What We Talk About When We Talk About God {VIDEO}

Earlier tonight I tuned into a live speaking engagement from Rob Bell, discussing his newest book, What We Talk About When We Talk About God.  It's brilliant and refreshing and much needed in a faithless landscape, filled with boxes and black and white thought - both inside and outside of anything resembling "church."

I encourage you to take the time and watch this!


Video streaming by Ustream

Peace,
Ross

God and the Vitality of Irrational Thought

Last week I was reading a book that discussed the psychology of adult learning.  Given the history of adult learning throughout the Western world, one will find that the church was once the hub. It was pushing and leading a systematic approach, viewed as "just as necessary for development of human reason as revelation and grace were necessary for salvation and maturity."  

These assumptions and discoveries have informed adult learning paradigms which are still in practice today.  What I kept seeing as the focus however, was rational thinking.  It has become the teacher's role in helping students to "think rationally."  This however seems to add major hurdles to pursuing a biblical faith.

 Let me elaborate...

True grace is not rational. It makes no sense. But yet, God's economy doesn't work like ours. Rational thought and understanding seeks judgement and punishment for offenders, yet God seems to work in other ways. The way of the world seeks redemptive violence, yet God works through restoration and reconciliation. Both of these are difficult and contrary to rational thought and practice. Even stories of miracles and virgin births become suspect when we pursue rational thought. Because God is increasingly mystical, works beyond the limits of understood physics and biology, rational thought becomes a hurdle in faith formation.

In May, many across the country celebrated the anniversary of Osama Bin Laden's death.  People were simply acting rational - good overcame evil.  But looking at God's economy and being irrational enough to suppose that my wishes, hopes, and desires are not greater than, or even equal to, God's, gives room to grace, restoration, and love (truly irrational responses).

 So what now? 

As we're increasingly a post-modern culture, certain rational thoughts of the past are suspect. There's room for irrational thought in understanding and learning. And I believe, as teachers to adult learners, we must create environments that accept and produce irrational thinkers. We must approach the theology of God with a respect to His irrationality. We must work to create new realities, and to move closer to the image we were created, and to tell better stories that include grace, reconciliation, virgin birth, miracles, seas parting, burning bushes, the Holy Spirit, death, and resurrection.

Peace,
Ross

Chick-fil-A [a response]

In light of Christians gathering en masse at Chick-fil-A to protest a protest, I feel compelled to interject a few thoughts.  This isn't a theological piece or a hermeneutic piece.  I believe this is a piece on people, that were created in the image of God.  This is a piece on love.  This is a PR piece - a perception piece.  And largely, this piece speaks volumes of your view of Jesus…

1. I'm saddened by the fact that Christians will gather at a moments notice in front of a fast-food chain to support an issue of the "culture war," but will remain silent in speaking against our national policies that don't view all nations as uniquely created by God; by enacting and inflicting financial sanctions that will forever cripple and weaken entire people groups and continents.

2.  I'm saddened by the fact that Christians don't gather every time capital punishment happens.  When Christians are overwhelmingly supportive of government-sanctioned death (complete with last supper), a message is being spoken - not the message of Jesus (who also enjoyed a last supper before his government-sanctioned execution).

3.  I'm saddened by the fact that Christians don't gather in support of the alien and immigrant.  The message is that not all are created equal, but only Americans - that not all are made in the image of God.  The fact that Christians aren't petitioning the government in a very well-organized way, is sad.  (If protests are happening, they're usually in support of keeping the alien away or deported)

4.  I'm saddened at how flippant Christians are at going to war with other nations and people groups.  Again, Christians are overwhelmingly supportive of war - which deny's the claim that God cares about the sanctity of life, and that Jesus really meant the whole, "love thy enemy" thing.

5.  I'm saddened once again that Christians are known for what they are against, rather than what they are for - not a great PR and perception move.  This time, the whole world watched Christians gather against people, enemies, and neighbors.  (Don't be surprised when Western-Christianity free-falls, and has even less opportunity for honest and healthy dialogue in culture)

But I'm mostly sad that the same Christians that would argue that Jesus can redeem the broken, give grace to the lost, heal the sick, disrupt systems of power, death, and destruction, with love, would be the same people that cannot show grace to the very people that Jesus came to serve.  These people serve a weak Jesus - a reactionary Jesus. 

So what's the answer? 
Let me first tell you what its not…it's not protesting gays, gay marriage, or co-opting faith and politics for the sake of a culture war.  The answer is never an idolatry of nationalism.

It's also not tolerance.  Derek Webb says it the best in my opinion.  He writes, "we prize tolerance too highly. People don't want to be tolerated, they want to be loved. Our standards are far too low."

We must see people as people; not as issues, moral failures, enemies, or opportunity for political gain.  We must see people as image bearers of God, that truly matter to the narrative of God's kingdom. 

  We must learn love.
         We must practice love.
                  We must embody love.

Peace,
Ross

Questions.

I knew the questions would come.  But I didn't know they would come from Cora at 4 years old, on a drive to my favorite Mexican restaurant.  Here's how the conversation went down...

C - Dad, is Santa real?
R - Well...what do you think Cora?
C - Hmm, I don't think he is...
R - Why?
C - Well, because he wears a costume...
R - Hmm, well, I didn't think about that.

(at this point, I'm kinda sad I could be missing out on all of the Santa fun this next year.  I'm not going to lie to Cora to preserve this myth, so I figured I would just answer with questions)

...and now she makes the theological leap that I didn't expect from my 4 year old!

C - So is Jesus real?  
R - Yes he is...
C - But how did he die and come back to life?
R - Well, because he's part God and part man, and God is more powerful than death...
C - But doesn't God not want to hurt anyone?

...and depending on your theology, the answers here will vary.

R - God did this because He loved the world so much!
C - But why did God want to hurt Jesus?

...yes, God killed His son...heck, He killed Himself...how do I answer in truth for a 4 year old and not tame away the implications of the cross?

R - Well, God had to die for us.  But God knew that He couldn't stay dead, because he's more powerful than death...and in His life, He gave the whole world life.
C - Hmmm...So, is Santa real?

Cora was onto some crazy-awesome questions.  She's my kid for sure!

She proved my notion that the myth of Santa confuses kids with the truth of God and Jesus.
Which one is all seeing, knowing, etc?  And when the Santa myth disappears, does God also crumble?

I'm looking forward to lots of long, fun, interesting conversations with Cora and Olive.

Peace,
Ross

Contemplative Prayer (PART IV - Now & Into the Future)

If contemplative prayer is such a counter-cultural spiritual discipline, how does one begin the practice?  Richard Rohr explains that we must begin living lives of contemplative prayer by “living and fully accepting our reality” (Rohr 2003, 18).  He continues to explain that “we do not find our own center; it finds us…we do not think ourselves into new ways of living.  We live ourselves into new ways of thinking” (Rohr 2003, 19).  Our lives circling the circumference cannot be escaped – they are our stories.  But the path around the circumference can indeed lead us to the core reality, “where we meet both our truest self and our truest God” (Rohr 2003, 19).  It is true that we do not know what it means to be human, unless we know God, because we are created in His image.  Thus, we cannot know God unless we know our own brokenness and suffering. 
   
The notion that Plato and Aristotle posited of knowledge leading to our ability in controlling nature, we have reworked our societies to prosper in this way.  We have even turned our spirituality into a results-based-faith.  The lie is that successful churches are mega-churches, and that the same economies of the world echo God’s economies.  But “spirituality is about seeing.  It’s not about earning or achieving.  Its about relationship rather than results or requirements” (Rohr 2003, 33). 

You don’t need to push the river, because you are in it.  The life is lived within us, and we learn how to say yes to that life.  If we exist on a level where we can see how everything belongs, we can trust the flow and trust the life, the life so large and deep and spacious that it even includes its opposite, death.  We must do this, because it is the only life available to us, as Paul wrote to the Colossians, “You have died [the small ego self], and the life you new have is hidden with Christ in God [the Godself].  When Christ is revealed – and he is your life – you too will be revealed in all your glory with him” (Col. 3:3-4)  (Rohr 2003, 34-35).

So if we are to truly believe that we are in Christ, we must assume that the totality of life’s experiences is contained in contemplative prayer.  We must work to align our hearts and minds to this truth.  We must accept that every moment is spiritual, that all ground is holy, and that every interaction has eternal significance.


Peace,
Ross

Contemplative Prayer (PART II - The History)

The scriptures are riddled with instances of people seeking God with all of their beings.  They often removed themselves from the hecticness of their daily grind, their tribe, and their work, to seek God’s face, God’s will, and to understand God more intimately.  In the Old Testament we are introduced to the practice of Sabbath rest or Shabbot.  This word literally means, “to stop.”  God set in motion a day for us to re-center, to stop, to be still, and to listen – and it was good! 
   
The Old Testament uses the words hāgâ, which means to sigh or murmur, but also to meditate, and sîḥâ, which means to muse, or rehearse in one's mind.  We see throughout the Psalms (specifically Psalm 1, 4, 5, 7, 19, 32, 39, 42, 43, 46, 49, 63, 130, 137, and 139) this contemplative-meditation taking place.  The book of Joshua also reminds us the importance of contemplative prayer (Joshua 1:8).  God’s people are seeking Him in contemplative prayer, and God is showing them His way.  Nations and tribes are thus transformed into the people of God.  They become His exemplary to the entirety of humanity.  And surely their participation in contemplative prayer plays a vital role in this unfolding. 
   
In the New Testament we can simply look to Jesus as our clearest example of one who embraces the practice of contemplative prayer to become one with His Father.  Jesus is often found in the garden alone praying.  Before his capture and execution, Jesus is recorded to have spent time alone in the garden of Gethsemane in stillness and prayer.  He advocates a practice that leads toward Trinity. 

I will not leave you alone; I am coming back to you. In a little while the world will see me no longer, but you will see me; because I live you too will live. When that day comes you will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you. (John 14: 18-20)

I have told you these things while I am still with you; but the advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name; will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have told you. (John 14: 25-26)

We find in Jesus, a contemplative prayer life that brings Him closer to the Father through the Holy Spirit, and he couples it with a promise that as we too seek the Father in contemplation, that “the advocate” will join us.  Finally Jesus tells us that, “Anyone who dwells in me, as I dwell in him, bears much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4).  If I am to bear fruit, I must dwell with my Creator. 
   
The practice of contemplative prayer continued to flourish throughout the early church.  But nearing the time of Descartes, in the seventeenth century, it began to wane.  Once the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle propped up the belief that “knowledge became an instrument for controlling nature in order to produce the effects we want,” it gradually disappeared (Allen 1997, 104).  This change led to a theoretical and technological belief that nature was controllable, manipulative, and that through hard work, study, and understanding, man was in complete control of all areas of humanity (Allen 1997, 104-105).   

Peace,
Ross

Contemplative Prayer (Part 1)

“We are a circumference people, with little access to the center.  We live on the boundaries of our own lives in the widening gyre, confusing edges with essence, too quickly claiming the superficial as substance” (Rohr 2003, 13).  Rohr paints an accurate picture of humanity and culture.  He supposes that our lack of centering, keeps us distracted, and nearly satisfied by life’s superficial offerings.  But there is hope to become centered.  There is a path to reclaim the essence of being with and seeing God face to face.  That path is contemplative prayer.

Contemplative prayer does not have a prescribed definition, but includes many facets of spiritual discipline and life.  Perhaps its more appropriate to first outline what contemplative prayer is not.  Contemplative prayer is not “about leaving this world.  It is not an otherworldly experience…Contemplative prayer is not exclusively for monks and nuns…it is not necessarily easy” (Thibodeaux 2001, 2).  Contemplative prayer involves talking at God, talking to God, listening to God, and most importantly being with God (Thibodeaux 2001, 17-30).  Allen writes that, “in the contemplative life, we become like God through knowing God’s wisdom, which increases our love for God and in turn our love for our neighbor” (Allen 1997, 97).

*this is PART 1 of 9

Peace,
Ross

The Ordinary Radicals

Here's a quick snippet of a documentary called, The Ordinary Radicals.  Its a call to Christ followers to actually live, practice, and embrace the model of Jesus.  Its fantastic, and you can watch it FREE now on the Roku channel, ADC.



Peace,
Ross

Binding & Loosing

I thought it'd be interesting to write/think/discuss the biblical concept of binding and loosing in today's post.

Binding and loosing is an originally Jewish phrase which appears in the New Testament, as well as in the Targum. In usage to bind and to loose mean simply to forbid by an indisputable authority, and to permit by an indisputable authority.

Jesus continues the early Jewish discussion and notion in Matthew 18, when he says, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

What exactly does this mean?
I'm not going to pretend to have the right answer.
But what I can do is offer an opinion (which I think has a biblical, contextual, and historical basis.)

Could Jesus be speaking to those of us that create laws or ways of living that might be otherwise different than how we've interpreted God's original intention? By that I mean, God gives us a wide open grace and compassion and justice, that seems to be including all of humanity, but for some, we minimize the huge-ness of God to fit our particular theologies, doctrines, orthodoxies, denominations, and networks. In doing so, are we creating new realities with eternal consequences (both good and bad)?

Think about the questions posed to Jesus regarding the Kingdom of God...a rich young ruler asks how he might inherit it, and Jesus speaks in economic terms. That man is certainly bound by an economic identity and way of life. The way(s) he binds and looses his money on earth will likewise resemble eternity.

When a farmer asks Jesus about the Kingdom of God, Jesus speaks in agricultural terms, because that man's identity, calendar, and way of life revolves around crops and cultivation.

When the church leaders ask about the Kingdom of God, Jesus speaks of a wedding banquet which is more inclusive than they would like.

Again, it seems Jesus is tying identity to what is bound and loosed. He goes beyond the hard-lined black and white-ness of what the Old Testament seems to say, and creates new realities.

Today we find ourselves in various congregations that label certain things taboo or heretical, while other congregations may not. Does this mean there's not a specific right or wrong (method to inheriting the Kingdom of God)? Perhaps, perhaps not.

But in each of these cases, the Kingdom of God is merited, understood, and lived in different ways: giving away money, planting seeds and letting weeds grow amongst them, and being inclusive as to who's seated at the wedding party.

Remember, in Revelation we're also told that the gates of heaven are left wide open (Revelation 21:25). So just perhaps those black and white issues that we tend to label closed or open handed, will have eternal implications. Perhaps we are creating eternal realities. Perhaps eternity doesn't begin at death, but birth.

Peace,
Ross

Book Excerpt #17

Here's another quick glimpse at my upcoming book, Outsourcing God. Enjoy!

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To those of us that currently call ourselves leaders…here’s permission to not always having the answer. If you don’t feel permission to leave things a bit unhinged and untidy, I’m sorry. It’s the nature of the beast – plus it feels good when we/I have all of the (right) answers. I quickly gain public persona and become the _________ answer man (you fill in the blank).

I tend to believe however, that Christ came to demonstrate a new type of leadership. His new leadership is completely counter-cultural that it leads people to scoff terms like radical, crazy, otherworldly, revolutionary, and un-realistic. But what we know of Christ is that he rarely did things in the assumed way.

When He should have ridden a stallion, He rides the colt of a donkey. When He can raise a legion of furious militant angels, He turns His cheek and remains silent. When He has the power to assemble the most just and righteous government known to man, He instead compels young fisherman to take up His cause. Jesus does little in the likeness of your standard leadership self-help books and gurus, but Jesus taught a better and holy way.

Jesus, our model leader, was asked a slew of questions throughout his three-year ministry, and from the four gospels, he responded over 50 times with questions – not answers. Jesus spoke often through the use of parables: quick, pithy, succinct questions or stories that strengthened the community by fostering deeper thought and conversation. Perhaps our response should be similar...

...It seems like in a world where people gravitate to either black or white; Jesus poses a question to blend the two. We all know our friends that see the world in total black and white. There’s no middle ground. It escapes nothing. Not politics. Not sports. Not foods. Not entertainment. Not religion. And in this world that is painted in stark contrast, Jesus is leading out of the gray.

Chicago Insurrection REcap

On Thursday I had the opportunity to experience Peter Rollins', Insurrection pub tour in Chicago. Peter Rollins is an amazing mind and provocateur for living faith. Some call him a heretic, some a hero. I think Peter would hope to be the guy that gets the conversation started. That's how I see him anyway.

He has balls, because he takes on the blogosphere, the evangelical right, the way things have been done, "because that's the way we've always done it." He speaks his heart and truth.


Peter is raw as he delivers lines like, "cry aloud, God can handle it...," "to believe is human, to doubt, divine" (showing us that as Christ hung dying on the cross, he doubts God "why have you forsaken me?!" and that in our moments of greatest doubt, perhaps we resemble Christ the most...), and implores us to stop making "church" a domesticated hour-long session to make us all tingly inside.


Spoken in a thick Irish accent, Peter says, "I DO NOT BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST..." And as the room comes to a screeching halt, he finishes..."because I passed the homeless on my way to the pub and did nothing; because I have not fought for justice; because I pursue self."

BRILLIANT!

Can we truly believe in the Resurrection of Jesus and ignore the implications of that Resurrection?

Peter articulates words versus action perfectly.

I hope he continues his pub tour later in the year. More people need to hear his words and wrestle with the Word. I'll do all I can to bring the crew to St. Louis. So if you're within a 4 hr drive, its worth the road trip!

Peace,
Ross

Praying w/ Cora

Each day that we pray with Cora, its fun to see her become more and more excited. Some days we cuddle up in her room, on her big chair. Other days we just hold hands in a circle and pray. But until yesterday, either Kate or I were leading each prayer.

Yesterday though, Cora decided it was her turn to lead the prayer. It went something like this:

**Quick note: to get the full dramatic effect, please read with the voice of a 2 year old and when it says ....... break for a L-O-N-G pause.

Dear Deedus (Jesus)...

thank you for.....daddy
thank you for.....olive
thank you for....mommy
thank you for....andre (the drummer at our church - she's a big fan)
thank you for.....paul (guitarist at church)

(....long pause, then she started picking items on her dinner plate - which is essentially her daily bread)

thank you for.....milk
thank you for.....meats-a-cheese
thank you for.....raisins

........

not sure what to do in summation, we chimed in with, "in Jesus' name we pray"

....amen!

Drops Like Huge Squirrels...

That's right folks, I said it...huge squirrels (that's with a very soft "h").

Last night Kate and I attended Rob Bell's, Drops Like Stars tour event at the Uptown Theatre in Kansas City. As always, he delivered amazingly and we were moved and inspired.

The setup was great too...dinner and conversation in Westport at Californio's with friends (hard to beat).

Earlier in the day, my best friend Brandon Schultz (BRS Photography) did a photoshoot with us. So be watching for those pics to surface! Fun times on the Nelson lawn!!!

That's all I have for now...

Peace,

Ross