Renewal Leave

I’ll be riding a bicycle across the USA this summer, which means I’ll not be posting to my blog (wouldn’t make sense to post “No Weekends Off” when I’m taking the whole summer off!).

Anyway, I will be blogging about my journey on Pedaling to Stop Traffic with YouTube clips as well.  Follow me on this adventure if you will.  Thanks to all my readers and supporters!

Rabbits, Pens and Grace

You’ve heard the phrase, “multiplying like rabbits,” which attests to the prolific way in which rabbits reproduce their own kind.  I have noticed the same thing with ball point pens.  There is no shortage around my house.  While there never seems to be one at hand when I need to make a note, I need look no further than the desk in the den, the kitchen counter, or table, to find half-a-dozen pens of various species.  There are promotional pens from businesses, churches, and schools.  There are pens of different girths, lengths and colors.  There are cheap pens that don’t write so well, and fancy wooden pens, skillfully turned on someone’s lathe.  We have enough, indeed, seventy times seven more than enough, pens to last us our lifetime of use.

And so it is with grace.  Grace is a concept that is often difficult to grasp.  People say grace at meal times.  Dancers show astonishing grace as they twirl and dip.  Some women are named Grace.  British royalty are often addressed as "Your grace."  But grace, as a religious term, means more than that.  Grace means love given without strings attached – love without conditions.  This is the way God loves.

At least that’s what the apostle Paul says in his first letter to the church in Corinth, “love does not insist on its own way.”  At least that’s the way Jesus seemed to love everyone he encountered.  Even as he hung on the cross he is reported to have said, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”  To the very end of his life Jesus loved the world unconditionally. 

Grace is a word that Christians use to describe that kind of unconditional love.  That means there is enough, and even more than enough, love in the heart of God to love everyone, even those we find difficult to love, who seem mean, unloveable, even wicked.  Like the pens that multiply in my house, there seems no end to the love of God.  And like the diversity of pens that proliferate under my very nose, God meets each one of us as we are, where we are, with exactly the grace we need. 

There is a pen of grace which has your name on it.  But you have to pick it up in order to write your story.  I can’t wait to see how your life in grace turns out.        

Do You REALLY Need It Yesterday?

I was thinking about the phenomena which most of us experience as we grow older concerning the relative speed of time.  As we age time seems to go faster.  Given the rapid speed of change in our culture these days, the perception of time’s speed is accentuated.  I marvel at the changes that today’s nonagenarians have witnessed and wonder how they maintain a grip on life.  Changes in technology, communications, and media in the past decade alone are staggering.  How does one keep up? 

Which begs the question:  Does one have to?  Keep up, I mean.  Do we have to try to keep going at the speed of our culture or is there an alternative?  I remember a trip I made to Brazil several years ago and my tour guide’s description of the relative sense of time experienced in the different regions of the country.  He mentioned Carioca time, a more relaxed sense of schedules lived out by the citizens of Rio as compared to their more driven counterparts further south. 

Even in my home state of North Carolina there is a different approach to time between those who live in cities and those in the country.  In Charlotte you might hear, “Time is money,” while in some remote corner of the mountains “There’s always time for fishing,” may be a more common sentiment.

I’d like to propose that one need not feel pressed by those around us to keep up with their pace.  In Judeo-Christian circles we have a tradition of Sabbath which engages us not only to slow down but to stop what we’re doing altogether for a day, and if, for a day, why not for moments in every other day?  Who needs to go at the speed of light?  Why not choose the speed of life, which I submit is slow enough to smell the roses along the way?

It takes great concentration and discipline to not be caught up in the current of culture.  And to go in the opposite direction may require mutual support from a community that is willing to be counter-cultural along with us.  I think there is more life to be gained from slowing down, lingering over coffee, taking a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood, than from the frantic rush in which we often get caught up. 

Do we really need it yesterday?  

Human Trafficking

A man claiming to be Abubakar Shekau, leader of a militant Islamist group, issued a statement this past week that he plans to sell the school girls that his band of abducted recently in Nigeria.  Whether sold, or kept in bondage, the fate of these girls is a nightmare which is likely to result in sexual slavery to those who hold them in chains. 

According the U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2010, the number of adults and children currently in forced labor, bonded labor and forced prostitution is 12.3 million. Worldwide, 1.8 per 1,000 persons is a victim of human trafficking, increasing to 3 persons per 1,000 in Asia and the Pacific. Sixty-two countries have yet to convict a trafficker under the U.N. Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, and 104 countries have yet to establish laws or regulations regarding human trafficking. (Fact Sheet)

Did you know that the Super Bowl is the highest money-making weekend of the year for those who profit from human trafficking?  As football fans descend on host cities, many of them will also be going online on their computers, or making phone calls, to place an order - an order for a human being.  An order for a child made in God’s image.  They may order someone Caucasian, or African, or Asian, or Hispanic.  They may choose any gender and almost any age, most likely very young.  And they will pay for it with cash or a credit card.  And I was naïve enough to think that slavery ended with the Civil War.  No, those who profit from slavery have just become more sophisticated about how they ply their trade.

And lest we think this is a problem for Third World nations or big cities, only, my sister recently told me about an incident in a small town in western North Carolina last month.  Modern day slavery is happening right under our noses.

This summer I will be riding a bicycle across the United States.  I treasure the freedom I have to take on such an adventure, and I ache for those who have been denied their freedom to flourish, to do meaningful work, to have the leisure to play.  Even more, my heart breaks for those who are oppressed and forced into demeaning sexual exploitation.  So, as I ride I will be hoping to raise awareness and funds to help put a stop to human trafficking, or at least to put a pinch in this criminal economy which is second only to trafficking in drugs. 

To read a bit more and to donate, click here --- Pedaling to Stop Traffic. 

Body and Blood

How does one explain what Christians do with bread and wine?  How would I explain what’s going on to a non-believer, especially when she hears the language, “This is my body, broken for you,” or “This is my blood, poured out for you.”  Jesus was even more graphic in The Gospel of John, Chapter 6:51 . . . “the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” As one sceptic said to me, “It all sounds like some sort of ancient pagan ritual.”

Ancient, for sure, but hardly pagan.  Anyone with a poetic sensibility should grasp the metaphoric use of language.  While Roman Catholics might declare that the bread and wine actually become transubstantiated into the flesh and blood of Jesus, we Protestants are not quite so literal.  Nevertheless, we do agree that there is something going on in the breaking of the bread which, while not magic, is more than symbolic.

So, here’s my attempt at an explanation of a mystery that cannot be fully explained.  Christians believe that Jesus Christ is present in the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the wine (or grape juice in many churches).  We disagree on how he is present, but we agree he is among us, bestowing grace for every need. When Christians pray the Lord’s Prayer, with the familiar line, “Give us this day, our daily bread,” it is a reminder of the constancy of God’s providence, reaffirmed whenever we gather ‘round the bread at the Table of the Lord.

We are also affirming the goodness of creation.  God’s providence includes not only grace for our struggles, but the blessings of the earth – grain, the fruit of the vine, animal, vegetable, and mineral.  When Christians come to the table we are giving thanks for God’s mercies and forgiveness, as well as offering gratitude for material things that are necessary to life --- “our daily bread.”

Perhaps the language of flesh and blood seems too graphic, but it serves a purpose.  In the context of ancient cultic practices, Christianity sprang up with an alternate vision.  There are obvious parallels between the language of sacrifice from Israel’s temple practices and Christ’s crucifixion understood as a sacrifice, but there is a difference in how Christians historically described what was happening.  Many ancient mystery religions were practicing rituals which promised a spiritual escape from the fleshly, temporal, material world.  The Christian doctrine of Incarnation offered a different perspective.  When Jesus spoke of his body and blood being offered for the life of the world he was declaring the essential goodness of fleshly existence.  He was not offering an escape from, but redemption of the world.  Body and spirit are not separate entities but constitute one, whole soul. 

Too many Christians today misunderstand this, eagerly looking for Jesus to “rapture” them out of the world, forgetting that “God loved the world,” and that the “home of God is among mortals.”  And for those non-Christians out there who spend way too much effort trying their own forms of escape – drugs, alcohol, TV, shopping, etc., the doctrine of Incarnation offers an alternative view of the world.  God saw everything that God had made and saw that it was good.  When Christians gather ‘round the table we celebrate the goodness of creation, and we give thanks for the redemption of the material world, ourselves along with it.

All that talk of flesh and blood is simply Jesus’ poetic, even if graphic, way of getting our attention that God is concerned with saving the world, not just saving Christians out of the world.  While personal salvation is certainly a part of that for which we give thanks, God’s purpose is so much larger --- to redeem the whole creation.  Even some Christians need to come to terms with what we’re affirming when we break the bread and drink from the cup – flesh and blood, indeed, but so much more.

   

God's Affirmative Action

“In a fractured decision that revealed deep divisions over what role the judiciary should play in protecting racial and ethnic minorities, the Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a Michigan constitutional amendment that bans affirmative action in admissions to the state’s public universities.”   --- N.Y. Times April 22, 2014

“While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us . . .” --- Paul to the Romans 5:8

God believes in affirmative action.  This is a theological truth before it is public policy.  But because it is a theological truth it eventually has political consequences.  The whole purpose of being a God-person/Christian is to try to the best of our ability to imitate the things that God does. 

The Biblical narrative is the story of God taking affirmative action on behalf of God’s people.  God chooses Israel, not because they were a great nation and had proven themselves worthy, but because God loved them, simple as that (Deuteronomy 7:7-8).  God’s choice is an affirmative action, unrelated to merit.  The same is true in God’s incarnation in Jesus Christ, extending God’s affirmative action to all the nations, “God so loved the world . . .” (John 3:16).  And so, Paul is able to make the most concise statement about God’s affirmative action, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  Regardless of our credentials, or lack of them, we have been chosen by God.  God has acted affirmatively toward us.

In public policy, affirmative action seeks to do what God does, to choose someone regardless of accepted standards.  There are indications that “accepted standards” are not race- or culture-neutral so that affirmative action is an artificial but necessary means of providing more opportunity for some in our society who have been denied such opportunity because the weight of historical prejudice has been their burden to carry.

So much of the opportunities I have had in my life have been mine simply because I was white and born to highly-educated parents.  I could easily claim that I have worked for everything I have achieved; but by virtue of my birth I was given a preferential option, an automatic “leg up” according to societal standards.  In a sense, because of my whiteness, society was offering me an affirmative action, a preferential position that had nothing to do with what I merited.  This preferential position gave me opportunities that my more ethnically diverse fellow citizens do not enjoy.  When schools are required by law to correct this cultural bias by offering a preferential option for ethnic diversity, this seems like a valuable counter-balance to the entrenched and systemic racism that continues to be a part of our society.

If affirmative action seems inequitable, it does so only if we believe our society is a pure meritocracy, which it is not.  We are born with great differences in opportunity.  Affirmative action as public policy is one means of expanding those opportunities to a wider spectrum of people.  Such preferential options might be among the more god-like things we humans might do.

Movies and the Thought Police

Lots of movies coming out these days.  Many of them on Christian themes – God is Not Dead, Son of God, Heaven Is for Real.  There is also, Noah, a retelling of the Biblical story of the flood.

I don’t go see many movies, so this is no review of any particular film.  Most films I have seen have been rather disappointing of late.  So, if you want to drop $10 or more to go watch a mediocre story, be my guest.  Maybe you will be pleasantly surprised by a rare gem of a film every now and then.

My comments are aimed more squarely at the self-appointed guardians at the gate, or ticket booths, of America.  We have many voices, unfortunately of so-called Christian leaders, telling their flocks what they should or should not see, to save them from having to think for themselves, I suppose.  Particularly, there have been pious public outcries against Noah, many of them from people who have not seen the movie themselves.  Again, I haven’t seen it, but because of the hateful nature of these critiques I am tempted as, ironically, I suspect their congregations are tempted, to go see for myself.  Well, very good.  That’s what should happen.  Let’s all go see for ourselves and draw our own conclusions, then come back and talk with our friends, pastors, Sunday School classes; weighing the good against the bad, the edifying versus the outrageous, and then, maybe, we will have learned something worthwhile.

Surely people of faith won’t be threatened by a Hollywood movie, eh?  And if they are, what kind of faith do they have in the first place?  We may be zealous for the faith without trying to control what other people see, or think.  If people are getting the gospel they can discern for themselves what’s worthwhile and what’s not. 

I don’t understand what people see in horror films.  Don’t we have enough horror going on in the world?  I don’t understand why people allow their children to watch so much of what’s on TV, or to play the gory video games that seem so popular.  But crying out, “Don’t watch this!” just makes people want to watch it all the more.  I think you have to stick to the basics of what is good and true and beautiful, and allow people to make their own decisions.  It’s a risk, but that’s part of the cost of freedom.  And freedom is not only a value of democracy, it is also a basic gospel value as well (Galatians 5:1).

I think I will go see Noah, but I’ll wait for it to come to our local second-run theater where it’ll only cost me $3.  I can wait.  Besides, I’m not that crazy about Russell Crowe. 

The Worth of Children

Sociologist Viviana Zelizer describes a dramatic change in American society’s perspective on children since the Second World War.  She writes that children have become “economically worthless but emotionally priceless.” Whereas, at the turn of the 20^th Century, parents had children as a “customary” or “economically necessary” expectation, today’s parents have children as an end in themselves and  “invest more emotional and financial capital in them than ever before.” (Sarah Boesveld, National Post, January 2014)

My father commented on this cultural change, remarking that when he was a child at a family dinner, the adults served themselves first, while the children came last.  “Now that I’m an adult,” he said with a laugh, “the children are served first and I’m still served last.” 

At my family gatherings, when there are toddlers about, we spend inordinate amounts of time watching their every move – they are the centers of attention, and they know it.  I suspect that my parents, with seven siblings each, rarely garnered such attention, and I furthermore suspect they were emotionally healthier as a result.  What I witness in so many parents these days borders on a kind of idolatry of childhood.  Children are considered precious, and as to idols of ancient days, parents make sacrifices not only for them, but to them as well. 

Instead of a child’s life revolving around her parent’s goals and ideals, the parent who idolizes their child allows the child’s preferences to rule - “What do you want to do, dear?” - thrusting upon children decisions they are not mature enough to make, allowing them freedoms the consequences of which they are not old enough to bear.  Loaded up with such out-sized expectations from the adults in their lives is it any wonder we have widespread drug and substance abuse among teens and pre-teens seeking to escape their parents’ worshipful expectations.  After all, they are children, not gods.

I think our children might be better off if we practiced a little more emotional detachment from them.  While we might esteem them as highly valuable, some casual disregard might serve them well.  Free from the idolatry of the adults in their lives, they might develop healthier egos.  We might give them more opportunities to prove their worth as did previous generations, so that they measure their value according to their accomplishments for, or contributions to the family unit, rather than simply in response to the unceasing but vacuous adoration of their parents.  I have known many a teacher who must deal with parents whose children can do no wrong.  Maybe it's time for children to eat last again.

What I’ve just written seems a little severe, even to me.  I think every child is of intrinsic value to God, apart from anything they do.  But I also think that many of us have confused our children as the subjects of our worship, and ultimately I think this is destructive to both the worshiped and the worshiper.  Jesus said something about “seeking first the kingdom of God.”  If we do so, then our children will drop a bit on our priority list, but that drop will be exactly where they need to be.  And they will not be worthless, and still priceless, in God’s sight.  And that’s what matters.

  

The Meek Will Inherit the Earth

          “People will do things in cars that they’d never do face to face.”

          These are the words of a friend who worked in road construction for many years.  He was describing a general spirit of meanness which people, perturbed by a slow-down in traffic, were apt to exhibit toward each other or the construction crews.  He went on to say that when people get behind the steering wheel of an automobile the standard of human civility and patience seems to drop a significant percentage.

          I remembered his words after my traffic encounter today.  I was on a bicycle climbing the crest of the hill on Hubbard Road in Bethlehem, and just as I began to pick up speed on the other side, someone in a pickup truck passed me and then turned into a side road no more than five feet in front of me.

          I tried to make eye-contact in his rear-view mirror as I lifted up one free hand as if to say, “What?  You couldn’t wait five seconds for me to be out of the way before you made your turn?”

          For his part, he offered me the standard one-finger salute which by now is surely a sign of a lack of imagination, but which implies that either I was in the wrong (which I wasn’t), or he was just plain mean (which I doubt). 

          You see, I suspect here was a man who, when out of his pickup, is a hard worker, a loving husband and father, and a tithing churchman, but something about the anonymity of painted sheet metal and four wheels turned him into someone even he wouldn’t recognize when he looks in the mirror.

          I know that bicycles aggravate people in cars.  Some of my best non-cycling friends have admitted they’d like to get rid of all those people in Lycra shorts and rainbow-colored jerseys.  The typical complaint is that cyclists slow the traffic and don’t we all know that everyone is always in a hurry.  And, yes, I know that some cyclists are rather arrogant or cavalier on their steeds.  My apologies, but maybe we’d all be better off if we all slowed down.  Apparently, moving fast in cars hasn’t made us a kinder, gentler species.  In my experience, cars just make us all more short-tempered and less tolerant of each other, although my life as a cyclist has curtailed my bad car habits tremendously.

          But consider this, we’re going to be out of oil in another generation.  Bicycles will start looking pretty good by then.  But, if you haven’t ridden since you were fifteen years old, you might have a hard time getting back on the saddle when you’re eighty.  As for me, I plan to be riding until I can’t get out of a chair by myself.

          I’ll always be cautious around people in cars.  After all, sitting on a twenty pound bike, going fifteen miles per hour, I can’t very well argue with two tons of steel going forty-five or better.  I tend to feel rather meek sitting on the saddle of my Schwinn.  So, pickup truck driver, I’m sure you’re basically a decent guy, but please be a little kinder next time, as a favor to this traveler using a more fragile means of transportation.  And, oh yeah, don’t forget - the meek will inherit the earth.  

 Tell US DOT: Bicyclists' Safety Counts
https://www.votervoice.net/Shares/Bf3QLA4dAC5nIAjv5wK7FAA 
       

Anything Is Possible

It was a presentation by Richard Dawkins that caused the phrase, “anything is possible,” to stick in my head.  Dawkins is a world-renowned scientist and militant atheist who has opened many eyes to the wonders of the cosmos, while also decrying the negative influences of religion throughout the history of humankind.

I am enthralled with Dawkins’ explanations of how the physical world works, but find him surprisingly unsophisticated in his understanding of metaphysics – he sees the dark underbelly of religion but fails to see its beauty, goodness, or truth – which seems very “unscientific” a position to take.

In any case, as Dawkins once described the subatomic world with the phrase, “anything is possible,” my eyes were re-opened to the wonders of the universe that God has made.  Contrary to Dawkins intention, “anything is possible,” opens the door to all sorts of miracles.  By faith I had always assumed that God could do anything, but when a celebrated scientist confirmed the endless possibilities that exist in creation, I had to pause in awe of a God who indeed made a world in which “anything is possible.”  The blind may see, the lame walk, stormy seas grow calm, and stony hearts become tender.  Miracles happen. 

More recently, I was attending a retreat in which the leader, Nicole Greer, asked us to draw a line representing the continuum of our lives, and then to mark an “X” where we thought we were in our lives.  The participants were of different ages, so our “X’s” were in different places, but I was estimating that I had another 35 years or so left in my life.  And then Nicole said, “What can you do in 35 years?”  And I couldn’t help responding, “Almost anything.”  Anything is possible.  I have worked as a pastor for almost 29 years.  So, what could I do with another 35 years?  Well, almost anything is possible. 

I was amazed at how that simple exercise opened my eyes to how many open doors I might still go through.  In 35 years I could even go back to school and learn something completely new.  In 35 years I could learn how to build cedar strip canoes and kayaks (a secret yearning).  In 35 years I could mentor or tutor several children who are struggling in school.  In 35 years, wow!  Anything is possible.

I suspect most of us live with the sense that each passing year closes more doors and limits our options more and more, so that we begin to feel hemmed in by our limitations (speaking metaphysically – our mortality).  But Nicole Greer and Richard Dawkins helped me see that there is no need to feel such constraints.  We are free to choose a new path.  The door is open.  Anything is possible.

It's Good Work If You Can Get It

“Living on the surface and in the present bereft of strong echoes of the past, we are (occasionally) happy, but rarely truly joyous.” --- Miroslav Volf

Everybody wants to be happy.  We live in a country where the pursuit of happiness is written into our DNA – the pursuit, but not necessarily the attainment.

I want to be happy.  I want my wife to be happy, and my children.  Why, I want everyone to be happy.  If only there were a formula we could follow, or an elixir we could drink, or . . . wait a minute . . . Every book store has a section of shelves filled with books that promise just such a formula for happiness.  Countless substances we ingest or drink, we do so in hopes of a buzz of happiness.  But if there was a formula or substance that worked, don’t you suppose we would have found it by now?

Might I suggest a different pursuit?  Instead of seeking after what makes you happy, which at most is a fleeting experience, why not pursue something else?  Like love.  Like service to others.  It is simple really.

As an experiment, spend a day seeking, not your own satisfaction, but the satisfaction of your spouse.  Spend a week affirming the work of your colleagues rather than tooting your own horn.  Spend a Saturday doing what your children want to do instead of hauling them around with your own agenda.  Instead of watching tired reruns at the end of the day, write some notecards of appreciation to your elderly relatives. 

All of these suggestions are not about the pursuit of happiness, at least not for yourself.  But don’t be surprised if you find something better as a result – joy.

The quote above by Miroslav Volf, suggests that happiness is superficial, but that joy is deep - built through the richness of experience.  Our circumstances can change in the blink of an eye, but if there is depth to our lives, relationships that have lasted through years and decades, then joy might be possible no matter what our circumstances.  I believe in living fully in the present moment, but this moment is enriched by my past experiences, particularly through the relationships I have had.  And the anticipation of those relationships continuing into the future are an additional blessing that can sustain and encourage joy, no matter what my outward circumstances might be.

Better than happiness, I wish you joy.  And joy comes from nurturing relationships that last through time.  This is nothing new.  There is no secret formula, nor elixir. 

Huey Lewis and The News sang, 

“I want a new drug . . . one that makes me feel like I feel when I’m with you.”  

You see?  Relationship.  That’s what matters, and that’s what leads to joy.

Relationships take work, I know, but as David Wilcox says, “It’s good work, if you can get it.”

The Cult of Personality

In the 1995 film, “To Die For,” Nicole Kidman’s character, Suzanne, says, “You aren’t really anybody in America if you aren’t on TV.” In an aside, another character quotes Suzanne with the following commentary:

Suzanne used to say that you're not really anybody in America unless you're on TV... 'cause what's the point of doing anything worthwhile if there's nobody watching? So when people are watching, it makes you a better person. So if everybody was on TV all the time, everybody would be better people. But, if everybody was on TV all the time, there wouldn't be anybody left to watch, and that's where I get confused.

Reality TV has intensified this notion that anyone can and perhaps even should be a celebrity as if the ambition of Suzanne to be seen is the pinnacle of human endeavor.  Rock group Living Color produced a song in 1988 called “Cult of Personality,” a biting critique of fame.  And while the message in the lyrics seems a bit muddled, the danger of idolatry is clearly noted.

Yet, without any sense of irony, our present culture seems to glory in idolatry – in the cult of personality.  But such idol worship makes a mockery of real life.  As Donna the Buffalo sings, “What does all this Hollywood really have to do with us?”

Reality TV has nothing to do with real life.  And if we seek to make real life anything like TV, then life becomes hypocritical, vacuous and superficial.  An actor I know recently told me that reality TV is just bad drama/comedy that has taken the place of good stories and acting.  And yet the American public either has an insatiable thirst for bad TV, or Hollywood is intent on making us into dumbed-down consumers of shallowness.

Real life is not a hunk of a guy having a harem of women clamoring for his attention.  Real life is not a competition to stay on an island.  In real life, the kitchen should not the setting for a competition.  In real life, we don’t consider the bad behavior of other people as a form of entertainment.

As a Christian, I cling to the promise of Jesus that he came that we may have life to the full (John 10:10).  There’s not much on TV or in Hollywood that hints at fullness of life.  I prefer the interactions of real people in real time - Taking a walk in a local park with my wife.  Playing guitar with my talented, musician children.  Preparing a meal and anticipating my guests’ pleasure.  Visiting the sick in an attempt to provide comfort and encouragement.  Providing shelter for those temporarily on the streets and having conversation with them as an acknowledgement of our common humanity.  Going to work each day and honoring the contributions of my fellow workers. 

Real life seems less spectacular than reality TV and the cult of personality.  But then, who ever said that a full life should be a spectacle?  Jesus, whose personality is certainly compelling, eschewed any sense of spectacle when he refused the Satan’s temptation to leap off the pinnacle of the temple in order to draw attention to himself.  His example is a counterpoint to the self-idolatry promoted in our present age.

I long for fullness of life for everyone.  Such fullness is not found in the range of the camera lens but in the day to day loving of one another.  May your life be so full.

I Make No Apology

            An apology is an act of contrition; to say “I’m sorry,” for a misspoken word or hurtful deed.  This essay is not an apology; it is an apologetic.

            Apologetics, in a formal sense, is a defense or argument by the accused – almost the opposite of an apology.  The word is derived from the Greek of the New Testament, apologia, as in Acts 26:2, when Paul makes his “defense” before Festus and Agrippa.  Over the course of time apologetics has come to mean a reasoned argument for the faith.

            When Paul makes the case for God in Athens, in Acts 17:22-31, he is perhaps making the first apologetic discourse, attempting to sway the Greek philosophers with reason.  Such defenses of Christian faith have continued throughout history by people such as Friedrich Schleiermacher in the 18^th-19^th century, or Lee Strobel more recently.

            There is a place for rational discourse in communicating about Christian faith.  But apologetics in its strict modern sense has certain obvious limitations.  Apologetics as the attempt to make faith reasonable is faced with what I think are insurmountable obstacles.

            For instance, what is reasonable about the death of Jesus on a cross as a means to salvation from sin?  What rational argument can anyone make for the resurrection?  The belief that there is a Creator who not only set the cosmos in motion but is also intimately engaged in the life of its creatures defies logical argument.  If apologetics is the attempt to remove all doubt and leave in its place rational certainty, then it will ultimately fail.  We cannot be certain, or else there is no need for faith.  Faith “is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). 

            At some point, we who wish to make a defense of the gospel (the good news of Jesus Christ), must give up on reasoned argument and make the case for faith.  

• Though it is not rational to believe that there is a God in heaven who is powerful enough to have created the universe, and yet who is concerned when the least sparrow falls, we nevertheless have faith that this is so. 
• Though it is not rational to believe that the hope of the world is a 1^st Century itinerant Jewish rabbi who met a cruel death and was consequently resurrected, we nevertheless have faith that this is so.
• Though it is not rational to love our enemies, to turn the other cheek to those who strike us, and to forgive those who persecute us, we nevertheless believe that this is the way to live.

            In our defense of the gospel, we who are Christian must eventually become unreasonable and make our appeal to faith.  “By grace you have been saved, through faith . . .” (Ephesians 2:8).

            Back in Athens, Paul had limited success in convincing his listeners with reason.  Just a few seem to have responded.  The Bible never mentions Paul using such a rational discourse again.  “We are justified by faith . . .” (Romans 5:1), Paul writes. 

            The truth is that there is very little about Christian faith and practice that makes sense.  It is the weakness of the cross which is the power of God.  It is the revelation of Christ to the least of these in order to shame the wise.  It is the proclamation of good news to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind, and liberty to the oppressed.  It is the assertion that the meek will inherit the earth.  None of this is rational.  But I believe it to be true.  Without apology.

God Does Not Lie

I guess she took exception to my article last week.  She was respectful, but her message on my answering machine can be summed up in these words, “God does not lie.”  I take it that she thought I was suggesting otherwise.  She must have misunderstood me.  What I had actually written was that our understanding of the Bible is not made clear by authoritative pronouncements but by respectful dialogue.  In a local church that means a Wednesday evening Bible study is more enlightening the more people feel free to express their own interpretations.  And interpretation of scripture that takes place ecumenically is probably more wholesome and closer to the truth than any one denomination can claim on its own.  In other words, the church together arrives at Biblical truth much better than any one of us does alone.

Still, the Bible does speak to individuals.  It was through my own reading of the Bible that I became convinced of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Word that became flesh.  Yet, I was helped along in my understanding of Jesus by other books I read, along with conversations with my father.  The Bible gained clarity as I listened to the opinions of others.

Opinions vary, for sure.  And there is no end to the varieties of Biblical interpretation on the World Wide Web.  Sometimes I grieve how much error there is floating around in cyberspace.  Of course, error is in the eye of the beholder.  By and large I agree with the Pope who is reported to have said that the internet is a gift from God.

While there are differences of opinion on how to interpret the Bible I am amazed at the amount of consensus there is regarding its basic message.  For all the extremes on either end of the interpretative spectrum most Christians agree on the essentials – God loves the creation enough to send us Jesus Christ to show us the way of salvation and continues abiding with us through God’s Spirit.  John 3:16 comes to mind.  I am also reminded of something my father said to me when my faith was in its infancy, “It’s not the parts of the Bible that I don’t understand that bother me; it’s the parts that I do understand.”

For all our difficulty in interpretation, the Bible is nevertheless clear enough for us to know when we are missing the mark (“Turn the other cheek.”).  And clear enough to give comfort to the troubled mind (“The Lord is my shepherd . . .”).

Fred Craddock is a famous preacher who taught preaching at the Candler School of Theology for many years.  He tells the story of coming into his office to discover his granddaughter with his Bible in her hands, holding it upside down and singing, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

She may have had the Bible upside down.  But she had it right.

My caller last week was right.  God does not lie.

Is the Bible Clear?

            Byron was a Presbyterian, working on his Ph. D. in Old Testament, and it was from him that I first learned about the “perspicuity of scripture.”   Simply put, this notion is an argument for the clarity of the Bible, that anyone can pick it up and glean the scripture’s essential meaning.  This notion is illustrated by the anecdotal stories of persons who pick up Gideon Bibles in hotel rooms and who, upon reading, experience life-changing conversions.

But if the Bible is so clear, then why do we study it so endlessly; parsing sentences in Hebrew; doing word studies seeking the Aramaic phrasing behind the Greek; piecing together ancient manuscripts to infer the social or cultural context of the times in which they were written in the hopes of gaining greater insight into the meaning of each text.

If the Bible is so clear, why do churches send young preachers to seminary to sharpen their exegetical skills, or to graduate schools to write novel-length theses on a single word’s meaning?  Well did the writer of Ecclesiastes understand this phenomenon when he wrote, “of the making of many books there is no end (12:12).” 

John concludes his Gospel with these words:  “there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written (21:25).”  There has been nothing else so thoroughly studied as the Bible, and while the world has contained all the books written so far, we are continually pushing those limits.

I am often suspicious when I hear someone begin a sentence with the phrase, “The Bible is clear . . . ,” because what often follows is a proposition stated as cold, hard truth, but about which there are undoubtedly various opinions.  The phrase, “the Bible is clear,” is often used as a way of cutting off any contrary, or dissenting opinion.  This tendency is captured in the well-worn argument that many of us have heard:  “God said it.  I believe it.  That settles it.”

Actually, that settles nothing.  When one closes off all discussion, or disallows any argument, then one has failed to grasp the very essence of the Bible as literature.  What we often fail to realize is that the Bible is often in a dialogue, or even an argument, with itself.  As a simple illustration:

Proverbs 26:4 ---“Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.”  And this is followed immediately by a contrary opinion,

Proverbs 26:5 --- “Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.”

Perhaps the Bible is clear in its essence.  But the history of Biblical study has shown us that such clarity comes only through constant conversation and dialogue.  How much more we might learn if we precede our interpretations not with, “the Bible is clear,” but “this is what I hear God saying in this text; what do you hear?”

You Are Beautiful

Mechthild of Magdeburg was a 13^th Century mystic who left a seven volume work entitled, “The Flowing Light of the Godhead.”  I happened upon a prayer attributed to her – “Lord, help me to believe the truth about myself no matter how beautiful it is.”  For many of us, who tend to be hard on ourselves, this prayer comes as a sweet surprise.  We’re ready, it seems, to see the ugliness of our souls – prepared to beat ourselves up once again.  But, Mechthild helps us to see God, and ourselves, from a different point of view. 

            Matthew Fox, chastised Roman Catholic theologian of the 20^th Century, wrote a book entitled, “Original Blessing,” in which he pointed out that the Biblical story does not begin with original sin (ugliness), but original blessing (beauty).  “And God saw everything that [God] had made and, indeed, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31)

            One of the sad legacies of some strains of Christianity is the rather strict puritanical perspective that induces neurotic guilt in its adherents.  This is so counter to any understanding of original blessing and beauty that I would have to say that such severe notions of Christianity are not Christian at all.  Jesus came that we might “have life to the full” (John 10:10). 

            Admittedly, Jesus tells some parables in which the characters are cast into the outer darkness, but mostly because these characters were not prepared to celebrate life (the foolish maidens, the banquet-goers who don’t dress for the banquet, the talent-waster who refuses to take any chances). And remember that these are parables, given to hyperbole (exaggeration), in order to make a point.  Life with Jesus seems to be more about stretching the limits of life, rather than adhering to restrictions.

The prophet Zephaniah gives us a picture of an other-than-severe God (3:17):

The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
    a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
    he will renew you in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.

            In conversation yesterday with a friend, he reminded me of Eugenia Price’s book, The Wider Place, in which she testifies to the expansive nature of God’s grace.  The more recent book, UnChristian, describes how the secular world has been put off by puritanical, judgmental Christians.  Well, the world should be put off by Christians who purport to be the thought police.  But the world should also know that such Christianity is an aberration. 

            There is a wide place for those who feel hemmed in.  There is a healing balm for those who beat themselves up.  There are green pastures and still waters for souls who need rest.  There is singing and dancing which abounds around a laughing Jesus (Matthew 11:19).  There is original blessing in every creature God has made, even you, even me.  Lord, help me to believe the truth about myself, no matter how beautiful it is.  Amen.