sustain:if:able kiwi

what ascension day means for my faith

Today is Ascension Day, when the church remembers, and affirms, as it says in the Apostles Creed:

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord …
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

Practically, today, I am glad that

God in Jesus is present through all time and space. The Jesus of the Gospels was bound in a Jewish body and timezone. After the resurrection we catch glimpses of a change of mode, for the Resurection body is a bit of a shape-shifter. Jesus can defy space by moving through walls and can defy time by moving quickly from place to place. The Ascension suggests this movement through time and space is now complete and that the Jesus we worship is now present at all times and in all space. He is both outside time, yet inside time. (This is speculative, but I wonder if this might be why many cultures narrate pre-Christian encounters with Jesus-type images and figures. Could it be that the resurrection body of Jesus appeared not just in Galilee and Judea, but also in pre-Christian New Zealand etc?)

A human body now live with God. Jesus, born as a baby, was God en-flesh, choosing to limit his divinity in order to endwell humanity. This gives dignity to our bodies, our armpits and our noses, our sweat glands and our bottoms. The Ascension of Jesus has no record of the human body of Jesus folding up like a sack of skin on the ground. Instead we have the nail scarred hands been taken to heaven. This means that human sweat glands and bottoms are seated with God, caught into a Trinity of love. God has embraced humanity. The celebration of human bodies is complete.

Faith without sight is now the normal way to follow Jesus. We are called to walk with no God in visible sight. We are called to believe in the guidance of God’s Spirit, to humbly seek discernment, to trust our intuition and seek wisdom through the body of God. Faith without sight, flying blind in some sort of fog, is our normal Christianity.

God’s people are the primary hermeneneutic of the Gospel. Into the gap left by the loss of Jesus, comes the infilling Spirit of God, who forms us as the new Body of God. All the gospels record Jesus commissioning his disciples (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:48, John 20:22-23. Why the church has chosen to prioiritise Matthew 28 is a matter for another post). We are now the hands and feet of Jesus. God has no body on earth but ours.

The end of the Matrix movie captures this best. Neo soars into heaven, leaving the message that the freedom he has won now needs to be completed. The church as the body of God, has transcended time and culture and countries in a way that no one human could ever do. On Ascension Day I renew my commitment to embody Jesus.

Jesus the good woman

Luke 15:1-7 presents Jesus as like a good shepherd, searching for a lost sheep. Luke 15:8-10 presents Jesus as like a good woman, searching for a lost coin.

The church has been very happy to tell me about the first, Jesus as good shepherd. But why has the church been strangely silent about the second, Jesus as a good woman?

Strange, because a feature of Jesus is the way he includes both male and female. 27 times the writer of Luke matches a story about a man, with a story about a woman; starting with the angel appearing to Zechariah and Elizabeth in Luke 1; followed by Simeon and Anna blessing the baby Jesus in the temple in Luke 2; through to men and women being present at Jesus death and resurrection. 27 times.

As Kenneth Bailey, Finding the Lost, notes, Jesus is remarkable for the way he affirms both women and men as “full and equal participants in the kingdom of God.” Surely this pairing has something to say about women in ministry.

can all deeds lead to eternal life

“Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'”

This exchange between Jesus and a lawyer (Luke 10:25-27) should initially trouble those who believe in the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ. Consider that in this exchange, eternal life is defined as loving God and loving neighbour. It is a fusion of two Old Testament texts; Dueteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. So on this basis surely a good Jew who follows the Old Testament gains eternal life. And perhaps a good Muslim, who follows God as Allah and enacts charity? And perhaps numbers of my friends, who tend to their own spirituality, often outside the established church, and live generously toward their neighbours. (And often more generously than many churchgoers.)

My ability to seek both a generous orthodoxy and a conviction of the uniqueness of Jesus has, in recent months, been greatly helped by the following quote from Julian of Norwich.

“the atonement is necessary because without it we would only have our own judgements to rely on, and we are notoriously bad at judging both ourselves and others. In the passion, Christ … has shown us that we must trust God’s judgements more than our own … and this teaches us to love God graciously”

The quote reminds me that salvation in Christ includes an objective reality outside our own frames of reference. Jesus teaches us what love of God and neighbour is like. In the face of the uniqueness of Christ, I can only say “God in Jesus, please teach me to love and be loved.” In this cry for help, I enter into the love of the Triune God. My actions become God-filled, an extension not of my own efforts, but of the love of Christ. In the Triune God, I love God and neighbour. I can affirm a generous orthodoxy empowered by the uniqueness of Christ.

doodling at Jesus birth OR Trinity, annunication, communion and eschatology

How would you express the annunciation of Jesus as a visual image?

Many of us like to doodle on paper as we listen. So how would you doodle the angel appearing to Mary and announcing the impregnation? Here is a marginal manuscript, a sort of doodle from the 9th century, from the Byzantine Khludov. It comes from After the After the Spirit. A Constructive Pneumatology from Resources outside the Modern West (a fascinating book by Eugene Rogers) and I used it on Sunday.

I then noted the Christian belief that the economic Trinity = immanent Trinity; that what God does = who God is. That God in Jesus acts the same before he was born as during his life, and as he will come again.

That God starts (God has a surprise for you. Luke 1:30); that Spirit works (the Holy Spirit will come upon you. Luke 1:35); that creation matters (You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. Luke 1:31).

It led me to offer the following table; integrating the Trinity with Jesus birth, Jesus return and communion.

We concluded around the communion table. Often at communion we just look back, memory of a night 2000 years ago. Yet in communion we are entering into Jesus, the economic Trinity = immanent Trinity, that Jesus acts in the Bible is the same as who God is before the Bible.

Christmas can be a very busy time. We have presents to buy, food to prepare, a long list of social functions and breakups. And it’s easy to get tired. When I do, when I get tired in December, I return to this doodle. The reminder that it is not my energy, for God starts, for the Spirit is working and that as creation matters and God wants to touch our human bodies with God power.

As we come to communion: you might like to think about: What is God starting in you? Where is the Spirit working?

consuming Christianity

Gospel in a post-Christian society is the next course I teach at Bible College of New Zealand; starting Wednesday 26 July, the course runs for 3hours over 14 weeks. Each year I adjust and tweak my courses and this year the emphasis will be on what the gospel might mean in our consumptive and consumeristic world.

I am using this book – A to Z of postmodern life – as a core text;
firstly, because as a sociologist the author allows us to explore postmodernity not only as a philosophical problem but as it occurs among people. Secondly, the author is non-Western and the book is a critical voice on the impact of postmodernity on global culture. And thirdly, because the book explores postmodern in everyday life: advertising to zapping, toys to shopping. And it is precisely in how we live and spend money that the gospel needs to engage us.

For those interested, a fuller bibliography is as follows:

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newbigin and western missiology

From June 25-29 I am participating in a International Think Tank on Mission to Western Culture. This involves a multi-year think tank re-applying the work of Lesslie Newbigin to denominational, seminary and other church systems regarding missional engagement with western culture(s). In preparation I was asked to answer 2 questions.

Question 1: What are the primary contributions of Lesslie Newbigin to this conversation?

For me, the primary contribution is summed in the sentence; “[T]he only hermeneutic of the gospel, is a congregation of men and women who believe it and live by it.” Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, 1989, 227.

This suggests the following:

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spirit, church and mission

As part of our Spirit of life festival, I was doing a talk on the Spirit and church. It was a mixed group, young and old, who had gathered to love God with their minds. In other words, to think.

So I showed them Rublevs Icon. (Click here if you want to view image) I suggested that;
When we talk about the Spirit, we are talking about a flow of love.
When we talk about the Spirit and church, we must talk about a flow of love.

Then in groups they discussed the implications of this for our worship; our community; our mission. Here is what a group of our younger people read out.

Mission doesn’t mean you have to go out into a secluded area. It is everywhere! But you need community to back you up and each person in that community is doing a mission of their own based on what and how the Holy Spirit manifests in them (i.e. to pray from someone “out there” is to participate in the mission flow.

what is truth?

“Learning truth is like learning a trade; apprentices grow in experience little by little.” So says Basil the Great in his book, On the Holy Spirit, 16.

When truth is capitalised to Truth and used as a weapon, it seems in such contrast to this wise church leader who offers to his opponents a process of gradual learning, in the context of relational, experiential apprenticeship.

When truth is capitalised to Truth and used as a weapon, it seems in such contrast to Jesus. The fully human, fully divine who offers truth as embodied; “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” This is the same person who has offered a starting point of “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of people.” So truth is set in the context of discipleship, and of a personal growing relationship with Jesus.

reality of resurrection

I’ve never noticed this before, but 1 Corinthians 15 is followed by 1 Corinthians 16. Brilliant observation aye!

A deep discussion about the resurrection body of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15), is followed by a church taking up an offering for the hungry in Jerusalem (1 Corinthians 16).

So is this what the resurrection body of Jesus looks like? A group of everyday people sharing their resources with the poor? So practical. So Incarnationally real. Show me your faith [in the resurrection] and I will show you deeds.

Easter Sunday is never tidy

Easter Sunday sermon. My third Easter and with a bit of trust built, time to take seriously the Resurrection.

If you’re looking for a tidy faith, well wrapped and beautifully packaged, you’ve come to the wrong place.

If you want a faith all neat and beautiful, You won’t find it in the Resurrection Garden…

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more on DJing gospel and culture

Last week I blogged some images, built around the image of DJ, that I think provide a more helpful way to understand how the emerging church responds to culture. The usual stereotype offered by critics of the emerging church is the assumption that because we pay attention to a postmodern culture, we are therefore assimilating into this culture. Instead I think that when you examine emerging practices, you see complex pattern; moments of juxtaposition, subversion and amplification;

Anyhow, my post has attracted some good blog engagement. It’s inspired some worship in Germany;

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congregational innovation and missional texts: a snip from an email I wrote today

great question: how might a ‘missional reader’ in a local church innovate the bringing into public discourse the real, lived narratives of the people in our local churches? For me there have been key biblical texts and “questions” around which great energy has been released at Opawa. They are texts that we have lingered with and keep returning to. Four that immediately spring to mind are;

1) Luke 1:39-45 – what is God growing and birthing – how do older bless younger – how to speak words of courage and hope?

2) Peter vs Paul – what would it look like to be intentional about evangelism to Peter’s ie process and the invitation to community discernment around this process.

3) Change is best sourced in organic metaphors rather than narratives of decline.

4) The different responses of Peter, Mary, Thomas, John to the Risen Jesus and what does it mean for us to create spaces that acknowledge this diversity and allow this contextual freedom of expression; as a pre-cursor to our multi-congregational model as a concrete way of bringing about change in an established church context.

But these are unique to Opawa. So how transferable are these “texts”?

DJing gospel and culture

I was with a lecture class a few weeks ago, talking about gospel and culture. We tend to polarise into two camps; withdrawal from culture or assimilation into culture. This duality blights the emerging church. We get accused of assimilation; of buying into postmodernity. I think a much more subtle process is at work, and I offered the class the following three symbols (gift from Steve Collins).

Juxtapose: placing two contrasting things alongside each other. In doing so, we allow a new mix to emerge from the contradiction.

Subvert: using one thing to alter the meaning of another thing.

Amplify: two things that together enhance and compliment.

The emerging engagement with postmodernity is complex. At times we amplify the culture (e.g. we wonder if Web 2.0 amplifies what it means to be the body of Christ); at times we subvert the culture (e.g. we become passionate about creativity and imagination because we realise that creativity is sourced in God. In this realisation, we declare that creativity is not for Holywood pleasure, but it is to respect the image of God, as seen in the poor and marginalised); at times we juxtapose the culture (e.g. while respecting the full embodiment of humanity, we choose not to follow the increasing sexualisation of women in contemporary culture.) Reducing the emerging church to “assimilation” totally bypasses these realities.

Anyhow, students found the concept helpful. And I like the visuals, so I thought I would post it.

For a QT e-video of me being interviewed about this in relation to culture, download here (11 MB); for more on DJing, including where I explore how this is happening in 1 Peter, and engage with the work of Miroslav Volf, read out of bounds church? book); also check out the outofbounds blog.

writing for koder: theology and art as looking

I have completed my first writing project for these few days. I have just sent a 2,500 word piece to a German publishing company. Earlier this year, I was really delighted to be asked, in honour of an 80 year old German artists birthday, to write something for a book, on his work. I loved the boundary crossing such a request represented: English to German, young to wise, PhD theology of emerging church research to article on artist.

What did I write? Well I traced some links around an art piece (great view here). I noted the way that discipleship in John 1 is framed around the verb “to look.” And how looking at Jesus unsettles, or displaces, our identity. I then explored American Beauty, and what we “see” as we accept it’s invitation to look closer. I then made some link with art historians and philosophers like Lacan, Barthes and Freedberg, who argue that the gaze is in fact a dialogue, with the potential to encounter us, resurrect (to use the words of Barthes) us.

So I concluded that looking is in fact a life-changing act. So now go back to Koder’s art and look closer, at that face in the cup …. and it looks back at you, asking where you are in relation to the table of Jesus and the bodies of Christ… looking as a life-changing act?

Anyhow, it should all be published (in German and English) in August. I wonder how I will sound in German?