This post is less influenced by the fact I'm currently suffering from the 'male-flu' (your expressions of sympathy are duly noted with appreciation) than from a number of events over the last week. On Monday I attended the funeral of a friend I went to Bible College with over twenty years ago. His last few years were marked by suffering and pain, and by great trust in his Saviour and patient endurance with deep joy. In my classes we reflected on the nature of suffering and how God fits into the picture. In my masters forum we were considering the origin of sickness and illness and how that fits into our theology. And finally, I listened to a fascinating dialogue between a Christian theologian and a former evangelical pastor now university professor on 'A good God? The problem of suffering and evil.'
All this has led me consider the nature of suffering (from my sick bed, again, sympathy noted) and the acute lack of an adequate theology of suffering in much of our Christian faith and practice. Indeed, often in my experience we have actually found suffering to be embarrassing to what we purport to be Christianity. My persuasion is that at these times it isn't the faith of the Bible that is lacking, but our expression of it.
Obviously I don't have the time, space or intelligence to adequately discuss such a difficult topic. In the dialogue I listened to (see 'Socrates in San Francisco, October 2008' on ntwrightpage.com) the former pastor notes with wry amusement the simplistic answers to the problem of evil and suffering he has received from some segments of the church. Tom Wright expresses his view, an accurate observation I think, that God leaves much of this topic as mystery to us, that we might wrestle with it and him in faith as each of us walks through our own life, time and context. Actually, for the ancients this was less of a problem than it is to us. They accepted that life was difficult, and filled with pain and injustice, but that one day God would make all things right. Such is the overarching theme of Ecclesiastes, a book for our time in more ways than one.
Perhaps the one thought that is unarguably relevant is that we cannot consider the theme of suffering without a long, hard look at a man hanging on a cross outside of Jerusalem. The redemptive nature of Jesus' suffering is not only effective for my salvation, but is also an example that I must follow in my life. Scriptures such as Luke 9:23 about taking up my cross daily; Col. 1:24 where Paul uses the concept that a certain amount of suffering must be endured before the end to express his personal participation in the sufferings of Jesus; and 1 Peter 2:21 where we are encouraged to follow in the steps of the suffering Messiah.
Where the world is at pain, where there is suffering and anguish, where there is pain and despair, there is the Saviour redemptively feeling the pain of his creation and calling his body to weep with those who weep, grieve with those who grieve, and work as agents of the inaugurated kingdom in seeking to put the world to rights.
I think that is why the place of suffering and pain in the Bible has an air of mystery. God doesn't give us philosophy to argue or a solution to debate. Pain and suffering aren't impersonal ideas and concepts, they are the acute experience of being human. Rather God gives us a man, the incarnate Son of God, as his answer to suffering. In his death and resurrection is the eschatological assurance that one day God will, once and for all, banish all pain, suffering and sorrow from this earth. But, in the words of Aragorn before the gates of Mordor, 'It is not this day.' Until that day the answer is in the form of the suffering Saviour who feels, and cares, and loves, and strengthens, and is present, and gives hope to a world groaning for that day; and in the form of the church, those called to suffer with the world and to be the carriers of grace, hope, justice and to practically and tangibly reach out in their Lord's name to those in need.
Is God all powerful? Yes. Is God good? Yes. Is there suffering and evil? Yes. To me, the only resolution to this mysterious tension is Jesus.
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
Tomorrow's World
I read a lot and I talk to a lot of people. Coincidentally one of the people I talk to the most is my wife! Recent conversations have caused me to consider a couple of things. The first is very personal: that many people are searching to find someone they can share a life with, and how very blessed I have been to find that person at a young age and be so profoundly happy and deeply in love three decades later. (I did say it was a personal consideration!) The second, which is the focus of this blog entry, has to do with what tomorrow's world will look like, or rather, the relevance of the church in that world.
When my wife comes home from Uni she talks to me about what she has learned, the discussions they have had, the ideology and philosophy that is being subtly (and not so subtly) imparted to the students, and the texts and articles they are to read. The more we talk, the more I realise that these young men and women (and those few who push the age envelope a little) are the ones who will frame tomorrow's world. They will be the educators, scientists, business leaders, politicians, policy makers, and cultural architects that will construct the future in which I will live. My concern isn't that they do so, or even that the ideology they will carry looks very different to that of the Christian gospel. (It is a concern, but more of that later.) My problem is that they are currently wrestling with questions and concepts that not only is the church at large ill equipped to respond to, we aren't even aware that these questions are being asked!
This was high-lighted for me in a Bible College lecture I gave recently. I put a quote on the powerpoint slide from Jurgen Moltmann in which he referred to the Holy Spirit as a 'she' (quite common in some circles, and no, I don't support the idea), and that the Spirit was the creative force behind God's work in the evolution of creation. Most in the class responded with horror to both ideas, but one young lady who has only come to faith in the last year or so, whilst not agreeing with the gender change for the Spirit, liked the idea it was trying to express. My point is that although we may think we have won the gender war by championing the equality of men and women in the life of the church, I don't think we've even begun to understand the implications of the feminist agenda (both good and troubling) or the reaction of the conservative elements of the church that are gaining a voice through the growing popularity of certain leaders and movements around the world.
Whether it's gender equality, evolution, human sexuality, conservationism, social justice, or any of the many other issues that exist in our world today, as believers in Jesus we need to not only have thought-out responses, but actually be the leaders in addressing these issues with the same prophetic voice and praxis that Jesus did. I think we fail in our calling as the church if we just congratulate ourselves on our relevance, when really all we often do is demonstrate our connection to pop culture, transform our worship service to a more contextual event, and the teaching of scripture becomes a amusing and entertaining motivational talk. (That's a little harsh, but too often the all too ugly truth...)
My strong persuasion isn't (just) that we need to be engaging with the students and ideas that inhabit today's world, but that when they enter tomorrow as leaders and culture creators, the church is waiting to welcome them with love, grace, and gospel-shaped dialogue on what God's good creation looks like. We've lost our way if we think the gospel is all about getting to heaven when we die; we've distorted truth if we think the gospel is about health, wealth and success for the present; but we become the carriers of good news when we thoughtfully enter into tomorrow's conversations today and show how God's kingdom not only has relevance for current/future issues, but actually redeems them so that 'Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.'
I guess what I'm saying is that as pastors, as Christians, as imagers of Jesus in our world, we have to get beyond conversations about buildings, budgets and kidding ourselves and our congregations with spin regarding our influence. The strength of the church has always been the call to engage the philosophies that shape the world with gospel-shaped thinking (and please don't minimise that thought, but that's another post for another time), and engage the people who inhabit our world with gospel-shaped lives. We live in an age where church 'entrepreneurs' have taken leadership from church 'thinkers.' That's ok, but let's not forget that while the businesses and organisations of the past have long since been forgotten, we are still shaped by Plato, Socrates, Augustine, Aquinas et. al.
Selah. (I know, that's a bit passe, but I couldn't resist.....)
When my wife comes home from Uni she talks to me about what she has learned, the discussions they have had, the ideology and philosophy that is being subtly (and not so subtly) imparted to the students, and the texts and articles they are to read. The more we talk, the more I realise that these young men and women (and those few who push the age envelope a little) are the ones who will frame tomorrow's world. They will be the educators, scientists, business leaders, politicians, policy makers, and cultural architects that will construct the future in which I will live. My concern isn't that they do so, or even that the ideology they will carry looks very different to that of the Christian gospel. (It is a concern, but more of that later.) My problem is that they are currently wrestling with questions and concepts that not only is the church at large ill equipped to respond to, we aren't even aware that these questions are being asked!
This was high-lighted for me in a Bible College lecture I gave recently. I put a quote on the powerpoint slide from Jurgen Moltmann in which he referred to the Holy Spirit as a 'she' (quite common in some circles, and no, I don't support the idea), and that the Spirit was the creative force behind God's work in the evolution of creation. Most in the class responded with horror to both ideas, but one young lady who has only come to faith in the last year or so, whilst not agreeing with the gender change for the Spirit, liked the idea it was trying to express. My point is that although we may think we have won the gender war by championing the equality of men and women in the life of the church, I don't think we've even begun to understand the implications of the feminist agenda (both good and troubling) or the reaction of the conservative elements of the church that are gaining a voice through the growing popularity of certain leaders and movements around the world.
Whether it's gender equality, evolution, human sexuality, conservationism, social justice, or any of the many other issues that exist in our world today, as believers in Jesus we need to not only have thought-out responses, but actually be the leaders in addressing these issues with the same prophetic voice and praxis that Jesus did. I think we fail in our calling as the church if we just congratulate ourselves on our relevance, when really all we often do is demonstrate our connection to pop culture, transform our worship service to a more contextual event, and the teaching of scripture becomes a amusing and entertaining motivational talk. (That's a little harsh, but too often the all too ugly truth...)
My strong persuasion isn't (just) that we need to be engaging with the students and ideas that inhabit today's world, but that when they enter tomorrow as leaders and culture creators, the church is waiting to welcome them with love, grace, and gospel-shaped dialogue on what God's good creation looks like. We've lost our way if we think the gospel is all about getting to heaven when we die; we've distorted truth if we think the gospel is about health, wealth and success for the present; but we become the carriers of good news when we thoughtfully enter into tomorrow's conversations today and show how God's kingdom not only has relevance for current/future issues, but actually redeems them so that 'Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.'
I guess what I'm saying is that as pastors, as Christians, as imagers of Jesus in our world, we have to get beyond conversations about buildings, budgets and kidding ourselves and our congregations with spin regarding our influence. The strength of the church has always been the call to engage the philosophies that shape the world with gospel-shaped thinking (and please don't minimise that thought, but that's another post for another time), and engage the people who inhabit our world with gospel-shaped lives. We live in an age where church 'entrepreneurs' have taken leadership from church 'thinkers.' That's ok, but let's not forget that while the businesses and organisations of the past have long since been forgotten, we are still shaped by Plato, Socrates, Augustine, Aquinas et. al.
Selah. (I know, that's a bit passe, but I couldn't resist.....)
Tuesday, 9 August 2011
The Final Doorway
There is an unforgettable scene in Monty Python's 'Meaning of Life' where the Grim Reaper visits a dinner party to inform them they are all dead. In response to the realisation of just who has crashed their evening one of the guests responds, 'Well that's cast rather a gloom on the evening hasn't it?'
This week I am preparing the funeral of a good man who was greatly loved by his friends and family, and it caused to contemplate again the nature of death for those who are followers of Jesus Christ. We are surrounded by death via media, both factual and fictional, yet by and large we are removed from the harsh reality that one day takes every one of us. Every culture and every individual has their own particular way of mourning, grieving, coping and understanding death. Despite all of this, so much of the reality of this most common of human experiences remains a mystery to us. Whether we seek to be accepting of death as the next stage of our journey as Francis Bacon wrote, 'Death is a friend of ours,' or we fight against the ending of our time on earth, 'Do not go gentle into that good night...rage, rage against the dying of the light,' (Dylan Thomas) death is present, confronting and unknown.
As Christians we often, I think, have a distorted view of what our response to death should be. We read and quote the scriptures that speak of death's defeat, its loss of sting, our immediate presence with the Lord etc. but in reality many times our experiences are similar to everyone else's......with one very distinct difference - Jesus. We don't know what happens the moment life departs the body any more than anyone else, the Bible is silent on this. And, to be honest, I place very little credence or have very little confidence in the back-from-the-dead stories I hear. My understanding of my faith comes from the Word of God, the Bible. Believers in Jesus sorrow, grieve, mourn, weep and are in pain when we lose someone we love. But, says Paul, we do not grieve as those who have no hope. (1 Thess. 4:13)
When we contemplate death our hope is firmly placed, Paul continues, in the person of Jesus and his own death and resurrection. The confidence followers of Christ have is based in the historical and unrepeatable redemptive work of the Son of God. His resurrection is the guarantee of my own resurrection, what N T Wright terms 'life after life after death.' We grieve, Paul says, but with hope. Death causes great pain and sorrow for those of us who remain, but our hearts lift and our faith is secure with the knowledge that what Jesus experienced will be our experience and ultimately death is not the victor, he is only another opponent who must be engaged on our journey to the redemption of God's creation at the return of Christ.
So as I prepare this week I do so with faith in Jesus, hope in the resurrection, and love for those who grieve. Death isn't my friend, he is my defeated opponent; neither do I rage against the inevitable, because ultimately Jesus is the Lord of my time on this earth. Death is a doorway we must all pass through (I know, unless Jesus comes back first), a door with no real power because it serves only to unite me with the one who is my life.
Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again - always the centre of our hope!
This week I am preparing the funeral of a good man who was greatly loved by his friends and family, and it caused to contemplate again the nature of death for those who are followers of Jesus Christ. We are surrounded by death via media, both factual and fictional, yet by and large we are removed from the harsh reality that one day takes every one of us. Every culture and every individual has their own particular way of mourning, grieving, coping and understanding death. Despite all of this, so much of the reality of this most common of human experiences remains a mystery to us. Whether we seek to be accepting of death as the next stage of our journey as Francis Bacon wrote, 'Death is a friend of ours,' or we fight against the ending of our time on earth, 'Do not go gentle into that good night...rage, rage against the dying of the light,' (Dylan Thomas) death is present, confronting and unknown.
As Christians we often, I think, have a distorted view of what our response to death should be. We read and quote the scriptures that speak of death's defeat, its loss of sting, our immediate presence with the Lord etc. but in reality many times our experiences are similar to everyone else's......with one very distinct difference - Jesus. We don't know what happens the moment life departs the body any more than anyone else, the Bible is silent on this. And, to be honest, I place very little credence or have very little confidence in the back-from-the-dead stories I hear. My understanding of my faith comes from the Word of God, the Bible. Believers in Jesus sorrow, grieve, mourn, weep and are in pain when we lose someone we love. But, says Paul, we do not grieve as those who have no hope. (1 Thess. 4:13)
When we contemplate death our hope is firmly placed, Paul continues, in the person of Jesus and his own death and resurrection. The confidence followers of Christ have is based in the historical and unrepeatable redemptive work of the Son of God. His resurrection is the guarantee of my own resurrection, what N T Wright terms 'life after life after death.' We grieve, Paul says, but with hope. Death causes great pain and sorrow for those of us who remain, but our hearts lift and our faith is secure with the knowledge that what Jesus experienced will be our experience and ultimately death is not the victor, he is only another opponent who must be engaged on our journey to the redemption of God's creation at the return of Christ.
So as I prepare this week I do so with faith in Jesus, hope in the resurrection, and love for those who grieve. Death isn't my friend, he is my defeated opponent; neither do I rage against the inevitable, because ultimately Jesus is the Lord of my time on this earth. Death is a doorway we must all pass through (I know, unless Jesus comes back first), a door with no real power because it serves only to unite me with the one who is my life.
Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again - always the centre of our hope!
Tuesday, 2 August 2011
Sabbath?
We live in an age when 'busy-ness' has become a badge of honour. We measure our importance or self-worth by how busy we are. It seems it's almost embarrassing to not be busy, as though the time we might take to reflect and refresh is somehow lazy. I have been challenged recently by Sabbath. Just the word caught my attention in reading Scot McKnight's 'The Blue Parakeet.' I felt God challenge me that I don't give time to Sabbath in my life and that ultimately this not only affects me, my family and my ministry, but is also dishonouring and disobedient to him.
This led me to a serendipitous moment of self-discovery: I'm not as able as I thought I was. Although such a confession seems to be negative and inappropriate in our high-speed, achievement driven culture, I found it to be liberating. It's ok to be me. I still have dreams. I still intend to work hard to meet my responsibilities and vocation. But I need to do so in such a way as to give fullest expression to be the 'me' God always intended I should be.
The creativity of God is limitless, and seen in the uniqueness of every person who has ever lived. So the image of my Creator that is being formed in me is creatively framed by my uniqueness. Perhaps that thought seems self-evident, but the expectations and pressures of culture and other people have determined what success and achievement look like and far too often our lives are shaped by these influences rather than that of God.
In 2 Cor. 4 Paul reminds us that we carry the glorious treasure of the presence of Jesus in these jars of clay. Your jar and mine are shaped in different ways, and perhaps carry the flaws and cracks caused by our journey to date, but in each of us the light of Christ is seen in it's wonder and diversity. Whatever the capacity of the jar, whatever the colours that decorate it, whatever the use to which it is put, Jesus expresses his presence and glory through each one.
So, I need to learn the lesson of Sabbath. I need to make time for reflection and just 'being'. I need to find the contentment and fulfilment of just being me. The real challenge isn't what I can do for God in the years of my life, but who I become with God. My challenge is to defy busy-ness, activity and expectation and the unspoken implication that it is this that gives my life value, and embrace the gloriously liberating Bible truth that it is the fact that I am created in God's image and for his glory in my uniqueness that gives true value to my life.
This led me to a serendipitous moment of self-discovery: I'm not as able as I thought I was. Although such a confession seems to be negative and inappropriate in our high-speed, achievement driven culture, I found it to be liberating. It's ok to be me. I still have dreams. I still intend to work hard to meet my responsibilities and vocation. But I need to do so in such a way as to give fullest expression to be the 'me' God always intended I should be.
The creativity of God is limitless, and seen in the uniqueness of every person who has ever lived. So the image of my Creator that is being formed in me is creatively framed by my uniqueness. Perhaps that thought seems self-evident, but the expectations and pressures of culture and other people have determined what success and achievement look like and far too often our lives are shaped by these influences rather than that of God.
In 2 Cor. 4 Paul reminds us that we carry the glorious treasure of the presence of Jesus in these jars of clay. Your jar and mine are shaped in different ways, and perhaps carry the flaws and cracks caused by our journey to date, but in each of us the light of Christ is seen in it's wonder and diversity. Whatever the capacity of the jar, whatever the colours that decorate it, whatever the use to which it is put, Jesus expresses his presence and glory through each one.
So, I need to learn the lesson of Sabbath. I need to make time for reflection and just 'being'. I need to find the contentment and fulfilment of just being me. The real challenge isn't what I can do for God in the years of my life, but who I become with God. My challenge is to defy busy-ness, activity and expectation and the unspoken implication that it is this that gives my life value, and embrace the gloriously liberating Bible truth that it is the fact that I am created in God's image and for his glory in my uniqueness that gives true value to my life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)