Monthly Archive for May, 2005Page 4 of 6

Brennan Manning @ Soliton

Published
by
aly hawkins
on 11 May 2005
in emerging church and faith and theology
. 1 Comment

Ash and I are in the midst of a three-day conference-retreat-conversation-thingy called Soliton here in Ventura at the bridge, our local emergent community. Brennan Manning is the key guy this time around, and he gave us “homework” last night, which was to pray through Psalm 103, 1 John 4:16-19, and Isaiah 43:1-5. 1 John 4:17 really stood out to me: “This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.” Ash and I talked late into the night about what it looks like to be like Jesus. Being wannabe activists and achievement-oriented types, we started with the action and achievement part: feeding the hungry, comforting the sick, freeing the oppressed, etc. But then we started thinking about BEING like Jesus: confident in the love of the Father, peacefully and constantly aware of the Father’s acceptance.

It’s really hard for me to wrap my head and heart around a love that is completely independent of my actions. I can’t come to grips with a love that pre-exists my acceptance of it…that’s just not how it’s supposed to work! Yet it seems that if God’s unique and totally other identity is to be believed (”God is love”), it must be true. As Ash would say, “What a mind-f***.”

The other thing I’m chewing on is the idea that we all project a god that is not the God of Jesus onto God. C.S. Lewis explored this theme in one of his poems when he wrote that “all prayer is idolatry.” (Brennan used the example of a popular preacher - who will remain nameless, but his name rhymes with “Barry Smallwell” - who claimed the 9/11 attacks were the judgment of God on gays and lesbians. “That is blasphemy!” yelled Brennan in his thick Brooklyn accent. “That preacher is projecting his own hate and rejection of gays onto a god that would summon a jihad!”) Anyway, I’m realizing that I, too, have a projection of god that is not the God of Jesus…which is very weird to own, since I’ve called myself a Christian for quite a few years now. There is a part of me that doesn’t want to turn in my exasperated, disappointed, disapproving (yet mildly amused) god for the Real Thing. I don’t really want to trade in my god of high standards and expectation for a foolish God whose love for me is unaffected by me. Silly, silly God. Can’t you see that makes me powerless to control you?

-ah

TLWATWAT

Published
by
aly hawkins
on 9 May 2005
in art and culture, emerging church, literature and philosophy
. 0 Comments

For those of you who have been living in a cave (or finishing up a seminary degree), the last installment of Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christian trilogy is out and either blessing people or pissing them off…sometimes both. The Last Word and the Word After That continues and kinda wraps the saga of Pastor Dan Poole and his friend Neil Edward Oliver (aka “Neo”) that began with Dan’s disillusionment with his brand of modern Christianity. I won’t give a recap of the whole story here - visit Amazon or a post-everything friend.

On the surface, TLW seems to be largely about hell: its evolution before and along Christendom’s timeline, its various incarnations at the hands of respected theologians. Is it a place? If so, who goes there, and how does one avoid it? Is it a metaphor? If so, what does it mean? Under all this hell-speak, however, TLW is really asking questions about God. What kind of God do we believe in? What is God doing? What is God’s agenda, and how does one get on it?

McLaren’s specialty is taking a step outside of the usual theological arguments and wondering, “Are we even asking the right questions?” In TLW, he suggests that our theology of hell has been informing our theology of God for an awfully long time, and it might be time to turn the coin over. Do we really think that God has gone to all this trouble to tell us about hell? Or might there be something larger at stake?

Many people are apparently very happy with hell, and are extremely upset - past the point of Christian charity - that McLaren has dared to trifle with their eternal torment. (If I knew how to put in links, I would point you to the reviews page on Amazon, where you would read nastiness that would cause your hair to stand on end. I trust you will be able to find it without my help.) I, for one, am glad that someone had the cojones to open up the conversation.

-ah

On Imitation

Published
by
michael lee
on 8 May 2005
in prayer
. 0 Comments

Kyrie Yeshua
Forgive our compassion without sacrifice
Forgive our faith without humility
Forgive our profession without comprehension
Forgive our community without grace

May we be compassionate as you were compassionate
And poured out the last full measure of yourself for us
May we have faith as you had faith
Which sufficed at both the desert and Gethsemane
May we profess as you professed
With wisdom breathed down from the Holy Spirit
May we build community as you built community
With an effluence of grace sufficient and generous

In all things, imitators of you

Politics and babies

Published
by
aly hawkins
on 8 May 2005
in politics
. 2 Comments

Last Sunday, I had a complete emotional meltdown for about 30 minutes. It was totally out of the blue, absolutely unexpected. One minute I’m reading “Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas,” and the next minute I’m keening like a hired mourner.

The impetus: 6500 kids die every day because of extreme poverty. Now, let’s be honest…you (Michael) and I hail from fairly different camps when it comes to politics and economic theory. I remain unconvinced that greed is good, and I think believing trickle-down economics works is akin to believing the Tooth Fairy is not at all creepy, despite the human incisor collection. Before last week, I would have told you confidently that the Left has had its finger on the pulse of The Issue for quite some time, and it’s only now that the Right is about to look really greedy and stupid that it is pulling its head out of its own…sleeve…to address The Issue before the Left starts to look like they might have a point. Then on Sunday, without warning, I had the nauseating realization that I (a devoted Lefty) had turned 6500 God’s-image-bearing, individually-loved, dead children into An Issue, a notch on the headboard where I keep track of all the reasons political conservatives suck. I literally gagged on my arrogance. These are babies for Christ’s sake, not political tiddly-winks.

I guess this is a confession. I’m not sure what repentance looks like in a situation like this - the whole “turn around, walk the other way” repentance. What does it mean to love those God-created children? Does it mean wearing a white wristband and emailing my congresswoman? Does it mean giving money to good organizations and personally sponsoring an impoverished child? If I’m already doing those things, why do I feel like it’s not nearly enough?

Sorry for the ramblin’. Still processing, I guess. Any thoughts on building the kingdom when kids are starving?

-ah

Make Poverty History

Published
by
michael lee
on 6 May 2005
in politics
. 1 Comment

You may have noticed a new banner in the upper right hand corner of this page. It links to a coalition of non-profit organizations dedicated to ending severe poverty among the world’s poorest citizens within our lifetime. In the UK, it’s under the banner of “Make Poverty History.” In the US, it’s under the banner of the ONE campaign. I know what you’re saying …

“But Michael, you’re a politically conservative, economically libertarian free-market defender of the wealthy elite! Why are you endorsing a campaign that reeks of hippy socialism and welfare entitlement?”

A very fair question! Two reasons - first of all, when I say severe poverty, I’m not talking about a family of four in the US who can’t afford cable for their color TV. I’m talking about a mom in a Fiji squatter camp who hasn’t eaten in 4 days, and who is prostituting herself to buy a meal for her children. I’m talking about a boy in India who doesn’t have clean drinking water within a days walk. I’m talking about children who don’t have to worry about the fact that they have HIV / AIDS, because they’re going to die of malnutrition before their immune systems feels the first effects of the virus.

It is my strong belief that free markets create the strongest economies, but free people have a moral obligation to the world community, and in our prosperity we have the tools to undo this part of the fall. The world is broken, and in this small way we can fulfill the obligation incumbent on redeemed people to remake it in Christ’s image.

So why this particular group, and why this particular goal? First of all, some of the ministries that my wife and I support are linking up with this coalition, including World Vision and Bread for the World. My trust in the long-standing integrity of these organizations makes me hopeful toward the goals of the coalition group. I think that the stated goals of the group are just, well-conceived, and above all, achievable. They are promoting fair trade rules that allow developing nations to compete economically in global markets, which in turns allows them to sustain their own economic stability. They are promoting debt amnesty for the worlds poorest countries, which is more of a recognition of reality than a new policy - countries where 50% of the annual budget go to pay off the interest on trade loans are never going to repay the debt, and their own development is being crippled as a result. Finally, they support an increase of targeted and effective international aid on the part of the most prosperous countries. In the US, that means in increase of 1% in the annual foreign aid budget.

So what kind of global anti-poverty campaign would a conservative American capitalist get behind? One that you should look into …