Well, today it happened. I actually watched a woman trying to herd cats. I was standing at my front gate staring off into space and thinking deep thoughts when I noticed this woman across the street waving a long stick in front of her. And then, I saw three or four cats walking in front of her. I take that back. They weren't really walking in front of her. They were hopping this way and that--up on the wall, over into the bushes, under her feet. One kept doubling back on her, and she had to reverse her course over and over to pick it up while the others scampered in different directions. I watched her for about ten minutes, and I swear that she didn't make more than about ten feet of progress moving her herd along. She kept at it, though. As you can tell from my ramblings, it is a difficult scene to describe. But, I suppose that is par for the course when it comes to herding cats. It defies description.
Lately, I feel as if I am trying to herd cats. And no, I don't mean the members of the church I serve! I am talking about my own thoughts and ideas. I am going through a time of intellectual challenge. My interpretations of life, the world, and God are hanging out there whipping around in the breezes of contemporary cultural change. I am struggling for order and coherence with regards to my theological and social perspectives. The context within which we live today seems to defy orderly interpretation. Like the woman across the street, I keep finding myself retracing my steps to reclaim some ideas while others scamper out of reach. But like her, I am not yet willing to give up the struggle. I am going to keep at it for awhile. Who knows? Maybe things will start to come together at some point. If they don't come together, then perhaps I will learn how to live with the ambiguity and chaos. Either way, I imagine that I will have grown in the process, and that is always valuable.
If any of you are trying to herd your own cats, drop me a line. I would love hear how it is going. Who knows? Maybe we can help each other, along the way.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Creating Knowledge of God
Lately, I have been reading several books on social constructivism. Those who work out of this perspective believe that knowledge is created within our relationships with one another. This happens at all levels of human interaction: individual, group, and community. I have been thinking about this in terms of religious life. For many of us, our relationships with others are those points in life where we are most aware of the presence of God. From a social constructivist perspective, we could say that within our relationships we may be doing more than gaining an awareness of God. We may actually be creating (or constructing) knowledge of the Divine. In coming together, we create the space for God to be made manifest. We also construct new meanings for ourselves with regards to the Sacred. All of this brings to mind the scripture from Matthew 18:20 which says: For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them. Think about this the next time you stay home from church. Just imagine what you might be missing.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Creativity in Common with God
The word "creative" is very popular among liberal and progressive Christians, these days. I find myself tossing it around right and left in sermons, essays, newsletter articles, and daily conversation. It is easy to forget, however, that this is a powerful word. Think of it this way: "create-ive," as in the power or ability to create. In the Christian tradition, this is what we imagine God doing. God creates. And here we are talking all the time about being creative, ourselves. Perhaps this is where we find our deepest connection with the Divine. In the beginning of the Bible, it isn't long before we see God creating humanity. The scriptures say that in some way, we are made in the image of God. Theologians have debated for centuries and centuries over what this might mean. As I read the story, the only thing God has really done up until the point that humanity is brought into existence is CREATE. This is who God is in those opening chapters of Genesis, the Creator. Perhaps the image of God in us is creativity. If so, then perhaps we should think very seriously and responsibly about the things we are creating, the situations we help make, and the relationships we forge. After all, this is the sort of thing that God does.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Spirituality as Biophilia
For several years, I have been interested in a term I first discovered in the writings of Erich Fromm and later in those of E.O. Wilson and Stephen Kellert. The term is biophilia which literally means love of life or friendship with life. It refers to the hypothesis that humanity has a natural desire or inclination to connect with the wider life of the world.
I am becoming more and more convinced that spirituality is best understood as biophilia. Discussions of Spirit very often connect it with life and the power that makes for life which I would call GOD (along with theologians like Mordecai Kaplan). Therefore, spirituality can be seen as an orientation towards life, an appreciation of life, and a promotion of life. To be a spiritual person is to be involved in the give and take of life in such a way as to make a difference for the better. It is to realize and celebrate the connections that form the matrix or wider web of living existence. Seen in this way, spirituality ceases to be only a retreat into oneself or into some shady supernatural world, but instead it becomes an adventure of participation in the everyday, real life world. Seen from the perspective of biophilia, spirituality is utterly practical. It is also a way of appreciating the larger work of God, the nurture and support of all that lives.
I am becoming more and more convinced that spirituality is best understood as biophilia. Discussions of Spirit very often connect it with life and the power that makes for life which I would call GOD (along with theologians like Mordecai Kaplan). Therefore, spirituality can be seen as an orientation towards life, an appreciation of life, and a promotion of life. To be a spiritual person is to be involved in the give and take of life in such a way as to make a difference for the better. It is to realize and celebrate the connections that form the matrix or wider web of living existence. Seen in this way, spirituality ceases to be only a retreat into oneself or into some shady supernatural world, but instead it becomes an adventure of participation in the everyday, real life world. Seen from the perspective of biophilia, spirituality is utterly practical. It is also a way of appreciating the larger work of God, the nurture and support of all that lives.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Courage and Faith
D.H. Lawrence once wrote, The greatest virtue in life is real courage that knows how to face facts and live beyond them. These words strike me as being full of wisdom. The great enemy of human faith and accomplishment is fear. It seems obvious to me that the most effective way to address such fear is by developing a sense of courage. Often, however, this is more easily said than done.
Last Sunday, Bryan Stanlow spoke of his tendency to worry about everything. He drew a big laugh when he mentioned “worrying about worrying too much.” I think the reason so many laughed was because everyone in the church service understood exactly what Bryan was talking about. We have all felt paralyzed by our worries and our fears. It is all too apparent to most of us that fear breeds worry, worry wastes time, and wasted time unravels future possibilities and opportunities. This state of affairs scares us even as it holds us back from moving with confidence into the future.
Courage, of course, does not necessarily mean that all fear and worry vanish from our lives. Rather, courage is most effective perhaps when it arises in the midst of our fears and bears witness to our lives transcending these traps of despair. Courage that is most valuable is that which lives through and beyond our worries and fears. It is that aspect of our existence that refuses to be held back, beaten down, or scared away.
Notice that Lawrence spoke of courage as facing facts. The truth is that many of our deepest fears grow out of the facts of life. Lack of resources, shaky relationships, precarious job situations, scary world events – all of these things are very real for many of us. They are not imaginary or “make believe,” rather they represent our reality. Whatever fears that we may experience in relation to these things most certainly are rooted in reality rather than illusion. Courage, however, describes our determination not to be held back by these fact-based fears. Courage bears witness to a deeper faith at work in our lives – faith that present situations can be transcended and perhaps even transformed into something better. This is what we usually mean by living through and beyond our fears.
Where does such faith have its source? Of course, as a Christian minister, I believe the source for faith is in the indwelling Spirit of God. For me, God represents the power of creative change and possibility constantly at work in all things and at all times. As a believer in this God, I have reason to live out of a strong sense of courage. No matter how desperate things may seem or how hopeless situations may appear, faith in a power greater than myself and greater than the world around me is enough to ignite sparks of courage.
As we draw near to Holy Week and Easter, I am struck by how much Jesus embodies this sort of courage. In the story of Jesus' death, we see him facing up to the facts of arrest, rejection and execution. Nowhere, however, does he seem to let fear and worry paralyze him. Rather, he moves through these events buoyed by a deep and profound faith in God. In the end, we see the story of Jesus moving through death to a new place of resurrection. To me, this is a serious picture of how faith engenders courage, courage defies fear as it moves forward, and the move forward realizes a new possibility for a transformed existence. This is the sort of faith I want in my life. This is the sort of courage I need as I strive to step into a brighter tomorrow. And, this is the sort of courageous faith that I pray will flow forth from your life, as well. Amen.
Last Sunday, Bryan Stanlow spoke of his tendency to worry about everything. He drew a big laugh when he mentioned “worrying about worrying too much.” I think the reason so many laughed was because everyone in the church service understood exactly what Bryan was talking about. We have all felt paralyzed by our worries and our fears. It is all too apparent to most of us that fear breeds worry, worry wastes time, and wasted time unravels future possibilities and opportunities. This state of affairs scares us even as it holds us back from moving with confidence into the future.
Courage, of course, does not necessarily mean that all fear and worry vanish from our lives. Rather, courage is most effective perhaps when it arises in the midst of our fears and bears witness to our lives transcending these traps of despair. Courage that is most valuable is that which lives through and beyond our worries and fears. It is that aspect of our existence that refuses to be held back, beaten down, or scared away.
Notice that Lawrence spoke of courage as facing facts. The truth is that many of our deepest fears grow out of the facts of life. Lack of resources, shaky relationships, precarious job situations, scary world events – all of these things are very real for many of us. They are not imaginary or “make believe,” rather they represent our reality. Whatever fears that we may experience in relation to these things most certainly are rooted in reality rather than illusion. Courage, however, describes our determination not to be held back by these fact-based fears. Courage bears witness to a deeper faith at work in our lives – faith that present situations can be transcended and perhaps even transformed into something better. This is what we usually mean by living through and beyond our fears.
Where does such faith have its source? Of course, as a Christian minister, I believe the source for faith is in the indwelling Spirit of God. For me, God represents the power of creative change and possibility constantly at work in all things and at all times. As a believer in this God, I have reason to live out of a strong sense of courage. No matter how desperate things may seem or how hopeless situations may appear, faith in a power greater than myself and greater than the world around me is enough to ignite sparks of courage.
As we draw near to Holy Week and Easter, I am struck by how much Jesus embodies this sort of courage. In the story of Jesus' death, we see him facing up to the facts of arrest, rejection and execution. Nowhere, however, does he seem to let fear and worry paralyze him. Rather, he moves through these events buoyed by a deep and profound faith in God. In the end, we see the story of Jesus moving through death to a new place of resurrection. To me, this is a serious picture of how faith engenders courage, courage defies fear as it moves forward, and the move forward realizes a new possibility for a transformed existence. This is the sort of faith I want in my life. This is the sort of courage I need as I strive to step into a brighter tomorrow. And, this is the sort of courageous faith that I pray will flow forth from your life, as well. Amen.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
On Not Blaming God for Earthquakes
Following the news with regards to the earthquake devastation in Japan raises questions about God and faith. Too often, natural disasters such as that which occurred in Japan are referred to as “acts of God.” The implication is that God caused the disaster. I know that when many people speak of “acts of God,” they are not really talking about GOD. Rather, they are using the phrase to refer to those events that are beyond human control or blame. Still, every time I hear someone call a tornado or earthquake an “act of God,” I cringe.
Actually, I think there are quite a few people who honestly think that God DOES cause things such as the Japan earthquake to happen. When asked why God would do such a thing, these folks reply with pious platitudes. “Well, God must have had a good reason,” they say. Or, they answer the question with reference to the mystery of God and how mere mortals like ourselves could never understand divine purposes. Both of these responses make certain claims about God. Perhaps the most difficult is that they assert that God cultivates death and destruction for some higher or mysterious purpose. In other words, they are saying that for God, the “ends justify the means.”
And then, there are those really strident folks who claim that God not only caused the natural disaster, but that God did it as an act of judgment and punishment. You hear this sort of thing quite often from fundamentalist Christians. For some reason, they are very comfortable with a God who acts this way. To say that God would inflict death and destruction upon millions of innocent people in order to punish a few guilty individuals or groups raises even more questions about the nature of God than those raised by appealing to divine mystery, as mentioned above.
Hurting and/or killing innocent millions to punish a few who are guilty paints a picture of God as vindictive. It robs God of grace and redemptive purpose. This particular approach to God's will and actions takes the notion of the “ends justifying the means” to an extreme. Such a view of God makes it hard to affirm the phrase, “God is love.”
Even the notion that God “allows” these things to happen raises sticky problems for people of faith. As a society, we look down upon those who passively stand by while others are hurt or killed. To be able to relieve suffering while at the same time refusing to do so seems reprehensible to most of us. Why, then, would we feel OK ascribing to God such behavior?
When it comes to natural disasters, I subscribe to the view that sometimes “stuff happens.” In a world like ours, there are many things that come to pass which are not CAUSED by anyone or anything, in particular (including God). These events occur because of the interaction of vast and nameless natural forces that are beyond human morality or decision-making. They are just part of the way nature works. An earthquake is not morally evil or the result of conscious choice. It can be tragic, of course. But tragedy is a much different state-of-affairs than moral evil.
God does not determine everything that happens. In spite of the poetic ways we may speak of God numbering every hair upon our heads or determining the number of grains of sand on a beach, it seems counter-intuitive to say that God really does control every minute detail of existence. Rather, I believe that God works through calling a world of novelty and free-will toward something better, finer, and more beautiful. I also believe that God is active in the world as a SAVING PRESENCE. That is, God is constantly at work saving the world from itself, striving to bring something good out of all the bad that happens. This is not to say that God's saving and redeeming efforts justify the bad stuff. Instead, it says that the God who is “love” is also the God who “saves” and “redeems.” WITHOUT God our lives and our world would deteriorate very quickly into a vast chaos of conflict and death. WITH God, we are often able to live through tragedy and focus upon making hopes for a better future into actual possibilities.
As I watch news programs centering upon the Japan earthquake, I am not wracked by questions as to “why God would do this" or "allow this.” Instead, I am comforted by my faith that no matter how bad the disaster is, there is always hope that God is there, doing the absolute best that God can to guide the rescue efforts, comfort those have been hurt, heal the hearts of those who have suffered loss, and open the eyes of an entire nation to avenues for rebuilding and recreating life together as a people. God's greatness does not flow from God's ability to DO everything and CONTROL everything. God's greatness arises from God's power to LOVE everything with a completeness that defies human understanding. I don't blame God for what happens, instead I am thankful that God is there WHEN stuff happens.
Actually, I think there are quite a few people who honestly think that God DOES cause things such as the Japan earthquake to happen. When asked why God would do such a thing, these folks reply with pious platitudes. “Well, God must have had a good reason,” they say. Or, they answer the question with reference to the mystery of God and how mere mortals like ourselves could never understand divine purposes. Both of these responses make certain claims about God. Perhaps the most difficult is that they assert that God cultivates death and destruction for some higher or mysterious purpose. In other words, they are saying that for God, the “ends justify the means.”
And then, there are those really strident folks who claim that God not only caused the natural disaster, but that God did it as an act of judgment and punishment. You hear this sort of thing quite often from fundamentalist Christians. For some reason, they are very comfortable with a God who acts this way. To say that God would inflict death and destruction upon millions of innocent people in order to punish a few guilty individuals or groups raises even more questions about the nature of God than those raised by appealing to divine mystery, as mentioned above.
Hurting and/or killing innocent millions to punish a few who are guilty paints a picture of God as vindictive. It robs God of grace and redemptive purpose. This particular approach to God's will and actions takes the notion of the “ends justifying the means” to an extreme. Such a view of God makes it hard to affirm the phrase, “God is love.”
Even the notion that God “allows” these things to happen raises sticky problems for people of faith. As a society, we look down upon those who passively stand by while others are hurt or killed. To be able to relieve suffering while at the same time refusing to do so seems reprehensible to most of us. Why, then, would we feel OK ascribing to God such behavior?
When it comes to natural disasters, I subscribe to the view that sometimes “stuff happens.” In a world like ours, there are many things that come to pass which are not CAUSED by anyone or anything, in particular (including God). These events occur because of the interaction of vast and nameless natural forces that are beyond human morality or decision-making. They are just part of the way nature works. An earthquake is not morally evil or the result of conscious choice. It can be tragic, of course. But tragedy is a much different state-of-affairs than moral evil.
God does not determine everything that happens. In spite of the poetic ways we may speak of God numbering every hair upon our heads or determining the number of grains of sand on a beach, it seems counter-intuitive to say that God really does control every minute detail of existence. Rather, I believe that God works through calling a world of novelty and free-will toward something better, finer, and more beautiful. I also believe that God is active in the world as a SAVING PRESENCE. That is, God is constantly at work saving the world from itself, striving to bring something good out of all the bad that happens. This is not to say that God's saving and redeeming efforts justify the bad stuff. Instead, it says that the God who is “love” is also the God who “saves” and “redeems.” WITHOUT God our lives and our world would deteriorate very quickly into a vast chaos of conflict and death. WITH God, we are often able to live through tragedy and focus upon making hopes for a better future into actual possibilities.
As I watch news programs centering upon the Japan earthquake, I am not wracked by questions as to “why God would do this" or "allow this.” Instead, I am comforted by my faith that no matter how bad the disaster is, there is always hope that God is there, doing the absolute best that God can to guide the rescue efforts, comfort those have been hurt, heal the hearts of those who have suffered loss, and open the eyes of an entire nation to avenues for rebuilding and recreating life together as a people. God's greatness does not flow from God's ability to DO everything and CONTROL everything. God's greatness arises from God's power to LOVE everything with a completeness that defies human understanding. I don't blame God for what happens, instead I am thankful that God is there WHEN stuff happens.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Worship Makes a Statement
An elderly saint had lost the bulk of his hearing and his eyes had grown dim with age. Even though he could not experience the worship as he once had, he never stopped attending church. One intrigued individual finally asked the obvious, "Why do you continue attending church when you cannot hear or see what's going on?" The old man replied, "I want to show everybody whose side I'm on!"
I came across this little story in a book of sermon illustrations, sometime ago. It reminds me that there is more to attending church than simply being fed spiritually or having a fun and uplifting time. Participation in church and worship is a statement. When you attend church regularly, you are saying, "I am on the side of God." You are saying, "I serve the power of goodness and love."
At Church of the Valley, we are blessed with worship services that are interesting, uplifting, exciting and fun. Believe me when I say that I am as pleased as punch about this. At the same time, however, I know that church participation and worship is about so much more than the "show" on Sunday. It is about people banding together to make a statement to ourselves and to our world. It is about a group of people saying, "We are people of faith, and we serve the Creative Power of the Universe," that reality we call "God."
As long as we remember this, we will escape the traps of pride, selfishness, jealousy, and conceit which often snare churches. Those that fall prey to these traps are usually those churches that focus so much on the "show" that they forget why they worship. By concentrating on the reason for our worship, we can avoid these traps and enjoy the satisfaction that comes from knowing we are serving God above all else.
Having said this, I hope you will join others in making a statement through participation in worship at the church of your choice.
I came across this little story in a book of sermon illustrations, sometime ago. It reminds me that there is more to attending church than simply being fed spiritually or having a fun and uplifting time. Participation in church and worship is a statement. When you attend church regularly, you are saying, "I am on the side of God." You are saying, "I serve the power of goodness and love."
At Church of the Valley, we are blessed with worship services that are interesting, uplifting, exciting and fun. Believe me when I say that I am as pleased as punch about this. At the same time, however, I know that church participation and worship is about so much more than the "show" on Sunday. It is about people banding together to make a statement to ourselves and to our world. It is about a group of people saying, "We are people of faith, and we serve the Creative Power of the Universe," that reality we call "God."
As long as we remember this, we will escape the traps of pride, selfishness, jealousy, and conceit which often snare churches. Those that fall prey to these traps are usually those churches that focus so much on the "show" that they forget why they worship. By concentrating on the reason for our worship, we can avoid these traps and enjoy the satisfaction that comes from knowing we are serving God above all else.
Having said this, I hope you will join others in making a statement through participation in worship at the church of your choice.
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