An Interesting Life

The guy in the Dos Equis commercials has nothing on Jesus. Jesus led a profoundly interesting life and helped others do the same. He broke the neck of traditional and conventional thinking at every turn, serving as a window into a reality that transcends the terribly obvious. I believe Jesus called this “the Kingdom of God”. We are invited to enter.


Most of us have been taught to picture this regal realm as a blissful afterlife, as if the life we’re living now is merely a second rate parody of the one to come. Unfortunately, this vision, one the one hand, has led to disengagement and escape from the complexities of life. On the other hand, it has led to rigidity, defensiveness, and boredom. It certainly wasn’t Jesus’ vision, as we see him over and over again in the gospel narratives fully participating in ordinary life while adding color and spice to it. One place this can be seen clearly is his encounter with a sinful woman in the house of a Pharisee. St. Luke gives us the details, which I won’t spell out here. Suffice to say that the encounter ends with a grateful woman and one blown away Pharisee. Why did Jesus have such an effect on people?

Well, it’s simple—but not easy! Jesus was visionary and led his life according to that vision. He accepted the sorrowful affections of a sinful woman and chided the rigid agendas of the highly religious. Outsiders loved him; the beltway wanted him gone. But the most fascinating thing about it all is that none of the attention, positive or negative, seemed to faze Jesus. And that’s because his life and message had nothing to do with him. Jesus did nothing for his own benefit. He came to reveal God and His Kingdom.

I sometimes wonder if we pay too much attention to the person of Jesus and not enough attention on what he revealed. We treat him more like a pet than a prophet; more like a mascot than a master. We make him head cheerleader for our private agendas. We wrap him in an American flag as a bastion of ardent nationalism. We give him praise for what he has done without consciously dwelling on what exactly he did. And honestly, what effect will it have if it isn’t somehow manifested in ordinary existence?

The Gospel of St. Matthew tells us that Jesus traveled from village to village proclaiming the good news, healing the diseased, and calming the troubled. He didn’t give them a to-do list or bog them down with platitudes and meaningless dogma. He didn’t tell them how to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. He embodied a new reality, giving it birth out of the lives of the common people.

What is needed today is for us to take a long, deep examination of Jesus’ most wonderful, interesting life and be transformed and renewed by it. We need to spend time and effort cutting through layer upon layer of dense theologies in order to catch Jesus’ vision of the marriage of heaven and earth. We may well find ourselves living in a whole new world as if for the first time.

Violence, Drama, and the Passion

I'm struck by the Gospel accounts of the Passion of the Christ.  They are very matter of fact: "Pilate had him flogged";  "they spit upon him and mocked him"; "they crucified him".  There is no screaming, no cries of agony and pain, no descriptions of how badly Jesus bled, no gore.  Except for one account while Jesus was on the way to Golgatha, there is no weeping and wailing.

I'm not saying these things didn't happen.  I'm saying they aren't recorded in the Gospels.  There is simply no drama.  Read them for yourself.  It just isn't there.

WE are the ones who add the images of profuse bleeding, the flailing flesh, the screaming, the gore, the violence, and the drama of the whole thing. We film it, produce it, act it out on stage, AND... we'll pay money to watch it. 

I wonder what that says about us??

Biblically, the real drama begins at the Resurrection: fear and trembling, running, weeping, unalloyed joy, confusion, wonder, shouting...

And yet good, churchgoing folks still want to watch Jesus put on trial, flogged, spit upon, nailed to the cross... killed and buried... over and over again, especially on Good Friday.

I'm afraid that we are too accustomed to looking AT the Passion when we should be looking THROUGH the Passion to the joy that awaits on the other side of it.  That's where the real action begins!  Shouldn't we be more excited about life than about violent death??

Early Morning Television

I was up quite early this morning and decided to turn on the TV and channel surf for a bit.  I got to the Trinity Broadcasting Network, which was airing a show called "Creation in the 21st Century".  I caught the tail end of this show, and it made my brain hurt.  To me it demonstrated once again how the Theory of Evolution is mischaracterized by some outspoken Christians under the guise of "defending Scripture".

(An aside: If you didn't already know this, I don't see a need to "defend" Scripture.  In my way of thinking, the Bible is indefensible solely because of the sheer passage of time.  We are two millennia removed from its final letter, and we live in a much different world today.  It wasn't written to give us an inside pseudo-secret knowledge to start or engage in arguments with people.  This approach is what plagues the Western Church and is leading to its demise.  The Bible was written and compiled to engender trust in Jesus the Christ.  People either trust or they don't.  I preach and proclaim the Gospel and leave it at that, and I teach and encourage others to do the same.)

If we Christians want to join in the "Creation vs. Evolution" debacle, fine!  But if we're going to build a case against Evolution,  let's make sure it's really Evolution, and not a caricature, that we're building a case against.

So, here's what the dude on the program said, "You were either created in an explosion, and no explosion in a printshop ever produced a Webster's Dictionary..."

Right, TV guy!  And it never will!!  Evolutionists are not saying that we were "created in an explosion".  What they are saying is that the atoms of elements (except hydrogen), which we find in the earth and in all sentient life, were forged in the core of a star (from carbon up to iron).  The star exploded (called a "supernova") and heavier elements were forged (such as gold and silver).  None of them are saying that there was a Big Bang and then, poof, all of sudden there were people.

Mathematical Cosmologist Brian Swimme puts what evolutionary scientists are saying like this, "Take a big ball of hydrogen gas, leave it alone for a few billion years, and you get rose bushes, giraffes, and human beings."  The printshop analogy from the TV guy turns out to be a misrepresentational parody of what evolutionary theory actually says.

If we're ever going to get anywhere in these discussions, we are going to have to stop with the parodies and false analogies.

Furthermore, the picture that was placed on the screen when the guy was talking about the "explosion" was something similar to this:

That is not an explosion.  That is a galaxy.  Here's an explosion:

Let's at least get our pictures straight, shall we??

New Design

I've been toying with new designs for a blog template and finally found one that I really like.  So if you think you're on the wrong page because you're not used to seeing my blog looking like this, relax.  You've arrived just fine.

Thanks for reading!!
Doug

Jesus and the Now

One of the things I've noticed in my own preaching is I tend to talk about Jesus in past tense.  It's an easy trap to fall into, and I'm sure I'm not the only preacher who does this.  We talk about what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross, which is a good thing to do.  But then we leave Jesus in the tomb, as if he came to do what he had to do, and that's the end of it.  But Jesus is alive, isn't he?  That's what the Scriptures claim!  So, on top of talking about what Jesus did, I'm making a conscious effort to talk about what Jesus is doing now.  Of course I talk about his sacramental presence, but are there other ways to talk about the presence of Jesus?  I think there are, which is what I'm going to explore a bit in this posting.

As I've said in a previous post, we don't always get our way.  There seems to be a dynamic at work in life that appears to be working against us, when all along it (or He) is working for us.  I think Jesus fully embodies this dynamic as it continues to work in all of reality.

When I read the Gospels, I see that Jesus is doing and saying everything he possibly can to save Israel.  Unfortunately, Israel thought their problems were coming at them from without.  In a way I can't blame them.  After centuries of conquering and being conquered, of hoping and having those hopes dashed, of endings and beginnings, they were a worn out people.  All through this time they begged God to save them, but in the way they themselves wanted.

Jesus came and acted as if to say, "You can't have it your way.  And this is a good thing."  What happens when people can't have their way?  They start "rolling out the tanks".  This pretty much describes the history of the world.  It can also be a description of our personal histories as well.  What happens when I don't get my way?  I begin to think that something is really wrong around here and I act accordingly.  I make mountains out of molehills.  I lash out, usually at myself for not seeing what is bearing down on me sooner.  "I could have prevented this," I say to myself.  That's a lie, mostly.  Much of what happens is out of  my control, but I try to fix it anyway.  And I attempt to do this my way.  I end up stopping a brick wall with my face.

For those who deny that there's no such thing as truth, there is one thing that cannot be denied: Reality rules.  Now here comes the tough part for all of us-- It's okay!  We have been conditioned to believe the opposite, but it really is true that things happen for us, not to us.  I think this is Jesus leading us, showing us the Way.  This is Jesus saying to us, "You can't have it your way.  And this is a good thing."

Jesus is master at presenting us with opportunities to transcend the everyday challenges we face.  Another way of saying this is, "Jesus shows us the Way of salvation."  This is being saved in real time-- an undeniable, unmistakable reality that confronts us every single day of our lives.  And this is true for everyone who has ever lived, is living, and will live-- whether it is believed or not.

This, I believe, is a way to talk about Jesus that is real and knowable.  Let's continue to proclaim what Jesus gives us in the Eucharist, but let's not forget to tell people that Jesus continually interacts with us through the many and various dynamic events in our lives.

Hello, Again (Part Deux)

So, I find interpretations and applied meanings of the natural sciences to be inspiring. Facts can be transformed into meaning. Consider this quote from the late Carl Sagan, "The beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it, but in the way those atoms are all arranged." The atoms of your body are arranged to make you, well, you! But notice that Sagan used the word "beauty". That is a word that elicits joy and awe from its hearers. How many scientists do you know who convert evidence into poetry? I wonder how many of these people are laughed at by their peers.

Here's another quote from Sagan that inspires me, "The cosmos is also within us; we're made of star stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself." Sagan is adding meaning to the scientific discovery that the atoms of elements on the periodic chart are forged in the core of stars and in supernovae. This includes the atoms of elements found in the Earth and in our bodies. To look up in the sky on a clear, starry night and contemplate that we are gazing at a family portrait is expansive to the human spirit. Some think about the immensity of the universe and are held in awe.

There's a reason we feel this way-- we are connected to the cosmos! To put this in Biblical terms, "Forever, O Lord, Your Word is firmly set in the heavens!" (Psalm 119:89) This is thrilling to me!!

Try this sometime: go to Starbucks and tell someone that God's Word is firmly set in the heavens. Most likely, he/she will have no idea what you are talking about (or, at best, will picture a Bible hovering somewhere in outer space) and will probably want you to leave them alone. Then tell someone that we are all connected atomically to the stars in the sky and you'll probably have a listening ear. Please don't hear me saying that it will always be this way. There will be exceptions.

So, here's my proposal: Convert the language of the natural sciences into poetry and metaphor using Biblical images and convert Biblical images into the findings of the natural sciences. It will be quite an endeavor, so I would like to leave an example to start the conversation. I think we'll find that the core doctrines of our Christian faith are more glorious and expansive that what we first thought!

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. (Psalm 23:1). Let's work with that and see what we come up with. It will not do to merely paraphrase these words into "God is my Guide, I have everything I need." Althought it's true that God is our Guide, and we have everything we need, this phraseology is too stiff and not very thoughtful either.

First we must consider what reality we are pointing to when we say, "The Lord". I would say that we are pointing to the Ultimate Reality, transcendent and immanent. There is no one and no-thing greater. All reality on every level is dependent on Ultimate Reality for its being and life. There also seems to be an emergently creative trajectory that is embedded in reality on all levels, from the quantum to the galactic and beyond.

With this understanding, let's convert the well-known Biblical phrase into something that grabs attention. Here goes:

The Ultimate Reality that confronts me every day creatively supports my being and life. I can live with complete trust in whatever comes my way.

I know, I know!! It's really wordy, and might even be completely wrong. But I'm quite confident that this could speak in our day and age. Keep in mind that this is all First Article stuff, and we're just dealing with the tip of a huge iceberg!

My next entry will deal with Jesus (or, Jesus dealing with my next entry!).

"Many's the man grounded by greed, leaning on power and land. Show me the one lost in the stars; show me a principled man!"-- Steve Taylor, Christian Lyricist and Musician, from his song A Principled Man

Hello, Again

It's been awhile since my last entry, and there have been way too many earthquakes going on-- literally and metaphorically. Haiti, Japan, Chile, and Taiwan experienced great shifts of techtonic plates that left them shaken, dazed, and confused. The tremendous loss of life saddens me profoundly. If I had my way, these things would not happen at all. But life demonstrates over and over that my will is secondary at best. Probably less. No, definitely and infinitely less!

This point serves as the segue into what's been happening in my heart and mind-- great shifts of soul that has rearranged the deck chairs of my understandings of God, theology, Jesus, the Bible, etc. It all stems from growing increasingly weary of being a religious "believer". By that word, I mean being someone who subscribes to certain patterns of religious thought without any empirical evidence upon which to base it all. I want to have faith-- faith that is beyond belief and soars into the realm of deep trust. A faith that is beyond intellectualism and emotionalism, but at the same time embraces both of those.

The very fact that I don't get my way most of the time (and I suspect you don't either), and confronted by the vagaries of life on a daily basis (and I suspect you are also) leads me to believe (or know) that there's something else going on in the dynamics of life that surpasses knowledge. For example: The Sun, Earth's source of heat and light, doesn't get it's way either. It burns 4 million tons of itself every second so that life on Earth can continue. I'm quite positive that, if the Sun could talk, it would tell us that it's just way too hot around here. Of course, I could be completely wrong. Maybe it's the Sun's nature to fuse hydrogen into helium and it's just enjoying its time being the Sun, biding it's time until it burns itself out and goes supernova. Either way, it's making a big sacrifice for us Earthlings.

Maybe it's just my nature to not always have my way, but I doubt it. I fight it every step of the way and it comes out as anxiety, headaches, IBS (Google it), depression, listlessness, fatigue, and other anomalies that only serve to compound the problem. It would most likely serve me best to surrender to "the way of it all", whether I like it or not.

So, what's God doing through all of this? Perhaps God is "the way of it all" (or "the WAY of it all") that drags me down to the depths and occasionally lifts me up to the heights, and in between times coasts me along through life on autopilot. If that's the case, then the One we call God may not be personal as we understand that word. God could be way beyond personal, or transpersonal. Many of our images of God, in my estimation, are silly and trivial (The Bearded Grandfather in the Sky, The Flying Spaghetti Monster, The Giant Amorphous Blob).

In the first two chapters of the book of Genesis we are given very different pictures of God. Genesis 1 portrays God calling all things into existence by speaking from a distance and proclaiming all things to be "good" and "very good". In Genesis 2, God is portrayed creating man and woman, getting His hands dirty. A distant God and a God very near, so near as to be shaping the very fabric of life.

Modern evolutionary science is giving us a very different picture (or is it?). Rather than rehash the old and tired "Creation vs. Evolution" brouhaha, perhaps we people of faith ought to give evolutionists a fair shake and not be so apoplectic when a discovery seems to contradict the Scriptural record. It might be an awakening exercise for us religious people to review how the Church reacted to the findings of Copernicus and Galileo. For the record, and speaking for myself, I find evolutionary discoveries to be intriguing and in many cases even poetic. There is much yet to be discovered, but quite a treasure trove that has been discovered.

And this is where my upset occurs: I sense a beckoning call beyond trivial and literalistic interpretations of Genesis. It seems to me something much more profound is going on in the opening chapters of Genesis than merely, "See?! It says six days!" Is that all we get from our readings of this? Talking to many literalists, it sure looks that way. Many pastors teaching adult instruction courses use this chapter of Genesis to talk exclusively about instant and miraculous creation. Arguments ensue, and the adult instruction class becomes a cauldron of heated discussion and positioning.

At the same time, I'm pulled in another direction: I don't want to "upset the applecart", as it were. I don't want to cut against the grain of my upbringing in Lutheran schools and training as a pastor. I'm afraid of being misunderstood by peers who hear me saying something that I'm not saying. I'm scared to death of one day being brought in front of some theological tribunal and stripped of ministry. Which begs the question, "What kind of atmosphere have we created for serious theological inquiry?"

More later.

Earthquakes and Such

Earthquakes are not caused by 200-year-old pacts made with the devil. For those who actually believe that such pacts cause natural catastrophes, I would kindly request that you keep your superstitions to yourself.

This is what causes earthquakes.

Please direct any funds or donations you might be giving to The 700 Club (this link mentions NOTHING about the earthquake in Haiti) or the Christian Broadcasting Network (this link, btw, has a pretty lame press release about comments made yesterday) over to Earthquake relief for Haiti.

Here's one place you can donate. (Scroll down on the page and click the "Donate Now" button.)

And don't forget to pray for the people of Haiti in their time of deep distress and turmoil, and for the relief workers for the difficult tasks that lie before them.

Also, join with me in waiting for Pat Robertson's apology. Again.

Potato Cross

A Cross in a Potato? Big deal. Yesterday my family and I had pulled pork on hamburger buns for dinner, and the wrinkles on the crown of my son's hamburger bun spelled the word "Hi". It was very distinguishable, and... such a cordial little bun taking the time to greet my son like that!

We aren't going to sell it on eBay because my son ate the sandwich.

The funniest part of the cross in the potato being sold on eBay is that someone will actually buy it! Tool.

And we wonder why Christianity is in trouble here in the Western Hemisphere. TBN doesn't help much either. (Had to get a cheap shot in there somewhere).

Jesus, or anything having to do with Jesus, is one of America's favorite consumer items and theatrical props. We jus' loves our celebrities, don't we?