parting thoughts from "revolution"

Jesus' unlikely metaphors...yeast and mustard. Jews weren't big fans of either. They rid their house of yeast, a picture of sin or evil being cleaned of their life, once a year. They also valued tidy gardens,and were forbidden by jewish law to plant mustard in the garden. (m. Kil'ayim 3:2; t. Kil'aim 2:8) Why? "I was notorious for invading the well-trimmed veggies and other plants and for quickly taking over the entire garden. (Kind of like yeast works its way through dough...hmm.)... he is using this infamous plant to describe God's kingdom subtly [my note- and perhaps not so "prettily"] taking over the world." This gets me thinking. Jesus is ridiculing the huge expectations the people had for the kingdom of God. It spreads contagiously, in ways that consume our pretty little ordered world and makes something new. Also, mustard has to be crushed in order for it to be useful, either as a seasoning or as a medicine. Yeast, also, cannot be kept separate if it is to be used in the bread... it has to be covered up by the dough, smothered in it...and then it can be infectious and spread throughout all the quantity of dough, no matter how immense; just a small amount of smothered yeast goes a long way.

Now a quote from the book on the church and the frustration that many "overchurched" people feel:
"If you have the gift of frustration and the deep sense that the world is a mess, thank God for that; not everyone has the gift of vision. It also means that you ahve a responsibility to lead us in new ways. Recognizing that something is wrong is the first step toward changing the world. So for those of us who have nearly given up on the church, may we take comfort in the words of St. Augustine, "The church is a whore, but she's my mother" [ouch! yes, i know that's strong. even i havent dared say that yet] She is a mess and has many [messy] children. But she is also our momma and managed to give birth to us and to give us enough of the truth that we have been able to ask the questions that we have..."

All in all "The Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne (Zondervan 2006) is a great read. I recommend highly. Go get a copy, read it, get mad at it, do something with it...then give it away and let it keep going. :)

on acting out this faith thing

Just a few thoughts from the gospels today:
Matt. 26 The final judgement.
Jesus gathers all people to him and separates them into sheep (righteous) and goats (unrighteous). He says to the righteous, "come, you who are blessed by my Father, inhert the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirty and give you a drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them "truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."
The same thing happens with the unrighteous. They are ordered to depart because they did not feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, or help the hurting.
Doing to "the least of these" is the same as doing to christ.
Interestingly this issue came up at bible study last night. I commented on how things have just happened in my life this week in which God has allowed me to be a part of his work, and how it just seems natural-what i should do. I dont feel as though i'm doing anything special. But i did challenge others there to examine themselves, ask if they care about others, and then invest their energy, time, and love into other people. Another person shot back, "but you have to be careful! you have to spend time with God first and love him first!" To which i responded with this passage- doing to the least of these is doing to christ. Spending time with them and loving them IS loving Christ.
Now moving on:
Mark 12. The Greatest Commandment.
What did Jesus say? Love the lord your god with all your heart and soul and mind and strength; love your neighbor as yourself. (There's lots to say here. I've thought in the past that we often miss the mind part, but now I see that we often miss the strength- especially since it's right before loving neighbors- acting it out, using our bodies!)
But what's striking me today is the response from a scribe who was sitting there, in on the conversation.
"And the scribe said to him, 'You are right, Teacher. You have truly sad that he is one, and there is no other besides him [God]. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.' And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him 'You are not far from the kingdom of God'."
Why didn't he say "you are a part of the kingdom of god" or "you will enter the kingdom of god"? This guy understood...he said it, he knew it. But he had not yet acted on it. If he really loved God, he'd be loving his neighbor. And once he did that, he'd be in on the kingdom.
Next! Luke 18. The Rich Young Ruler.
You know the story. This rich, handsome young guy comes up to Jesus and says, "what must i do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus says, i think a bit sarcastically- keep all the commandments. Rich man says, "Got it!". Jesus- "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." Again, this guy's intentions were good. But he was unwilling to act on it, or to sacrifice any of his comforts.
Last. John 15. Last supper, last words.
As he's about to be betrayed and killed, Jesus gives many words to his disciples, among which are these: "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no on e than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you."
Love. Do we even love one another, our brothers and sisters? If not, how can we even begin to love the oppressed and weak and poor? No i'm not preaching a works-based salvation. But we must act on our faith! So many of us know so much, have been given so much, and say we love God! But do we? If so, we must show it! and not just to those around us who are comfortable with it, but to all people! What good is love if it is not shown? And if it is only given to those who are deserving, what is it worth? It is only cheap recognition of goodness in another person. But christ demonstrated his love in that while we were still sinners he DIED for us. If you got love, live it.

Update: Pay attention to this response post, esp. the last little paragraph. It clarifies a bit.

Blessed are...

"Too often we just do what makes sense to us and ask God to bless it. In the Beatitudes, God tells us what God blesses-the poor, the peacemakers, the hungry those who mourn, those who show mercy- so we should not ask God's blessing on a declaration that we will have no mercy on evildoers. We know all too well that we have a God who shows mercy on evildoers, for if he didn't we'd all be in big trouble, and for that, this evildoer is very glad. Rather than do what makes sense to us and ask God's blessing, we'd do better to surround ourselves with those whom God promises to bless, and then we need nt ask God's blessing. It's just what God does."
Claiborne, Shane. The Irresistible Revolution. 219. Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2006.

The Gift of Community

I've been reading "The Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne, and this book is in large part to blame for my thinkings on poverty and reality and in my hopes to live in Middle Reality. Here's some more thoughts. This guy lives in a community house in the inner city of Philly:
"I almost feel selfish sometimes, for the gift of community. The beautiful thing is that there is enough to go around"
"But that doesn't mean community is easy. For everything in this world tries to pull us away from community, pushes us to choose ourselves over others, to choose independence over interdependence, to choose great things over small things, to choose going fast alone over going far together."
"The concept of multidimensional discipleship is essential as we consider how to retain a radical discipleship that is multiethnic, intergenerational, and includes singles and families. Otherwise we will just end up surrounded by people who look like us, think like us, and respond to the gospel in exactly the same way we do. And that would rob us of the gift of community and of what it means to be a body with many different parts."
It's probably easy to see how this ties into my previous posts- when we distance ourselves from suffering, we miss out on so much. When we come closer, begin to follow in Jesus's footsteps of associating with the poor and needy, the desperate and sinful, we begin to be able to understand and live and hopefully give hope and love. When we begin to understand what this "the last shall be first, the first shall be last" thing is all about, that's when we are becoming conformed to the image of Christ, that is when we are really in reality and making a difference in it- through community, giving, and love.

definitions

The last couple of posts i've been harping on a little something called reality, and how christian culture as we know it is unable to get in touch with it, unable to change and unable to help, unable to serve. Now i've been challenged to better define what i mean here, because i may be running the risk of saying only "arr, reality! be in it, fix it! I dunno what it means but do something real!"
Okay, here's a try. I recognize that there are different realities, often overlaid upon each other. To make this concept simpler for myself to understand, try to imagine a piece of paper with three lines drawn across...one high, one mid, one low.


There. Something kind of like that. Pay no attention to the units there, that's not my drawing, i just found that and it's close enough for the mental picture.
Okay, take the top line. That's "High Reality". That's where i come from- good family, good church, immersed in more or less highbrow and rich christianity in america. Not trying to make judgement, bear with me. But this is upper segment of society. Okay, so the pros to this. We are rich, we are comfortable, we are moral, we have the potential to do much. Here are the cons. We are unable to do anything because we do not know how to be uncomfortable, we are the justifiers, we are looking out for only ourselves and those closest to us because we have blinders on-again, due to comfortablity.
Okay, now to Middle Reality (Middle Earth anyone? HA! er nevermind). Okay, so living with your head on here is often a battle and a choice. Here, we may be a bit richer and have the ability to live comfortably, but we are willing to be uncomfortable- why? because of awareness of the Low Reality, and also of the High Reality. We may be ones grown tired of High Reality, and are ready to do something to "help" the circumstances of those in Low Reality. Or we may be born into it. Or we may have somehow gotten here, through our own efforts or from another's benevolence, from low reality. This includes the people that aren't incredibly rich, but are actually doing something with their life and helping others. This includes the people that could be making the tops in the Highest Fringes of High Reality, but are choosing to be lower, choosing to live where they live and give away more than seems reasonable. Why? Many reasons. But i want to live here, in Middle Reality, because if i call myself a christian, one who loves all people as christ does, it brings me closer to all people, both the Highers and the Lowers. it allows me to get my hands dirty, and there's not as much of a stigma associated with involvment in "liberal" social justice here. Really for me it's more awareness of everything that's going on in the world, and the pressure to perform is down. I don't have to live with the acheivement mindset involved in High Reality.
Now to Low Reality. I mean people in projects, i mean homeless people. Hungry people. War-torn people. Addicted people. Low Reality is again defined in where you live and what your social status is. These really are the people that need help. Perhaps they are good people and love Jesus and just need a chance for better circumstance. Maybe they really are messed up spiritually and mentally and need us to love them without much hope of gaining anything out of it. But these are the ones Christ went to...he loved even when rejected. These are the ones i want to learn to love.
There are also fringe realities, such as Uber-High, celebrities, Trumps, ect. There are also Uber-Lows, such as lepers in Calcutta.
What i mean by doing somehthing real is getting into the low and helping those in need. I mean actually sacrifice something. I mean make yourself uncomfortable. I mean don't just throw your money at poverty and suffering. Throw your heart into it. Get messy every now and then. Be involved in something bigger than you. I'm going to try. I know i'm still in the thinking and feeling phase of this. Specific actions in this regard are few, but they do exist. More on social justice later.

Words that pierce

Now wasn't i talking about this a couple of days ago? Again i want to say more on this later. but i gotta think for awhile.
Ouch, Soren, ouch.

"The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament"
~Soren Kierkegaard, Provocation:Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard, ed. Charles E. Moore.

What? All of them?

Here's my question. Are all of the christians just having a bad day? What's up with this? If you don't know where I work, let's keep it that way. But let's just say it's in a certain christian retail store. I won't go into how christian consumer culture in america really kills me...but these guys pay my bills, so i work for them. Now, as noted, it's difficult enough to keep on poking along in this environment because the principle of the thing just strangles me. But seriously, is it just me, or are "christians" not some of the most demanding, rude, loud, and demeaning people? I try to tell myself they're just not themselves at the moment. But i see them time after time... and no difference. Are they all just having a bad day...every day??
Why do we act this way?
Okay, so they're not all bad, and i'd like to think i'm one of the nice ones. But seriously people, are we just completely used to having our way? Why do we demand it perfectly and NOW! We run and scream whenever we hear of something as tiny as, for example, a small georgia county thinking of allowing alcohol to be served at restaurants or something dumb like that... and we forget that people all over the world are being ostracised, persecuted, killed, for their faith. And we just complain when we can't have it our way. We've become so blind to reality, it's incredible. Like i said, we focus on tiny issues that we don't even need to bother with. Instead, let's try loving people...not just non-christains, but we could even start with each other, for pete's sake. Instead of picketing for teetotaling, let's try giving the poor guy down the street some help with groceries. Instead of whining when Roe v. Wade isn't turned over year after year, let's talk with people about the decisions they're making. Instead of whining about the "liberals" (who, by the way, actually seem to know how to do a thing or two about poverty that we dont care about) let's actually do something. Or for starters, let's just care about other people.
I know i'm mad. don't mind me. think amongst yourselves...
perhaps when i'm in a better mood i'll make a rational discourse of how our worldview is messed up...