes a time when our bodies have been so filled nourishment that we have to have an outlet, or risk dying. We go to church, we are fed, and as the most natural, almost impulsive, result we step into the world to participate in God’s Kingdom. It is our outlet after being fed. It is our place of activity. It is our exhale.

Inhale. God loves you. Exhale. You love your neighbor.

There is a part of this life, this breathing cycle, that is not well captured by metaphors. It is one of the most profound ingredients to the faithful life that makes our exhales and our inhales all the more possible. It is community. God’s Kingdom is not a fragmented group of individuals who have learned the rhythm, but is a true and genuine community that has learned how to breathe together. They are fed, not only by God, but by one another. They live out God’s mission not alone, but as a whole. They are the church far and wide, the body of Christ with all its limbs and appendages, all its wounds and all of its joys. It is this community that Jesus said would show the world that He is real. It is this community that gathers to breathe in, and departs to breathe out – sharing the breath of life with the world.

Inhale. Missio Dei. Exhale. Missio Dei.

Who Am I?

Who am I? They often tell me
I stepped from my cell’s confinement
calmly, cheerfully, firmly,
like a Squire from his country house

 

Who am I? They often tell me
I used to speak to my warders
freely and friendly and clearly,
as though it were mine to command.

 

Who am I? They also tell me
I bore the days of misfortune
equably, smilingly, proudly
like one accustomed to win.

Am I then really that which
other men tell of?
Or am I only what I myself
know of myself?
Restless and longing and sick,
like a bird in a cage,
struggling for breath, as though
hands were compressing my throat,
yearning for colors, for flowers,
for the voices of birds,
thirsting for words of kindness,
for neighborliness,
tossing in expectation of great events,
powerlessly trembling for friends
at an infinite distance,
weary and empty at praying,
at thinking, at making,
faint, and ready to say farewell to it all.

 

Who am I? This or the other?
Am I one person today and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once?
A hypocrite before others,
and before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me still
like a beaten army, fleeing in disorder
from victory already achieved?

 

Who am I? They mock me,
these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever I am, Thou knowest, 0 God,
I am Thine!

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Tegel Prison
Summer 1944