Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

Cynic or Prophet? What’s the difference? by Brad Jersak

Cynical Prophets and Prophetic Cynics

In recent years, I’ve had the joy of pastoring many fine prophets, some highly gifted, some deeply wounded, and some with a potent combination of gifts and grief. I’ve know the sorrow of watching broken prophets decline into cynicism and the joy of walking cynics forward into their true calling as prophets. In some ways, cynics and prophets are exactly opposite; in other ways, there are virtually identical. Maybe they are the flesh and spirit manifestation of the same gift.

Three-score and Ten: Tribute to Dad by Brad Jersak

Today I asked a friend how I might best honour my father as he attains the landmark of his seventieth birthday. He wryly suggested that I compose a limerick, which should go over well in any hometown with an Irish name. I’ll spare you.

Rather, I’d like to say thanks to my dad for truly living by certain values that are counter-intuitive to the world’s standards. Every parent is called to raise and train their child as best they can, according to what seems right. Many do this quite well. Fewer have the courage to buck the systems that pressure us to conform to the prevalent rules of the game. In his subtle and subversive and perhaps subconscious ways, my dad did this for my brother and I. I think it’s worth sharing on this special occasion.

Stricken by God? Nonviolent Identification and the Victory of Christ - edited by Brad Jersak and Michael Hardin

"We considered him stricken by God. But..."

Did God pour out his wrath on his own Son to satisfy his own need for justice?
Or did God-in-Christ forgive the world even as it unleashed its wrath on him?
Was Christ's sacrifice the ultimate fulfilment of God's demand for redemptive bloodshed? Or was the cross God's great "No" to that whole system? The church is asking these questions afresh. And from every stream of Christianity, answers are coming.

Stricken by God combines twenty essays (over 500 pages) from such authors as N.T. Wright, Rowan Williams, Richard Rohr, Miroslav Volf and Marcus Borg. Other contributers include Tony Bartlett, J. Denny Weaver, Sharon Baker, James Alison and Mark Baker. Anglican, Catholic, Anabaptist, Evangelical and Orthodox writers come together to revisit the question of the atonement. Together, they share and develop perspectives of the cross with implications for restorative justice, nonviolence and redemptive suffering. The following is an excerpt from Brad Jersak's chapter, "Nonviolent Identification and the Victory of Christ":

The Word of God by Brad Jersak

Over the past few weeks, I’ve given some renewed attention to the phrase, “the Word of God.” While growing up in a conservative Baptist church on the Canadian prairies, I learned to equate the Word of God with the Christian scriptures, i.e. the Bible. One of the first songs I ever learned was: 

The B-I-B-L-E,
Yes, that’s the book for me.
I stand alone on the Word of God,
The B-I-B-L-E!

I suppose this was my introduction to sola scriptura—the belief that Scripture stands as our soul authority [contra either the Catholics with their Pope or the Charismatics with their prophecies] and that the Bible = the Word of God. By the way, did we mean “stand alone” or the “Bible alone”… either seems stinted in retrospect.

Shades: Nuancing Listening Prayer by Agora

In July, 2006, four members of Agora, a newsgroup and think-tank based in Canada engaged in a discussion around the topic of hearing God’s voice. The trigger point was an article by John Blake in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution but the focus turned quickly to “listening prayer” as described in Brad Jersak’s book, Can You Hear Me? There was a sense of simultaneous resisting and appreciating that became very productive. The four voices involved are David Miller, Brad Jersak, Sean Davidson, and Glenn Runnalls.

The Myth of Proportionality by Brad Jersak

Just War Theory: “Just War” is a idea and tradition developed by philosophers (e.g. Aristotle and Cicero) and theologians (e.g. Augustine and Hugo Grotius) in an effort to establish a platform of ethics for war and peace. “Just War theory” seeks to define ethical parameters of justice in the context of war. I.e. the justice of resorting to war (jus ad bellum), just conduct during war (jus in bellum), and justice in the peace agreements which terminate a war (jus post bellum). 

The Voice of Christ: Sweet and Salty by Brad Jersak

I was meditating on perceptions about God's voice that float around out there. To some, their experience of the prophetic message has been harsh, judgemental, and condemning. They relate strongly to wrath-of-God texts and visualize roaring, hairy prophets and flying spittle. Indeed, I’ve run into many a bleeding lamb who suffered abuse at the rod of messengers purporting to speak for God.

Others encounter a version of God's voice that seems too nice, continually evoking God’s love in syrupy forms that seem as banal as a “Precious Moments” figurine (and just as apt to sit dusty on a shelf). I received two emails this week that challenged me on that, warning me against hearing and teaching a sugar-coated version of Christ as we engage in “listening prayer.” As I’ve tried to discern the real issue in the company of some wise counsellors, what came was a balanced acknowledgement that the voice of Christ is both sweet and salty, but neither bitter nor sour (Rev. 10:10 notwithstanding).

Die With Me: Pickton, Jesus, and Me by Brita Miko

(This piece began in a newsgroup. Brad Jersak’s words are here, enfolded in mine. All italicized words are Brad’s). 

Life is not theoretical. The reality of life is lived. Hard lived moment by hard lived moment. Moments of beauty. Moments of grace. Moments of agony. Moments of terror. We are inside it and it is inside us. 

The life of Christ is a life happening in these very specific particular moments, or it is not happening at all. It doesn’t only happen in the mind, like a disembodied Word. It is incarnated again and again, born anew into every circumstance. It is for everything or it is for nothing at all. It is always true or it never was true. The lived reality is where we must know it and receive it and be it. It cannot be magical words for another world. It must be the way through in this one. Or it is no way at all. 

The life of Christ is the life I believe I want. Most of the time. But sometimes, I become scared. I get scared by what the life of Christ might mean. Now is one of those times. 

Diverging or Converging: Nuancing the Emerging Church by Brad Jersak

In response and as a follow-up to Ron Dart's article on the Emerging Church, I would like to add the perspective of someone who rubs shoulders with, and is occasionally labelled as, "emerging church." First, thanks to Ron for your excellent article on the "emerging church" movement. I'd like to respond by nuancing some of their ecclesial trajectory and the challenges they face.

As a champion of the historic church, you tend naturally to assess the emerging church as it evolves relative to the stability of the great streams of Christian faith (Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Anglican). You correctly note that much of the emerging church movement continues to be a further fragmentation in the long history of schism wrought by the sixteenth century reformers. The splintering ad nauseum is absolutely a sign and symptom of rotten concrete in the foundations (termites in the hull, no doubt). And so, to an observer such as yourself who deems the great ships of faith to be more reliable in the face of history's spiritual storms, the tiny independent churches that continue to multiply must appear very fragile and hardly sea-worthy.

Mysticeti Discernment by Brad Jersak

When it comes to discernment, we are and should be like the mysticeti. What are the mysticeti? Some sort of mystical magi? Not at all... that's just the technical name for our friends, the baleen whales. I believe that with those great baleen strainers of theirs, they have the corner on discernment and we might learn from them.