Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

First Crack: Note from Solitary Confinement -- from Chris Hoke and Neaners

As a coffee roaster with Zach and the guys in the Underground Coffee Project, I've had to study the process of transformation all roasters know intimately: how a hard, small and flavorless coffee bean becomes something larger, edible, and  extremely aromatic. This art of transformation, which amounts to the application of heat among other beans, helps the hard bean's hidden character to emerge, becoming a tender grain that, when broken, wakes sleepy people up and fuels a day. For a long time, the beans roll around and stay green in the roaster, no matter how high you crank the flames. 

But something eventually happens called "the first crack." You hear it. The beans, like hard hearts, break inside. It is not gradual, but sudden. The hard internal cells can't endure the heat, and the beans suddenly snap inside and jump to a larger size. The thin layer of chaff, its original protection, falls off. Intense heat does this. No matter how much you hammer a green bean, this "first crack" will never happen. You'll just dent or crush both the bean and the hammer. It's only intense, care-full heat.

Bos and Forest's 'For the Peace from Above' - Review by Ron Dart

Fr. Hildo Bos & Jim Forest (eds.), For the Peace from Above : An Orthodox Resource Book on War, Peace and Nationalism, 2011.

My wife asked me a couple of weeks ago when we were on a retreat in the desert a leading question. ‘If I was on a deserted Island for a few years, what three books would I want with me?’ I pondered the answer to the question for a few days. Our answers to such questions often tell us much about the state and orientation of our soul. My answer emerged after some listening: Bible, Tolstoy’s War and Peace (of the six editions, the longest and complete one) and the Adages (all 4151 of them) of Erasmus. What do all three books have in common? All deal with both the subtle inner and outer dimensions of war and peace. The Bible constantly returns to the war-peace motif, Tolstoy’s War and Peace is the finest novel ever written on the theme, and Erasmus is, probably, one of the most important Christian theologians of peace within the Christian Tradition. So, it was with much delight and anticipation that I received and read For the Peace from Above: An Orthodox Resource Book on War, Peace and Nationalism.

Rhythm (Redo) - Brian Zahnd

Rhythm (Redo) Posted: 21 Nov 2011 01:14 PM PST I’ve been thinking about Advent today. It starts Sunday, you know. (For those of us at Word of Life it really starts Friday night with our Thanksgiving Communion Service and Christmas Tree Lighting.) Anyway, alert reader Gerald Lewis reminded me of this four and half year old post and it seems apropos. So with a few alterations, here is Rhythm (Redo). RHYTHM Life is full of rhythm. The daily rhythm of sunrise and sunset. The seasonal rhythm of winter, spring, summer, fall. The lunar rhythm seen in the cycles of the moon. When we consider the human body we can say life is rhythm. The steady rhythm of breathing. The syncopated rhythm of the heart. The many rhythms of a healthy body. When your body is out of rhythm you are sick. If the rhythm is not restored you are dead.

Hellbound?

Intro to the Philokalia - Archbishop Lazar Puhalo and Ron Dart

A Runaway Slave: Note from Solitary Confinement - Epistle of Neaners to Chris Hoke

Friends,

This week I will keep my commentary short, because Neaners' words are longer. 

What he is doing in this letter is a beautiful example of why I first went to Washington seven years ago after college: to begin reading the Bible through new eyes. Alongside Bob Ekblad in the Skagit County Jail, who was about to publish Reading the Bible With the Damned, I found a place where I could read the scriptures alongside people on the margins of society--at a time when I was mistrustful of the churches or seminaries where I could otherwise go to learn. Neaners here is doing "contextual theology" at his finest, what we try to do in the jail. That is, not getting lost in abstract doctrinal debates and prooftexting but letting the story of scripture illuminate what God maybe is already doing in our own lives. Organic theological reflection and a robust faith often emerges...
 

A Runaway Slave

Wut up dogg? Me, just posted up here in my cell. But peep this: I just wrote something down I was thinking while reading Philemon (I don’t know how to pronounce it) in the New Testament.

Experiencing (or not) divine encounters in Paris' streets and prisons - Bob Ekblad

It’s been nearly three months now since I’ve been in direct contact with people incarcerated in a jail or prison-- the longest period in over 17 years.  While life and ministry here in Paris is rich, I miss my routine of Thursday and Sunday Bible studies in Skagit County Jail and occasional forays into foreign prisons.  I especially miss the many jailed men I’ve come to know and love, the times of discovery of very Good News of Jesus’ love for them and me, their love and friendship, and times of prayer where the Spirit seems to always move to comfort, heal, awaken hope. 

So one of the first appointments I made here in Paris was with the national director of jail/prison chaplaincy for France of the Service justice et aumônerie des prisons, Aumônier national.”  He warmly welcomed me into his office and suggested that I accompany each of the chaplains of jails and prisons around Paris as they lead Bible studies and visit.  I loved this idea, and immediately sent him a copy of my passport.  I’ve since been waiting for the call, feeling the distance grow and missing connecting with inmates.  In the meantime I’ve found myself greatly challenged by another reality that is much more complicated and too easy to ignore.

Rowan Williams' 'A Silent Action: Engagements with Thomas Merton' - Review by Ron Dart

November 18 2011

Dear Ron,
A quick word of thanks for your wonderfully generous and stirring review. I’m specifically glad that you flagged up the ecumenical character of the book as it emerged. Thanks so much.
Yours Ever
Rowan Williams
Archbishop of Canterbury     

Review of R. Williams' A Silent Action - by Ron Dart

There are books that thread together, in explicit and implicit ways, a variety of themes and ecumenical connections. There are missives that are compact in their words said and thoughts articulated that need to be read not for information but wisdom and insight. There are contemplatives, intellectuals and theologians that both challenge a dated and waning way of knowing and being and point the way to paths with forgotten yet evocative clearings-----A Silent Action: Engagements with Thomas Merton is a book of such calibre and note.

I was introduced to Thomas Merton in the 1970s and read most of his writings then. I attended Regent College on the West Coast of Canada from 1979-1981 and when there wrote more than fifteen papers on Merton’s life and writings. I have been on the national executive of the Thomas Merton Society of Canada (TMSC) for almost ten years. So, I have some interest and commitment to Merton’s significant role in the renewal of contemplative theology, an ecumenical ecclesiology and a prophetic public witness via prose and poetry. 

Blood Relations -- posted by The Caffeinated Mystic (Deb)

 

Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Christ only says what He hears the Father saying. If the letters are in red- we’re hearing the words of the Father.

It appears the people interviewed are not Christians- and they are obeying scripture.

Some christian groups here in the West, say there will be no peace until Christ returns- and argue that to speak about peace is at best- naïve. Others go further and respond harshly to any talk of peace that includes showing compassion to Palestinians. As if to say- loving Palestinians is equal to hating Israel.

That’s ‘Bully’ talk.

There is a chorus being sung against peace that is out of harmony with the ‘song’ being sung by Father. His song expresses His desire for forgiveness and reconciliation between 'enemies'.

dis·so·nant   [dis-uh-nuhnt] adjective

1. disagreeing or harsh in sound; discordant.

2. out of harmony; incongruous; at variance.

3. Music . characterized by dissonance.

Politically- the situation in the ME may appear ‘complicated’, but a strong desire for peace and the willingness to build relationships is evident- if we are willing to see.

The people desire peace. What do we desire?

• Do we believe in reconciliation? If not, why not?
• Have we been 'Bullied'?
• Is our first response to 'peace talk'- repulsion? If so, why is that?
• Are we afraid of appearing to be on the 'wrong side'?
• Are we afraid of disappointing God, by loving those whom we've been told we 'should' hate?

We need a new song. Romans 12:21 "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good"

Sacrament of Tears: Note from Solitary Confinement -- by Neaners

This week's dispatch is a small fragment of a letter from Neaners, who is incarcerated in state prison. It shows a side few lifelong gang members will expose: weakness. I once heard that the monastic Desert Fathers considered tears to be one of the most potent signs of God's presence.

 

 

 

 

 

Sacrament of Tears

I’m sippin’ on some chanate [coffee] right now. I can buy it once a week because you and the people who support the ministry got my back. Some other inmates get their commissary because they have family putting money on their books. I don’t have that kind of family. You all are my family. 

So anyway, I’m reading my Daily Bread, the little pamphlets they give out with Bible verses and reflections. I used to think the Daily Bread was for white people, but I’ve been reading it for years now. It helps me and sometimes it doesn’t. 

Check this out homie. I told you how I be tearing up on anything, unable to stop crying? I feel now that I have let down my guard and am trying to put down all my hardcore attitude and let go of hurtful emotions, I'm real f***en sensitive. Like a child, bro. A baby who you yell at and cries. I cry for everything, carnal [brother]. It's beautiful.On the TV I can sometimes watch here there’s this commercial of a chunky lil’ boy, cute as hell, in a baseball jersey with a hat a lil’ too big. No one wants to pick him for their team, or something. So another older boy pats him on his shoulder, like picking him. It’s sick [cool], bud. I tear up on it.

I was reading in the Daily Bread about when Jesus wept for his friend Lazarus, when he lost him and other people were crying. The pamphlet thing says “Our tears attract our Lord’s loving kindness and tender care.” Every time I start tearing up, I used to stop it. All my life. But now I just let it flow, like you told me months ago in a letter. Whether I just let myself choke up a lil’ or really cry. It’s beautiful, bro. Like every day now, something makes me tear up, for deeper reasons than I understand.

It's kind like in Jeremiah 9:1, where he says "Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears." I wanna read more of his story because it says in my Bible that they called him "the weeping prophet." Not like a crybaby, but he cries of all the shit going on around his gente [peopel]. That's like me now, that I'm letting my guard down. I've seen so much, and after all these years I can't stop crying. 

Submission by Neaners via Chris Hoke (of Tierra Nueva) to whom he wrote this dispatch. 

Open Letter to PM Harper - Omnibus Bill C-10 by Steve Bell

Dear Mr. Harper,

I am deeply concerned about Omnibus Bill C-10.  It is my  wife’s research (as a social-work student at Booth University College in Winnipeg) that has refocused  my attention to the bill. The more I followed her work, the more concerned I have become.

Firstly, I believe there  are some good things in the bill – let me be clear about that. But there are also some alarmingly retrogressive policies that will undoubtably be a black stain on your leadership for decades to come if passed as is. For the love of God and your fellow Canadians, please slow the process of this bill down. Break-up the omnibus to its components and consider each individually and carefully.

Honestly… in the last election I was prepared, for the first time in my life, to vote Conservative. I tend to be a bit left leaning myself, but thought that at this particular juncture perhaps a conservative economic approach trumped other concerns. Also, I live in Conservative MP  Joy Smith’s riding and have deeply appreciated her noble fight against human trafficking. But in the end I could not, by extension, sign my name to a  bill that blanketly criminalizes the ill and the desperate when other measures are proven to be cheaper, more effective and more humane.

Occupy Wall Street/Vancouver and Thomas More/Erasmus by Ron Dart

The Occupy Wall Street/Vancouver (and other cities) has garnered much media attention the last few weeks. The main concerns of the ‘Occupy’ movement have a great deal of legitimacy to them, and emerge from obvious injustices and imbalances of wealth and power. Are such issues new, though, and do they have a perennial ring about them? How have those in the past thought about such issues (that is those who saw them as issues rather than denying or justifying the problem)? Is in the street protest and advocacy politics the only and most responsible way to confront such inequities?

Thomas More was Lord Chancellor of England in the early 16^th century, and he was acutely aware of the disparities of wealth and power in his country. More had a tender and exacting conscience, and he did not flinch from asking and acting on the hard questions. More’s missive, Utopia (1516), pulls no punches nor does it flinch from probing to the core the larger justice and peace issues. More would, in many ways, have a great deal of affinity with the Occupy movement. Book I of Utopia is a must read--there is a poignant and not to be forgotten conversation between More and Raphael that is a keeper. The late 15^th and early 16^th centuries in Europe was a period of time in which many States in Europe were turning to the Americas to establish colonies. The empires were very much at work to extend their global reach.

Occupy Vancouver - by Rod Janz

A friend of mine, Jeff Imbach, was recently interviewed at the Occupy Vancouver protest. I have to admit, I am still trying to get my head around the purpose and desired outcome of this protest. Maybe I need to go down and check it out for myself like Jeff did. You will hear in the interview below that Jeff believes that part of the protest’s success has been to simply raise the general consciousness of society to the idea that corporate institutions supported by governments is an unjust situation.

According to The Huffington Post a group from Occupy Wall Street have come up with a list of demands called the 99PercentDeclaration, but even these are controversial at this point, and aren’t supported by all of the various Occupy protests happening around the world.

For the CBC Radio interview with Jeff and others, see “Occupy Vancouver“

 

Constitutional Democracies and Burst Wineskins - Brian Zahnd

The conservative evangelical political position in America is basically this: We have our Constitution -- created by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson. It is a good thing; almost inspired. It has served us well and helped make us great. We believe in Jesus Christ and his gospel. So we will elect Christians to political office so that we can be a Christian nation. We will pour the good wine of the gospel into the good wineskin of our Constitutional democracy. But it will never work. The Deist-created, Enlightenment-influenced wineskin of modern liberal democracy can never contain the powerful wine of the kingdom gospel of Jesus Christ. In the end one will ruin the other; both will ruin one another. We cannot form a modern nation-state around the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus' gospel of the kingdom. The two agendas are incompatible. Only the new wineskin of the church (as a radical alternative community) is capable of containing and communicating the powerful wine of Jesus' gospel. The agenda of the "Religious Right" (or the "Religious Left" for that matter) amounts to pouring new wine into old wineskins. I think I'm right about this. But what about leaven and dough? Somehow I think there is a subtle, but essential distinction. Yes, we exist within the wider culture as a "leavening" influence. But we are under no illusion that the political structures of this age can be a faithful expression of the kingdom of Christ. The role of leaven in the dough is to make it rise; to transform it. This is what we can do (to a limited extent) within the wider society. But the role of leaven in dough is different than wine in a wineskin. The function of a wineskin is to contain, preserve, transport and administer wine. This is something the political state can never do. Our understanding of the complicated relationship of the church to the political state should not only be informed by the parable of leaven and dough, it should also be informed by the parable of wine and wineskins. Bottom line: The constitutional democracies of modern nation-states is an inadequate wineskin for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

A Dream, The Samaritan Woman, and The Voice of God - by Eric Janzen

This past summer I had a dream. I found myself in a church service standing in the midst of a large circle of people. As I looked around the circle, I was startled to see that they were more like zombies than anything; their faces were thin and gaunt, their skin pale and wan, their eyelids half closed. I was frightened by the sight and I said,

“What’s wrong with these people?”

The Lord spoke to me in the dream and said, “They are passing away because they are not hearing my prophetic words for them. Their spirits are drying up within them.”

I was both saddened and disturbed. I knew I could not go around the circle and prophesy over every single person there. As I looked about, my eyes came to rest on a man and the Lord said “Go, prophesy over him.” So I went.

There were three or four people with me in the dream and we gathered around the man and began to prophesy over him. “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness will be added to you. You can't attain it...you can't obtain it...he will add it to you.” The man was overcome with emotion and he fell to the ground weeping. He was a youth pastor from somewhere in the United States, and as we prophesied over him concerning his ministry he physically changed before my eyes. His body filled out, the colour returned to his skin, even his hair began to grow.

Then I woke up. I looked to the bedroom ceiling and silently prayed so as not to wake my wife, “What was that Lord!?”

The 16th Century Peace Tradition: Anabaptism, Erasmus and the English Vision by Ron Dart

There is a predictable tendency when reading the 16^th century to highlight the fact that the Magisterial Reformers of the Continent (Luther and Calvin), although breaking from the Roman Catholic tradition and initiating the Protestant Reformation, were still deeply catholic. What do I mean when I say this?

The mainstream of the Protestant Reformation (Luther, Calvin and followers) held to a magisterial notion of the relationship between church and state. The state was the political arms and legs of the church, and when the state had to use violence in war or repress political or theological dissent, most of the magisterial reformers supported the state in its use of violence to do so. It is significant to note that although the Protestant Reformers held high the authority of the Bible, they were quite selective in both how the Bible was interpreted and applied. The Sermon on the Mount became a crossroads criteria that highlighted the fact some texts had greater authority than others. The Sermon on the Mount has much to say about loving enemy, being peacemakers and living a prophetic vocation.

M2/W2 and Enemy Love As Core Gospel by Wayne Northey

Our entire ministry in criminal justice is summed up in three words: Love your enemies.  Our website (www.m2w2.com) describes the one-to-one prison visitation (M2/W2), the work with high risk sex offenders (CoSA), and our Thrift Store (Hidden Treasures) as unique expressions of enemy love.  All is done under the rubric of Restorative Justice, on which page by that name you will find lots to think about.  It too turns on an ultimate vision of enemy love.

There are some things in life that one sees, and once seen, one may never look back legitimately, though wilfully one may always violate that seen...  In the 1960’s, I saw this image circulated at our church:

The story is that a picture was taken by a Chinese photographer who was considering Christianity, and who converted to it after having seen this photo developed from one he took of melting snow.  One moment, he saw dark blotches on a white page, the next moment he suddenly saw an image of Jesus jump out at him!  Can you see the face of Jesus?  Many take some time to see!  Many never do.  Once one sees however, no matter how one looks at the image, one never fails again to see Jesus.  Though one can always wilfully suppress or deny it.  One can always claim the true image of Christ is “dark blotches on white”.  Can you see Jesus?

Listen Up! conference with Brad Jersak

Join us for the upcoming Listen Up! conference with Brad Jersak

Online registrations available HERE

"Trust in the Name" (Psalm 20:7-8) - Logan Runnalls (a sermon)

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm” (Psalm 20:7-8).

There is much that is hard in this world. There are multiple stresses which we encounter. Today, many of us are wrestling with the financial crisis, with the desire to see justice and peace reign, or with far more personal struggles. In these times of stress it is vital to remember where we find our hope. This was true for Israel as well. Before battle, they were to sing Psalm 20 so that they would be grounded in an appropriate hope. Focus in on verses seven and eight and you’ll see an exhortation to live in the light of our hope. There are three lenses I use to read the Psalms: as inheritance, fulfillment, and devotion. Each one takes us into the hope of Psalm 20 from a different angle and thereby allow us to carry the hope into the full breadth of our lives.

Brian Zahnd on Merton's 'Moral Theology of the Devil'

The Moral Theology of the Devil Posted: 03 Oct 2011 09:12 PM PDT Tonight I watched part two of the Ken Burn’ film “Prohibition” on PBS—a brilliant documentary on America’s fourteen year ill-fated war on alcohol. It’s a classic study in good intentions gone wrong. It’s a penetrating look at the fallacy of thinking, “If we can just pass this or that legislation, we can produce a righteous society.” Anyway, it’s a well-done documentary about a strange time in American history. After the documentary I decided to read a random chapter from Thomas Merton’sNew Seeds of Contemplation. I chose a chapter entitled “The Moral Theology of the Devil.” It turned out to be entirely apropos for my state of mind. Here are some selections from the chapter.

"Lest we forget what?" - Not So Different - Brad Jersak and PartnersWorld.org

Not So Different from Partners Relief & Development on Vimeo.

"Lest we forget" - Brad Jersak

When I read war memorials or attend Remembrance Day services, I am often struck by the phrase, "Lest we forget." I wonder what I am to remember. I do remember my family members whose lives were sacrificed on the altar of freedom. But I also think we're meant to remember to resist evil (with good) before it comes to that. Unfortunately, while we're remembering the past, we can be prone to missing the connection between past injustices and what is happening now in nations where there is no monetary value in being involved. And we forget there are ways of helping other than through military intervention.

Steve Gumaer - Not So Different

Steve Gumaer and PartnersWorld.org help me remember, and they overcoming evil with good in their small way ... which is usually how it happens. We've posted the above video as an example of true remembering and one group's call to help.

You can read more about what Partners and the Free Burma Rangers are doing to help in many of the Partners publications or in Kissing the Leper, by Brad Jersak.

 

Thomas Talbott's, 'The Inescapable Love of God' - Review by Ron Dart

C.S. Lewis wrote his evocative missive, The Great Divorce: A Dream, in response to the universalism of one of his mentors, George Macdonald, and as a reply of sorts to William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Lewis walked the extra mile in The Great Divorce to probe the multiple nuances of human choice and freedom and how, when push comes to shove, humans can subvert and sabotage the very freedom that is held so high. There is, at core, the generous grace of God (that comes by many means) and there is human response (or lack of it) to such grace and love. What is the ultimate and final fate (if such an answer can be given ) of humans that chose to say No to Divine grace? Or, can a definitive No ever be the final word?

There are those that argue through the use of certain Biblical texts that eternal punishment and the flames of hell await those that turn their backs on God. Others hold to an annihilationist position. Many are not sure how to make sense of the trying tension of God’s persistent love and human responses to it. There are many hot button issues within the Christian exegetical, theological and philosophical tradition, but there has been a tendency to insist that those who hold to a position of universalism are either heretical or heterodox---such a position is certainly not orthodox for many. Needless to say, there are many Christians (from various traditions within the Tradition) that have held to different types of universalism. The Inescapable Love of God, by Thomas Talbott, stands within such a line and lineage. Talbott is, in many ways, one of the most literate and thoughtful universalists of our time, hence his insights and arguments need to be closely heard and heeded.

Hints and Guesses by Brian Zahnd

Hints and Guesses Posted: 30 Sep 2011 11:15 PM PDT   Hints and Guesses My favorite thought is the Incarnation. My favorite poet (after Dylan) is T.S. Eliot. Here is a snippet of T.S. Eliot poetry that touches on Incarnation. ____________________________________________ Men’s curiosity searches past and future And clings to that dimension. But to apprehend The point of intersection of the timeless With time, is an occupation for the saint— No occupation either, but something given And taken, in a lifetime’s death in love, Ardour and selflessness and self-surrender. For most of us, there is only the unattended Moment, the moment in and out of time, The distraction fit, lost in a shaft of sunlight, The wild thyme unseen, or the winter lightning Or the waterfall, or music heard so deeply That it is not heard at all, but you are the music While the music lasts. These are only hints and guesses, Hints followed by guesses; and the rest Is prayer, observance, discipline, thought and action. The hint half guessed, the gift half understood, is Incarnation. —T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets, The Dry Salvages (from stanza V) ____________________________________________ How do we grapple with the Incarnation?— Such an elusive idea. (God become human!) How do we contemplate the Incarnation?— In a way that has meaning for our lives? Hints and guesses. But mostly by prayer, observance, discipline, thought and action. Amen. BZ (The artwork is “Blue (Moby Dick)” by Jason Pollock. Suggest soundtrack is Bon Iver.)

 

Brad Jersak - "Her Gates" Nexus Interview part 1

Brad Jersak on "Her Gates Will Never Be Shut" with Peg Peters 

Peg Peters of Nexus interviews Brad Jersak (listening prayer guy) on his book, 'Her Gates Will Never Be Shut: Hope, Hell and the New Jerusalem.

Disappointment with God (John 11) - Bob Ekblad

Continuing to expect Jesus’ healing here and now is often harder than writing it off as unrealistic or something to be awaited on the other side of death.  Everywhere I travel lately I meet people and communities crippled by disappointment.  

A man in Iceland prayed for days that his sister would come back to life after a drug overdose.  A pastor of a church in the UK died of cancer in spite of massive prayer efforts.   A close friend’s Pakistani Christian friend who advocated for minorities was gunned down in Islamabad in March.  I myself have been discouraged by the slew of revenge killings in a Honduran community dear to my heart—and now by a close friend’s decline in a long prayer-bathed battle against cancer.   What disappoints do you have, small or big?

“How many of you have been disappointed by God?” I asked a group of inmates back in July.  Many were honest enough to admit frustrations at God not apparently answering prayers: their girl friends’ refusal to turn away from drug habits or the courts denials of their requests to be admitted into drug court rather than going straight to serve long prison sentences. Others were afraid to admit their disappointments—especially at a time when they really need God’s help.  Many assume that being honest with God might get you on God’s bad side. 

Charlie Chaplain and prophetic irony - Brad Jersak

The greatest speech ever made? Really? Some really inspiring rhetoric and near prophetic analysis by our dear comic. His diagnosis, poignant. His prescription? Uh ...

Also some serious delusion historically: the ultimate triumph of human progressivism? fighting for freedom that produces peace? salvation by science? triumph of the human will in the name of democracy?

Yes ... an amazing mixture of truth, but also the new mantras that continue to produce technological goose-steppers. Lampooning the mustache and uniform of Hitler was supposedly ironic, but the images are not. I don't know how much the creator of the video even realizes how much of it demonstrates how Chaplain's very advice has been central to creating the very monstrosities he sought to overcome. From supposedly disparate roots comes similar scenes of tyranny.

The Politics of Idolatry - by David Guretzki

While working my way through 2 Kings recently, I came across a recurring theme, mainly, “the sins of Jeroboam.” Repeatedly throughout 1 and 2 Kings, we find out that the kings of Israel who did evil in the sight of YHWH were often lumped together with the “sins of Jeroboam.” For example, in 2 Kings 3:3, we find out that Joram, though not as evil as his father Ahab (who, we find out, was one of the worst), nevertheless, “clung to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit.”

Or, take the case of King Jehu. Though he was obedient in killing all of Ahab’s family (2 Kings 10:17) and in destroying Baal worship in Israel (2 Kings 10:28), nevertheless “he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit” (2 Kings 10:29). (For some other places where the “sins of Jeroboam” are spoken of, see 1 Kings 16:31; 2 Kings 3:3; 10:29, 31; 13:2, 11; 14:24; 15:9, 18, 24, 28; and 17:22).

So what is this all about?

The Gift of the Desert - Ron Dart and Archbishop Lazar Puhalo

Ron Dart and Archbishop Lazar discuss the wisdom of the Desert Fathers and Mothers in the context of our present era.

Why not feminism? by Helen Dunn

Why are Christians hesitant to call themselves feminists?

I would describe myself as an egalitarian, but more and more I'm wondering, why not a feminist? These are my top three insecurities with making the label change:

1) I don't want to become the stereotype: i.e. a single woman seeking ordination, writing a masters thesis on gender (har har, oh the irony!).

2) It's already hard enough being an egalitarian in the evangelical Christian world, how would being a feminist make it any easier?

3) If I label myself a feminist, what kind of baggage will I have to spend the next decade of my life sorting through to convince myself and my peers that feminism is indeed a Christian ideal?

Perhaps assuming a label of any kind---egalitarian, complementarian, feminist---is the problem to begin with. But in a world where categories seem to necessarily order our lives, I can't help but wonder why I feel uncomfortable with a label that encapsulates so much of what has been good and transformative in my Christian journey; here, two experiences in particular come to mind:

Did 9/11 Make Us Morally 'Better'? by Miroslav Volf

Reposted from Huffington Post

When the first plane smashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center I was in the delegates' dining room of the United Nations finishing a talk at the Annual International Prayer Breakfast. My theme was reconciliation. To illustrate just what enmity can bring about, I opened and closed the talk quoting from "Death Fugue," Paul Celan's haunting poem about hellish hatred, which during World War II sent millions of Jews to their "grave in the air." Minutes after I ended, we had to evacuate the building for fear that we ourselves may find our grave in the air as so many in the Twin Towers did. Only hours later, New York was a ghost city, abandoned in a hurry by people in shock. The whole nation, wounded and humiliated, was soon gripped by fear, which gave birth to anger and determination to "kick some ass" internationally, as one of our eloquent political leaders put it. That was then, immediately after the attack. Where are we today, 10 years later?

One way to approach the question is to ask whether, as a result of the 9/11 trauma, we have become better people? "Better" measured by what standard? I am a Christian theologian and although America is not "a Christian nation," many of its citizens are Christians. So I'll use moral standards derived from the Christian faith, which are largely shared by people of other faiths or no faith at all. Have we become better people? Some of us and in some regards have, and others of us and in other regards have not.

Jesus was angry by Fr. Michael Gillis

"And when He [Jesus] had looked around at them in anger..." (Mark 3:5).

Jesus certainly was angry; but what did He experience in His anger?  Did Jesus experience what I experience when I am angry?

The Fathers of the Church teach us that there are two basic "natural passions" (sinless passions or feelings) that might be called desire and irritation.  These two natural passions are corrupted by sin to become lust in all of its many forms and anger in all of its forms.  Most of the time when we speak of anger, we are referring to an experience that is laced with, if not completely consumed by, sin.  

When the Bible speaks of Jesus being angry, we must keep in mind that Jesus is sinless.  Jesus experienced all that is natural for a human being, yet without sin.  Jesus experienced both desire and irritation, what the Bible normally calls anger and sometimes wrath.  However, the "anger" that Jesus experienced was completely free of sin: it was a passionless anger.  By "passionless" I do not mean that Jesus did not feel it emotionally.  What I mean is that the feeling was not touched by sin and it did not control, push or knock Him off balance.  What Jesus experienced was nothing like anger as we generally experience it.  

That Preacher of Peace by Brian Zahnd

by BRIAN ZAHND on SEPTEMBER 12, 2011

That Preacher of Peace
by Brian Zahnd

In his bizarre and surrealistic novel, The Master and Margarita, the critically acclaimed 20th century Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov creates a fascinating conversation between the Roman governor Pontius Pilate and the Galilean preacher Yeshua. When asked about his views on government, Bulgakov’s Yeshua says, “All power is a form of violence over people.” Yeshua goes on to contrast the governments of power and violence with the peaceable kingdom of truth and justice. In response Pontius Pilate rages, “There never has been, nor yet shall be a greater or more perfect government in this world than the rule of the emperor Tiberius!” When Pilate asks Yeshua if he believes this kingdom of truth will come, Yeshua answers with conviction, “It will.” Of course, Pilate cannot and will not stand for this.

“It will never come!” Pilate suddenly shouted in a voice so terrible that Yeshua staggered back. Many years ago in the Valley of the Virgins Pilate had shouted in that same voice to his horsemen: “Cut them down! Cut them down!”…And again he raised his parade-ground voice, barking out the words so that they would be heard in the garden: “Criminal! Criminal! Criminal!”…“Do you imagine, you miserable creature, that a Roman Procurator could release a man who has said what you have said to me?…I don’t believe in your ideas!”

9/11 and Brueggemann's 'Disruptive Grace' -- Joe Beach

Well, I got through 9/11...   I preached on Eph. 1:10 (as scheduled) about God's Wonderful Plan to reconcile all things in heaven and on earth under Christ...

I tried to somehow tie this to "remembering well" - with insights from Miroslav Volf.

But what I should have done is prophesy. 

What I should have said was what Brueggemann would have said:

We are situated, as prophets most often are, in a national security state that imagines itself to be autonomous and ultimate, an act of distorted imagination that puts us on a path to death...

The national security state MAKES PROMISES it cannot keep, promises of well being and safety;

The national security state invites systemic and PERVASIVE ANXIETY from which it offers no respite;

The national security state breeds efforts at a RELIGION OF CERTITUDE that is sure to be idolatrous.

Prophetic ministry is to expose such a state of mind and such an ideology of public life, to name the false PROMISES, the pervasive ANXIETY, and the ill-gotten CERTITUDE. Prophetic ministry, in the face of such lethal practice, offers a world of fidelity that is alternative to the ersatz world of security and certitude.

Against such formidable claims, prophetic ministry proceeds one text at a time - 

one oracle, one poem, one narrative, one metaphor -

that leads to VULNERABILITY and SURPRISE.

Such practice is not carping; it is not scolding; it is not confrontation.

It is, rather, a TRUTH that makes free, a HOPE that heals.

There is a desperate waiting among us for such a performance.

Amos, in justifying his venturesome vocation, did so with two statements and two rhetorical questions (Amos 3:8):

Statement: The lion has roared;

Question: Who will not fear?

Statement: The Lord God has spoken;

Question: Who can but prophesy?

From Amos to us, the question lingers and haunts, Who indeed?

Excerpted from Walter Brueggemann, Disruptive Grace (Fortress Press, 2011), 154.

 

 

Saints and Sages by Brian Zahnd

________________________________________

This morning I read an op-ed piece by a local freelance journalist entitled “Finding Their Religion”. In the column the journalist writes rather disparagingly about “organized religion,” likening it, as Nietzsche did, to “herd mentality.” The writer tells us how she vowed that her children would never be part of the religious herd. Instead, her children will be left to “find their own path” so that they might possess “beliefs they can wholly claim.”

Yes, authenticity is the order of the day.

Heaven on Earth? The future of spiritual interpretation (Regent College, Sept. 16-17)

Heaven on Earth? (click here for conference details)

Theological interpretation of Scripture is becoming a common practice, both among Catholics and evangelicals. For some, this may seem like the arrival of heaven on earth. Others, however, have critiqued the recent trend toward theological interpretation for being too theologically or heavenly minded and for not doing justice to the historical, earthly realities of which the text speaks.

What is 'spiritual interpretation?'

According to Regent scholar, Hans Boersma, "Theological reading is a reading of Scripture that goes beyond merely looking for the historical meaning of the text. This kind of reading maintains that our Christian beliefs shape the way in which we read Scripture. In the Middle Ages, this led to the notion that there were four levels of meaning: the historical, the allegorical (referring to Christ and the church), the tropological or moral (teaching us how to live), and the anagogical (referring to the eschaton).  Among Catholics, Henri de Lubac has been a pioneer of reintroducing such a 'spiritual' reading of the text, while among Protestants, Karl Barth is often regarded as recognizing the limits of historical critical exegesis and advancing more theological approaches.

Matthew 16:21-28 Lose a Self, Find a Self -- Sermon by Irene Gifford-Cole

Exodus 3:1-15, Romans 12:9-21, Matthew 16:21-28                                                           

Our Gospel reading today is extremely difficult, at least for me, and I have wrestled hard with it, especially with verses 24 to 26. What on earth does Jesus mean when he says that if we want to come after him, we will have to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him? And what does he mean when he says that whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for him (for Jesus) will find it? It might be helpful to follow along in your Bible as we explore these things.

First of all, the Greek word which is translated “life” in verse 25 is psyche, the word from which we get our English word “psychology”, meaning the study of the human soul, or personality. The word psyche in Greek can mean either the centre of the human self, that is the heart or the soul, or it can mean human life. In verse 25, psyche is translated “life”. In verse 26, however, the same word, psyche, is translated “soul”, in the NIV. “What good will it do a person if he gains the whole world yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a person give in exchange for his soul?”

Some thoughts on the Wrath of Man -- by Fr. Michael Gillis

“The wrath of God came against them, and slew the stoutest of them, and struck down the choice men of Israel” (Psalm 78:31).

“For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:20).

I think we have an anger problem.  The problem I’m talking about is not related to self control, but to understanding. Why does human wrath never produce the righteousness of God while God’s wrath seems to be ubiquitous in Scripture?  What’s the difference?  Why is God’s wrath righteous and human wrath never?

Many of the fathers of the church talk about two central feelings or urges from which all others derive. 

Thomas Merton's, The Behavior of Titans -- 50 Year Review by Ron Dart

Thomas Merton, The Behavior of Titans (New York: A New Directions Book, 1961).

St. Justin Martyr refers to Herakleitos, along with Socrates, as a “Saint” of pre-Christian paganism…the logos of Herakleitos seems to have much in common with the Tao of Lao-tse as well as with the Word of St. John.  (Thomas Merton)                             

Fools, when they do hear, are like the deaf: of them does the saying bear witness that they are absent when present. (Herakleitos)

He that is awake lights up from sleeping. (Herakleitos)     

There is a kind of self-fulfillment that fulfills nothing but your illusory self. (Br. Steindl-Rast)             

I have recently been rereading the rather informed and amusing The Way it Wasn’t: From the Files of James Laughlin (2006). Laughlin was the energy and inspiration behind A New Directions Book Press, and he published many of Thomas Merton’s books. Laughlin has a few tantalizing tidbits about Merton in The Way it Wasn’t.  It was Laughlin that published Merton’s The Behavior of Titans in 1961, and to this Perennial relevant and compact missive (50 years later) we now turn.

Jack Layton's final words (1950-2011)

"My friends, love is better than anger, hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic, and we will change the world."

—Jack Layton (1950-2011)

To read Jack Layton's entire farewell letter, click below:

Just as you are -- with Jean Vanier

Thomas Merton and Personhood -- Ron Dart & Archbishop Lazar Puhalo

They Died in Vain; Deal with it - by Ray McGovern

Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC. During his career as a CIA analyst, he prepared and briefed the President's Daily Brief and chaired National Intelligence Estimates. He is a member of the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).

August 08, 2011 "Information Clearing House" -- Many of those preaching at American church services Sunday extolled as “heroes” the 30 American and 8 Afghan troops killed Saturday west of Kabul, when a helicopter on a night mission crashed, apparently after taking fire from Taliban forces. This week, the Fawning Corporate Media (FCM) can be expected to beat a steady drumbeat of “they shall not have died in vain.”

But they did. I know it is a hard truth, but they did die in vain.

As in the past, churches across the country will keep praising the fallen troops for protecting “our way of life,” and few can demur, given the tragic circumstances.

But, sadly, such accolades are, at best, misguided — at worst, dishonest.  Most preachers do not have a clue as to what U.S. forces are doing in Afghanistan and why.  Many prefer not to think about it.  There are some who do know better, but virtually all in that category eventually opt to punt.

Should we fault the preachers as they reach for words designed to give comfort to those in their congregations mourning the deaths of so many young troops?  As hard as it might seem, I believe we can do no other than fault — and confront — them.  However well meaning their intentions, their negligence and timidity in confronting basic war issues merely help to perpetuate unnecessary killing.  It is high time to hold preachers accountable.

God is Like Jesus by Brian Zahnd

God is like Jesus.
God has always been like Jesus.
There has never been a time when God was not like Jesus.
We have not always known what God is like—
But now we do.

Consider these two foundational truths of Christian theology:

1. God is immutable. i.e. God does not change and is not subject to change.

2. God is perfectly revealed in Jesus. i.e. Jesus does notchange God, Jesus reveals God.

(see John 1:1, 14-18; 5:19-21; 7:28-29; 8:19; 10:28-30; 12:44-46; 14:7-9)

Understanding that God is immutable and that God like Jesus is essential to our understanding of salvation. We must not think that salvation comes about because Jesus placates God (thus changing God) or that God is obligated to satisfy retributive justice in order to forgive sin (thus making God subordinate to a higher justice). Salvation comes about because Jesus reveals the Father and does the Father’s work. Jesus tells us that the great work of the Father is to give life to the dead (see John 5 and 11). Thus the primary problem the Gospel addresses is not personal guilt (though this is included), but human subjugation to death. If we think judicial guilt is the primary problem of sin, instead of death (and then falsely imagine that God killed Jesus instead of sinful humanity!), we greatly misrepresent the nature of salvation and concoct a distorted gospel where Jesus is saving us from God. No! Jesus reveals the Father, does the work of the Father, and saves us from the dominion of sin and death.

The Apostle Paul tells us that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself…not reconciling himself to the world. The cross doesn’t change God (God is immutable). The cross shames the principalities and powers (exposing their claim to wisdom and justice as a naked bid for power) and changes us!

To hear my full sermon on this topic, the podcast is available here.

BZ

 

Simone Weil on 'Forgive us our debts' - trans. Brad Jersak

‘And remit us our debts, in the same way that we also have remitted our debtors.’

In the moment that we say these words, we must already have remitted all debts. This includes not only letting go of the reparation of any offences we think we have suffered; but also any recognition and gratitude for the good we think we have done. And in a completely general way, anything that we expect from people or things, everything we believe is our due, the absence of which has made us feel frustrated.

Forgiveness is letting go of every right we believe is ours in the past or in the future. First, this includes the right to a certain permanence. When we have enjoyed something for a long time, we believe it is ours, and that fate must allow us to keep enjoying it. Second, we let go of the right to compensation for all of our efforts, regardless of the nature of our effort, work, suffering or desire.

John Stott: Evangelical Abba (April 1921-July 2011) by Ron Dart

The death of John Stott will be mourned by countless Christians around the world.

(Archbishop Rowan Williams)

I was young and keen to learn much about the Christian faith in the late 1960s-early 1970s, and high on my reading list were books by F.F. Bruce, C.S. Lewis and John Stott. I appreciated Bruce’s breadth and depth, Lewis is an ocean I’m still swimming about in, and Stott had a mild and gentle approach, as an evangelical, that was quite winsome and winning. Five Evangelical Leaders (1984), by Christopher Catherwood, listed John Stott, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Francis Schaeffer, James Packer and Billy Graham as dominant leaders in the Evangelical ethos. If I had to choose one of the five as my guide, Stott would be my choice.  

Time Magazine in 2005 listed Stott as one of the hundred most influential people in the world, and the ripple effect of Stott’s life has gone in many directions. I lived with Francis/Edith Schaeffer and the L’Abri community in Switzerland from 1973-1974, and in 1974 The International Congress on World Evangelization was held in Lausanne, Switzerland. John Stott was a mature Abba for the Evangelical tribe at the large Congress. In fact, there was moderate and discerning wisdom to Stott’s leadership that charted a solid and sane path for the evangelical family. If more had rightly heeded Stott’s gentle insights, the evangelical clan would have more credibility today.

Weapons surrendered to those guided by the Bible

"We knew that we had created a new means of warfare and the question as to what nation, to what victorious nation we were willing to entrust this brainchild of ours was a moral decision more than anything else. We wanted to see the world spared another conflict such as Germany had just been through and we felt that only by surrendering such a weapon to people who are guided by the Bible could such an assurance to the world be best secured."

Wernher Von Braun, Nazi scientist

The weapons he refers to are the V-2 missiles that terrorized London during World War II.

Love Wins -- An Orthodox View by Steve Robinson

John Watson's 'Listening to Islam' -- Review by Ron Dart

John Watson, Listening to Islam with Thomas Merton, Sayyid Qutb, Kenneth Cragg and Ziauddin Sardar: Praise, Reason and Reflection (Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 2005).

 How is the post-secular pluralist west to make sense of Islam? There has been, of course, ongoing interaction between Christianity and Islam since the 7^th century of the Common Era (CE). But, in the last few decades Europe (and even more so North America) has had to deal with the increasing reality of Islam. Europe has been much more at the forefront of engaging Islam than has been North America, but since 9/11 North America has had to face the growing presence of Islam in a much more thoughtful manner.

“Evil is to be overcome by forgiveness. As likewise is violence.”
-John Milbank, Christ the Exception

Jesus gives us an alternative to violence. Forgiveness. Jesus didn’t just theorize about it, he lived it. On the cross Christ made his message credible. He lived it all the way to the end. And calls us to follow him.

I believe most of us long for it to be true. We long for the Jesus way to be the beautiful alternative to the ugly way of violence. Romanticized violence can be appealing—imagined musketeers and Hollywood shoot ‘em ups—but real violence is always ugly. In a world awash in endless cycles of violence we know it’s appalling and we wonder if the beautiful way of Christ is a viable alternative.

I'm your neighbor - anonymous

I’m your neighbor, the boy next door, the guy around the corner, the dude down the street.  From the outside, I might look unapproachable- like those guys on FOX news.  But, on the inside, I’m a lot like you.  I have fears.  I have disappointments.  I want my kids to go to good schools and do well.  I want them to grow up and be fulfilled.  I want them to be good people.  I want to please God.

And I think I have the list memorized- what to do, what not to do, but I can’t keep up.  On the outside, I try to be sure everyone knows I am religious, but on the inside I know that I’m no better than anyone else.  I bow down in prayer 5 times a day, but when I’m there, I feel so alone.  I don’t think I can’t keep this up.  I’m lost.  But I don’t see any other way.  I don’t see any other option.  If someone would just help me understand how to deal with how I feel and the struggles that I’m facing, I would listen.

The problem is, you are a 100 million miles away.  But not just geographically, religiously and culturally as well.  Everything I have been told about your religion tells me that you are completely wrong.  In fact, for me, to honor God is to be nothing like you.  And everything I see on TV from your culture is totally offensive. 

You know, I once met a man from your country.  And he gave me some religious materials, but I couldn’t read them.  And all he kept saying was I should “get saved” and be “cleansed by the blood of the lamb”, but I didn’t understand him.  In fact, he only spoke in English, so it was hard for me.  Honestly, I was hoping that he would help my family.  You see, we are really struggling financially.  My family is also suffering from the same sicknesses over and over again and we don’t even know why- we have no health care.  And my kids are not in school.  They have to work to help us.

But, if you would just reach out to me and cross some of these barriers that stand between us…then maybe we could talk about this gap I feel between God and I.  And if you would just help me understand how to bridge that gap and Who this bridge is…then, perhaps, I might walk across that bridge, as well.

-a friend of Muslims