NRHA brief outline of my spiritual journey
A brief outline of my spiritual journey though theological “phases”:
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Childlike faith in God in Christ, interrupted by:
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Fear-based “conversion”, leading to:
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Semi-fundamentalism, which (due to the faithful way my parents discipled me in the grace and love of Christ as the fulfillment of the law) didn’t last too long because of an instilled resistance to letter-of-the-law thinking which opened the door to:
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A desperately relieved re-discovery of the grace of God in Christ, which I found articulated most clearly by Reformation Christianity, which in turn formed me in:
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A sacramental understanding of how God ordinarily communicates himself, a profound mystery that I found pervades all of life, and I understood to be articulated by the Church Fathers, who are presently convincing me of:
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The truly cosmic implications of a God that is not simply a being but Being itself, that loves humans by becoming a human–Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary–, that defeats death by dying on a cross, that lives to give life via union with him, in his Spirit.
Through it all there has always been an undeniable charismatic/mystical experience of God walking with me in a million ways:
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sometimes through intentional practices
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sometimes in unexpected breakthroughs
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sometimes through the right word from the just right person at the just right time
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always somehow intertwined with his Church…
…guiding me always and only to Jesus.
It is not as if I am developing a greater/ deeper understanding of Jesus' “part” in God’s plan. I am only ever more convinced Jesus is God’s plan. Jesus' way is God’s way. Union with Christ isn’t an aspect of life, it is life itself.
And what a journey it is…here’s the thing…I find the news to be better and better the more I believe the simple teachings of Jesus:
“The kingdom of heaven is at hand”
“Blessed are meek”
“Turn the other cheek”
“I have come to give life and life abundant”
“I will draw all men to myself”
(obviously I could go on)
I mean it’s almost too good to be true but somehow I believe it so deeply
Helpful
A sermon after January 6
Here’s last Sunday’s sermon for those that might be interested, in which I attempt to consider the recent terrorist attack on the Capitol building in light the of day’s Scriptures, and particular in light of how our baptism joins every Christian to the vocation of Christ.
The opening remarks were not recorded, but here’s the relevant section from my manuscript:
I think we have all felt acute distress in the past week, and understandably so. Not only has the pandemic continued to cause all kinds of death, destruction and suffering in our city and state, but we witnessed what has been described by experts as a violent, terrorist attack on our nation’s Capitol building by a politically and religiously motivated mob.
This is a time that calls for clarity and directness from Christian leaders and from the Church. So I have tried to choose all of my words for this message with special care and precision. I have sought counsel and prayer. I do not intend or wish to offend in any way. However, I do want speak truthfully and candidly. I watched in horror—live—as the mob grew more and more restless, ultimately overrunning the police and breaking in the building to disturb the legitimate democratic process. And I was so dismayed to see several images of those in the crowd carrying banners that said “Jesus Saves,” along with the so-called “Christian flag,” crosses, and many other Christian symbols and sayings. The crowd held banners proclaiming “Jesus is my Savior. Trump is my President.” To be clear, the increasingly close association of the Christian faith with American nationalism and partisan extremes is precisely why it is important for us to address this specific event as a church family…
Here’s a link to the complete manuscript.
Beyond Burger night!
In truth, then, God became a man and provided another beginning (ἀρχή), a second nativity (γένεσις), for human nature, which, through the vehicle of suffering, ends in the pleasure of the life to come.
St. Maximus the Confessor
Just recently decided to give Microsoft ToDo a shot for organizing all my GTD lists…and what do you know, there’s an official setup guide!
“Moderation or the middle ground is not always the loci of righteousness.”
- Esau McCaulley, Reading While Black
I am deeply saddened that some think what happened yesterday at the Capitol is in any way after the pattern of Christ.
There is no biblical justification for what we have just witnessed as a nation.
The kind of rhetoric we are hearing that emboldens and not-even-so-subtly condones violence is deeply immoral.
It is disturbing to see such blatant evil so widely accepted and even celebrated.
Meanwhile the pandemic continues to ravage our state.
So I was grateful to be with my church family yesterday evening, masked and socially distanced, but nevertheless together. We gathered in worship to celebrate the light of Epiphany, Jesus Christ himself, come to give true and lasting peace to all those that will receive it.
We prayed this prayer for times of social conflict or distress from the Book of Common Prayer together, and I commend it to you:
Increase, O God, the spirit of neighborliness among us, that in peril we may uphold one another, in suffering tend to one another, and in homelessness, loneliness, or exile befriend one another. Grant us brave and enduring hearts that we may strengthen one another, until the disciplines and testing of these days are ended, and you again give peace in our time; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
To this prayer I add: Come, Lord Jesus.
2020 brought much about the Church in America into the light.
Turns out, we’re even worse off than we perhaps thought in terms of our continued tolerance and even embrace of various “isms” at odds with Christianity: racism, sexism, classism, nationalism, consumerism, and anti-intellectualism stand out to me.
As I see it, the above mentioned ideologies are far worse and more immediate compromises of the Church’s faithfulness than the mostly vaguely defined “cultural Marxism” and “Critical Race Theory.” (Nevertheless these are certainly not exempt from robust evaluation in light of the Gospel.)
That said, now that these things are out in the open, the discussion has deepened.
This can be the beginning of justice and change and healing.
Yes, it is hard, painful. Discouraging, even humiliating sometimes.
But we can say with confidence that the Spirit of Truth is at work in his people.
As we open ourselves to his leading, we will leave our previously held commitments to self-advancement and self-preservation behind.
As we keep our eyes focused on the Jesus presented to us by the Gospel of witness of the Church throughout the centuries, his image will become more clear in us and through us.
As we persevere through the discomfort of revelation and transformation, we’ll find comfort and strength and satisfaction in the promise of a prize much greater than the power that’s so intoxicatingly difficult to let go of in the present.
As our desire for union with God in Christ is renewed, all things contrary to him will fall away, because the fulfilment of this desire is the promise guaranteed by the Resurrection.
The gates of the “isms” will not prevail against the Church of God.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
A meditation for Christmas Eve
There are few images as precious to me as Christ on the cross, the Creator King of the universe hanging, naked from two rough pieces of wood, crushed like a common criminal…
…Christ on the cross, defeating death by allowing himself to die while forgiving and loving even people like me that would do such a thing.
The mercy and grace and indeed justice for all people in that image defies comprehension. But there is another image equally precious to me.
It manifests when I realize in order for Christ to offer his perfect humanity on my behalf on the Cross, he had to live as a human.
He had to be born as a human.
So, the picture of baby Jesus, cradled in his mother’s arms, is indeed precious, its humility no less scandalous in our contemporary world—and perhaps more so—than the cross itself.
At the cross we are ever reminded that God would not, could not, does not die for something he does not love.
As we turn our attention this night to the baby in Mary’s arms we are rightly overwhelmed at the accompanying thought that God would not, could not, and does not live as something he does not love.
There, in a naked, nursing baby, we glimpse something of the deepest goodness of God.
This Christmas is so different, and even perhaps disappointing, when held up to what we wanted.
The first Christmas was no doubt the same.
No one wants to deliver a baby in the midst of foreign occupation, while obeying an inconvenient executive order, in the cold, among manure and far away from family.
Nevertheless the light of that night has never been extinguished, and it gives light to the world still, and the darkness of the pandemic, of isolation, of unmet expectations, and unspoken hurts, and years of selfish and self destructive mistakes cannot overcome it. The light of Christmas is God becoming one of us because he loves all of us.
The light of Christmas is the fullness of God entering the human family, and in so doing welcoming the fullness of humanity into the divine family.
The light of Christmas is God taking on, not human illusions of progress, power, and prestige, but the real substance of humanity itself, womb to tomb, in all its frailty and vulnerability and smallness.
The light of Christmas is Jesus Christ, God from God, living unrelenting love for every human, by becoming a human destined to die, so that his divine love would swallow death forever!
He was raised, vindicated and Resurrected, by the Spirit of love. He now gives us that same Spirit, his Spirit, God from God come again to dwell in and among his people now!
The light of Christmas is nothing less than true fellowship with God. This is something we can know and live and receive in and through and because of Jesus Christ and no one else!
This Light and Love that has come to us in, through, and by Christ, transfigures us finally into the very image of Christ, and imparts to us immortality and eternity.
It is the only gift we truly need.
And the good news is that it is ours!
Christ has come.
Christ is here.
Christ will come again!
Amen.
A Culture of Unhealthy Silence
I reject the notion that the solution to any communal tension is to pretend it doesn’t exist by not talking about it.
As a pastor I have been explicitly discouraged on occasion from speaking about certain topics in the church because the topic itself–not simply the way or time in which in which it was approached–was considered inherently divisive.
Yet topics in themselves do not have the power to divide. Only our reactions and responses to them do.
And by not speaking about difficult topics openly and keeping each other accountable to loving, respectful dialog, we rob ourselves of the opportunity to actually resolve tensions in a healthy way.
We have already surrendered to the demonic spirit of division.
By fostering a culture of unhealthy silence, we sponsor a culture of suspicion that necessarily leads to fear, relational rejection, and pain.
Worst of all, we are behaving as if our mutual faith in Christ and love for Christ in one another is not truly enough to be the ground and glue of our relationships.
Either we can trust Christ and his Spirit with our whole selves and community (including disagreements and tensions) or we can’t.
I believe Christ is trustworthy.
This Advent, those of us that claim the Name of Christ have an opportunity to–like John the Baptizer—point beyond ourselves, and cry out with joy and urgency the true story of God come to us in Jesus…
…The true account of God come to us in the flesh, his miraculous birth, his perfect life, his sacrificial death, his vindicating Resurrection, and his Kingly ascension…
…The true gift of God come to us now in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in and among us…
…The true testimony of God come to us in the preaching of word, in the sacraments, and in the fellowship of the saints….
…The true and only lasting hope of Christ coming again to finally renew all things.
“Holy ordinances are Christ’s, though administered by weak men.”
~ Matthew Henry
Hallelujah!
Dan Scott, writing at Facebook:
In the last few months, all sorts of prophets told us how the election would turn out, who was on God’s side and who was not, and so forth. These abusive claims were simply ways controlling others. They differed considerably from carefully constructed arguments from some man or woman of God saying something like, “after looking at this situation, or this ideology, or this person carefully in the light of our faith, I have come to the following conclusions and offer them for your consideration …”
Saying “thus saith the Lord concerning how God intends for you to vote” is abusive, deceitful, and ungodly. Such tomfoolery should be dismissed out of hand.
God has called his people to develop wisdom and discernment, He does not call his people to surrender their lives to some seer that stands beyond all accountability and common sense.
Amen and Amen.
So grateful for Fr. Kenneth Tanner’s way of articulating a key implication of the Gospel here. This has helped clarify my thinking, soften my heart, and strengthen my faith.
Faithful companions
The reading chair
108 COVID-19 deaths reported in AZ today. I believe this is a record high, the previous being 103 on July 17.
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Almighty God, Father of mercies and giver of comfort: Deal graciously, we pray, with all who mourn; that, casting all their care on you, they may know the consolation of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Data source: www.azdhs.gov/preparedn…
With Pastor Matt, I affirm I’m not an economist. I’m a priest. That said, it is part of my vocation to bring the witness of Scripture to bear in regards to what a healthy society looks like and the place of material wealth in that society.
So, I have been doing my best to carefully consider the biblical witness in relationship to a lot of emotionally-charged rhetoric around so-called “socialistic” and “Marxist” public policies–things like universal healthcare, more funding for public education at all levels, more taxes on the rich, and so on.
I have been thinking about these things because they have been presented to me often as de-facto morally reprehensible because of an alleged connection to the economic/social philosophies listed above. However I’ve not seen a similar skepticism of the American version of “Capitalism” and its associated policies. So often, this has been presented as the “obviously Christian” option–mostly because it emphasizes a kind of non-coerciveness, I think, in the minimalist approach to regulation. There’s certainly something to that.
Nevertheless, the post below is a great reminder that no economic/social/governing philosophy is wholly biblical, and careful discernment along with a counter-cultural, faithful witness is needed no matter what system we find ourselves in.
Matt Tebbe, writing at Facebook:
Some thoughts on ‘Marxism/Socialism’, Capitalism, and USA Christianity:
- Marxism isn’t an enemy to Christianity - any more than Capitalism is an enemy to Christianity- which is to say
- Both economic systems have a logic and telos contrary to parts of our Chrisitan story and yet
- I know Socialist Christians. And Capitalist ones.
- All that to say: here’s some things that aren’t socialist but seem like they are to USA Christians:
- Collectivism: Every single culture represented in the Bible was collectivistic; we misread and misapply to our own peril when we individualize Scriptures. Biblical collectivistic assumptions aren’t Marxist, they’re Christian. Christians are told to live with a collectivist ethic in Scripture.
- Critiques of meritocracy: It strikes us as unfair and criminal that people would get what they don’t deserve and yet the politic and economy of the Kingdom of God is scandalously un-meritocratic. To critique and dismantle meritocracy isn’t Marxist, it’s Christian.
- Taking corporate responsibility for history/societal ills: The atonement loses all meaning, the stories of judgment and deliverance make no sense, Paul’s logic of jew/gentile unravels unless one holds to the notion of corporate responsibility. To be complicit and culpable in systems/structures of evil and have a responsibility to reckon with that isn’t Marxist. It’s Christian.
- Suggest that wealth redistribution to the poor is morally superior to wealth redistribution to the rich: USA has billions of dollars in govt handouts to the wealthy, corporations, and rural middle class. Wealth redistribution is a central part of our economy. To advocate for wealth redistribution to the poor isn’t Marxist, it’s commanded over and over in Scripture (OT and NT, both individuals and governments). Wealth redistribution isn’t Marxist, it’s Christian. Wealth redistribution to the wealthy is Capitalist, not Christian.
- All these things seem Socialist (or Marxist) to USA Christians because we are good disciples of Capitalism.
- The reason Socialism seems like such a threat to us and elicits such fear in us is not because it’s incompatible with Christianity; it’s because it threatens our allegiance to Capitalism.
- I am no expert in economic theory; But I see the above dynamics playing out in articles, conversations, and books I’m reading and this is how I’m beginning to work it all out.
Dennae Pierre, writing at Facebook:
“A lot of pastors chose trying to defend the chruch from some kind of “false social justice teaching” (that isn’t even being embraced by Christians in their church) at cost of learning how to reconcile and be in unity with Black Christians. Had they chosen the later, they could have become the kind of disciples who could rightly divide the word of truth AND strengthen their witness to the gospel. But because they chose the former they’ve only stepped away from tables and caused harm to the very people their church has been segregated from for generations.”
I appreciate this so much. Is there a kind of teaching out there in some churches that elevates social programs and human problem solving over deeper spiritual truths and the need for ultimate redemption by no one but God in Christ? Yes, of course.
Nevertheless the defensive and accusatory posture in regards to any mention of justice (including “racial justice”), as if this is not a core theme throughout the Scriptures, that I have personally encountered by many “evangelicals” (that purportedly take a high view of the Bible), has been baffling and heartbreaking. A “gospel” that neglects or denies real implications for justice–first in the church and second in the wider society–as a necessary outworking of the Christ’s redemptive work is less than biblical.
“He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, * and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, * and the rich he has sent away empty.”
–the Magnificat (Mary’s song)