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  Mark 9:45 am on August 29, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  TRUST – the WAY and the DESTINATION 

  “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me…” — Jesus, John 14:1

  “TRUST” is the main issue on Jesus’ heart as he gives his disciples a “farewell” speech.  There is such deep Trinitarian theology in these few chapters, I’m really looking forward to dwelling in the reality of the Godhead over the next few days.  But truly, Jesus does not begin his final talk with his disciples by reinforcing their doctrinal beliefs, or by pop-quizzing them on their Trinitarian orthodoxy…no, to Jesus there is something far more important than anything else.

  Deeper than theology, deeper than doctrine…is TRUST.  It is the first developmental task a human must achieve.

  Fully-formed adults all around us are still waiting for someone to teach them how to trust, and thus still function as scared, insecure little infants.  The cynicism and skepticism of this age is profound, and I believe it is partly because we put our trust in things that will inevitably fail us.  Politicians, love-relationships, money, our health…

  But Jesus promotes an attitude of TRUST.  Trust in him.  He is worthy of your trust…quite possibly your most precious asset. Not only is it the avenue by which Christ can enter our hearts and we enter his, but it transforms our approach to life!  If you have an ATTITUDE of TRUST, then your APPROACH to every relationship will grow out of faith, not fearfulness.  Jesus, no matter what happens in this election, or relationship, or job, or doctor’s appointment…JESUS will always be trustworthy – he will never fail us.

  In what, specifically, is Jesus asking us to trust him?  From his words, it seems he wants us to trust that he is both the WAY and the DESTINATION.

  Speaking with his disciples, Jesus begins admitting to them that he is leaving and preparing a place for them with the Father.  He tells them that they “know the way,” and will come after him to get there.  Thomas, thankfully, asks a clarifying question – “How will we know the way if we’ve never been there before?”

  Jesus then turns the metaphor of “way” on its head and says that they know the Way because they know him – Jesus IS the Way!  But he goes on to say that he is in the Father and the Father is in him.  Also, he says that the place that God dwells is in Christ – the new Temple.

  If we see Jesus as both destination and way, we will develop a sense of spiritual satisfaction, and continued development in our maturity as disciples.  We aren’t left hungering and craving something new all the time (new ideas about God, a new church or community to meet my needs, etc) – we already have complete “arrival” in the person of Jesus – but we don’t see the Way of Jesus as a once-and-for-all list of propositions to be defended…we are always on a journey with him – he our “trailblazer” (Heb 6:20) and we are his followers!  In following Jesus, we live in humility – realizing that we haven’t “arrived” yet – we are still “the Wandering People of God,” hoping and longing for the complete rest waiting for us when we know and can see with our own eyes the answers to all our questions.

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  Mark 7:09 pm on December 2, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Diversity, glenn beck, Kenny-G, matthew raley, seth godin (5)   

  The Diversity Culture 

  Stop for just a moment and think.  Clear your mind and take a breath.  Consider your worldview – your perspectives, points of view, political leanings, religious beliefs…the very lens through which you see your world.  Now, think carefully – who is the person that represents the most complete opposite end of the spectrum?  Generally, humans reserve trust and friendship with people they believe are most like them – and tend to demonize and stereotype those most different from them.

  For many in America today, conservative Christians and the liberal secularists are on opposite ends of the spectrum.  One tends to hang out on Sunday mornings, the other on Saturday nights.  One votes for the Democrat, the other votes for the Republican.   The worst evil for one is social deviance, whereas the other shuns bigotry.  One is urban, one is suburban.  One wears suits, the other has dreadlocks.    One is PC one is Mac.  You get the picture.

  Both live in worlds in which the other has no place.  Both exist in tight bubbles that exclude others.  In these secluded tribes, they can lob ideological grenades at other tribes and receive comfort from their peers.  All the while the chasm between people and Truth grows wider.

  I had never heard of Matthew Raley when I picked up The Diversity Culture: Creating Conversations of Faith with Buddhist Baristas, Agnostic Students, Aging Hippies, Political Activists, and Everyone in Between. He speaks to this reality of ideological tribalism with humility and truth.  He draws on the story of Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the well, [youversion]John 4:1-26[/youversion], as a prime example of how Jesus engaged the “other” not as a propped-up caricature, but as a unique individual.  Samaritans and Jews distrusted each other politically, religiously, and even the other tribe’s very right to exist. Sounds familiar even today, doesn’t it?

  Jesus sat down next to the well, and began to cross barriers – claiming that mistakes had been made in both Jewish and Samaritan tribes in the identity of the other – both groups had inherited from their tribesmen lies about the other group.  When she showed signs that she was willing to take people (and life) case by case (rather than broad brushing stereotypes) he was able to work with her – and introduce her to the Living Water.

  But herein lies the rub – do people make life-changing decisions about faith and worldview as a group, or as individuals?  Raley says its about “crowbar-ing people away from their groupthink” (whether Christian or secular or whatever) and asking them to think critically about what they personally believe to be true.  It is at this point that I think I differ from Raley.

  I agree that to really help someone think critically about an issue, sometimes you have to remove their normal filters and lenses their culture gives them and let them try their best to think for themselves.  Other times there’s just not enough will-power in the person to do that, and if done properly, “salvation can come to the whole household,” as it does all over Acts.  Sometimes people come to Christ as individuals, extricated from their culture (Ethiopian eunuch, Samaritan woman at the well), and sometimes its through their community (Philippian jailer’s family, Cornelius’ household, etc.).

  He admits that most people in the “Diversity Culture” as he coins it, grow up with a “street postmodernism” – and are not really sure why they hold such pluralistic views – they know perfectly well that right and wrong exist, but “what they don’t necessarily know is how to integrate unchanging principles into lives that are full of change.” (Raley, 50) Christians too believe things without knowing exactly why – and they still are distrustful of those with different views.  What ends up happening is a world full of people who hate each other for reasons they can’t explain.  Back to stereotypes.

  Remember that archetypal person who you distrust the most, and put an actual face on them – someone you know at work, etc.  Find their uniqueness – something that shatters the stereotype you have of them.  Maybe its a hipster who listens to Kenny-G, or a liberal who secretly watches reruns of Glenn Beck.  You might just find yourself like the Samaritan woman at the well did, face to face with a the most important relationship of your life that you never saw coming.

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  Mark, Sean Landolt, Guy Muse and one other person are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Agent B 12:27 am on December 5, 2009 Permalink

    I don’t think any real human listens to Kenny G

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    Guy Muse 11:35 am on December 6, 2009 Permalink

    A lot to chew on in this post. For me it is a good way to define who the “Samaritans” are amongst us. Often we can identify our Jerusalem, Judea, and have a good idea about who the “ends of the earth” are, but few of us can clearly put a face to the Samaritans in our midst.

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    Sean Landolt 6:48 pm on December 12, 2009 Permalink

    This is a good post and I’m interested in where you find the resources and what drew you to them. Why does inter-religious conversation catch your eye?

    Up in Canada I’m finding that people are very closed off from any religious conversation. Its not even a deeply personal issue its just a social taboo to talk about it. You can’t open up about it until you have developed a close friendship where you are each sharing your opinions openly. This is terribly frustrating becuase it means I have to put a lot into a person before I find out where they stand with God (on a side note though this does force you to learn how to love poeple for you they are rather than trying to change them). I’m doing a little looking around for inter-religious conversation, but I haven’t found anything yet. I think the culture up here in general is more interested in moving up in social status than in spirituality. This is probably why the culture has been seperated from Christianity sence the sixties. Once Christianity no longer held social statues people quite going to church. But I’m pritty new to the area, and people are like unions up here. Thanks for the post you got me thinkin’. And seriously how are you finding these books?

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    Mark 7:15 pm on December 12, 2009 Permalink

    Yo Sean! I’m with the Ooze Viral Bloggers, an online Magazine that does among other things book reviews. They send me a free book as long as I do a review of it (good or bad).

    Hey – ya otta check out Meetup.com – its a great way to link up with people in your area. Each time a new “spirituality” meetup group starts in my neighborhood, Meetup.com sends me an email notifying me of it. Pretty cool! Some groups are wacko, others are legit. That’s how we linked up with these guys – a great resource.

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  Mark 2:36 pm on October 30, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: coffee   

  A Very Pagan Thursday 

  I just came home from a meeting of about 6 Christians and 6 Pagans came together to discuss their spirituality.

  Of course any such meeting is considered significant because it brings together two groups that have historically hated each other and even killed each other. Both groups have such baggage and distrust from the mainstream culture that much of group found themselves clarifying their individual uniqueness to the stereotypes presented by culture. I think that’s a healthy thing – our brains cannot handle total awareness of the particularity of each and every person we meet, so we make generalizations. Those generalizations become stereotypes which we many times use to manipulate people we’ve never met or know and turn them into stock characters of their true selves. This evening we were able to pull back some of the misconceptions of our faith and try to present it from a personal, on-the-ground perspective.

  Several in the Pagan crew were quick to say that there is many styles and types of Paganism, much like there is denominations of Christianity. As I listened further, they said that the things that tie all the branches together are: eco-spiritualism, (a worship/reverence of the earth and the physical), a practice of magic (projection of self-will either inward or outward through practices), and reincarnation (though the finer points of this are debated among different groups).

  Diving deeper, I continued to hear that the goal of Paganism was to get in touch with the divine self, and to allow that self to readdress the truth that, “all is one.” Several talked about worshiping a pantheon, and gave several examples. Others mentioned séances and “past life regression” (contacting the dead). One person in the group asked how reincarnation and past life regression could coincide in the same worldview, which is a question some Pagans wrestle with too.

  I mentioned what I saw was the biggest difference between what I knew of Paganism and my experience with Christianity. It seemed that the goal of Paganism was to center on the self, where as the aim of Christianity was to become aware of your centeredness on God.

  All throughout the night, I was humbled by the openness of the group – and their willingness to listen. I know that the first time an interfaith group meets, its usually “hugs and hummus,” with no one stepping on the other person’s toes. This had some of that – and the ever-present “all religions are the same” that I’ve grown increasingly frustrated with lately (it disrespects the uniqueness and contributions of each religion in favor of a melting pot of mush.) But it also had some soul-bearing, meaning people were willing to admit the weaknesses of their faith perspective, which I found very productive to getting at raw conversation and the deeper meaning beneath just throwing theological grenades at each other.

  For instance, I admitted that most of my life I had lived as if this world didn’t matter, because God was going to destroy it and take me to heaven. I could trash it and abuse God’s Creation anyway I pleased. Recently I’ve been made aware of the Kingdom of God being near me – and the “new heavens and new earth” Jesus speaking about being “already” but at the same time “not yet” here. When I see that God created the earth and called it very good, and when I see God confuse those at Babel for turning the earth into something they can claim for themselves, I am reminded – not to worship the earth but – to treat the earth as if it were holy. It is a sacred trust – a gift – and more than that. God is all throughout the earth, and to destroy the earth is to defame God himself. While I certainly do not find my Creator AS the Creation, I definitely see the Creator IN Creation.

  This reverence for the tangible world was something I respected greatly in the Pagan participants. I have much to learn from them in this.

  We chatted about the origins of terms – “Pagan” for instance, means “country folk” and “practitioner of the old ways,” whereas we suggested that the disciples of Jesus were practicing the teachings of Christ well before they considered themselves anything but Jews.

  I noticed a need for some to ask what “sort” of Christian we were – those that came all had a very hands-off approach to adding much more after their faith besides “a follower of Jesus Christ.” It certainly makes the conversation aim the right direction.

  Also surprising was that both groups referenced the Emperor Constantine as a major turning point in the world’s history. Up until 346AD, Rome had been pagan, with the Emperor as a god that was to be worshiped. There were different theories from the Pagans on why Constantine converted than I had ever heard before (his desire to “get right with God” was one of them), but I had always thought that Constantine saw a growing movement of Christianity in his armies, and in his cities, and needed to “convert” in order to co-opt the wave of potentially ex-patriots of Lord Cesar to the Lord Christ. It other words – his conversion was political – big surprise.

  I’ll end on this – one guy who wasn’t necessarily Pagan or Christian brought up the idea of the mystical being the core of our longing for spirituality, and ritual/religion becoming what we set up as a result of that original mystical experience. I see this certainly in the Christian faith – you have a burning bush moment, and you expect to watch it repeat itself week after week – but it just won’t happen. I believe that many religions of this world focus on the “tingly feeling” of a mystical experience. But Christianity is more than just “feel good” experiences. It is about adoption – into a new family. That feels good for sure – and the communion you share with God is ecstatic and overwhelming. Many Western Christians could learn from their Eastern brothers in this.

  I look forward to more meetings with our Pagan friends – it is encouraging that so many from the Underground were present for the meeting too; I’m so thankful and excited for the open hearts and the capacity for rigorous dialogue in our group. I hope we can display what Christ looks like in a way that loves those so different from us.

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