There are two things in this section (4:43-54) that really shine out to me as I read it again. The first is Jesus' initial response. "Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe." Out of context we might take that as a truth statement ... maybe that is what some charasmatics believe. But it is clear in context that this is connected to a feeling of anger and frutration. Jesus even lumps! He says "you people." I imagine it as, "You people always want something from me ... You people are insatiable. Are you people listening to anything I am saying? ... Do you people care at all about who I am and what I came to do or are you just clamoring for spectacle and handouts?" Well, I say to myself, what is it? Do I care about Jesus and his purpose or am I just clamoring for my own needs and curiousity. I think sometimes, unfortunately, I approach him with unbelief, demanding a sign.
Let me give you an example. Right now I am really trying to work on developing a prayer life. I know, I am a pastor (maybe most people won't read my blog and see how much I need to grow). But when I set aside time in the morning to pray to God, am I really ready to face him and believe his presence and sit with him. Or do I just hope that he will answer a question I have, grant a prayer request or just give me a good feeling. I wonder sometimes in those early mornings if Jesus isn't heard saying, in frustration, "Unless, I do this for you Jason, you will never believe." And the thing is he won't do that for me because he knows that kind of belief (believing in Jesus so he can make my plans come to pass and give me good feelings and meet my curiousity demands) is not believing at all ... its using. Remember that Peterson quote, when we believe, we are at our most personal and intimate with God and other people. That is only true if I stop making all my demands and trying to manipulate God. I think what the crowd was ultimately saying that drove Jesus to make that statement was "I don't believe you! And if you want me to, then prove it by making a second miracle happen." There will never be enough miracles for that kind of proving.
And that brings me to the next thing that is really powerful. The royal official is not approaching Jesus for spectacle because he needed Jesus to prove himself. The official already believed Jesus, that is why he persisted. He was willing to follow, he was willing to meet the real Jesus. That is why it says "the man took Jesus at his word and departed" or in the NRSV "the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way." Its not about never needing Jesus to help us in this life or when someone we love is sick or dying. Maybe some people could develop a wrong spirituality that thinks that asking for help in those areas is bad ... I think the real issue at hand is believing Jesus enough to take him at his word. Believing him enough to believe the word that he speaks and start on our way. Believing him enough to stick with him and listen closely and obediently to his words whether specatacle or good feelings come.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Reflection on the first miraculous sign in John
One thing I can't get over is that this is "the first of his signs." It is an incredible thing that he could change water into wine, but doesn't it seem like a major healing or a massive food miracle would have been the more natural opener. But Jesus begins turning water, something that meets our needs for cleanliness and thirst, into wine, something that makes our hearts glad and reminds us that life is good and worth celebrating. This whole scene is about celebration of life.
Another thing I don't quite understand is that it really seems like Mary had a major hand in this happening. It is clear that Jesus was not forced into a miracle. He had a healthy break from the mom-hold that some men struggle with, but it does appear that if she hadn't brought it up, he might not have begun with this miracle. Does this speak to prayer and the value of human involvement with the divine will of God? It appears to me that Mary' concern made the opportunity for Jesus to reveal himself.
And that is the big question we are supposed to be asking this week. What does this miraculous sign reveal about Jesus? Kris encouraged us to not get lost in the gallons of wine but to try and see what is being signified. One large thing I see is that Jesus' values are incredibly different than ours in America and really in every human community. We are always self-promoting. More and more that is the only way to get ahead in our ever changing economy. We learn self-promoting because our world values all forms of promotion: advertisement, packaging, even propaganda. We are constantly choosing new products based on fashion and slick design and in turn we become consumer goods, constantly aware of our own press and dress.
But Jesus doesn't mind that no one really notices his first sign (at least none of the important people). It doesn't even describe Jesus telling the disciples ... we must assume he did or perhaps they were awkward at the party and so stuck close to Jesus and witnessed this miracle themselves. Mary sees it, but she is already a believer. She shows us this with her serious command, "Do whatever he tells you." And the only other witnesses were servants. The people who carried food around and washed feet.
Jesus seems very content to do work that goes unnoticed and that gets me. If we are his disciples and not disciples of America, or worse amoral global economy, then we must turn away from self-promotion and all the worries and frenzies entailed. And honestly, that doesn't sound easy. Especially when I realize how constantly I am bombarded with the American way. I think for me, and maybe for a lot of us, we are getting very confused about how to feel affirmed in life. For so many of us life is about being liked. We self-promote because we want compliments ... but that so easily becomes our driving force since fashion is always changing (good for the clothing and tech industry, not so much for us individuals).
For me, the trouble surrounds a crazy desire for knowledge. I love books. I really love authors but in order to interact with them I have to read their books. This love is not a bad thing, but oftentimes, for me, it comes with a frenzied and worried sort of striving. Yesterday someone was leading me in prayer and they asked me to picture Jesus from the scriptures. Pretty quickly I began to imagine another feasting moment from the scriptures, one of Jesus and his disciples sitting at an earthly table having a long conversation. I thought about how that was the conversation where Jesus called his disciples friends and so it was Jesus with his friends at the last supper. In my mind I saw Jesus there with the others around him and even though I know there was a soberness to that night, in my moment of prayer it felt more like a feast. It really struck me to imagine Jesus coming down from heaven to feast with his earthly friends. And then I was asked if Jesus was saying anything to me. I saw myself sitting with him and my friends (you know, John, Peter, Thomas, etc.). I was sitting at the same table, but reading a book. I knew they were present and I was enjoying their presence, but nonetheless I had my nose in a book. And Jesus was calling me to join the party. It was a sweet invitation.
And that is the other part of this first sign that really affects me. So we are called away from self-promoting and constant manipulation of our packaging and reputation. But the man who calls us and the man we want to follow and learn from, is truly the life of the party. "Wine gladdens the heart of man" is what the psalmist writes. According to some scholars, Jesus had the servants draw wine from a well and it was some of the best their wedding coordinator had ever tasted. What we really want is glad hearts and the world says we can achieve this through purchase and self-promotion. Jesus knows that is a lie and a false path. Jesus knows that way only leads to a weary heart. But if we follow him, the wine is in endless supply. It is a sweet invitation.
Another thing I don't quite understand is that it really seems like Mary had a major hand in this happening. It is clear that Jesus was not forced into a miracle. He had a healthy break from the mom-hold that some men struggle with, but it does appear that if she hadn't brought it up, he might not have begun with this miracle. Does this speak to prayer and the value of human involvement with the divine will of God? It appears to me that Mary' concern made the opportunity for Jesus to reveal himself.
And that is the big question we are supposed to be asking this week. What does this miraculous sign reveal about Jesus? Kris encouraged us to not get lost in the gallons of wine but to try and see what is being signified. One large thing I see is that Jesus' values are incredibly different than ours in America and really in every human community. We are always self-promoting. More and more that is the only way to get ahead in our ever changing economy. We learn self-promoting because our world values all forms of promotion: advertisement, packaging, even propaganda. We are constantly choosing new products based on fashion and slick design and in turn we become consumer goods, constantly aware of our own press and dress.
But Jesus doesn't mind that no one really notices his first sign (at least none of the important people). It doesn't even describe Jesus telling the disciples ... we must assume he did or perhaps they were awkward at the party and so stuck close to Jesus and witnessed this miracle themselves. Mary sees it, but she is already a believer. She shows us this with her serious command, "Do whatever he tells you." And the only other witnesses were servants. The people who carried food around and washed feet.
Jesus seems very content to do work that goes unnoticed and that gets me. If we are his disciples and not disciples of America, or worse amoral global economy, then we must turn away from self-promotion and all the worries and frenzies entailed. And honestly, that doesn't sound easy. Especially when I realize how constantly I am bombarded with the American way. I think for me, and maybe for a lot of us, we are getting very confused about how to feel affirmed in life. For so many of us life is about being liked. We self-promote because we want compliments ... but that so easily becomes our driving force since fashion is always changing (good for the clothing and tech industry, not so much for us individuals).
For me, the trouble surrounds a crazy desire for knowledge. I love books. I really love authors but in order to interact with them I have to read their books. This love is not a bad thing, but oftentimes, for me, it comes with a frenzied and worried sort of striving. Yesterday someone was leading me in prayer and they asked me to picture Jesus from the scriptures. Pretty quickly I began to imagine another feasting moment from the scriptures, one of Jesus and his disciples sitting at an earthly table having a long conversation. I thought about how that was the conversation where Jesus called his disciples friends and so it was Jesus with his friends at the last supper. In my mind I saw Jesus there with the others around him and even though I know there was a soberness to that night, in my moment of prayer it felt more like a feast. It really struck me to imagine Jesus coming down from heaven to feast with his earthly friends. And then I was asked if Jesus was saying anything to me. I saw myself sitting with him and my friends (you know, John, Peter, Thomas, etc.). I was sitting at the same table, but reading a book. I knew they were present and I was enjoying their presence, but nonetheless I had my nose in a book. And Jesus was calling me to join the party. It was a sweet invitation.
And that is the other part of this first sign that really affects me. So we are called away from self-promoting and constant manipulation of our packaging and reputation. But the man who calls us and the man we want to follow and learn from, is truly the life of the party. "Wine gladdens the heart of man" is what the psalmist writes. According to some scholars, Jesus had the servants draw wine from a well and it was some of the best their wedding coordinator had ever tasted. What we really want is glad hearts and the world says we can achieve this through purchase and self-promotion. Jesus knows that is a lie and a false path. Jesus knows that way only leads to a weary heart. But if we follow him, the wine is in endless supply. It is a sweet invitation.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
is everything about love?
So there is this life we all get to live, each of us in our own skin. Our spirit and skin are never seperate and so the place where our feet trod and our head hits the pillow is the place where our eyes communicate to our brain and our heart surges with thought and emotion and our spirit embodied decides which step to take and what words to speak.
And I wonder if every relationship becomes of vital importance. And more than anything we need to hear words that applaud our existance. It is almost that as obvious as our need for daily bread and sleep ... we need to be loved. We need to be dear to someone. Life quickly becomes meaningless when no one seems to care we are alive ... isn't that almost the definition of clinical depression. But there are no quick fixes. Modern day sexuality only hastens our loneliness. "The mere sex partner does not come into focus as a personal being ... where the playboy is concerned, the fig leaf has merely been moved to another place; it now covers the human face." and futher "Ricoeur points out, 'Everything that makes the sexual encounter easy simultaneously speeds its collapse into insignificance. What can be had on demand necessarily loses both its value and its attractiveness. .. 'so much sex and so little meaning or even fun in it.'" (These quote are from Josef Pieper's essay on Love).
I know that was a bumpy jump to leap from love to sex, but these words are often so entangled.
In another line Pieper refer's to love as the only "green thing" in "the grayed world of a work-oriented society geared to output." But this love must be partaken and build with a great deal of commitment whether through friendships or the bond marriage. The love that will last will be one that summons us to sacrifice and change and growth. It will be a love that takes courage. It will be a love worth living for and so we will take up the surgeon's blade and cut away all that distorts and corrupts.
And so if you are young take very seriously the friendships you have ... love in such a way that you are constantly saying, "I care that you exist, I am so happy that you are alive and here, I laud and celebrate your being by my side."
And if you you are in a dating relationship, take it seriously and know that you have a chance to build something that will last your whole life ... that will be a well of life and a summons to remain fully alive. It will take sacrifice ... this is a concretely connected to Christ's admonition that if you are to find life you will have to lose it first.
And if you are struggling, do everything to hold on.
These are pretty random thoughts ... I don't know that they hold together and I am certain this is no comprehensive encouragement. (Again .... blogs are always incomplete right?)
And I wonder if every relationship becomes of vital importance. And more than anything we need to hear words that applaud our existance. It is almost that as obvious as our need for daily bread and sleep ... we need to be loved. We need to be dear to someone. Life quickly becomes meaningless when no one seems to care we are alive ... isn't that almost the definition of clinical depression. But there are no quick fixes. Modern day sexuality only hastens our loneliness. "The mere sex partner does not come into focus as a personal being ... where the playboy is concerned, the fig leaf has merely been moved to another place; it now covers the human face." and futher "Ricoeur points out, 'Everything that makes the sexual encounter easy simultaneously speeds its collapse into insignificance. What can be had on demand necessarily loses both its value and its attractiveness. .. 'so much sex and so little meaning or even fun in it.'" (These quote are from Josef Pieper's essay on Love).
I know that was a bumpy jump to leap from love to sex, but these words are often so entangled.
In another line Pieper refer's to love as the only "green thing" in "the grayed world of a work-oriented society geared to output." But this love must be partaken and build with a great deal of commitment whether through friendships or the bond marriage. The love that will last will be one that summons us to sacrifice and change and growth. It will be a love that takes courage. It will be a love worth living for and so we will take up the surgeon's blade and cut away all that distorts and corrupts.
And so if you are young take very seriously the friendships you have ... love in such a way that you are constantly saying, "I care that you exist, I am so happy that you are alive and here, I laud and celebrate your being by my side."
And if you you are in a dating relationship, take it seriously and know that you have a chance to build something that will last your whole life ... that will be a well of life and a summons to remain fully alive. It will take sacrifice ... this is a concretely connected to Christ's admonition that if you are to find life you will have to lose it first.
And if you are struggling, do everything to hold on.
These are pretty random thoughts ... I don't know that they hold together and I am certain this is no comprehensive encouragement. (Again .... blogs are always incomplete right?)
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Jazz music (and art in general)
"Jazz music is like real poor people in the country on Sunday. People get dressed up and they don't have any money, but just that little hat with a flower on it. Just what that flower represents. Just a little something to make you special and make you sweet. That's jazz music." ... Wynton Marsilis
I just wish you could hear him say it.
Thank you all for helping me find good love songs! I am very slow in the creative department (probably finding the time once a month and usually then, I don't think to go back and work on something old) ... but I do have a vacation coming up pretty soon, so who knows? If something happens with my essay, I will share it with you all.
I just wish you could hear him say it.
Thank you all for helping me find good love songs! I am very slow in the creative department (probably finding the time once a month and usually then, I don't think to go back and work on something old) ... but I do have a vacation coming up pretty soon, so who knows? If something happens with my essay, I will share it with you all.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
My list
To inspire more input ... who doesn't like reading these lists ... I thought I would put what I had going into all this. (PS I talked with someone the other day who said he likes heartbreak songs ... that totally counts as a love song! Those are some of the best love songs).
Van Morrison - Old Old Woodstock (the whole family makes it into this one) & Tupelo Honey
Leftover Salmon - Lovin in My Baby's Eyes (this is the only song I know by them)
Nathan Mayberry - Nine Pound Hammer
Old 97s - Valentine
Nick Cave - Are you the one I have been waiting for? & Into My Arms
Bob Dylan - Visions of Johanna
16 Horsepower - Coal Black Horses ("just as sure as that dogs gonna whine, in my heart no longer will I pine, just as sure as by evil you are torn, the sky will open up and an angel blow his horn and down comes Jesus, lookin so fine, just as sure as that gal she is mine)
Innocence Mission - Going Away
There may be more ... but that is all I have for now ...
Van Morrison - Old Old Woodstock (the whole family makes it into this one) & Tupelo Honey
Leftover Salmon - Lovin in My Baby's Eyes (this is the only song I know by them)
Nathan Mayberry - Nine Pound Hammer
Old 97s - Valentine
Nick Cave - Are you the one I have been waiting for? & Into My Arms
Bob Dylan - Visions of Johanna
16 Horsepower - Coal Black Horses ("just as sure as that dogs gonna whine, in my heart no longer will I pine, just as sure as by evil you are torn, the sky will open up and an angel blow his horn and down comes Jesus, lookin so fine, just as sure as that gal she is mine)
Innocence Mission - Going Away
There may be more ... but that is all I have for now ...
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Best Love Songs
For the last 2 years (off and on ... ok really just once or twice) I have been trying to write an essay called the Transcendence of a Love song. I began it when I heard the Nick Cave's spoken word essay called the Secret Life of a Love Song. I really didn't agree with some of what he said, but I love how he thinks and talks. One of the great lines was that a love song is our attempt to throw a blanket over God so we can see his face.
Anyway, in order to write this thing ... which is about how real transcendence and meaning has almost completely been lost in our kitch, temporal, tinsal age and one of the only places left where we are actually hit upside the head by such things is in radio love songs. Not that this works everytime.
But, in order to write this, I need to get some help with finding these gems. They can be as old as the blues, as old as jazz ... or as new as indie rock. If you can burn them on a cd, that would be amazing. My plan has always been to write the essay and burn a cd of the greatest love songs ever ... put them together and give them away. That may still be a ways off ... but since I finally have a blog I wanted to get some help.
SO, at the least ... comment with your favorite love songs of all times (track titles and band/artist name).
thanks
PS ... here is the start of the essay ... I have more that is even better, but I will hold back.
"There are many things missing in our tiny modern days. These days feel like walking on shattering glass and hoping to stay ahead of the breakline. So many things have been discarded there is grave danger that our sheet of time won’t hold much longer. Or speaking of glass in another way, one might say that our time is one where a plate of glass has been laid over life, so as to preserve it and display it before our eyes like old dead things in a museum. Either way, one of the many things missing is transcendence and without it our society will continue to shatter into meaninglessness antiquity.
The absent transcendence produces in us a stiffening business that restlessly moves about without encompassing ideas or purpose. “Nothing large can be true or we couldn’t know it if it was,” we say with a cold rationality as we commit vivisection to another helpless animal, hoping to see the electricity of life so we can bottle it and drink it in our Rock Stars and Gatorade. But we at least still sing about something that lifts us from this empty economy of modern life. It is love. There is a little transcendence left in love."
Anyway, in order to write this thing ... which is about how real transcendence and meaning has almost completely been lost in our kitch, temporal, tinsal age and one of the only places left where we are actually hit upside the head by such things is in radio love songs. Not that this works everytime.
But, in order to write this, I need to get some help with finding these gems. They can be as old as the blues, as old as jazz ... or as new as indie rock. If you can burn them on a cd, that would be amazing. My plan has always been to write the essay and burn a cd of the greatest love songs ever ... put them together and give them away. That may still be a ways off ... but since I finally have a blog I wanted to get some help.
SO, at the least ... comment with your favorite love songs of all times (track titles and band/artist name).
thanks
PS ... here is the start of the essay ... I have more that is even better, but I will hold back.
"There are many things missing in our tiny modern days. These days feel like walking on shattering glass and hoping to stay ahead of the breakline. So many things have been discarded there is grave danger that our sheet of time won’t hold much longer. Or speaking of glass in another way, one might say that our time is one where a plate of glass has been laid over life, so as to preserve it and display it before our eyes like old dead things in a museum. Either way, one of the many things missing is transcendence and without it our society will continue to shatter into meaninglessness antiquity.
The absent transcendence produces in us a stiffening business that restlessly moves about without encompassing ideas or purpose. “Nothing large can be true or we couldn’t know it if it was,” we say with a cold rationality as we commit vivisection to another helpless animal, hoping to see the electricity of life so we can bottle it and drink it in our Rock Stars and Gatorade. But we at least still sing about something that lifts us from this empty economy of modern life. It is love. There is a little transcendence left in love."
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Plantiga is good
Here is another quote from a different book (the last one was the one he wrote for students at Calvin College where he was president and it was called "Engaging God's World. This one is from his famous "Not the Way It's Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin".)
"All idolatry is not only treacherous but also futile. [Idolatry is best described as anything our "heart clings to" whether its fame, success, happiness or whatever]. Human desire, deep and restless and seemingly unfulfillable, keeps stuffing itself with finite goods, but these cannot satisfy. If we try to fill our hearts with anything besides the God of the universe, we find that we are overfed and undernourished, and we find that day by day, week by week, year after year, we are thinning down to a mere outline of a human being."
Jason's mind: "Well, that's something to think about, Jabez." [my new nickname for my heart]
"All idolatry is not only treacherous but also futile. [Idolatry is best described as anything our "heart clings to" whether its fame, success, happiness or whatever]. Human desire, deep and restless and seemingly unfulfillable, keeps stuffing itself with finite goods, but these cannot satisfy. If we try to fill our hearts with anything besides the God of the universe, we find that we are overfed and undernourished, and we find that day by day, week by week, year after year, we are thinning down to a mere outline of a human being."
Jason's mind: "Well, that's something to think about, Jabez." [my new nickname for my heart]
Mind rental
This is from a book by Cornelius Plantiga "We ordinarily think of a prostitute as someone who rents her body. But a person can also rent her mind for a high hourly rate, and she perverts it if she rents it because she wants to feel superior to the people who bag her groceries and park her car." Whoa to us in our world ... doesn't the vast majority of America prostitute their minds for just these purposes? By foregoing any ambition to education of character, isn't this all that we are left to do ... educate prostitutes who will be willing to pleasure the modern day kings. Ok, the image is getting to graphic for a normal blog post.
God help us incredible creations to accept and understand our highest purpose ... serving the one and only King of the whole earth. May our minds and bodies and hearts be given to you and used for beauty, justice and right relationships. Arm us with prudence, courage and self-control so we might see justice done and thank you that because of Jesus there is faith, hope and love.
God help us incredible creations to accept and understand our highest purpose ... serving the one and only King of the whole earth. May our minds and bodies and hearts be given to you and used for beauty, justice and right relationships. Arm us with prudence, courage and self-control so we might see justice done and thank you that because of Jesus there is faith, hope and love.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Education
"For educating characters you do not need a moral genius, but you do need a man who is wholly alive and able to communicate himself directly to his fellow beings. His aliveness streams out to them and affects them most strongly and purely when he has no thought of affecting them." Earlier he defines character as "the link between what this individual is and the sequence of his actions and attitudes." (Martin Buber in a speech called The Education of Character)
This is one of my all time famous quotes. It gives me hope and directs me in my pursuit of knowledge. Knowledge of many books and skills of rhetoric (quick mind and smooth tongue) are not central keys. When I read about a man "wholly alive" I imagine someone totally engaged in life, loving and caring for his family, meeting and seeing real people, taking care of responsibilities, actually praying and meeting with God. These are the things I am working on and pursuing.
(PS I do intend a second part to the beach walking ... just don't see myself having the time for another week or so).
This is one of my all time famous quotes. It gives me hope and directs me in my pursuit of knowledge. Knowledge of many books and skills of rhetoric (quick mind and smooth tongue) are not central keys. When I read about a man "wholly alive" I imagine someone totally engaged in life, loving and caring for his family, meeting and seeing real people, taking care of responsibilities, actually praying and meeting with God. These are the things I am working on and pursuing.
(PS I do intend a second part to the beach walking ... just don't see myself having the time for another week or so).
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
TWO WAYS OF WALKING ON A BEACH
Part I
This morning I was walking on the beach with Cate, my 2 year old and here are some of the things I saw.
1. Undeveloped male body (skinny, maybe 15) and an over-developed female who were awkwardly flirting with the waves and each other.
2. Underdeveloped male body who had likely wasted hundreds of hours with weights so his body could be covered in tiny, but firm looking, muscles. He was playing dance music and talking with four bikini women.
3. A shirtless man wearing black cowboy boots and black jeans with a brown paper covered bottle at his side. His sunglasses hid his eyes, but I did wonder if he was alive, he was so deep in the sand.
4. Club La Veda with "party with thousands" on the sign and for some reason, the kind of ad billboards that you see at baseball games. I am disturbed at what games might be played there ... the main supporters were Trojan Condoms and American Eagle.
5. I saw other things not so bad, family playing together, leathered old people stretching out for another smoke, more bikini women.
It wasn't until we started back that I realized my daughter never saw any of these things. She was completely transfixed with delight and fear and wonder at the ocean waves. Or was looking down at her feet walking on the soft wet sand. There was something incredible and unusual before her eyes and feet and so she directed all attention toward the beautiful curiosity we call the beach.
I followed her lead and stared into the vastness of blue water and down at our wandering feet and down at her brown head. Wonder began to do its work and I felt more childlike. My daughter and I were both walking along the beach, but it took me watching her to be pulled into the present moment, a precious moment that would be over and done with within the week. The sea is vast and always moving. The waves roll and toss in joyful patterns, lapping at our feet and it took my daughter Cate to show me how to enjoy them.
This morning I was walking on the beach with Cate, my 2 year old and here are some of the things I saw.
1. Undeveloped male body (skinny, maybe 15) and an over-developed female who were awkwardly flirting with the waves and each other.
2. Underdeveloped male body who had likely wasted hundreds of hours with weights so his body could be covered in tiny, but firm looking, muscles. He was playing dance music and talking with four bikini women.
3. A shirtless man wearing black cowboy boots and black jeans with a brown paper covered bottle at his side. His sunglasses hid his eyes, but I did wonder if he was alive, he was so deep in the sand.
4. Club La Veda with "party with thousands" on the sign and for some reason, the kind of ad billboards that you see at baseball games. I am disturbed at what games might be played there ... the main supporters were Trojan Condoms and American Eagle.
5. I saw other things not so bad, family playing together, leathered old people stretching out for another smoke, more bikini women.
It wasn't until we started back that I realized my daughter never saw any of these things. She was completely transfixed with delight and fear and wonder at the ocean waves. Or was looking down at her feet walking on the soft wet sand. There was something incredible and unusual before her eyes and feet and so she directed all attention toward the beautiful curiosity we call the beach.
I followed her lead and stared into the vastness of blue water and down at our wandering feet and down at her brown head. Wonder began to do its work and I felt more childlike. My daughter and I were both walking along the beach, but it took me watching her to be pulled into the present moment, a precious moment that would be over and done with within the week. The sea is vast and always moving. The waves roll and toss in joyful patterns, lapping at our feet and it took my daughter Cate to show me how to enjoy them.
Monday, April 02, 2007
American Problems (are my problems)
A theory I have of late is that economy and capitalism, or more precisely the greedy men making all the money, are quite happy to push Americans (and maybe the whole world) toward more and more autonomy and individual choice, labeling it freedom. They have reason to do this on both sides of the equation. First, this creates loads of new business, not only through overbuying due to choice, but the service economy is booming due to the impoverishment of "relational capital." As more of us seek to increase our financial capital we do so at the expense of friends and family which increases our need to buy dinner, entertainment, sex, counsel and even kindness.
And on the other side of things, if we are split off from any deep human connection, specifically our spouse and children, even in a philosophical way, we are of better use to the companies of employment. With no one staying home with the children (that is another booming service) we have nearly doubled the work force. Beyond that, with no philosophical or religious lines drawn to protect the family, coupled with our desperate need to own all the new technology and services, the new cars and new houses, we will overwork and travel and relocate and are at the mercy of the companies will. All this we call freedom and democracy.
Wendell Berry comments that feminism may very well have "liberated" women from the home, but it has enslaved both men and women to the heirarchy of corporations. The average woman of the past was never as inhumanly treated as the typical employee and also was never as unquestionably obedient.
But before you (or I) let American capitalism form itself into a demonic giant pulling strings and drunk with power, consider this: Capitalism is not such an all encompassing philosophy and the business men are not that interested or capable of that level of control. They just keep an eye out for any opportunity to make a buck.
But what is all this rambling anyway. I have only cleverly asserted manivolent ideas about a pejorative entity. I have just capitalized on the cheap amen that America has gone way wrong and that big business (i.e. Whitie or The Man) are the source of our problem. I have not offered one shred of insight into the real problem, us, human beings. Why do we do these things? Why do we create such a culture? How can we see it change or be part of the change?
This is the point that I think too many modern writers are unwilling to concede to Jesus and the Bible and the secondary sources that stream from it. Jesus usually doesn't seem that concerned about these clever assessments of the larger problems. Instead of getting high fives for seeing through the Roman Empire or even the system of priests, he was able to cut right to the human heart of the individual and by doing so is able to cut to our hearts as well. Let us be clear, Jesus did want priest's to stop eating up the widows and orphans, but he knew that the real problem was the evil sea rumbling inside their chest ... that evil systems weren't evil systems, but the creation of fallen men.
I imagine he would turn and chastise all of us who continue to serve "the man" so we can have everything for ourselves. It is us that have the problem in that we don't lose our lives to save it ... we are all spending money trying to save our lives and so we find them completely lost and enslaved (to sin and system and systems of sin). We are all in need of repentance if the world is to change ... we must give our lives to community and family in order to serve Jesus.
And on the other side of things, if we are split off from any deep human connection, specifically our spouse and children, even in a philosophical way, we are of better use to the companies of employment. With no one staying home with the children (that is another booming service) we have nearly doubled the work force. Beyond that, with no philosophical or religious lines drawn to protect the family, coupled with our desperate need to own all the new technology and services, the new cars and new houses, we will overwork and travel and relocate and are at the mercy of the companies will. All this we call freedom and democracy.
Wendell Berry comments that feminism may very well have "liberated" women from the home, but it has enslaved both men and women to the heirarchy of corporations. The average woman of the past was never as inhumanly treated as the typical employee and also was never as unquestionably obedient.
But before you (or I) let American capitalism form itself into a demonic giant pulling strings and drunk with power, consider this: Capitalism is not such an all encompassing philosophy and the business men are not that interested or capable of that level of control. They just keep an eye out for any opportunity to make a buck.
But what is all this rambling anyway. I have only cleverly asserted manivolent ideas about a pejorative entity. I have just capitalized on the cheap amen that America has gone way wrong and that big business (i.e. Whitie or The Man) are the source of our problem. I have not offered one shred of insight into the real problem, us, human beings. Why do we do these things? Why do we create such a culture? How can we see it change or be part of the change?
This is the point that I think too many modern writers are unwilling to concede to Jesus and the Bible and the secondary sources that stream from it. Jesus usually doesn't seem that concerned about these clever assessments of the larger problems. Instead of getting high fives for seeing through the Roman Empire or even the system of priests, he was able to cut right to the human heart of the individual and by doing so is able to cut to our hearts as well. Let us be clear, Jesus did want priest's to stop eating up the widows and orphans, but he knew that the real problem was the evil sea rumbling inside their chest ... that evil systems weren't evil systems, but the creation of fallen men.
I imagine he would turn and chastise all of us who continue to serve "the man" so we can have everything for ourselves. It is us that have the problem in that we don't lose our lives to save it ... we are all spending money trying to save our lives and so we find them completely lost and enslaved (to sin and system and systems of sin). We are all in need of repentance if the world is to change ... we must give our lives to community and family in order to serve Jesus.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Oscar Arnulfo Romero
Oscar Arnulfo Romero was appointed archbishop of San Salvadore in 1977. It was a country of instability and civil war. By 1980, 3,000 people were dying every month. One of the priests serving under Romero was murdered because he was speaking on behalf of the poor against the landowners. This enraged Romero against the authorities and he began publicly denouncing their policies. He wrote President Carter, pleading with him to stop sending money and weapons to the El Salvador government. Every week, Romero made radio broadcasts in which he condemned the use of terror and government death squads and called on soldiers to disobey immoral orders. “Romero believed that the task of the church is to challenge sin in the world, which must involve attacking institutions that perpetuate sin. To ignore that sin is to be complicit in it and take the sin into the church itself.”
“On March 24th, 1980, he preached a sermon on 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul states that before the body can be raised it must die, like a grain of wheat being planted into the ground. He told the congregation that those who dedicate their lives to the service of the poor are like the grain of wheat and are promised a bountiful harvest. Finishing his sermon, Romero stepped up to the alter to say Mass and was shot through the heart by a sniper.”
(This story is from What Has Christianity Ever Done For Us? By Jonathan Hill; P. 167-168)
“On March 24th, 1980, he preached a sermon on 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul states that before the body can be raised it must die, like a grain of wheat being planted into the ground. He told the congregation that those who dedicate their lives to the service of the poor are like the grain of wheat and are promised a bountiful harvest. Finishing his sermon, Romero stepped up to the alter to say Mass and was shot through the heart by a sniper.”
(This story is from What Has Christianity Ever Done For Us? By Jonathan Hill; P. 167-168)
Monday, March 26, 2007
Tenant Farmers
So Kris spoke on the parable of the tenants on Sunday and it really made me think about a lot. Here are some of my notes while I was listening. Kris said that even though the Israel listeners would have wanted to assume the vineyard was them ... Jesus was, not so subtly, pointing out that the vineyard was the whole earth and the life of God at work, God's promises and that Israel and now the church are only tenants or stewarts.
He went on to point out that hypocracy cannot stop the life and promise of God. All it leads to is empty hands and hell-bound christian leaders. God will wrench the vineyard from their hands and kill them. But the vineyard will thrive and change the world. Definite wake up call on reality and who is in charge.
If Israel is the tenants and now the church is the tenants ... we are to be caretakers of the life and promise of God in the earth. This connects right back to the beginning. Adam and Eve were stewards and caretakers, leaders on the earth, farming leaders of living things. But when they chose to self-serve and eat what wasn't theirs, the garden (the promise of a blessed world) is wrenched from their hands. It had to be wrenched from their hands, they were killers who would go on to gut the whole world in order to feed their hunger to be God, instead of embracing the reality of being a tenant farmer.
And now Jesus has made another change of hands. The others are all of us, but we must continually remind ourselves that we are stewards, that is reality and what is most profound is that we are stewards who are made in the image of our master ... we are created to follow him and see the life and promise of God go out into the earth.
He went on to point out that hypocracy cannot stop the life and promise of God. All it leads to is empty hands and hell-bound christian leaders. God will wrench the vineyard from their hands and kill them. But the vineyard will thrive and change the world. Definite wake up call on reality and who is in charge.
If Israel is the tenants and now the church is the tenants ... we are to be caretakers of the life and promise of God in the earth. This connects right back to the beginning. Adam and Eve were stewards and caretakers, leaders on the earth, farming leaders of living things. But when they chose to self-serve and eat what wasn't theirs, the garden (the promise of a blessed world) is wrenched from their hands. It had to be wrenched from their hands, they were killers who would go on to gut the whole world in order to feed their hunger to be God, instead of embracing the reality of being a tenant farmer.
And now Jesus has made another change of hands. The others are all of us, but we must continually remind ourselves that we are stewards, that is reality and what is most profound is that we are stewards who are made in the image of our master ... we are created to follow him and see the life and promise of God go out into the earth.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Another take on the prodigal story
I was thinking about posting some more thoughts on the parable that I preached on this past Sunday ... there was so much there I couldn't get to it all, but this morning I read what my friend Bethany wrote to support the small group leaders and thought it was amazing. She leads the small group ministry at our church and writes weekly prompts with questions to help the groups to converse over the text and ask good personal questions. Her retelling of the story is definitely worth reading. The only change I have made is taking out the questions. The text is Luke 15.
I. Jesus is slandered (in mutterings) by the Pharisees. It's an understandable muttering. They don't say he smells or that he goes against God, but this time they are concerned w/ his company. To them, he hasn't drawn a line in the sand where people for God stand over here, and those that don't stand over there. I can see how they perceive him as a 'fence-sitter'; the worst kind to those devout. His behavior is a slippery slope. And somehow I can hear their nagging parental threat, " you'll turn out to be like the friends you keep."
I don't think they are muttering out of pure concern for Jesus' future. I think somehow they are upset that they, the faithful and the reverent to God, aren't being affirmed by this holy man. I mean, really, they've been putting in there time here! And instead of getting to be his buddy, he wants to be buddies w/ people who haven't put their time in at all!
(Note: this is the same heart of the older brother, the heart of the entitled and the presumedly jilted)
II. Instead of giving the brats a good talking to, Jesus tells them some stories. He never ceases to amaze me w/ his patience. And these stories reveal his heart. His heart is something that the Pharisees were missing. They got His law and His morality, but it was his heart (where he loves from) that they were missing - explains why I think they were so hungry, and therefore cruel.
III. So, there's a father and two sons. The youngest son, not entitled to a lot, asks for what he is due. He sees that he can get something out of being in this family, and he decides he wants to get it now; to cut and run. He sees the immediate benefit of the temporal gift and wants it, not seeing or understanding the heart of what it means to be given his portion. His portion is the composite of his father's life. His father's toils, his honor, his wisdom. To ask for it in cash contradicts the very gift. The gift is getting his father, not the material wealth that comes along w/ it.
The father gives it to him. Not gives it to him in a lecture or a swift beating, but merely, gives him what he wishes. The whole time the older brother stands by. The younger brother goes and loses it. He sinks lower than any good jew. He compromises what is important. And in the throws of starvation, he remembers his father. He remembers that maybe his father would take him back as a hired hand. He doesn't expect anything more, nor does he show signs of mourning for having lost his father to only potentially gain a new employer. He makes up a speech, a deal, a compromise.
IV. But God isn't a god of compromise and he doesn't make deals. The father in this story doesn't either. Before the younger son can speak the proposition, the father runs to him and embraces him. There is no room for the employee relationship. There is only the father/son relationship. A regal man of wealth, a man of respect in front of the whole village makes passionate spectacle of himself. There is no withholding. There is no pride that separates the two of them. Seeing the compassion that his father has, the son for the first time recognizes that it wasn't the money that he wanted and then lost, but it was his father, his relationship that he squandered. Here, the son understands the heart of his father, not one to hold something over his head, but a father who only cares about reconciliation.
VI. And then there's the older brother. The one who was obedient, and who never left. The one who put his time in. He comes home from working and there is a great party. Right there there is a contradiction for him. He is a worker, he sweats his faithfulness and somewhere there's a party that started without him. And then he finds out it's for his loser little brother who humiliated his father and his family. And he gets rewarded w/ a party! So the older son refuses to join in the celebration on principle. Just like the Pharisees, he is standing on that side of the line, indignant that his father is partying w/ a man who blasphemed the family.
But when the father comes out to him (notice the father searched both of them out into reconciliation) we find that it's not that the brother is back, but it's the private feelings of the forsaken that are revealed. It's not about the little scoundral, it's about the older brother not feeling celebrated enough. He feels he deserves affirmation. He misses the heart of the father as much as the little brother.
And instead of giving it to him, he gives the older son what he desires: affirmation. And then he invited him to be reconciled to him, and his brother.
I. Jesus is slandered (in mutterings) by the Pharisees. It's an understandable muttering. They don't say he smells or that he goes against God, but this time they are concerned w/ his company. To them, he hasn't drawn a line in the sand where people for God stand over here, and those that don't stand over there. I can see how they perceive him as a 'fence-sitter'; the worst kind to those devout. His behavior is a slippery slope. And somehow I can hear their nagging parental threat, " you'll turn out to be like the friends you keep."
I don't think they are muttering out of pure concern for Jesus' future. I think somehow they are upset that they, the faithful and the reverent to God, aren't being affirmed by this holy man. I mean, really, they've been putting in there time here! And instead of getting to be his buddy, he wants to be buddies w/ people who haven't put their time in at all!
(Note: this is the same heart of the older brother, the heart of the entitled and the presumedly jilted)
II. Instead of giving the brats a good talking to, Jesus tells them some stories. He never ceases to amaze me w/ his patience. And these stories reveal his heart. His heart is something that the Pharisees were missing. They got His law and His morality, but it was his heart (where he loves from) that they were missing - explains why I think they were so hungry, and therefore cruel.
III. So, there's a father and two sons. The youngest son, not entitled to a lot, asks for what he is due. He sees that he can get something out of being in this family, and he decides he wants to get it now; to cut and run. He sees the immediate benefit of the temporal gift and wants it, not seeing or understanding the heart of what it means to be given his portion. His portion is the composite of his father's life. His father's toils, his honor, his wisdom. To ask for it in cash contradicts the very gift. The gift is getting his father, not the material wealth that comes along w/ it.
The father gives it to him. Not gives it to him in a lecture or a swift beating, but merely, gives him what he wishes. The whole time the older brother stands by. The younger brother goes and loses it. He sinks lower than any good jew. He compromises what is important. And in the throws of starvation, he remembers his father. He remembers that maybe his father would take him back as a hired hand. He doesn't expect anything more, nor does he show signs of mourning for having lost his father to only potentially gain a new employer. He makes up a speech, a deal, a compromise.
IV. But God isn't a god of compromise and he doesn't make deals. The father in this story doesn't either. Before the younger son can speak the proposition, the father runs to him and embraces him. There is no room for the employee relationship. There is only the father/son relationship. A regal man of wealth, a man of respect in front of the whole village makes passionate spectacle of himself. There is no withholding. There is no pride that separates the two of them. Seeing the compassion that his father has, the son for the first time recognizes that it wasn't the money that he wanted and then lost, but it was his father, his relationship that he squandered. Here, the son understands the heart of his father, not one to hold something over his head, but a father who only cares about reconciliation.
VI. And then there's the older brother. The one who was obedient, and who never left. The one who put his time in. He comes home from working and there is a great party. Right there there is a contradiction for him. He is a worker, he sweats his faithfulness and somewhere there's a party that started without him. And then he finds out it's for his loser little brother who humiliated his father and his family. And he gets rewarded w/ a party! So the older son refuses to join in the celebration on principle. Just like the Pharisees, he is standing on that side of the line, indignant that his father is partying w/ a man who blasphemed the family.
But when the father comes out to him (notice the father searched both of them out into reconciliation) we find that it's not that the brother is back, but it's the private feelings of the forsaken that are revealed. It's not about the little scoundral, it's about the older brother not feeling celebrated enough. He feels he deserves affirmation. He misses the heart of the father as much as the little brother.
And instead of giving it to him, he gives the older son what he desires: affirmation. And then he invited him to be reconciled to him, and his brother.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Lent Reader
Have you guys read any of this? Its the reader we have for sale in the bookstore. Truth be told, I didn't buy one until yesterday ... I thought I could just read the ones for sale ... but once I realized I was 80 pages in and really liking it, I thought it wrong to keep reading a book that was for sale.
Anyway, I knew I would like the entries by Bonhoeffer, Kierkegaard, Lewis, etc ... but there are tons of writers I have never heard of who are powerful to read. Stephanie, there is actually a Geoffrey Hill poem in here (Lachrimae Amantis).
The one I read this morning is by Barbara Brown Taylor. She writes about the Christian temptation to shift the killing of Christ off to the Jews and Romans, as long as they remain the villians, then we are off the hook. "Unfortunately, this is not a story that happened long ago in a land far away. Sons and daughters of God are killed in every generation. They have been killed in holy wars and inquisitions, concentration camps and prison cells. They have been killed in Cape Town, Memphis, El Salvador and Alabama. The charges against them have run the gamet, but treason and blasphemy have headed the list, just as they did for Jesus. He upset those in charge at the courthouse and the temple. He suggested they were not doing their jobs. He offered himself as a mirror they could see themselves in, and they were so appalled by what they saw that they smashed it. They smashed him every way they could."
She goes on to write about how dangerous it is for religion and politics to become mixed up ... but just before we get off the hook again (saying, but I am no Caiaphas or Pilate or Herod) she cuts in; "They may have been the ones who gave Jesus the death sentence, but a large part of him had already died before they ever got to him -- the part Judas killed off, then Peter, then all those who fled. Those are the roles with our names on them--not the enemies but the friends. ... Peter said. 'We weren't friends, exactly. Acquantances might be a better word. Actually, we just worked together. For the same company, I mean. Not together, just near each other. My desk was near his. I really don't know him at all.'"
And this was the part that hit me the most: "What happened then goes on happening now. In the presence of his integrity, our own pretense is exposed. In the presence of his constancy, our cowardice is brought to light. In the presence of his fierce love for God and for us, our own hardness of heart is revealed. Take him out of the room and all those things become relative. I am not much worse than you are nor you than I, but leave him in the room and there is no room to hide. He is the light of the world ... A cross and nails are not always necessary. There are a thousand ways to kill him, some of them as obvious as choosing where you will stand when the showdown between weak and the strong comes along [Judas chose the saftey of militia, guns and handcuffs] others of them as subtle as keeping your mouth shut when someone asks you if you know him."
Then, since she is writing this to be presented on Good Friday, she concludes: "Today, while he dies, do not turn away. Make yourself look in the mirror. Today no one gets away without being shamed by his beauty. Today no one flees without being laid bare by his light."
Anyway, I knew I would like the entries by Bonhoeffer, Kierkegaard, Lewis, etc ... but there are tons of writers I have never heard of who are powerful to read. Stephanie, there is actually a Geoffrey Hill poem in here (Lachrimae Amantis).
The one I read this morning is by Barbara Brown Taylor. She writes about the Christian temptation to shift the killing of Christ off to the Jews and Romans, as long as they remain the villians, then we are off the hook. "Unfortunately, this is not a story that happened long ago in a land far away. Sons and daughters of God are killed in every generation. They have been killed in holy wars and inquisitions, concentration camps and prison cells. They have been killed in Cape Town, Memphis, El Salvador and Alabama. The charges against them have run the gamet, but treason and blasphemy have headed the list, just as they did for Jesus. He upset those in charge at the courthouse and the temple. He suggested they were not doing their jobs. He offered himself as a mirror they could see themselves in, and they were so appalled by what they saw that they smashed it. They smashed him every way they could."
She goes on to write about how dangerous it is for religion and politics to become mixed up ... but just before we get off the hook again (saying, but I am no Caiaphas or Pilate or Herod) she cuts in; "They may have been the ones who gave Jesus the death sentence, but a large part of him had already died before they ever got to him -- the part Judas killed off, then Peter, then all those who fled. Those are the roles with our names on them--not the enemies but the friends. ... Peter said. 'We weren't friends, exactly. Acquantances might be a better word. Actually, we just worked together. For the same company, I mean. Not together, just near each other. My desk was near his. I really don't know him at all.'"
And this was the part that hit me the most: "What happened then goes on happening now. In the presence of his integrity, our own pretense is exposed. In the presence of his constancy, our cowardice is brought to light. In the presence of his fierce love for God and for us, our own hardness of heart is revealed. Take him out of the room and all those things become relative. I am not much worse than you are nor you than I, but leave him in the room and there is no room to hide. He is the light of the world ... A cross and nails are not always necessary. There are a thousand ways to kill him, some of them as obvious as choosing where you will stand when the showdown between weak and the strong comes along [Judas chose the saftey of militia, guns and handcuffs] others of them as subtle as keeping your mouth shut when someone asks you if you know him."
Then, since she is writing this to be presented on Good Friday, she concludes: "Today, while he dies, do not turn away. Make yourself look in the mirror. Today no one gets away without being shamed by his beauty. Today no one flees without being laid bare by his light."
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Poem about the Magi and Herod
I wrote this when I was preparing for a sermon on this text in Matthew.
Herod and Magi
Wandering nomads from the east. Like gypsies but more respectable. Like the Dali Lama coming to Bush to give him advise. And they come.
I see them with my two eyes and wonder at their search.
God did you send for these men or did they wander off through their own searching. Did you want them to come or did they come and you let them?
And what of this king who acted like the devil. Was he even a man? What possessed him to try to destroy the hopes of Abraham, David and Isaiah. The promise of messiah was so woven into the People of God and yet Herod the great would destroy it all.
Is this the evil end of a man who sought power and control his entire life ... to have as a last act the slaying of Jewish children with the thought that he would kill God's King? With one last thought of overthrowing the plans of God and having assalted the Great One take His seat?
What is it in him that is like us? Are there times when we should look to the skies or deep in the earth or into the heart of our brother with wonder, searching out a glimpse of the King ... but instead we seek to destroy that look in our blind search for more power and control.
God is at work in the earth, but do we look with our wideawake eyes and open up to joy and gladness at the wonder of God's glory ... or are we disturbed and angry and murderous?
Herod and Magi
Wandering nomads from the east. Like gypsies but more respectable. Like the Dali Lama coming to Bush to give him advise. And they come.
I see them with my two eyes and wonder at their search.
God did you send for these men or did they wander off through their own searching. Did you want them to come or did they come and you let them?
And what of this king who acted like the devil. Was he even a man? What possessed him to try to destroy the hopes of Abraham, David and Isaiah. The promise of messiah was so woven into the People of God and yet Herod the great would destroy it all.
Is this the evil end of a man who sought power and control his entire life ... to have as a last act the slaying of Jewish children with the thought that he would kill God's King? With one last thought of overthrowing the plans of God and having assalted the Great One take His seat?
What is it in him that is like us? Are there times when we should look to the skies or deep in the earth or into the heart of our brother with wonder, searching out a glimpse of the King ... but instead we seek to destroy that look in our blind search for more power and control.
God is at work in the earth, but do we look with our wideawake eyes and open up to joy and gladness at the wonder of God's glory ... or are we disturbed and angry and murderous?
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Helpful thought from Chekhov's phsyc ward
This is one of my all-time favorite dialogues (from Ward Six by Chekhov). It is between a doctor and a mad man (who lives in Ward six). The doctor sees him to be the only intelligent man in the town so he finds himself going down for a visit more and more often.
Doctor: Peace and contentment do not lie outside a man, but within him.
Madman: What do you mean?
Doctor: The ordinary man looks for good or evil in external things: an open carriage, a study, while the thinking man looks for them within himself.
Madman: Go preach that philosophy in Greece, where it's warm and smells of oranges; it's not suited to the climate here. Who was it I was talking to about Diogenes? Was it you?
Doctor: Yes, it was I ... yesterday.
Madman: Diogenes didn't need a study or a warm room, it was hot there anyhow. He could sleep in a barrel and eat olives and oranges. But you bring him to Russia to live and he'd be begging for a room, and not just in December, but in May. He'd be doubled up with cold.
Doctor: No. One can be impervious to the cold, as to any other pain. ... The wise man, or even the merely rational, thinking man, is distinguished precisely by his disdain for suffering; he is always content, and nothing ever surprises him.
Madman: Then I must be an idot, for I suffer, am discontented, and continually surprised by human baseness. ... All I know is that God created me out of warm blood and nerves--yes! And organic tissues, if it is viable, must react to every irritation. And I do react! To pain I respond with tears and outcries, to baseness with indignation, to vileness with disgust. In my opinion this is exactly what is known as life. The lower the organism, the less sensitive it is, and the more feeble its response to irritation; the higher it is, the more receptive, and the more energetic its reactions to reality. ... You must excuse me, I am neither a sage nor a philosopher."
He then breaks into a massive critique of Stoicism saying that it congealed 2000 years ago and has not progressed one particle and that it was always for the minority because it never took into account the majority of people who are in need and want of human things like food and shelter. It is for the wealthy academic and no one else. That's not even the best part ... its just so long I can't type more. He finishes by saying that all of the Doctors philosophy is really just convenience allowing him to lift no finger for other human beings ... "you have nothing to do, your conscience is clear, and you feel you're a sage ... No sir, this is not philosophy, not thought, not breadth of vision, but laziness, pretense, mental torpor ... "
The sad thing is that this danger of splitting mental thoughts and ideas from flesh and blood is a danger of all academic work, all rational, all philosophy and even theology. The Incarnation and the prophets before him remind us that we are to respond to irritants and outcries and that our minds must be alive and human.
Doctor: Peace and contentment do not lie outside a man, but within him.
Madman: What do you mean?
Doctor: The ordinary man looks for good or evil in external things: an open carriage, a study, while the thinking man looks for them within himself.
Madman: Go preach that philosophy in Greece, where it's warm and smells of oranges; it's not suited to the climate here. Who was it I was talking to about Diogenes? Was it you?
Doctor: Yes, it was I ... yesterday.
Madman: Diogenes didn't need a study or a warm room, it was hot there anyhow. He could sleep in a barrel and eat olives and oranges. But you bring him to Russia to live and he'd be begging for a room, and not just in December, but in May. He'd be doubled up with cold.
Doctor: No. One can be impervious to the cold, as to any other pain. ... The wise man, or even the merely rational, thinking man, is distinguished precisely by his disdain for suffering; he is always content, and nothing ever surprises him.
Madman: Then I must be an idot, for I suffer, am discontented, and continually surprised by human baseness. ... All I know is that God created me out of warm blood and nerves--yes! And organic tissues, if it is viable, must react to every irritation. And I do react! To pain I respond with tears and outcries, to baseness with indignation, to vileness with disgust. In my opinion this is exactly what is known as life. The lower the organism, the less sensitive it is, and the more feeble its response to irritation; the higher it is, the more receptive, and the more energetic its reactions to reality. ... You must excuse me, I am neither a sage nor a philosopher."
He then breaks into a massive critique of Stoicism saying that it congealed 2000 years ago and has not progressed one particle and that it was always for the minority because it never took into account the majority of people who are in need and want of human things like food and shelter. It is for the wealthy academic and no one else. That's not even the best part ... its just so long I can't type more. He finishes by saying that all of the Doctors philosophy is really just convenience allowing him to lift no finger for other human beings ... "you have nothing to do, your conscience is clear, and you feel you're a sage ... No sir, this is not philosophy, not thought, not breadth of vision, but laziness, pretense, mental torpor ... "
The sad thing is that this danger of splitting mental thoughts and ideas from flesh and blood is a danger of all academic work, all rational, all philosophy and even theology. The Incarnation and the prophets before him remind us that we are to respond to irritants and outcries and that our minds must be alive and human.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Figs (another old poem, 2001)
Where is Bob Dylan?
Anyone to feel,
Anyone to imagine,
Anyone with strong words?
Young Eliot in the doorway,
But he will not take the step.
And we are the same,
Except lacking such daring imagination.
We repress the calling Christ,
Our disturbing Messiah.
We are uneasy and harassed,
But we pretend security.
Will we find our way?
The End
Is always coming because we don’t learn our lesson.
And in our end will a prophet come?
Will anyone prophesy our destruction
And offer a new beginning?
Is Moses among us?
Will anyone imagine something better?
And true peace is always offered
And this is for our Return.
The sword comes
Because what we think is life is death.
What we think is God is our own order,
Our own arrangement of things.
But in our end, Ezekiel offers resurrection.
Jesus feeds dry bones his own blood and flesh.
We must decide
We must leave our nets and follow
Leave my father in the boat
Leave my dead father.
We must bear fruit.
Please, let figs grow
Give us figs for our Lord.
Otherwise we will be cursed forever.
Otherwise we will be cast into the sea.
Anyone to feel,
Anyone to imagine,
Anyone with strong words?
Young Eliot in the doorway,
But he will not take the step.
And we are the same,
Except lacking such daring imagination.
We repress the calling Christ,
Our disturbing Messiah.
We are uneasy and harassed,
But we pretend security.
Will we find our way?
The End
Is always coming because we don’t learn our lesson.
And in our end will a prophet come?
Will anyone prophesy our destruction
And offer a new beginning?
Is Moses among us?
Will anyone imagine something better?
And true peace is always offered
And this is for our Return.
The sword comes
Because what we think is life is death.
What we think is God is our own order,
Our own arrangement of things.
But in our end, Ezekiel offers resurrection.
Jesus feeds dry bones his own blood and flesh.
We must decide
We must leave our nets and follow
Leave my father in the boat
Leave my dead father.
We must bear fruit.
Please, let figs grow
Give us figs for our Lord.
Otherwise we will be cursed forever.
Otherwise we will be cast into the sea.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Feathered Pilgrims
Something dark is about in our souls. We wander aside and run like chickens with empty heads from snakes in dusty roads to thorns and hornets on either side. Our heart will not rest, but flees in terror ... in the wrong direction. The fire that blazes is cold and dark like the longest night. But then, turning we are stopped and flattened. Our eyes rise to the hill and at just that moment the morning sun breaks in reds and pinks, pouring its light down on us tiny things ... and suddenly the snakes are the ones in terror and we are in presence and heat. We swim in morning glory and long for this dawning to destroy forever the sleepless nights. It would seem our brains are filled with this light as long as we walk its way. The sun is coming down the hill to meet us and does meet us (though not in its fullness) and we are revived. We see the path before us and we must focus on our journey. We must walk and not falter. This path seems long and other yellow pilgrims are coming alongside. There are some who are teetering, there are some afraid and shuddering. We must speak and walk, we must carry each other as much as words and friendship can ... and we must all walk this path.
God, may your glory inspire our feathered brains with the dawning of the morning sun, with the reds and pinks and golds of glorious morn, still distant, but coming closer.
God, may your glory inspire our feathered brains with the dawning of the morning sun, with the reds and pinks and golds of glorious morn, still distant, but coming closer.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Lenten Journey
Just a short list of observations:
1. More easily brought to tears (in reading or watching or talking ... i was having trouble not crying when watching Nemo with my kids, and I have seen it a few times).
2. More drawn to silence and more aware when I talk too much.
3. More aware, in general, of myself as a person in relationship to other people and to God. More aware of anger and frustration and more quick to ask God for help and forgiveness.
I definitely feel it. I am glad I am participating in Lent and that the church has something like this.
I am also, looking at the long road (Lent is almost 6 weeks!!) and thinking it is a long road. But I do feel like it will end in something glorious and this is the only road to that for me. I must go this road so that I may enter into a renewed life with God and with others, as a pastor, as a worshipper, as a husband and a father.
1. More easily brought to tears (in reading or watching or talking ... i was having trouble not crying when watching Nemo with my kids, and I have seen it a few times).
2. More drawn to silence and more aware when I talk too much.
3. More aware, in general, of myself as a person in relationship to other people and to God. More aware of anger and frustration and more quick to ask God for help and forgiveness.
I definitely feel it. I am glad I am participating in Lent and that the church has something like this.
I am also, looking at the long road (Lent is almost 6 weeks!!) and thinking it is a long road. But I do feel like it will end in something glorious and this is the only road to that for me. I must go this road so that I may enter into a renewed life with God and with others, as a pastor, as a worshipper, as a husband and a father.
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