tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87797523122755064032024-03-18T21:41:36.346-07:00Into the Dark With GodAn exploration of theology, the arts, popular culture, grace, beauty, incarnation, justice, and imagination.Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-46223306563305463052022-05-31T18:06:00.005-07:002022-05-31T18:12:43.888-07:00In the Light: The Aesthetic in 1 John and why it Matters<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghC8xV4VwQODp8hFLwOR02ya1w3BAl908pfCHHEPeeO4eEoFqXcnVWqIgc-L_eoZw27lapfRNdmV6Sha2mHSVRHGjEuf6lR1BnJl4hhi2Ybmi9UFYZ9dWHdohZszSRUKdg4Lf5zrp0gtxWCRYAgq-3n9Q29QugBnq7Tca_ScfCX_yunSThlvIU-61O/s1280/Light_Pillars_and_Diamond_Dust_in_London_Ontario_Canada.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="854" data-original-width="1280" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghC8xV4VwQODp8hFLwOR02ya1w3BAl908pfCHHEPeeO4eEoFqXcnVWqIgc-L_eoZw27lapfRNdmV6Sha2mHSVRHGjEuf6lR1BnJl4hhi2Ybmi9UFYZ9dWHdohZszSRUKdg4Lf5zrp0gtxWCRYAgq-3n9Q29QugBnq7Tca_ScfCX_yunSThlvIU-61O/w522-h350/Light_Pillars_and_Diamond_Dust_in_London_Ontario_Canada.jpg" width="522" /></a></div><p></p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span>That which was from the
beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have
looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of
life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to
you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We
proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have
fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son,
Jesus Christ. – 1 John 1:1-3</span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span> </span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span>The church I attend is completing a study of the book of 1
John. As the first several verses of scripture were read at the start of the
study, I immediately noticed something I had never seen before: the concern
with the aesthetic rooted in the opening of 1 John. John starts his epistle
with an emphasis on, “that which we have seen with our eyes, which we have
looked at and our hands have touched.” He goes on to note soon after, “We
proclaim to you what we have seen and heard.” As we continued the study, this
emphasis on the aesthetic continued and expanded. Now that we are about to
finish, I decided that I had to take some time to begin to sketch out some
observations and throw it out there to see if other folks see it, or if they
see my observations as a scriptural distortion. </span>I want to argue
that I perceive John laying the theological groundwork for the fundamental
importance of the aesthetic in both Christian theological discourse and in Christian
devotional practice, experience, and expression. However, before I dive into
why I perceive this fundamental importance of the aesthetic in 1 John, I suppose
I should take some time to highlight the manner in which I am employing the
word aesthetic here. </span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
difficulty in conversing about the aesthetic is that it carries in it a wide
range of meanings. American Catholic theologian Richard Veladesau does a good
job of parsing out the semantic range of the word aesthetic. He notes that the
aesthetic can be understood as the practice of art, or theory about art. It can
refer to symbol, feeling, beauty, taste, and imagination. It could also refer
to a philosophy of beauty, the experience of sensible perception, or the active
appreciation of beauty. Thus writing and speaking about the aesthetic can at
times be a challenge; partially because even when focusing on one aspect of the
aesthetic, one can tend to dip toes into its other meanings. At any rate, in
relation to 1 John, I am employing the notion of the aesthetic specifically in
terms of sensible perception and the experience of sensible perception. John, it
seems to me, is particularly attentive to the senses of his readers. He is
attentive both to the materiality of the reader, who is making use of their
senses, and he is attentive to the materiality of the object sensed. </span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
materiality seems to be of particular importance to John, because it is also
embedded as a theme in his Gospel. It raises the question as to why. Why would
materiality be of such importance to John? Authors often have a conversation partner
in mind when they write. So who is on the other end of John’s conversation
here? To answer that question we will have to offer a little context. While
there exists significant disagreement among scholars, many believe the text of
1 John was written late in the 1<sup>st</sup> century and that it was written
to counter Gnostic tendencies that had arisen with in the church broadly, but had
perhaps also emerged specifically in the church at Ephesus, where John served
as an elder in his later years. Stated simply Gnostics believed, among other things,
that spirit represented the supreme reality and that matter was fundamentally
flawed, for complex reasons that I will not do justice to here. Thus, they
emphasized the importance of spiritual knowledge and believed that the material
world was created to deceive and distract humanity from a truth that was
fundamentally non-material and could not be expressed materially. Therefore,
John’s emphasis on the material is an effort to critique and correct the
presence of these extra-biblical Gnostic commitments present in the Christian
practices and doctrine at the time of his writing. (I must note that my
intention here is not to create a straw man of Gnosticism in my brevity. I
simply intend to highlight why John might be motivated to include such a strong
emphasis on materiality and the senses in his epistle.) At any rate, let me
highlight a few examples from the text of the epistle in order to chat through
them (though the emphasis is embedded in John’s argument throughout the book) </span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’m going
to start in 1 John chapter 2:7,8. John writes, “Dear friends, I am not writing
you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This
old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command;
its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true
light is already shining” (NIV). Here, I want to note that even here as John
speaks of the true light shining that he is speaking of truth that is available
to the senses; that in this case can be seen. The word translated as shines
here is the Greek word φαίνω (phaino). It literally means to bring to light, or
cause to appear. It refers literally to the appearance of a person or a thing.
Here the true light is made visible. This meaning bears out as we have
incorporated its root into various English words. For example, this Greek word
is the root of the English word phenomenon (which is something visible and
presented to the eye for observation) and epiphany (the appearance or
manifestation of something).I take note of it here because the new command that
is given is rooted in the presence and the embodiment of Jesus. John says the
truth is seen in him. The light is already shining. It is visible and available
to the senses. And its truth is also seen in you and in me. We participate in
shining the light that Jesus shone. Our actions make love visible the same way
Jesus made it visible, because love is fundamentally aesthetic. It must be
visible and available to the senses. That’s its nature. That is how love
operates. Love must eventually reveal itself through our actions. John goes on
in the verses that immediately follow to describe the particulars of how this
love (and its lack) appears when it is enacted by Christian bodies. </span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span>In verses 9 and 10 John writes, “Anyone who claims to be in
the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who
loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them
to make them stumble.” I want to note here that, particularly in light of what
I just argued regarding the nature of love, the Christian who loves their
brother or sister lives in the light. They are embedded in and participating in
the light John said was already shining through Christ and subsequently through
us. In the context of John’s concern for our obedience, John seems to be
suggesting that a significant portion of enacting our obedience to God is
accomplished when we love our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are enacting
our love for God through our acts of love and service for one another. Think
about it, how are we to love God as God has loved us? How do we love God as
being we cannot see? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By loving one
another. In fact John goes on to write in chapter 4 verse 20 that, “For whoever
does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God,
whom they have not seen.” Loving brothers and sisters in Christ specifically
and people broadly appears for John to be fundamental to our enactment of our
love for God.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span>Let’s take a look at an example of this acted out. In his gospel,
John writes, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you,
so you must love one another” (John 13:34 NIV). Immediately preceding the declaration
of that commandment Jesus washed the disciples’ feet in the upper room on the
night before his crucifixion. In vs. 12-14 of John 13 Jesus says to them, “When
he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his
place. ‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ he asked them. ‘You call
me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I,
your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one
another’s feet.’ Jesus acted out his love with his body as an example of the
love and service that he expected from his disciples all the way down to us. If
we ever find ourselves asking questions like, well, how are we to love one
another? What does that look like? The answer comes back, serving each other
like this. How do I love? Treat each other as Jesus did when he washed his disciples’
feet. Jesus made God’s love for humanity particular and visible; enacting that
love through a simple act of service. Jesus’ love was aesthetic.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span>Now God’s love for us goes far beyond washing our feet.
Jesus is the full enactment of the new commandment. Jesus left intimate
fellowship with the Father to enter into a sin-afflicted world as a servant. He
was obedient in love to the Father, offering the grace of God to all, serving
and loving all, person by person. He was obedient in love even to his death on
the cross. All expressions of God’s love for us manifested and made present for
us through Jesus’ body. I argue that for John to “live in the light” is to make
the beauty and light of God’s love visible through our acts and through our
bodies. </span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span>The flip side of that coin however is the notion that
anyone who hates his or her brother is still in darkness. To draw this out, I want
to spend some time talking about darkness and hate in that order. Historically
speaking, Christian theology has generally held that darkness is not a thing in
and of itself. It does not have a presence or mass. It is simply the absence of
light. Interestingly in the both the Old and New Testaments, darkness is
probably the most uniformly negative word that exists. It is used to picture
ignorance, folly, the mind unilluminated by divine revelation, falsehood, and
actions that represent the all that light is not. Now if darkness represents an
absence of light, then it also represents the absence of the priorities and the
effect of God’s presence. </span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span>John writes that, “Anyone who claims to be in the light but
hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.” To harbor or enact hatred
for a brother and sister, for John is to engage in acts that proclaim and
spread the absence of light; that proclaim and spread the absence of God’s
priorities and the life giving effect of God’s presence. For John anyone who
hates a brother and sister is in the darkness because their actions hide the
goodness, truth and beauty of God’s love and make present that which Jesus came
to redeem us from. </span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span>Parallel to that, I would argue that this pervading of
darkness through our actions is not limited to hate as we understand it. In
English, hate is a very strong word. We typically reserve it for the greatest
expression of animosity we can think of. I would argue that limited meaning of
hate is not what John intends when he wrote this. The Greek word for hate here
is μισέω (miseo).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it does mean “to
hate” in Greek; however, depending on how it is used, it can carry other shades
of meaning as well, particularly in extra-biblical Greek literature. It can
carry in it the notion of to detest, but also to love less, or esteem less. However
it can instantiate even finer gradations – to slight (or throw shade), to
disregard and to feel indifference. Thus, I would argue given the potential
breadth in the word μισέω, any of these expressions of animosity represent a
distortion of the light Jesus asks us to shine. If we are to shine the light of
God’s love for our brothers and sisters through our actions, with our bodies,
then even our slighting of our brothers and sisters represents a distortion of
what we are called to. Treating our brothers and sisters in Christ with hate;
whether we detest them or simply think less of them finds us enacting a
caricature of Jesus and smudging and skewing the beauty, truth and goodness of
God. To hate a brother and sister not only finds us acting in darkness. It also
finds us spreading that darkness; and even worse, we often represent that
darkness as if it were the light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For John,
hate is as aesthetic as love. </span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span>Let us briefly look at one other passage in I John in an
attempt to further my argument. We will spend some time with 1 John 3:12-18.
Here John writes, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="margin-bottom: 5.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span>Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil
one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own
actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my
brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from
death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in
death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no
murderer has eternal life residing in him.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span>This is how we know what love
is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for
our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother
or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that
person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions
and in truth (NIV).</span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span> </span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span>John starts here by writing about Cain and contrasting Cain
with Abel. Note that the contrast John draws here is not between good and evil,
but between evil and righteousness. This comparison between evil and righteous
is not rooted in abstraction the way “good and evil” can be. It is
fundamentally rooted in Cain and Abel’s actions. Cain is evil because he acts
evilly; he murders his brother. Abel is righteous because he acts rightly and
justly. Important here is the recognition that the Greek word we translate as
righteousness, δίκαιος, (dikaios) carries in it notions of both rightness and
justice. To be righteous, and this extends from the Jewish tradition, is to act
rightly and justly. Take note, one’s rightness and justice is associated with
one’s actions. I want to suggest that some approaches to popular Protestant
theology can obscure our understanding of righteousness at times. This is
because we often understand righteousness as something that is attributed to us
as a result of our faith in Christ. We believe that when we place our faith in
Christ that the Father looks at us and instead of seeing our sin and
unrighteousness, or unjust and wrong actions, God instead sees Christ’s righteousness.
We are told that righteous is not something we can be or enact. We are warned
against works righteousness (people trying their best to try to be good enough
for God) because we cannot be good enough for God, again because of our sin and
our unrighteousness. What we often miss in our working out of the meaning of
the profound grace of God is that the righteousness that is attributed to us
exists because of the right and just actions of Jesus. Righteousness can be
attributed to us because of Jesus’ actions. This is because righteousness and
justice must fundamentally be understood as actions. Righteousness is a
description of the manner in which one acts. We understand God as righteous
because God’s actions are good, upright and just. In fact, because this is the
manner in which God consistently acts, we understand God to be the measure of
all that is righteous, all that is good, upright and just. Therefore, because
righteousness is an action, and must therefore be performed with the body, and
available to the senses of others, righteousness is also fundamentally aesthetic.
</span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span>Also of note, the Greek word that we translate as evil,
πονηρός, (poneros) has its root in the Greek word πόνος (ponos), which
translates to pain, anguish, or suffering. The understanding here is that pain,
anguish and suffering are the result of evil acts. Evil is an action as
righteousness is. It is an action that that instead of embodying the rightness
and justice of God as righteousness does instead represents acts that result in
pain, anguish and suffering. Evil here is also an action performed by the body,
available to the senses, thus evil is as aesthetic as righteousness. </span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span class="greek">John uses this contrast between righteousness and evil as a
springboard to highlight his expectations of Jesus’ followers. </span><span class="text">John writes in vs. 15, “Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a
murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.” John’s
appeal to Cain’s story culminates in his juxtaposition of hate and murder. So
how do we follow this line between hate and murder that John has drawn? Well we
have to first acknowledge that John is not the only one to have drawn this
line. Matthew records Jesus in 5:21, 22 as saying, “You have heard that it was
said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will
be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother
or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or
sister, ‘Raca,’(an Aramaic term of contempt) is answerable to the court. And
anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell” (NIV). So
John is only echoing what Jesus had taught before him. John however frames it a
bit differently. So why should we not be hating or mistreating our brothers and
sisters in Christ in particular (though I would argue that these principles
extend to all of humanity)? I argue that hate doesn’t recognize the dignity of
the one being hated as one who has also been made in the image of God and also
beloved of God. To do so treats that person as something other than fully
human. To do so de-humanizes them. 20th Century Dutch Reformed theologian Hans
Rookmaaker argued that the reason Jesus came to Earth; that the heart of Jesus’
mission was to make us fully human; that sin itself de-humanizes us and steals
our dignity as those made in the image of God. If that’s the case, that Jesus
came to make us fully human, then a hateful disposition toward someone made in
the image of God (note the aesthetics of that term by the way) works expressly
against the work of Christ because it de-humanizes the one we hate. Now that is
what hate is and its effect. However, to understand John’s argument I think we
also have to talk about how hate operates.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span class="woj">We have to note that while John frames hate and love in stark and
highly contrasted terms, hate itself is far more nuanced and slippery. Hate can
be individual. It can be rooted in a grudge or a personal slight or because
someone took too much food at the pot luck, or they play their music too
loudly. We can hate someone because of how they laugh or how they talk or how
they breathe. Hate can also be communal. We can hate as a group. Instead of me
hating that person, we hate those people. Whoever the collective “we” are can
hate liberals, or conservatives, or undocumented immigrants or Muslims, or
those who are crude and vulgar, or Latinos, or the Italians, or the Irish. We
can hate Trump voters or Biden voters. American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr
noted that we are more likely to hate as a group than as individuals because as
a group hate becomes socially acceptable among the others in the group. Important
to my argument is the recognition that each of these expressions of hate, as
expressions of evil, are fundamentally aesthetic, and the influence they exert
is also aesthetic. As such, the influence hate exerts is not fundamentally
rational, but rather represents an influence of our affections. </span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span class="woj">I argue this is why John tells us we have to be careful because all
of this hate, both individual or communal, is the doorway to violence and
murder. It is not necessarily a quick journey between hate and violence and
murder, but it does represent the participation in a journey that leads us
toward a destination that is away from Christ. We may never partake in acts of
violence ourselves, or ever murder someone, but to even engage in thoughts,
words and rhetoric that even looks down on or slights other individuals or
groups, we are heading toward a destination that takes us away from the
righteous ends we were designed for. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hate allows us to morally disengage from our
actions because we are no longer measuring them by Christ’s actions. Hate
dilutes our empathy for those whom God loves. For John, as a follower of
Christ, there are no brothers and sisters in Christ we are allowed to hate, and
I would suggest that that would extend to all. There is no “them” we as
Christians are allowed to hate. Every member of “them” is a person loved by
God. We, as Christ followers, should not be hating, detesting, looking down on
or slighting anyone; and we know this because of the aesthetic counter example
that John provides us. </span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span class="woj">Just as John employs Cain’s story to provide a narrative example of
his exhortation to his readers to not hate, he goes on to employ Jesus’ story
in order to offer a definition of love in a narrative form. In vs. 16 he
writes, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for
us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” </span>John
is arguing that the manner in which we, as followers of Christ, ought to live,
ought to be imitating the example of love and grace enacted by Jesus. For John,
Jesus’ love for us also carries with it a set of ethical oughts. His love represents
actions that we as his disciples ought to imitate. I would argue that this is
part of what John has in mind when he opens his argument in chapter 3 writing,
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called
children of God!” This love ought to affect the manner in which we live, and
ought be something that we share with one another and with the world around us
through our actions. The expectation is that we imitate the aesthetic nature of
God’s love revealed through the body and actions or Christ with our own bodies
and actions. </span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>John
offers a practical example of what this type of love looks like when it is
lived out. He writes in vs. 17, “If anyone has material possessions and sees a
brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be
in that person?” John here offers us a lesson in Christian economics, or
perhaps better, Christian monetary policy. John give us a lesson in value and
worth. The NIV translation does a good job translating John’s meaning here, but
we miss a little something in the translation. Without getting into the
details, the Greek reads literally, “Whoever might now have the goods of the
world,” instead of material possessions, and that is significant, because John
has already shared his thoughts on the value of the things of the world in
chapter 2. There is a notion that certain types of wealth and material goods
belong to this world and will pass with it. John notes that if we have these goods
of the world/material possessions, that are of value and are useful, and we do
not use them in service of our brothers and sisters in Christ in particular,
then we misunderstand and misrepresent God’s economics so to speak. We see here
in John’s example, and in Jesus’ actions, that God values the material things
of the world that will pass with this world in terms of the people made in
God’s image. Our culture encourages us and forms us to do the exact opposite,
to value people in terms of money and material goods. In God’s economics,
people are always more valuable than money and material goods; in fact they
ought to be the measure of the value of those goods. Johns is arguing that if
laying down one’s life is the standard of love we are being asked to imitate,
then laying down our stuff in service of God’s love is an act that asks far
less of us. Here John offers a basic lesson on the proper valuation of
materiality, recognizing the material’s fundamental value as the creation of
God and as that which we have made of creation (culture), but valuing that
materiality in terms of the materially embodied and enacted love of Christ. </span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span class="woj">John ends this section exhorting, “Dear children, let us not love
with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”; perhaps, in order to draw
out what John is saying here, actions that are consistent with the truth of
God’s love revealed through Jesus. Let us love with actions and enacting that truth.
Love must be seen because love is aesthetic and properly values the materiality
of the world in light of the incarnation.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span class="woj">This is just a brief engagement with some thoughts that stand out to
me regarding the aesthetic in I John. I see the presence of the aesthetic as a
presence throughout the entire book, particularly in John’s emphasis on the
importance of the physical aspects of the incarnation, which I did not even
address in my brief bit of wrestling. Take a read for yourself and note how
often John appeals to the sight of his reader (his multiple references to
light, the incarnation and the visible, tangible enactment of love). I would be
interested in hearing what you see. I also promised that I would share why I
believe this is important. Why does the presence of the aesthetic in I John
matter? What does it have to do with my own faith and discipleship? </span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span class="woj">I would first suggest that this matters because it counters many
popular particularly Protestant theological and devotional commitments that
devalue the materiality of the world. A significant number of Protestants would
argue that the unseen and the spiritual represent the highest reality. We can
see this in Christian axioms such as “I’m just passing through, heaven is my
home,” and in songs such as “I’ll Fly Away”: </span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>Some glad morning when this life is over<br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span>I'll fly away</span><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span>To a home on God's celestial shore</span><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span>I'll fly away</span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span>I'll fly away, oh, Glory</span><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span>I'll fly away</span><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span>When I die, Hallelujah, by and by</span><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span>I'll fly away</span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span class="woj">And
while John and the other New Testament writers (and Old Testament writers for
that matter) testify to the presence of an unseen reality in which God operates
beyond the perception of our senses, John wants us to note that the incarnation
has changed the calculus on what is and is not available to the senses. In Christ,
God is available to our senses and simultaneously reveals the extent to which
God values the materiality of the world and the people God created. The
aesthetic matters; the materiality of the world matters because it instantiates
the medium through which God chose to reveal the truth of God’s love and grace
to God’s beloved (us) made in God’s image. This means our actions in the world
matter to God. We may be passing through (though there’s an interesting set of
conversations to be had relating to that proposition), but we are not JUST
passing through. We are to be embodying and enacting the love, grace, justice
and mercy of God in the world that God has made, and in the culture that we
have made of that creation. John lays that responsibility on our shoulders (and
our hands and feet and mouth), not as a grudging concession to our materiality,
but as a participation in God’s mission and purposes in the world. The aesthetic
matters because Jesus’ life and teaching reveals that things like love and
righteousness must fundamentally be enacted with our bodies in order for them
to be truly seen and perceived. The aesthetic matters because it matters to
God. </span></span></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span class="woj"> </span></span></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><span class="woj">Photo credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pillar#/media/File:Light_Pillars_and_Diamond_Dust_in_London_Ontario_Canada.jpg by Ray Majoran <br /></span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span>
</span></span></span><p><span style="color: #fff2cc;"><span><span><br /> </span></span></span></p>Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-61099752999518065252021-09-29T05:04:00.006-07:002021-09-29T05:53:16.730-07:00Everybody Is Trying to Steal Your Heart: Billboards, Aesthetics, and Formation <p> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
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</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXaw7Fk-kFCKkxeH2FKbEj79WR-goOtgZ9GMPFHD2LPWp_JQX2wtkuQFH52ORkGAXopvNRRI_7jqVhs3sKggWkVxIkZHyMd4Lmge_4jWbDDZa-FPC9NkIAGYRMLCVrEAD_-airk557474/s528/E_A_HMvXEAAGoUT+%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="528" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXaw7Fk-kFCKkxeH2FKbEj79WR-goOtgZ9GMPFHD2LPWp_JQX2wtkuQFH52ORkGAXopvNRRI_7jqVhs3sKggWkVxIkZHyMd4Lmge_4jWbDDZa-FPC9NkIAGYRMLCVrEAD_-airk557474/w369-h281/E_A_HMvXEAAGoUT+%25282%2529.jpg" width="369" /></a></div>This billboard in Fort Oglethorpe,
Georgia, just south of Chattanooga, Tennessee, was installed and subsequently
removed in the last few weeks. The first time I saw an image of the sign, it
provoked a strong response in me. I noted my response to the sign because it
was mix of unsettled and disturbed on the one hand and mournful and resigned on
the other. Earlier this summer, I had preached a sermon on Paul’s visit to
Athens in Acts 17. I imagined for a moment that I experienced, in some small
way, a distress similar to Paul’s as he approached and entered Athens. I
thought that this billboard was obviously and self-evidently blasphemous,
sacrilegious and heretical (that was the unsettled and disturbed part of my
response); but then it occurred to me that this billboard was likely paid for
and erected by someone who would identify themselves as a Christian (that was
the mournful and resigned part of my response). And given the ascendancy of
Christian Nationalism in the American Church broadly, and within American
Evangelicalism specifically, I had to wonder to myself whether this billboard
represented a rogue outlier within America’s embodiment of Christianity, or the
vanguard of the shape of the church to come. <br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">I wondered this, because I never
dreamed I would see the day that any portion of the American Church would
attribute scriptures dedicated to the description of the Messiah as also
descriptive of an American political leader. I wondered because I am firmly
convinced that aesthetics matter and have shaped the church, as it exists,
worships and practices now, and will continue to form the church moving
forward. I wondered because I believe that signs like this contribute to that
formation. I wondered because this billboard represents an instantiation of the
theological commitments and imaginations of a segment of the Church in the
United States, a segment that through the installation of this billboard is
seeking to form the theological commitments and imaginations of others using an
aesthetic means of persuasion. I wondered because this is the aesthetic
employed toward something like evangelistic or apologetic ends. It is a public
invitation toward a certain mode of perception; to see and perceive the world
in the same way as those that created the image on the billboard. I wondered
because it is also the assertion that those who do not perceive the world
similarly perceive the world incorrectly. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> I also wondered this because this
billboard is not the first of its kind. As an example, a billboard akin to the
one above was erected outside of St. Louis in November of 2018. It featured a
photo of Donald Trump speaking. In the top right were the words “Make the
Gospel Great Again” to the left of an image of the American flag with a cross
behind it. In large letters across the bottom of the image were the words “‘The
Word became flesh…’ –John 1:14.” This of course also seems blasphemous,
sacrilegious and heretical on its face to me. So in the face of these extreme
aesthetic texts, and myriad less extreme ones, I am ultimately left wondering,
what am I, and what are we to make of brothers and sisters in Christ who would
post such things on the roadside of America’s byways? </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> I believe the best answers to these
questions such as these are aesthetic. By that I mean that the best answers to
these questions are not rooted in rational processes of decision making, but
are more fundamentally rooted in what visual culture scholar David Morgan calls
the, “sensuous, imagined, embodied experience of meaning…”<a href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a> In
other words, a person or group does not spontaneously decide to erect one of
these signs. That work is the result of a process that has shaped their perceptions,
loves and affections through their practices, habits and communities. You go
through the trouble of paying for and erecting a sign such as this because you
love something so much, that you feel compelled to share it with the world
around you. You can see a glimpse of this in in the way the group “Make the
Gospel Great Again” clarified their intended message for the their billboard
outside of St. Louis. They wrote on their Facebook page, </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"> Our billboard IS NOT equating Jesus
with President Donald Trump. Salvation comes only from a personal relationship
with Jesus Christ, not any man. But God does send his messengers to us, and
just as King David liberated the faithful in his day, President Trump is doing
this today through his protection of the unborn, defense of our land against
foreign invaders and standing up for Israel. He surrounds himself with
champions for Christian Rights –Mike Pence, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh….
how is this not the “word become flesh” for Americans?<a href="#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> Whether you agree or disagree with
their framing of the Gospel and its fundamental cultural manifestations in
America, I would argue we must recognize their love for that framing of the
Gospel and those cultural manifestations. They are expressing a perception of
the Gospel and its cultural expressions that is as clear to them as the nose on
their face. It is these perceptions of the cultural outflows of the Gospel that
shape their perception of Trump’s political undertakings as an expression of “the
word become flesh,” and it is the same perceptions that inspired them to post
that message on a billboard for all St. Louis to see. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> If our perception is formed over
time by our affections and the practices, ideas and people that we love, then
we must recognize that our perception is not rational. The way we perceive the world
has been and is being shape by these loves and affections. They represent the sieve
through which we filter, understand and interpret the world around us. Our
loves and affections filter the words we hear, the cultural, political,
religious and institutional expressions we see, and the emotions we feel and
makes meaning out of them. To be sure, we bring our rationality to bear on
these loves and affections, and we are by no means solely irrational creatures;
however, we are also not solely rational creatures either, and are as, if not
more, shaped by these aesthetic processes as we are shaped by rational ones. It
is because of this that I believe that we must be consistently mindful of the aesthetic
forces working to shape our loves and affections and ultimately our perceptions
toward the preferred ends of creators of the texts that embody those forces. This
is particularly true of Christians as we endeavor to bring our loves and
affections in line with the love, grace, justice and mercy of God, particularly
as they are articulated and embodied in Jesus Christ. Furthermore, I would also
argue, in the shadow of these billboards, that our vigilance of the aesthetic
processes forming us should not be let down inside the walls of the Church. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> Church is designed to form us
through aesthetic processes. This is a part of what worship and liturgies do. Author
David Foster Wallace provides a pithy account of the manner in which worship
forms us. He writes, </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;">There is no such thing as not
worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And
an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of god or spiritual type thing to
worship... is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If
you worship money and things - if they are where you tap real meaning in life -
then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough...Worship your own
body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time
and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant
you. On one level, we all know this stuff already - it's been codified in
myths, proverbs, cliches, bromides, epigrams, parables: the skeleton of every
great story. The trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness.
Worship power - you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more
power over others to keep fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as
smart - you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being
found out.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;">The insidious thing about these forms
of worship is not that they're evil or sinful; it is that they are unconscious.
They are default settings. They're the kind of worship you just gradually slip
into, day after day, getting more selective about what you see and how you
measure value without being fully aware that that's what you're doing.<a href="#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> When we consistently participate in
the local church as a community of faith, we are engaging in a process of
formation where we are ideally formed through the ministry of the Holy Spirt by
the scriptures and the worship and the teaching and the fellowship toward
Kingdom ends. We are formed to embody and enact the love, grace, justice and
mercy of God in and for the world that God loves. I say ideally, because we can
be, and perhaps are often malformed by the same processes because a church is
also a community of sinners who are in the process of being conformed to the
image of Christ. I would argue that the erection of these billboards represents
an aesthetic expression of a particular set of malformations. These are loves,
affections and perceptions formed and reinforced through worship, teaching and
fellowship; through the repeated liturgical practices and habits repeated week
after week. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> When I was a teenager growing up in
the church, I was taught to be suspicious of the culture in which we were embedded.
I was taught not to listen to secular music, or go to the wrong types of
movies, or watch the wrong types of television shows. In short I was taught to
regulate my consumption of the media. We were taught axiomatically, “Garbage
in, Garbage out.” While I recognize that, particularly as Christians, the tenor
of our interactions with the broader culture is far more complex and nuanced
than expressed in that axiom, it at least describes the aesthetic nature of
those interactions. I would also argue that it applies not only to the culture
outside of the church but inside of the church as well (though we must also
recognize that the imagined wall between the two is far more permeable than
many might be comfortable with). In both instances, we must come to recognize
the aesthetic efforts underway to claim our loves and affections. We must come
to recognize that, in the words of the Canadian Indie band Fast Romantics, “Everybody
Is Trying to Steal Your Heart.” </p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a> David
Morgan, “Protestant Visual Piety and the Aesthetics of American Mass Culture,”
in <i>Mediating <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Religion</i>, ed.
Jolyon Mitchell and Sophia Marriage, (London: T&T Clark, 2003), 107.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a> Alexis
Zotos, “‘Make the Gospel Great Again’: Large Billboard of Trump Removed in
North County,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">KMOV.com</i>, 11/9/18,
Accessed 9/21/21, <a href="https://www.kmov.com/news/make-the-gospel-great-again-large-billboard-of-trump-removed-in-north-county/article_538f78d0-e0a9-11e8-b68e-4735053c1e10.html">https://www.kmov.com/news/make-the-gospel-great-again-large-billboard-of-trump-removed-in-north-county/article_538f78d0-e0a9-11e8-b68e-4735053c1e10.html</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a> David
Foster Wallace, “Plain Old Untrendy Troubles and Emotions,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Guardian</i>, September 20, 2008, 2,
referenced in James K.A. Smith, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Imagining
the Kingdom: How Worship Works</i>, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013),
22. </p>
</div>
</div>
Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-37715907841775260512021-02-05T08:30:00.004-08:002021-02-09T06:32:23.735-08:00Every Nation, Tribe and Language: Mike Pompeo, Multiculturalism and the Project of Redemption<p> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="page number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true" QFormat="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
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</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwVv3apRWd6LbFU-aPQDyB6mEh3yKjqm4Ihmu6z07FUgLlHsTK5ZzeXNDlq5R0MnWYp1VxwFdDHTBeIoKzkjZU8CYJ8ZqvBtgSIXRuusMle4FjizHPu39rJorpxU9u0UOWJ5gKpoegL5o/s618/multitude.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="416" data-original-width="618" height="337" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwVv3apRWd6LbFU-aPQDyB6mEh3yKjqm4Ihmu6z07FUgLlHsTK5ZzeXNDlq5R0MnWYp1VxwFdDHTBeIoKzkjZU8CYJ8ZqvBtgSIXRuusMle4FjizHPu39rJorpxU9u0UOWJ5gKpoegL5o/w502-h337/multitude.jpg" width="502" /></a></div> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span>In his final week as Secretary of
State of the United States, Mike Pompeo posted a tweet declaring that, among
other things, multiculturalism is not who the United States of America was. Now
I understand that multiculturalism can be something of a cipher (as is much of
our contemporary cultural and political discourse) however, at bottom
multiculturalism denotes the presence of, or support for the presence of,
several distinct cultural or ethnic groups within a society.<a href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a> I
would suggest Pompeo was referring to the latter, the cultural support for
several distinct cultural or ethnic groups within the United States, and was
suggesting that cultural and political support did not represent what he
understood to be America’s identity. To be fair, we don’t know precisely what
he meant because of the fundamental brevity of tweets. In any case, I argue
that marginalizing multiculturalism as an expression of a political philosophy
of governing is wrong-headed and misguided, and I ardently disagree with Mr.
Pompeo; however that opinion is not the reason for this post. The reason for
this post is to express why I disagree with Mr. Pompeo’s position. I
particularly want to explore the theological roots of my disagreement. I find
this particularly important to articulate because I am concerned that Mr.
Pompeo’s position may also be influenced by his theology, which I believe must
be contested and critiqued by his fellow Christians. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span>
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Why do I
believe his position is a reflection of his theology? Mr. Pompeo has connected
his official governmental responsibilities and his Christian faith on many
occasions. For example, in a speech as Secretary of State addressing the
American Association of Christian Counselors in Nashville, Pompeo noted, “I
want to use my time today to think about what it means to be a Christian
leader, a Christian leader in three areas. First is disposition. How is it that
one carries oneself in the world? The second is dialogue, talking. How is it
that we engage with others around the world? And third is decisions, decisions
that we make.”<a href="#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a> As a
Christian who fundamentally coupled his governmental responsibilities with his
faith, it seems Mr. Pompeo may be voicing an underlying theological commitment
that is expressing itself in his decision making. Since Mr. Pompeo does not
express those theological commitments in his tweet, I will not attempt to parse
them here. What I do want to do here, is briefly articulate my understanding of
the theological relationship between the Christian, ethnicity and culture, and
how I believe that theology diverges from the cultural and political vision
cast by Mr. Pompeo.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span>
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I recently preached
a sermon on Acts 11:1-18. Interestingly, this blog (in a first for me) almost ends
up serving as an addendum to that sermon. I want to start with this passage and
the passage that preceded it in Acts 10 as a diving in point. I want to argue
that multiculturalism represents a fundamental Christian value that must shape
the Christian’s disposition toward both the cultures in which they are embedded,
and the cultures that they experience as foreign and unfamiliar to them. In
Acts 10 Peter is directed by God to eat foods that the Hebrew Law had declared
unclean, an act that was so anathema to Peter that he had to be directed to
partake three times before he even began to consider the request. In the meantime,
God had given a vision to, as the text describes him, a “God-fearing” Roman
military officer named Cornelius to send for Peter, which he did. His men
arrived soon after Peter’s vision, and request that Peter come to their master’s
compound in Caesarea. Peter and six men followed them to Caesarea, where they
shared fellowship and food. In what follows Peter shares the Gospel with
Cornelius, the soldiers under his command, and his family. In the following
chapter (11) there are many in the Jerusalem church who were upset that Peter
had apparently broken the Law’s prohibitions on eating unclean foods. His defense
is something to effect of, “yes I did it, but God told me to, and here’s why.” </span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span>
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span>These chapters make clear that God,
to the surprise of Peter and his Jewish brothers and sisters, had included the
Gentiles in his project of redemption from the beginning. Part of the take away
from this passage is that <span class="text">there can be no such thing as an
ethnocentric, culture-centric, or nation-centric Christianity. The call to
faith in Christ respects no social, national, political, ethnic, or cultural
boundaries. In addition, there is no call in Acts 10 and 11, or anywhere else
in scripture, that demands that one’s ethnicity or culture must be entirely
left behind in favor of a Christian expression of ethnicity or culture. </span>When
one comes to faith in Christ he or she begins the process of
reorienting the manner in which they ascribe value to their culture and its
values. God doesn’t demand that the Jews adopt a Gentile way of life, and vice
versa. Each begins the process of becoming this third thing, inhabiting a new
identity that shares the commonality of Christ and an appreciation and even a
respect for their cultural and ethnic differences. This multi-cultural,
multi-ethnic project of redemption continues through the book of Acts and
through the rest of the New Testament. It culminates in the book of Revelation
as John records witnessing, “a great multitude that no one could count, from
every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before
the Lamb,” in chapter 7 (and earlier in chapter 5). This is the telos of the
church, and it is fundamentally multi-cultural. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span>
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span><span class="text">I would argue that
this is a part of what Jesus is expressing when he declares that “God so loved
the world that He gave His one and only son,” in John 3. If I am correct, and
this multi-ethnic, multi-cultural gathering in Revelation represents both the
church’s telos, and a value bound up in God’s affection for the world and the
people God created, then it represents something that God values now as well.
The same God that gathers all those differences in Revelation is working toward
that end now. God seems to value our nations, tribes, peoples and languages
while simultaneously transcending them. It is important to note that nations,
tribes, peoples and languages are expressions of culture, and to quote
theologian William Dyrness, culture is what humans make of creation. To be human
is to make creative use of creation, and thus to participate in and to create
culture. While God transcends those cultural differences, we must note that in
Acts 10 and 11 and in Revelation 5 and 7 God does not obliterate those
differences. God draws them into the project of redemption, to the extent that
those differences are present still at the culmination of time. </span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span>
<span class="text"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>We can have a conversation I suppose about the
presence of political expressions of multiculturalism in our political life in
America. However I am concerned that those who desire to marginalize the manifold
and parallel expressions of ethnicities and cultures in our common spaces and
in our public square may be doing so because of a misguided theology that does
the same; Or perhaps equally as troubling is allowing particular sets of
political commitments to produce malformed expressions of Christian theology. I
fear one of these scenarios may be coloring Mr. Pompeo’s assertion that
multiculturalism is not consistent with the identity of the United States. I
make no judgment other than asserting what I already have in disagreeing with
Mr. Pompeo’s brief thesis. At any rate, I pray that Mr. Pompeo’s assertion is
not who the church in the United States is.</span></span></span>
</span><div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br clear="all" />
</span><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><span style="font-family: arial;">
</span><div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a> This
definition is taken from the Oxford Dictionary </span></p>
</div><span style="font-family: arial;">
</span><div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;"><span style="font-family: arial;">
</span><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a>
Cortellessa, Eric, “‘My Walk with Christ’: Pompeo Give Contentious Speech on
Being Christian Leader,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Times of
Israel</i>, 12 October 2019, <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-secretary-of-state-delivers-contentious-speech-on-being-christian-leader/">https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-secretary-of-state-delivers-contentious-speech-on-being-christian-leader/</a></span>
</p>
</div>
</div>
<br />Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-85951351741529838802020-06-20T06:16:00.000-07:002020-06-20T06:16:31.407-07:00Law, Order and Shalom
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWVmW_fpft2-A9joJtXMLwD1SrRrn7M8dP741eiXNOvLVPn7d30Z22ZIfECgaT7Onkok4B1bQBka2suv04BIaf7BMhKbN18bQHv__BFdHY0_L_k35EbcdoOSG0jvqMMuATGufzATegjGE/s1600/Law+and+Order.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="934" data-original-width="1400" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWVmW_fpft2-A9joJtXMLwD1SrRrn7M8dP741eiXNOvLVPn7d30Z22ZIfECgaT7Onkok4B1bQBka2suv04BIaf7BMhKbN18bQHv__BFdHY0_L_k35EbcdoOSG0jvqMMuATGufzATegjGE/s400/Law+and+Order.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy EV on Unsplash.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Justice is incidental to Law and
Order – J. Edgar Hoover</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
I will make justice the measuring
line and righteousness the plumb line – Isaiah </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Law and Order has been a hot topic
of conversation recently. It has also been a consistent part of the political
conversation over the past several years as the present administration has
often touted the virtues of law and order. In addition, notions of law and
order are not just confined to questions of governance and law enforcement. Many
Christians in my life support notions of law and order as it is framed by the
current administration, and even understand their support of it to be in direct
relation to their Christian faith. Thus law and order has embedded in it
something that Christians (and folks of other faiths) understand to be
compatible with the tenets and practice of their faith. As I am interested in
Christian theology, I want to try to ever so briefly tackle this overlap
between law and order and the Christian faith and ask the question whether
there exists some compatibility between the two. Should Christians support and
advocate for law and order? I want to be up front and note that I will be
arguing that I believe Christians should embrace notions of law and order,
however they should not be embracing, condoning or advocating for any notion of
law and order that is not firmly rooted in the Hebrew concept of shalom. I
argue this because as I understand it, shalom represents the notion of law and
order as it is framed by God in the Old and New Testaments. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
In order to make my case for this I
am going to have to lay out what I mean by shalom. I think theologian Cornelius
Platinga has articulated my favorite definition of shalom. He describes shalom
as, “The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice,
fulfillment, and delight... In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing,
wholeness and delight – a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are
satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that
inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the
creatures in whom he delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought
to be.” To demonstrate this, let me provide a few examples of how the Hebrew
word shalom is employed in the Old Testatment. I want to acknowledge first
however that I have very little utility in ancient Hebrew, and I am far from a
Hebrew scholar. However, I believe this is an important scriptural concept to
grasp in our current cultural and political environment, so I will do my best in
spite of my limitations. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Shalom of course is generally
translated as the word “peace” in the English language, however it is far more
than that. In scripture, shalom is framed often as a gift from God (see Isaiah 66.12
and Jeremiah 33.6-8, I Kings 2.33, Psalm 29.11). It is identified as the fruit
of righteousness or justice (see Isaiah 32.16-20). Shalom, of course is
associated with the absence of conflict (see Deuteronomy 20.10), but it is also
the presence of justice and even material prosperity (see Psalm 72.1-7). In
fact shalom is consistently associated with notions of righteousness
(rightness) and justice (see Psalm 85.10-13), which are consistently and strongly
associated with one another in the Old Testament. In fact there are times where
the notions of righteousness and justice are interchangeable. In addition, Isaiah
9 frames the coming Messiah as one who establishes this type of just and
righteous flourishing (see Isiah 9.6,7)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
So if we were to make a collage of
these scriptural passages we would have an image of a type of thriving and
prosperity, gifted by God, that results from the establishment of just and
righteous practices, and perhaps even institutions that administer those
practices and that justice. I argue that you see just this type of
establishment in the practices associated with provision for widows, orphans,
foreigners and the poor articulated in the books of the Hebrew Law (See Exodus
22.21,22, Leviticus 23.22, Deuteronomy 10. 18-19). Carrying this forward to the
New Testament, we see the Apostle Paul describing the notion of the Kingdom of
God to include just these characterizations as well. He writes in Romans 14.17
that, “the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and
peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The Kingdom of God here includes the
establishment of justice and shalom (righteousness and peace). This is
important because this means that the Kingdom of God and notions of peace are
not relegated to one’s internalized experience of God, but, because of the
inclusion of notions of justice and shalom, embody active practices necessary
to make the Kingdom and thus make shalom a visible, material reality. So what
does all this have to do with law and order? I am glad you asked. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
If as Platinga articulates it,
humans are fundamentally created to be webbed together with their Creator, each
other and the creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight, then this image should
be the plumb line against which Christians shape their understanding both of
order and the laws established to govern that order. Those laws and the
practices of enforcement associated with those laws should promote rightness
and justice. In the book of Deuteronomy (16.18ff) God instructs Israel through
Moses to, <span class="text">“appoint judges and officials throughout your
tribes…and they shall render just decisions for the people.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Hebrew here literally reads, “that they
shall judge the people with just/righteous judgements.” Moses goes on, “You
must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept
bribes, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those
who are in the right. Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that you
may live and occupy the land that the </span><span class="small-caps"><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span></span><span class="text"> your God is
giving you.” This justice is to be measured against the priorities of the God
who values every created person, and who ascribes particular value to those on the social
margins of human cultures because humans do a poor job of appropriately valuing them. In the case of Hebrew culture those on the social margins were the </span>widows,
the orphans, the foreigners (the ethnic and cultural other), women and the poor.
Because of the human tendency to abuse these classes of their brothers and
sisters for the benefit of both themselves as individuals and for their group,
family or nation, God institutionalizes their protection in the form of the
law. In doing so God articulates and institutionalizes God’s priorities which, I
argue, are rooted in justice, love, grace and mercy. If as Christians we are to
embrace law and order, I argue the law and order we embrace must enact and
institutionalize these same principles and reflect our valuation of the people
on the margins in the same way God values them.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
The founder and long time director
of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover is credited with saying that, “Justice is incidental
to Law and Order.” In other words, justice is to be measured by order, not the
other way around. Here, order is the sole evidence that justice has been
enacted under the law. I argue that this construct is the exact opposite of the
notion of justice articulated in scripture. I am afraid that Hoover's description
of justice, law and order describes the notions of law and order as they are
articulated by this administration. I am even more concerned by my perception
that many Christians may reflexively go along with these sentiments. I am
concerned because these sentiments miss the Divine heart at the center of justice,
and the miss the Divine measure of justice as something rooted in the very
character of God. They miss the justice, fulfillment, flourishing and delight
for which humans have been created. They miss the Divine concern for the
flourishing of those on the social and economic margins, and they miss the
Divine concern for righteous justice, mercy, grace and love. So yes, Christians
should support law and order, so long as it is this law and order that in the
words of the prophet Micah does justice, loves kindness and walks humbly with
God. Christians should be holding every other iteration of law and order up to
this standard, and insisting law and order reflect these priorities. Christians
should be dissatisfied with anything other than shalom. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
</div>
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<![endif]-->Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-82961027174619339302012-10-01T13:54:00.000-07:002012-10-01T13:56:01.472-07:00The Undiscovered Country<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigAyLv9UbEZJrDa1wmyTisLs74glGbrv0KDDNKem1SZ5MGJUIO5d6gR9yHuWN93fr0w0hyphenhyphenV2NuhD3fLXu3qpoKka03iLD8DsTb1605KcNBWTzV7_NxvFIvpmM9y5bXH5s2W79bEpcJ7Kk/s1600/faith.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigAyLv9UbEZJrDa1wmyTisLs74glGbrv0KDDNKem1SZ5MGJUIO5d6gR9yHuWN93fr0w0hyphenhyphenV2NuhD3fLXu3qpoKka03iLD8DsTb1605KcNBWTzV7_NxvFIvpmM9y5bXH5s2W79bEpcJ7Kk/s400/faith.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I know I haven’t blogged in awhile, but I have a good
excuse… at least I think it’s a good excuse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ve moved across the country to Pasadena,
CA in order to study Theology and
Culture at the Center for Advanced Theological Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I figured it would be good to share why
I’ve made this huge move with the lot of you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So here goes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As long as I can remember, I’ve always harbored an interest
in the reality that exists beyond the edge of our senses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a child this manifested itself as an
interest in “mysteries” such as Bigfoot, Aliens, and the Loch Ness
Monster.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, I was so interested in
studying these and other unexplained “phenomena” that I told my grandparents at
age 8 that I wanted to be a “phenomenal scientist”; though at the time I didn’t
understand why they chuckled when I shared this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Truth be told, that fascination with mystery
has never left me, and has been near the core of my spiritual life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over time my interest in these phenomena
waned, though I still have soft spot for a good Bigfoot story. My interest in
mystery, however, has remained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In my teens I was confronted by and came to trust the
mystery of God’s love bound up in the person and story of Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember the joy of newness and discovery,
and the growing sense that the God revealed by Jesus represented a vast unknown
country waiting to be explored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s
a sense in which that exploration is an apt metaphor for the manner in which I
relate to God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m continually rounding
the next bend on the road, hoping to learn something new, while constantly
trying to integrate each new insight into my schema and actions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Through all of these developments in my spiritual life, my
second first love was music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would
spend hours locked away in my room listening to vinyl.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted badly to play music, but had a hard
time learning to play instruments, and was later disappointed to learn that I
could not sing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did however possess
rhythm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, holed up in my room,
listening to my records, I taught my self to play the drums.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This ability to play music, as it turned out,
became another avenue to encounter God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Up to that point, my connection with music had been largely emotional,
but as I learned to play I seemed to stumble upon moments of what I can only
describe as transcendence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I played
with other musicians, I experienced moments when the thin veil that separates
the seen from the unseen seemed to become diaphanous, and what followed could
be as varied as moments of insight to pure joy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I came to realize that creative endeavors such as music, novels, film,
and visual art were as necessary as reason in my exploration of the Divine
mystery. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This leads to the question of what to do with this keen
interest in the intersection then of theology and the arts. This naturally
leads into the notion of vocation. It seems the exploration of this
intersection is something that suits me and I it, which lead me down this path
toward doctoral studies.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I believe that my natural curiosity is part of my vocation,
and that my drive to learn the manner in which my predecessors and
contemporaries arrange and rearrange the conceptual blocks that make up not
only theology, but the arts as well serves as a base on which I would like to
continue to build.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You could view this
as the outermost boundary of three concentric circles.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The second concentric circle is that of a teacher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Teaching is something I enjoy immensely, and
which I see as directly related to the “student circle”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I enjoy introducing others to the ideas and
theologies of those who endeavored to make sense of God in their times and
cultural contexts which might help to then make sense of our experiences and
the experiences of others, and I enjoy learning from others in that process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I understand the danger of sounding cliché
here, but I do find that I learn much from teaching others that I never would
have learned otherwise, which allows me to be useful, and continue to feed my
core student.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The third concentric circle is influence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would ultimately like to influence the
manner in which the church interprets and manifests its relationship with the
culture in which it exists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would like
to be one drawing the church toward a fuller embodiment of the Gospel of Grace,
and I believe the arts are indispensable in both the Church’s interpretation
and manifestation to this end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
however is the BIG goal, and sounds much higher minded than I intend it
to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Really I want to be one voice in the
conversation, but hopefully one worth listening to. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At any rate, that’s why my family and I picked up stakes and
moved 2700 miles across the country, so that I could more thoroughly explore
that undiscovered country, and attempt to share it with others, and allow God
to do what God would like with what I offer.</div>
Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-18509403982502958692012-07-06T12:44:00.001-07:002012-07-06T12:44:48.703-07:00Oliver Stone, Wall Street and the Eschatology of Home<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAXXVgCx_Vto7QrfL298_VoEc1BZRCuRo1eYxjZXoHmuhcLk8FF4ThFeGBgN_98PeOuSIJYXFkMKeWGOKu7vbJ1pjlFmFXp6UhQfQ-OIWqGUMNHJ0KBoM56tDjFntftVsPVJb9A8t0-GA/s1600/wallstreet2poster600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAXXVgCx_Vto7QrfL298_VoEc1BZRCuRo1eYxjZXoHmuhcLk8FF4ThFeGBgN_98PeOuSIJYXFkMKeWGOKu7vbJ1pjlFmFXp6UhQfQ-OIWqGUMNHJ0KBoM56tDjFntftVsPVJb9A8t0-GA/s400/wallstreet2poster600.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<span class="textisa-25-6">On this mountain the </span><span class="small-caps"><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span></span><span class="textisa-25-6">
Almighty will prepare</span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="textisa-25-6">a feast of rich food for all peoples,</span><br />
<span class="textisa-25-6">a banquet of aged wine—</span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="textisa-25-6">the best of meats and the finest of wines. </span><br />
<span class="textisa-25-7"><sup> </sup>On this mountain he will destroy</span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="textisa-25-7">the shroud that enfolds all peoples, </span><br />
<span class="textisa-25-7">the sheet that covers all nations;</span><br />
<span class="textisa-25-8"><sup> </sup></span><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="textisa-25-8">he will swallow up death forever.</span><br />
<span class="textisa-25-8">The Sovereign </span><span class="small-caps"><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span></span><span class="textisa-25-8">
will wipe away the tears </span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="textisa-25-8">from all faces;</span><br />
<span class="textisa-25-8">he will remove his people’s disgrace </span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="textisa-25-8">from all the earth.</span><br />
<span class="textisa-25-8">The </span><span class="small-caps"><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span></span><span class="textisa-25-8"> has
spoken.</span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<span class="textisa-25-8">-Isaiah 25.6-8 (NIV)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="textisa-25-8">I recently watched a good portion
of Oliver Stone’s ‘10 film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wall Street:
Money Never Sleeps</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s the only
film I can think of in memory where the credits struck me more than the
movie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tone of the credits just seemed
to strike a dissonant chord in relation to all that had preceded it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The movie is a kind of morality tale,
dramatically rendering the relational cost of greed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I won’t get to into the details.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will suffice to say (as with any story I
suppose) poor choices are made, people are betrayed, and relationships are torn,
frayed and severed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The credits though
reveal a happy reunion of family and friends built around a baby’s first
birthday party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A father is reunited
with his daughter. Business associates who were at odds are reconciled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Couples who had split are smiling and holding
each other affectionately.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then it
struck me, yes this is a birthday party, but this isn’t a birthday party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ok, that may have you saying “huh?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems to me Stone was shooting for
something more all encompassing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
tone of these reconciliations seemed full and final, meant to be juxtaposed
against the greed and betrayals that typified these character’s actions in the
film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What we were witnessing wasn’t
just a birthday party it was “home”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="textisa-25-8">Then I was struck by the sheer
transcendence underpinning that concept, and I realized “home” is at its core
an inherently eschatological concept.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
realize there’s a lot packed in there, so I will briefly unpack that sentence
with the thoughts that have been floating around my head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will say the ideas are still freshly
forming, but it might be a chance to share how the conceptual sausage gets
made… so to speak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="textisa-25-8">First I will suggest that home is
different from house or shelter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The use
of the word house tends to simply signify a building where people live; nothing
special, just a place of residence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Granted, home can have the same meaning, simply a place of residence,
but there is a secondary meaning inherent in home that is absent in house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Home tends to be used to signify a place of
residence where one’s affections are centered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It intimates a place of refuge or asylum, perhaps even a place of safety
and love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tone Stone strikes in his
credits is the latter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s home, though
not the nostalgic longing for the home of our youth. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He pictured a present and future home, a current
and future place of asylum, safety and love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I would suggest the longing for that type of home is something we all
share, and perhaps reveals something of the transcendence inside each of us. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="textisa-25-8">One of the core dogmas of historic
Christianity is that everyone will exist forever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all have a beginning, but no end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are all made in the image of the Triune
God, and as such are more than just flesh and bone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We harbor unseen and un-seeable
components.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are made for a life in a
world where the seen and unseen intertwined into one whole reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to Genesis, Adam and Eve walked and
talked with God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We live in a world
where the relationship of seen and unseen is torn and frayed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were made for life in a world that doesn’t
exist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s this tension, and the many
promises in scripture that this tension will one day be relieved that creates
the foundation for our longing for home I think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We see the world as it is, and conclude that
this is not as it was designed, and read the promises of its repair, and look
forward to that time when that eschatological home is reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="textisa-25-8">So when we speak of home in the
here and now we speak of that temporary place of affection, refuge and love,
but I think we also hint at that something that’s coming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we think of and speak about home we hint
at the concepts that underpin the core of God’s reconciling plans for humanity,
and our longing to be reconciled, and safe and loved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like I said, very fresh and new ideas to me,
and ones I need to expand on, but ideas that encourage me, and perhaps may
encourage you as well... </span></div>Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-86741217735248800852012-05-30T11:34:00.000-07:002012-06-01T06:38:39.783-07:00Standing on Principle, Walking On Balance Beams, and Living Out Love<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIFaQ3dsHLbirdzJB78EKMMCjoGORNJPbf18YbF6MMZKQ5hDYqCrLszDOquX4hRnY0ko8pPnVIHDzifftSUiqhb_-Q0HSnpjZmIjxLGAQbcuu1N3yilxVPGitslD83d7DlWORkTMf2AIA/s1600/149468.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIFaQ3dsHLbirdzJB78EKMMCjoGORNJPbf18YbF6MMZKQ5hDYqCrLszDOquX4hRnY0ko8pPnVIHDzifftSUiqhb_-Q0HSnpjZmIjxLGAQbcuu1N3yilxVPGitslD83d7DlWORkTMf2AIA/s400/149468.jpg" width="280" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="textexod-23-9">Do not oppress a foreigner; you
yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt. – Exodus
23.9 (NIV)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="text2john-1-10">If anyone comes to you and does
not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. </span><span class="text2john-1-11">Anyone who
welcomes them shares in their wicked work. – 2 John 10, 11 (NIV)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
16’ x 4”. Those are
the dimensions of an Olympic balance beam.
That is all the space available for all of those tumbles, runs, leaps
and acrobatics. 4”across… I think my
foot would hang over both sides of the beam.
I also think it’s a safe understatement to suggest the successful
navigation of the balance beam requires skill.
It takes time and effort to learn how to step, where to position your
arms and hands, and where to look in order to learn to simply stay on the beam,
let alone complete anything resembling acrobatics. I might suggest as well that there’s an apt
metaphor in there somewhere for the manner in which Christian’s put their faith
into practice. The parallel isn’t
necessarily one regarding a Christian’s “skills”, but perhaps their wisdom,
that is the manner in which he or she translates his or her faith and knowledge
into actions. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I bring this up because the ideas in the two quotes above
take some wisdom in order to balance.
Hospitality vs. Morality. Grace
vs. Law (notice the “grace” quote is from the Old Testament and the “law” from
the New Testament). Identity vs.
Identity. Given John wrote his letter
(now 2<sup> </sup>John) in the 1<sup>st</sup> century and in it wrestles to
find appropriate limits to hospitably, one can see that this balancing act is
not new to the Christian experience. I
bring it up, because I believe this balancing act is critical to the
Christian’s witness to the world, as it’s been through history. I also believe the portion of the Church in
which I find myself at home, that is the Evangelical
Church in the US, finds this
balancing act extraordinarily difficult, often gravitating toward 2 John over
Exodus. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We Evangelicals seem to have a talent for leaning on principle. Our instincts seem to lead us to read the
Scripture looking for ways to “boil it down” to tenets which are easily
communicated, and understandable to both those of the faith and those to whom
we evangelize. This isn’t an inherently
bad instinct. Finding avenues through
which to clearly communicate the Gospel to our culture is a part of what
distinguishes Evangelicals. This
instinct clearly serves this end; however it also has the potential to
undermine other Christian ends, thus the need for balance. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Christians cannot be solely about principle; they must also
be about a type of love that looks past standards, beliefs, and dogmas, past
human constructs and collectives, past our limited aptitude for propositional
articulation and understanding and values that which is supremely important to
the God who is the source of our beliefs, constructs and propositions: people. Hence the balancing act and the tension
between the poles listed above. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Do we encourage someone to continue down a bad path by
providing for them, or giving them shelter and not directly addressing their
destructive behavior? Should we shut
them out altogether if they believe Jesus was a created being, or wasn’t fully
human? What if they are criminals? Substance abusers, thieves, illegal
immigrants. What if they were simply
immoral? (Insert your own list here).
What hoops should we expect the folks we embrace with the love of God to
jump through in order to continue to show that love? I’ll make no attempt here to give a solid
answer, because I don’t think there’s one to give. This is one of those Biblical “grey” areas
where we have to wrestle with the scripture, with the situation and with God in
order to find a way to appropriately answer these questions for our
contexts. However, given our tendency to
lean on principle, I might have a brief suggestion or two to keep in mind when
attempting to find that balance. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1.) This Divine love that Christians are called to share
with the world is first to be shared amongst the community of Christians. Jesus said, “<span class="woj">As I have loved
you, so you must love one another. <sup> </sup>By this everyone will know
that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13.34b, 35 NIV) The best way to reveal God’s love to the
world is to practice it on other Christians first. (Practice in the hands of
the Holy Spirit makes perfect, right?) </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="woj">2.) After practicing it on other Christian’s
practice it on your neighbor, your friends, your family, the stranger on the
subway, or in the car next to you. Practice
loving others the way Jesus loved you.
Spend time wrestling to understand how Jesus showed his love for us/you,
not just with His death, but with his life as well. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="woj">3.) Finally, remember that no matter how
good or bad you are at practicing Jesus’ love, God still loves you. Even when we sew division in the community of
Christians instead of love; even when we mentally or actively exclude those
outside the faith from God’s love because of their bad choices or sin or
immorality; even when we’re tired or lazy, God still loves us. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="woj">These are the types of actions our faith
must take. This loving action I would
suggest is what the wisdom we spoke of earlier looks likes. I would also suggest that in the end this
type of action embodies many of the principles we’re concerned with
communicating. It reveals them through
action. If as Paul writes in I
Corinthians 3 we are living letters read by the world, then we best communicate
our beliefs, principles and dogmas when we act them out, as if on a stage, and the
best way to act out our beliefs is to love as Christ loved. It’s a love that carries its own balance
inside of it. </span></div>Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-5073510756922606702012-04-11T10:15:00.000-07:002012-04-11T10:15:11.404-07:00Where Is the Easter Joy?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBjF9IF1wFpiRx8_YzI9zrDfAOZmi0G3SP_TiCiMQyeNqGOJSn157fuh2HEitMEuLMYNsZQYZrz2oA5mTcdI_nN4_ltrAQ7JxfzBMBzxiY4WYWeTjf-AgJ1MUoCGhg6BMEDdZ3F5UWS7I/s1600/eucatastrophe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBjF9IF1wFpiRx8_YzI9zrDfAOZmi0G3SP_TiCiMQyeNqGOJSn157fuh2HEitMEuLMYNsZQYZrz2oA5mTcdI_nN4_ltrAQ7JxfzBMBzxiY4WYWeTjf-AgJ1MUoCGhg6BMEDdZ3F5UWS7I/s400/eucatastrophe.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter
people and hallelujah is our song. – Pope John Paul II</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Is it just me, or does the church have difficulty expressing
joy?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ask because I’ve begun to
associate the celebration of Easter directly to the notion and experience of
joy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Easter is the epitome of the
unexpected, joyful plot twist in the story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s in essence the source of Tolkien’s notion of “eucatastrophe”, the
joy of the unexpected, unforeseen happy ending.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Given the stakes at play in Jesus’ life and death, the Divine killed by
humanity, and the apparent failure and defeat of the Father, unadulterated,
astonished, overwhelming joy seems to be the only appropriate response to the
resurrection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Victory was literally
wrenched from the sure, clenched jaws of defeat. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I get choked up when I spend time meditating
on it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reason I bring it up is
because I don’t recognize that joy in our liturgy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our worship tends to accommodate prayer,
confession, adoration, and praise pretty well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But we seem to have a difficult time accommodating Easter joy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will confess to contributing to this
joylessness.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have the opportunity in my church to put together and
arrange the worship songs once a month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A few years ago my Sunday fell on Easter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was excited about this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Easter is the Christian “main event”, and I
was going to get to contribute to the Easter experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I flubbed it completely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s that year that I understood the joy of
Easter for the first time, because my choices contrasted so starkly with the
rest of the service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember 2 of the
songs I picked, “Here I Am to Worship”, and an arrangement of “When I Survey”,
both of which are Good Friday songs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They deal with the death of Jesus, not his resurrection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re both somber and introspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would submit that neither is joyful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those responsible for this year’s Easter
service did a much better job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
chose “Jesus Messiah”, “Glorious Day”, and “Mighty to Save”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All three carry the content of Easter much
better than my choices had; however upon playing them Easter morning I realized
though the content may have been “right”, the music didn’t embody the joy of
Easter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now this is no slight to those
who put the worship set together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
might suggest that there choices were limited by our own liturgical limitation
in relation to joy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems to me we don’t
write it well, and so it isn’t available to be drawn on.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This begs the question of why, which I suppose would be the
point of this particular blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why this
difficulty?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d be interested to get
input in this regard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll confess that
up until that Easter experience a few years ago I had an excruciatingly hard
time with joy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After that experience I
came to recognize it when it appears in my life and it’s become an important
part of my faith experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Playing
drums has helped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I’ve said in a
previous blog, I experience joy most completely when I’m playing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From there I’ve been able to recognize it
when it appears in my life (it feels like playing drums).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At any rate, any ideas for why our liturgical
joy is often incomplete? </div>Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-87814893407929420942012-03-31T14:15:00.002-07:002012-03-31T14:15:20.693-07:00Gungor, Zombies and Inhabited Music<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0YMjVsLlLkbJb5Pf8seHjSAOGp93eXgdQYr8qHaoL8INDfMotZQXc9AYYOyJbDnLt4O7ixd6l8COIMF327vMkq7ZKOxhQI22-qPFnx-lbfUL2S7SrtaS7Txjhtlb_ZnYNI_VFd8rEeXo/s1600/gungor-Ghosts-Upon-The-Earth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0YMjVsLlLkbJb5Pf8seHjSAOGp93eXgdQYr8qHaoL8INDfMotZQXc9AYYOyJbDnLt4O7ixd6l8COIMF327vMkq7ZKOxhQI22-qPFnx-lbfUL2S7SrtaS7Txjhtlb_ZnYNI_VFd8rEeXo/s400/gungor-Ghosts-Upon-The-Earth.jpg" width="400" /></a>It looks like a human... It eats like a human… It still
walks and makes noise and resembles a human, but it’s not. It’s a zombie. It
has no soul. – Michael Gungor</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you have not discovered Gungor’s music yet, I would
highly recommend giving them a listen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s rare for me to find music that truly excites me, let alone excites
me more each time I listen to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Gungor’s music has that effect on me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s extraordinarily engaging on the first listen, and rewards further
more detailed listening as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m
waiting on further work from them, but I’m dangerously close to including them
in my pantheon of all time favorites.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For me, the quality of their music that seems to most
consistently catch my ear is its inhabitedness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is an alive quality to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The music embodies the heart of the song.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The melodies, harmonies, instrumentations and
voicings all seem to exist to serve the song.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To Gungor, the song and the body of songs seem to be a beautifully valid
end in and of themselves, period.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
makes this more interesting is the ideas embodied by the music and lyrics are
what might typically be categorized by genre as “worship”, though I don’t think
much of their music would be adaptable to many contemporary liturgies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m always a sucker for tension, so this is
one I’d like to take a quick dive into.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Why would this beautiful, worshipful, engaged music seem to be out of
bounds for most churches?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or perhaps to
rephrase the question, is there something about their music that is at odds
with Christian, and perhaps more specifically Evangelical Christian
tastes?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll explore two sets of ideas
to answer that question, Michael Gungor’s and Flannery O’Connor’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Michael Gungor, the lead singer and songwriter of Gungor,
obliquely addresses my question in a blog he wrote last November.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He suggests, I believe correctly, that many
Christian singers and songwriters view music simply as a vehicle intended to
deliver the content (lyrics) of a song.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The vehicle (the music) from this perspective then is interchangeable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t matter what the vehicle is as long
as that which is carried in the vehicle clearly points people to Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Songs here are simply 3 to 4 minute
sermons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He cites a quiet, intimate song
he had written that was covered by a hardcore/screamo band as an example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of recognizing the inherent
connection of the lyric to the music, the screamo band uprooted the lyric from
the shell of the song and replanted it into what from Gungor’s perspective is
an entirely foreign and inhospitable terrain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He goes on to share why he believes this utilitarian understanding of
music undermines music’s inherent value.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He writes,</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 5.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 5.0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you want to reach emo kids,
then sing emo music but with Jesus language. The problem with this is that emo
music is not simply reducible to certain sounding tones and chords. There are
emotions and attitudes of different genres of music that are the soul of the
music. You can’t remove the anger from screamo and have it still be screamo.
It’s the soul of that music, whether that soul is good or evil is not the
point, simply that it is the soul. So when you remove the soul from music and
transplant the body parts (chord changes, instrumentation, dress, lights, and
everything but the soul…) and parade it around with some more “positive” lyrics
posing as Christian music, then what you have is a musical zombie.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 5.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 5.0pt;">
It looks like a human.. It eats like a human… It still walks and makes
noise and resembles a human, but it’s not. It’s a zombie. It has no soul. It
just uses its human body for its own purposes.</div>
<div style="margin: 5pt 1in;">
<br /></div>
I find it interesting that this “body snatcher/zombie” music essentially
puts on the style and airs of the genre its engaging, but replaces its soul
with something foreign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Granted this is
very imprecise/metaphorical language, but I think you get the picture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a sense in which when Christians
engage musical genres (and one can make the same case for film, novels, the
visual arts etc…) in this manner, they actually create something that
undermines the heart of the Christian message, which is the Incarnation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I understand that may sound preposterous, but
follow me here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
The Father loved and respected humanity, which is of course a Divine
creation, so much that the Father sent the Son to share their existence as a
means of communicating the depth of the Father’s love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus became the language (the Word) through
which the Father chooses to communicate this love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Father didn’t simply send the Son as a
facsimile of a human in order to articulate a proposition; no, the eternal Son
BECAME flesh. The Son embodied the message of the Father and through his words
and actions on Earth acted out the Father’s love for all to see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So if the Father respects the brokenness, foibles,
and foulness of humanness enough to fill it with the Son, shouldn’t Christians
respect musical forms (the language of music) to the extent that we don’t
zombify it with the Christian message.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead, if we’re to follow the Father and Son’s lead, shouldn’t the
musical form be inhabited by the Christian who then embodies that Divine
message of love?<br />
<br />
Flannery O’Connor speaks about this when she discusses the inherent value of
the novel. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Citing Jacques Maritain’s
assertion read through Aquinas that art exists for the good of that which is
made, O’Connor asserts, “The novel is an art form and when you use it for
anything other than art, you pervert it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She goes on to suggest, “I find that most people know what a story is
until they sit down to write one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then
they find themselves writing a sketch woven through it, or an editorial with a
character in it, or a case history with a moral, or some other mongrel thing.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think this parallels what Gungor
writes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is created, particularly by
the Christian who respects the Son’s Incarnation, should only be created for
the good of that which is created.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To
this end O’Connor would write, “God does not care anything about what we
write.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He uses it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Christian creates out of a
creativity/muse/heart/inspiration under the influence of the Holy Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Should we not trust the Spirit to work
through the gifts given the Christian?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
That brings us to the heart of the answer to the question I
posed earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I might suggest part of
the reason Gungor’s music would seem out of place in many liturgies is because
Christians, particularly Evangelical’s don’t trust art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps it’s because it doesn’t directly
produce results, read conversions; or perhaps because we prefer direct
references to the truth to indirect allusions. Whatever the reason, I think the
music of Gungor is evidence that we do ourselves a disservice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We miss opportunities for Divine encounter by
not allowing the arts to do their work in our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take a listen to a few of the links below,
and see if you might agree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEoEQ5Z-2bk">Let There Be</a> - An amazing song about creation. You can hear form coming to formlessness </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5Cjt83wWDk">This Is Not the End</a> - A wonderfully joyfully defiant song about death</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dbjPmF2bTs&feature=related">Church Bells</a> - A melancholy song about lost joy</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59xPDnsL4qw">Ezekiel </a>- Drawn strait from Ezekiel's parable </span></div>Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-45042760441652815462012-03-12T10:07:00.000-07:002012-03-12T10:08:42.030-07:00Haggai, Daniel, and the Violent Non-Violence of God<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjPdKk7QazQeMx05YtqP3Z2aLIGWWY5BYIPQSr3P1OXrwxI2amGl7YVlNrr1y0sl2HwFlGO2mIUcopXQDcVXTHQ6GRnLrkscO_DXzTlld_b__4dsvhHyjbTHH-lRGP9mDQWqEjL-7LuR0/s1600/580px-Jerzy_Popieluszko_Funeral_-_11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjPdKk7QazQeMx05YtqP3Z2aLIGWWY5BYIPQSr3P1OXrwxI2amGl7YVlNrr1y0sl2HwFlGO2mIUcopXQDcVXTHQ6GRnLrkscO_DXzTlld_b__4dsvhHyjbTHH-lRGP9mDQWqEjL-7LuR0/s400/580px-Jerzy_Popieluszko_Funeral_-_11.jpg" width="386" /></a>Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I am going to shake the
heavens and the earth. I will overturn
royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms. I will overthrow
chariots and their drivers. –Haggai 2.21,22</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is a passage from the last of the four messages given
to Haggai from God which Haggai then passed on to their intended
recipients. In this case it was a
message meant for Zerubbabel, the Governor appointed by the Persians over Judah. It’s a message about a future Zerubbabel will
never see. In fact it’s hard to see how
much of this message benefits Zerubbabel at all, except to encourage him that
God has chosen him to be his “signet ring”, which upon further consideration I
suppose is nothing to sneeze at. In all
reality there are myriad subtle references in this message to the plans that
were in motion regarding the pending arrival of the promised Messiah, but given
the subtlety of the references I would suggest they were most likely lost on
the message’s first audiences. I would also
suggest that much is lost on us as well when we read these types of
apocalyptic, fore-telling messages, particularly when the foretold events have
yet to come to pass in our own times. In
particular I would propose that we often misread the method through which the
Divine mayhem quoted above is accomplished.
We see the shaking of the heavens and the overturning of thrones and
chariots and tend to assume that these violent acts will occur violently. In doing so I believe we make some of the
same mistakes that caused the people of Jesus’ time to miss the fact that he
was the Messiah. I believe we’re always
in danger of this type of misreading whenever we run our understanding of the
Kingdom that does the overturning and shattering through a human sieve. However, before we consider that sieve, I
think we must consider the nature of the Kingdom doing the shaking. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Haggai is not the only prophet to characterize the
interaction of this Divine
Kingdom with the kingdom
and powers around us using this violent language. In fact one of his contemporaries, though one
much older than he, used very similar language 50 or so years earlier. In interpreting a dream of Nebuchadnezzar,
the king of Babylon,
Daniel gives the following interpretation of a part of his dream where a stone destroys
a statue representing the kingdoms of the world, and subsequently grows larger
than a mountain. He said, “In the time
of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be
destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those
kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.” (Daniel
2.44 NIV) Again we have this violent
language, God’s Kingdom “crushing” the kingdoms of the world. How do we make sense of this violent language
in light of the Kingdom
of God that Christ
reveals in the Gospels? </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps there’s not much to make sense of. Many of the references by Christ to the Kingdom of God have their own apocalyptic and even
violent touchstones. The Kingdom as Christ
describes it tends to be characterized by healing, wholeness, plenty, justice,
mercy, and love, but also by separations and conflict. One could make the case that the Kingdom of God can be partially characterized by
the sword Christ said he came to bring in Matthew 10. There do seem to be similarities here between
the inherent violence in Haggai and Daniels’s Divine Kingdoms and the Kingdom of God being described by Christ. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If that is the case, then what do we do with the <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8779752312275506403" name="OLE_LINK2"></a>healing,
wholeness, plenty, justice, mercy, and love that typify the kingdom
and which seem out of sync with these violent hallmarks? How do we reconcile a kingdom that apparently
marginalizes the rich, but is freely open to prostitutes and those widely
considered immoral and repulsive? How do
we square the violence of the Kingdom with the notion that it’s freely
available to everyone, wantonly scattered to any and all soils, even those in
which it will not grow?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps a hint toward an answer to that question can be
found in Jesus’ metaphor/parable of the mustard seed/plant. It’s also meant to picture the Kingdom of God.
As a seed it starts as something inherently small and inconsequent, but
grows into something so large that cannot be missed. The parable is meant to highlight the notion
that God specializes in endowing importance into the unimportant; significance
into the insignificant. So how does this
relate to the apparent violence inherent in the Kingdom of God? I’m glad you asked. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In relation to the question I would suggest that violence
and those who wield it are not inconsequent, small or insignificant. In fact violence in a way is a powerful and
more often than not sinful assertion of significance and importance. By its nature, it gets our attention. It triggers our self preservation
instincts. It cries out for
justice. Even if wielded justly it
triggers the urge for revenge. It is a power play. It asserts the muscle of the aggressor over
the weakness of a victim. In fact by its
nature it creates victims. So while
there are violent touchstones of conflict in Jesus’ descriptions of the Kingdom
of God, it seems that violence, at least the manner in which I’m describing it,
can’t be a part of a Kingdom characterized by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8779752312275506403" name="OLE_LINK4"></a>healing, wholeness,
plenty, justice, mercy, and love.
This would suggest that perhaps it is the human sieve through which we
filter our understanding of violence that is creating this irreconcilable
tension here and affecting our ability to imagine an alternative means of
overturning thrones and shattering kingdoms. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I suggest that when we hear of Kingdom’s being “crushed”,
“overturned”, or “overthrown” our imaginations immediately conjure up the
violent means by which these events tend to occur. We think of coups, revolutions and wars. We often lack the grace-filled imagination
necessary to envision any other way of accomplishing these titanic shifts. In doing so, we miss the God of the mustard
seed at work in the world. We miss the
awesome power of God’s grace, which author Phillip Yancey asserts in his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What’s So Amazing About Grace</i> is the
most powerful force in the universe. As
an example of the power of grace Yancey submits the events in Poland in the 1980’s. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Under the leadership of Lech Walesa, with some of its roots
in the Catholic Church, the Solidarity Trade Union asserted themselves through
non-violent means with the intent of gaining grater self-governance from the
Polish Communist Party. Granted that is
a great over simplification of events, but it will do for a one sentence
summation. The character of the movement
though can be seen and understood in one key event, the assassination of one of
the movement’s spiritual leaders, Father Jerzy Popiełuszko. A quarter of a million people publicly
mourned him, and as they processed down the streets of Warsaw they chanted, “We Forgive You” to the
Communist regime. Within five years the
Communists were out of power. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Is this not the overturning of thrones and the shattering of
powers through the wielding of the power of grace? You could even make the case that this is part
of the sword Christ said he came to bring.
I would suggest that in light of the attributes that distinguish the
Kingdom of God from earthly kingdoms, that grace is the primary weapon given to
the church to accomplish the establishment of healing, wholeness, plenty,
justice, mercy, and love, and the acting out of these qualities of the grace-filled
Kingdom is what undermines and subverts the authority of the Kingdoms out of
line with these hallmarks. This is a
force with the potential to shake, overturn and crush governments, using the
Biblical language. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To be clear I’m not arguing that the events in Poland in the
80’s are in anyway a template to be followed in every circumstance. I suppose I’m simply suggesting we need to be
mindful of the limits of our imaginations in relation to both the manner in
which we reveal the Kingdom of God through our actions now, and the manner in which
the Divine Kingdom will be and is being
established. We need to be careful to
not assume that these violent allusions will be accomplished by brute
force. Much of this, I believe, will be
accomplished by the simple, steady, strong grace of God. </div>Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-51621215469480368242012-02-27T18:41:00.001-08:002012-02-27T18:41:37.822-08:00Is Faith a Gift?: A Theo-Dramatic Perspective<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih1wvsrSCnRJcHEoAGLR1kvPETL1BhBcmnipTrQCY75fedCIA1viKTnj17AZAiEHoiPxa1YHMrMEWa50XIIyxOREOcsa4sOj2WJ3hJXP-iwsW6VuiEv_qLCHq9pgn1xSELWbL3ZWxepyk/s1600/Wrapped-Gifts-flickr-allerleirau.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih1wvsrSCnRJcHEoAGLR1kvPETL1BhBcmnipTrQCY75fedCIA1viKTnj17AZAiEHoiPxa1YHMrMEWa50XIIyxOREOcsa4sOj2WJ3hJXP-iwsW6VuiEv_qLCHq9pgn1xSELWbL3ZWxepyk/s400/Wrapped-Gifts-flickr-allerleirau.jpg" width="400" /></a>For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and
this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no
one can boast. – Ephesians 2.8,9 (NIV)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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I have had a few conversations recently with friends where
they asserted the notion that faith was a gift from God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In each instance the notion just didn’t sit
right with me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Upon doing a bit of
research and reading here and there, I unearthed a long standing and open theological
conversation that’s been running through the centuries regarding just this
topic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m ashamed to admit I’d never
taken note of it, perhaps because of the fixedness of my own position and
understanding in relation to faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
any rate I began to reconsider the question or perhaps just consider it, given
I’d never given much thought to it previously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Also after reading texts on both sides of the debate, I wanted to bring
a particular set of eyes and ears that I thought might be helpful to my process
of thinking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted to briefly read
the question through the eyes of Theo-Drama.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If you’ve read this blog previously, you know I’ve employed this
template before as a means of working through a particular thought, text or
theology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So how would this notion of
faith as a gift play out if we filter it through the separate notion that
existence is a part of a larger story or drama being told and played out on the
stage of the world?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well let’s find out.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First, I must make a quick detour and define what I mean
when I use the word faith here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For that
we could go one of two roads and reach the same destination I think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first would be a Biblical road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not going to do an entire exegetical
analysis here on the nature of Biblical faith, but I will (even with the danger
of proof-texting) pull from the writer of Hebrew’s definition of faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He or she suggests, “Faith is confidence in
what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (NIV)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The key words I want to draw on for my
purposes here are “confidence”, and “assurance.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They embody the notion of trust. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A person who trusts something or someone is
willing to place their physical, emotional, or spiritual safety (depending on
what one is trusting in) in the care of the thing or individual being trusted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I trust that the engineers and builders of my
car have designed and constructed it to such a quality that it will not explode
as I drive it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To that extent I place my
faith in both them and my car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The other road is the dictionary road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given we are dealing with an English
translation of the Bible, the folks translating decided that “faith” is the
best translation for the Greek word translated (which we’ll get to
momentarily).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our friends at
Dictionary.com assert that our English word faith is “confidence or trust in a
person or thing.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That fits in pretty
well with what the author of Hebrews asserts as a working definition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I were to expound on the Biblical and
dictionary definitions together, I’d say that faith is a confident, assured
trust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Quick and dirty, but fair I
think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately for lovers of pith,
this simple understanding of faith is in conflict with much of the historical
understanding of Christian faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To establish this conflict I’ll have to start with a little
bit of Greek, which I suppose is a dangerous course in the hands of one
ignorant of Greek; however it’s a course we will take anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The most widely employed Greek word which we
translate into English as “faith” is the word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pistis</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s rooted in the
Greek word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">peitho</i>, which means, “to
persuade or be persuaded.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So in the
minds of the New Testament writers, faith contained in it the notion of being
Divinely persuaded to trust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If one is
of the mind that these types of word choices are beyond chance and have their
roots in Divine inspiration, then Christian faith by its nature, given the
object of the faith, is revealed as an interplay between Divine persuasion and the
human response to that persuasion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
conflict then arises in relation to the manner in which people through history
have tried to make sense of that interplay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Those who tend toward the notion that faith is an entirely
gratuitous gift from God tend to find themselves favoring the Divine portion of
the interplay as dominant over the human portion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To be fair there is scripture that seems to
bear this out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example Paul in the
Book of Romans suggests, “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone
among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to
think so as to have sound judgment, <i>as God has allotted to each a measure of
faith</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> (Romans 12.3 NAS).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul also lists faith as one of the fruits of
the Spirit in Galatians 5, meaning it’s something produced by the Spirit, not
by the individual’s effort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition
the verse at the beginning, Ephesians 2.8,9 is also often cited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Folks who hold this perspective read the
line, “</span>and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works,
so that no one can boast,” as referring to faith.<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given I’m going to argue for a
different reading, and that this is a blog, not a book, I will not lay out this
case further.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t intend to be
unfair to it, but to represent it simply and quickly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I’m also not going
to argue that faith is entirely of human origin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To do so would be to marginalize the parts of
Scripture I find difficult, and what fun would life be without Scriptures that
blow holes in your understanding of God? Instead I’m going to argue that faith
is a mysterious inter-penetration of both God’s persuasion, and humanity’s
trust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could go directly to scripture
for this, but that’s been done, and would not add to the conversation (though
what I’m going to argue I suppose isn’t new, unique, or extra-biblical).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I wrote earlier I’m going to filter the
question through Theo-Dramatic Theory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For this I’ll be drawing heavily on Balthasar’s understanding of the
notion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">At its heart is the
idea that the story or narrative God is telling in history, that is the fall,
redemption and restoration of humanity, is being played out in the world as if
on a stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One could loosely see the
Father as the author of this play, the Son as one sharing the stage with
humanity, representing and revealing the Father’s vision, and the Spirit as the
play’s director, bringing the play to life, directing the actors and action on
the stage, and improvising to bring about the Father’s vision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As members of this stage, we all have “roles”
in this play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some have more to do than
others, but as Stanislavsky said, “there are no small parts, only small
actors.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This however does not mean that
our contribution to the story is entirely pre-determined.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the contrary, just as any actor in a play
or film must bring their entire person to a role, their interiority, their
subjectivity, their creativity, so we must if we’re to play our part to the
fullest on the world stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s our
freely exercised choices which bring life to the role given us by God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words for the drama being played out
to have life, the actors must contribute something to the work, and the Father
seems, through the Spirit, to expect and encourage our contributions to the
story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s in play here is our
understanding of the manner in which our finite freedom interacts with God’s
infinite freedom.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Granted I haven’t
argued exhaustively here to prove my point, but if we assume this construct
reflects something of the reality of things, it would mean that humanity has
something of themselves to contribute to the drama, including their trust of
the God who gave them their role, and though not mentioned previously, also
their identity, both of which are tied up in the imitation of the self-gifting
of Christ, but that’s another blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ultimately, if one leaves no room for humanity’s trust/faith, then one
strikes an almost un-repairable blow to human freedom, which itself runs
contrary to much of scripture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would
suggest human freedom is a Biblical concept.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I would also suggest Biblical freedom is the freedom to do what we ought
to do, to employ our God given gifts, and creativity and apply them to the role
God’s given us in order to achieve God’s ends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the end I will grant that God is ultimately responsible to bring
about the ends God has planned, choreographed and orchestrated, and that I see
God’s fingerprints all over my life, wooing me, influencing me, persuading me,
cajoling me, loving me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I also
experience my active pursuit of God, which can’t be diminished.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So in the end has God given me my faith, or
do I freely, by my choosing offer my trust to God?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For me the answers to those questions are yes
and yes, and must be in order to preserve both God’s and humanity’s respective
freedoms. </span></div>
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<br /></div>Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-53291740494859134132012-01-31T20:52:00.000-08:002012-01-31T20:54:33.026-08:00Art for Arts Sake?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimxzhai_hiC0Cjr959EwMsd_7-CKsMcLNKvVC42RZqs1CmRj8wdf_TnNADK0SThyeH7VaduLyuti5ik60y_bJqD_O3KhoMPJlEdT1vTUJfBxn5eByHdfd2Xu3QDZRAUul2JPpNyhjalYw/s1600/portfolio1_blowup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimxzhai_hiC0Cjr959EwMsd_7-CKsMcLNKvVC42RZqs1CmRj8wdf_TnNADK0SThyeH7VaduLyuti5ik60y_bJqD_O3KhoMPJlEdT1vTUJfBxn5eByHdfd2Xu3QDZRAUul2JPpNyhjalYw/s400/portfolio1_blowup.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I recently read an article by the founder of <a href="http://www.theschooloflife.com/">The School of Life,</a> Allain de Bottom, who broaches the question “<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/20/art-museums-churches">Should Art Really Be For its Own Sake Alone?</a>” I would highly
recommend this brief article to anyone at all interested in the intersection of
Theology, the Church and the Arts. The
article reminds me of much of Nicholas Wolterstorff’s critique of the arts in
his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Art in Action</i> which I would
also recommend. de Bottom argues that an
artist’s reason for creating doesn’t necessarily undermine the value of that
which is created. This of course butts
heads so to speak with much of the modernist “art for arts sake” aesthetic, which
he suggests loathes any whisper of aesthetic utility. From this relatively rigid perspective, art
must be encountered and experienced only as art, nothing more, and nothing
less. At any rate I wanted to take a few
moments and play his assertion, which I generally agree with against another
assertion I tend to agree with, Jacques Maritain’s assertion that the artist
should create first and foremost for the good of that which is made, and see
which one might come out on top. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I appreciate de Bottom’s concern with artistic content. Most artists through history don’t share the
21<sup>st</sup> century art world’s aesthetic.
Most through the 18<sup>th</sup> century at least connected art with
some other purpose. Their art wasn’t created solely for its own sake. Even modern artists respected in the art
world have done the same. de Bottom
sites one of my favorite artists Mark Rothko as an example. He suggests that Rothko himself hoped his
work would accomplish something: “allowing the viewer a moment of communion
around an echo of the suffering of our species.” I would suggest many who have seen his work,
particularly the layered black canvases he painted for his work for the Rothko
Chapel, can attest that he accomplishes this, and perhaps more. From the opposite direction I was struck on a
trip to the National Gallery of Art in DC last year (after reading <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Art in Action</i>) at the manner in which art
work intended for devotional use, for example altar pieces which at one point
were installed in churches, were displayed outside of their intended context,
with no meaningful nod to their liturgical past. This removal of an art work from a
utilitarian context in order to serve in a purely aesthetic one seems peculiar
at best to me. So I resonate with the
assertion that the artist inserts some content into what they create, even if
that content is the assertion that what they create carries no content. </div>
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<br /></div>
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On the other side I resonate with the notion of art’s
inherent value regardless of its content.
For that I go to Roman Catholic theologian Jacques Maritain, who I must
confess I read largely through Flannery O’Connor’s understanding of him which
she shares in her book on writing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mystery
and Manners</i>. I’ve since read
Maritain’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Art and Scholasticism</i>, but
for some reason I still tend to prefer O’Connor’s Maritain over Maritain
himself. At any rate, I tend to agree
with O’Connor that the artist, particularly the Christian artist, should not
create as a means to simply promulgate some message. She would suggest that message lives inside
the artist and will reveal itself through the work. In order for it to be truly heard it must be
deeply incarnated into the work, in a manner similar to the way in which the
Being and truth of God were incarnated into Jesus, partially to give that truth
a greater resonance with those with whom the Divine intended to
communicate. So in short, the purpose
the artist hopes to accomplish must be deeply packed into their work. It must come second to the value of the work
itself. The viewer, hearer, reader of
the work’s encounter with the artist’s purpose must be earned through the hard
work of the artist to incarnate this purpose into their work. </div>
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<br /></div>
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So which side wins?
Well, you may have figured out by now if you’ve read any of my blogs
that I tend to be a both/and type of person.
I believe both the aesthetic and utilitarian, for the lack of a better
word, have to live together for art to function in a manner in which I would
tend to recognize as art. Now I
understand the subjectivity of that statement.
And I understand the cans of worms opened by that conclusion, but that’s
what the comment section and future blogs are for, isn’t it?</div>Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-53849013580336311862012-01-24T13:21:00.000-08:002012-01-25T20:31:19.207-08:00Comfortably Numb: A Restless Prayer<br />
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When I was a child <br />
I caught a fleeting glimpse<br />
Out of the corner of my eye<br />
I turned to look but it was gone<br />
I cannot put my finger on it now<br />
The child is grown, <br />
The dream is gone.<br />
And I have become comfortably numb<br />
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-Roger Waters</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m not too manly to admit it. I cannot listen to Pink Floyd’s <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJZYG5qwHHI"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Comfortably Numb</i></a> without tears coming to
my eyes. There’s something about David
Gilmour’s 4 minute guitar solo at the end of the song that does it to me every
time, which of course is no good when you’re stuck in traffic and trying to
choke back tears so the guy in the Beamer next to you doesn’t catch sight of
you weeping like a baby in your car. On
a side note, this is why I try not to judge the folks who dance and make hand
gestures to the music in their cars to harshly… there are times when I’m one of
them. </div>
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<br /></div>
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At any rate, I would venture to say that the song stirs in
me something akin to my experience in worship.
Of course what is stirred isn’t a worship of the song, or of Gilmour or
Floyd, but of the God who gave Gilmour his hands and feel on the guitar, and
gave Roger Waters his creativity with words, concepts and composition. It’s the same experience of Divine encounter
I often feel when playing drums as I individually, and as a member of the faith
community, employ music to worship in a church setting. I know that will sound odd to many ears, and
I don’t fully understand why or how that happens, but I’ve been thinking about
it, and would like to explore that “why” and “how” a little here. This may be irrelevant to most folks,
particularly if you don’t experience this song in the way that I do, but I’m
pretty sure we all have some song, or movie, or television show that regularly,
if only fleetingly, pulls back the veil that separates seen reality from the reality
not typically available to our senses.
So perhaps this might be helpful to someone other than me. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The music for the song was written by Gilmour who brought it
to Waters who then wrote the lyric. It
was included on Floyd’s 1979 concept album <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Wall</i>, and is one of only two songs on the album that don’t fully integrate
into the story being told. The song
itself can be viewed in 2 sections. The
verses are written in the key of B minor and, depending on the arrangement, can
sound ominous and threatening, which is the way Gilmour preferred it. Waters didn’t take to that arrangement, and
so the recorded version sounds less ominous than Gilmour’s live versions. At any rate, the verses are sung from the perspective
of someone other than the song’s “protagonist”, for the lack of a better
word. It’s someone trying to “help” the
singer, perhaps a doctor or counselor. This
helper seems to be someone who does not necessary have the singer’s best
interests at heart. The chord progression,
Bm, A, G, Em, Bm, is constantly descending.
In short the verses are a constant and continual “downer”. I would suggest this plays on our conceptual constructs
involving angst and depression. We describe it as “feeling down”, and it’s
often described as a feeling of “drowning” emotionally. The verses seem to embody that feeling of
being pulled under, of being out of control, a victim of hopelessness and
despair. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The chorus changes keys to D major and seems to be the
protagonist’s inner thoughts. It’s far
brighter than the verse and alternates between A and D and then C and G chords,
moving in fifths, which embodies a more familiar and comforting quality than
the verse progression. The singer seems
to describe an inability to communicate with those outside of his or her body, and
in both chorus’ reaches for and cites childhood memories as a type of comfort. The singer seems to want to push back at the
verses’ narrator’s attempts to anesthetize him or her, but seems unable to,
ending each chorus with the admission that “I have become comfortably
numb.” </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Additionally, latent in each chorus is a sense of
unarticulatable spiritual longing for something only fleetingly experienced as
a child. In the first chorus there is
the assertion that “this is not how I am”.
This longing is clearer in the second chorus when he admits that as a
child he “caught a fleeting glimpse” of something, but “cannot put my finger on
it now” That fleeting glimpse as a child
has been replaced with numb acquiescence as an adult to something seemingly
less meaningful than that childhood experience with what I might call
mystery. Then at the end of the second
chorus we go back to the “downer” verse progression. It seems the protagonist is stuck in his or
her numbness. The chords seem to answer
this inner struggle with, “this numbness is all there is”… but that’s when
Gilmour steps in. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The rest of the song, which is about 4 minutes, a lifetime
in rock music, is dedicated to David Gilmour’s brilliant guitar solo. It’s at this point the waterworks prepare to
flow. At the start of the solo Gilmour
tends to hang around the middle to bottom of the guitar fret board, playing
“lower” notes. He even gets down to
playing around the 2<sup>nd</sup> and 4<sup>th</sup> frets on the A string,
inserting an open A few times. The solo
starts in the territory of the verse progression, low. Over the course of the 4 minute solo Gilmore
seems to slowly work up the fret board.
Spending time riffing around the 7<sup>th</sup>, 9<sup>th</sup> and 10<sup>th</sup>
frets, then at the 14<sup>th</sup> and 16<sup>th</sup> frets, until finally in the
wailing climax of the solo he’s droning for measure after measure on the 21<sup>st</sup>
and 22<sup>nd</sup> frets on the high e string, which is the part of the solo
that most deeply affects me. </div>
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<br /></div>
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This is by no means a straight line. There are peaks and valleys. Sometimes rising, sometimes falling, but
always with what I might describe as a transcendent trajectory. This feels like an attempt to accomplish
musically what the verses couldn’t, to climb the fret board, overcome the numbness,
and touch that briefly glimpsed mystery.
I can identify with that struggle: which manifests itself in my
spiritual life in my pursuit of God. Not
to mix musical metaphors here, but Jon Foreman of Switchfoot articulates this
well in their song <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiiQcyoKWjQ"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Restless</i></a>. He sings:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Until the sea of glass
we meet<br />
At last completed and complete<br />
Where tide and tear and pain subside<br />
And laughter drinks them dry<br />
<br />
I'll be waiting<br />
Anticipating<br />
All that I aim for<br />
What I was made for<br />
<br />
With every heartbeat<br />
All of my blood bleeds<br />
Running inside me<br />
I'm looking for you</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What moves me about the song is that I experience musically
what Foreman describes lyrically; that restless search and struggle to find
God, which mirror’s Augustine’s ancient assertion that, “You have made us for
yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” I would suggest this is true even after
coming to faith. Even then we’re
restless for a deeper understanding, a greater knowledge, and more complete
experience of the Divine. This is what
the song and Gilmour’s solo draws out of me.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The song ends with Gilmour sliding back down the fret board,
ending back where he started on the Bm.
Was all of that transcended trajectory for nothing? Were the verses right? Is the numbness inescapable? I suppose that
depends on how a person hears the song.
I travel up and down the fret board myself. Sometimes experiencing and reflecting the
glimpses of God’s breaking into the world in Jesus, and sometimes acquiescing
to the world’s anesthetizing numbness. It’s then, in the pressing numbness,
that I find I’m thankful for the restlessness.
There’s a sense in which one can view it as the Spirit’s loving elbow to
our ribs, and you can see it in action in the song’s protagonist and his or her
longing for the source of that “fleeting glimpse.” So take heart, even if we find ourselves back
where we started, after all of our efforts, we find the Spirit there continuing
to draw all of us toward the love of God. May we have the ears to hear it… in this and
other songs. </div>Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-91442934577877999102011-12-23T08:21:00.000-08:002011-12-28T13:38:18.288-08:00The Darkest Night of the Year<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q6w43nHwDqg/TvSqQOR5KqI/AAAAAAAAAJE/aXh4Tesd5qU/s1600/Over_The_Rhine_-_The_Darkest_Night_Of_The_Year.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q6w43nHwDqg/TvSqQOR5KqI/AAAAAAAAAJE/aXh4Tesd5qU/s400/Over_The_Rhine_-_The_Darkest_Night_Of_The_Year.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="textarticle2">"Be not afraid; for behold, I
bring you Good News of a great joy... This day is born the Savior", that
is, he who, as Son of God and Son of the Father, has traveled (in obedience to
the Father) the path that leads away from the Father and into the darkness of
the world. Behind him omnipotence and freedom; before, powerlessness, bonds and
obedience. Behind him the comprehensive divine vision; before him the prospect
of the meaninglessness of death on the Cross between two criminals, Behind him
the bliss of life with the Father; before him, grievous solidarity with all who
do not know the Father, do not want to know him and deny his existence. Rejoice
then, for God himself has passed this way! – Hans Urs Von Balthasar</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="textarticle2">The musical group Over the Rhine
entitled their 1996 Christmas album <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Darkest_Night_of_the_Year"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">TheDarkest Night of the Year</i></a>. The tone
of the record matches the title. It is
Christmas sung from somewhere near St.
John of the Cross’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark
Night of the Soul.</i> Granted, not
everyone will find that appealing, but I have a soft spot for it because anyone
who knows me knows that I have a fascination with darkness. I’m fascinated by our collective instinct in
relation to it. I’m fascinated by the
mystery and unknown quality of the darkness, and the potential it has to reveal
something of the Being and actions of God.
And I’m fascinated to survey a landscape that God promises will be transformed
and imagine what it might look like after that transformation. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="textarticle2">It seems to me most folks aren’t
comfortable with the dark, and I include myself in that number. Leave me alone in a dark unknown room, and
the heebie-jeebies that follow have the potential to cause a panic. So we often try to mitigate the dark, and
introduce some level of light into the murk.
I suppose we could ignore it and make due until our eyes adjust. Or we could sit quietly and wait for a light
source to present itself. Some actually
enjoy the dark, and are irritated at any inroads the light might make. It’s rare though that anyone who prefers a
lit room to a pitch black one would be willing to enter a pitch black room and
remain there until given permission to leave it, though that of course is the
heart of the story we celebrate every December 25. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="textarticle2">With that in mind, I think I’m going to make it a
Christmas tradition to post a link to the homily below every year on this blog. It is a relatively short, but potent review
of a story we can tend to be overly familiar with. It’s also
the sermon from which this blog takes its title, <a href="http://www.cjd.org/paper/dark.html"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Into the Dark With God</i></a>. Enjoy.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="textarticle2"><br /></span></div>Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-86001992049871187392011-12-13T12:22:00.000-08:002011-12-13T12:22:15.145-08:00Lemony Snicket, Martin Luther and Madonna: Truth is Truth is Truth<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3dxKi3le_Rb_-kZufcgDGQQ7c5tSULtiKZznUhj4VFTVMQP653cKyP7WyBVaaN2Yl49wiL8MxM_IzxtUBnuVoPwC8RHNqyOpBl8VKSdR2ZHqpN-AV1bvURcp94lvyqI8lXYZClxvjSOo/s1600/lemony+snicket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3dxKi3le_Rb_-kZufcgDGQQ7c5tSULtiKZznUhj4VFTVMQP653cKyP7WyBVaaN2Yl49wiL8MxM_IzxtUBnuVoPwC8RHNqyOpBl8VKSdR2ZHqpN-AV1bvURcp94lvyqI8lXYZClxvjSOo/s400/lemony+snicket.jpg" width="400" /></a>If you work hard, and become successful, it does not
necessarily mean you are successful because you worked hard, just as if you are
tall with long hair it doesn’t mean you would be a midget if you were bald. –
Lemony Snicket</div>
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<span class="grame">Blessings at times come to us through our
labors and at times without our labors, but never because of our labors, for
God always gives</span> them because of His undeserved mercy. – Martin Luther</div>
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Based on some of the reactions I received when I posted the
Lemony Snicket quote on my Facebook page, I imagine many of those who read this
will cringe a bit at the proposition that success is not always contingent on
hard work, and that hard work does not always breed success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the latter were the case, African women
would be the richest people on the planet, but alas they are not (yes, I stole
that from a friend’s Facebook post).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Lemony Snicket quote originated in an online post from the character Lemony
Snicket/author Daniel Handler entitled, “<a href="http://occupywriters.com/works/by-lemony-snicket">Thirteen Observations made by LemonySnicket while watching Occupy Wall Street from a Discreet Distance</a>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He makes several keen observations in relation to the Occupy Wall Street protesters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much of the post resonated with me,
particularly the quotation above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tend
to be an intuitive thinker, so sometimes it takes me awhile to digest an idea
or thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In relation to the quotation
something about it seemed to “line up” with ideas I already owned and
believed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t until I heard the
second quote from Luther that it occurred to me why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Luther essentially says something very
similar to Handler (though 500 years earlier), while simultaneously recognizing
the Divine source/principal behind why this is the case, the reason why being <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">grace.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This of course means that both express, in varied measure, something of
Divine truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To draw this out a bit, a
bit of scripture may be helpful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of
the core of the truth of both of these quotations can be found in Jesus’
Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard in the beginning of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+20&version=NIV">Matthew 20</a>.</div>
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In the parable a vineyard owner hires workers for his
vineyard very early in the morning and agrees to pay them a days wage for a
days work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later in the morning he
decides he needs more workers and so hires more agreeing to pay them
fairly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He does the same at about noon,
3, and 5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the end of the day all the
workers, those hired at 5 and those hired first thing in the morning, are paid
a full day’s wage, which of course raises the hackles of those who had actually
worked all day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When presented with the
protests of unfairness, the vineyard owner replies, “I am not being unfair to
you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I
want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have
the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am
generous?” (NIV)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus begins this
parable by suggesting that what follows is a metaphor for the Kingdom of heaven,
and ends the story by suggesting that in the story we see a dramatic rendering
of the free and gracious application of the landowner’s (God the Father’s)
generosity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many will grasp onto the
spiritual application of this and it’s relation to salvation, but many miss the
principals in play in the here and now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>God has the freedom to bless whomever God wants to bless through
whatever means God chooses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If God
chooses to bless the lazy with “success” (however you might choose to define
it) that is entirely God’s prerogative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If God chooses to bless hard work, that’s God’s prerogative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the truths being fleshed out in the
story is that blessings are always from God. No matter how much sweat equity
we’ve invested into any given project, we cannot claim the fruit of that
labor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fruit is always God’s to
give. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Now this is no argument against hard work, or for inaction
while awaiting a blessing from God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
fact all of this is a merely the infrastructural support for the point I really
want to touch on, which is that both the Lemony Snicket quote and the Martin
Luther quote reference the same Biblical truth; perhaps one more intentionally
than the other (Handler describes himself as a Secular Humanist), but the
viewpoint of any author, or speaker doesn’t change the truth of what they convey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neither the person speaking or writing, nor
the intent of the person speaking or writing ever changes the truth of what is
said or written. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The point, to quote the
great theologian Madonna, is that “truth is where you find it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Because of (what I believe to be) the accuracy of this
truism, truth isn’t always easily recognizable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s often dressed shabbily, and associates with those of ill
repute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe we would benefit
greatly if we were able to develop the ability to recognize truth in whatever
form it presents itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only would
we benefit personally, particularly if that recognition lead to meaningful,
Christ-like action, but we would benefit those around us as we were able to
recognize God at work in the culture at large and come join in that Divine
labor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps a good place to start is
to take that song, movie, book, television show, or viral video back to
scripture to find out where it resonates, and what it shares in common as a
first instinct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You might be surprised
at where you might find God already at work in the culture around us. </div>Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-82679831391179628302011-11-22T09:19:00.001-08:002011-11-22T09:24:09.303-08:00The Book of Ruth: A Love Song to the Law<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQTC2MOszgvP_YbeVgQtY4NqlY-WWp1GRisFxH6amXyO9Kxnaxs5USs88ybuppVsal8xxC46Z9SG3UUyQcfK7kRlP5ACe0U4sx1t-MZXbSDzbMXKHZGBb93pthF_HtplGjIHvR1yc-u-8/s1600/Picture1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQTC2MOszgvP_YbeVgQtY4NqlY-WWp1GRisFxH6amXyO9Kxnaxs5USs88ybuppVsal8xxC46Z9SG3UUyQcfK7kRlP5ACe0U4sx1t-MZXbSDzbMXKHZGBb93pthF_HtplGjIHvR1yc-u-8/s320/Picture1.png" width="320" /></a>So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go
and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the
women who work for me. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow
along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And
whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have
filled.” – Ruth 2.8,9 (NIV)</div>
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Ruth is a wonderful and wonderfully out of place love story,
stuck between the dark and bloody pseudo-nihilism of Judges and the road toward
a Kingdom in 1 Samuel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is short,
sweet, and in its own archaic Hebrew way, romantic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One can make the case that Ruth is the
Harlequin Romance of the Hebrew Bible, though Song of Solomon might throw its pomegranates
in the ring to be included in that conversation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The inherent drama of the love story between
Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi, and then between Ruth and Boaz seems to have
a filmic quality to it, hewing closely to many of our own cultural romantic
narratives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the Hollywood-ready
happy ending is the icing on the cake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You can just picture Ruth riding side saddle with Boaz behind her, his
arms around her trotting into the sunset at the end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I recently finished a 2 month Bible study on
Ruth. In our discussions and debates I began to see another love story in the
book float to the surface, one which I had never seen before, and one which I
might suggest reveals some truly practical applications for the way those of us
who endeavor to trust and follow Christ live out our faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This love story was one between the book’s
author and the Hebrew law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Now that begs the question, is this an unrequited love
story?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How can the Hebrew law love the
author in return?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a good question,
and one I will table for the moment and return to in a bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suppose a more immediate question is, “How
is there anything in the law to love?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Isn’t it just a bunch of do’s and don’ts that we don’t have to pay
attention to anymore because Jesus fulfilled the law?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t sacrifice bulls, or rams or goats
anymore, so why should we pay attention to the rest of it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I might suggest Ruth provides us with a
partial answer to that question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
part of the law that Ruth’s author reveals his or her (though given the
circumstances most likely his) affection for concerns its concern for the
marginalized, in this case the widow and the foreigner. This concern is the
foundation on which the book is constructed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So I suppose we should peel back the building and inspect this
foundation a bit.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut%2010&version=NIV">Deuteronomy 10</a>, after Moses received a second copy of the
law (since he had destroyed the first copy on frustration), God shares the
following with Moses and Israel, giving a glimpse into why God had acted on
their behalf in Egypt, and what that meant for the manner in which they were to
live their lives: </div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
To the LORD your God belong the
heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet the LORD set his affection on your
ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the
nations—as it is today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Circumcise your
hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord
of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and
accepts no bribes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He defends the cause
of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you,
giving them food and clothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And you
are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. –
Deuteronomy 10.14-19 (NIV)</div>
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<br /></div>
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This is the heart of God’s actions on behalf of Israel,
including God’s provision of the law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
fact, I would suggest this is the heart that beats at the center of the Law
because this is the heart of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God
chooses to work through a vehicle that doesn’t yet exist (Israel) cultivating
and maturing it through interactions with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it does begin to sprout it grows as a
marginalized community of slaves in service to a political powerhouse in Egypt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God’s choice of Israel here was entirely based in
God’s absolute freedom, and God’s grace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>God goes on to suggest that Israel’s actions should mirror
God’s in this way: that they value and love those on the margins of their
culture and social structures, in this case the fatherless, the widow and the
foreigner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After they are freed from
their slavery in Egypt
and have a land of their own God concretizes this even further in Leviticus <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=lev%2019&version=NIV">19</a>
and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=lev%2023&version=NIV">23</a> where God shares this directive, “When you reap the harvest of your
land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of
your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among
you.” (Leviticus 23.22 NIV)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These
passages form the foundational scriptural and ethical assumptions on which Ruth
was written. </div>
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You may ask why I think the author of Ruth loved this
law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first clue to the author’s love
of the Law is the story’s historical setting, “In the days when the Judges
ruled.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These days were practically lawless
and tragically violent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The book of
Judges itself characterizes this era as a time where “everyone did what was
right in their own eyes.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Needless to
say this is not an era characterized by a widespread love for or adherence to
the Hebrew Law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet here we have Boaz
not only adhering to it, but going above and beyond the Law’s requirements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He acts as if he is more concerned with the
heart of the law than with the law itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He not only does what is right by its stated requirements, but does what
is right by the widow (Naomi and Ruth) and the foreigner (Ruth) acting in
accordance with the love of the God that loved Israel when they had done nothing
to earn that love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The law here is, in
essence, the bare minimum of what is required to behave in a way which is
consistent with the character of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To
truly act in accordance with the heart of God one must go far beyond the bare
minimum, which is what Boaz does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
going above and beyond is the second clue toward revealing the author’s love of
the law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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As I asserted earlier Boaz lived in a time where the law was
barely followed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, truth be told,
the Hebrews had a tough time consistently following the law’s moral, social and
ritualistic requirements through the whole of the Biblical narrative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What we see in Boaz’s “above and beyond-ness”
in Ruth is what the practice of the Law was supposed to look like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s the ideal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We get to see God’s intent for the law put
into practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You not only have a
widow, Naomi, who was at the margins of that patriarchal society because of her
dependence on her husband and sons for her provision and survival (and she’s
lost her husband and both of her sons), but you also have a widowed foreigner
who was even further on the margins because of her lack of standing within the
community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story places them at the
mercy of the function of the law, and in this (I would suggest rare) instance
the law works as it was intended. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
it does, we get to see, as if acted out on a stage, the glimpses of what the
Hebrew culture could have been had they kept to the law, which would have been a
place that rendered visible the loving heart of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(And I didn’t even get to the concept and
practice the kinsman-redeemer) </div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
So what does this mean for us?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the author of Ruth loved the Hebrew Law,
why should we?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would suggest we should
love the Law because it allows us to “see” the inside of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this Law God rips open God’s chest to
reveal the passion of God’s metaphorical heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>God reveals a love for the humble, the inchoate, and the powerless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God goes out of the way to reach out to
them/us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would suggest that God’s
heart has not changed in the years since either the giving of the Law or the
writing or Ruth. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So if we’re to love
what God loves, that must include those on the margins in our own culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the beginning I acknowledged that the Law
could not love the author back, but the God of the Law can and does, and I
believe the recording of this story is part of the author’s recognition of and
returning of that love, for all of posterity to see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I would suggest this is the/a practical
application to be taken from Ruth: It’s up to us to allow that passionate love
to seep into us and the experience of our relationship with God and then allow
it to flow out of us as we learn to love and embrace with our actions that
which God loves and embraces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The more
this becomes part of our experience of faith, the more we may find the hands of
Boaz revealing themselves in our actions, and we can all agree, the world could
use a few more Boaz’s couldn’t it? </div>
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***The picture above is a reproduction of a woodcut done by
Margaret Adams Parker from the book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Who
are you My Daughter?: Reading Ruth Through Image and Text</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In it Theologian Ellen F. Davis provides her
own translation of and commentary on the book of Ruth, inter-cut with Margaret
Adams Parker’s wood cuts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is highly
recommended. </div>Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-3772670154566542982011-11-15T10:25:00.001-08:002011-11-15T10:34:57.234-08:00Heaven, Hell and the Handbaskets for Each<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6wNtIhCoE19Ged3gbNYG36qTuUwAfzfuyHj5bxpZBYeIEZNzJwVcycOuuBzoZmUyCHN09Koy-3nOqWnjPlw6xE8UzEEpm1tGaiCs-8FBJDm18yE4u6GVxKN5INxZnj67kwoCx0tuPqWk/s1600/hell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6wNtIhCoE19Ged3gbNYG36qTuUwAfzfuyHj5bxpZBYeIEZNzJwVcycOuuBzoZmUyCHN09Koy-3nOqWnjPlw6xE8UzEEpm1tGaiCs-8FBJDm18yE4u6GVxKN5INxZnj67kwoCx0tuPqWk/s400/hell.jpg" width="400" /></a>...left to ourselves we lapse into a kind of collusion with
entropy, acquiescing in the general belief that things may be getting worse but
that there's nothing much we can do about them. And we are wrong. Our task in
the present...is to live as resurrection people in between Easter and the final
day, with our Christian life, corporate and individual, in both worship and
mission, as a sign of the first and a foretaste of the second.” <br />
― N.T. Wright</div>
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The world is not going to hell in a hand basket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What?” you say?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Have you seen the poverty in Africa?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have you
seen the individual and corporate greed run amok?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Teens are killed for their shoes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Children are abused by those they trust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pornography is a billion dollar
industry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rich are healthy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sick are poor. We waste precious
resources for our creature comforts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Those on the margins of survival are systematically corralled on the
margins by those who benefit from their hardship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The defenseless are slaughtered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Government chips away at freedom as if
they’re sanding off old paint in order to apply their own new color scheme.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there’s a Democrat in the White
House.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To all of that I say, “Ok there
are a few good points there.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s easy
to see that the world around us is a wreck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s easy to look at the world and become discouraged, and even to
despair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes I visit discouragement and
despair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes they visit me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we listen to their voices, the world can
seem like a pretty dark and foreboding place, and in all reality it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However there is another voice speaking into
the wreck, one which should be recognizable to those who have pursued a trust
in Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a still small voice,
singing a redemptive melody.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s hard
to hear, and can often be entirely inaudible, but I would suggest that an
anchored faith that that voice exists and is active in its song is essential to
both preventing our own despair, and to breathing hope into the larger cultural
conversation. I’d like to focus in on the theology that is the back beat of
that song and draw a few practical applications out of it, if you’d be willing
to humor me and my metaphors. </div>
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The hub around which this wheel turns is the notion that God
is in the process of completing God’s redemptive work in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We get snap shot images in scripture of the
shape and feel of this completed work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>See Isaiah <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+25&version=NIV">25</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2035&version=NIV">35</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2061&version=NIV">61</a> and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2065&version=NIV">65</a>, and Revelation <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation%2019&version=NIV">19-22</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we were looking for words that we could
glean and reconstruct from these passages that would help provide that feel, we
might come up with: peace, justice, equality, love, joy, sanctuary, and
community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In these passages God reveals
to us how the story ends; or to push the music metaphor a bit, the song, or
better, the symphony God has been composing, conducting, and perhaps even
improvising through history has a glorious end which God is longing to share
with this beloved world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What must be
remembered if we’re not to be overcome by the voices of discouragement and
despair is that this symphony is still being written, and those of us living
here now are caught in one of the symphony’s taut movements, full of dissonance
and unresolved tensions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we allow
these dissonances to define all the symphony is in our minds, we lose the
beauty and attractiveness of the story being told through the music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This, I believe is part of the reason God
lets humanity in on the end of the story, to provide a modicum of hope that the
unresolved tensions that surround us do not define the whole of reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is even more beautiful is that God at
times allows us to hear hints or foreshadows of the glorious conclusion that is
waiting at the symphony’s end, both in scripture (see the Resurrection) and in
our experiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God even allows and
requests us to participate in the playing of this song.</div>
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Thus, our efforts to learn the prior movements and glorious
end of this symphony, and recreate them using the instruments God provides
(ourselves) are a good part of what we have to offer the world around us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To unwind the metaphor a bit, the more
Christians share the good news of God’s self revelation of the depths of God’s
love for humanity revealed through the life, death and resurrection of Christ
and the more we embody that love and the peace, justice, equality, joy,
sanctuary, and community that characterize the symphony’s conclusion the more
we get to participate in the still small voice’s part in the larger cultural
conversation. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s then that we not only
fight our own despair, trusting the promise of the symphony’s finale, but play
our part in the symphony, attracting people to its composer and come alongside
God as a voice of hope, continually singing to the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s then that we learn and trust that the
proverbial hand basket is not heading toward entropy and destruction but is
actually heading toward a bright, glorious and divine future. </div>Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-63673649323688550342011-10-22T19:50:00.000-07:002011-10-22T19:50:20.998-07:00Occupy Church?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzpfROkJDDZzqraz-0yltByrCeBD1zOVsrxHeW4PL70KYCUVoGSCj239HlDNUaAvy6aMJpC4TGckKbadH1frBWhIjmqYL9dEHY7bm9u_HU7jR5v1sW8Te7-1uudjQCcl0ZIvZajvaCB7s/s1600/alg_occupy-wall-street.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzpfROkJDDZzqraz-0yltByrCeBD1zOVsrxHeW4PL70KYCUVoGSCj239HlDNUaAvy6aMJpC4TGckKbadH1frBWhIjmqYL9dEHY7bm9u_HU7jR5v1sW8Te7-1uudjQCcl0ZIvZajvaCB7s/s400/alg_occupy-wall-street.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
The “Occupy Wall Street” protests have captured my imagination,
and probably not for the reasons you might suspect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a lot to be said for the collective
indignance being articulated by the Occupiers in relation to earnings and wealth
disparity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On a side note, for all the
voices that speak of their expectations to the contrary, they are revealing
that “Gen Y” does possess a moral center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It may not be your moral center, but they are making moral arguments
against the current economic construct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now,
there is also something to be said for the oddness of much of the protest, and
many of the protestors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another strike
against the Occupiers is their difficulty in succinctly articulating either all
that they’re for, or even all they’re against.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They seem to represent a pretty diverse group of interests who seem to
share in common a frustration with a financial system they see as constructed
by the rich and powerful for the benefit of the rich and powerful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, they seem to share that frustration,
and a collective interest in horizontal as opposed to hierarchical
organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is actually what
interests me most, particularly in relation to the church.</div>
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I’m intrigued because the occupiers are embodying a means of
organizing I’ve been fascinated by for years, particularly in regards to how it
relates to the church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was introduced
to this idea of a horizontal organization of church by Tom Sine’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mustard-Seed-vs-McWorld-Reinventing/dp/0801090881"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mustard Seed Versus McWorld</i></a>, and Neil
Cole’s <a href="http://www.cmaresources.org/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Organic Church: Growing FaithWhere Life Happens</i></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both suggest a
radical rethinking of how we organize church, creating smaller community
structures, less dependent on brick and mortar facilities, and allowing for
greater spontaneity and liquidity in movement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In different ways they argue that hierarchical structures have the
strong potential to slow the church’s work as those involved commit
considerable amounts of time to both the organization and the facilities
associated with the organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have
to say their ideas held and continue to hold my imagination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As much as I love church as I’ve known it,
and as much as I love being a part of the organization and the family
atmosphere of the organization, it has always seemed rather unwieldy to
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The trouble is I’ve had a hard time
imagining what an alternative would look like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I even tried to find ways to take these ideas from the page to the real
world; from the construction of an intentional community to alternative
liturgies and ecclesial structures, without much success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Enter the “Occupy Wall Street” folks and
their experiment in “horizontal democracy.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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This is what seems to me to be at the heart of their
protests, and the one thing shared in common, a commitment to shy away from
hierarchy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can see this in their
decision making process, attempting to decide by group consensus as opposed to
majority vote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Granted it takes longer
and less gets “done”, but by doing so they embody the alternative to that which
is the root of their indignance, the power of the few over the many.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I appreciate this commitment to live this
philosophy given my interest in the idea of Incarnation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given the importance of Incarnation to
Christianity, this should get our attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Their message in reality is their action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because of this the value of this protest
thus far, at least as I see it, isn’t in their propositions, but in their
actions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I pray that some day the same
can be said of me. </div>Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-29297282375352036522011-10-14T11:30:00.000-07:002011-10-14T11:32:08.031-07:00Dry Bones, Illuminated Manuscripts, and Visual Hermeneutics<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL3VUoPX04iTOoZo-AbeCGsl2M9JQ-gMBcQRbku29CzUxCW7h4XPnE1N6ywz9H0UCiu5eJ5UwzqJkYFzBs31iuYztBAn6wi9SpRu0nKSbLr7PPoryDBwJk18-gApUU15FG8H-VGvHJztU/s1600/ten+commandments.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL3VUoPX04iTOoZo-AbeCGsl2M9JQ-gMBcQRbku29CzUxCW7h4XPnE1N6ywz9H0UCiu5eJ5UwzqJkYFzBs31iuYztBAn6wi9SpRu0nKSbLr7PPoryDBwJk18-gApUU15FG8H-VGvHJztU/s1600/ten+commandments.jpg" /></a>“Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear
the word of the <span class="sc">Lord</span>. Thus says the Lord <span class="sc">God</span>
to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will
lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with
skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am
the <span class="sc">Lord</span>.” So I prophesied as I had been commanded. –
From Ezekiel 37</div>
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I suspect there’s a good chance you have not heard of the <a href="http://www.saintjohnsbible.org/see/explore.htm"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">St. John’s</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Bible</i></a>.
It is the first hand written, illuminated Bible to be produced since the
invention of the printing press in the 16<sup>th</sup> century, around 500
years ago. It is also the first hand
written copy of the Bible ever produced in English. I learned about it as part of a gathering I
attended where the focus was (surprise, surprise) theology and the arts. I have to say the book is stunning in its
craftsmanship, and imagination. If you
have time, please click on the link above and explore the Bible. You can actually turn through the Bible’s pages
on their website. The illuminations are
stunning aesthetically, and do an amazing job of opening up the text it
illuminates to a type of visual hermeneutic.
At any rate as part of a seminar I attended in relation to this Bible, I
participated in a community Lectio Divina, which is a Benedictine meditative
practice of reading and praying through scripture. It’s typically done alone, but the director
of the St. John Bible Project, Tim Ternes, led us through a modified
arrangement of the practice where a portion of a text would be read, and those
in the seminar would speak out phrases, words, or groups of words from the
text. It became something of an open,
communal, improv-like, free form scriptural poetry reading. Our text for this exercise was Ezekiel
37.1-14, The Valley of the Dry Bones. As
a group we drew a lot more out of the text than I have ever personally gotten
out of, or seen in the text before.
There’s one concept in particular that stuck out to me that I’d like to
share here; not the main point of the text, but something the text and the
production of the Bible had in common, the importance of human agency in materially
and dramatically rendering God’s heart and desires visible to a world bound to
their physical senses. </div>
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The text itself is a dynamic drama born out of the
imagination of God and shared with Ezekiel.
Ezekiel of course then shared it with those around him, and it was
recorded in writing for the benefit of posterity. What interests me is what the vision reveals
about that which God holds dear, and the part God expects Ezekiel to play in
this drama of disclosure. </div>
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As the vision unfolds to Ezekiel, God reveals a deep love
for the Hebrew people, and a desire that they live and experience the type of
full life associated with living in the awareness that they are loved
absolutely and unconditionally. Ideally,
the product of this awareness is trust and hope. At the end of the vision God indicates to
Ezekiel that the entire purpose of the vision was that the Hebrews would, “know
that I, the <span class="sc">Lord</span>, have spoken and will act.” This action is entirely God’s initiative, unmerited
and on their behalf. God essentially
flings open the metaphorical Divine ribs and reveals a heart beating with <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8779752312275506403" name="OLE_LINK2"></a>a
madly overabundant, uncontainable love for these people. God allows Ezekiel and by extension us to see
the Divine insides so to speak, and we are left with the knowledge of the
security and thus comfort of God’s love.
Look closer though. How is it
that we get to “see” this? How is this
made visible? We can’t see
feelings. We can only see actions. So who is acting here? Ezekiel.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In the vision Ezekiel is commanded to prophecy to the
bones. God doesn’t resurrect the bones
directly, but employs Ezekiel as a mediator.
In doing so, God reveals God’s love through Ezekiel’s obedient actions. There is a similarity here to Moses’
experience at the Red Sea. In Exodus 14 God tells Moses to lift up his
hands to both part the seas and return them to “normal.” In both instances the text records that Moses
lifted his hands, and then God parted the waters, and then returned them. God didn’t act until Moses did. God didn’t return flesh and life to the bones
in the vision until Ezekiel prophesied to them.
</div>
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God has left us and the Church of our times with many a
command as well, revealed through prophets, the teachings of Jesus and the
letters of the New Testament. God I believe still wants to reveal the Divine
heart that beats with a madly overabundant, uncontainable love for all the
peoples of the Earth. But God it seems
limits the initiation of the revelation of that love to the text of Bible
(which at its core is a result of obedient human action) and acts of those on
the stage of the world. Our job as those
trusting in that Divine love is to use our agency, our choices, and our gifts
to participate with God in revealing that love to others through our words,
yes, but even more so through our actions as they relate to our attempts to
obey, and dramatically live out the commands God has shared in scripture. In doing so, we also become something of a
“visual hermeneutic” ourselves, in a manner similar to that of the
illuminations in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">St. John Bible</i>. In the same way that calligrapher and artist
Donald Jackson, and the creators of that Bible used <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">their</i> agency, choices and gifts to produce an object that creates
the opportunity of Divine encounter, so our lives lived in loving actions of
obedience to God can create that opportunity as well. Notice I said earlier it seems that God
limits the “initiation” of the revelation of God’s love to our obedient
action. Once we act it seems God steps
in and does what only God can do, bring life where there was death, and hope
where the was despair. That seems like a
pretty good deal to me, and one I want to be a part of. </div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
(The picture is from the Exodus 20 illumination in the St. John's Bible) </div>Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-49727292307825574512011-09-30T11:19:00.000-07:002011-09-30T11:19:47.440-07:00Holy Fools: Singing the Praises of Judas?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig27w6zqLztHoeMJqBXxfM1Qwc_sHzmmLCudbvIZixfDEXR0PSHK-PRosbVGckpDUyg0Pme464CxUgs-TviGg-nXzYvo-9aB0oTOX8trBbjrFPjdgQwci9iFpXX8yOKlp-mmsKPge8ofI/s1600/holy+fool.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig27w6zqLztHoeMJqBXxfM1Qwc_sHzmmLCudbvIZixfDEXR0PSHK-PRosbVGckpDUyg0Pme464CxUgs-TviGg-nXzYvo-9aB0oTOX8trBbjrFPjdgQwci9iFpXX8yOKlp-mmsKPge8ofI/s320/holy+fool.jpg" width="247" /></a></div>
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Lady Gaga’s song <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y7ACSyxWS0"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Judas</i></a>
is very Lady Gaga-ish; brash, aggressive, contentious, yet engaging, and
perhaps even thoughtful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The song
reveals her familiarity with the Madonna playbook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Step 1: Create a song charged with Christian
imagery intended to toe the line of the church’s perception of irreverence and blasphemy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Step 2: Release that song during Holy
Week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tempest meet tea cup. Though, to
their credit, a good many in the church have learned to recognize these public
relation slights of hand and refuse to be baited into the furor they may have
been worked up to in the past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is
not common in the church is the vision to see that the use of Christian imagery
in the arts and pop culture, even if deemed offensive by some, is often one
side of a spiritual conversation waiting to be had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here Lady Gaga is considering how to handle
betrayal and forgiveness, using the Biblical account of Judas as her
metaphor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is Lady Gaga inviting the
biblical narrative into a very broad cultural conversation, engaging notions
that form the heart of the gospel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I
understand the discomfort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is
singing she’s in love with the person who betrayed Christ to the Sanhedrin, the
Romans and his execution while pushing the bounds of tailored modesty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was uncomfortable the first time I heard it
myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But let’s take a look at this
song and attempt to put aside our discomfort, and possibly offense, and see if
we can’t open ourselves to a more constructive conversation.</div>
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So let’s hear from the Lady herself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What does the song mean to her?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She says, </div>
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'Judas' is a metaphor and an analogy
about forgiveness and betrayal and things that haunt you in your life and how I
believe that it's the darkness in your life that ultimately shines and
illuminates the greater light that you have upon you…the song is about washing
the feet of both good and evil and understanding and forgiving the demons from
your past in order to move into the greatness of your future.</div>
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Now the purpose of this little post isn’t to critique the
content of her take on the Judas narrative, but simply to point out that she is
actively engaged and wrestling with it, and to engage in a bit of the other
side of the conversation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s
recognize that she is acknowledging the importance of forgiveness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the song you find her wrestling with how
to treat someone you’ve forgiven, yet who continues to betray you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The song recognizes the social consequences
of that type of relationship as she continues to attempt to constructively love
her betrayer, yet finds herself clinging to him or her instead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the struggle of many a co-dependent
relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is also a question
often asked by those in the Church as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The blanket availability of forgiveness for all taught in the Gospel,
and Christ’s command to axiomatically forgive individuals 70x7 times for the
wrongs they do you is something Christians struggle to live out in their
lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The absoluteness of this circle
of inclusion plays out dramatically in the Judas narrative as Jesus on the
night Judas betrays him, and knowing of the betrayal, washes Judas’ feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus loved and served Judas to the end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do we as Christians forgive our betrayers
without encouraging further betrayal, or should the second half of that
question even be a consideration?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sometimes we Christians have the same questions of the Bible as the
culture around us.</div>
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Additionally, Lady Gaga isn’t just engaging scripture, she’s
also engaging the Christian tradition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Interestingly enough Gaga asserts that she is “obsessed” with Christian
and Religious art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the chorus of the
song she identifies herself as a holy fool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now this really doesn’t have much meaning to Evangelicals and other
Protestants, but the holy fool seems to have greater relevance the further east
you travel in the Christian world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
notion has its roots in medieval Christianity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>According to our friends at the Oxford Dictionary of World Religions,
holy fools are, “Figures who subvert prevailing orthodoxy and orthopraxis in
order to point to the truth which lies beyond immediate conformity.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These were figures who were often employed in
the extravagant late medieval European Passion Plays.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At any rate she is drawing on this tradition
and casting the “character” singing the song (though I strongly suspect this is
how Gaga sees herself) as someone attempting to engage the Church with
perspectives they just aren’t comfortable with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Whatever you think of her methods of accomplishing this, shouldn’t we in
the Church be open to hear from those who place themselves outside of the
church, or at its margins?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isn’t this a
constructive way of learning how we’re seen through their eyes?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Spirit works in strange ways, perhaps
even through holy fools.</div>
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I would suggest that we ignore these opportunities for
cultural spiritual engagement at our own peril.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For us to unilaterally wash our hands of or write off these types of artists
and songs and films and shows and other pop culture texts is to pass a type of overconfident
judgment on both the creation and the artist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Humility would suggest a more measured approach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as the group U2 ponders the fate of
Judas at the end of their song about his final days, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7ElEHJpvNs"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Until the End of the World</i></a>, we too will have to wait until the end
of the world to determine their ultimate value.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But in the same way that we may ultimately be surprised by Judas’ fate,
which is entirely dependent upon God’s justice and mercy, we may also be
surprised in retrospect at the value of lovingly engaging the button pushers
and holy fools in our cultures. </div>
Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-34396033555257378592011-09-17T19:08:00.000-07:002011-09-25T12:23:23.931-07:009/11 and the Dangers of Conflation<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgodQ4UQX8eHMSBvWEkee3WElONMt_9ddMutZ4lSiqmxn0G4QX2iRDGrBi8FkkJlyZ26MKPU8BqWQBXVBzmkbSit7-nNs-3zMYaYprzfWtUyhlIOi0DIc1-gZhEj1kYl8JuWvJ30tqD8d8/s1600/0420-0906-1122-5738_memorial_for_9_11_m.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgodQ4UQX8eHMSBvWEkee3WElONMt_9ddMutZ4lSiqmxn0G4QX2iRDGrBi8FkkJlyZ26MKPU8BqWQBXVBzmkbSit7-nNs-3zMYaYprzfWtUyhlIOi0DIc1-gZhEj1kYl8JuWvJ30tqD8d8/s320/0420-0906-1122-5738_memorial_for_9_11_m.jpg" width="320" /></a>Conflation: the process or result of fusing items into one entity.<br />
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10 years... September 11 I think will always be a scar that aches a bit, with the ache asserting itself more aggressively when that date rolls around every year. The round numbered anniversaries of course tend to be occasions to more consciously rub that ache and remember what that day means to us. This is one of those years. Christians living in the US remember along with everyone else. We were no less affected by the violence because of our faith, and struggled to make sense of the senselessness of it all just like all of our neighbors. Our anguish, fear and even our injuries and deaths were no different than those of our fellow Americans who don’t count themselves as followers of Christ. While we all experienced the attacks as Americans, those of us who identify ourselves with Christ also experienced the attacks as Christians, meaning both identities experienced the trauma simultaneously. I would suggest this experience and our response to it reveals a tension that exists between these two identities which plays itself out in our experiences of both our common communities and our communities of faith. I would suggest our attempts to resolve this tension between our Christian identity and our American identity can sometimes carry us to places which are dangerous to both our faith and our nation. It’s this danger, which also plays itself out in the shadow of this anniversary, that I think I’d like to briefly survey here.<br />
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I want to acknowledge up front that there are a lot of sacred cows in play here, and the probability of divergent takes and visions are a given, particularly given the brevity of this format. This will in no way be an even remotely exhaustive, comprehensive, or thorough exploration. It’s just a few thoughts on this tension played out in 500-600 words or so. That being said, I want to begin on the civic side of this tension and acknowledge the Biblical ideas and principles that found their way into much of the mythic narrative of our founding and into many of our founding documents. We are a nation born partially out of the frustration with the sectarian persecutions and wars which took place in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. This “new” land presented people of marginalized faith practices with economic and religious opportunities not accessible to them in their old home. Even as the Enlightenment pushed the theological heart of these nascent ideas toward the margins of public discourse in the 18th century, the country’s founding generation still leaned on the existing religious, philosophical and linguistic framework as they constructed the governing bodies and institutions of this country. Many were men and women of faith themselves. Many were not. But most kept to some form of faith, which was part of our collective national heritage to that point.<br />
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It’s because of this framework, and the founders’ choices to work within it that Jefferson is able to write, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…” Jefferson is building on a Christian theological foundation, asserting that all are created equal because of a common Divine Creator who values all equally, while simultaneously tweaking those constructs to reflect contemporary Enlightenment thinking, citing, “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” just a few lines prior as the core foundation upon which his Declaration of Independence was being built. The point here is that this nation was built on a unique foundation of faith which was already morphing before the Constitution was even written. The nation was built on a civic faith in these ideals which was not necessarily a theologically “orthodox” faith. Christianity here was politically engaged toward a civil end, much as it has been throughout its history to both noble and ignoble ends, from Constantine to Jim Crow.<br />
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In contrast, the Christian experience, both individually and collectively, particularly as it is described in the New Testament, seems to be markedly unlike this civic faith. In fact both Jesus and Paul seem to acknowledge the tension in loyalties that exists within one choosing to follow after Christ, with both counseling their listeners and readers to show respect for and demonstrate appropriate loyalty to those in positions of civic authority and the political institutions they represent, Jesus in Matthew 22, Mark 12 and Luke 20 and Paul in Romans 13. However, these same readers and listeners are also instructed to actively resist immoral and corrupt cultural practices, replacing them with moral and just ones, which will of course have subversive political implications and thus reveals the tension I spoke of in the opening paragraph. This tension seems to be assumed in the Bible. It seems to be a subset of the larger tension between the Kingdom Jesus speaks of and every political establishment that demonstrates little or no interest in that kingdom.<br />
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The difficulty we as Americans face is that our political establishment does have some vestigial and perhaps even some active interest in the principles and actions that characterize Jesus’ Kingdom. I would suggest however that this seeming slackening of that tension is more apparent than it is real. Anecdotally, if this were not the case the reigning general consensus among Evangelicals regarding the state of our culture and government would probably not include the words “hell” or “hand basket.” So where does this leave us? I would suggest that Biblically speaking, this tension between the Christian and their government, even if that government takes a welcoming stance toward them, is a good thing and that some of the confusion we often feel and experience, which often makes it way into our liturgies around civic holidays and remembrances such as Memorial Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day and 9/11, has its roots in our attempts to resolve or work out this tension. We are right to want to recognize the faith of our country’s founders. We are right to recognize the unique role the ideas that rose from that faith have played in our national and political institutions. But we do a disservice to both our faith and our nation when we merge the two into one entity, and then merge both into one personal identity. Without the tension we lose the ability to speak prophetically to those in power. We become more easily co-opted by those in power as a means to accomplish the ends of this kingdom. And most dangerous of all we begin to lose our identity and the unique identity of Jesus’ Kingdom. This is dangerous then not only to us, but also for our nation in that it loses the unique Christian voice that in many ways serves as its conscience. Attempting to resolve this tension allows it to be quieted and silenced. Something to keep in mind as we struggle to live with both identities…
Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-45272543101985054512011-08-30T11:33:00.000-07:002011-08-30T11:35:12.571-07:00Ruth Orkin and the Male Gaze<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPa8rdx4sXXOZuhrNaYn4tGYcnHmQsDGuo1PZyOdW9k6ZwJzsKejrsXZqm7nYSWQxEjhFIgKkAof_BGx328PrPXMviOADmlk7yzE5fE-0xIW1rwIxmXqt7By2tQXjNm0sMHkMR5YGqFtg/s1600/girlAmerican-Girl-in-Italy_231853.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 219px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPa8rdx4sXXOZuhrNaYn4tGYcnHmQsDGuo1PZyOdW9k6ZwJzsKejrsXZqm7nYSWQxEjhFIgKkAof_BGx328PrPXMviOADmlk7yzE5fE-0xIW1rwIxmXqt7By2tQXjNm0sMHkMR5YGqFtg/s320/girlAmerican-Girl-in-Italy_231853.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5646719370010558978" /></a>
<br />I was struck by this photo recently, <span style="font-style:italic;">American Girl in Italy</span>. There was an article on its 60th birthday, and the photos subject, Ninalee Craig was offering her remembrances of the photo. The photo was taken by Ruth Orkin in Florence, Italy in 1951. The two women were both traveling through Europe by themselves and met as part of their travels. They decided to take photos capturing the experience of traveling as a single woman in Europe at the time, and thus this photo was born. Now 83, Craig is adamant that the photo is not a negative symbol of harassment, or anything in that vein saying instead, “It’s a symbol of a woman having an absolutely wonderful time!” This is a great example of the hermeneutical eyes a person brings to an image. The first time I saw the image I felt the men were a threat, though she suggests they never crossed any lines of inappropriateness. What most struck me about the photo after spending some time with it is the hermeneutical power of the male gaze.
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<br />I’m not going to delve too deeply into this concept, partially because it’s something I’m actively wrestling with. But I do want to throw it out there for conversation… The notion of the male gaze first draws on French Psychologist Jacques Lacan’s notion of “the gaze”, the realization that you are a visible object to others. The idea is that our identity and actions are partially shaped by our experience and awareness of others watching us. This also comes in to play then in critiquing visual culture, or the images that bombard us every day. British film critic and theorist Laura Mulvey used this notion of the gaze to help construct a manner of describing what she perceived to be a primarily male-centric image creating construct in film making. She suggested films are made primarily from the perspective of a male subject, which sees women as objects of desire. Thus from her perspective films tend to codify the cultural gender constructs of men as actively looking and women as being passively looked at. This is a bit of what is rolling around in my head as I look at Orkin’s image. What is of particular interest for me is the manner in which the male gaze affects, and interacts with feminine identity.
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<br />Now I know as a man I’m treading on dangerous territory broaching anything having to do with feminine identity. What do I know about that? I’ll admit I know far less than I probably should. That being said, I do want to comment on what I perceive to be the influence the male gaze has on identity in both masculine and feminine circles. I find Craig’s commentary on the different reactions she gets to the photograph from men and women telling. She says, “Men who see the picture always ask me: Was I frightened? Did I need to be protected? Was I upset? They always have a manly concern for me. Women, on the other hand, look at that picture, and the ones who have become my friends will laugh and say, ‘Isn’t it wonderful? Aren’t the Italians wonderful? ... They make you feel appreciated!” Her experience is that men are concerned (perhaps because they best know dark potential of the male gaze) and women can tend to appreciate the experience of being the object of the gaze. It seems to me that the different reactions from men and women reveal something of the affects of the gaze. I’m not sure I’m prepared to go further than that right now, but I’m becoming increasingly aware of the eyes I’m prompted to look through when viewing images in film, TV, photography and online.
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<br /> Of course this is an entirely anecdotal observation from one woman, but I think we, particularly those who are Christians and believe that men and women are both created in the image of God, ought to be mindful of how the simple perspective of the images that surround us affect our experience of being the image of God. Did God create women to be the passive objects of the male gaze? Theologically I would strongly lean toward “No” on that answer, however I must confess that sadly my actions, and the actions of those Christians around me reveal no strong inclination to be critical of or even aware this construct. Perhaps this will help with the awareness side of that equation. Anyone want to join me in the attempt to push back?
<br />Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-51719816107537882692011-08-18T10:16:00.000-07:002011-08-18T10:22:12.195-07:00Ryan Lizza, Michele Bachmann and the Francis Schaeffer I Know<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH_q0VbhjXzoNg7Cd3McuTD_KWnZViQWXQ0vbk4RRNgZFYZg58y_ONnxBeyrZaDe_5UEtrhaF_O9qeCjhaEdYXTL4hWuthIkX1rPTIBYZf1FQn9qTYeVkhzI3vYBAhGgjAtF04T1HWIIo/s1600/Picture2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH_q0VbhjXzoNg7Cd3McuTD_KWnZViQWXQ0vbk4RRNgZFYZg58y_ONnxBeyrZaDe_5UEtrhaF_O9qeCjhaEdYXTL4hWuthIkX1rPTIBYZf1FQn9qTYeVkhzI3vYBAhGgjAtF04T1HWIIo/s320/Picture2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5642247123095164450" /></a>
<br />Each generation of the church in each setting has the responsibility of communicating the gospel in understandable terms, considering the language and thought-forms of that setting. – Francis Schaeffer
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<br />Ryan Lizza’s recent <span style="font-style:italic;">The New Yorker</span> article chronicling the evolution of Minnesota Representative and Presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann’s thought and faith as they relate both to her private person and to her actions in the public arena of politics reveals her strong and foundational affinity for evangelist, apologist and theologian Francis Schaeffer. Not so coincidentally (I am writing about this…) I to share a strong and foundational affinity with Mr. Schaeffer. I was struck though by the different shapes our respective affinities have taken; and even though I believe Schaeffer becomes distorted when seen through Mr. Lizza’s eyes (he suggests Schaeffer advocated the violent overthrow of the government, which I have a hard time finding in his writings), his article reveals something of the tension within Schaeffer’s thought, and by extension within much Evangelical thought, and reveals some of Evangelicalism’s imperfections in the process, which I would like to sift through, consider and perhaps offer a suggestion or two on some Schaefferian means (as seen through my eyes) to wrestle with them.
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<br />I was introduced to Francis Schaeffer while attending an Evangelical college in the early 90’s. We read his book <span style="font-style:italic;">How Should We Then Live?</span> as a part of “Western Man” (the course’s title) which was a World History course. It was fascinating reading for me. He made connections between culture and theology that resonated with my spirituality at the time, and put into words thoughts I had not been able to articulate. I came to the book as a lover of the arts, primarily music and film at the time, though from a background that viewed the arts with great suspicion. He took the arts seriously, respecting them as valuable in and of themselves, and as a window into understanding culture, philosophy and theology. In addition in his book <span style="font-style:italic;">Art and the Bible</span> he chides the Evangelical Church for its latent Platonism, valuing the spiritual over the physical. He instead suggests that the two (the spiritual and physical) make up one whole reality, thus their interpenetration must become a core assumption in order to understand the fullness of a person. Because of this the physical and therefore the arts have value theologically. Schaeffer pointed me down the road I’ve traveled to play in the intersection of theology and the arts.
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<br />There is however the other side of Schaeffer, the one that grows out of that last set of ideas that not only values the physical world of the arts, but also values the culture that produces them, and believes that culture should fully reflect what he would call a “Biblical Worldview”. This is the Schaeffer Mr. Lizza suggests Mrs. Bachmann, and much of Evangelicalism has embraced, and the truth is, in spite of the distortions in Mr. Lizza’s understanding of Shaeffer’s means of accomplishing this end, he’s right about his basic assertion. Lizza uses the label “Dominionism” to describe their position, suggesting that Evangelicals who hold to Schaeffer’s ideas believe that Christians are expected to shape and mold the secular cultural and political institutions so that they embody the “true truth” (Schaeffer’s description) of the Bible. And here we reveal the tension I wrote of earlier.
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<br />Schaeffer wants to respect and value the arts and culture as expressions of the “mannish-ness of man” (Schaeffer’s description) but at the same time wants to shape them so that they embody the truth found in the Bible, which is a fine goal. Folks with dearly held beliefs tend to articulate strong critiques of culture and politics and seek to shape them to more closely resemble those beliefs. The issue of tension here within Schaeffer’s framework is that Schaeffer seems to want to travel down two mutually divergent roads. He seems to want to take New York Yankee Catcher Yogi Berra’s advice and upon coming to the fork in the road, take it. At one end of the tension is the absolute belief in the absolute truth of God as revealed through the Bible calling it, “the absolute infallible Word of God.” At the other end of this tension is the call for the Christian to love those around them in a self gifting, self sacrificial manner. At this end Schaeffer acknowledges, “Biblical orthodoxy without compassion is surely the ugliest thing in the world.” The article tends to assert that Schaeffer’s followers, and perhaps Schaeffer himself tend to tip the scale, weighing truth as more valuable than love. Granted Schaeffer suggests the emphasis on truth is loving, writing, “Truth always carries with it confrontation. Truth demands confrontation; loving confrontation nevertheless.” From this perspective it’s unloving to abandon people, through apathy, lethargy or fear to untruth. It’s clear, given the existence of this tension that Schaeffer himself wrestled to balance these apparently competing interests. So let’s do a little (very little given the brevity of the blog) wrestling ourselves.
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<br />If one holds that both sides of this tension are equally valuable, which I believe Schaeffer would, then the question becomes one of means as opposed to motivation. One would have to unwaveringly hold to this absolute truth while actively and imitatively embodying that truth in the love of God revealed through Jesus Christ, essentially recreating the Incarnation. Jesus simultaneously through both words and actions revealed and embodied the truth and heart of the Father. It seems that Mr. Lizza, and by extension others in the culture, see only the propositions of truth and not the divine heart of love when viewing Mr. Schaeffer and Mrs. Bachmann. Granted some of that vision comes and goes with faith; however this article begs the question of whether Schaeffer (the theologian/evangelist/apologist) or Bachmann (the politician) were or are, “communicating the gospel in understandable terms, considering the language and thought-forms of that setting.” I would humbly suggest that they fell and continue to fall short here given their emphasis on the propositional side of truth. The gospel is more than a set of facts or principals. To articulate the propositions of truth without embodying them in the actions of self gifting love distorts them, making them exactly what Schaeffer called them, “the ugliest thing in the world.” The understandable terms that communicate to this generation must include both.
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<br />Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-30828593920888518262011-08-08T08:57:00.000-07:002011-08-08T09:11:54.679-07:00Anakin Skywalker, Darth Vader, and Samson: The Blog I Didn't Write<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKRbQUHXy_9sZoogCSl0uKn3DzmCoqkRg7XMxu508fz720LMwBM4xLhpT_4px70mLxBD-Yyq6WMFqTZKjqcZQySO59l5rY1AXUkuT4wTKqQwfjNREgjoM_w8-PwjqiVQ6wiwam8dFID7Q/s1600/anakin+samson.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKRbQUHXy_9sZoogCSl0uKn3DzmCoqkRg7XMxu508fz720LMwBM4xLhpT_4px70mLxBD-Yyq6WMFqTZKjqcZQySO59l5rY1AXUkuT4wTKqQwfjNREgjoM_w8-PwjqiVQ6wiwam8dFID7Q/s320/anakin+samson.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638518499002521826" /></a>
<br />Have you ever seen something that wasn’t there? You know, you see something out of the corner of your eye, perhaps a face outside your window, and think, “What IS that?” and when you turn for a double take you see it’s just the leaves on the tree. Well, that’s a great metaphor for my experience trying to write this particular blog entry. I thought I saw something, but upon further review, it just wasn’t what I thought it was. Let me back up a bit and walk through how I arrived at this place of suspicion.
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<br />A few weeks ago while listening to a sermon on Samson, the really strong guy from the book of Judges, I was struck by what I thought were really strong parallels between Samson’s story and the over-arching Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader narrative told over the course of all six Star Wars films. (Yes this is the type of stuff that crosses my mind during sermons… welcome to my world.) In both cases there were prophecies concerning their lives. For Samson it was that he would be a Nazirite and deliver his people from the Philistines and for Anakin the prophecy was that he would bring balance to the Force. As they grew they were both set apart for service, for Samson as a Nazirite and for Anakin as Jedi. They both embody a certain impetuousness and impulsiveness. Both are often more likely to behave how they wished then how they ought. They both fly into murderous rages, slaughtering large numbers of people, Samson with the Philistines and the jawbone of an ass, and Anakin with the Tusken Raiders and of course his lightsaber and the Force. They both suffer disabling injuries because of their poor decisions. Samson has his eyes gouged out, and Anakin lost his legs and arm and was badly burned. Finally they both end up fulfilling the prophecies told of them through their respective somewhat self-sacrificial deaths. Slam dunk right? It’s obvious George Lucas was just retelling Samson’s story through Darth Vader. A younger version of me might have seen these intriguing parallels and run with it, but after a second look I just couldn’t justify that strong a relationship between the two.
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<br />Granted there are undeniable parallels here; however upon further review there is perhaps as much Faust or Hercules as there is Samson in Vader. For that matter the ancient stories, events and mythologies that pre-date the record of Samson’s exploits in Judges may have had an influence on the shape the telling of Samson’s story takes. The point being that every story or narrative borrows from and is in conversation with the stories and narratives that surround it and precede it. To quote Solomon, generally credited as the writer of Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing new under the sun.” To suggest that Vader’s story IS a spot on retelling of Samson’s just doesn’t do either justice. Interestingly, it seems to me that the core of the parallels between the two characters lies in the flawed, self-absorbed nature of their temperaments. Granted there are plot parallels as well, but they might not seem so analogous without the personal similarity.
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<br />At any rate, I wanted to share my thought process and suggest that seeing the similarities and analogies that live in the stories all around us as they converse with both contemporary and historical narratives including scripture is, I believe, helpful and necessary to building appropriate hermeneutical contexts as we try to make sense of them. I also wanted to suggest caution in that process when the desire to find allegorical parallels instead of analogous ones presents itself. Allegory may be a helpful tool in the belt of pedagogy, but it can greatly curtail the larger narrative conversation. With that said, any interesting narrative parallels that jump out to you that you’d like to share?
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<br />Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8779752312275506403.post-82739069673092591612011-07-26T10:07:00.000-07:002011-07-26T10:09:28.485-07:00Whatever is Lovely Part V: The Long and Winding Road Home<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCsZjoYiqBsdZef-tnxWTUez5iuvhpeNUzT-1zJuW5QdbUG2EGNBJS6K1kAVDek3DY9y0rI43axTjNYSWZFNt1zCzlonY5wjGGiq63YJz5s4nhav-uBtbEjiyJLDV64Ksbd5CSidMMVVY/s1600/winding_road.preview.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 258px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCsZjoYiqBsdZef-tnxWTUez5iuvhpeNUzT-1zJuW5QdbUG2EGNBJS6K1kAVDek3DY9y0rI43axTjNYSWZFNt1zCzlonY5wjGGiq63YJz5s4nhav-uBtbEjiyJLDV64Ksbd5CSidMMVVY/s320/winding_road.preview.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5633709193782831314" /></a><br />Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things – Philippians 4.8 (NIV)<br /><br />So where does this leave us? How does the Incarnation, the extra-propositional nature of truth and Theo-Drama help us in practically applying Paul’s admonitions here? As I stated in the introductory portion of this extended blog I’ve come to believe the shortest most efficient line between two points is typically or perhaps often the least godly/Biblical route to take. Hopefully, the winding routes of my reasoning have been a fitting embodiment of that notion… for better or for worse. The over-arching point being that simply avoiding a story, film, painting, recording, etc because it isn’t true, right, pure or lovely at first blush means you miss the possibility of seeing generously as God does, or experiencing unconventional encounters with truth, or learning to act out the divine role gifted you by God. From this perspective encounters with the arts and pop culture become exercises in finding the truth, nobility, loveliness and admirability (yes I believe I made up that word) that exists and lives in them, and in those that created them. It becomes an opportunity to think on such things, meditating ultimately on the generosity and graciousness of a God who still sees flashes of these things in God’s own divine handiwork. <br /><br />As a final thought I want to acknowledge that approaching the arts and pop culture texts from this perspective still doesn’t provide a free reign to engage any and all arts and texts. There are many texts I cannot engage because of the emotional and spiritual damage they cause me. The best example of this for me is slasher films. I can’t watch them because, one I squirm too much, and two because the graphic depictions of brutality and gore stay with me in a way that I feel is very unhealthy. I can’t say however that these films are bad for everyone. I know many people who engage with these narratives and the ideas they embody in healthy ways. And many of these films do engage with big picture ideas. (Think Hostel, Saw, or Scream) But as much as I might admire the engagement of these big picture ideas from a distance I can’t relate to them at close range. Others can’t engage art or texts that overtly portray or describe sexuality. Some can’t engage arts or texts that arouse doubt, or fear in them. We all have our weaknesses, but I might suggest the lines of appropriateness are drawn in each individual as opposed to absolute lines drawn for every person in every situation, which perhaps is a topic for another blog down the road. At any rate I hope that this little excursion has shown that Paul’s request to the Philippians here is more by road and less interstate than is readily apparent.Jason Fallinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00023735277423782229noreply@blogger.com0