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In honor of the oppressed who gained some level of voice and empowerment in last night’s election, I decided to wear my Clash “Know Your Rights” t-shirt today. Ione and I were brushing our teeth (actually, I was brushing my teeth and she was just hanging out on the toilet) when she saw my shirt and asked, “Daddy, does your shirt say ‘now your rights’?”
“No, sweetie, it says Know. Know your rights.”
“But, daddy, you’re a left.”
Speaking of rights, this morning I came to the realization that I don’t have to be friends with anyone – on facebook that is. See, I’ve been getting riled up about what some people have entered as their “status.” I rile easy, and I de-rile with much work over a long period of time. So, avoiding the initial riling is important for my spiritual health and well being (not to mention the class project due tomorrow). After my blood boiled over one particularly shameful jingoistic “status” I read this morning, I was prepared to explode – figuratively and literally. And then, it occurred to me. I do not have to be facebook friends with individuals who express their vitriolic fear through jackassery. So, I deleted them and feel much better.
Speaking of jackassery, for many years I thought that word had been invented by my friend, Bill Power. Just a few years ago, I discovered it is a real word! I read it in a scholarly theological work on sin by Cornelius Plantinga. Who knew?
Speaking of Plantinga, he understands sin as the lack or absence of shalom (or, “the way things God intended them to be”). I think in last night’s election, a little bit of shalom was restored and the kingdom of God was made visible.
Erika left early this morning to go to her sister’s baby shower in Southern California. That means it’s the Saturday after Halloween alone with dad – this can not turn out well.
Ione cried for 27 minutes because she wanted me to go get her donuts for breakfast. I finally convinced them both to eat some waffles and sausages. The difficult part was convincing them that they did not need chocolate chips on the waffles or powdered sugar to dip the sausage in.
After breakfast, the kids were counting their candy and Thelonious said, “Hey, Dad, I got a joke book while trick or treating. Check it out… Why do gorillas have big noses?”
“I dunno.”
“Because they have big fingers. ha ha ha. What is the laziest mountain in the world?”
“Hmmm, I dunno.”
“Mount Ever-rest!!! ha ha hee hee ha. Dad, dad, listen to this one… Who will everyone meet someday?”
(this is a weird set up for a joke) “I dunno, Thelonious. Who?”
“God’s son, the Lord Jesus Christ! Hey, here’s another… Will everyone go to heaven?”
“Wellllll…different people believe different things. Some people think everyone will go to heaven. Ya see, Jesus loves everyone – “
“Nope! Says here: The Bible, God’s book says, ‘those who don’t believe and obey him shall never see heaven!’”
Ione laughs hysterically.
Thelonious continues, “Will the bad things I have done (sins) keep me from going to heaven?”
“Well, geez, son, these are kinda complex -”
“It says here: ‘YES! God hates sin! He will not allow sin into heaven! That means I’m in a lot of trouble!’”
Now I know why people think Halloween is evil.
Thelonious finishes with, “I’ve been wearing the same underwear since Wednesday.”
Why am I wasting all this time and money on grad school? Apparently, all truth can be learned by trick or treating.
Erika: Thelonious, you’re so smart, funny, handsome, creative, and fun. Who do you think you get that from – me or daddy?
Thelonious: (pause) Neither. I got them from that cool dude who’s name is spelled G – O – D.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking this week about being a Christ follower. Unfortunately, a lot of this thought was triggered by some unpleasant blog exchanges about whether or not Rob Bell is a heretic. My more conservative brothers and sisters pushed me to a place where I had to ask myself what I consider the very basics (as far as doctrine or theology) and what I consider to be “electives” (not “elected” – I don’t believe in that crap). For instance – can one follow Christ and not believe in Hell? If you answer that question “no” then my question becomes, “what saves – the acts and words of Jesus or belief in Hell?” Then, I ran across this cute lil quote…
There are two views concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ. First, there is what we call Calvinism. Then, there are varying degrees of unbelief.
In the end, my answer was that one only need believe that Jesus is both God and human and that He died for our sins.
Does our salvation depend on anything else?
This week, I am preaching on the healing of the bent-over woman and the parable of the mustard seed from Luke 13 as we continue a series on the Kingdom of God. So, I’m in the middle of my typical process of preparation – obsessively mulling thoughts over (and over and over) until they are beat into a pulpy mush which has the possibility of producing a semi-tasty and semi-nutritious drink.
Prompted by a post from Jeff Keuss, I am considering using stage diving to shed light on what this text is saying to us. Now, here’s my quandary. I know a large percentage of the congregation will not have the same personal connection with “stage diving” that I do. But, I think that it will work on multiple levels because it is also an object lesson: “the good stuff of the Kingdom is for the people – it’s not meant to be locked up behind cultural norms and religious sanctimony. It’s not to be kept safe from the messy masses and only used by and for the powerful elite .”
So, the big question is: should I? Will it A) have value, B) just be lame, or C) distract from the larger point? And, if I do, should I also show this video? Warning: turn your volume off, there is offensive language coming your way. But, this clip gets realllly good about 12 seconds in.
Tell me what you think…
I’m open minded. I’m secure in who I am. I don’t care what you think about me. So, I’m not afraid to admit I have friends who identify as Calvinist.
But, I read this and wondered what they would think…
First, it is clear that salvation, like the reign of God consists in human participation in the very life and power of God… Salvation is our human participation in the being, life, freedom, and love which is God.
– Luttenberger from An Introduction to Christology
Hell, I read that and wondered what I thought!
I don’t know, man. Is the reign of God reliant on the participation of humans? Can salvation be defined as my participation with God – instead of 100% the work of God?
Jesuits will jack with your head.
Last week I read Jesus the Liberator for my Christology class. The assignment was to read it and then create a poster about it – as opposed to writing a paper. What’s this? An assignment that actually caters to my strengths?!?!
I juxtaposed an image of a Latin American style crucifix (meaning bloody) with some comic book art. In the early 70’s, Green Arrow joined up with Green Lantern in issue #76 for a long run as a duo. This was an amazing time in comic books. The work of Neal Adams and Dennis O’Neil was groundbreaking. It wrestled with the issues of social justice, the poor, systemic violence and prejudice. The creative team used the two Greens to explore both sides of the issues: Green Arrow was an outspoken and strident advocate of the underprivileged in society and the political left wing while Green Lantern was a cerebral, sedate model citizen who followed the rules as an establishment conservative figure, serving existing institutions of government and law.
Using art from the first Green Lantern/Green Arrow story seemed appropriate – the two sides of one conflicted mind in constant tensions about the problem of the poor.
Get the picture?
Here are a series of quotes which helped me summarize the book…
Liberation and crucifixion provide the basic tension for Christian faith and also the basic objective tension in christology…By faith we know clearly that where there is a poor person there is Jesus Christ himself…The poor are a sort of sacrament of the presence of Christ… If the Kingdom of God is “good news,” its recipients will help fundamentally in clarifying its content…The Kingdom belongs uniquely to the poor… By the mere fact of being poor, whatever the moral or personal situation in which they find themselves, God defends them and loves them, and they are the first ones to whom Jesus’ mission is directed…The poor are those for whom life is a heavy burden on the basic level of survival and living with a minimum of dignity…The ultimate definition of God is not power, nor thought, nor judgement, but goodness… What underpins reality is not an absurdity but something positive, and this something positive is not an impersonal force, but something good and personal, a God whom he called Father…Doing the will of God is treating people with justice, not observing religious rules…Jesus’ practice and teaching demand absolutely the unmasking of and a resolute struggle against structural injustice in the form of institutionalized violence.
No wonder liberation theology never caught on in the States…
