Not Letting Go of Your Vision When Failure Comes and Bitterness Fills Our Hearts

As always Pete hits the subject dead-on. The only answer is to accept defeat. Learn from failure. Reject bitterness. Accept reality. And trust God to bless the works of our hands, the prayers of our lips, the pureness of our heart's devotion to serving Jesus each and every day whether at home, work, ministry or the world-at-large. All things are of God. We are but clay in the Potter's hands. Vessels to be used in the ministration of God's grace. Whether ornate or banged up the vessel does not matter. It is God's Spirit that we pour out. And it is this self-same Spirit that will minister to us at the end of the day when dreams and hopes are shattered and we cease to dream or hope any longer.

R.E. Slater

December 28, 2011

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The Revolutionary Potential of the Actually Existing Church

http://peterrollins.net/?p=3426

by Pete Rollins

posted December 9, 2011

I was recently reading Slavoj Zizek’s excellent essay “The Ambiguity of the Masochist Social Link” and was struck by his reflection on how symptoms can represent forgotten failures to act. I would like to reflect upon this in relation to what we see in so much of the actually existing church today.

In order to approach this subject let us begin by taking the example of a man who drinks to excess, neglects his children and mistreats his partner. What do these symptoms betray? All too often they are the direct manifestation of a previous (forgotten) failure to act. Let us flesh the example out by imagining that this individual once, as a young man, had dreams of being an artist, that he married a woman he deeply loved hoping that together they would travel the world and that he longed to create a culturally rich environment within which a child could grow. In this fictional example let us imagine that the first year of their marriage was difficult. That they had a child before they were ready, lacked resources to travel and had to get jobs they detested in order to make ends meet. At different times decisions could have been made, risks taken etc. that might have taken their lives in a better, more emancipatory, direction. But these were missed and now an unhealthy relationship exists, one full of pain, suffering, self-abuse and the abuse of others. The symptoms then testify to something missed, to past failures that now make themselves know in oppressive material actions.

The revolutionary move here involves the courage to bring to mind the failures to act that lie behind the present symptoms and repeat history: attempting to relive those moments, but this time without the failures to act. Of course, it may well be impossible (just as it may have been impossible in the first place; the point is that we often have to fail many times before we stand any chance of actually succeeding).

In the same way the violence and destructive behaviour that one sees in so much of the actually existing contemporary church should not be so quickly dismissed as evidence of a poison at the heart of Christianity itself, but rather can be approached as the sign of a revolutionary potential at the heart of Christianity which has been missed.

Often the people who engage in the most destructive and reprehensible behaviour are the ones who began with the biggest dreams of transformation. Behind the drunk at the local bar, or the cynical money-maker who would step over anyone to get ahead, there is often a story of some idealistic youth who believed that the broken world could be rendered wonderful with a little work. In such situations it is the failure to enact such a world, to be a part of its birth, that leads people to the darkest of places (while those without such Utopian ideas just potter along without the highs of success or the lows of failure).

When we see the church institution engaged in the most horrible of abuses we should rightly be sickened and want to see it implode. However some of us also see, in the very abuse itself, the hint of a failure to act, a failure to embrace some elusive liberating potential.

It is this that lies at the heart of the ‘pyro-theology’ I explore in Insurrection. There is no doubt that the book is critical of the actually existing church in its dominant form, but the wager is that the symptoms we see played out are not evidence of a rotten core at the heart of the Christ event, but rather hint at the failure to live into the radical, emancipatory space it opens up.

The underlying argument then is that we must repeat the church so that we might repeat the moment of where the failure to act happened and then act. The danger, and it is a danger of the most extreme form, is that we will simply repeat the failure to act and become as destructive and reactive as the Institution we attempt to overthrow (at best we achieve a little more than before and fail to act elsewhere – which can be seen to be taking place in the various moments of historical reformation). But I for one am still willing to take the risk. And if we fail? Well let us hope that those who come after us, our children, our students, our disciples, will not.

Post a Comment

1. Daisha says:

   December 9, 2011 at 11:28 am

   Excellent post. Thank you! Looking forward to the book.
   Dx

   Reply
2. Ryan says:

   December 9, 2011 at 11:35 am

   Reply
3. Monicalyn says:

   December 9, 2011 at 12:18 pm

   Thanks for this important reminder. Too often, those of us who’ve been hurt by the church forget that others who are broken and hurting stumble towards that building and find love and hope inside.

   Reply
4. Mark Farmer says:

   December 9, 2011 at 12:23 pm

   Very interesting. To what extent is it necessary to plumb the past for missed opportunities and necessities to act? My guess is that being aware of the possibility of the need to repair the past is a place to start, but that the main focus needs to be awareness of how we need to act today. A congregation can find the courage to act in a crisis, and it will be redemptive and life-giving. But yesterday’s courageous act brings us to today with its own challenge that calls us to a new act of courage.

   Reply
5. Lyle Taffs says:

   December 9, 2011 at 5:03 pm

   G’day Pete. We’ve all made bad choices mate. the amazing thing is that even in a dysfunctional church (and world) grace still works to break the cycle and helping us to avoid the’repetition compulsion’. Otherwise, in an existentialist sense, why bother to be a Christian? Idealism is often a polite word for ‘perfectionism’ which is well known as a pathology and as such eventually produces fruit after its kind. Hey! How do we “repeat church”? I also hope you don’t fail!! so find some worthy mentors to keep your feet on the ground mate. Great blog again Pete but what about a thoughtful dialogue with Peter Bannister? Cheers from ‘down under’.

   Reply
6. Jordan says:

   December 9, 2011 at 5:22 pm

   Try again, fail again, fail better.

   Reply
7. David Steenberg says:

   December 9, 2011 at 9:29 pm

   This reminds me of what I’ve heard you say about our self-fictions, the stories we tell ourselves about who we are despite the more authentic story written in our actions. The self-fictions become a way to gloss over the past failure(s) to act, a bridge, if you will, spanning the gap between what we could have been had we acted, and who we are because we didn’t. In that sense, the symptoms of the failure to act become the counter-melody to our self-fiction, and in that way can drive the movement of our life towards authenticity.

   Reply
8. James says:

   December 10, 2011 at 4:44 pm

   You have more hope than I, but keep doing what you’re doing.

   Reply
9. Margaret says:

   December 13, 2011 at 6:04 am

   This and your next post I think are linked. On the one hand the church can get so bogged down in the everyday it doesn’t see the opportunity or act, sometimes people confuse Jesus with Father Christmas and expect the church to be there for them and them only, but also there are those who enter church looking for the “Thing” too. There are many who catch the fire of Jesus and come in looking for a world to conquer and rid of evil in his name, but either burn out because no one shares their view, or they gradually get sucked into the everyday and lose the vision they had. Their happiness is stolen too, and disillusion makes them happy/sad to see the church fail, but when it does succeed, their response can be skeptical/cautiously optimistic. Any opportunity to act is seen, but previous experience has left them cynical and unwilling to be bitten again, and always there is this love/hate attitude.
   “Pyro-theology” as I understand it is valuable in that it recognises weaknesses in the church, but also talks of constant renewing, changing and starting over when the junk has been burnt off. I dare say it, and other initiatives like it, will have something to do with the church limping its way further on into the 21st century. Let’s hope so.

Learning to Listen to God and to Unmask Ourselves

Just Sit There

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/peterenns/2011/12/just-sit-there/

by Pete Enns

posted December 14, 2011

If you’ve ever tried to be still, just still, you know how hard this is.

We long for noise, distractions–anything to spare us from admitting to ourselves that things are not as they should be: TV, books, music, other people, complaining, that non-stop, self-serving, chatterbox we call our “thoughts.”

Why is it so hard to be alone? Perhaps because we feel awkward in unfamiliar company.

“Isn’t it true of human beings that no matter what we may do, the best of what we name ‘me’ seems to elude our understanding? Why is it that no matter what I do, and even at times do well, I am never satisfied? Why, when I am honest with myself, do I discover that I am always on a hunt, not even particularly knowing what I am hunting for” (Listen to the Desert, 3).

Just sit there. Without distractions. If you are feeling brave, even (try to) tell your mind to take a chill pill for 10 minutes. Just sit there. Alone.

It takes courage to move into unfamiliar territory.

“It is no small act of courage to face squarely the fictions of your life and the troubling sense that something isn’t quite right about our life. Scapegoating, excuses, self-pity, are common disguises that shield us from deep-seated doubt. These fictions, these acceptable deceptions, are the way we distract ourselves from the nagging suspicion that at the bottom of what I call ‘me’ is something terribly disturbing” (LTTD, 5).

Isolation was a habit the desert fathers and mothers cultivated. They would sit in their cells, alone. They knew there was a valuable lesson to be learned there–alone with only themselves, without the distractions of the games we play with others and ourselves.

Alone, in your cell–whether actual or metaphorical–is where you learn what you need to know about who you are…who you really are. No gimmicks.

Sitting in their cell was no cowardly removal from the bad old nasty world. They were not shrinking from the world. They were brave enough to face themselves, and knew that the demands of daily life worked non-stop to keep them in a dream-existence of their own making.

Neither is this narcissistic self-absorption. That is what happens when we look inward a few millimeters, allowing our false selves to remain unchecked. Leave that to Oprah and Dr. Phil. God will not guide you there.

What the desert dwellers were after was a clear, unburdened, honest view into themselves. And this takes guts.

Do not many of us lack the courage to look into ourselves and name what we see for what it is? Would we not rather look at others and name their shortcomings?

How many truly know themselves with brutal, God-like, honesty?

Learning to be alone a little more can be a beginning to seeing past the masks we wear, not only to posture for others, but for ourselves–because we do not want to see what is there.

And so much of our private and public posturing happens in church.

Maybe God calls us inward from time to time. At the end of the day–both literally and metaphorical of death–our true selves cannot be propped up by others or our false selves.

“If we accustomedly flee our loneliness and the lessons it has to teach us, hiding behind the excitement around us and in social company, then we will greet [this] advice with a goodly portion of dread. If, on the other hand, we are weary of the shallow trivialities of the social order and afflicted by the inane discourse of most human communication, then you will likely feel relief at the advice….Whichever way we react, we do not enter the cell alone” (LTTD,

[This post is based on chapter one of Listen to the Desert, Gregory Mayers: "Your Cell Will Teach You."]

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MY OBSERVATIONS

As in all of life one needs a balance. Some of us are too busy to take the advice given here but should. Some of us are too lonely having already lived solitary lives for too many days that actually need the company of men and women to talk to and to listen. Life needs a balance and only you can judge this fact. Busy people talk all the time about their need for times of quiet meditation but never seem to find the courage to do this. Lonely people have already found themselves in the ever present silence of their meditation that daily urges their need for community that never seems to come their way. Some have been unmasked by God from early on. While others have refused God's unmasking. We each know the truth of our needs and the actions that we must take. Somehow. Somewhere. Sometime.

Moreover, inasmuch as we tend to lie to ourselves (1 John 1.8), and would lie to God about ourselves (1 John 1.10), it is good practice to seek both inward truth as much as to test that truth in the company of others. The masks that we wear can be disturbingly unclear if left to our own judgments based upon personal shame and guilt. Sometimes it takes the company of people to help us hold up a truer version of ourselves than what we would allow our very selves to wear. At other times it takes separation from the ones that love us (or from those who may not love us in their toxic selves) to allow us to reflect on God's version or direction for us.

The disconcerting truth is, we are made in God's image. That image is both personal and requires fellowship. God is not alone. He exists in the company of a fellowship. A Tri-une fellowship of three, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each reflects the other as much as the other reflects the Three. This reflection holds an image of each in the eye of the Other. They understand themselves through the other's input. But they also hold a true version of Themselves within their own image. It is a refined reflection of Who they are in Themselves as much as in their own Fellowship. They are inseparable. They are forever bonded together in infinite community, personal sharing and unselfish reflection.

And without getting too ontological here concerning the infinite mysteries of the Godhead it must be said that our own image  - the one that God created of Himself in us - is first and foremost found in God Himself... and that image is never alone. It exists in the company of a Divine Fellowship. And while it is good advice to seek God in the aloneness of time and activity, it is also very good practice to listen to God through the fellowship of true men and women who have removed their false masks of self. Who know how to love others. Who are not toxic to the idea of God's plan in our lives.

For the sociology of man's self-discovery requires the input of others. We better understand ourselves through our actions and judgments in the community of men and women whom God has placed into our lives - be they believer or unbeliever. We test out our theories of ourselves, our judgments of ourselves, in the company of others, to determine whether we have been able to lay down those false versions of ourselves for a better version of God acting through us. It requires that God de-construct, or unconstruct, our guilts and our shame, and reconstruct our truer personhood and image of Himself through us. It is both a solitary task and a community task. And it is best helped along with others having experienced similar journeys of self-reflection and death.

I say death because the Christian journey is one that requires our old selves to die, to be placed away from ourselves. The selfish wants and needs. The unkind acts of unlove. The unceasing tongue that continually harms and injures those around us. The old man of sin must die. It has to die if Christ is to live in us. For the Spirit of God requires the key to every room of our lives. First to the door of our hearts. Then to the doors of the main room. Then to all the little separate rooms and chests and cupboards that we have locked away from His repair and renovation. The old must be burned up. Consumed by the Spirit of God. It must fully die if we are to fully live as new men and women in Christ Jesus our Savior and Lord.

To do this we must both draw away and draw back - to draw away from the old communities of friends and family to find ourselves in God. And to allow God to draw us back into new communities of friends and family to re-apply the discovery of our newly re-constructed selves. To test its validity and discover whether true or not. To test the spirits as it were - whether of man or of God. Whether this truth we have found is God's truth or simply another lie that we have told ourselves and have allowed to lead us again through the false gospel of lies and deceits applied to us by false teachers and would-be shepherds. Be they people, books, TV programs, or some kind of church or fellowship. Each-and-all must be tested to find if they are truely sent from God for we are easily misled. For some of us this may require several renditions or trials of exploration until we find ourselves in God. Stay strong during this time. Do not give up. Seek good advice and in time your efforts will be rewarded.

Lastly, we each have been created with a personality that does not change with time. This is the real us that we need to find. To discover. But our character can and will change over time. Those character defects that we have imbibed early on to survive or to exist can and must change and adapt. Liars can become truth tellers. Gossips can become silent and learn to hold their thoughts and their tongues. Trouble makers can cease from troubling the affairs of others and seek restitution in the lives of those they would destroy. We can change before God's grace with God's help.

For our characters must change if His grace is real. They must be un-defected. Or, per-fected in God if His image will truly take hold of our lives. For there is no variableness in God's character. He is light and in Him darkness does not dwell. We are to be light bearers no longer submitted to darkness as unthinking, unfeeling creatures or brute beasts. We bear God's image. It is an image of light. It requires the work of the Spirit to which we must give every key. Submit every urge. Yield every thought. Bow to every willful act. It is God's task to unmask us. And that He will do. It may hurt. But it will never destroy.

R.E. Slater

December 27, 2011

Honesty in the Journey (or On the Raising of Young Heretics)

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/peterenns/2011/12/honesty-in-the-journey-or-on-the-raising-of-young-heretics/

by Peter Enns

posted December 20, 2011

Nearly twenty years ago, my oldest was six years old. One of our bedtime routines was a brief Bible reading.

One evening we found ourselves in the Garden of Eden story—Adam and Eve, a piece of fruit, and a snake with vocal chords.

As I read, my son kept sighing, as if impatient with my reading. Being the only Old Testament expert in the room, I ignored him and kept going.

But he kept sighing.

He even had the audacity to interrupt me.

“Daddy, snakes can’t talk.”

The woman said to the serpent, “we may eat fruit from the tr….”

“Daddy. Snakes. Can’t. Talk.”

With a sense of foreboding, I stopped reading and asked him, pray, to continue his remonstration. For the next few minutes I listened to a six year old deconstruct his faith, which amounted to the following:

Two naked people, magic fruit from a magic tree, and a talking animal. C’mon. This is obviously a story, not too different from the cartoons I watch or the other books you read to me, none of which you expect me to accept as reality. So, it seems to me that the Bible is a story, which gets me dangerously close to thinking that maybe God is a story, too. Hence—follow me here, Dad—I’m not sure why I should really believe God is real, which is to say, please stop reading, and can I have a glass of water?

My six year old was having a faith crisis.

Well that’s just perfect. I can see the headlines now: “Controversial Old Testament professor raises heretic son” (trial footage at 11:00).

My first instinct was fear: “Shhhhhh! Keep your voice down! He may hear you.” But, in one of those moments that for me constitutes sure proof of God’s existence, my mouth was kept from saying what my brain was telling it.

I tried a different approach: “You don’t really believe in God anymore? O.K., well, tell him.”

Let’s not talk about the problem, just tell God. Be honest with him.

My son wasn’t expecting that. He looked at me like I had spiders crawling out of my nostrils. He also looked a bit relieved.

Over the years, I have been thankful to God that I didn’t correct my son’s theology, for that would have been utterly stupid. Had I shamed him or coerced him into saying the right thing (so I would feel better about my parenting skills), I would have been responsible for creating another religious drone, another one who, at a young age, was already learning to play the religion game.

I would have taught my son a crippling lesson, that faith in God requires him to be dishonest with God and with himself.

I am proud of that little six-year-old, who trusted himself enough not to play games. And I am thankful that I, by a flickering moment of God’s grace, didn’t blink (too much).

Life in Christendom can sometimes feel like a show. We can be quite concerned to put on appearances—even though the Gospel humbles the proud and unmasks the hypocrite. Dishonesty cheapens the Gospel as yet another commodity to be controlled and manipulated for personal gain. It ceases being that which gives us our true identities to that which is manipulated, along with everything else, to hold on to our false selves.

We construct many reasons for maintaining a posture of dishonesty. For many, the failure to utter before God where we really are and what we are real think reflects a lifetime of corrupt spiritual teaching: "God went through a lot of effort to save you, so the least you can do is have your act together so as not to disappoint him."

In a perverse twist, “holding on to the Gospel” becomes a motivation to hold on to self-deception.

I have learned that God, for our own sake, does not let that condition continue indefinitely.

This post is adapted from my recently published commentary on Ecclesiastes (Eerdmans, 2011).

Barna 2011 Survey - Pimary Reasons Young Adults Leave the Church

Barna Survey on Young Adults Leaving the Church

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/peterenns/2011/12/barna-survey-on-young-adults-leaving-the-church/

by Peter Enns

posted December 23, 2011

Have you seen the 2011 Barna survey on American Christianity? Below are the six primary reasons why young adults leave the church.

With Christmas upon us, I may have to hold off on making some comments (though I have highlighted some things that struck me). All of these reasons resonate with me on some level as I have interacted with college students over the years. The question is, how should these issues be addressed?

I have written a fair amount on #s 3 and 6–the latter in blog posts and the former in blog posts and my upcoming book, The Evolution of Adam, where I try to address this very problem.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Reason #1 – Churches seem overprotective.

A few of the defining characteristics of today’s teens and young adults are their unprecedented access to ideas and worldviews as well as their prodigious consumption of popular culture. As Christians, they express the desire for their faith in Christ to connect to the world they live in. However, much of their experience of Christianity feels stifling, fear-based and risk-averse:

• One-quarter of 18- to 29-year-olds said “Christians demonize everything outside of the church” (23% indicated this “completely” or “mostly” describes their experience)
• Other perceptions in this category include “church ignoring the problems of the real world” (22%)
• “My church is too concerned that movies, music, and video games are harmful” (18%)

Reason #2 – Teens’ and twenty-somethings’ experience of Christianity is shallow.

A second reason that young people depart church as young adults is that something is lacking in their experience of church.

• One-third said “church is boring” (31%)
• One-quarter of these young adults said that “faith is not relevant to my career or interests” (24%)
• Or that “the Bible is not taught clearly or often enough” (23%)
• Sadly, one-fifth of these young adults who attended a church as a teenager said that “God seems missing from my experience of church” (20%).

Reason #3 – Churches come across as antagonistic to science.

One of the reasons young adults feel disconnected from church or from faith is the tension they feel between Christianity and science. The most common of the perceptions in this arena is “Christians are too confident they know all the answers” (35%).

• Three out of ten young adults with a Christian background feel that “churches are out of step with the scientific world we live in” (29%).
• Another one-quarter embrace the perception that “Christianity is anti-science” (25%).
• And nearly the same proportion (23%) said they have “been turned off by the creation-versus-evolution debate.”
• Furthermore, the research shows that many science-minded young Christians are struggling to find ways of staying faithful to their beliefs and to their professional calling in science-related industries.

Reason #4 – Young Christians’ church experiences related to sexuality are often simplistic, judgmental.

With unfettered access to digital pornography and immersed in a culture that values hyper-sexuality over wholeness, teen and twentysometing Christians are struggling with how to live meaningful lives in terms of sex and sexuality. One of the significant tensions for many young believers is how to live up to the church’s expectations of chastity and sexual purity in this culture, especially as the age of first marriage is now commonly delayed to the late twenties. Research indicates that most young Christians are as sexually active as their non-Christian peers, even though they are more conservative in their attitudes about sexuality. One-sixth of young Christians (17%) said they “have made mistakes and feel judged in church because of them.” The issue of sexuality is particularly salient among 18- to 29-year-old Catholics, among whom two out of five (40%) said the church’s “teachings on sexuality and birth control are out of date.”

Reason #5 – They wrestle with the exclusive nature of Christianity.

Younger Americans have been shaped by a culture that esteems open-mindedness, tolerance and acceptance. Today’s youth and young adults also are the most eclectic generation in American history in terms of race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, technological tools and sources of authority. Most young adults want to find areas of common ground with each other, sometimes even if that means glossing over real differences.

• Three out of ten young Christians (29%) said “churches are afraid of the beliefs of other faiths” and,
• An identical proportion felt they are “forced to choose between my faith and my friends.”
• One-fifth of young adults with a Christian background said “church is like a country club, only for insiders” (22%).

Reason #6 – The church feels unfriendly to those who doubt.

Young adults with Christian experience say the church is not a place that allows them to express doubts. They do not feel safe admitting that sometimes Christianity does not make sense. In addition, many feel that the church’s response to doubt is trivial. Some of the perceptions in this regard include not being able “to ask my most pressing life questions in church” (36%), and having “significant intellectual doubts about my faith” (23%). In a related theme of how churches struggle to help young adults who feel marginalized, about one out of every six young adults with a Christian background said their faith “does not help with depression or other emotional problems” they experience (18%).

Charley Honey - Remarkable Stories of the Christmas Season

http://www.mlive.com/living/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2011/12/stories_of_the_christmas_seaso.html

Published: Saturday, December 24, 2011, 6:47 AM

Updated: Saturday, December 24, 2011, 12:51 PM

By Charley Honey | The Grand Rapids PressThe Grand Rapids Press

A remarkable man passed away three weeks ago, though you probably didn’t mark his passing. His name was Fred Ritsema. Mr. Ritsema was not a newsmaker. But he once told me a Christmas story that was, of the many I have heard over the years, the most remarkable.

He returned home from World War II on a Friday. The following Monday, he stuck out his thumb on Chicago Drive SW to hitchhike to Australia, where he’d met Edna May Shute at a dance. Nearly three months of trains, trucks and steamers later, he showed up at her doorstep on Christmas Eve 1945. They married and came back to Grand Rapids, where they lived a good, non-newsmaking life.

“Jesus, Heavenly Father, bring us together in heaven once more, unending,” read his final prayer in his obituary.

Now that’s what I call true love, the kind that inspires songs crooned over an old radio while Mom and Dad dance around the living room. Ardent, devoted, sacrificial love. A Christmas kind of love.

My dad’s story

Different story, different man, same kind of love: Christmas Eve, early 1950s. My folks have just made the two-hour drive from Toledo to my grandparents’ house in Detroit. Hugs and kisses, kids wide-eyed, taking in the old-fashioned tree and dishes of candy. Secretly, my folks unpack our gifts.

Uh-oh, no BB gun. My brother Mike’s biggest present, missing in action. I don’t know if it was a Red Ryder, but it definitely could put your eye out. That Christmas, Mike wanted it more than anything in the world.

So, after we kids are tucked in, Dad gets in the car, drives back to Toledo, gets the gun, drives back to Detroit. Early Christmas morning, Mike gleefully opens his gift. Dad manages a bleary-eyed smile.

[Insert here your favorite family story of Christmas craziness. Crazy distances traversed, church pageants gone awry, 2 a.m. runs to Meijer for batteries. All because families love each other, and because Christians love this certain baby who showed up in a box of straw.]

Mary’s story

The latter event had been preceded by a long trek to Bethlehem, a pretty crazy hike for a pregnant teenager. But Mary had been assured by an angel, so Scripture says: Fear not, God favors you, and nothing’s impossible with God. OK then, says Mary. Whatever you say, angel.

Her ready acceptance of this rather spooky news set the pattern for all crazy Christmases to come. The unexpected happens, things change, the world turns upside down. And the angels say, fear not.

My family’s loss

Christmas changed in a big way for my family this year, back in July. That’s when my mother, a rather boisterous angel in her own right, left this life. But that was just the beginning.

Seven weeks later, Dad’s legs went out from under him. Spinal stenosis had finally caught up, choking off his walking nerves. Still deep in grief and in no particular mood to battle, he went under the knife.

This is when God and his angels really went to work — just as they had in Mom’s heart surgery 10 years before — through the skilled hands and caring hearts of physicians and caregivers.

The surgery went off without a hitch, the doc coolly clearing backbone from nerve while we kids sweated bullets. Then followed three weeks of rehab at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, where small miracles were performed on Dad’s 89-year-old body, and six weeks at Clark on Keller Lake, a United Methodist assisted-living facility where the caring staff and autumn leaves healed his spirit.

The angels throughout this stretch were way too many to fit on the head of a pin or in a newspaper column. At Mary Free Bed, therapists cheerfully pushed him onto his feet with help from a really cool walker, doctors expertly guided his recovery, nurses shamelessly babied him, a psychologist listened to his broken heart and social workers held his hand every painful step of the way. One particular social worker close to my heart brought him yogurt and his morning paper.

At Clark, caring nurses and aides attended to his every need, cooks prepared delicious meals, friendly residents chatted with him about their respective journeys into walkers and wheelchairs. Meanwhile, back home, neighbors watched the house and watered the plants to prepare for his return.

Dad came home in early November, driven by my brother who wouldn’t touch a BB gun now if you paid him. He stayed with Dad for a month, I stayed for a week, and now my sister is home for several months. Mom’s special chair is empty, but her spirit still dances through the house.

Dad has accepted her passing bravely though sorrowfully. Nothing can ever be the same, and this sure isn’t the Christmas we expected. But it is Christmas nevertheless, and we will celebrate it in a new way.

And all these angels in the wings whisper, “Fear not.”

 

 

Email Charles Honey: honeycharlesm@gmail.com


 

5 Myths of Christmas

Confusion Regarding the Yuletide is Common

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/2011/12/16/20111216christmas-myths-martin.html

by James Martin

posted Dec. 24, 2011 05:10 PM

No matter your religious beliefs -- whether you're devout, doubtful or downright atheist -- you're probably familiar with the Christmas story.

But its history, significance and traditions are sometimes misunderstood. Let's clarify what the yuletide is all about by examining five myths.

1. Christmas is the most important Christian holiday.

Adoration of the Shepherds by Gerard Van Honthorst, 1622

For all the cards sent and trees decorated -- to say nothing of all the Nativity scenes displayed -- Christmas is not the most important date on the Christian calendar.

Easter, the day on which Christians believe Christ rose from the dead, has more religious significance than does Dec. 25. Christ's Resurrection means not just that one man conquered death, nor was it simply proof of Jesus' divinity to his followers; it holds out the promise of eternal life for all who believe in him.

The two holidays' relative importance is even reflected in the church's liturgical calendar. The Christmas season lasts 12 days, as all carolers know, ending with Epiphany, a feast day in early January commemorating the Wise Men's visit to the infant Jesus.

The Easter season, on the other hand, lasts 50 days. On Sundays during Eastertide, Christians hear dramatic stories of the post-Resurrection appearances of Christ to his astonished followers.

The overriding importance of Easter is simple: Anyone can be born, but not everyone can rise from the dead.

2. There is biblical consensus on the story of Jesus' birth.

Life of Christ Window 1-6: Birth Narratives

From bottom left: Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Annunciation to Shepherds, King Herod, Three Magi.

Panels 1-6 at the bottom of the Life of Christ Window, the center lancet beneath the west rose window. Dating from about 1150, it depicts the early life of Christ from the Annunciation to the Triumphal Entry.

Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, Centre, France

Even knowledgeable Christians may expect to find the familiar story of Christmas in each of the four Gospels: the journey of Mary on a donkey accompanied by Saint Joseph, the child's birth in a manger surrounded by animals, shepherds and angels, with the Wise Men appearing shortly afterward.

But two of the Gospels say nothing about Jesus' birth. The Gospel of Mark -- the earliest of the Gospels, written roughly 30 years after Jesus' Crucifixion -- does not have a word about the Nativity. Instead, it begins with the story of John the Baptist, who announces the impending arrival of the adult Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospel of John is similarly silent about Jesus' birth.

The two Gospels that do mention what theologians call the "infancy narratives" differ on some significant details.

Matthew seems to describe Mary and Joseph as living in Bethlehem, fleeing to Egypt and then moving to Nazareth.

The Gospel of Luke, on the other hand, has the two originally living in Nazareth, traveling to Bethlehem in time for the birth and then returning home.

Both Gospels, though, place Jesus' birthplace in Bethlehem.

3. Jesus was an only child.

Catholics, myself included, believe that Mary's pregnancy came about miraculously -- what we call the "virgin birth." Catholics also believe that Mary remained a virgin her entire life, though many Protestants do not.

So, when Catholics stumble upon Gospel passages that speak of Jesus' brothers and sisters, they are often confused.

In the Gospel of Luke, someone tells Jesus, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you." In Mark's Gospel, people from Nazareth exclaim: "Is not this the carpenter's son?... Are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us?" Even Saint Paul called James "the Lord's brother."

These passages are sometimes explained away by saying that these are Jesus' friends, relatives, half brothers or, most often, cousins.

But there is a perfectly good word for "cousins" in Greek, which Mark and Luke could have used instead of "adelphoi," meaning "brothers."

Many Catholic scholars maintain that Jesus indeed had brothers and sisters -- perhaps through an earlier marriage of Joseph. So, a virgin birth, but step-brothers and-sisters.

4. The secularization of Christmas is a recent phenomenon.

Worries about diluting Christmas' meaning go much further back than recent memory. Gift-giving, for example, was seen as problematic as early as the Middle Ages, when the church frowned on the practice for its supposed pagan origins.

More recently, some religious leaders in the 1950s fretted about the use of the term "X-mas" (which, depending on whom you believe, either substitutes a tacky "X" for Christ or uses the Greek letter chi, an ancient abbreviation for the name).

The first few Christmas stamps issued by the U.S. Postal Service in the early 1960s featured not the familiar Madonna and Child, but a bland wreath, an anodyne Christmas tree and sprigs of greenery.

And some of the most beloved "Christmas" TV shows from the 1960s -- "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" -- have little to do with the birth of Christ and are more about vague holiday celebrations and, mostly, gifts.

Linus' famous recitation from Luke's Gospel in "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is the exception in pop culture, not the rule.

The overt religiosity of that scene, which flowed from the faith of Charles Schulz, drew criticism even at its first airing in 1965, as David Michaelis detailed in his 2008 biography of the cartoonist, "Schulz and Peanuts."

5. Midnight Mass is at midnight.

 

Midnight Mass, traditionally the first celebration of the Christmas liturgy, is also when Saint Luke's account of the birth of Jesus is read aloud. Recently, however, many churches have moved up their celebrations -- first to 10 p.m., then to 8 p.m., and now as early as 4 p.m.

Why? For one thing, churches are packed on Christmas Day.

Second, the elderly and families with children may find it easier to attend services on the 24th, so as not to conflict with the following day's festivities.

As a result, some parishes are cutting back on Masses on Christmas Day.


James Martin, a Jesuit priest and culture editor of "America" magazine, is the author of "Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life." This column was published in the Washington Post.

An Update from Biologos

The Biologos foundation has been very helpful to this blog site's insistence on reconciling the Christian faith with today's scientific research and discoveries. From time to time, as I find Biologos' directional, I have included those sets of articles for consideration in the exploration of how Emergent Christianity embraces science with the Christian faith in the hopes of re-gaining an expanded Bible and a vision of God's world from God's perspective.

Like this site here, as it concentrates on separating true Christian doctrines and from religious dogmas, Biologos has been re-creating a faith-based reference site for baseline discussions amongst Christians from different walks of faith in the hopes of providing concrete direction to the many areas of biblical topics that can be confusing or mis-applied.

Let us give thanks to Darrel Falk and his intrepid team of explorers for showing the deep relevancy between science and that of the Christian faith. And for those science teachers amongst us you'll find the Biologos workshops and seminars a ready tool for your classroom lectures that you may join and participate as you read further.

These are exciting times of discovery that continue to show the mystery, the infinity, the wisdom of God through the process of mediated creation that He has begun and continues to create. Praise God for He is worthy to be praised! He is our Lord and King. He is Majestic. None other rules over His Godhead. He alone is the Lover of our souls. We are His as He is mine. His wonders are too mysterious. His creation too vast. We cannot comprehend His greatness. We can but only bow our heads and give thanks to the greatness of His majesty, His wisdom, His love. Amen.

R.E. Slater

relevancy22

December 23, 2011

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BioLoguration II

http://biologos.org/blog/biologuration-ii

December 21, 2011

The BioLogos staff in San Diego

Today's entry was written by Darrel Falk. Darrel Falk serves as president of The BioLogos Foundation. He transitioned into Christian higher education 25 years ago and has given numerous talks about the relationship between science and faith at many universities and seminaries. He is the author of Coming to Peace with Science.

Looking Back

Although BioLogos officially began in 2007 as an organization that would develop a website to answer questions that emerged from Francis Collins’ book, The Language of God, it began in earnest exactly three years ago with the submission and approval of an expanded grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

I remember that Christmas season well as Syman Stevens, Karl Giberson, Francis Collins and I excitedly began working towards the launch of The BioLogos Forum website in April of 2009. Except for Christmas Day itself, emails bounced onto our computer screen like popcorn and we were frequently all online at the same time. We were embarking on a project to show that biology and Christianity—even Evangelicalism—are harmonious. Our confidence in the faithfulness of God’s Word and in the reasonableness of using science as a tool for understanding God’s world drove us forward. The ensuing weeks were terribly exciting as we met regularly by phone, and then in person over Valentine’s Day weekend around the dining room table of Francis Collins and his wife, Diane.

About one week before the public launch of the website on April 28, 2009, in Washington, D.C, Francis broke the news to us that he might be asked to serve as the Director of the National Institutes of Health, and if that happened he would have to remove himself from BioLogos. That is exactly what happened, but before it did Francis wrote his first blog, BioLoguration. With that, BioLogos was officially launched. Francis was unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate in August of 2009, and in reflecting on his departure, I wrote a blog entitled, The Vision Lives On.

I’ve always considered those two blogs as a sort of plumb-line by which we could measure whether BioLogos was accomplishing its mission. Looking back, I am thankful to see that for the most part, we are. Employees have come and gone. Syman is now working on a PhD at Oxford University and Karl resigned to devote all of his time to writing books and speaking. Others have since joined us and I have the privilege of working alongside a marvelous team, most of whom work faithfully behind the scenes. Through all these changes, we have continued to make an impact.

Where We Are Now

The BioLogos website has become a significant resource for people seeking ways to celebrate and explain the harmony between science and faith. In addition to blogs, scholarly essays, and links to countless other resources, our new BioLogos Resource Center contains over 100 short video clips featuring a wide variety of articulate Evangelicals, including some from a soon-to-be-released film co-sponsored with Highway Media called “From the Dust.”

Print media is also important to our success; this year we celebrated the publication of The Language of Science and Faith, a book co-authored by Karl Giberson and Francis Collins (which they began in the summer of 2009 while Francis was still able to work with us). We remain committed to developing quality resources to help those who are struggling to make sense of their faith in light of modern science and vice versa.

Although our website has long been the public face of BioLogos, it is only a small part of our outreach activities. One of our most important initiatives is the annual Theology of Celebration workshop in New York City, a gathering of many influential leaders within the Evangelical world. At this meeting we think and pray together about how the church can best respond to the issues of origins raised by science. Our next meeting, planned for March 2012, will focus especially on pastoral concerns.

Our summer workshops for science teachers in Christian schools have continued to be a great highlight as well. Those of us who have taught in the program consider this experience to have been among the most fulfilling of our careers, and the teachers themselves—after meeting in person for two, week-long workshops and online over the intervening year—viewed it the same way, almost without exception. Not all left the program with a BioLogos perspective, which is fine: our purpose in these workshops is to explore—to learn, think, pray, and worship together.

The Shape of the Future

The future looks bright for BioLogos. Our website, already strong, will become an increasingly helpful resource in the coming years for pastors, teachers, new Christians, high school students, college students, scholars and seekers. People will quickly be able to find resources that address their most pressing questions and enter into discussion about whatever they find most interesting.

BioLogos will also provide resources that will last for decades as the church, including conservative Evangelicals, comes to embrace as brothers and sisters those who accept mainstream science, even as many leaders and congregants remain hesitant about it themselves. We will be patient with each other; we will be loving; we will be an example of what it means to follow Jesus in the Romans 14 sense. By that I mean we will be careful that the minors not become major in the Kingdom of God. Still, we will clearly articulate what we believe and why, and we will provide resources for those who seek to understand.

Our programs for science teachers will expand significantly. Through workshops and new resources, teachers will be better equipped to clearly lay out data for their students and guide them through the process of interpreting it in a scientifically and theologically informed manner. The teachers themselves need to be heavily involved in helping us accomplish this.

During this coming year, if the funds become available, we will also initiate conversations with university campus ministries to aid Christian and non-Christian young people who are studying science, especially biology, in a secular environment.

The Need is Great

Our goal, quite simply, is to help the church understand why a growing number of Christians, many of whom have a traditional, orthodox faith firmly grounded in the Bible as God’s Word, see no conflict between mainstream science and Christianity. We also want to cultivate a world where Christian young people feel emboldened in their faith—rather than weakened—when they come to understand the strength of the scientific data. This is a monumental task, to be sure, but every day we sense God’s calling to continue in the work.

BioLogos cannot succeed without you, the members of our community. While we have been blessed to receive a renewal of our Templeton funds that support some of our core activities, we must raise private funds for all aspects of our education initiatives. Science teachers who are Christians, especially those in Christian schools, are in desperate need of professional support. Their resources are very limited. Just ask them! Ask them about workshops at Christian school conventions. Ask them how much professional development activity is available to them. Ask them whether they feel supported to really wrestle with the findings of science.

Thankfully, we as a community can help. One very generous couple has promised to provide a matching gift up to $100,000. Every gift received (or post-marked) before January 1st from a new donor will be doubled up to that level. Similarly, for previous donors, the amount given over and above that given last year will also be doubled.

BioLogos is a movement. Its purpose is not simply to change minds, but to change hearts. We believe, with near certainty, that God created through the evolutionary process, but our task is not to get everyone to see it our way. Our task is, however, to help everyone embrace the many Christians who already do think this way. We ask you to join us in the BioLogos movement today. Some members of our community are giving $25, which immediately translates into $50 because of the match. Others feel called to give much more. Believe me, gifts of all sizes do add up!

Final Thoughts

I entitled this essay BioLoguration II. There are a couple of reasons for that. One is simply that we’ve received our grant renewal and BioLogos now moves into the phase governed by the second grant. However, the other reason is that the first BioLoguration focused on introducing our mission and helping people to become aware of the need. That went exceptionally well, much better than we would have anticipated. Hundreds of thousands of people have visited our site— indeed, we have close to 50,000 visits each month. So now that many people know about BioLogos, we can say that the first phase is complete. Now we set out to help the church embrace the many Bible-believing, Jesus-loving disciples who think science is a reasonable, reliable tool for listening to what God has to tell us about his creation.

As the years go by, I expect there will be a BioLoguration III. The twenty-first century is the century of biology, biotechnology, and biomedical engineering. There is a need like never before for a Christian voice and conscience as society wrestles with great questions posed through this new knowledge.

Although the need for fully informed Christians is great, many of us aren’t there yet. Many of us are still wrestling with the evidence for evolution, theological ramifications, philosophical questions, tradition-specific concerns, hermeneutical issues, and how science can enrich and inform our worship. These are fascinating and wonderful issues, even as they are at times heart-wrenching. That’s phase II. BioLoguration II takes us into this stage. Once we make significant progress on this front, we’ll be ready for the all-important BioLoguration III. We invite you to prayerfully consider a gift today to bring out this brighter future.