Subverting the Norm III

 Subverting the Norm III

Political Perspectives on Postmodern Theology & Church Practice

https://subvertingthenorm.wordpress.com/presenters-2015/

What is Subverting the Norm?

SUBVERTING THE NORM is a three-day event that brings together pastors, theologians, philosophers, church practitioners, researchers in religion and all those interested in exploring the relationship between postmodern theologies and church practice. Some of the questions we’ll consider at the third Subverting the Norm include:

Is postmodern theology and religious practice insufficiently political, at least insofar as it plays out in academic and church circles?

Are religious collectives and churches contributing to a new and distinct approach to socio-political transformation? Or do postmodern religious collectives and communal practices mimic rather than challenge the contemporary political, social and economic cultures they intend to avoid?

In what ways is the work of religious thought offered by postmodern theologies also a work of political thought?

Can postmodern theologies open theoretical and practical possibilities for collective resistance and for social, political, economic and ecological transformation?

Why do so many strains of the postmodern religious conversation (death of God theologies, postsecular philosophies, radical theologies, and emergent church practices) – despite emphases on the other – tend to be dominated by white male voices that are usually from significant privilege? And what might these postmodern theologies learn from theological traditions that more often place questions of power and politics at their centre, such as liberation, feminist, queer, and postcolonial theologies?

And, finally, if established churches and collectives are to be faithful to the revolutionary event that gave birth to Christianity, how might they be informed by such approaches to political theology?

Interactive learning tracks related to ministry, liturgy, worship, preaching, community organizing, art and much more will be offered.

Interested in presenting? Please check out our Call for Presentations.

A DISCLAIMER ABOUT THEORY & PRACTICE (for the inquiring minds who want to know)…

At Subverting the Norm, there tends to be a fairly strong emphasis on the notion that theory is practice. To borrow the words of Subverting the Norm keynoterNamsoon Kang:

[W]e should recognize the significance of theological discourse as public discourse that affects the lives of people in a concrete way. People’s participation in the theological discourse can distort or transform their identities and understandings of self, the world, and the Divine. Therefore, theological discourse is neither merely a matter of interpretation of the tradition, the scripture, or doctrines, nor a matter of transmitting inherited religious identities. Theological discourse can be, in and of itself, a form of identity and solidarity. Feminist theological discourse, for example, has transformed identities and established solidarities especially among women. It did not just present the interests of women whose identities they fixed in advance. Feminist theological discourse created both an arena of discourse among women and a stronger voice for women in discourses that were male dominated. The solidarity formed among women and men of conscience had to do with the capacity of this theological discourse to bridge the concerns of personal life and the public institutions and culture.

Theological discourses function in various ways as sites of contestation and resistance, of forming new religious and personal identities, and of building solidarities. Theological discourses that theologians produce, disseminate, and teach in academia are not simply objective interpretations and neutral reflections on the world and the church in it. Instead, theological discourses are productions of and for the world and the church that we live in. Stereotyping theologians and academics as those residing only inside ivory towers; bipolarizing theology-ministry, theory-praxis, knowing-doing; or differentiating academism from activism overlooks the significant functions that theological institutions and their theological discourses play for their constituencies, the students they educate, the church in which they interact, and the larger society to which they communicate. Theological discourses are the epistemological ground for educating students of theology who work and will work for the world and the church in it. Theological discourse contributes to the deconstruction of the old and the constant reconstitution of the new religious identities; to new understandings of the self, the world, and the divine; and to a new vision for an alternative world and one’s commitment to a more just world… Theological discourses could be the grounds upon which religious practitioners, believers, students, activists, or academics center their practice of belief and their love for the world.

Select Bios

John D. Caputo

John D. Caputo, the Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion and Humanities Emeritus at Syracuse University, is back for his third appearance at Subverting the Norm. He is a hybrid philosopher/theologian intent on producing thoughts which circulate between philosophy and theology, short-circuits which deny fixed and rigorous boundaries between philosophy and theology. Caputo treats “sacred” texts as a poetics of the human condition, or as a “theo-poetics,” a poetics of the event harbored in the name of God. His past books have attempted to persuade us that hermeneutics goes all the way down (Radical Hermeneutics), that Derrida is a thinker to be reckoned with by theology (The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida), and that theology is best served by getting over its love affair with power and authority and embracing what Caputo calls, following St. Paul, The Weakness of God. He has also addressed wider-than-academic audiences in On Religion, What Would Jesus Deconstruct?, and Truth. His highly-anticipated and much-heralded The Insistence of God: A Theology of Perhaps was released last year.

Katharine Sarah Moody

Katharine Sarah Moody (PhD Religious Studies, Lancaster University, UK, 2010) is an independent scholar working at the intersection of philosophy, theology and the study of lived religion. She is particularly interested in the generative relationships between radical theology and emerging Christianity. Her most recent post was Research Associate in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Liverpool, where she worked as part of the Philosophy and Religious Practices Research Network, and she is currently seeking funding to study the political potential of religious practices that draw on ‘the theological turn’ in continental philosophy and ‘the turn to Paul’ in political philosophy.

Her books include Radical Theology and Emerging Christianity: Deconstruction, Materialism and Religious Practices (Ashgate, forthcoming 2015); Post-Secular Theology and the Church: Truth, Tradition, Transformation? (Wipf & Stock, forthcoming); A/Theism: A New Kind of Christian as A New Kind of Atheist (Wipf & Stock, forthcoming); and Intensities: Philosophy, Religion and the Affirmation of Life (Ashgate, 2012; co-edited with Steven Shakespeare). She will be one of the keynote speakers at the 2015 Association for Continental Philosophy of Religion conference, ‘Political Theology: The Liberation of the Postsecular?’ (July 10-12).

Peter Rollins

Peter Rollins is a provocative writer, philosopher, storyteller and public speaker who has gained an international reputation for overturning traditional notions of religion and forming “churches” that preach the Good News that we can’t be satisfied, that life is difficult, and that we don’t know the secret. Challenging the idea that faith concerns questions relating to belief Peter’s incendiary and irreligious reading of Christianity attacks the distinction between sacred and secular, blurs the lines between theism and atheism and sets aside questions regarding life after death to explore the possibility of a life before death. Peter gained his higher education from Queens University, Belfast and has earned degrees (with distinction) in Scholastic Philosophy (BA Hons), Political Theory (MA) and Post-Structural thought (PhD). He is the author of numerous books, including Insurrection, The Idolatry of God, and The Divine Magician. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, currently lives in Los Angeles and will die somewhere as yet not known.

An Apocalyptic Jesus - Numbering Christian Interpretation, Part 2

Constantine's Vision

"In this sign you will conquer"

 or

"By this Cross conquer"

- Emperor Constantine's vision

October 28, 312 ad

Wikipedia - In hoc Signo Vinces

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_hoc_signo_vinces

In hoc signo vinces (Classical Latin: [ɪn hoːk ˈsɪŋnoː ˈwɪnkeːs]; Ecclesiastical Latin: [in ok ˈsiɲɲo ˈvintʃes]) is a Latin phrase meaning "In this sign you will conquer." It is a translation, or rendering, of the Greek phrase "ἐν τούτῳ νίκα" en toútōi níka (Ancient Greek: [en tóːtɔ͜ːi níkaː]), literally meaning "in this, conquer".

The Greek Symbol Chi Rho

Constantine's commemorative coinage

Wikipedia - Chi Rho

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_Rho

The Christian Christogram
of Chi-Rho

The Chi Rho (/ˈkaɪ ˈroʊ/) is one of the earliest forms of christogram, and is used by some Christians. It is formed by superimposing the first two (capital) letters chi and rho (Χ - Ρ) of the Greek word "ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ" (Christos = Christ) in such a way as to produce the monogram. Although not technically a Christian cross, the Chi-Rho invokes the crucifixion of Jesus, as well as symbolising his status as the Christ.

The Chi-Rho symbol was also used by pagan Greek scribes to mark, in the margin, a particularly valuable or relevant passage; the combined letters Chi and Rho standing for chrēston, meaning "good." Some coins of Ptolemy III Euergetes (r. 246–222 BC) were marked with a Chi-Rho.

The Chi-Rho symbol was used by the Roman emperor Constantine I as part of a military standard (vexillum), Constantine's standard was known as the Labarum. Early symbols similar to the Chi-Rho were the Staurogram () and the IX monogram ().

* * * * * * * * * *

Depiction of Constantine fighting his Roman foe Maxentius at Rome’s Milvian Bridge.

Background by Dan Graves {In Context}

In AD 312, the Roman Empire is up for grabs. Its previous emperor, Diocletian, divided the realm between two senior and two junior emperors, but the complex arrangement has collapsed. The successors are at one another’s throats. Young general Constantine, son of Constantius, one of Diocletian’s co-emperors, has military successes under his belt, but now he faces a formidable veteran with a larger army and a better strategic position. What shall he do?

Constantine realizes that he needs help from a power greater than himself, but who or what? He has his doubts about the traditional Roman gods. He prays earnestly that the true God, whoever that may be, will “reveal to him who he is, and stretch forth his right hand to help him.”

He does not know it yet, but that prayer will change the course of Christian history as well as of western civilization. Later he will tell his friend Bishop Eusebius the incredible story of that hour. When Eusebius reports it in his history, he admits it is hard to believe.

What happens that is so hard to believe? Constantine suddenly sees a bright cross of light emblazoned against the noonday sky and upon it the inscription: “In hoc signo vinces” —“In this Sign Conquer.”

It brings Constantine the assurance he needs. He accepts this as the answer to his prayer and orders his soldiers to inscribe crosses on their shields. Encouraged by his vision in the heavens, he hurls his troops against his rival Maxentius at Rome’s Milvian Bridge. Surprisingly, Constantine is victorious. Maxentius is among those who drown in the Tiber.

The Chi-Rho with a wreath symbolizing
the victory of the Resurrection,
above Roman soldiers, ca. 350.

Afterward Constantine does not forget to whom he owes his victory. For close to two hundred and fifty years, since AD 64 when Nero initiated violence against it, the Christian church has been a persecuted minority in Roman lands. Only a few years earlier, between 303 and 311, it suffered through Diocletian’s savage “Great Persecution.” Now Constantine issues orders that the Christian church is to be tolerated just as other religions are. Although he does not make Christianity the official religion of the empire, Constantine bestows favor on it, builds places of worship for Christians, and presides over the first general church council. He becomes the first emperor to embrace Christianity and will be baptized on his death bed—waiting so late for fear his duties as emperor might cause him to sin after he receives the solemn rite, blotting out its efficacy.

Writing Constantine’s biography, Eusebius will describe him as God’s gift to a suffering church. His Greek account will give the quote simply as “Conquer by this.”

For the first time in its short history, the church can worship and grow without constant fear of deadly persecution.

- Dan Graves, {In Context}

https://www.christianhistoryinstitute.org/incontext/article/constantines-cross/

For further references to Constatine - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great

Sculpture of Constantine the Great in York, England: "By this sign conquer".

* * * * * * * * * *

The Symbol of the Cross and Its Meaning

What does the symbol of the Cross mean? What did it mean to the early church? To the pre-Catholic church? To the Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Churches of Christ to come after the Reformation?

Overall, the symbol of the cross is a symbol of mystery. We know it as God's "paschal mystery" in reference to God "passing over His people" in order to protect them by His sacrifice in Jesus using both the Old Testament concept in Exodus on the eve of Israel's departure as well as to the New Testament image in Christ-on-the-Cross atoning for our sin.

In essence, the paschal mystery of Christ refers to His passion (that is, His life and life's ministry), death, and resurrection, and by these accomplishments signifying the completed work of God the Father whom sent His Son in the power of His Spirit to make atonement for the fallen world of man.

Moreover, Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox Christian churches celebrate this mystery through the season of Lent culminating on Easter. It is further remembered and celebrated at every Eucharist (or Communion) event on Sunday which is also known as the Pascha of the week.

Ultimately, the Pascha of Christ is a symbol of grace and peace as much as it has been used as an iconic symbol of war and violence as begun by Constantine when taking the Christian symbol of the cross and making it a political symbol of conquering his enemies in a bid for power from Rome.

In the Old Testament under the Law of Moses we read of the Jewish people implementing a "Law of Measures" in Exodus 21.23-24:

23 But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life,

24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

But no less is this concern for civil justice not also demonstrated throughout human societies as symbolized by the more modern icon of the Scales of Justice hung in the balances waiting to being meted out between men with one another, their community, and with other societies.

Throughout church history we read of the church's violence to each other and to other societies based upon its understanding of the commandments of God as given through Moses. A theology that reflects not God but the violence set in its own heart. Begging the question why God would say this or why early Israel so long for this institutional mandate of civil justice?

Was God speaking to Israel in order to give them a baseline of civility between one another? Did Israel wish to be like the other nations of the land around them in its infancy? We could go round-and-round on this question but nonetheless, the civil institutions of Israel were first laid down in the book of Exodus.

The Myth of Violence

It is the myth of violence that war, brutality, and fighting can put back together again a kind of civil peace between human beings. In the story of Samson we see this sorrowful cycle of revenge repeating itself again and again in the ragged prophet's life as it spins out of control eventuating in his heart-rending death.

Into this myth enters Jesus who comes to yet another mountain of God to speak a new law to His people not unlike Moses' institution of the Deuteronomic law. A law that would remove the cycles of violence man has committed himself to by a greater law. A law of peace and forgiveness. We call this new set of laws the "Sermon on the Mount" as taken from Matthew chapters 5 - 7.

Mt.5:38 "You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’
39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right
cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic,
let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him
two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would
borrow from you."

In Jesus' new words He is saying that concretely, or pragmatically, there can be no end to violence. The only end to violence is through forgiveness and the turning away from any further violence. And it is in this response that the mystery of redemption begins to work its power like leaven kneaded into a loaf of bread. It doesn't solve any one problem one-for-one but addresses the whole nature of the problem of relationship between individuals, communities, and nations.

"But Justice Matters!" Yes, this is made very clear in Scripture. Both old and new. But in Jesus' new words we are not to resist evil but to accept it. To not continue in the myth of redemptive violence as a thing that can bring peace and enclave to the world. That His cross will not be a thing, a symbol, or a mindset for violence but a symbol to be known for its grace and forgiveness. It is by this kind of cross that we conquer together as crucified communities of our Lord.

What is Jesus doing? Is He challenging the bible? Is He challenging both Jewish theology and later Christian theology to come? Is He being too naive when saying that "By this New Torah that I give to you on this New Mountain of God I have become both a New Moses to you as will as a New Law of God?" Yeah, verily, He does.

So then, why did God institute Law in one era and Love in another? Did His people mis-hear Him? Have we divided the Scriptures up in error? Not if we reflect on the actions of those believers in the New Testament who, upon hearing Jesus' new law of love and forgiveness are immediately revitalized in their redemptive walk with Yahweh. How many accounts do the Gospels list of a forbidden woman coming before Jesus to wash His feet with her hair to the unfavorable sentiments of many? Or of Jesus forgiving a woman of prostitution before a condemning Sanhedrin wishing to stone her according to their law? Or of Jesus healing people on the Sabbath as a holy day consecrated to the Lord? Or of tax collectors dropping their collection rolls to take up their call to follow Jesus as his new disciples of redemption and healing? Too many.

Moreover, Jesus lives out His own words. To His betrayer Judas He says, "Friend, I forgive you. Go do what you must do." Or to His Father-God in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Lord, not my will but thine be done." To those hated and despised by society He calls friend. To His servant Peter He removes the sword from his hand and repairs the severed ear of the temple servant so that he might continue serving once more without mar or wound.

Does this cause the stricter interpreters of God's Torah emotions of rage and violence? Certainly. So much so that we come to see these scribes and pharisees not as God's servants but as their own masters committed to power and prestige and religious delusions of self-atonement (we call such works of the flesh legalism). They become like the dogs and vipers that Jesus speaks of who turn upon the True Servant of Yahweh to beat, humiliate, and kill the Holy One whom they vilely hate. Initiating yet again the dictum of "violence begetting violence" not understanding that it is but a pitiful human redemptive myth for putting things aright when undone by sin.

And so we must observe, "Jesus wasn't simply a good teacher but a g-r-e-a-t practitioner of God's Word. But does love and forgiveness actually work? If by the evidences of a torn temple curtain opening up the Holy of Holies to all men, or by the confessional submission of a Roman Centurion before the foot of Jesus' cross, or by the many testimonies of betrayed and martyred men, women, and children, then yes, we must clearly say so. The teaching of Jesus was to powerfully, practically embrace God's willful redemption and reclamation of mankind in a way not like any other way. That it is the most complete, most unifying, most significant action that we as God's people might commit towards one another every moment and every day of our lives.

To take up Jesus' Cross and follow Him is not to bear sword and shield in hand to slay our enemies declaring rightful power in God's name but to stay our hands and hearts and bow down before our King in obedience to His will of grace, peace, forgiveness, and hope. It is by this kind of Cross that we conquer and no less. The Cross now becomes a place of personal redemption and transformation and no longer an vacant symbol of sin, revenge, and violence.

May then the Cross of Jesus become a symbol of love and transformation. A symbol of renewal, revival, and resurrection. May it no longer be used by the church to commit works of hatred towards others by exclusion, meanness, bullying, or of ill-will, oppression, and unkindness. Let the Cross of Christ become our Paschal Cross of Resurrection bourne in the power of the Holy Spirit unto the deep satisfaction and great good will of our holy God who Himself is our Paschal Peace. Amen.

R.E. Slater

March 2, 2015

Dedicated to the martyrs

of flesh, hopes, and dreams

become as Christ-bearers

and Testimonies of Light

to a new Torah of Shalom

granting grace and peace

by El Shaddai's infilling

Shekhinah-glory, the

Paschal mystery of  God,

whose holy presence

would dwell amongst men.

continue to -

Numbering Numbers

An Apocalyptic Jesus - Numbering Christian Interpretation, Part 1

An Apocalyptic Jesus - Numbering Christian Interpretation, Part 2

An Apocalyptic Jesus - Numbering Christian Interpretation, Part 1

An Apocalyptic Jesus

In a previous blog post (Numbering Numbers) I had laid out the book of Numbers of the Old Testament in a typical Christian interpretation of its history and theology. Today I wish to consider that interpretation and ask why our first reading from yesterday did or didn't surprise us as to the kind of reaction God had shown amongst His people Israel and towards their enemies.

Perhaps we should first start with John the Baptist, the cousin to Jesus who had baptised His Lord in the River Jordan to witness God's ordination of His Son in terms of the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus in the form of a dove (Matthew 3). Now John the Baptist was a fairly outspoken critic of the religious temple of his day. He was known for preaching a strong version of Jewish theology that at all times pled for repentance while looking to a coming Day of the Lord spewing wrath and judgment. 

Not surprisingly, in both Jewish Apocalyptic literature before Jesus' birth, as well as in later Christian eschatalogical (end-time) writings after Jesus' resurrection, there was found a very firm belief in God's coming judgment upon the sins of mankind. A judgment issuing forth in woes, plagues, wars, harms, blood, disasters, and all manner of human suffering due to man's sin. A judgment-of-all-judgments that would be sent by God rightfully upon all humanity for its refusal to bow down before Him as the God of all creation. A God who seeks justice, righteousness, and holiness against the wickedness and evil man has created by the freedom of his corrupt heart, soul, and mind.

Into this era of Jewish and Christian agreement on "End Time Judgment and Wrath" comes God Himself incarnated in the form of Jesus endowed by the Spirit of God to preach love, kindness, forgiveness, and hope to all men everywhere beginning with His people Israel and unto the ends of the earth. Like John the Baptist, Jesus' message also bears within it an urgency for repentance and forestaying of God's wrath - a wrath in which He ultimately places Himself as the stop-gap to the satisfaction of God's holiness for this world's sin and evil. And thereby, personally demonstrating through His life choices that this God is not only a God of wrath and judgment but also a God of love, forbearance, mercy, and forgiveness.

However, lest we miss the point, it was Jesus in His very person that was this very God that the world looked to for righteousness and justice, equity and fairness. That it was this same God of wrath so feared and anticipated who became flesh and blood to walk amongst sinful mankind preaching peace and love. Which is surprising, really, in that through the entirety of the Old Testament Scriptures it seemed that God only loved those who obeyed His rules and regulations and set His wrath upon those who disobeyed Him (conditional love). Time and again we read in the book of Numbers of God's consuming wrath upon His people unwilling to follow His appointed leaders (Moses and Aaron), times, structures, ways, and wishes (the tabernacle, religious liturgy, calendar dates, instructions, etc).

One would think then that should this God of the OT come down to this earth in the form of humanity that He would throw a crusader's cape across His shoulders, gird up His loins, take sword and shield in hand, and begin swinging away cutting large bloody swaths across the nations of the Mid-East in all directions before preceding like an Alexander of old into the world at large against all opposing Him. And why not? This was exactly the picture His people Israel had come to expect of God when He came! However, we quickly discover that they grossly neglected in their theology that God is also a God of love and forebearance. A God who redeems out of love and not by mere human self-serving appeasement and artifact by temple and ordinance. In fact, the God they felt they needed was a God of vengeance and iron rule - but in the paradox of the rule of God this God came as a humble, weak servant to suffer in the place of His people as their Lamb and atoning sacrifice (Isaiah 52-53). Thus was there confusion in Israel as to Jesus' credentials. He simply didn't fit into the theology they had been taught and expected.

And yet, the irony of this is that even Jesus' close cousin John preached a powerful kingly-Redeemer and not a humble, servant-Redeemer. Even Jesus' family misunderstood His declaration of ministry expecting at any time for Jesus to take up the sword and lead a willing congregation of Jewish men into battle against enemies beset around-and-about their impoverished enclaves. So too did Jesus' disciples believe in their ministry of preaching repentance and preparation to the people of Israel that at the last Jesus would throw off his robes for the armored dress of war. That in all ways the Jewish theology of the people of Israel believed God to come as a seething Lion and not a humble Lamb. A wrathful King and not a crucified Christ. As a "Lord of Lords" and not as "payment for mankind's sins" beginning with their own misdirected theology and insidious dogmas with its inflexible man-made religious rules and pitifully poor social graces overlooking the destitute, sick, and hated amongst their society.

How like this form of Jewish theology has our own Christianity become? How like John the Baptist and the many Jewish people across the land of Israel has today's description of God bent backwards to the old forms of wrath and retribution, judgment and penalty upon our enemies as upon the despised of society? Might it be a timely reminded to say that "not unlike the first century Jews who rejected Jesus' lordship in their lives while remaining at all times sacrosanct and righteous in their own eyes" that we might look to ourselves first for repentance of heart and mind?

To re-consider Jesus' ministry and "servant theology" over more muscular preferences for a theology like John the Baptist's "Almighty-God" theology. To allow our "Christian" theology and "bible-convictions' to become more permeated with Jesus' servant-mindedness? That we, as the church of God, are to love our enemies, serve the oppress, reach out to the hated and discriminated amidst our society, and not be like the world in its self-serving religious oppressions and vaunted doctrines of engrossing self-righteousness?

An Apocalyptic Revival

If so, than this is but the beginning to revising Christian doctrine so that it first weighs out the love of God over the wrath of God. To consider that God's holy person is holy because He is a loving God first and foremost. That holiness derives from being loving. A love that seeks justice and equity and fairness for His creation. A love that brings this God into mankind's very midst to become its divine sacrifice for sin that no other human or animal or created thing can be for His creation. A love that reaches out in service tenderly, moderately, gently, speaking soft words of blessing and honor to all who might listen and obey.

This is the surprising God of the Old and New Testament. That He is One God in Triune Person who at all times reaches out to His creation for their good and not ill. That this violent version of Himself as described in the Bible through Jewish and Church theology in both the Old and New Testaments is perhaps more a version of our own hearts longing for rightness and justice than it is of a gracious, loving, compassionate God moving to redeem His people so that we might come into sustaining covenant with Him. A covenant granting identity, relationship, blessing, and hope (promises).

The question we must ask today is this, "How can we move beyond a theology like John the Baptist's wishing for God's consuming fire so that a "Kingdom of Law, Order, and Justice" be enacted to a theology of Jesus who read the same Old Testament Scriptures as His cousin John did, His family did, and His disciples did, but came away with a dynamically polar opposite view? Yes, we might answer, it was because God's time had not yet come to begin His Kingdom. That Jewish theology incorrectly and pre-maturely hastened God's time to the neglect of remembering key portions of their Scriptures thereby settling in for a theology of self-righteous religious dogma to the neglect of sustaining, repentful, recreative, life-giving nurture.

But even so, aren't we as the church today doing the same in our church theologies however they are constructed? Are we not hastening the Kingdom of God in its final versions of itself without first giving due consideration to the ministry of Jesus forebearing in the yoke of His Lord as first set out by His God? If so, than to those whom we consider our enemies what are we doing to repent and reach out beyond our prides and prejudices? To those whom we callously neglect in their need and longing are we confessing our sin and seeking to right wrong acts? To those whom we despise because we feel its what the bible teaches in our hard-headed, hard-hearted Christian doctrines are we willing to put away such foolishness so that we might more clearly see the needs of those who suffer from our meanness, bullying, and unkindness?

Nay, this is not a different gospel. It is a rightfully nuanced version to all previous gospels too eager to preach divine wrath and judgment rather than laying down human pride, vitriol, and dictum to repentfully reach out in the more servant-minded gospel of Christ to share our Lord's grace and mercy. At the last, it is not God who needs our defense, but ourselves who need His Spirit-filled eyesight to see past ourselves, our wants and needs, and to re-consider that His Kingdom doesn't forcefully come as we had expected. But that the Kingdom of God comes on the backs of kindness, words of love, and in service to humanity. It is a Kingdom which grows from the inside-out in a paradoxical mystery we cannot begin to understand but must follow its example. This is the mystery of God: To be holy but also to love. This is the charge of the church's holy eucharist as it would commune with its Lord during its season of Lent. As such, "Do this this day" as taught by our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

R.E. Slater

February 28, 2014

continue to -

Numbering Numbers

An Apocalyptic Jesus - Numbering Christian Interpretation, Part 1

An Apocalyptic Jesus - Numbering Christian Interpretation, Part 2

Isaiah 52

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Lord's Coming Salvation

52 Awake, awake,

put on your strength, O Zion;

put on your beautiful garments,

O Jerusalem, the holy city;

for there shall no more come into you

the uncircumcised and the unclean.

2 Shake yourself from the dust and arise;

be seated, O Jerusalem;

loose the bonds from your neck,

O captive daughter of Zion.

3 For thus says the Lord: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.” 4 For thus says the Lord God: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.[a] 5 Now therefore what have I here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the Lord, “andcontinually all the day my name is despised. 6 Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.”

7 How beautiful upon the mountains

are the feet of him who brings good news,

who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,

who publishes salvation,

who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

8 The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice;

together they sing for joy;

for eye to eye they see

the return of the Lord to Zion.

9 Break forth together into singing,

you waste places of Jerusalem,

for the Lord has comforted his people;

he has redeemed Jerusalem.

10 The Lord has bared his holy arm

before the eyes of all the nations,

and all the ends of the earth shall see

the salvation of our God.

11 Depart, depart, go out from there;

touch no unclean thing;

go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves,

you who bear the vessels of the Lord.

12 For you shall not go out in haste,

and you shall not go in flight,

for the Lord will go before you,

and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

He Was Pierced for Our Transgressions.

13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely;[b]

he shall be high and lifted up,

and shall be exalted.

14 As many were astonished at you—

his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,

and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—

15 so shall he sprinkle[c] many nations;

kings shall shut their mouths because of him;

for that which has not been told them they see,

and that which they have not heard they understand.

Footnotes:

Isaiah 52:4 Or the Assyrian has oppressed them of late

Isaiah 52:13 Or shall prosper

Isaiah 52:15 Or startle

Isaiah 53

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Suffering Servant of the Lord

53 Who has believed what he has heard from us?[a]

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,

and like a root out of dry ground;

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

and no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected[b] by men;

a man of sorrows,[c] and acquainted with[d] grief;[e]

and as one from whom men hide their faces[f]

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;

and as for his generation, who considered

that he was cut off out of the land of the living,

stricken for the transgression of my people?

9 And they made his grave with the wicked

and with a rich man in his death,

although he had done no violence,

and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;

he has put him to grief;[g]

when his soul makes[h] an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see[i] and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous,

and he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,[j]

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,[k]

because he poured out his soul to death

and was numbered with the transgressors;

yet he bore the sin of many,

and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Footnotes:

Isaiah 53:1 Or Who has believed what we have heard?

Isaiah 53:3 Or forsaken

Isaiah 53:3 Or pains; also verse 4

Isaiah 53:3 Or and knowing

Isaiah 53:3 Or sickness; also verse 4

Isaiah 53:3 Or as one who hides his face from us

Isaiah 53:10 Or he has made him sick

Isaiah 53:10 Or when you make his soul

Isaiah 53:11 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll he shall see light

Isaiah 53:12 Or with the great

Isaiah 53:12 Or with the numerous

Live Long and Prosper: The Jewish Story Behind Spock,

Leonard Nimoy's Star Trek Character 
(in rememberance, 2.27.2015)

Greeting each other by offering God's blessing

The Hebrew letter Shin is the first letter in the words:

El Shaddai - God Almighty

Shalom - peace, blessing, order, completeness

Shekhinah - the presence and glory of God which dwells among humans