Late last night I heard from a good friend who had picked up A New Kind of Christianity in a bookstore a few days early in New York City. He had just finished reading the chapter called "From Violent Tribal God to Christlike God." He said it felt like a huge step beyond all my previous books, and that this one chapter alone had precipitated a breakthrough in his heart, so he just had to call. As you can imagine, his enthusiasm made my day, and prepared me for today, the book's official release date. I'm deeply grateful for the experience of gestating content, laboring to wrestle it into words, and now bringing this book to "delivery." Thanks be to God!
Kindlers ...
Here's the link if you'd like to buy the new book on Kindle.
You may feel it as a curiosity, a desire for better answers than you inherited so far. You may experience it as frustration, knowing that there must be more to faith than you currently know. You may know it as hope, hope that God is seeking humble people whose hearts and lives can be the womb of a better future. You may be carrying this pregnancy now, with symptoms beginning to show - increasing love, joy, and peace; growing patience, kindness, and goodness, strengthening faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In you, your family, your faith community, and circles of friends, among people of peace and faith everywhere, something is trying to be born, indeed, indeed. (259)
Tomorrow the book releases! Thanks to all who have pre-ordered it, and to all who will venture out to your local Barnes and Noble, Borders, or other bookseller tomorrow ...
We’ve gotten ourselves into a mess with the Bible. First, we are in a scientific mess. Fundamentalism again and again paints itself into a corner by requiring that the Bible be treated as a divinely dictated science textbook providing us true information in all areas of life, including when and how the earth was created, what the shape of the earth is, what revolves around what in space, and so on. (68)
I'll be focusing on the book release for the next several weeks, but I wanted to include this note I just received:
Rev. McLaren - thank you for your wonderful report/response to your time in the Occupied Territories. Christians have, for too long, been complacent in the treatment of the palestinian people. As a Christian whose circle of friends include several muslims and a future rabbi (as well as having an MA in theology my self and a wife who loves anything to do with the Hebrew Bible) I am very pro ANYTHING that allows the diversity of human beings to work together for peace.
I don't know if you met with them during you time in the territories but can I point you and your readers to Sabeel? Sabel is the 'Ecumenical Palestinian LIberation Theology Center'. It is a training center for clergy and lay people alike to engage in non-violent liberation theology in a palestinian context. http://www.sabeel.org/
Thanks - yes, I am a big fan of Sabeel, and encourage folks to read everything that they produce, especially books by Naim Ateek. I'll be coming back to speech and action on Palestine in the weeks and months ahead ...
Study Guide for EMC
My friend Alan Ward created a super-helpful study guide for Everything Must Change, which you can download for your group or for individual study here.
Countdown Day 2
Friends - just two days until the book releases! Thanks for your interest in following these daily quotations.
But my quest for a new kind of Christianity has required me to ask some hard questions about the Bible I love. There will be no new kind of Christian faith without a new approach to the Bible. (68)
If you have an interest in experiencing what some friends and I experienced in Israel and Palestine in January, I highly recommend you contact my friends Jeff and Janet Wright. Jeff is a Disciples of Christ pastor who has a deep passion for peace in the Middle East, and he knows how to introduce others to what's going on there. You can contact him at wright@frii.com. Maybe you could put together a group of about twenty friends yourself, or maybe you could join another group. I highly, highly recommend this. It's one thing to go to the "Holy Land" and see where Jesus worked and walked in the past. It's another thing to combine that with seeing where the Spirit of Jesus is working and walking in the present, teaching people to seek peace and reconciliation with God, neighbor, and enemy.
I've received a number of positive responses to my recent posts on Palestine, like this one.
A lot of people are noticing what you're writing and your witness. Right now, it's mostly people saying "hey, McLaren seems to be getting it." (That was a comment on your sojourners' piece.) But be ready to be attacked and insulted and slimed like never before... I suspect you've developed a thick skin by now. Just want you to know you're going to need it. And I'll be praying for you.
Of course, some other responses haven't been so positive. I'll include some of them, with my responses, after the jump.
OK, folks, it's almost time! You can pre-order the book online now, or plan to visit a local bookseller on Tuesday ...
I love the Bible. This love goes back to childhood for me, to warm memories when my parents would read me Bible stories, either directly from a big, black, leather-bound, red-letter King James Version or from a children’s illustrated story Bible…. In my teenage years, I began to read the bible for myself and found treasure buried on every page…. I began journaling my responses to what I was reading, and followed several different schemes for reading through the Bible every year or so. I even memorized long passages, a practice I still cherish…. I’ve never tired of the Bible through all these years. The more I’ve asked of it, the more it has yielded to me. So yes, I love the Bible. I’m in awe of it. At this very moment. (67)
On 01.10.10, we sang this song for the first time at Willow. It launched us into reading the Prayer of St Francis, space for reflection, Have Thine Own Way Lord, and a response. Most of the experience is included in this video.
Long before we can “love” our enemies, we have to learn to talk with them.
Countdown Day 4
Thanks to all of you who have pre-ordered the book. I just got my copy the other day, and yesterday met the first person who received hers. Awaiting a book release is always exciting and a little bit scary ... My prayer and hope is that all who read the book will find their faith deepened and their love for God and neighbor strengthened.
It’s time to abandon the long experimental project of recasting the Bible in an alien narrative and reframing God in an alien story. It’s time to stop holding God’s people captive in that alien construction. God liberated God’s people from the economic and political concentration camp of the Egyptians and Babylonians; perhaps now it’s time to be liberated from the conceptual tyranny of the Greco-Romans as well. (66)
"A new reformation is taking place in Christianity. Brian McLaren is one of its leading voices and A New Kind of Christianity is a roadmap for this reformation. This is a very important book." (Adam Hamilton, author of Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White and Senior Pastor, The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection.)
Creation Care Liturgy
My friend John van de Laar in South Africa created this liturgy that he offered to make available to others. Thank God for the growing corps of creative liturgists who are helping us celebrate "a new kind of Christianity!"
Countdown Day 5
Today's quote:
The wild, passionate, creative, liberating, hope-inspiring God whose image emerges in these three sacred narratives is not the dread cosmic dictator of the six-line Greco-Roman framework. No, that deity, we must conclude, is an idol, a damnable idol. Yes, that idol is popular, perhaps even predominant, and defended by many a well-meaning but misguided scholar and fire-breathing preacher. But in the end, you cannot serve two masters, Theos and Elohim, the god of the Greco-Roman philosophers and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the violent god of profit proclaimed by empire and the compassionate God of justice proclaimed by the prophets. (65)
"A New Kind of Christianity is a stellar accomplishment, a combination of hard tack fact and unfettered hope, an overview in delightful narrative of the long way of our coming to this time and of the multiform ways of our arriving. In every way, a dispatch from the front." (-Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence )
Here's the thinkfwd interview from theooze.tv:
Note from Australia ... blindfolded, warped, completely changed
I was struck in this email by strong words like "blindfolded" and "warped." This is how so many people feel. The way of Christ is about seeing and healing, not blinding and warping!
I’m not sure if you will read this, but I have just finished reading ‘the story we find ourselves in’. It really moved me and inspired me and I wanted to tell you Thank you! I have read 2 of your books now and heard you speak when you visited Sydney a few months ago and my thinking has completely changed.
I have been a Christian for a long time and yet I feel like I have been blindfolded and I am only just starting to see clearly and I cant believe how warped my thinking and beliefs have been. So anyway, I just wanted to say Thank you.
Thanks so much for this encouragement. Keep up the good work in Sydney!
Another note from Australia ... Q & R from a Gen Y emerging leader
Three excellent questions (slightly edited) from an emerging leader down under:
I hope things are grand ! I'm excited to read your upcoming book...
My name is ???, I'm a young lawyer in Sydney, Australia, and I met you at the World Vision "Where Faith meets the World" workshop. First, thank you so much for your books, blogs, etc. They have been a huge blessing to me, and those around me :)
During morning tea at the workshop, I shared with you that I wanted to study theology.. but that I didn't know whether I should, or, where I should.
I've always felt I wanted to be a minister of some sort at some stage, and feel ill-equiped at present (perhaps that'll never change!). There were 2 main questions I asked you, both which you asked me to raise during question time - alas, I didnt get the opportunity. So, here goes:
Question 1.
Where does a Gen Y-er go to learn how to be a new kind of Christian? - or, be mentored by 'a new kind of' Christian? Is there value in attending an 'evangelical' or other seminary? Are there particular Christian or not Christian think tanks or groups where one could connect to other folk on a similar journey?
If you haven't checked out my interview with Bill Dahl, it's here.
Here's today's quote:
Everyone with a vine and fig tree. That wouldn’t necessarily mean a literal return to an agricultural economy for everyone, but it would suggest full employment for all families everywhere, all having some secure place in a healthy, sustainable, regenerative economy. (63)
"Now and then gifted people emerge who see the situation from a higher and more helpful level. Brian McLaren is one of those seers." (Richard Rohr, author of Everything Belongs and The Naked Now)
Baltimore-Washington Area Friends - please spread the word!
I don't actually speak that often in my home town anymore ... but here's a great opportunity to spend a day and evening together:
Here's what the Apostle Paul wrote about dividing walls (Eph. 214):
For [Christ] himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility ... His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
Countdown Day 7
One week from today the new book is available! Thanks for your interest ... I hope the book will be of help to you and to the causes, values, hopes, and dreams we share. Here's today's quote:
This approach frees us to let poetry work as poetry is supposed to. Swords into plowshares. Today that would mean dreaming about tanks being melted down into playground jungle gyms and machine guns being recast as swing sets. Wolves living with lambs. Today that would mean Christians and Jews and Muslims throwing a picnic together, or Lefties and Right-wingers forming a band and singing in harmony, or nuclear weapons engineers being redeployed to develop green energy. (63)
"Brian's writing is brave and honest, vulnerable and courageous, disturbing and unsettling, reassuring and hopeful. Every now and then you come across a book you've been waiting for. A New Kind of Christianity is that book." (Steve Chalke, MBE, founder of Oasis Global, UN Special Advisor on Human Trafficking)
Do you live in the Boston area?
I'll be there later this week. There's a public lecture Thursday night on Beacon Street in Newton Centre, Mass. I hope you'll come! You'll find info here.
Processing Palestine ... Guest blog from Greg Barrett
I'll have a lot more to say (and do) in the coming days and months regarding an experience in Israel and Palestine that I shared with a wonderful group of pilgrims. But in the meantime, here's another insightful guest blog from Greg Barrett, continued after the jump. Well worth reading!
Sifting fact from fiction on holy ground
In the ten days in January that I toured the Holy Land and attended lectures alongside Christian/spiritual authors, artists, activists such as Brian McLaren, Shane Claiborne, David Wilcox and more than a dozen other North Americans, Palestinian scholars and clergy kept asking us to focus on “the facts on the ground.” The request was repeated like a talking point or mantra. It’s been said of Israel that it fabricates “the facts on the ground” by constructing Jewish-only settlements on Palestinian land, and then making claims to the land in the name of God and/or the Ottoman Empire.
But when Palestinians today talk about “facts on the ground” they are referring to something else entirely. They are asking (pleading) for objectivity. They want our conclusions (and their sovereign boundaries) to be drawn from the visible evidence and decades-old international law. Apparently, politics yoked to Zionist policies can murky the otherwise clearly stated laws on human rights and land occupation. [continued after the jump]
Quiz:
When I am presented with a new idea or proposal, my first question is more likely to be ...
___A. Is it acceptable to my religious/ideological community or belief system?
___B. Is it possibly true, valuable, and worth exploring?
If you chose A, you're probably a fundamentalist, and probably shouldn't read my new book because it will only get you in trouble. If you do decide to read it, don't let your fundamentalist friends know. Hide the book in a brown paper bag, and only read it in private.
If you chose B, you're curious, and I think you'll enjoy my new book.
Here's Seth Godin talking about fundamentalism and curiosity. (Thank to Mike Todd for this link.)
The new book releases a week from tomorrow! If you haven't checked out the Thinkfwd video interview with Spencer Burke, you can watch it here or here. (You'll find a lot of other great stuff at both sites, and I'll have a new channel at theooze.tv starting next week... I hope you'll consider subscribing.) Here's today's quote:
In fact, during the exile, the dream of a peace-making kingdom becomes even more radical and all-encompassing. It now finds expression less in the language of land or space and more in terms of a day or a time. It morphs from a promised land to a promised time, the Day of the Lord, when oppressors will be overthrown, when corruption and infidelity will be replaced by virtue and integrity, and when the blessing, justice, and shalom of God flow like a river and fill the earth as waters fill the oceans. (59)
"Very rarely a book appears that houses the power to change a generation. A New Kind of Christianity is nothing less than one of those moments."' (-Peter Rollins, Ikon)
Countdown Day 9
If the first narrative situates us in God’s good, evolving world that has been marred and scarred by human evil, the second narrative situates us in humanity’s oppressive, resistant world in which God is active as liberator – freeing us from external and internal oppression and forming us as the people of God. (58)
Encouragement from a Pentecostal house church participant
Just received this:
I know you are busy, so I'll keep this short... I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your writings. Coming from Pentecostal[ism] I've struggled with the Science versus Christianity battle. Your books have given me the confidence to be who I am and believe what I believe without any question. I am a new Christian.
And The Secret Message of Jesus transformed my thoughts of the church's message.
You see, I have been part of the house church movement for about 10 years now, but have been tortured by how fundamentalist Christians I fellowship with can blatantly question all church practices without a thought about their blind allegiance to their beliefs. I've always questioned everything: my scientific need for evidence. You give thoughtful care to answering many questions. And there is nothing better than a solid answer instead of "just because".
Thanks for the note. I'm so glad the books have been helpful, and I hope the next one will be the most helpful of all, since it focuses on good and needed questions. God bless!
Countdown Day 10
Deconstruction is not destruction, as many erroneously assume, but rather careful and loving attention to the construction of ideas, beliefs, systems, values, and cultures. (55)
The second is of Grace and me overlooking the Judean wilderness along the Jericho Road, and the first is of my shadow against the segregation wall near East Jerusalem. (Thanks to Mike Todd for the shots.) If you get a chance to go to Israel and Palestine, I encourage you to take it - but only if you can go on an alternative tour that will have you spending time in the West Bank, meeting both Palestinians and Israelis so you can see for yourself how different the reality is from the impressions gained from our well-managed media and highly-lobbied government.
Countdown Day 11
My training [in literature] taught me to read for scenes and plots, not doctrines; for protagonists and antagonists, not absolute and objective truths; for character development and conflict resolution, not raw material to be processed into a system of beliefs; for resonances and common patterns among many texts and traditions, not merely for uniqueness or superiority of one text or tradition; for multiple layers of interpretation, not merely one sanctioned one. (55)
"A new reformation is taking place in Christianity. Brian McLaren is one of its leading voices and A New Kind of Christianity is a roadmap for this reformation. This is a very important book." (Adam Hamilton, author of Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White and Senior Pastor, The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection.)
Last Day in Israel and Palestine
Tonight we'll conclude our pilgrimage with a celebration back on the other side of the segregation wall in the West Bank. This morning I'll be back in East Jerusalem with the good people of Sabeel, leaders in developing a faithful Christian theology contextual to the Palestinian occupation. I was there the other day and met Keas Keasler, a fellow American who has been blogging on his experience here. You'll see that what he's experiencing has much in common with what our little band of pilgrims has been experiencing.
While at Sabeel, it was a pleasure and honor to finally meet Naim Ateek, whose work and writings I have long admired from a distance. Naim is a Palestinian signatory to an important statement called the Kairos Document, created by Christian leaders across denominational lines across Palestine. You can add your name to it, as I have.
One of our pilgrims is Dave Gibbons. What an energetic, smart, positive, and visionary leader he is! He's been blogging and vlogging about our trip all along; I wish I had linked to it sooner. Here's his window into our shared experience here. I wish you could have seen Dave and Shane Claiborne covered in Dead Sea mud from hairline to waterline ... absolutely unforgettable.
Mike Todd continues to blog about our pilgrimage too. Be sure to see his photo of a stranger-than-fiction sign at the Mount of Beatitudes in Galilee here. We have taken so many amazing photos, some serious, some funny. Here's a funny one from a serious place - the church next to the Garden of Gethsemane.
I doubt I'll have an opportunity to blog again for the next day or two. I'll be heading straight to Phoenix, AZ, to be part of the National Urban Academy this weekend. If you're in the area, it would be great to see you. Thanks for your interest in our journey, and for your prayers. Stay tuned for more reflections in the weeks to come.
A nation buried in rubble should not be buried in debt.
If you're from an Evangelical background and would like to add your name to the petition, as I have, you can do so here.
Countdown Day 12
[The Genesis narrative] begins with God creating a good world, continues with human beings creating evil, and concludes with God creating good outcomes that overcome human evil…. God’s good prevails. Good has the first word, and good has the last. (54)
"A New Kind of Christianity is a stellar accomplishment, a combination of hard tack fact and unfettered hope, an overview in delightful narrative of the long way of our coming to this time and of the multiform ways of our arriving. In every way, a dispatch from the front." (-Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence )
Jewish voices ...
We have spoken with many Palestinians in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem so far in our pilgrimage, both Christian and Muslim. Their voices are seldom heard in our corporate media, so it has made sense to meet, listen to, and understand them. But of course we've met with Israeli folks too. Yesterday we had some particularly important conversations with Israeli Jewish voices. They agreed that there will be no change in Israeli policy until the US decides to stop giving Israel a blank check.
One older Israeli gentleman explained it like this: Some Israelis, of course, fully support the occupation and don't consider the human rights of Palestinians, and many others simply choose not to think about it. But quite a few feel a deep discomfort about what's going on. They feel ashamed that their nation continues stealing Palestinian land through the settlements - little colonies that are built in strategic places in Palestinian territory, and then connected to other colonies, gradually squeezing Palestinians out. They don't like the separation fence; it reminds them of segregation in the US and apartheid in South Africa. They want security - and they deserve security - but they are not happy about what they are becoming and their Palestinian neighbors are suffering in the name of homeland security.
However, as long as huge amounts of money flow in through US military aid, they know the occupation will continue and expand, because politicians can get elected and reelected by appealing to fear much more easily than by appealing to the hope of reconciliation. So here was the sentence that really stuck with me, and all of us who heard it:
Americans must provide the alibi to allow the Israelis to make the concessions they know they need to make.
I think most Americans, if they could see for themselves what the Palestinians were experiencing, would feel like the Israelis described by this Israeli gentleman whose home we visited yesterday. We like neither what we're doing to others nor what we're becoming ourselves in the name of homeland security. We wish there were some alibi - some motivation or reason to change directions and find another way, a better way. May God help us, and them, find it.
Jesus' words came to mind often yesterday as we walked down the Mount of Olives: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! If only you knew what makes for peace ..." We could also say, "O Washington! Washington! O Tehran! O London! O Paris! O ..."
Guest Blog by Greg Barrett: From Jerusalem
Greg Barrett is part of our band of pilgrims in Israel and Palestine. He's been interviewing people who have experienced the occupation in ways that don't typically get much if any coverage by the corporate media.
Only when Right equals Might will peace be found
In witnessing the inhumane imbalance of the Holy Land, generated primarily by Zionists and their U.S. tax dollars, one book repeatedly springs to mind: “Power versus Force” by Dr. David Hawkins.
I don’t need to dissect Hawkins’ theories on applied kinesiology to explain. Authentic power is a partnership bound up soulfully in honesty, peace, cooperation; it’s mutually coordinated and mutually beneficial. Force, however, creates counterforce. Always. As Hawkins writes in his 2002 bestseller, “Because force incites polarization, it inevitably produces a win/lose dichotomy; and because someone always loses, enemies are created. Constantly faced with enemies, force requires constant defense. Defensiveness is invariably costly, whether in the marketplace, politics, or international affairs.”
Yesterday I interviewed a 48-year-old Palestinian Christian who was arrested as a 20-year-old college student. He had been involved in a protest of Zionist policies that made the protesting of Zionist policies illegal. No kidding. Until the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 it was illegal for Palestinians to protest the occupation of their land. They were not allowed to even fly the red, white, green and black of the Palestinian flag, much less to throw a rock at Israeli Defense Forces. In 1982 this Palestinian, now a soft-spoken father of four, was a student leader who dared to throw a stone during a protest of Israeli occupation. He said his ensuing arrest and interrogation lasted thirty-six days and included beatings, nakedness, scalding water, freezing water, and an anxious moment of near strangulation.
But the memory that moved him to tears yesterday wasn’t about the physical torture. It was about the inhumanity forcefully applied. Denied food for three days, he said his IDF interrogators cuffed his hands behind his back and set a bowl of yogurt on the table in front of him. They were bored and wanted to be entertained, he suspected. The imbalance of power that had left a young Palestinian alone with an army of grown men was supposed to reduce him to behaving like an animal. To eat he would have to lap at his food. Recalling this, his eyes welled up. “I was starving, starving,” he said.
“But I didn’t eat.”
Might equals right? We desperately need to reverse illogical thinking.
Countdown Day 13
Today's quote:
If Genesis sets the stage for the biblical narrative, this much is unmistakably clear: God’s unfolding drama is not a narrative shaped by the six lines in the Greco-Roman scheme of perfection, fall, condemnation, salvation, and heavenly perfection or eternal perdition. It has a different story line entirely. (54)
"Now and then gifted people emerge who see the situation from a higher and more helpful level. Brian McLaren is one of those seers." (Richard Rohr, author of Everything Belongs and The Naked Now)
Countdown Day 14
It's hard to believe that two weeks from today, the new book will be released. From where I sit today, in the Holy Land with all the unholy things happening here, it's clear that a new kind of Christianity is desperately needed ... as are a new kind of Judaism, a new kind of Islam, etc. The kinds of religion that are now dominant in our world are perfectly designed to give us the results we are now getting - in terms of personal transformation, ecological care, peacemaking, and justice for the poor and marginalized. God has better options for us all. Today's quote:
[In Genesis,] God is faithful to Joseph, and through Joseph God is gracious to Egypt, and through Joseph God is even gracious to Joseph’s wicked, Cain-like brothers. Joseph is blessed not to the exclusion of anyone, but for the blessing of everyone. Blessing triumphs. Goodness triumphs. God triumphs. And in the end, God provides something better than the “knowledge of good and evil” offered by the serpent: just as God had brought light from darkness and order from chaos and life from barrenness, God now creates a good outcome from the evil intentions of Joseph’s brothers. Through Joseph’s willingness to forgive and forego revenge, God creatively overcomes evil with good. (54)
"Brian's writing is brave and honest, vulnerable and courageous, disturbing and unsettling, reassuring and hopeful. Every now and then you come across a book you've been waiting for. A New Kind of Christianity is that book." (Steve Chalke, MBE, founder of Oasis Global, UN Special Advisor on Human Trafficking)
Dead Sea, Nazareth, Capernaum region, Jerusalem
What an amazing journey we've had so far. We went from several very intense days immersed in the issues of the occupation of Palestine, the security of Israel, and the benefits of one-state and two-state solutions (we've now met Palestinians who favor each option) ... to two delightful days tracing Jesus' footsteps (with a side trip to the Dead Sea, complete with floating, mud, and lots of laughs).
Today I fell in love with the Capernaum area. I felt like I got to know Jesus a little better by getting a feel for his neighborhood. To look across the Sea of Galilee and know that Jesus looked out over the same landscape ... to stand at a likely site of Peter's home and realize what a beautiful view he had ... to see a school of fish in the shallows and imagine the disciples hearing, "Hey, boys, try a cast on the other side" ... to watch a storm blow quickly in, and quickly out, and remember Sea of Galilee "storm stories" from Jesus' day ... to watch flocks of birds and see flowers in the field near where the Sermon on the Mount was given ... to pause with our little band of pilgrims for prayers, the eucharist, songs by David Wilcox and Nance Petit ... It's been an absolute joy.
And I haven't even mentioned the food.
Gradually, I can feel these first two segments of our journey coming together. Slowly, the current quest for peace, justice, and reconciliation can be seen in light of the parallel quest in Jesus' day, and each quest enriches the understanding of the other. More on this in the days and weeks ahead, I'm sure.
Tonight we're in Jerusalem, and tomorrow we meet with a whole array of people working for justice and peace - Jews, Christians, Muslims. Many things have become more clear since our arrival, and some things have grown more complicated for us, but one thing is absolutely certain: the picture we're given through the media in the US is grossly distorted. If you've never been in both Israel and Palestine, I hope you will start questioning what you think you know about the situation here. I've been an avid reader on the subject for quite a while, but being here now, I see how many of my most basic assumptions were skewed from a lifetime of half-truths, unfair and imbalanced news, well-planned propaganda, and misinformation.
I'm so thankful for this opportunity, and look forward to ways to take action based on what I've learned and will learn in the next few days.
Countdown Day 15
We have been so thoroughly trained – can I say brainwashed – to read Genesis through Greco-Roman bifocals, and as a result Theos is so deeply embedded and enthroned in our minds, that it is agonizingly difficult for us to recapture the wild, dynamic, story-unleashing goodness of Elohim, a goodness that differs so starkly, so radically, from the domesticated, static, controlled perfection of Theos. (48)
"Very rarely a book appears that houses the power to change a generation. A New Kind of Christianity is nothing less than one of those moments."' (-Peter Rollins, Ikon)
Countdown Day 16
The story begins with something better than the perfect realm of Plato: the good world of Genesis. Biblical goodness, it turns out, is far better than Greco-Roman perfection…. It glows, whirls, swirls, vibrates, pulses, and dances with change and fertility. (47)
Reflections from Ramallah, Taybeh, and Beit Sahour
Friday night we were the guests of a synagogue in West Jerusalem. It was beautiful to see the room full of Jewish families honoring God in song, reading, silence, and prayer. It was clear they intended nobody any harm; they just wanted to raise their families in the faith and traditions of their ancestors. It was a reminder that the struggle here is not about people. It's not about Jews versus Palestinians or vice versa. It's not about choosing who the good guys and bad guys are, as our media so often portrays it (and sadly, as our religious leaders so often do as well). The struggle here is about people being held in various forms bondage - both occupiers and the occupied each in their own ways, and everyone needs liberation.
This is a theme we keep hearing from both Christian and Muslim Palestinians, and I'm sure we'll hear it from many Israelis in the coming days as well - "We don't want you to take sides, us versus them. That will just expand the conflict. We we want you to stand for justice and peace, and work with God and with others to help us achieve justice and peace here."
People aren't the enemy. Rather, it's harmful ideologies and world views and narratives that rule and exert power in and through people's lives. Paul called these forces "principalities and powers," and they really do possess people and cause them to do terrible things they would never do in their right minds. When hateful and dehumanizing ideologies take control, both victimizers and victims are dehumanized.
In contrast, when people are liberated, when they refuse to conform to this world and instead are transformed by the renewing of their minds, when they surrender to the Spirit of God, when they seek first God's dream and God's justice, beautiful things happen. Today we saw many of those beautiful things alongside the razor wire and segregation walls.
Next to the ugliness of occupation, we've seen the beauty of God's Spirit at work ... shining in a Quaker Palestinian woman activist, glowing in a Franciscan Catholic priest, warm in an Eastern Orthodox family, radiant in a Muslim volunteer at a refugee center, sparkling in two professors - one Muslim and one Christian, who team teach college students about religion. In the land where Jesus walked and worked, there are many Christ-like people still walking and working ... in conditions not unlike those of the first century in many ways.
We're also experiencing God's Spirit working in and among our little group of pilgrims. At times, we've all felt anger. At other times, depression and cynicism, and a good bit of exhaustion and overwhelmed-ness too. But tonight, we're all staying in the homes of Palestinian families, and I imagine our friends are feeling what Grace and I are feeling: the love and presence of God fueling hope, like olive oil fueling a lit wick in a lamp. It's not an instant hope of quick fixes, like fake coffee in a styrofoam cup. It's a fresh-ground, slow-brewed hope that can be translated into action. Just being here is part of that action - listening, learning, thinking, observing, reflecting.
Some views from Palestine
These paintings by Banksy turn up on the segregation wall, gas station walls, the sides of buildings - each with a message that opens a window into life here.
A different message from Lady Liberty ...
Nonviolent resistance ...
Hope for change ...
Today our little band of pilgrims leaves Bethlehem and goes to Nazareth, from the place Jesus was born to where he grew up. Tonight we will sleep in the homes of Palestinian Christians and Muslims ...
Guest Blog from Mike Todd: Day 3 in Palestine
Mike's story below is a perfect example of our experience here, and his conclusion deserves reflection among all our friends back home. (Sorry we left you behind, Mike!)
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I'm always torn when I travel. I never blog much, preferring to engage fully in what is going on. But at the same time I know that if I don't capture the moment I'll probably lose a lot of it. Here's a quick snapshot of part of my day yesterday.
I've already mentioned that there are several Banksy's around the West Bank. Yesterday we stopped to get some photos of the one below, which ironically I have posted before, never knowing where the original was located. It's on the side of a gas station in Beth Sahour, just down the road from Bethlehem. Unfortunately the gas trucks didn't cooperate and the image was partially blocked, but we managed to swarm over the area and take several photos anyway.
My new friend Becca and I were the last two taking photos, down behind the truck you can see below. Everyone else finished up and boarded the bus. Assuming everyone was on board, they left. Imagine our surprise as Becca and I rounded the corner to find an empty parking lot! I looked to the three or four guys in front of the station and motioned as if to say, "Where are they?" The pointed down the road, waved, then smiled and shrugged their shoulders. Everyone broke out laughing. As we contemplated our next move, a car leaving the gas station pulled up, and the driver said to us, "They've left you. Jump in."
Becca and I looked at each other and jumped in. The irony didn't escape either of us. The prevailing tourist dogma tells you not to get off the bus because your life is in danger. At this point in our trip we knew better.
It turns out our new friend Nasar is from Toronto but was here visiting relatives. We all assumed we would catch the bus on the road. When we didn't, Nasar suggested we go to Nativity Square to see if we could find the group. We didn't. We talked as he drove us around Bethlehem looking either for the bus, or our next stop, which we vaguely remembered. Nasar got on the phone and called his cousin who knew where the center was, and five minutes later we were there. I asked Nasar if I could give him some gas money, to which he replied, "Don't insult me." We took a photo of our new friend, shook hands, and parted ways.
This may seem like a minor thing, but it symbolic of what we have encountered here. The narrative we are exposed to back home tells us this is a dangerous place, that simply to be here is risky. It goes without saying that the narrative says don't get into cars with strangers, that every Palestinian is a danger. This is not true. It seems the intent of this narrative is to keep us from coming, from seeing, and from abandoning the wrong story we have been told.
Countdown Day 17
Here's a recent interview with God Complex Radio ... I think you'll enjoy it.
Today's quote:
As I allowed Genesis, Exodus, and Isaiah – rather than Plato, Aristotle, and Caesar – to set the stage for the biblical narrative, what emerged dazzled me: a beautiful, powerful, gritty story that resonates with, gives meaning to, and continues to unfold in the life and teaching of Jesus. And this story invites our participation as well, not as pawns on the squares of a cosmic chessboard, but as creative protagonists and junior partners with God in the story of creation. (47)
What a day it was today. Halfway through, many in our group of twenty felt that we couldn't take much more. We've heard heart-shattering stories of Palestinians being arrested without cause, tortured, humiliated, re-arrested, retortured ... told quietly and calmly by people who experienced these things first hand.
But what is especially powerful - and what keeps us from being overwhelmed with cynicism or anger - is the lack of hatred among the Palestinians we are meeting with - both Christians and Muslims. Again and again we hear the word "non-violent" and we see a desire not for revenge or even isolation ... but for reconciliation. To my surprise (based on expectations from the US media), I haven't met a single Palestinian who wants a two-state solution. They want to live in peace with Israelis. They want Jews, Muslims, and Christians to learn to live together as neighbors. One Palestinian scholar said it like this: "I want to live in a nation that respects basic human rights for everyone." A fellow in a refugee camp said, "I want to have Jewish neighbors so we can relate as equals, as human beings, not as guards and prisoners.... We have been victimized, but we never want to be victimizers." More on this later ...
An isolated but telling scene (for me) from the troubled Holy Land:
We were running late on Thursday for a lecture/interview with a Chicago-born Israeli settler, Ardie, at his synagogue in the West Bank’s Jewish-only “occupied” Ephrata Settlement. Our Palestinian tour guide, Ibrahim, glanced at his watch and looked concerned.
“Should I phone Ardie and let him know?” our host asked Ibrahim.
Ibrahim nodded yes-yes. “Please. That would be the polite thing to do.”
Twenty minutes later Ibrahim listened respectfully while Ardie disputed this idea of “occupied” territory. “For whatever reason God gave this land as a keepsake to the people of Israel,” Ardie said, citing the Torah. “That’s what I believe.” He glanced over at Ibrahim, who sat quietly and ten feet away. “So kill me. Not really!” Ardie said, shrugging, laughing, still looking at Ibrahim.
For forty-five minutes Ibrahim listened to Ardie and he never stirred, never interrupted. Even as Ardie chose insulting adjectives to describe the Palestinian territories pre-1948 — “This area was like a truck stop … a Howard Johnson’s. This was a HoJo of the world” — Ibrahim showed no reaction.
I later complimented Ibrahim on his incredible restraint. He shrugged. “It was Ardie’s floor. He and I — someday — can sit down and have dinner together.”
That quiet but gracious attitude is inspiring and frankly shocking ... unlike anything I've seen anywhere else. We in the US have been given a terribly false impression - from the media, from political leaders, and from many Christian and Jewish leaders as well. All of us who are here in Palestine are now witnesses to realities we can't be silent about in the future.
Countdown Day 18
Greetings from the West Bank - I just got word that a video about NKoC is available here. along with a related blog post here. Here's today's quote:
Now the god of this Greco-Roman version of the biblical story bears a strange similarity in many ways to Zeus (Jupiter for the Romans), but we will name him Theos. The Greco-Roman god Theos, I suggest, is a far different deity from the Jewish Elohim of Genesis 1, or LORD (referring to the unspeakable name of the Creator) of Genesis 2 and 12, not to mention the Abba to whom Jesus prayed…. (42)
"A new reformation is taking place in Christianity. Brian McLaren is one of its leading voices and A New Kind of Christianity is a roadmap for this reformation. This is a very important book." (Adam Hamilton, author of Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White and Senior Pastor, The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection.)
The view from Bethlehem
A highlight of our time yesterday was hearing Rev Mitri Raheb share five observations about this part of the world. He said ...
1. There are too many peace talkers and there are too few peace workers.
2. There is too much politics and too little care for people on the ground.
3. There is too much religion and not enough true spirituality.
4. There is too much humanitarian aid and not enough economic development.
5. There is too much pess-optimism (swinging from optimism about the next big project to despair when it doesn't work) and not enough steady hope in action.
It's a great privilege to be among the Palestinian people here in the city where Jesus was born.
Guest Blog by Greg Barrett: Day 1 from Bethlehem
From Greg Barrett, photo by Shane Claiborne:
Right or wrong, this is what I took away from Day 1 in troubled Bethlehem:
Palestinian Muslims and Christians are way weary of talking about a justice that never materializes. They tolerate us North American Christian pilgrims because we help buoy a difficult economy, but Palestinians do not bank on Tourist Christians for peace or significant change. They don’t take us seriously. Why should they? They are tired of us and our elected officials who look the other way while an oppressed people is bullied, robbed and mocked. For too long the Tourist Christian has come to Bethlehem to see the birthplace of Christ and to trace the first steps of His life, but we’ve failed to follow His teachings.
Seeing the infamous Wall built by Israel to imprison the Palestinians, I was reminded of Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals. In it, Alinsky writes about “the rules pertaining to the ethics of means and ends.” First among them is the belief that a person’s concern with the ethics of a social action correspond to one’s distance from the consequences of action or inaction.
Alinsky quotes seventeenth-century French philosopher La Rochefoucauld, who concluded, “We all have strength enough to endure the misfortunes of others.”
Countdown Day 19
There are two ways to read the Bible, frontwards and backwards…. If we locate Jesus primarily in light of the story that has unfolded since his time on earth, we will understand him in one way. But if we see him emerging from within a story that had been unfolding through his ancestors, and if we primarily locate him in that story, we might understand him in a very different way. (36-37)
"A New Kind of Christianity is a stellar accomplishment, a combination of hard tack fact and unfettered hope, an overview in delightful narrative of the long way of our coming to this time and of the multiform ways of our arriving. In every way, a dispatch from the front." (-Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence )
Greetings from Bethlehem
We just arrived in Bethlehem with our wonderful group of pilgrims. Folks are getting acquainted and in a few minutes, our journey begins. We'll be meeting and learning from peacemakers - some of whom are Muslim, some Christian, some Jewish - and through them and one another we'll seek to better understand what's happened, what's happening, and what can happen in this important corner of God's world.
A few links ...
Bill Dahl's review of my upcoming book ... here
And Bill's take on the emerging church in NextWave here.
Richard Rohr, Phyllis Tickle, Stephanie Sellers, myself, and others offer additional reflections in the current issue of Radical Grace, which you can download here.
Countdown Day 20
That’s why this quest begins not by tweaking details of the conventional six-line narrative, but by calling the entire narrative scheme into question. We do not for a second say, “These six lines present the true shape of the biblical narrative, but we reject it.” Rather, we stare at this narrative, scratch our heads, and with a bewildered look ask, “How in the world, how in God’s name, could anyone ever think this is the narrative of the Bible?” (35)
"Now and then gifted people emerge who see the situation from a higher and more helpful level. Brian McLaren is one of those seers." (Richard Rohr, author of Everything Belongs and The Naked Now)
Q & R: Absolute truth
Here's the Q:
I'm a pastor of a XX church and recently led our "College Plus" group through a study of your book, "Adventures in Missing the Point". Many times I agreed wholeheartedly with what you said, many times I was more than a little convicted, many times I wanted to scratch my head and say, "What is he trying to say?". And occasionally I wanted to say, "This guy is crazy!" Sorry about that. :-) Anyway, one statement that I really want to ask you about is what you mean when you say, "I hear or read preacher after preacher beating the drum of Absolute Truth, as if the term was on the same level as repentance, salvation, prayer, God, love - as if it were part of the vocabulary of the Bible." Is it the "absolute" part that you have a problem with? "Truth" is such a major part of the vocabulary of the Bible that its hard for me swallow that comment.
Would it be fair to say that you are not a big fan of "The Truth Project" put out by Focus on the Family? Thanks for the way you've stretched and challenged my thinking on many things
To be a Christian – in the West, at least, since the fifth or sixth century or so – has required one to believe that the Bible presents one very specific story line, a story line by which we assess all of history, all of human experience, all of our own experience. Most of us know the story line implicitly, subconsciously, even though it has never been made explicit for us. We begin our quest for a new kind of Christian faith by questioning this story line. (33)
"Brian's writing is brave and honest, vulnerable and courageous, disturbing and unsettling, reassuring and hopeful. Every now and then you come across a book you've been waiting for. A New Kind of Christianity is that book." (Steve Chalke, MBE, founder of Oasis Global, UN Special Advisor on Human Trafficking)
Jesus undercut the basis for all violent, exclusionary and punitive behavior. He became the forgiving victim, so we would stop creating victims ourselves. He became the falsely accused one, so we would be careful whom we accuse.
Any worldly system actually prefers violent partners to nonviolent ones; it gives them a clear target and a credible enemy. Empires are actually relieved to have terrorists to shoot at and Barabbas figures loose on the streets. Types like Jesus, Martin Luther King and Gandhi make difficult enemies for empires. They cannot be used or co-opted.
The powers that be know that nonviolent prophets are a much deeper problem because they refuse to buy into the very illusions that the whole empire is built on, especially the myth of redemptive violence. Like Jesus, they live instead a life of redemptive suffering.
Taken from Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, p 152
Q & R: From "a former critic and slanderer" on hell
An encouraging note ...
My name is XX and I am a new "fan" of yours but haven't always been. I first heard of you about 3 or so years ago. At that time I was involved in ministry at a YY affiliated fellowship. As I'm sure you're painfully aware, they are not big Brian McLaren fans. I simply drank the proverbial kool-aid and spoke quite negative of you but never read or listened to a single word you said. For that I am ashamed and would like to apologize.
Not long after that, I left that fellowship to finally pastor a fellowship myself. I took a job with a struggling YY affiliate in ZZ in hopes that I could turn it around. The next [few] years were a series of ups and downs that ended in a ball of flames. I was unsuccessful at "turning it around."
But in that time something happened. As "the pastor" I was no longer shielded from things that I once never knew existed. What I came to see was the sad condition of our YY movement and even more so the larger American church. I began to see the focus on institution instead of people. It broke my heart and I vowed to change it. Hence, how it ended in a ball of flames. I lost the church and it all collapsed as I was accused of being an "emergent heretic."
But even in the midst of all the pain and confusion, God was able to work some amazing things. I began to search and read like crazy, looking for understanding and solutions to the issues I saw in American Christianity. A whole new world of faith opened up and, I don't know how else to explain it, but as I continued to search and seek it felt as though I had just met Jesus for the first time.
Just a reminder - you can win a free copy of the book here ... Today's quote:
Rare moments come to us in our journey when the penny drops, the tumblers click, the pieces fall into place, the lights come on, and our breath is taken away. The old paradigm falls away behind us like a port of departure, and we are won over to new possibilities, caught up in a new way of seeing, looking toward a new and wide horizon. The Lord has more light and truth to break forth, we believe, and so we raise our sails. We are embarked on our quest. (30)
"Very rarely a book appears that houses the power to change a generation. A New Kind of Christianity is nothing less than one of those moments."' (-Peter Rollins, Ikon)
This inward transformation, of course, requires community, an expanding network of connectivity that perhaps could be captured by a term like “ortho-affinity” – a good and right way of relating to one another in communities of faith and in relation to those outside our faith communities (including those who consider themselves our enemies). (29)
Revelation [19:11-16] is not portraying Jesus returning to earth in the future, having repented of his naive gospel ways and having converted to Caesar's "realistic" Greco-Roman methods instead. He hasn't gotten discouraged about Caesar seeming to get the upper hand after his resurrection and on that basis concluded it's best to live by the sword after all. Jesus hasn't abandoned the way of peace and concluded the way of Pilate is better, mandating that his disciples should fight after all. He hasn't had second thoughts about all that talk about forgiveness and concluded that on the 78th offense, you should pull out your sword and hack off your offender's head rather than turn the other cheek... He hasn't sold the humble donkey on eBay and purchased chariots, warhorses, tanks, landmines, and B-1s instead. (125)
"Now and then gifted people emerge who see the situation from a higher and more helpful level. Brian McLaren is one of those seers." (Richard Rohr, author of Everything Belongs and The Naked Now)
A proud dad ...
Grace and I have four amazing kids, each of whom we love and respect immensely. Our first-born was written up recently in a local periodical ...
I saw Avatar ...
Some of the writing was cliched, and the violence was typical of an American film, but I loved the movie and as I left the theatre started planning when I could see it again. Then I read David Brooks insightful and important critique of the film, and felt conflicted, because Brooks strikes me as being dead on in his analysis, pointing out some disturbing messages the film carries.
A few days ago, I came across Steve Bell's wonderful reflection on a scene in the movie, and somehow was able to love Avatar again, holding the negatives and positives of the film together at the same time. (A little "non-dual" moviegoing, I suppose!)
Recent Responses and a passing ...
First, this tribute to the maker of the classic claymation shows Gumby and David and Goliath. When I was a kid, David and Goliath captured my imagination. If you ever get a chance to see an old episode - they were commissioned by the Lutheran Church - you'll see the moral substance beneath the colored clay.
Thank you, as ever, for taking the trouble to write yet another long, sensible and rational blog – this time (12-01-2010) on the topic of terrorism and our need to put aside the instincts of the primitive brain. I agree with much of what you say, but may I point out the following?
(1) It was the primitive brain (the originator of fear) that caused Simon Peter to deny Christ. And it was the primitive brain that caused the other disciples to flee (in fear, obviously) when the arresting party arrived in Gethsemane. And what about Jesus himself? The Agony in the Garden must, surely, owe something to that same brain. My point here is that these scenes are, I think, the most moving in the Gospel. Let me put it another way: the primitive brain is part of our redemption. Let us not despise it too quickly, for all its faults and warlike ways. It is, at least, honest, and not capable of the crafty sophistication that leads to, say, smugness and hypocrisy.
(2) I am inclined to believe that fear and love are closely linked. If I am correct, then this suggests that the we may be treating the primitive brain in much the same way we treat our shadow self. Something to be denied and repressed – and yet something that is of enormous value. And, to return to the gospels – “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you” – again, another of the most moving of scenes, and one that owes nothing to the light of rationalism or the evolved mind.
I could write much more, but I know you are very busy and that you receive hundreds of e-mails every day, so I will leave it at that. Thank you, once again, for the quality of your writing – and thinking.
R: Thanks for these excellent insights. You're right - the dark and "primitive" are part of our story, and we must not simply vilify them. This is an important theme of the last section of my upcoming book.
I have just finished reading your book "A Generous Orthodoxy" and have been moved spiritually, emotionally, philosophically and whatever other "lly" there is. I want to say thank you for writing the things you did and in such a humble way. I must confess that I was warned by some "Don't read McLaren!!" but the book's premise really is something that I had been wrestling with myself. Needless to say I am more than glad I ignored those "warnings" and followed my heart.
Secondly, I was wondering if you would consider mentoring a young minister? (continued after the jump)
Grace and I leave in a few days for a pilgrimage to Israel. Our primary purpose will not simply be to see the sights where Jesus worked in the past (although that will be wonderful), but rather to see the places where the Spirit of God is working now - for reconciliation, justice, and peace in the midst of turmoil. We have a wonderful group of folks in our little band of travelers, and hopefully you'll be hearing from several of them as guest bloggers over the next few weeks. If you've never subscribed to the site for automatic RSS updates, this would be a great time to do so.
Countdown Day 25
We have no interest in distinguishing ourselves as super-Christians, better than anybody else; if anything, we are surrendering our status as first- or even second-class Christians (and our critics constantly assist us in this regard). (29)
"A new reformation is taking place in Christianity. Brian McLaren is one of its leading voices and A New Kind of Christianity is a roadmap for this reformation. This is a very important book." (Adam Hamilton, author of Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White and Senior Pastor, The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection.)
With the crisis in Haiti, it's hard to remember that significant things are happening on the other side of the world. In Malaysia, there has been a significant challenge to religious tolerance and mutual respect, centering on the use of the name "Allah." Many Western Christians do not realize that in many places, "Allah" is the word for God traditionally used by Christians as well as Muslims, just as words like Dieu, Dios, Gott, Imani, and God are used elsewhere. (If you'd like to learn more about this, I highly recommend Lamin Sanneh's work, such as Translating the Message.)
My wise friend Sivin Kit has been an important voice for peace in the midst of the tension. You can read an interview with him here ...
I hope and pray that political and religious leaders around the world will urge the political and religious leaders of Malaysia to resolve this issue in the direction of human rights, mutual respect, religious freedom, and peace.
Haiti update
My friend Kent co-leads Haiti Partners with John Engle. His beautiful book tells the story of his life and work in Haiti. Here's the note I just received from him:
Absolutely heartbroken. Quick personal update: John is there with his wife and two young children. He's been able to get two quick phone calls out and they are fine. But we have many, many other Haitian friends in Port-au-Prince and other devastated areas that we have no news from.
Specifics that come to mind, though they're still way too vague because there's so little communication coming out of Port-au-Prince:
1. PRAYER of every kind.
2. IMMEDIATE GIVING: Mobilizing people to give now. We've set up an Earthquake Response Fund on our site at http://www.haitipartners.org
3. IN THE NEXT WEEK OR SO, WE NEED YOU TO HELP US GET LONGTERM COMMITMENTS TO HAITI: ...we need to find ways to communicate so that people give in response now--but also in the next week or so have people make decisions to become longterm givers... This will take weeks and months and years to recover from. I want us to be realistic that this has been a longterm problem that made Haiti vulnerable, and will be a longterm problem long after the story fades...
4. COMMUNICATION: ...I will update as I learn more. And you all can pass it around.
These are my first thoughts--on very little sleep in the past 30 hours.
I'm eager to hear your thoughts.
So grateful for our partnership in ministry in Christ.
With tears, Kent
I'm hearing from my other friends in the Relief and Development world the same emphasis of Kent's #4 - the need for us to see that the response must be long-term. People are repeating this theme - "rebuild it better." When you're desperately poor, you can't build things well enough to withstand an earthquake. Hopefully in the rebuilding, the people of Haiti will have our help to build in ways that can better withstand future quakes. I hope you'll join me in making a generous gift - to Haiti Partners, or to one of the other groups listed here.
Countdown Day 26
We might say that Christians are people who have entered a certain sedentary membership or arrived at a status validated by some group or institution, while disciples are learners (and unlearners) who have started on a rigorous and unending journey or quest in relation to Jesus Christ. It’s worth noting in this regard that the word “Christian” occurs in the New Testament exactly three times and the word “Christianity” exactly zero. The word “disciple,” however, is found some 263 times. (28-29)
"A New Kind of Christianity is a stellar accomplishment, a combination of hard tack fact and unfettered hope, an overview in delightful narrative of the long way of our coming to this time and of the multiform ways of our arriving. In every way, a dispatch from the front." (-Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence )
How to Help in Haiti
The good people of Bread for the World have put together a list of trustworthy organizations through whom you can help our neighbors in Haiti. Here's the list. Please help.
tokens podcast
If you like Garrison Keillor or Bill Moyers, I think you'll like Tokens: a casserole of music, story-telling, comedy, interviews, musicians, and theology. Here's a taste of the kind of music you'll hear ... the hauntingly true song "Mercy Now" by Mary Gauthier:
On suicide and saving lives ...
I had the chance to pre-screen a new movie coming out next week, called To Save a Life.
There used to be a category called "Christian movies." All were sincere, and a few were quite good, but many were characterized by three things:
1. The weak and predictable storyline of the movie was an excuse to have a nice "clean and together" Christian present an often-formulaic version of the Christian message.
2. The Christian characters were usually way too good to be believable, and the nonChristians were believably human, until they got "saved," after which they became somewhat unbelievable.
3. Apart from the evangelistic presentation, there wasn't much of value to the movie. In other words, apart from the religious message, there wasn't much of a message.
As a result, Christians liked these movies, but they wouldn't work so well for folks outside the church.
If To Save a Life is considered a Christian movie, it marks the beginning (I hope) of a new stage of development in that genre.
1. The story of the movie has integrity. It has twists and turns that mirror, not a formulaic "testimony," but the unpredictabilities of life. Several times I thought, "OK, here goes" - expecting a trite resolution to a conflict, and each time I was surprised.
2. The Christian and nonChristian characters of the story are interesting and believable. There are outspoken and committed Christians in the film, but none of them are "clean and together." True, it's an Orange County version of life that's a far cry from where most of live, but through TV and film, Orange County is a pretty common setting for films.
3. The movie has a message that stands or falls apart from any evangelistic impact the film will have - a message about suicide and the common cruelties of high school life that can drive a kid to suicide.
The acting was solid (with a peripheral exception or two) and the production very good. People who were satisfied with the old genre of "Christian movies" will find the film way too gritty and realistic. They'll lament the presence of a lot of teen partying, some teen sex, and a bad word or two, and they'll grieve the absence of a formulaic gospel "invitation." But I think that youth group leaders will have in "To Save a Life" something they will don't get often enough: the kind of movie they can encourage their kids to see - and bring along a friend who has no connection to the church. Good and worthwhile conversations will follow.
Before going to today's quote, just a reminder: there's a contest where you can win a free copy of the book by posting a reply to a simple question here. Here's today's quote:
So, just as a new path opens up new territory in which cities can be built, the gospel is for us a movement, a pioneering adventure, leaving behind it a pathway along with institutions that are constructed, renewed, replaced, and so on. But the movement is never contained or controlled by the institution any more than the wind is contained or controlled by the branches through which it blows; no city along the path should be taken as the journey’s end. (28)
"Now and then gifted people emerge who see the situation from a higher and more helpful level. Brian McLaren is one of those seers." (Richard Rohr, author of Everything Belongs and The Naked Now)
The Unasked Question of Terrorism: Fear and the Fear of Fear
No one who aspires to become fully human can let the primitive brain have its way, least of all Christians who aspire to a gospel way of life. When the primitive brain dominates, Christianity goes over to the dark side. Churches self-destruct over doctrinal differences, forgetting that their first calling is to love one another. Parishioners flock to preachers who see the anti-Christ in people who do not believe as they do. Christian voters support politicians who use God’s name to justify ignoble and often violent agendas. When the primitive brain is in charge, humility, compassion, forgiveness, and the vision of a beloved community do not stand a chance.
This primitive brain, he explains, snaps us into the fight-or-flight reflex. That reflexive reaction to danger has great survival value when you’re trying to escape from a saber-toothed tiger or when you are trying to bring down a mastodon to feed your clan. But the primitive brain isn’t so helpful when you’re in the middle of a tense conflict with your spouse or negotiating with a high-strung teenager.
Or dealing with terrorists. (Continued after the jump)
The seventh of the ten questions in my upcoming book deals with sexuality, a subject constantly in the headlines. For example ... Here is a conservative case for gay marriage ...
Here is Nicholas Kristof on the role of religion in the oppression of women ...
And this on an intersection of gay black Africans and white American Christians.
In the book, I plea for an approach to human sexuality that goes beyond "fer it" or "agin it." I try to open up more of the complexity and depth of the challenge and opportunity we face at this moment in our ongoing development as male and female human beings.
Countdown Day 28
The gospel is for us a beckoning, a summons, always associated with transitive words like “leave,” “come” “go,” “follow.” (28)
"Brian's writing is brave and honest, vulnerable and courageous, disturbing and unsettling, reassuring and hopeful. Every now and then you come across a book you've been waiting for. A New Kind of Christianity is that book." (Steve Chalke, MBE, founder of Oasis Global, UN Special Advisor on Human Trafficking)
Love the Bible? Love the earth!
Let the folks of Hope Mennonite Church give you 350 reasons why!
President Obama has declared January "Human Trafficking Prevention Month," and several Christian organizations are deeply engaged with this issue. If you'd like to help, here is a good place to begin.
Countdown Day 29
Bill Dahl from PDL has posted the first review (that I've seen) of NKoC here.
And there's a contest where you can win a pre-release copy of NKoC - here.
Today's quote:
We do not conceive of our faith primarily as a promise to our ancestors, a vow to dutifully carry on something that was theirs and we have inherited. No, it is more like God’s promise uttered to us from the future, toward which we reach an outstretched and hopeful hand – just as our ancestors did. (28)
"Very rarely a book appears that houses the power to change a generation. A New Kind of Christianity is nothing less than one of those moments."' (-Peter Rollins, Ikon)
Comments from a critical college student
I just received this:
I'm a college student writing my undergrad senior research on the political philosophy of the emerging church. There's a lot to write about. Actually, I'm up to 75 pages, 50 of them since Thanksgiving because it's such a fun project. Interesting how a project gets easier when I'm figuring out what I think about faith and not just writing a paper.
Anyway, I'm critiquing the emerging church, and you'll be in that, and at some point I'll send along a draft to you and other folks, in fairness to what you guys are doing, that probably none of you will have time to read, and that's fine, too.
Still haven't gotten to the point. I'm reading The Last Word today - all of it, and I want you to know that 1) in all of your work, you're asking important questions, regardless of how many of us disagree with you and if you're right or wrong, and the discussions you're provoking need to be held and 2) that The Last Word is perhaps even more important than the others. And I'm really proud of the way you handled a delicate topic, and I'm going to read back through my notes and consult the people that I 'church with' :) but I like it. Doesn't make it right, obviously, but on first read I like it a lot. And in everything I've read attacking what you've done, none of it talks about this book (probably something to do with reading books that are just a bit too old instead of blogs...) and this is the best one I've read. Really heartening.
Also, I think it's vitally important that these stories address the problem of brokenness in the church because of the church, especially with pastors' families. I'm a former PK. That should say it all.
So, to bring this to a close, thanks a lot for the personal struggle that you've shared with us via some 'creative nonfiction.'
When she says, "... in all of your work, you're asking important questions, regardless of how many of us disagree with you and if you're right or wrong, and the discussions you're provoking need to be held," I feel all the more excited about the upcoming release of A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith."
And of course, it's heartening to hear that a critical reader - and a PK - finds The Last Word helpful.
Countdown Day 30
We do not sense in the gospel of Jesus a once-upon-a-time newness. We do not experience the gospel as new only in contrast to something called the “Old Testament,” leaving the gospel over time to grow arthritic, hardened, stiff, and crotchety. No, we sense in the gospel a perpetual fountain of youthful newness, an ongoing advent, a constant beginning, a continually generative genesis, always fermenting like new wine, a tide that rises, wave by wave. (28)
Aaron Niequist is a songwriter and worship leader you should know about. Here's why. Try including this song in your church's worship repertoire! (And be sure not to miss Lynne Hybels talking about her experience in Congo around the eleven minute mark. If you want to know more about what's happening in Congo - check out this.)
Also - enjoy this song with my friend Steve Bell and Carolyn Arends ... the song gets going around 3:20. "This is who you are ..."
Countdown Day 31
We are acknowledging that the Christianities we have created – or constructed – deserve to be reexamined and deconstructed, not so that we may slide into agnosticism, atheism, or secular patriotic consumerism, but so that our religious traditions can be seen for what they are. They are not simply a pure, abstracted, and ideal “essence of Christianity,” but rather are evolving, embodied, situated versions of the faith – each of which is unfinished, imperfect, and sometimes pretentious, and each of which is often beautiful and wonderful, renewable and serviceable too. (27)
Here's my recent post on the economy and the power of questions at sojo.net.
The Beatles got it right ...
Countdown Day 32
No, we are reassessing as a humble act of ethical responsibility…. We are in fact following the example of our ancestors, who again and again from the margins did this very kind of collective self-examination and repenting. (27)
"A new reformation is taking place in Christianity. Brian McLaren is one of its leading voices and A New Kind of Christianity is a roadmap for this reformation. This is a very important book." (Adam Hamilton, author of Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White and Senior Pastor, The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection.)
Countdown Day 33
We have created many Christianities up to this point, and they call for reassessment and, in many cases, repentance. We are not reassessing for the purpose of vilifying our ancestors in the faith or in order to contrast a dark, backward “them” with an enlightened, progressive “us,” snarkly implying that they got it wrong all along and (insert trumpet fanfare here) we have finally got it right after all these years. (27)
"A New Kind of Christianity is a stellar accomplishment, a combination of hard tack fact and unfettered hope, an overview in delightful narrative of the long way of our coming to this time and of the multiform ways of our arriving. In every way, a dispatch from the front." (-Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence )
Q & R: Podcasts on the whole Bible
Q: Hi! Are Brian's podcasts on the whole Bible available anywhere else other than
Emergent Village's website? The Emergent Village podcast cast page has not
been updated in months and I have tried a google search for the podcasts but
cannot find them anywhere. Thank you for any help and assistance you can
provide me.
R: Thanks for asking. I'm working on a way to make these available. Stay tuned - it will probably take a couple of weeks. They should be available through my site here at brianmclaren.net. I put a lot of time, energy, and heart into these, so I'd love to get them out there again. I'm glad to hear of your interest!
Want to come to Africa with me?
If you've read EMC or follow this blog, you know that I have been enriched deeply by my times in Africa with a wonderful group called Amahoro. (It's the Bantu word for shalom or peace.) I try to make it over each year for the gathering there ... a gathering planned and organized by Africans for Africans, with a small group of guests from American, Europe, Australia, etc.
This year the theme of the gathering will be Christ, Creation, and Community. (Full description after the jump.) The setting will be Mombassa, Kenya, a beautiful place in a beautiful country. The gathering will begin May 3 and end May 6, and then guests will join local folks for various field trips until the 10th or 11th. These field trips give you a chance to deepen relationships and see some beautiful work at close range. (I'll be leading one of these field trips this year.)
Unfortunately, participating isn't cheap. Airfare ends up being between $1700 and $2000 from the US, and we guests pay $1300 for registration, lodging, and ground transportation (our fees help cover the costs for Africans who could never be there otherwise). All I can say is that for me, this is an investment in priceless relationships and in support of a truly worthwhile mission, not to mention the investment in my own education and spiritual development. (Even though I generally do a bit of teaching at these events, I always go a as a learner and learn far, far more than I teach.)
If you've never been to Africa, this is an amazing first experience. If you have been part of Amahoro before, I think this year's theme will take us into important new territory. Think about it and pray about it, and consider joining me in Africa this May. If you have questions, please direct them to the good people at Amahoro.
David Dark and Sarah Masen (what wonderful people!) posted this excerpt from an online chat with songmaster Leonard Cohen, which master-linker Bob Carlton passed on to me:
Seth: You have such vivid Christian imagery in many of your songs,
and much of it is contrasted with the selfishness of the "modern"
individual. I was wondering what's your take on the state of
Christianity today?
Leonard Cohen: Dear Seth, I don't really have a 'take on the state
of Christianity.' But when I read your question, this answer came to
mind: As I understand it, into the heart of every Christian, Christ
comes, and Christ goes. When, by his Grace, the landscape of the heart becomes vast and deep and limitless, then Christ makes His abode in that graceful heart, and His Will prevails. The experience is recognized as Peace. In the absence of this experience much activity arises, divisions of every sort. Outside of the organizational enterprise, which some applaud and some mistrust, stands the figure of Jesus, nailed to a human predicament, summoning the heart to comprehend its own suffering by dissolving itself in a radical confession of hospitality.
If you're in the mood for some Leonard, here's a riveting performance of his Hallelujah. Be ready ... It'll stay with you for days.
Countdown Day 34
Before sharing today's quote, just a reminder - there's an online contest where you can win a pre-publication copy of NKoC. It looks very easy to enter - just go to GBiBT. It looks like you'll have a fresh chance to win every week. Here's today's quote:
This quest must instead work more like a wedding proposal, an invitation. It must be about free conversation, not forced conversion. It must demand nothing of anybody, and it must make no threats or strike no bargains, because threats and bargains would invalidate the tender nature of the proposal. Rather, it must open up a “we” into which all are invited, but none are coerced, shamed, pressured, or even obligated. It accepts “No” as a response as valid as “Yes,’ though it may do so with a tear because it is a proposal of love. (27)
"Now and then gifted people emerge who see the situation from a higher and more helpful level. Brian McLaren is one of those seers." (Richard Rohr, author of Everything Belongs and The Naked Now)
Losing Faith (and finding faith too)
Yesterday I mentioned my friend Tim King who is quitting God ...
Here's a song I wrote a few weeks ago that explores a similar theme.
By the way, I hope you'll subscribe to my facebook page, youtube channel, and twitter feed. (Links below ...) I'll try to keep interesting and worthwhile stuff coming your way!
Countdown Day 35: CONTEST BEGINS! WIN AN ADVANCE COPY OF THE BOOK!
Before sharing today's quote, I wanted to let you know that Good Books in Bad Times is offering a contest. You can win a pre-publication copy of the new book by replying to a question they raise on their site. Here's the background:
To celebrate the release of, A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions that are Transforming the Faith ... GBiBT will be giving away a galley a week until the on-sale date, February 9th. During the coming weeks we will share a new aspect of McLaren’s approach to revitalizing the faith so check back regularly for a chance to win.
So - if you'd like to enter the contest (it looks very easy) - just go to GBiBT. It looks like you'll have a fresh chance every week.
Here's today's quote:
A search for a new kind of Christian faith can’t be reduced to another list of propositions about which debates rage and over which debaters indulge in hostile polemics. Nor can its proponents be content to forge arguments urging converts to defect from the heretical “them” and affiliate with the righteous “us.” (26-27)
"Brian's writing is brave and honest, vulnerable and courageous, disturbing and unsettling, reassuring and hopeful. Every now and then you come across a book you've been waiting for. A New Kind of Christianity is that book." (Steve Chalke, MBE, founder of Oasis Global, UN Special Advisor on Human Trafficking)
Harold Camping is at it again ... predicting the Rapture
He says it's coming in 2011 ... If you're weary of that way of reading the Bible, I think you'll appreciate my upcoming book.
Hanging on by a thin thread? Need some song therapy?
David Wilcox's music has been an important source of comfort, wisdom, challenge, and joy for me for at least ten years. One of the coolest web sites anywhere prescribes a dose of his music for whatever ails you. Here are some of my favorites:
Looking back on Christmas (and towards Easter) ... listen to "Jesus Ruins Christmas" (#107).
Thinking about peacemaking between religions ... try "Three Brothers" (#113) and "No Far Away" (#114)
Struggling with faith ... I recommend ... actually, just go to the page. I recommend everything there.
(Thanks, Dave - for the amazing music, and for this great site!)
Would any like to assert that both they and Jesus are equally right? True, many are quick to claim and proclaim their rightness in relation to other Christians – Calvinists know they are right when compared to Arminians, Catholics when compared with Protestants, Pentecostals compared with non-Pentecostals, Evangelicals compared with liberals, and the Orthodox compared with the non-Orthodox, and vice versa. But who would be so pristinely arrogant or demonically naïve to claim to be right on par with Jesus? (26)
"Very rarely a book appears that houses the power to change a generation. A New Kind of Christianity is nothing less than one of those moments."' (-Peter Rollins, Ikon
Countdown Day 37
Are there any who can claim … that their institutions or movements alone capture the spirit and mission of Jesus? What televangelist can make this claim? What Pentecostal storefront church, what headquarters in New York or Middle America or Canterbury or Rome or Lagos? (26)
Remember, our goal is not debate and division yielding hate or a new state, but rather questioning that leads to conversation and friendship on the new quest. (23)
Responses, please remember, are not answers: the latter seek to end conversation while the former seek to stimulate more of it. The responses I offer are not intended as a smash in tennis, delivered forcefully with a lot of topspin, in an effort to win the game and create a loser. Rather they are offered as a gentle serve or lob. Their primary goal is to start the interplay, to get things rolling, to invite your reply. (22-23)
As I look back on this year, yes, there have been some trials and disappointments, but five blessings have far outweighed them in 2009:
1. My wife and I celebrated thirty years of marriage with an extended stay at a special place for us in Florida. Many times this year I've better understood what older couples meant when they talked about love seasoning over time like wine.
2. Our four adult children and our daughter- and son-in-law continue to bring us great joy, and now we're at the stage where we learn much more from them than they from us. It's very true - you raise your children, but they also raise you. All of this makes me appreciate my own parents, whose good company I enjoyed greatly this year, and my brother and his family, and our extended family.
3. I had the opportunity to work on three book projects this year that are dear to my heart. I co-edited The Justice Project which was released this year, I completed A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith (which comes out February 9, 2010), and I began a book on prayer (as yet untitled, but it might be called "Twelve Simple Words") which will come out in 2011.
4. Through this blog, in my travels, in my neighborhood, at my home church (those few Sundays I had the great pleasure of being there), and elsewhere, I had the opportunity to interact with and enjoy the company of so many wonderful people - to be enriched by old and new friendships, and to learn and grow together.
5. Being outdoors, I realize more and more the older I get, is one of the things that recharges me, and this year there were many great outdoor experiences - gardening, hiking, fishing. In particular, while Grace and I were in Florida, we both spent lots of time outside, got lots of exercise, ate healthy, lost weight, and got in better shape than we've been in in years.
Through, above, below, and around all this, of course, is the presence and grace of God, in whom we live, move, and have our being, and from whom all blessings flow. Thanks be to God!
Countdown Day 40
Not a bad quote to prepare for the new year with!
So we set out on our quest, our exodus, driven out of familiar territory and into unmapped terra nova by ten questions stirring in our hearts. (22)
It’s one thing to consider these questions in the private forum of one’s mind, but when we begin engaging others in conversation about these questions, there can be many unintended negative consequences – including division, disruption, and distraction in our beloved congregations, denominations, families, and circles of friends. (22)
Q & R: On Ramadan, relevant to today's countdown quote
I just received this question as part of a long and meaningful email from a bright young South African ... it seemed especially relevant to today's countdown quote ...
I have just read 3 of your books in one month (You are more ready than you realize, Finding Faith, Church on the other side). I must admit, our local Christian Bookstore had a sale, so everytime after finishing one, I went back for more. Thankyou for your honesty and humility; these two traits permeate the pages of your books, and I believe it gently challenges the reader also.
The main reason for me writing you is because of a news report concerning you in one of our national Christian magazines a few months ago. They claimed that you decided to celebrate Ramadaan (don't know how to spell that...shows my ignorance) with the Moslems. The magazine's comment on your actions was quite negative and they quoted scripture to condemn your approach. So, my question is thus, what was your motive and purpose in doing what you did? And please elaborate your side of the story.
I believe that your perspectives are needed in our country and when I'm confronted with the above mentioned info, I would love to give an informed answer, so as to further the Kingdom's cause.
We wake up each day in a world whose very future is threatened by interreligious fear, hatred, and violence. Many of us wonder if there is a way to have both a deep identity in Christ and an irenic, charitable, neighborly attitude toward people of other faiths. (21)
I recently received this question from someone who saw a TV show where I presented on EMC. (You can see the show here.)
I enjoyed your talk on UCTV immensely. One diagram in your presentation was very close to two mathematical problems I am investigating. This was the Framing Story diagram at the 13-minute mark of the video.
I would like to know -- in terms of your own thinking and researching process -- what was the origin of this diagram? When you constructed it, were you thinking of Set Theory or Systems Theory, or perhaps adapting it from a specific source? And which publication of yours includes the diagram so that I may see it more clearly?
I spoke at Laidlaw College several months back and met a bright student named Jeremy. We talked briefly that night, and I think I gave him a copy of Everything Must Change. He followed up via email, shared with permission ... After the jump.
pregnancy, birth, and a new kind of Christianity ... part 8
More and more good input coming in ... This from Nathan Oates ... If you want to be a better pastor, observe a midwife.
With interesting comments here.
Countdown Day 43
For better or worse, eschatology (the theological discipline that thinks about the future and what lies beyond this life) sells millions of books, raises millions of dollars, and influences the domestic and foreign policy of some of the world’s most powerful and militarized nations (the United States and Iran both come to mind). (21)
Nearly all religions – and certainly all monotheistic religions – seem at times hell-bent on inspiring people to kill each other, making atheism sometimes seem a more ethical alternative to conventional violence-prone belief. (19)
Jesus appears to be a victim of identity theft. The versions of Jesus presented by contemporary Christianity could hardly be more different from one another – or from the four portraits of Jesus we find in the gospels. (20)
Some people see the gospel as information on how individuals can avoid hell and go to heaven after death. Some see it as a message of liberation and transformation for select individuals in this life. Some see it as a message of liberation and transformation for all people and all creation. (20)
Our acute anxieties about human sexuality may be related, in general, to our discomfort with our humanity. They may also flow from our dissatisfaction with conventional Christian accounts of the human being in light of new discoveries in neurobiology, psychopharmacology, anthropology, and related fields. (21)
May you be blessed with all kinds of good cheer, comfort, and joy as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, whose birth is good news for all people. I'll resume blogging and the quotes countdown in a couple of days ... but for Christmas Eve and Christmas, I hope you'll enjoy the blessings of family, friends, and faith community.
I also hope you'll enjoy this simple song that came together over the last few hours as I reflected on the reason for the season.
Pregnancy, birth, and a new kind of Christianity ... part 7
Responses keep coming in to my request for posts from mothers on pregnancy, birth, and a new kind of Christianity ...
A reader named Alice sent in this link to a relevant sermon that included this quote from Kester Brewin:
“Only if I am still. Only if I have stopped what I was doing to listen and hold my breath and enter some spiritual apnea and wait. The perception of the new step will come only to those brave enough to stop dancing the old. The realization that we must descend this low peak will come only to those prepared to stop and take stock of their position. We fear that if we stopped for a week, a month, a service, a moment, we might be forgotten, or lose our momentum, weaken our profile, appear ill-thought-out and failing” (46)…“So the truly free, the brave who truly seek God, will always have periods, commas, full stops, punctuation marks, pregnant pauses, breves and semi-breves of silence where those around them are given the freedom to walk; given space to deconstruct structures, to reimagine and rethink. Blue-sky thinking cannot happen while we rush around under thunderclouds of busyness” (Signs of Emergence, 47).
Alice then adds this brief comment ...
Wish my thoughts about birthing God had come to fruition in writing
already, but not yet. Birthing my daughter was such an intense
experience. The pain and suffering was just unbelievable, I couldn't
believe I survived! Remembering what scripture says about birthing
pains in God's unfolding of the new life is a help when those pains
seem unbearable as well.
After the jump - an insightful excerpt from an upcoming book called Simple Obsession by mother of five Jamie Zumwalt. Thanks for sharing this, Jamie ... it helped me get some new perspective on some "pressure" in my life.
I've been a Jackson Browne fan since college. I opened a chapter of EMC with reflections on a Christmas song by this classic songwriter who says, "I bid you pleasure and I bid you cheer from a heathen and a pagan on the side of the rebel Jesus."
Pregnancy, birth, and a new kind of Christianity ... part 6
My friend Helen wrote ...
It was a great idea of yours to ask women about pregnancy and birth – your question has received a lot of good responses!
For me, the births of my children were times I had to give up control. The processes didn’t go as I’d hoped – each time I ended up having a C section to avoid incurring significant risk to the baby. I had to let go of disappointment over not having ‘normal’ deliveries and appreciate the outcome and big picture, which was: I now had two wonderful healthy children.
If I’d clung to ‘my’ preferred way of delivering them rather than giving up control and having the C sections, I could have seriously jeopardized their health or even their lives. If I’d dwelled on my disappointment about the process not going the way I’d hoped I’d have made myself miserable and missed the joy I could have had with my babies
I think there are parallels with New Christianity – the outcome will be compromised if people try to retain too much control over the process which births it. And they will be unhappy if they focus on the way they wanted things to be rather than letting go, looking at the big picture and outcome and appreciating the awesome new thing which is coming into being.
The idea to invite these reflections actually came from Bob Carlton after he had read an early draft of my upcoming book. Thanks, Bob!
Always-insightful Julie Clawson recently posted this ...
And there's a beautiful insight into the first person to call Jesus "my Lord" here...
Many of you were moved by Laryn and Janel's story yesterday. Laryn sent this link to the sermon mentioned in the post. Highlights are included after the jump ... (Thanks, Laryn.)
Hey Brian, I just wanted to share with you some of my thoughts about your latest blog (beyond liberal and conservative...). I would have to agree with what the person that wrote you said. It is very difficult for me to think the way I do because I am surrounded by many people who do not share my views, which is fine, but the difficulty comes when I am laughed at for thinking the way I do instead of having an open view towards all ways of thinking. When your views are shunned in a sense, it becomes very easy to become an silent minority instead of a welcomed collective.
So on top of my thoughts about that I also have some questions: How do you (maybe not you specifically, but in general) move past the debate of I'm right and you're wrong when the people involved in that debate are not willing to be open? Why have we become so focused on this person is obviously wrong just because they do not share my views? In my Sociology classes I was taught to look at the entire situation, from every side, and then make a personal decision on the topic, but not force another person to believe what I believe. This becomes hard to do when it is a one-way discussion instead of an open forum.
Now that I'm done with my soap box, I just wanted to say that I appreciate your open dialogue with everyone from different views.
In a time when religious extremists constantly use their sacred texts to justify violence, many of us feel a moral obligation to question the ways the Bible has been used in the past to defend the indefensible and promote the unacceptable. (19)
Re-Post: The best Christmas gift you could give or receive this year ...
It's not too late to participate!
Q: What do you give to the person who already has more than they need? (Or what do you put on your wish list when you have more than enough shirts and scarves already?)
A: A goat?
Well, sort of: Give them the gift of generosity.
That's why my wife and I are giving a number of people a goat for Christmas. Over the last few years, I've been honored to be part of an amazing project among the Batwa people in Burundi, which I've blogged about here and here. (If you have a minute, check these links out.)
To make a long story short, the Batwa are amazing people - great dancers and singers, potters and storytellers, incredibly courageous and resilient. But they are also among the worst-off people I've met anywhere, desperately poor, landless for centuries after having been displaced (much like Native Americans in North America), objects of prejudice, excluded socially and until very recently, politically too. Through an amazing story (which I need to share sometime), a group of these landless people were given land, from which they just reaped their first harvest (potatoes!).
You can read more about the Batwa of Matara here and see more beautiful pictures (read from the bottom up to get the story in sequence).
So ... here's what Grace and I are doing this year. We're giving a Christmas gift on behalf of some family members to the Batwa of Matara in the form of goats and cows. Well, we're not sending gift-wrapped goats and cows, but we're sending money to Claude Nikondeha of amahoro-africa.org, who is managing the Batwa project for Community for Burundi, so that goats, cows, and other farming resources can be purchased for them locally (which is good for the local economy).
We'll be making home-made cards that say, "A goat was given in your name to the Batwa of Matara," along with this link where they can learn more and spread the word: http://communityforburundi.org/
If this idea makes sense to you, I'd be so grateful if you'd follow this link and click on "donate to matara."
A goat costs about $45 (they hope to give two to each family - a total of 56) and a cow costs $1250. You can make up a little card (you can easily pull photos from the site) and on Christmas morning, tell the story of why you've decided to give a goat or cow in their name. Somehow, I think this gift of necessities for others honors the birth of Jesus a lot more than giving luxuries to people who are already over-burdened with storing their excess luxuries. Maybe you could put GOAT or COW on your wish list?
Our little circle of online friends could easily meet this opportunity. And just think - it would save you hassling at the mall and giving people shirts and scarves they don't really need, because you could make this happen with a few clicks on our computer, right now, by going here and clicking on "donate to matara."
Please consider this. I'll let you know what happens after the New Year.
pregnancy, birth, and a new kind of Christianity ... part 5
When I invited people share how their experiences of pregnancy and birth have given them insight into the spiritual life, I had no idea I would receive such moving responses.
Special thanks to Laryn and Janel for sharing their profound experience that combines birth and loss, loving and letting go. Have some tissues close by as you read this story, and give it the time it deserves.
Countdown Day 50
Others read the Bible within a narrative, but that framing narrative is actually foreign to the Bible, and many of us believe it is too small, narrow, and flat to do justice to the richness of the text. As it shrinks the text, it shrinks us too. (19)
pregnancy, birth, and a new kind of Christianity ... part 4
Some men as well as women have responded to my invitation to reflect on pregnancy, birth, advent, and spiritual insights related to any or all ...
Adam sent in this on behalf of the VOID collective ...
I am part of a group called VOID collective that attempts to produce events of transformance art, similar to Ikon in Belfast. We are located in Waco, Texas. We just recently had an event called "Mothers of God" in which we reflected on the following adaptation of a quote from Meister Eckhart: "What is the good if Mary gave birth to the Son of God 2000 years ago, if I do not give birth to God today? We are all Mothers of God, for God is always needing to be born." We explored what it means to "give birth to God," to bring God into the world. We did this with a mixture of poetry, personal reflections, ritual, and liturgy in the middle of a bar. We have posted some pictures from the event, which I think work as reflections on "pregnancy, birth, and a new kind of Christianity." We also posted three "(Mis)Tellings of Mary's Story" that we used for the event. You can find the photos and reflections here: http://blog.voidcollective.com/ (the two most recent posts)
Many people read the Bible as a series of disconnected quotes and episodes yielding maxims, rules, formulas, anecdotes, propositions, and wise sayings. They have little or no sense of the larger story into which the statements fit and in which their meaning took shape. (19)
And another friend, Amy Daws, sent in another beautiful poem - included in its entirety after the jump.
Another reader sent in this short but worthwhile insight ...
I have not yet been pregnant myself (although as I am getting married
next year I hope one day to be!) but something struck me about
pregnancy as a metaphor/experience of faith: what about the days
before you even know you're pregnant? And what about when you
intellectually are, but don't "feel" it yet? Those both seem to me
rather like the mysterious way God secretly begins to work in us.
As we come near the end of 2009, I am especially thankful to all of you who have shared in the "questions, conversations, and friendships" in my life this year, as referenced below in today's countdown quote. Thank you, thanks be to God for you, and God bless you in 2010!
Taken together, those questions, conversations, and friendships have the potential simultaneously to weaken old, rigid paradigms and to help us imagine new and better possibilities. (19)
Michael Gerson gets it right on the Ugandan homosexuality law ...
You can read his insightful comments here. Quotable:
We refused to be a "Christian nation" precisely because the founders held a broadly Christian view of human beings, who are subject to God and their conscience, not to the state. Pluralism is not a temporary or tragic compromise; it is the proper way to treat men and women created free and autonomous in God's image.
... It is not cultural imperialism to criticize an oppressive law in Uganda, any more than in Iran or Saudi Arabia. It is consistency. And it is not colonialism for nations that donate to the fight against AIDS in Uganda to be disturbed about policies that make this effort more difficult. Uganda is on a path of self-isolation that will hurt its people.
Religious citizens often bring strong moral convictions into public life. One of those convictions should be pluralism.
If the law passes - and I hope and pray that it doesn't, only those without sin should cast the first stone.
Reflections on Oslo, Part 2
As I suggested in my previous post, I was troubled by some elements of the President's recent Oslo speech. But recent statements by former-VP Dick Cheney have helped me appreciate a key element of the speech that I enthusiastically applaud. (More after the jump...)
If our quest is a betrayal, it is only the most faithful kind of betrayal: a betrayal of the actualities of the past and present to seize the future possibilities toward which they reached. (18)
Reflections on the President's Oslo speech, Part 1
The President's campaign speech in Philadelphia on race and his speech earlier this year to the Muslim world from Egypt were, in my mind, two of the most important presidential speeches of my lifetime. I had tears streaming down my face as I watched the former, and was so moved I could hardly speak after the latter. His more recent Oslo speech, given as he received the Nobel Peace prize, also struck me as important, even though I hope that someday the President himself will come to differ with some of its content. (More after the jump.)
Pregnancy, birth, and a new kind of Christianity ... part 2
Another beautiful reflection offered here ... Especially quotable:
... A woman giving birth is preceded by a woman being pregnant. Pregnancy and Advent are alike in enough ways to consider Advent like a little pregnancy for all of us to go through together. As we are waiting for the Human One, we would be working to make the way for the One to come … the One who in turns makes the way for all of us. Which means we are all really making the way for all of us … if we keep Love central.
Pregnancy … so much happens under cover of flesh and in darkness, out of sight but not out of touch or out of mind. It was so clear to me that I was not in charge of what was happening; and yet I did not feel powerless or helpless. I felt an intimacy with mystery that went hand in hand with heartburn and growing girth and hormonal roller-coasters … physical and emotional and – when I let it – spiritual connection.
Advent becomes a way to revisit all of that, intentionally, learning from those memories and the way I feel them connecting to the seasons around me now. My life – in this season – feels pregnant with what is to come: next year’s work and worship and what I will try not to worry about, but just live into.
The days grow short. The light grow dim. The animals hunker down. The wind rises. The stars sharpen. I hear the intake of breath. A Story is about to begin … and hope spirals up in me, like tender fists and knees running along the inside of my belly. Mysterious … tangible … unseen … undeniable.
Thanks so much for these reflections on pregnancy, Advent, and "hope spiraling up." If you'd like to send a link to your reflection ... you can do so via info@brianmclaren.net
Countdown Day 54
It’s time for a new quest, launched by new questions, a quest across denominations around the world, a quest for new ways to believe and new ways to live and serve faithfully in the way of Jesus, a quest for a new kind of Christian faith. (18)
Read his and Lamar Vest's take on how Christians have lost their way here. Quotable:
Despite the fact that God's heart for the poor is mentioned in some 2,100 verses of Scripture, many of us simply miss it. In a recent survey of adults in America conducted by Harris Interactive, although 80 percent of adults claimed to be familiar with the Bible -- the best-selling book in history -- 46 percent think the Bible offers the most teachings on heaven, hell, adultery, pride or jealousy. In fact, there are more teachings on poverty than on any of those topics.
The best Christmas present you could give or receive this year?
Q: What do you give to the person who already has more than they need? (Or what do you put on your wish list when you have more than enough shirts and scarves already?)
A: A goat?
Well, sort of: Give them the gift of generosity.
That's why my wife and I are giving a number of people a goat for Christmas. Over the last few years, I've been honored to be part of an amazing project among the Batwa people in Burundi, which I've blogged about here and here. (If you have a minute, check these links out.)
To make a long story short, the Batwa are amazing people - great dancers and singers, potters and storytellers, incredibly courageous and resilient. But they are also among the worst-off people I've met anywhere, desperately poor, landless for centuries after having been displaced (much like Native Americans in North America), objects of prejudice, excluded socially and until very recently, politically too. Through an amazing story (which I need to share sometime), a group of these landless people were given land, from which they just reaped their first harvest (potatoes!).
You can read more about the Batwa of Matara here and see more beautiful pictures (read from the bottom up to get the story in sequence).
So ... here's what Grace and I are doing this year. We're giving a Christmas gift on behalf of some family members to the Batwa of Matara in the form of goats and cows. Well, we're not sending gift-wrapped goats and cows, but we're sending money to Claude Nikondeha of amahoro-africa.org, who is managing the Batwa project for Community for Burundi, so that goats, cows, and other farming resources can be purchased for them locally (which is good for the local economy).
We'll be making home-made cards that say, "A goat was given in your name to the Batwa of Matara," along with this link where they can learn more and spread the word: http://communityforburundi.org/
A goat costs about $45 (they hope to give two to each family - a total of 56) and a cow costs $1250. You can make up a little card (you can easily pull photos from the site) and on Christmas morning, tell the story of why you've decided to give a goat or cow in their name. Somehow, I think this gift of necessities for others honors the birth of Jesus a lot more than giving luxuries to people who are already over-burdened with storing their excess luxuries. Maybe you could put GOAT or COW on your wish list?
Our little circle of online friends could easily meet this opportunity. And just think - it would save you hassling at the mall and giving people shirts and scarves they don't really need, because you could make this happen with a few clicks on our computer, right now, by going first here and then here.
Please consider this. I'll let you know what happens after the New Year.
Pregnancy, birth, and a new kind of Christianity ...
Because the image of pregnancy is so important in my upcoming book, a friend (thanks, BC!) suggested we invite the world's true experts on the subject to share their reflections. Some beautiful replies have already come in.
These thoughts seem especially relevant in the days leading up to Christmas, as we remember a very-pregnant Mary journeying to Bethlehem to give birth.
In the end, it involved trust and surrender in order for the process to evolve and complete.
I remember 2 very contradictory and real thoughts going through my mind at 2 separate moments during the birth. The first was "I don't think I can do this!" The pain and overwhelming intensity of the contractions were more than I thought I could endure. But I did. My baby was born and then came my second thought, "I can't wait to do that again!" There is something so euphoric, so joy-filled, so completely indescribable about the work involved in bringing forth life and then being able to simply revel in that life.
She then tells the story of walking out of a church service when one-too-many pat answers was given, launching her into a time of questioning:
I became pregnant. Pregnant with a longing to understand what living out my faith really looked like. Pregnant with a longing for an holistic spiritual experience.
I began to devour information. Information on the life and culture of Jesus, on living intentionally, on social justice, on war, on resisting the empire and its culture, on interfaith dialogue, and on why these issues are so important to Jesus. And I began to realize, as Phylis Tickle describes it, a Great Emergence is taking place within the church, and why it must.
As I began to share some of these things, I found a new community that embraced an open conversation. I also met others who resisted this idea of a faith that evolves and ebbs as it grows and transforms. I kind of feel like I am continually going through periods that feel like labor - those times where I think, "I can't possibly do this anymore". The scrutiny is too hard. Being misunderstood is so painful. And then I find myself giving birth to this new idea, this new life, this new kind of Christianity. A Christianity that defines itself most by love, and less and less by having all the right answers. A Christianity where I am reminded that I, too, must hold my hands open in love, rather than clenched in defensiveness. I am finding that in all of life, the things that bring me the most joy, the most fulfillment, almost always follow a period of intense wrestling, soul searching, doubt, despair. Labor.
Amen, Kathi. (Please read her whole post here ...)
More responses to come in the days ahead.
Countdown Day 55
Again: new statements (theses, propositions, answers) can inspire debate and bring us to a new state. But only new questions can inspire new conversations that can launch us on a new quest. (18)
We need more than a new static location from which we proclaim, “Here I stand!” Instead, we need a new dynamic direction into which we move together, proclaiming, “Here we go!” We need a deep shift not merely from our current state into a new state, but from a steady state to a dynamic story. (17)
On God as light ... from my friend Chuck Smith Jr.
Countdown Day 58
But the ninety-sixth thesis for today must be very different from the original ninety-five, because we already have more hate than we need, and a surplus of debate too, much of which is inversely proportional in intensity to the actual importance of its topic. (17)
Now, nearly five hundred years alter, Luther’s ninety-five theses have completed their job. It’s time for another tipping point; it’s time, we might say, for a ninety-sixth thesis. (17)
Luther’s invitation for discussion was followed by ninety-five provocative statements, or theses, to be debated. Those ninety-five theses successfully sparked debate that further destabilized the uneasy status quo of the late Middle Ages, thus helping tip the Christian community from its medieval state into a new modern state…. That’s what statements can do: create debate (and sometimes, sadly, hate) that moves us into a new state. (17)
I blogged about this story recently here. I hope Rick Warren and others like him will go farther than merely distancing themselves from certain individuals and consider adding their names to our statement here. [LATE NOTE: Rick Warren just made a stronger statement - info here.)
The issues of colonialism, post-colonialism, neo-colonialism, and post-neo-colonialism are complex, especially as related to the issue of homosexuality. A friend pointed me to this helpful posting on the subject by an African.
Last night, there were some encouraging updates, along with a lot of reasons to keep paying attention to this story, because it's far from over.
The Sex Question is one of the ten to be addressed in my upcoming book.
Paradigms and dogma can be defended and enforced with guns and prisons, bullets and bonfires, threats and humiliations, fatwas and excommunications. But paradigms and dogmas remain profoundly vulnerable when anomalies are present. They can be undone by something as simple as a question. (16)
I just finished the 3rd and final book in the New Kind of Christian series. I wanted to thank you for writing each book. Your compassion and humility are seen throughout them. I was raised in an extremely conservative/baptist family and community. I actually thought that liberals were destined for hell. I went to Jerry Falwell's University in Virginia and never really felt quite comfortable there. Things weren't matching up very well between what I was being told and all the questions I didn't have answers to. ... The last few years have been quite a journey for me. I sympathize with Dan's character. My mind too, has been spinning with thoughts for years. I came across your books at the perfect time. I am hoping to receive A Generous Orthodoxy for Christmas. In due time, I will read all the books you have written. THANK YOU for all the work, time, energy, research, and love you put into these books. They have been a great blessing in my life.
It's always great to hear the books have been of help to folks. If you're interested in ordering any of my books as Christmas gifts, here's my amazon page.
Countdown Day 62
As you've been able to tell from previous quotes, the image of pregnancy figures quite strongly in A New Kind of Christianity.
Giving birth, any mother will tell you, is no Sunday school picnic. So we’d better get realistic about the obstacles we face. (13)
If any female bloggers would like to open up some discussion on what pregnancy and birth have taught them about the spiritual life, Christian leadership, and giving birth to a new kind of Christianity, let me know and I'll include links here.
Pregnancy is about producing the next generation, so you might think in terms of Christian Faith: The Next Generation. In fact, you could make a whole set of analogies around Captain Kirk and ... actually, that's just what my friend the late Stanley Grenz explored, as you can see here.
Back home again ...
I got home last night from my last speaking tour of the year. What a year it's been. About a hundred days away ... in Costa Rica, Washington DC, Winston-Salem, Point Loma, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Orlando, Spring Arbor, Upland, Boston, Austin, Louisville, Albuquerque, Canton, Harrisonburg, Hendersonville, North Park, Little Rock, Portland ME, Dominican Republic, Vancouver, South Africa, Ireland, Los Angeles, Halifax, Greenwich, New Haven, Blues Creek, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Aukland, Keyser, Winchester, Staunton, Chattanooga, Dallas, Camden, Philadelphia, Durham, Riverside, Pasadena, Beverly Hills (and I'm sure I missed a few!). Eight fascinating countries, so many interesting denominations and faith communities, uncountable amazing people.
I've heard inspiring stories, been welcomed by beautiful faith communities, met exemplary leaders, heard tremendous music and experienced glorious worship ... and through it all I hope I've been able to pass on to others some small fragment of what I've received and learned.
Now I'm looking forward to catching my breath with family and looking ahead to next year. Thanks to all of you who have connected with me in some way this year - at an event, via brianmclaren.net or facebook or twitter, in a coffee shop, or through prayer. I am grateful beyond words.
Countdown Day 63
Today's quote is especially important for those of us who sometimes take heat for the questions we're asking and the answers we're exploring. We must keep our hands and hearts open in love - never clenched in defensiveness or aggression. If you're struggling with that, here's a link to a prayer that has helped me again and again.
Not everyone wants to join the quest for a new kind of Christianity. But that’s okay. Skeptics’ resistance, suspicion, and opposition are actually a gift, and through their critique we on the quest will grow wiser and stronger. In this way, even they will contribute to what is trying to be born in, through, and among us. (13)
The religion that was ostensibly founded by a nonviolent man of peace had now embraced the very violence he prohibited. The religion that grew in response to a man who was tortured and killed by the Roman Empire was now torturing and killing others in league with that empire. Dynamic faith that moves mountains was out; static belief that burns or banishes heretics was in. Catalytic faith as an agent of social transformation was out; codified belief as a tool of social control was in. And that kind of belief has stayed “in” ever since. (12)
The Christianization of the empire and the imperialization (or Greco-Romanization) of Christianity … was problematic from the beginning, because during the first two hundred and fifty years, the bishops of the church participated in the identification and execution of about twenty-five thousand people as heretics. Do you see the irony of this? Perhaps “tragedy” or “atrocity” would be a better word. (12)
To live in [God's participatory] universe does not mean we're just stuck in static cycles like gerbils on a wheel. Nor are we spurting around aimlessly in an anything-goes universe like a deflating balloon, with one direction no better than any other. No, there is a trajectory to history, a flow in creation, a moral arc to the universe that slowly but surely tends toward justice, as Dr. King used to say. (194)
Please take five minutes and read my friend Tom Austin's excellent update about conflict-gold in Congo, where arguably the most neglected humanitarian crisis on earth is still taking place. Another example where the power of ethical buying and fair trade needs to be brought to bear!
Countdown Day 67
Sorry for the mixup on yesterday's post day ... I'm on the road with limited internet access. Yesterday I spent several hours filming group study introductions for the book, and feel more excited than ever for the book to be released - in just 67 days!
Youth workers began feeling the pain first, and soon so did faculty and staff at Christian colleges and universities, as did workers in parachurch ministries and mission agencies, with church planters and pastors and priests in local churches not far behind. As time went on administrators and leaders in denominations began seeing the writing on their office walls too. (10)
Through the 1980’s and 1990’s, conservative Evangelicals could contrast their growth statistics with the decline of their “liberal” Christian counterparts. They frequently suggested that their theological and socioeconomic conservatism was the secret to their statistical success. But in the first decade of the new millennium, Evangelicals also discovered that their trend lines were turning south; they too were losing their younger generations. (10)
Not only were historic Protestant denominations shrinking numerically, but the remaining churchgoers were wrinkling. The average age rose as young people dropped out after high school or college. Episcopalians, for example, were losing the equivalent of a diocese per year, and the average age had crept up to sixty-two – almost twice the age of the average American (thirty-two). (10)
... demonstrated in twenty fascinating minutes by hans rosling ... here.
(Thanks, Jared!)
... It is the societal map of greed, lust, arrogance, fear, racism, domination, oppression, revenge, and injustice that [Jesus] wants to redraw. He wants his disciples to move mountains of injustice and make new rivers of creativity and compassion flow. He wants them to uproot the fruitless fig tree of dual-narrative religion and plant in its place a spiritual vineyard of joy and transformation. He wants his followers to do the impossible: to label as unacceptable, unnatural, and changeable a world where homeless children beg outside the sprawling estates of the super-rich ... a world that could tithe its weapons budget and so feed, clothe, and shelter the poor.... Faith brings God's creative power into our global crises, so the impossible first becomes possible and then inevitable for those who believe. (Everything Must Change, 300-301)
Q & R: Atonement
Here's the Q:
You missed a great event at C21. Sorry you weren't there but you were proclaimed "The McLaren" at the conference, I don't know whether that will buy anything at MacDonalds.
Question - Where are you now on atonement? I'm reading everything I can find and like Denny Weaver ... Recovering the Scandal was good but not definite. Any wisdom?
In spite of our diverse backgrounds, we all agreed something isn’t working in the way we’re doing Christianity anymore. And although we didn’t know exactly what to do about it, we knew that we needed to keep talking and searching together – through the Internet, conferences and retreats, books, and networks. So our quest for a new kind of Christianity had begun. (9)
Roman Catholicism found itself in a situation remarkably similar to Protestantism … splitting themselves into left/liberal and right/conservative parties, both sides increasingly reacting to one another and losing touch with the changing world outside their religiously gated community. (9)
This quote provides a great opportunity to point to an important new website - Cathlimergent. Check it out!
Q & R: Youth Ministry
Here the Q:
"Hi Brian, thnx for being a clear & generous voice in the emerging choir. I was thinking about what you said once about faith, hope and love. You said: faith > spirituality, hope > mission and love > community. I would like to create a curriculum (learning and doing) for our youth group following these words, beginning with spirituality (spiritual discipline). Do you have any ideas about how the translation of spiritual disciplines from the past (early church) to young people living in 2009? I'm excited about the new time in church history. After almost 500 years there is a new reformation going on. Will you come to the netherlands once?! Greetings
Modern Protestantism in both its liberal and conservative forms was being lost in transition and lost in translation. Both forms of modernist Christianity seemed equally clueless in understanding the nonmodern and postmodern people outside their stained-glass windows. (8)
This is not all many of us hoped for, and it still requires passage in our fractious Congress. But it is better than many of us expected. You can read the prayer for Copenhagen here ...
In the modern era, nearly all our Protestant denominations took shape. They were institutional children of the era of Sir Isaac Newton, the conquistadors, colonialism, the Enlightenment, nationalism, and capitalism. Each denomination made sense of Christianity within the lines and boxes of modernity. You might say they rewrote and rearranged the ancient data of Christianity in a modern program, programming language, paradigm, or framework. (8)
I am writing a paper for masters of divinity class, on the Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "religionless Christianity" discussions from his prison letters. Do you believe Bonhoeffer's thoughts are being worked out in the emerging church movement. If you have written regarding this, where would I look?
I took a break to enjoy Thanksgiving without blogging yesterday ... here's yesterday's countdown post:
By the grace of God, I held on to the something real long enough to begin to figure out what the something wrong might be. And eventually I began to get some sense of what to do to disentangle the one from the other, to hold on to the something real and let the other go. (8
Here's part 1 of my most recent post at sojo.net, relating to the recent "Manhattan Declaration" from some important religious leaders ... Here's part 2.
After the jump, an important release from the White House about Native Americans and Thanksgiving ... with a few comments and book recommendations:
A song I posted several months ago, but that is still singing in my heart:
Countdown Day 76
Morning after morning, I woke up in the brutal tension between something real and something wrong in Christian faith. The sense of something real kept me in ministry and in Christian faith; the sense of something wrong kept me looking for a way out. (7-8)
I wonder if some of the "discernment websites" that enjoy featuring and critiquing the work of many of my friends and me would be willing to host some discussion on this bill currently proposed in the Ugandan parliament.
I'd be interested in reading whether participants in those blogs agree with the Ugandan bill, and if not, why not. (Details after the jump)
Few of my fellow pastors and leaders had the courage to speak out for fear of losing members or their contributions. For a while, I’m ashamed to say, I was among their silent number. (7)
Samir Selmanovic's It's Really All About God is theologically stimulating, emotionally moving, spiritually inspiring, and politically important.
Fr. Richard Rohr's The Naked Now is an accessible portal into "the non-dual mind."
I also can't help but mention the compilation of chapters on faith and justice from an amazing array of authors that I had the privilege of helping edit - The Justice Project.
There are so many excellent books being written these days. More than any of us can keep up with. I know you'll find these ones especially worthwhile. Yet there are so many more too that I haven't mentioned ...
Countdown Day 78
The terms “Evangelical” and even “Christian” had become like discredited brands through [the sincere but misguided work of many of our leaders]. I increasingly understood why more and more of my friends winced when the name “Jesus” was mentioned in public. It wasn’t due to a loss of respect for Jesus, but for those who most used his name. (7)
Their stridency and selectivity in choosing issues and priorities at first annoyed, then depressed, and then angered me. They had created a powerful, wealthy, and stealthy network dedicated to mobilizing fighters in their “culture war.” I began referring to the new religious establishment they had created as radio-orthodoxy because it depended on radio (and TV). (7)
I just received the "Salt of the Earth" Christian calendar, which organizes the year around the traditional Christian seasons (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost, Post-Pentecost). It will enrich my appreciation of "sacred time" in the year ahead. Info at www.thechristiancalendar.com.
An Australia report ...
Here's a detailed report of one engagement in my recent visit down under. (It's a pdf download.)
Countdown Day 80
My disillusionment was intensified by what was happening in the Christian community in America during the 1980’s and 1990’s. A large number of both Protestant and Catholic leaders … supported wars of choice, defended torture, opposed environmental protection, and seemed to care more about protecting the rich from taxes than liberating the poor from poverty or minorities from racism. They spoke against big government as if big was bad, yet they seemed to see big military and big business as inherently good. (7)
Religious Right Insanity, Evangelical Cowardice: Enough is Enough
I'm disgusted by the latest absurdity from the religious right covered in the clip below. I'm also depressed by the lack of courage among Evangelical leaders to speak out strongly against it (also covered in the clip below). How about it, Evangelicals? How many of you will join Frank Schaeffer and say, "Enough is enough?"
Thanks to Tim King and Frank Schaeffer (I just finished his book Crazy for God - a really engaging read from a very gifted writer) for having the courage to tell the truth about this latest example of religion gone wild. And thanks to Rachel Maddow for her good coverage on this.
I just heard from Phillipe Kiener, who works with A Rocha (what a great organization!) in Switzerland. He and some friends have translated the prayer into French and made it available in several formats. Thanks, friends!
If your only tool is a hammer, every problem becomes a nail, the old saying goes. That means that in "the military industrial complex," non-military solutions won't simply be considered and rejected as impractical: they won't even come up on the screen for consideration.
That's why the recent statement on a humanitarian-development surge in Afghanistan is so important. A group of faith leaders (among which I am included) have sent a letter to the White House urging the President to widen the frame of discussion beyond how many additional troops to send to Afghanistan. We ask the President to consider an alternative approach - one that makes use of the US military as a peacekeeping force to supplement Afghan security as needed, but which focuses on humanitarian aid and development as the keys to a stable Afghanistan. (I blogged about this approach some weeks ago.)
Meanwhile, in a CPJ Capital Commentary, Steven Meyer of the National Defense University offers two similar non-military strategies regarding Iran and nuclear weapons - and they're not the two you hear politicians normally proposing:
If we are really interested in controlling nuclear weapons we need to forget about sanctions or military action and assume a two-pronged approach. First, the P5+1 countries [permanent UN Security Counsel members plus Germany] need to continue work with Iran to agree to send its LEU [Low-Enriched Uranium] out of the country for reprocessing. Second, and most important, the P5+1 countries need to convene an arms control process that will aim to denuclearize the entire region, and not just Iran. Three countries in the region (Israel, India and Pakistan) are not signatories to the NPT [Non-Proliferation Treaty]. The Indian and Pakistani nuclear weapons programs are well known and Israel's possession of nuclear weapons is the worst kept secret in the Middle East.
Unfortunately, the U.S., irrespective of administration, turns a blind and hypocritical eye to these programs. Peace and regional stability will never be accomplished by isolating Iran, but by incorporating Iran into a larger denuclearized context.
If more and more of us consider, believe in, and advocate for creative non-military solutions, our voices can help crack open the closed paradigm of the military-industrial complex. You can make your voice heard on Afghanistan right now - right here.
Countdown Day 81
For several years, it seemed that with every passing month, my theology was unraveling a little more. I was afraid there soon wouldn’t be anything left at all.… It was a scary and tough time.
Please help! I am currently taking a graduate class on church growth and we are using your book More Ready Than You Realize as an example of "friendship evangelism." You book has caused much discussion...which is what I guess you were wanting.... [details of class discussion removed] Here is my problem. I consider myself a postmodernist, but I can't really give a good answer why. What I do know is that the modern way (while once extremely effective) of evangelism is no longer effective. The following criticism is what I hear as an attack towards postmodernism, "they believe that there are moral absolutes." Is this true? I find it hard to believe that you would not take any moral stances. Also, I do not get this when I read your books.... I'm rambling, but if you could help me with the question on moral absolutes it might help me in the quest of better understanding postmodernism
Week after week, satisfied or not, spiritual seekers left my office with the best answers I had to offer, and I was left with their best questions. And soon their questions became my own. (6)
People would visit the church for a few weeks or months, listen intently, and then come to see me with their questions … I would give them my best answers, but often, after they left, I felt hollow. If they “bought” my answers, I was strangely disappointed. If they pushed back and told me my answers still made no sense to them, I though, “Good for you, because some of them don’t really make that much sense to me either.” (6)
Unless the church wanted to become a small, isolated enclave that could only talk to its own, we needed to welcome people in from the non-church majority, with all their questions, uncertainties, skepticism, and honesty, which required first of all that we listen to them without judgment and understand them without condemnation. (5)
Q & R: Prayer for the earth ... yes, please use it!
I just received this ...
I have a blog about climate change at www.350orbust.wordpress.com, and today I posted the first 3 paragraphs of "The Prayer for the Earth" which you and Tim Costello have written, and which is posted on the God's politics blog. I wanted to make sure that you are okay with this use of it. If you are not, I will remove it. However, if you give me permission I would like to post the entire prayer. I have listed you and Tim Costello as the authors, and have included a link both to your website and to the Sojourner's blog.
Thanks, and God Bless.
Yes - Please feel free to re-post the prayer (short or long form) ... available here. Thanks for spreading the word, and helping to turn "copenhagen" into "hopenhagen" - we need to go from not coping to coping to hoping to actually changing. God help us!
hunger, food, obesity, starvation ...
Have you seen the "fat map?"
Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein offers insight into food as a form of energy here. Quotable quotes after the jump ...
… over 90 percent of the so-called new converts come from the 40 percent of the population who are already “in the choir,” and less than 10 percent come from the “unchurched majority.” So we have a lot of Baptists becoming Pentecostals, and Catholics becoming Episcopalians, and so on, but surprising few “unchurched people” getting connected with the church. (5)
The last person in line, a woman who had been married to a pastor who left her and then left the ministry, wipes her eyes and says with a shaky voice: “You’ve put into words what I’ve always known was true, but I was afraid to say.” (2)
I believe in “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church,” as the old creed says, and in the holy faith with which that church is entrusted. And I believe that, as with Sarah and Elizabeth, just when you think the old girl is over the hill, she might take a pregnancy test and surprise us all. (xi)
I feel about my tenure as a pastor the same way I feel about my experience as a father: I gave it my very best, but my kids – and my congregation – deserved much better, so I always feel like apologizing. (x)
89. I believe that in every new generation, the Christian faith, like every faith, must in a sense be born again. That means the Christian faith has the possibility of being forever young. (Imagine strains of the Bob Dylan classic playing here.) (ix)
The wisest reflection I've seen on Ft. Hood so far ...
Paul Rauschenbusch gets it right in this important article on the white privilege of disassociation. All of us who looked in the mirror this morning and saw pale-colored skin should seek to understand what Paul is trying to tell us.
Key idea:
We who are White, Christian and Male (WCMs) should ask ourselves this basic question: When we heard about the Oklahoma bomber, Columbine, or the shooter at the Holocaust museum - all horrible crimes committed by WCMs did we think to ourselves - 'oh, this will reflect badly on me?'
The answer is no. Why? Because still in this country, White, Male, Christians are considered normative and therefore the range of WCM behavior, from very good to very bad, simply represents the wide range of human behavior. I know I have nothing in common with Timothy McVeigh and so does the rest of American society. Unfortunately, people of other races and religions in America do not have the benefit of recognition that there are very good people and very bad people among them. Instead, the actions of one person of a minority group reflects upon the reputation and sense of security and worth of the entire group.
This has to stop.
The range of behavior among people of every race and every religion "simply represents the wide range of human behavior."
Well said, Paul.
Countdown Day 91
91. I see a new generation of Christian disciples being formed, coming alive and coming of age, disciples who hold amazing promise, even as they face huge challenges (not the least of which are misunderstanding and criticism from some of their elders). (ix-x)
I just received the new German edition of Finding Our Way Again (Brunnen Verlag Gieben - www.brunnen-verlag.de) and the Chinese version of Everything Must Change (Tien Dao Publishing House, www.tiendao.org.hk). I hope these new translations will be helpful for German and Chinese readers ...
I'm in Chattanooga this week, speaking with Tony Campolo at First Centenary Methodist. Last night, Tony "improved" on the economic crisis ... and as he spoke, I felt the same urgency I felt while writing the sections on economics in EMC. This isn't over. We've treated symptoms but not the underlying disease. We need to deal with the disease.
Countdown Day 92
An amazing array of Christian leaders from across the denominational spectrum have convinced me of some bad news and some encouraging news. The bad news: the Christian faith in all its forms is in trouble. The good news: the Christian faith in all its forms is pregnant with new possibilities. (ix)
As you know, I'm "all in" when it comes to commitment to environmental stewardship. At our house, we recycle, compost, switch lightbulbs, drive a hybrid, etc., etc. But the fact that I do so much flying for my work continues to bug me. So, we've been experimenting with having me "appear" at some "appearances" through digital media ... Here's what a recent event looked like - thanks to Texas Impact!
Each day I'll be posting a sample sentence or two from the book. I hope you'll pass these on to friends if you think they're interesting and worthwhile.
You can also subscribe to my twitter feed, where you'll receive a link to the day's countdown post.
You can comment and converse with other readers about the posts at my facebook page - here.
I'm really enthusiastic about this book, and eager to share these daily selections with you. Starting tomorrow!
You know you've arrived when ...
... some religious folks burn your books ... alongside the books of "heretics" like Billy Graham and Mother Teresa, not to mention the Bible itself! You can read about it in an important short article by Lauren Winner.
Sheesh.
On Fort Hood ...
My Muslim friend Eboo Patel offers a powerful response to the killings here ...
One of the ten questions in my upcoming book deals with religious identity, pluralism, tolerance, and interfaith dialogue. In light of my earlier post about a group of Christians in Ohio joyfully burning books and even Bibles (because they weren't the King James Version!) ... I wonder if there would have been an uproar if a group of Muslims had burned those Bibles. Why won't there be an uproar when it is fellow Christians?
I hope every reader of this blog will respond to the Fort Hood shootings (and every act of religious bigotry, racial intolerance, sexual stereotyping and prejudice, unequal treatment of gay folks, etc.) by rededicating themselves to follow the example of Jesus: move toward "the other" with love and respect. Don't fear, avoid, dehumanize, stigmatize, or allow bigoted statements to go unchallenged, but instead, have a cup of tea, take a walk, exchange dinner invitations, hear their stories, and treat "the other" as you would be treated. Learn to see "the other" as your neighbor, and respond as Christ taught.
And if you're starting to see how important this issue of interfaith friendship is, how about reading my friend Samir Selmanovic's important book too ... available here?
Why more of us are speaking up on nuclear reduction and disarmament ...
Good reasons after the jump from Tyler Wigg-Stevenson ...
And to all the Lutherans out there who feel you're always getting passed over (I plead guilty of doing so in AGO - I beg for Lutheran mercy!), check out this!
I just returned from a wonderful time with Presbyterians in the Shenandoah Valley - what good and hopeful people. And an added bonus was a delightful day with Shenandoah University in Winchester (a Methodist school) ... a most meaningful worship service and a warm and vibrant community of students and staff. The students in the Just Faith program were awesome!
Crying like a baby ...
I continue to receive - and be moved by - emails like this one ... (after the jump)
... about forming missional communities, featuring some of my dear friends.
Transform is a new network seeking to help innovative missional communities of practice take shape, grow, and multiply. You can learn more about it here. I believe we need thousands of these kinds of new faith collectives to form in the coming years ... maybe you have a calling in that direction?
I think Jim's analysis and recommendations are, as usual, brilliant, and his ability to say something substantial in a few words is nothing short of stellar. Read his piece here.
Also - for a fascinating perspective on Afghanistan, not to mention on the end of the Cold War, on nuclear weapons, and on the need for an "American perestroika" - check out this important interview with Mikhail Gorbachev.
More on Afghanistan
Nicholas Kristof weighs in on the difficult question of how best to help Afghanistan (thanks Daniel) ... his leanings seem similar to my own, expressed in an open letter a few weeks back. These situations are so complex ... may God give all of us, and our leaders, wise instincts and needed insights at this critical time.
Jon Stewart courageously hosted an American Jewish woman (Anna Balzer) and a Palestinian political leader (Mustafa Barghouti) who are working across lines of conflict for peace, through non-violent means. There's a "Joe Wilson" moment where a heckler shouts out ... Here's the extended/uncut version -
In early December, leaders from around the world will gather in Copenhagen to discuss a global response to climate change. While some people sincerely believe climate change is a myth, many of us are convinced that it is real, and it is only "the tip of the iceberg" (pardon the pun) - an increasingly measurable symptom of a deeper, bigger illness: that our modern consumptive way of life is ecologically, socially, and spiritually unsustainable, which means that we must have a change of heart, what David Korten calls "a great turning."
Thousands of people around the world will be praying a common prayer in the days leading up to Copenhagen. Here's a video of the prayer. I hope you'll join along, and that you'll either create your own video or link to this one from your blog, facebook page, etc. (text after the jump). You can also make use of the liturgical version of it (also after the jump) in your church, faith community, small group, etc.
You'll find a CT interview with climate change expert Sir John Houghton here.
David Gushee offers important theological reflections on climate change opposition and acceptance here. (There is a strong resonance between the issues he raises and the first of the ten questions in my upcoming book.)
Joe Leichty from Goshen College raises important questions about addressing climate change here.
My book EMC offers a big-picture overview of the ecological crisis.
Later update: Here's a piece from Eastern Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew ... noteable quote:
This is why we call upon leaders of all faiths to involve themselves and their communities in one of the great issues of our time. Ours is a powerful voice. And our belief in the unity and interconnectedness of all things constitutes a strong argument for immediate action.
Is this an issue for Caesar or for God? We believe it must be approached in both its political and spiritual dimensions. Climate change will only be overcome when all of us—scientists and politicians, theologians and economists, specialists and lay citizens—cooperate for the common good.
Your daily chance to make a difference ...
... with every dollar:
One of the most important things I learned while researching EMC was the incredible power and importance fair trade/ethical buying - in which Trade As One is a pioneer.
Nadia Bolz-Weber gets it right on ... Christians
I'm often around "conservatives" who can't stand "liberals" and "liberals" who can't stand "conservatives." And sometimes, I agree with both of them, sad to say! On my better days, I see the goodness and beauty in both ... and Nadia (the sarcastic Lutheran who wrote a hilarious and insightful book that you really should read - and then give away copies for Christmas) gets it right on the subject of our opinions about each other here.
A pastor's heart ...
A very moving email from a pastor ... after the jump
Hi Brian, I assume that you get tons of email so to be honest, I don't really expect a response. I am a total layman and my only formal education is in computers so I find it very hard to read the works of theologians. Over the last 3 or 4 months (I am 32) my desire to learn about my faith has grown more than any other time in my life. I credit your books with providing this desire. I grew up evangelical but would classify myself as a post-evangelical. I have been wrestling with the idea of universal salvation, as well as the theology of Karl Barth - more specifically the doctrine of election. I understand these two theology's potentially have the same outcome but the logic behind them is different. This topic could be controversial and you might not respond because of this. I would be very interested to know your thoughts on both topics. Universal salvation is something that I really hope is truth but I am having a difficult time finding enough evidence for it being truth. The same goes for Karl Barth's doctrine of election. It seems all other salvation theologies are not 100% grace based as there is action required such as receiving God's grace. Whether or not I get a response I want you to know I appreciate your insights and know God's love is being poured onto the needy because of your work.
If you've seen Michael Moore's movie, I hope you'll check out my book, and vice versa ... A reader writes ...
I am currently reading "Everything Must Change" and was particularly interested in Chapter 23 - Capitalism As God. On page 197, FBI consultant Dr. Robert Hare is quoted as he characterizes corporations and how they approach how and where to produce products. It has disappointed me for years that we have not been hearing more about this subject in the media and in Washington, DC. I was pleased to see the subject being addressed, ever so briefly, in this book.
During the past 20 years our society has gone from having companies with a social conscience to companies with no conscience at all. As we have embraced globalization more and more, we have encouraged corporations to just chase the cheapest labor they can find to compete. I call it the "Wal-mart" mentality, where lower cost is the only thing that matters.
A reader sent this note and a link to the video below. It's fascinating how many people have seen the same connection.
Hello Brian, I have been reading your book and it is helping me keep up the pace of effecting change in my small world. It is all about perspective how we see the value of our relationship with the Father Son and Holy Spirit. Our only option is to be involved. Here is a youtube I saw after someone had sent me one from this artist. I thought of your book and thought I would share. Peace in Christ,
Today's the day: 350
Learn more here ... http://www.350.org/
And stay tuned for a faith-based initiative as we near the Copenhagan climate consultation December 6.
Fr. Richard Rohr gets it right ... on Emerging Church
It seems to me that the emerging church is emerging because people are finding the ability to have a grateful foot in both camps—on in the Tradition (the mother church) along with another foot inside of a support group that parallels, deepens, broadens, grounds, and personalizes the traditional message. But you don’t throw out the traditional message, or you have to keep rebuilding the infrastructure or creating a superstructure all over again.
Brian, I just recently finished EMC. It hit me so hard that I decided to go back re-read The Secret Message, which did not nearly have the effect on me that EMC has. I did not grow up in the church but began a relationship with Christ when I was 18.... Most of the first ... years of my relationship with Christ centered on fundamentalist teachings and eternal-life-after-death dogma. However, over the course of the past nine years my theological thoughts and beliefs have taken a gradual, yet radical transition. If the primary catalyst for this transition is not your books they have at least played a very important role. All of this said, I had two questions.
The first question is one I asked my fiancee last night ... while I was reading The Secret Message. Do you believe that war is ever justafiable?
WAY back in the 1970's I recorded an LP (remember those?) of original music which is now available for free download here.
I recently received this inquiry ...
Hi Brian..I love 'Immanuel'...''Sailing out on Life' and "Believe on Him" on your 1976 album (I downloaded it)....VERY EXCELLENT WORK!
I love the entire album but those were my absolute favorites...
By any chance, do you have the guitar tabs etc that I may learn how to play these songs on my guitar?
I'll have the special opportunity to work with my friends Fr. Richard Rohr and Alexie Torres-Fleming in Dallas, November 13. (Richard will be teaching on the 14th as well - highly recommended!) I hope you'll consider coming - information and registration here.
Eden Parris ...
In my 2006 trip to Australia, I met Eden Parris. He sent me this beautiful song of his recently, in response to a piece I wrote for Sojo.net. Enjoy!
emergent AND baptist?
Some of the most creative people I meet in my travels are Baptists. All over the world you can find Baptist mission-workers doing creative and courageous work, often on a shoestring, expressing their devotion to God and neighbor. Thank God, not all Baptists can be stereotyped by the vocal, tense, and often reactionary minority who seem to grab headlines here in the US most often ... far from it. Consider this piece by William Lloyd Allen...
Capitalism: A Love Story ...
Grace and I went to see it last night. It's very much worth seeing.
Mike Todd offers some interesting responses here.
I found Michael Moore's reflections on Jesus and Capitalism especially interesting - resonant with my chapters on Theo-capitalism in EMC.
Archbishop Rowan Williams gets it right on ... life
An amazing article and speech on the ecological crisis and more here ... In this address, Archbishop Rowan Williams exemplifies the kind of theological mind and heart that I believe are central to "a new kind of Christianity."
A Christmas Sermon Series ...
A while back I received a note from a pastor in South Africa (Thanks, Peter!) who is using Secret Message of Jesus (which is on sale at amazon for $6!) as the basis for a series of sermons leading up to the Christmas Season. I'll include their outline after the jump ... You can get other ideas for using my books in sermon series here....
Diana Butler Bass gets it right on reading the Bible ...
Anyone interested in the Bible and in African Christianity should check out Diana's recent piece at Progressive Revival ... Question 2 in my upcoming book also addresses this important issue - learning for the present and future from how we Christians have misread the Bible in the past.
Poetry Performed ...
a highlight of our time in australia was working with performance poet cameron semmens. you can learn about his amazing work here ...
you can get a feel for cameron in action here:
Catching up on the Office
Having been out of the country for several weeks, I missed several episodes of the Office, of which I confess to being a devoted fan. So part of my getting re-acclimated to my home time zone has been catching up on the last couple episodes. These guys keep getting better and better. For example ...
Responses on Afghanistan
I'm back home after nearly three weeks away. Thanks to everyone who so warmly welcomed Grace and me, and thanks to all who opened their minds and hearts to the message and challenges we shared in Australia and New Zealand.
After the jump - three thoughtful replies to my post on Afghanistan.
Dear President Obama ... (an open letter on Afghanistan)
I am a loyal supporter of your presidency. I worked hard in the campaign and have never been as proud of my country as I was when we elected you.
I'm writing to ask you to find another way ahead in Afghanistan. I wrote a similar letter to President Bush when he was preparing for war in Iraq.
I believe now, as you and I both did then, that war is not the answer. Violence breeds violence, and as Dr. King said, you can murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. As the apostle Paul said, evil must be overcome with good, which means that violence and hate must be overcome with justice and love, not more of the same.
Obviously, you know things the rest of us don't know. And you have pressures and responsibilities the rest of us don't have. But we have based our lives on the moral principles that guided leaders like Dr. King, Desmond Tutu, and Nelson Mandela. We share a profound faith in a loving, non-violent God. We share a commitment to live in the way of Jesus the peacemaker. That's why escalation is not a change we can believe in.
I don't argue for leaving Afghanistan high and dry as we've done too often in the past. Evil can't be overcome by passivity or abdication, but only by positive good and creative action. In that spirit, I offer this humble proposal:
1. Take the 65 billion we would have spent there in the coming year and turn it into an aid and development fund. If you want to go farther, you could put a value on the cost of American lives that would be lost there (I have no idea how this inestimable cost could be calculated), and add that sum to the fund. 65 billion could build a lot of peace-oriented schools and hospitals in Afghanistan. It could serve as start-up capital for a lot of new businesses and it could pave a lot of roads. It could train a lot of police officers and it could enhance a lot of social infrastructure. It could give hope to a lot of women and girls who currently don't have much hope, and it could provide a lot of constructive outlets for men and boys who right now don't have many options besides picking up a machine gun and joining a warlord.
2. Other nations might contribute to this fund as well, and the fund could be extended into the future based on the number of years our military would have been engaged in Afghanistan. The fund could be administered by the US, or better (in the spirit of international cooperation), an IAEC-like agency could be created, subsidiary to the United Nations, to monitor progress in Afghanistan.
3. Then a set of benchmarks could be set, and the money could be released for development in Afghanistan as the nation reached appropriate benchmarks. This fund would be an enticement to mobilize public opinion in the direction of peace and justice, as people would know that their lives could be substantially improved if their factionalized leaders would start collaborating nonviolently for the common good.
4. With this kind of approach, the people of Afghanistan (and Pakistan) would have two clear choices. Al Queda and other extremists offer violence and unrest. But the international community would be offering support for order, rebuilding, collaboration, justice, and peace. This choice is a much clearer and better one than the choice between two groups of leaders who both depend on violence to achieve their aims.
5. Conservatives could support this kind of approach because it emphasizes personal choice and responsibility among the Afghan people. It would come alongside them in their own nation-building efforts at their own best pace, rather than trying to impose our own nation-building on them at a pace we determine. Progressives could support this approach because it changes the role of the US in the global neighborhood - from reactive bully or intentional dominator to responsible neighbor and partner for the common good.
Mr. President, you have my respect and my prayers at this important time. I believe you have the intelligence and insight to find a creative way to use a new kind of force in the world ... something far more powerful than bombs, guns, and bullets: the generative force of creativity, of justice, of collaboration, and yes, of hope. Can we find a new and better way to help Afghanistan rise out of chaos and complicity with Al Queda? You know the answer many of us will shout and chant: yes, we can.
With respect and hope,
A citizen
C21 - well done!
I'm literally on the other side of the world for a couple more days, but I really enjoyed seeing some photos from C21 at Tony Jones' blog. Although we had to miss C21, we've had an amazing time in Oz and NZ. It's more clear than ever that good things are popping up (a euphemism for emerging) all over the planet. Thanks to JoPa and everyone who made C21 such an important and beautiful event, from which benefits will flow even for those of us who couldn't be there.
By the way, if you think nuclear disarmament is impossible, South Africa did it in 1991. They saw it as something to leave behind along with apartheid, just as previous generations saw slavery, the inequality of women, and child labor as things to leave behind. With God, what looks impossible isn't.
Art-lovers in New York or Boston ...
My friend Bob Jackson has shows in New York and Boston this fall. Here's a sample of his wonderful, whimsical, visionary, contemporary realist art.
Wrapping up our time in Sydney ... In one of those "I wish I could be in 2 places at once" modes, I've been checking in on the C21 gathering in Minneapolis here. Thanks to JoPa for making this happen - can't wait to get the podcasts.
See you in Auckland, New Zealand?
Here's a link with info about my time there, 7:30 - 9 pm at Laidlaw College, Tuesday October 13.
Recent books roundup ...
There are so many tremendous books coming out ... I know we all feel overwhelmed at times and don't know where to begin in choosing which to read and which to pass by. (One answer: begin by watching less TV!)
Samir Selmanovic's [I misspelled his name earlier, sorry] new book is ... it's incredibly important. And well-written. And provocative. And, I believe, faithful. It's called "It's Really All About God: Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish Christian." You can read about it here ... I wish that every Christian, Muslim, Jew, and atheist would read this book!
And then there's ... well, I'll save some more for another day. In the meantime, if you haven't checked out The Justice Project or Everything Must Change (now in softcover), I hope you will!
mike clawson gets it right ... on the church that is emerging
check out mike clawson's insightful comments about how conversations and movements mature and develop here. as mike says, the global emergent conversation needs many john wesleys (female and male) around the world - networkers, resourcers, encouragers, inspirers, guides. i might add that it also needs many charles wesleys (female and male) who are writing the music (and other liturgical resources) that will be the soundtrack and musical/liturgical seminary for new ways of being followers of Christ. in my current tour of australia (canberra today, melbourne tonight), i can certainly see and feel growing interest and need for this kind of "kingdom, convergence, conversation" movement to grow and spread.
For Ukranian Speakers ...
The global conversation about "the church that is emerging" continues to spread. It's strong here in Australia - and it's growing among Ukranian speakers too. More here ...
Moltmann review ...
I'm eager to hear the Moltmann lectures from the recent Emergent Theological Conversation when they're available ... in the meantime, Mike S offers some helpful reflections here.
What do you think ...
... about Michael Moore's recent column on Christianity and capitalism? If you're interested in my take on the relationship between the two, it's a major theme of EMC. (My book and Michael's documentary, by the way, are produced and distributed within the system whose values we're critiquing, which may suggest to some that we're oblivious to irony, and to others that our views are more nuanced than simple black-and-white.)
The Nines
Greetings from Down Under ... Grace and I are having a splendid time in the Sydney area through Monday, then we're off to Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Melbourne, then to New Zealand. Last night, we enjoyed a legendary meal cooked by chef Fuzz Kitto at the world-famous Chez Kitto. Unforgettable!
Here's a short video I contributed to a recent online event called "the Nines."
beyond liberal and conservative ...
A lot of us are convinced that good outcomes to our global crises are inhibited by the combative binary attitudes we too often slip into - even as we're trying to solve them. Sadly, anyone who works to forge friendships and collaborations (and, please God, space for civil discourse!) across the various divides is often seen as a traitor to "their side." The following email beautifully expresses the struggle many of us feel as we seek to promote civil discourse and bridge-building for the common good ... (after the jump)
Evangelicals especially could benefit by listening to these thoughts from someone who is "very attracted to some aspects of evangelical theology," but who is "sick and disgusted" by other aspects. And non-Evangelicals should note how he is "sick and disappointed" by parallel traits among "liberal Christians" as well.
I know you are very busy and I also know that the chances of my receiving a response to this email are pretty slim, but I must send it anyway....
I have read a lot of material on your website and have formed some assumptions based on what I read. First, It sounds like you believe in some form of relative morality based on your thoughts toward scripture. Second, that you do not believe in hell. And third, that you believe (based on some of your latest comments) that the god worshipped by Muslims is the same God that Christians worship.
Are these assumptions true?
I'm in North Carolina today, speaking to folks at Campbell University (home of the camels!). The good people of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship will be strongly represented today - a group I am tremendously impressed with and optimistic about. Many have damaged the good name of Baptist in recent years, but these folks represent a different spirit and are moving toward a better future. I return home tonight, and then tomorrow Grace and I leave for Australia, so expect blog posts to be less frequent for the next couple weeks.
Q & R: Secret Message of Jesus, perichoresis, cross
Q:
I have enjoyed the Secret Message of Jesus book, which to be honest surprised me. Some of these issues related to Jesus, church, and kingdom have been rattling around in my head for a while, and you have helped stir them and feed them.
I had two questions about sources. 1. You said that early church fathers used the metaphor of dance to understand the relationship of the trinity. I cannot find that in my sources. 2. You said that the early church chose the cross because they saw Jesus’ way as a way of suffering and not of power. Do you have any source material for that?
Thanks for the very helpful, thought-provoking book.
Australia ... Prime Minister Kevin Rudd gets it right ...
I'll be in Australia for the first half of October - traveling and speaking in several cities, then stopping off in New Zealand before returning home. Here's a speech by Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, celebrating the release of the Poverty and Justice Bible, which is one of the truly worthwhile Bible-publishing accomplishments in my lifetime ... to which The Justice Project would be a great accompaniment! The speech - after the jump:
I just received a nice note from a Franciscan novice who joined in the Ramadan fast ... you can read his blog here.
And this from a Christian who was in the Middle East during Ramadan:
Brian, I just read your blog on Ramadan 2009 and very much appreciate your comments. I’ve been in Jerusalem and Bethlehem for 3 of the 4 weeks of Ramadan and also have been very much inspired by the discipline and love of God that is expressed in this holy month. I am a Christian who has come to have great respect for the Muslim faith. I was invited to an iftar last week, to the home of a family I had never met before. I was received with graciousness and hospitality and spent a lovely evening with people who were not of my faith, culture or even language. A friend of mine, a Palestinian Muslim, spent a great deal of the month at the Al Aqsa Mosque, and participated in the daily fasting. He has suffered under Israeli occupation and conflict for over 60 years, yet I could see the difference that this month made in his life. Thank you for sharing. Peace, Shalom, Salaam
And another reader sent this link offering thoughtful reflections on observing Ramadan in Mozambique ...
Tyler Wigg-Stevenson gets it right on nuclear weapons again ...
Read about his response to President Obama's important UN speech here. There's a lot to be depressed and worried about today, but the tide is turning on nuclear weapons ... and that's something to celebrate. Be sure to notice the legendary conservative leaders who support Tyler's work.
Q & R: worship
Q:
Hi! I checked your website to see when and where you'll be speaking, but I don't know what you'll be speaking about! :)
I guess why I say that is because I'm interesting in attending a conference or event when you'll be speaking about worship/music/arts in the church (or even "outside" the church). :) I have been a worship leader at an interdenominational church for many years and have been challenged by your thoughts about music in the church. I would love to hear you speak!
Would you be able to let me know if you are speaking on worship (or even something more general, but relating) and where and when that will be!
Thanks so much!
Tim P sent this graphic in ... really worth looking at here. I was especially blown away by the cost of converting the entire planet to solar energy, or the cost of all African debt, compared to the cost of the banking/insurance crisis.
I was invited to share on creation care at the College Park Cohort last night. What a tremendous group of people - old friends and new. The night ended - appropriately - with Todd Thomas giving me a tour of the hydrogen fuel cell car he's a test driver for. Amazing!
Here's what I shared ...
+++++
What could be more joyful than rediscovering our God-given role as caretakers, stewards, and lovers of creation? What could be more sad and tragic than missing that dimension of life - linking the human parts of God's creation with the rest? How much would we miss by neglecting or ignoring the vast majority of God's creation that came into being before we did - and that was pronounced "good" by God completely apart from its utility to us?
Here are seven first steps that I recommend to all of us who want to re-enter our primal (and deeply fulfilling) role as caretakers of God's beautiful world.
1. Develop a theology of creation. Sadly, many of us have a gospel of evacuation and abandonment, leaving behind creation to be destroyed so our souls can be beamed up to heaven as soon as possible. We need instead a theology of incarnation and engagement ... where we join the Creator in loving and caring for creation. Thankfully, this theology that includes rather than evacuates creation is deeply rooted in the Scriptures, and is being rediscovered and freshly articulated by many of us today.
Action on Climate Change - Can you do something today to make a difference?
You can if one of these people is your senator:
Barbara Boxer (CA)
Max Baucus (MT)
Thomas R. Carper (DE)
Frank R. Lautenberg (NJ)
Benjamin L. Cardin (MD)
Bernard Sanders (VT)
Amy Klobuchar (MN)
Sheldon Whitehouse (RI)
Tom Udall (NM)
Jeff Merkley (OR)
Kirsten Gillibrand (NY)
Arlen Specter (PA)
How to help - it's not hard - after the jump ...
Along with a great summary of why climate change matters -
Continuing on the theme of silence and words (from the previous post), Nouwen quotes the Taoist philosopher Chuang Tzu:
“The purpose of a fish trap is to catch fish and when the fish are caught, the trap is forgotten. The purpose of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits. When the rabbits are caught, the snare is forgotten. The purpose of the word is to convey ideas. When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words? He is the one I would like to talk to.”
Then he references Diadochus of Photiki:
“When the door of the steambath is continually left open, the heat inside rapidly escapes through it; likewise the soul, in its desire to say many things, dissipates its remembrance of God through the door of speech, even though everything it says may be good. Thereafter, the intellect, though lacking appropriate ideas, pours out a welter of confused thoughts to anyone it meets ...”
One recalls another great theologian, Bruce Cockburn ... in his song "Burden of the Angel/Beast" he says:
Those who know don't have the words to tell
And the ones with the words don't know too well
These are the warnings I carry in mind and heart today as I go out to share words ...
From New England ...
After a few good days in Nova Scotia last week, I'm a little farther south in Connecticut today. I enjoyed the warm hospitality of Christ Church Greenwich over the weekend, and today I'll be with students at Berkeley and Yale Div schools and meeting with some clergy groups as well - a full day, and I'm looking forward to it.
Ramadan ended over the weekend, and the AP carried this story about the experience some of us shared.
Now, with the fast behind me, I feel that it's hard to talk about the experience. I can't explain or put into words what this has meant to me, and I fear that trying to do so will weaken or cheapen the experience. So I think I'll wait until the time is right (if it ever is), especially in light of what I was reading this morning about silence from Henri Nouwen:
Let us focus for a moment on theological education. What else is the goal of theological education than ... (More after the jump)
... you're on a trading card inserted in a cereal box like this one!
Can-fusion ...
Here's a great Canadian fusion ... Steve Bell and Fresh I.E.
I'm in Halifax, NS, at the moment (speaking at Atlantic School of Theology - a tremendous group of people), and as a fan of great Canadian musicians - like Steve, Bruce Cockburn, and others ... it's a good day to appreciate Canadian talent, eh?
power of sacred
I posted a few new songs in recent days and several folks have asked for lyrics and chords. After the jump I'll include them, along with a note about the songs I post here. The Power of Sacred Clenching Fist, Open Hand
Several people have asked me what one thing I have gained from this experience so far. There have been so many that it's impossible to single out one. Perhaps in retrospect in a few weeks, one will rise above the others. Today, though, let me mention two.
First, respect. I have gained new respect for the hundreds of millions of Muslim men and women and even children who observe Ramadan year after year. Many of my Christian friends see everything in other religions as efforts to "earn one's way to heaven" (a misguided venture, we know), without realizing that this kind of earning isn't everyone else's preoccupation. For many people, this observance is an expression of love ... a tangible way to express love for God and for one's faith community. And it's also a time-tested spiritual practice, which I'll return to in a minute.
I'm sure that anyone who has trained for a marathon gains new respect for the millions of other people who have been through that experience. When they see a marathon on TV or when they meet someone who is a marathon runner, they have a greater respect than the rest of us for the sacrifice and dedication behind every step of every runner because they've run many miles in those same shoes (metaphorically speaking). In my own very small way, that's what I feel now - much more than I expected. For the rest of my life, every time I meet a Muslim who has observed the fast even once, I will have a new and sincere respect.
I'll be in your beautiful country the first half of October - in Canberra, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney. (I'll also be in Aukland, NZ, October 12-14. Details TBA) Information here ... and after the jump:
I don't get to the Big Apple area nearly as often as I'd like, which is why I'm especially glad to have a chance to connect with folks this weekend. On Sunday morning I'll be speaking at Christ Church in Greenwich, CT. Then on Sunday afternoon (1:30 - 4:30), I'll be leading a workshop on the Bible.
How do we read the Bible in today's world? We've seen the Bible (ab)used to justify slavery, racism, violence, oppression of women, harsh treatment of gay people, anti-semitism, ecological irresponsibility, etc. What can we learn from those mistakes? How can we let the Bible's message shape and empower us constructively and hopefully? What assumptions do we bring to the Bible that we need to question - and what questions should we bring to the Bible each time we open it?
I'll be giving some short introductory talks, but the bulk of the three-hour afternoon workshop will be experiential. I'll guide you through some reflections and interactions with the Bible, digging deep into several fascinating passages. If you've never cracked open a Bible, if you've feel you've kind of OD'ed on the Bible and it's all become familiar and "same-old same-old," if you love and enjoy the Bible but are aware that there are new approaches being explored, or if you are suspicious of the Bible and maybe even bothered by it, I think you'll find this an inspirational and educational way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
You can get more information and download the flyer here. I hope I'll see you this weekend!
Do you live in the Houston TX area?
I'll be speaking (via skype) to the Advocacy Camp on October 24. You can download info below. Looking forward to a great day talking about how churches can make a difference in their communities ... Download file
Q & R: Key issues in the emergent conversation ...
Here's the question:
I am XXXX, and I am a pastor of a new church near XXX. Back in 200X, I wrote my Senior Project at XXXX University on the Emerging Church in the United States. Interestingly, I used Cedar Ridge, in part, as a case study to highlight ecclesial shifts happening among evangelical churches even then.
Now XXX years later, I am exploring thoughts on a doctoral project at XXX Seminary in Atlanta. My question for you, to use a tennis analogy, is more like a “lob shot.” My question is: Currently, what do you think most needs to be explored and examined in the Emergent Church conversation that could most benefit the Church? Put another way, if you were thinking of writing a 35 page journal article about some aspect of the Emergent Church, what would your focus be?
Thanks for any time and response you can offer to this general question. I am grateful for the vital ministry you are carrying out in these days. As you probably well know by now, you are a strength to many of us young clergy who are living in this liminal time in Christian history.
... yet another Christian friend has joined Muslim friends and neighbors in the Ramadan fast. Australian Dave Andrews (whose books I highly recommend - from Christianarchy to Not Religion, But Love to Plan Be to Compassionate Community Work) shares some important insights on fasting, integrity, and resistance to empire here. Well worth reading - especially for those of us who live under constant temptation to sell out to empire.
Thanks, Dave!
a new song ...
For turtle fans ...
Here's a video from the florida keys of a nest of loggerhead sea turtles hatching.
Links roundup ...
Diana Butler Bass gets it right on "the moral we" in the health care debate here ...
Eboo Patel gets it right on the power of faith in global politics here.
Baptist Pastor Chuck Warnock gets it right on calling fellow Christians to a higher standard of civility here.
If you haven't heard about Dean Nelson's new book, God Hides in Plain Sight, here's a great interview. He's currently working on an important project on science and faith and the work of John Polkinghorne (of whom I'm also a big fan) - info here.
A beautiful worship song by South African musician/pastor/theologian Jonathan van de Laar - helping fill a gap I've written about elsewhere ...
"A little bit of unity and communion today"
On this day when many of us are remembering a day of violence eight years ago, Richard Rohr (after the jump) offers a beautiful image of what it means to be agents of the peace of Christ today ... including something as simple as sharing "benevolent smiles" (literal and figurative) with everyone we meet. More after the jump ...
My fried Sivin Kit is part of an important initiative in his homeland, Malaysia. You can read about it here. Blessed are the peacemakers!
On the health care speech last night ...
Three things struck me about President Obama's speech on health care reform. First, I was struck by the speech's emphasis on morality. Caring for our poor neighbors - and even more so when they are sick - is indeed a moral concern. Second, I was impressed by the way the speech addressed economic concerns. Like a lot of people, I'm concerned about costs and deficits - and I thought the President wisely pointed out that the rising costs of doing nothing are unacceptably high. The fact that we pay significantly more for health care than other wealthy nations - and are not more healthy, but less - tells me we have a lot to learn from other countries, both in treating disease efficiently and in pre-empting it with healthier living. Finally, I was impressed by the mature and responsible character reflected in both the speech's content and delivery. Even when he was called a liar by a member of Congress from whom we would expect more adult, civil, and professional behavior, the President modeled the grace and restraint that signal maturity of character. And similarly, the speech rightly emphasized that health care is a matter of national character. It takes maturity to integrate diverse concerns that are both long-term and short-term, personal and corporate, economic and moral. It takes maturity to integrate our traditional values of individual self-reliance and of commitment to our neighbors. Our nation hasn't displayed a lot of that maturity of character in my lifetime, and now, both in what we do about health care and how we do it, we have a golden opportunity to learn and grow. - Brian McLaren, author/speaker (brianmclaren.net)
response to yesterday's post on hospitality ...
A few weeks ago I shared a link to the story of Benjamin Ries ... a gifted young pastor who is also sharing in the Ramadan fast as a Christian guest.
Here's his response to yesterday's post on hospitality ...
Brian,
Thanks for your blog on hospitality. It's something I've been reflecting on over these last 18 days. (By the way, can you believe we're over halfway there? I've already found myself lamenting the end of this beautiful season.) Anyway, I've found that the thing I look forward to most each evening as I drive to share iftar with my Muslim friends is their hospitality. The authentic joy that I am greeted with (along with the genuine disappointment they share when I've missed an evening or two) has been surprisingly hopeful and life-giving for me. It has also heightened my awareness to the way the Christian faith has lost the art of hospitality. I'm not sure we value the presence of others outside of the chance they'll "place membership" and be a long-term "contributing" member. It is no longer enough to welcome the stranger simply because they are fellow human beings - beings whose very presence is a gift from God and not a product to acquire or a commodity to convert. It seems that the Muslim community I gather with is not so concerned with saying the right thing, giving off the right impression, or capitalizing on their one shot to get me coming back (which just happens to be the very things consuming most Christians these days). Rather, they seem to be a people who focus on gratitude, authenticity, and a radical trust that God does not need their gimmicks to fulfill his purpose and mission in the world.
I've just been thinking...What if the church's primary witness to the world was their gratitude, authenticity, and radical trust in the Father? That's not a ground-breaking question, I know, but my experience with a community of faith who embodies these characteristics has created a deep hunger and thirst for these things in my own community of faith.
peace,
ben
I know what Ben's talking about. In encountering the other - not through the eyes of judgment (Matthew 7:1-5), but as people of peace (Luke 10:5-9 - well worth reading in this context!) - we see ourselves more clearly and gain an opportunity to learn and grow.
One of the themes that has emerged for me so far in this month's fast is hospitality.
To begin with, there's the beautiful hospitality of the Peace Moms, Eboo Patel, and other Muslim friends who welcomed me - and several other Christians - to be part of their observance of Ramadan.
Then there's the kind hospitality of fellow Christians who didn't immediately react in judgment and fear, but made space to consider a new way of approaching "the other."
On another level, today I was reading the manuscript for an important, beautifully-written, and spiritually moving book called A Gentler God by Doug Frank.
(more after the jump)
NASA offers some amazing photos here ... Including this one, gaseous structures, superheated to 36,000 degrees, racing through space like a giant butterfly at 600,000 miles per hour.
The heavens declare the glory of God ... indeed! (Psalm 19)
The other day I heard a comedian tell a joke that made me laugh out loud: "For a long time I was sponsoring an orphan in a really tough place somewhere in Africa. But not anymore. I was watching TV late at night and this ad came on and I realized, "What, for that same amount of money, I could be getting a coffee every single day!"
Gotta laugh and cry in this world, right?
New resources from Chuck Smith, Jr.
Chuck and I met in the late 80's (sheesh!) at a Leadership Network event. We've both been through a lot since then, and have been friends to one another through a lot of life's ups and downs. I subscribe to his email "Reflexion," which is one of the spiritual resources that enriches me week by week. He just launched a new website to make his many valuable resources available ... I encourage you to check it out (and sign up for Reflexions!) here.
A plea for a new generation of Republican leadership
I believe our nation works best with robust and civic dialogue and civil debate. For mature societal conversations to take place, at least two mature parties are required, and looking back over this summer, a second party is hard to find.
The Obama administration needs a worthy loyal opposition, just as any group in power does, and the president himself often says so. But people who shout "hitler, nazi, socialist" don't constitute a worthy loyal opposition. Nor do the birthers (who don't stray too far from the fictional portrait of the afterbirthers described satirically here). Nor do the nostalgics, who seem to keep waking up in the 1980's year after year, quoting Ronald Reagan.
[Regarding the nostaligics, one can't help but recall God's words to Joshua (Joshua 1:2): "Moses my servant is dead." Many Republicans, it seems, are like Joshua and need to be told it's time to move on and discover their own voice, to think their own thoughts, to face today's challenges, to start leading constructively and not just repeating old slogans - always revering the memory of their late-20th-Century Moses, of course, but moving on to face today's problems just as their oft-sung hero sought to face those of his day.]
More after the jump ...
Emergentvillage.com blog has a great introduction to LeRon Shultz - via an article and podcast interview with Tripp Fuller. He is one of our planet's really important living theologians, with so much to offer.
There's also a good link to resources from Proost, some important thoughts from Phyllis Tickle, information on Generate magazine, a perceptive article by Gideon Addington, Julie Clawson's article anticipating Christianity 21 (wish I could be there!), and a thoughtful post from Nick Fiedler of the ever-interesting Nick and Josh Podcast. Give yourself at least a half-hour, and better yet an hour, to see what's available there right now.
"Finding Our Way Again" - need a group study book?
This report recently came in ...
Our group finished Finding Our Way Again last night. About ten families were a part of the summer-long study. It stimulated some incredible dialogue and was a catalyst in our search for other material or resources to compliment the study and experience. The depth of connection was uncommon and wonderful. Both with God and others. ...Thanks again for the book. It is a rich source for those who want to see and find God and it particularly helped me see God in what I am already doing.
By the way, if you're interested in using EMC for a study group, I just saw the new paperback for the first time yesterday. It looks great. And don't forget the DVD study guide too...
Silent as light
At the church gathering we were part of this week, we sang the old hymn "Immortal, Invisible." Two lines especially struck me ... "silent as light" and "'tis only the splendor of light hideth thee."
I remember hearing Dallas Willard preach many years ago on 1 John 1:5: "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you ..."
How would you complete that sentence? With one of the ancient creeds? With the four spiritual laws? With a doctrine like justification by grace through faith, or penal substitutionary atonement? With the anti-imperial message of the gospels, or the inclusion of the other?
Here's how 1 John 1:5 completes the sentence: "This is the message ... God is light; and in God there is no darkness at all."
God is light ... silent, but powerful ... bright, but often invisible until it reflects off something else ... and even when visible, containing spectra beyond our ability to see ... sometimes so bright that we are blinded by it ... light that is literally - directly or indirectly - the source and support of all life on earth ... an absolute in this universe of relativity ... a mystery to us, even as it is the reality by which we see everything we see.
Worship and Justice ... Jeremy del Rio and Louis Carlo get it right
Jeremy del Rio and Louis Carlo have a beautiful and needed article on worship and justice available here.
The physical part of the Ramadan fast is getting easier at this halfway point, and so my attention is shifting from making it through another afternoon to the spiritual lessons this experience offers me. For me, that means learning more of what it means to be a peacemaker between two faith communities. From both the vehemence of the negative responses I've received and the heartfelt appreciation in the positive responses, it's clearer to me than ever that this issue needs to be addressed. I felt it again Wednesday night, when I had a wonderful conversation with nine sharp young adults who have to varying degrees dropped out of church and Christian faith, and the question of pluralism was one of the most pressing questions on their minds. (By the way, all of the questions we discussed were included in the "big ten" I'll be addressing in my upcoming book - that was encouraging to see.)
I have been tremendously surprised by ...
(More after the jump ...)
Sister Joan Chittister writes a provocative reflection on God and evolution, and on the God of evolution, here. (Thanks Mike Todd!) There are strong resonances between what Joan is saying and what my upcoming book explores. Most of us grew up learning about the God of Laws, the God who made sense in Sir Isaac Newton's mechanistic universe. (Nothing expressed this contextualization better than the little booklet "Four Spiritual Laws," which could have been called "Four Spiritual Mechanisms.") Now, we are struggling to imagine a bigger God, a God who makes sense in the evolutionary universe of Darwin, Einstein, LeMaitre, Hubble, Heisenberg, and Kuhn ... Here's how Joan expresses it ...
(after the jump)
Is your religion helping you to transform your pain? If it does not, it is junk religion. We all have pain—it’s the human situation, we all carry it in a big black bag behind us and it gets heavier as we get older: by betrayals, rejections, disappointments, and wounds that are inflicted along the way.
If we do not find some way to transform our pain, I can tell you with 100% certitude we will transmit it to those around us. We will create tension, negativity, suspicion, and fear wherever we go. Both Jesus and Buddha made it very clear to their followers that “life is suffering.” You cannot avoid it. It is no surprise that the central Christian logo became a naked, bleeding, suffering man. At the end of life, and probably early in life, too, the question is, “What do I do with this disappointment, with this absurdity, with this sadness?” Whoever teaches you how to transform your own suffering into compassion is a true spiritual authority. Whoever teaches you to project your doubt and fear onto Jews, Moslems, your family, heretics, gays, sinners, and foreigners, or even to turn it against yourself (guilt and shame) has no spiritual authority. Yet these very people have often preached from authoritative pulpits.
Fans (and critics) of either man should read this speech - from the late Sen. Kennedy, delivered back in 1983 at the late Jerry Falwell's (now) Liberty University. It addresses the role of faith in public life - as vital an issue 26 years later as it was then. In this long, hot summer of overheated rhetoric, both the tone and content of the speech offer much to readers today, especially these comments on how we debate moral (and, I would add, theological) issues ...
... we must respect the motives of those who exercise their right to disagree. We sorely test our ability to live together if we too readily question each other's integrity. It may be harder to restrain our feelings when moral issues are at stake - for they go to the deepest wellsprings of our being. But the more our feelings diverge, the more deeply held they are, the greater is our obligation to grant the sincerity and basic moral decency of our fellow citizens on the other side.
You can download the speech to read in its entirety here ... Here's a short clip from the beginning of the speech. (Thanks to Gary Stone for the links.) A truly gracious moment in American religious-political history -
PS: Jim Wallis offers a beautiful tribute to Kennedy here.
Washington Post blog ... the 4th R
You can catch my latest contribution to the On Faith blog here....
A prayer ...
I've been especially focusing my thoughts on the beatitudes in recent days. After the jump is a prayer that they inspired.
The first week of the fast is completed ... and it has been a good week - good in terms of prayer, good in terms of self-control, good in terms of a humbling awareness of my weakness and limitations, good in terms of being intensely mindful of those who are hungry and thirsty day after day after day. It hasn't been easy: the thirst is tough late in the afternoons, I tend to feel a little sick and weak after about 2 pm, I've received quite a few amazingly nasty emails, and some of the blog chatter, I've been told, has included some predictable inaccuracy and depressing rhetoric. (I generally avoid those kinds of blogs.) But the negatives seem trivial and small in comparison with the blessings and encouragements. Two special encouragements ...
My fasting partner Eboo Patel writes about interfaith solidarity as well as anyone on the planet, because he lives it through Interfaith Youth Core. He talks about our shared fasting experience here. Quotable:
I hope this interfaith solidarity during Ramadan is a sign of the times. I pray that we are moving towards a world in which people are rooted in their own traditions but find dimensions to admire and learn from in others, that Ramadan is a time during which people from a variety of backgrounds come together in the common purpose of growing closer to God and one another. That is the heart of Islam, of all of our faiths and traditions.
And Ben Ries, a new friend (whom I met at Ichtheology at Yellowstone in July), is one of several who felt the call to join in the fast after reading about it here on this site. He shares his beautiful experience in an article here.
I know this is going to be random, but I thought I might give it a shot.
My name is ??? and I'm 21 years old. I love so much of what Brian (and others) are contributing to the church as a community and how he isn't afraid to question everything. I could go on about how much I love the conversations that are going on within the church as a whole right now, but that's not my purpose in writing.
I am desperate to find women who are asking similar questions and engaging in this converstion. There are so many men to look up to and learn from in this conversation, but I don't know of many women. And it's not that I can't learn from men but as a young woman myself I very much want another woman who is asking similar questions, someone to relate to. Within my local church and circle of friends and acquaintances I am the only woman who is passionate about, and engaging in this new messyness that some have labled the emerging conversation. My question is this. Who are the women that are visible in this conversation that I could learn from? I've struggled to find them and if there are any women authors or speakers or pastors etc., that you could recomend to me that would be so very much appreciated. I know whoever is reading this must be very busy with e-mails so I understand if you don't have the time to answer this; however if you do that would be amazing! Thanks for your time regardless :)
Christians, Muslims, and Jews ... Tom Krattenmaker gets it right
Tom Krattenmaker offers a beautiful piece on interfaith friendships.
And this story from the Washington Post goes in the same hopeful direction.
Christians and Muslims ... Worst and Best
To my Christian friends: would you agree with this statement?
Christianity was not intended to create a chosen people, fostering exclusive claims for themselves, while looking down upon the rest of humanity like a sea of untouchables or regarding the animate and inanimate worlds around them as fields readied for wanton exploitation. Wherever Christians find themselves, they are called upon to be actively and positively engaged as vanguards of mercy, welfare, and well-being.
Here's a note I recently received about NKOC from someone who describes his background as "zealous evangelical, and probably fundamentalist."
Hi, my name is XXX. ... I've been on the road several weeks this summer, and I came across A New Kind of Christian.
I used to be a zealous evangelical, and probably a fundamentalist. Went to Bible College in Dallas, was always in church. Then at some point I started going through a lot of changes mentally and spiritually. It was really an awakening to the concept and the reality of grace. But, something in me was being pulled away from the church more and more as I started falling more and more in love with Jesus. It was a very weird and scary and a lot of the times exciting adventure. An adventure, that among other things has led up to me being judged (I don't know if 'judged' is a good word, the ones I keep in contact with are "worried" about me though) by my fellow Bible College grads, etc...
If you live in the New York City - Connecticut area ...
I'll be speaking at Christ Church in Greenwich, Connecticut, September 20th, preaching at 9 and 11:15, signing books at 10, and leading a workshop 1:30-4:30. It would be great to have you come! You can download the flyer with details here: Download file
Then I'll be at Berkeley Divinity School and Yale on Monday the 21st - details TBA.
Who is this man? And why is his voice important in the current health care debate?
He also shares a wonderful story about painting a neighbor's house, followed by two beautiful love songs, one by Steve and one by Pierce Pettis (another amazing singer-songwriter you should know about if you don't already) here.
I heard you speak on the 4 levels of faith which I found very helpful. I asked you after if you had the power point and you said it’s on your website. I cannot find it I would love to refresh myself in what said and I am a visual person so I would find it helpful. Do you still have it even if you have it in word format that would help.
Agreeing with a graduate of Southern Baptist Seminary on Healthcare Reform, But ...
I couldn't agree more with David Gushee's recent editorial on the moral imperative of health care reform. Why would I follow that statement with a "but"?
First, let me make my agreement a little more specific. Gushee, now a distinguished professor of Christian ethics at McAfee School of Theology, strikes a downright prophetic note when he says ...
The tenor of the debate raises the legitimate question as to whether our nation still has the capacity to tackle an enormously complex policy challenge such as this one. Each day we spend millions of dollars to defeat external threats -- but if we cannot address our own domestic problems any more effectively than this, then it will not be al Qaeda that undoes us.
I'm in day 5 of the Ramadan fast. It's not easy. As I wrote in Finding Our Way Again, I've never been one to feel euphoria when fasting; from about 2 p.m. to sundown, I feel a little sick and weak. It's not easy (especially the water part), but it's good.
One of the benefits of the fast is that I've been able to help a few of my Christian friends overturn some common misconceptions about Islam. There is so much misinformation and misunderstanding on both sides. Perhaps as the month goes by I'll share some of those conversations. But if you are a Christian who is willing to question some of the standard and sanctioned propaganda about Muslims, let me recommend three books by Christians today, and three books by Muslims tomorrow.
1. Mark Siljander was a conservative political leader who epitomized the Religious Right. (He was the Republican protagonist in Charlie Wilson's War, if you've seen that movie.) He had the courage to face some of his misconceptions and wrote an important book called A Deadly Misunderstanding. It's really worth reading.
2. Paul-Gordon Chandler is an Episcopal priest who served for many years in Egypt. There he met a fascinating person whom I've also had the privilege to get to know - Mazhar Mallouhi. In Pilgrims of Christ on the Muslim Road, he tells Mazhar's story - and sketches out what it might look like for Christians and Muslims to learn to walk together in peace as pilgrims of Christ.
3. If you're not a big reader, but do like a good story, I'd recommend you begin with Father Elias Chacour's Blood Brothers. This Christian priest tells the story of the Palestinian-Jewish conflict as someone who experienced it firsthand ... and manifests a spirit of reconciliation rather than revenge or resentment.
True faith seeks true understanding - of God, of one's neighbor, and of oneself.
More tomorrow.
Q & R: emerging in Philippines ...
Just got this in ...
I got a copy of A New Kind of Christian and it blew me away! Me and a friend are discussing it and am glad you wrote it because it is something that is starting here in the Philippines. I'm so glad our country has not gotten to where the US right now in terms of culture. (I didnt mean that in a bad way, but i used to live in Georgia before and left and when i came back around 2007 for a short stay i was culture shocked). Anyway, it helped alot but man, its impossible to get your books here in the Philippines. I'm not sure I want to pay the huge shipping cost but i still want to read the next two books in the trilogy (and maybe more)! Was hoping you could tell us where we could find some copies locally, or at least in Asia where shipping would be cheaper.
...So many good points but lol id rather not belabor the book.... Soooo looking forward to your other books (when we can get a hand on them)
Maraming salamat (many thanks in Tagalog)
I wish I had a good suggestion on where to get my books more easily and inexpensively in Asia ... Hopefully, digital downloads will be more readily and internationally available soon. But in the meantime ... I wonder if you have a friend or contact visiting the US who could bring you the books on their next visit?
PS: I just received this note from my friend Sam in Netherlands (thanks!):
I was just surfing on your blog and saw someone requesting your books in the Philippines. Since I am very active in the Philippines, and even lecture your books at our University, I know where they can get your books. I saw them even there: OMF Bookstores in Quezon city Manila, they have many of your books or they can order it. I hope this will help.
This fall ... events I wish I could go to
If you haven't signed up for one or more of these events ... you should if you can! I have other commitments, sadly, so will have to miss them, but wish I could be there.
Robert Wright offers an irenic and intelligent perspective on the creation-evolution debate here. (Thanks J Stone!)
Ramadan 2009: Day 3
You can read two beautiful postings from Peace Moms Soraya and Nadyne here.
Day 1 was a little harder than I expected, especially between about 4 and 8 pm. Hunger wasn't too bad, as I've fasted quite a bit through the years. But I don't think I've ever gone for more than a few hours without a drink of water in all my 53 years. So that was a new experience, a little extra challenging down here in the Florida heat where sweating is inevitable if you're outdoors as I was for much of the day. Grace was kind of enough to delay her dinner to coincide with mine ... and she could tell how happy I was for sundown to come so I could have a tall glass of cold water. With Day 2, I knew what to expect so things went smoother. Both days were good!
Again and again I've been thinking about people who live every day with food and water in short supply. Knowing that relief awaits me in a matter of hours, I wonder what it would be like to be a child and not have that knowledge ... or to be the parent of that child, feeling responsible for his or her well-being. You pray for your neighbors in need in a different way when you're hungry and thirsty.
Q & R: Lutherans and Wesleyans have been ignored for too long!
A note from a Lutheran and a Wesleyan. More after the jump ...
From a Lutheran ...
Q: First, thank you for sharing your writings and thoughts. I am exceptionally grateful for your "A Generous Orthodoxy."
In fact, when given the opportunity to lead a small group this past spring at a small progressive Lutheran church..., I chose this book. I am not a life-long/cradle Lutheran; rather my religious upbringing is quiet eclectic - raised in a conservative Christian home I was baptized Southern Baptist ..., became a member of a Mennonite Brethren church ..., and attended a fundamentalist non-denominational church ... during my high school years. Given this background, plus a few years of being anti-Christian for perhaps all too obvious and typical reasons, I appreciate your willingness to seek out the best in the various branches of Christianity. Still, I cannot help but notice that there not a section on "Why I am Lutheran." I am certainly not criticizing; my small group and I were simply curious.
this short song has been developing over the last few days ...
well done, travis reed
If you don't know the work of Travis Reed and friends at theworkofthepeople.com, you should. I can't imagine more punch, emotion, and impact being packed in less than two minutes ... here's Hell in a Handbasket, part of an interview with theologian John Goldingay:
Wisdom on the wind ... Thomas Friedman and Nicholas Kristof get it right
Thomas Friedman, learning from an experience on safari in Botswana, gets it right in his NYT editorial today ... Quotable quote:
We’re trying to deal with a whole array of integrated problems — climate change, energy, biodiversity loss, poverty alleviation and the need to grow enough food to feed the planet — separately. The poverty fighters resent the climate-change folks; climate folks hold summits without reference to biodiversity; the food advocates resist the biodiversity protectors.
They all need to go on safari together.
“We need to stop thinking about these issues in isolation — each with its own champion, constituency and agenda — and deal with them in an integrated way, the way they actually occur on the ground,” argued Glenn Prickett, senior vice president with Conservation International. “We tend to think about climate change as just an energy issue, but it’s also about land use: one-third of greenhouse gas emissions come from tropical deforestation and agriculture. So we need to preserve forests and other ecosystems to solve climate change, not only to save species.”
This was exactly the insight that smacked me upside the head when I was researching Everything Must Change. You can't deal with discrete symptoms without getting to the deeper disease-issues that underlie them.
It strikes me that we need to keep this holistic, systems-thinking approach engaged as we deal with health care here in the USA. For example, when restaurants and grocery stores know they can make more money selling us oversized portions full of and coated with high-fat, high-sugar, highly-processed gunk, and when we keep buying what they're selling, and when that produces an obesity epidemic - and obesity is becoming a bigger health-care problem than smoking, by the way - then we have to realize that health care is related to diet, and that one of the "externalized costs" of the food industry's profits is a sick health care system treating sick people and creating a sick economy. (Nicholas Kristof captures one facet of the sickness of our soul-less calorie-factory food industry in his NYT editorial today, a fitting companion to Friedman's, as they both call us to re-situate ourselves within creation.)
So today is a good day to remember Solomon, that icon of wisdom, who, for all his flaws, knew there was a lot to learn from observing natural systems in their amazing interdependence. He was no one-issue expert who had climbed tall into the silo (aka ivory tower) of one narrow discipline; he pursued multi-dimensionality in his life. For starters, he was (in his early years at least) a truly spiritual man, having prayed for wisdom over riches, fame, power, etc. No wonder he said, "The reverence for the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." He was also an artistic man - with obvious gifts for poetry, for music (like his dad), and for architecture as well. These qualities, together with his attention to plant and animal life, seemed to give him the kind of integrative, big-picture wisdom that we need a lot more of today. Here's how he was eulogized in 1 Kings 4:
God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore... He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon's wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.
If he were here today, I think old Solomon would have given Thomas Friedman and Nicholas Kristof a hearty "amen," maybe even a high-five.
On the beatitudes ...
I've been enjoying my friend Fr. Richard Rohr's beautiful reflections on the beatitudes that come in his daily devotional emails (you can sign up here ... highly recommended!). After the jump, I'll include a few that have touched me especially.
On the beatitudes, I wish a US publisher would make Dave Andrews' beautiful book Plan-Be more widely available here in the US. Dave sent me the book from Australia, and it is a real gem. There's nothing like it available here in the US. Here's a video put together by the Aussie publisher:
God, Creator of all people, in this month when a billion people will observe Ramadan with fasting and prayer, with devotional reading and with kindness to the needy, may your Spirit be at work in the hearts of Muslims, Christians, and Jews (who together make up over half the world's population) as well as people of other faiths and no stated faith.
May your gentle voice call us to move beyond our tribal visions of a deity who loves "us" but hates "them." Help us to see you more truly as you are, a God who is pure light, rich in mercy, whose mercy triumphs over judgment, who knows us each by name, and who graciously considers us beloved, wherever we are from, whatever our background, whatever labels we apply to ourselves or others apply to us.
May your voice of truth call us to question the prejudices and misconceptions about you and about one another that we learned from well-meaning but misinformed authority figures, even when they thought they were speaking in your name.
May your voice of peace make us ashamed of our violence, hatred, fear, superiority, and resentment. And may your voice of courage inspire us to walk in the way of reconciliation, even when that path is dangerous and difficult.
May your voice of compassion teach us to see one another - and ourselves - with new eyes, your eyes. And so may we forgive one another where we have been hurt by one another; may we humble ourselves and admit the truth where we have done the hurting; may we repent where we have chosen the small ways of revenge and exclusion rather than your greater ways of reconciliation and embrace.
May your voice of wisdom call us out from our vicious cycles of self-destruction.
With your help, Lord, may we, who are faithful and loyal to the different doctrines and traditions we learned from our beloved parents and respected teachers, not let our loyalty to sacred teachings and traditions make us disloyal to you or to one another. For in this age of crushing financial debt, we all have a beautiful and liberating debt, Lord, to you and to one another: a debt of love. For as Jesus taught us, the greatest command is to love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbors - including those who consider themselves our enemies - as ourselves.
May your voice of goodness nourish in our hearts a desire that is even greater than the desire for food and drink. May you create in us an insatiable hunger and thirst to be filled to overflowing with your goodness - to everyone, Lord, but especially to the poor, the sick, the misunderstood, the rejected, the vulnerable, the forgotten. For the common good, Lord, bring together those of us who have all that we need and more, and unite us together with those in need, so that all will soon have enough and more to share.
It is good, Lord, when people pray and sing praises to your name. But how hollow are those words and songs when we do not also honor you by honoring one another. For how can we honor the God who cannot be seen when we dishonor our neighbor, made in your image, who can be seen?
So, Creator and Provider and Sustainer of Life, Giver of all grace, Source of justice and mercy, may your voice be heard deep in my heart, and in the hearts of all people on earth, this beautiful planet that displays your artistry, majesty, and power. Amen.
Ramadan 2009: Part 5
After the jump, you can read Eboo Patel's current newsletter about how a Jewish and Muslim college student teamed up to make a difference for needy people in their community, and brought along a lot of their college students in the process.
Their endeavor reminds me of a parallel initiative among Christian pastors who decided that the best way to honor the birth of Jesus was probably not by buying additional luxuries for luxury-saturated friends and relatives. They came up with a creative alternative that more and more churches are joining to support. Maybe yours? You can read about the Advent Conspiracy here.
I recently wrote about an experience of fasting I hope to share with Muslims in the month of Ramadan, which begins (in the US) tomorrow night. I don't want to say too much about it at all (keeping Jesus' words in Matthew 6 in mind), although I will try to post on the experience once a week or so. For reasons I explained earlier, I'm not planning to respond to criticism about the Ramadan fast during the Ramadan fast. But after the jump, I'll include two emails that came in already, along with very brief responses, and a powerful quote from Protestant Reformer John Calvin.
Q: I recently had to teach a class on John 14:6 and did some extensive research, but couldnt put my fingers on just the right approach. I googled this and your paper came up. I have used it in my study and my teaching and have found your ideas extremely helpful. I just do not believe this passage the way most Christians do and want to wide student's ideas about a new vision for this chapter.
Thanks for sharing these insights. You have helped me tremendously.
Thanks. I reworked that material into an important chapter in my upcoming book, A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions that are Transforming the Faith. The passage is often used to answer the question, "How do we relate to people of other religions?" But a careful reading of the verse ("I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me") in its immediate and broader context shows that its most likely meaning is almost the opposite of the way it's commonly used. Who is Jesus speaking to? What specific question is he answering? What does "come to the Father" mean? What do way, truth, and life mean? What's the dramatic setting for the statement? (If people think the answers to those questions are either immaterial or self-evident, I don't think they've really struggled with the text, nor have they taken seriously what is for John an extremely important statement - namely, John 6:63 in relation to 6:55 ... Jesus speaks on a "spirit" level and people hear/read him on a "flesh" level. This theme goes way back to 3:6.) What a fascinating gospel we have in John! Working on a close and comprehensive reading of John for that chapter in the book constantly moved me to wonder, amazement, and worship.
One more on health care.
Just received this:
I am one of the conservative Christians you refer to in your letter. I did not and still do not support President Obama although I do know that there is reform needed in health care. It just does not need to be run by the Federal government. The reason I do not support the President is his pro abortion views. The Senate bill will mandate government payment for abortion. How an Evangelical Christian or any Christian support a president or a bill calling for the taking of the life on the innocent in the womb is beyond my understanding. Or vote for a candidate that is pro abortion as President Obama has made clear he is. I strongly support the church doing its part in caring for the health needs of the poor. My church[First Baptist] in West Palm Beach, FL has a state of the art medical clinic for the poor along with a ministry to help the homeless and poor with basic needs. If liberal Christians as yourself would spend their time mobilizing the church to do what it is called to do and give generously and encourage others to there would be no need for health care reform for the needy. I would like your response relative to the life issue. I would have posted this on your blog but saw no way to do it. I pray God will change your heart. I find it very interesting that the life issue is ignored in your open letter.
Tracy Howe just sent me this beautiful song enriched with footage from Africa with amahoro-africa.org. Enjoy ...
Q & R: using dvd format ...
Here's the question:
I am wondering if you are taking the presentations of Brian McLaren and video taping him doing them so that they could be shared on a DVD format. The DVD's could come with guidelines/ suggested questions/ helpful information for small groups to discuss. My own sense is that there is a need for a DVD about atonement / the purpose of Jesus' ministry. We need to be able to discuss together a focus on getting to go to heaven / being part of bring heaven to earth under God's care.
This email (in response to my previous open letter) reflects what a lot of people feel ...
I just wanted to write to you and say thank you very much for your open letter. It said so much of what I have been feeling and thinking with great eloquence and simplicity. I have been afraid to speak out as most of my friends as "hard right" conservatives with some believing vehemently every conspiracy theory imaginable. Your letter gave me courage and I have posted a link to it on my facebook account. No doubt I will get some hazing....!
During the recent years I have been disheartened and discouraged by how so many high profile Christians have acted. The 2008 election brought a new wave of shame as I saw the vitriol and hate ramp up. I thought it couldn't get much worse but the current health care reform debate, specifically the disgraceful conduct of people at the town halls, have sadly, proven me wrong.
I have shed tears in prayer over the terrible witness of professing Christians. I must admit I was losing hope that things could ever change in this country. The honesty in your letter has reminded me that God is indeed faithful. That His timing is perfect and that His purposes sure. I will continue to pray and continue to hope. To strive to live according to the Word and the teachings of our Lord.
Above all - I will continue to strive to live according to the commandment that God gave us. To love others as we love ourselves.
Lastly - thank you for showing me that there are some conservative Christians who are not racist, gun toting, vein popping people with toxic anger! And thank you for reminding me to pray for these people the most. May God have mercy on His children and may we continue to be salt to the world.
Ramadan 2009: Part 3
(Continued ...)
This desire to build relationships and seek collaboration with people of other cultures and religions has been strong in my life for as long as I remember, even before writing EMC.
But it got even stronger when Phyllis Tickle invited me to write the introductory volume to a series of books she was planning. The series would explore seven practices shared by the three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The book was called Finding Our Way Again. I concluded the book with the dramatic story of St. Francis in the court of the Sultan of Egypt, Malik Al-Kamil, where a Christian and a Muslim individual each transcended the hostility of their warring religious communities long enough to respect one another as human beings. As I wrote the book, I felt how much we needed more Christians to follow the path of St. Francis today, and I rededicated myself, before God, to that pathway.
One of the seven practices shared among Abrahamic faiths, of course, is fasting. But fasting among most Christians is haphazard at best. Most of what I wrote about my own experience of fasting in the book veered towards the humorous, because when it came to fasting, I was admittedly a clumsy neophyte.
All of this was simmering on the back burner last year when Nadyne Parr came up to me and told me about her group Peace Moms. She told me how a Muslim woman and fellow mom named Soraya Deen had become her friend, and for the last two years, Nadyne had joined Soraya in observing the fast of Ramadan. As soon as she told me this, something in my heart said, “Yes! This is a good thing! I should join them!”
So Nadyne kept checking back with me to see if I was serious. I knew I needed a Muslim partner to do for me what Soraya was doing for Nadyne. My first choice was Eboo Patel, a fellow writer and blogger whose work I respect greatly. (If you’ve never read Acts of Faith or learned about the work of Interfaith Youth Core, now is the time to do so.) My hunch was that Eboo might be too busy to add to his duties being my partner in Ramadan, but he responded with warmth and enthusiasm to the idea.
I had shared the idea with a few Christian friends who I know also believe in the importance of interfaith friendship. One of them told me he had already been observing Ramadan for over twenty years, and it had become his favorite month of the year. Another told me he had a lot of friends who he thought would join in too. So here we are … without a lot of lead time … we’ve decided to embark on this journey of faith and friendship.
If your heart moves you, you can find a Muslim friend and see if he or she would be your partner or fast-friend as well. If you're a blogger and would like to participate, and you'd like to be listed on a synchro-blog list ...
(more after the jump)
I've been trying to buy your book in electronic format.
It is available through Sony and through Amazon. However, both of these services are not available outside the united states.
Is there anywhere else those of us who do not have the privilage to live in the USA can get this electronicly.
I have an eReader and would like to read it on this as opposed to as "dead tree book".
Let me know ASAP (today??).
I'm sorry you're having this frustration. This is something we're working on with my future books - to be sure this sort of thing is facilitated from the start. With my older books, I think they'll eventually become available in a variety of digital formats outside the US, but since I'm not a million-seller, it will happen gradually. I wish I could speed up the process somehow! Please accept my apologies and shared disappointment.
brighten your day ...
My friend Claudio Oliver sent this link to a song by his friend Dago Schelin. He said it would add happiness to my day, and he was right. Beautiful song, great videography too. Enjoy!
Ramadan 2009: Part 2 Why is a committed Christian joining faithful Muslims in observing Ramadan?
When I wrote Everything Must Change, I spent over a year studying our world’s biggest challenges. It became clear through my research that three critical social/economic/political challenges underlie the others:
1. How can we develop a reformed and renewed economic system that sustains and regenerates the planet rather than consumes and degrades it? (The challenge of the planet, the crisis of an unsustainable prosperity)
2. How can we deal with the growing gap between rich and poor, where a privileged few live in extreme luxury leaving the many farther and farther behind, with about a sixth of the global population living struggling extreme poverty? (The challenge of poverty, the crisis of growing inequity)
3. How can we learn to address and resolve conflicts with nonviolent means, when more and more groups and nations are being armed with more and more potentially catastrophic weapons? (The challenge of peace, the crisis of security)
But it also became clear that beneath these challenges, there was an even deeper question: why weren’t we dealing with the first three problems, when they are simultaneously so obvious and dangerous? I concluded that our societies are driven by narratives that can be either creative or destructive, and our current narratives drive us away from creative engagement with our biggest challenges.
“Where do societal narratives come from?” I wondered as I continued in my research. Clearly, they usually come from faith communities. But our faith communities today too often teach us narratives that drive us to make the first three crises worse, not better, which brings us to our fourth great challenge:
4. How can our faith communities discover and communicate healing rather than destructive narratives so that we will meet the first three challenges? (The challenge of purpose, the crisis of spirituality)
As a Christian, of course, I seek to challenge my fellow Christians to grapple with this challenge in a Christian context. But the truth is, no single religion can meet this challenge alone. So by the time I was finished with EMC, I knew that inter-religious collaboration for the common good would be an even bigger part of my future than it had been in my past.
Then last year, I was speaking at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and after the service, an enthusiastic woman named Nadyne came up to me and told me about a network she and a Muslim friend had started. It was called Peace Moms ... (to be continued)
What this reader shares with me (after the jump), I would like to share with all of you ...
to encourage you to keep going and NOT STOP, NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!
The reason?
So many of my friends are sitting on the edges of churches, unable to give their hearts fully to the ministry of the church either because they or their contribution are (or are made to feel) unwanted (e.g. most women in conservative evangelical churches), or because the relentless push towards doctrinal distinctives makes them long for the unity of the body all the more (like me, really) OR, because they know that Jesus gave us a new way of living in a new kingdom but nobody ever talks about this in these terms in church!
Or as another reader recently wrote:
Dear Brian - I have just finished your trilogy. Thank you so much; you have raised questions that I thought I was alone in asking, and also given possible avenues for answers to them. I had pretty much given up on Christianity, after 9 years of dedicated evangelicalism. I feel like you have given me permission to follow a new understanding, one which neither constricts the intellect, nor requires me to discard God. I have no idea where to go from here, other than to start rereading the books again a little slower this time. It's the start of a new adventure.
Dear Brian McLaren, Your open letter to Christian Conservatives about health care reform is one of the best presentations I’ve seen since this all began. I will take it to my Republican Congressional Representative’s office this week, along with my views, concerns and position on the subject, all to be offered in resolute courtesy. I have blood relatives who know of my support for health care reform and the criticism they have heaped on me has been shocking, eye-opening, down-heartening, and testing. I did not engage them, they sought me out and, now in bewilderment, I wonder if the old familial warmth may ever be rekindled, for now it is cold. Discourse has dropped into ad hominem hate speech against almost anyone who disagrees with them, and all in the name of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ “who hates the anti-Christ and all his demons” of which, apparently, I am one. This boggles me. Thanks for your help
Ramadan is the Muslim holy month of fasting for spiritual renewal and purification. It commemorates the month during which Muslims believe Mohammed received the Quran through divine revelation, and it calls Muslims to self-control, sacrificial generosity and solidarity with the poor, diligent reading of the Quran, and intensified prayer.
This year, I, along with a few Christian friends (and perhaps others currently unknown to us will want to join in) will be joining Muslim friends in the fast which begins August 21. We are not doing so in order to become Muslims: we are deeply committed Christians. But as Christians, we want to come close to our Muslim neighbors and to share this important part of life with them. Just as Jesus, a devout Jew, overcame religious prejudice and learned from a Syrophonecian woman and was inspired by her faith two thousand years ago (Matthew 15:21 ff, Mark 7:24 ff), we seek to learn from our Muslim sisters and brothers today.
Muslims observe Ramadan in the same basic way world-wide: they fast from food, water, sex, etc., from dawn to dusk. We Christians who are joining in the fast will share these four common commitments:
We, as Christians, humbly seek to join Muslims in this observance of Ramadan as a God-honoring expression of peace, fellowship, and neighborliness. Each of us will have at least one Muslim friend who will serve as our partner in the fast. These friends welcome us in the same spirit of peace, fellowship, and neighborliness.
We will seek to avoid being disrespectful or unfaithful to our own faith tradition in our desire to be respectful to the faith tradition of our friends. For example, since the Bible teaches us the importance of fasting and being generous to the poor, we can participate as Christians in fidelity to the Bible as our Muslim friends do so in fidelity to the Quran.
Among the core values of Ramadan are self control, expressing kindness, and resolving conflicts. For this reason, if we are criticized or misunderstood by Christians, Muslims, or others for this endeavor, we will avoid defending ourselves or engaging in arguments. Instead, we will seek to explain ourselves humbly, simply, and briefly when necessary, connecting with empathy to the needs and feelings of others as we express our own.
Our main purpose for participating will be our own spiritual growth, health, learning, and maturity, but we also hope that our experience will inspire others to pray and work for peace and the common good, together with people of other faith traditions.
May God bless all people, and teach us to love God and love one another, and so fulfill our calling as human beings.
I'll share my personal story about deciding to join in the fast in the next few days, and I'll also share regular updates and reflections here on this blog (brianmclaren.net) leading up to, during, and after Ramadan.
My daughter Rachel has three shiba inus. But when #3 came into the family, he and #1 couldn't ... get along. Now, as the pictures below show, they've become buddies. If two dogs - old and young, brown and white - can stop growling and scrapping, can't people?
Sojourners is doing something about it ... and you can too
As a fan, subscriber, and former board member of Sojourners, I have huge respect for their work, and they've developed a way to take action on the concerns I wrote about the other day.
You can sign a health-care creed that becomes a message to Congress here ...
When some Christians are spreading ridiculous and harmful misinformation about "death panels" and so on, it's time for the rest of us to speak up and say, first, "they don't speak for - or to - us," and second, "we approach this issue in a different way, and here's how...."
the latest on darfur, sudan ...
Those of us who have been involved in the Darfur genocide and associated humanitarian crises know that Eric Reeves has been a tireless voice for achieving a real resolution there. He voices real concerns that the Obama administration (led by special envory Scott Gratian) will be excessively optimistic in his recent Boston Globe editorial here. Quotable:
Most disturbing, Gration gives no evidence in any of his public comments of understanding the ruthless nature of the security cabal that rules Sudan and is determined to retain its stranglehold on national wealth and power; like many before him, he is convinced that the National Islamic Front is controlled by men who can be reasoned with, cajoled, rewarded, made to do “the right thing.’’ He ignores the basic truth about these men: during their 20 years in power they have never abided by any agreement with any Sudanese party. Any rapprochement that is not preceded by clear and irreversible actions to establish unimpeded humanitarian access, create freedom of movement and deployment for peacekeepers, and meet the critical benchmarks of the north/south peace agreement is doomed to fail.
Reeves' suspicion reminds me of the sagely advice of a friend of mine who has spent his entire career in foreign service. "The key issue, again and again, is regime continuation," he said. In other words, those in power want to stay in power, and those out of power want to get in and stay in. Many of us would agree - the Khartoum regime has already had a lot of continuation without much to show for it except broken promises, death, displacement, and defiance of international concern. Let's pray for peace in Darfur. And let's pray that our leaders will push and pull in the wisest ways possible.
Q & R: Religious Right theology ... from a missionary
If SBC folks accept this pastor's challenge, their future could be very different from their last few decades ... Wade Burleson offers a positive example of what I wrote about the other day ... a conservative (his word) white male speaking to conservative white males about their need for more graciousness and civility toward "the other," whether "the other" is women, people of other races, people of other theological persuasions, or people of other religions.
An Open Letter to Conservative Christians in the U.S., On Health Care
Dear friends,
Although today I would not call myself a political or social conservative, I am grateful for my heritage as an Evangelical Christian: my faith is rooted in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, I honor and seek to live in harmony with the Scriptures, and I love to share the good news of God's love with others. Since my teenage years when I decided to follow Jesus, I have pursued wholehearted discipleship, and my life has been shaped by that commitment. After completing graduate school and teaching college English, I became a church planter and pastor and served in the same congregation for twenty-four years.
Krista Tippett (not to be confused with tippet) explores it here ...
Wes-Granberg Michaelson gets it right on global climate change
Right here ... because he's been spending time right here:
Advice for writers ...
Quite often I receive requests to read unsolicited manuscripts to assess their potential for publication (which I wish I could do, but can't), or requests for advice, like this one:
Any advice for aspiring writers? It isn’t the writing part that’s the struggle. My question is, what in the world do you do with the final product?
A better answer than any I could give was given by Margaret Feinberg (a gifted young writer herself) here. Along with a lot of great links, she offers this:
I
n a nutshell, my best advice is simply to write, write, write. This is an art form, a craft, and time is your friend. Once you know what you want to write, put together a proposal and get yourself to a writer’s conference where you can get one-on-one time with an editor and listen to honest feedback. Then, it will be time to write, write, and rewrite some more.
Tyler Wigg-Stevenson gets it right on nuclear weapons ...
On this sixty-fourth anniversary of my nation's decision to drop of nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9), it's a good day to learn about Faithful Security.
And it's a good day (it's hard to use the word "good" in this context, isn't it?) to ponder what taking 250,000 civilian lives looks like. It's a good day for meditating on Jesus' words:
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Take no sword. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword. If my kingdom were of this world, my disciples would fight. My kingdom is from another place. Love one another as I have loved you. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. As you have done it to the least of these ... you have done it to me.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
when there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand,
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Thank God for groups (like this one) who are working so that nuclear bombs never fall again.
Q & R: Please dismount your high horse ...
A reader wrote ...
My name is XXX which has absolutely no meaning, relevance or significance to you. I am not famous, nor noteworthy. I have no more power nor influence than my Anglican-American middle class status affords me, which I realize in the overall scheme of the world structure puts me in the "upper echelon," but in terms of Who's Who in the US and the world, you will not find my name there with yours, or in any other circle that your name exists.
Those words may seem somewhat inflammatory, as will some of what I say that follows. Ironically, however, before I go on I would like to establish that I truly am an avid fan of your theology. I have recently begun a new Sunday School class in our United Methodist congregation, mostly due to and inspired by your trilogy. Indeed I, like you, believe that it is not only time for, but perhaps gravely past time for, a theology that cries out for a new kind of Christian.
A very good friend of mine, who's foremost passion is for the victimized and ostracized segment of our society that Christians have,for centuries, and continue to even today, persecute--the LGBT community--invited me to be part of a book study which consisted mostly of gay men. The book they would be reading next was one of your own--the first of the trilogy.
It would require a more lengthy and in-depth explanation than I care to share at this point, and I'm certain more than you would care to read at this point, but in as short of form as I can hope to convey this message, after having been raised in an environment that was very homophobic, then going through a God-inspired transformation that only God could have orchestrated as my own son went through the process of realizing a same sex orientation, through God's Grace I inadvertently became a part of the "emerging conversation" that I had no clue was taking place.
After having lived the experience of participating in and reading your trilogy in what I refer to as the "Gay Men's Book Club," I gained a respect and admiration for not only your theology, but you as a writer. You, sir, are extremely gifted and have the capacity to reach out to a world that is so desperately in need of your brand of what I feel is a true understand of and example of, Christ-followance. If only everyone could understand Christ as you do........
Now, having boosted your ego, which after reading Everything Must Change I have come to the conclusion you have no lack of, I must say to you that I hope you will get off your damn high horse and come back to ground level to speak to the vast majority of the public that needs speaking to.
Thanks for this encouragement ... Nothing makes a writer or speaker feel better than hearing that people are going from "sitting pretty on their theology to taking action," especially action that feeds hungry people and that benefits God's stressed and exploited creation.
I'm another testimony to how God is using you and your writings.... I've read many of your books in the last couple months and continue to do so. I've gone from sitting pretty on my theology to taking action, starting a LIFE group (i.e. small group) and reaching out to the the hurting around us. We've been reaching out to our community and just finished a food drive that brought in 1.2 tons of food items for a mens shelter in our city of xxx.
We will soon be doing some environmental projects.
From your blogs, podcasts, GENEROUS ORTHODOXY, FINDING OUR WAY AGAIN, SECRET MESSAGE OF JESUS, to FINDING FAITH I have become reinvigorated in my work for the Kingdom. I'm a performing artist, mainly working for a 'Christian' theatre here amongst the beautiful farm land, where the generation-of-old has often stagnated the move of the Good News. But amongst even the cloudiest arenas of un-emerging areas, seeds are being planted for a vibrant, postmodern, active faith. Thanks for your part in planting these seeds!
Q & R: Follow up on why Evangelicals don't like ...
Q: I just read your blog today on why some people don't like you. If I did or did not like you it doesn't having any bearing on my comments. I will disagree with you but to dislike someone that you don't know is ridiculous. Hate the game and not the players.
Anyway my big complaint is your take on the Gospel. The fact that you basically demean or downplay the substitionary atonement is beyond me. If you think that Christians don't do enough in the name of Christ, OK I understand that but to come up with a different Gospel, I would have to say you're treading on dangerous ground. Why don't you send me some scripture to make your point about the Gospel of "Kingdom Now" theology and maybe I'll consider it.
I keep hearing about new contexts where the emergent/missional conversation is beginning and spreading ... most recently, among Russian speakers. Please pass this link on to folks you know for whom it would be helpful.
Pay attention to Katie Paris and FPL ...
You can get to know them here ... or below. I'm a big fan of Katie and FPL - and any other groups that are helping us transcend the polarizing, paralyzing rhetoric typical in recent decades of both of religious people talking/using politics and political people talking/using religion.
You can read Jacques Berlinerblau's delightful introduction after the jump ...
Our ichtheology group at Yellowstone last week ...
music ...
Jesse S just passed on this video from Michael Franti and Spearhead ...
... which has obvious resonances to this video based on EMC ...
... which comes from a collection of original music you can download here ...
Michael Jackson's most important song?
OK, it's not "Thriller," "Billy Jean," or "Ben," but just maybe "Earth Song" contains the message from MJ that matters most (thanks, Mitch) ...
Q & R: Why do Evangelicals dislike you?
Here's the question:
Hi Brian,
I was at a conference the other week, and my attention was grabbed when they mentioned your name with some negative connotations. I was wondering if you are able to articulate why you think the evangelical church has a problem with what you're doing? Is is a particular doctrine ... I'm just not understanding their position, and they didn't go into too much detail.
Last week was a delight ... I was part of the Ich-theology gathering (a small group of folks who love theology and love fly fishing) in Yellowstone National Park. Highlights included ...
A close and funny encounter with a black bear (more details may follow if photos become available) and the chance to enjoy other wildlife (bison, elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, antelope, coyote, otters, beavers, eagles, etc.).
Lots of beautiful cutthroat trout ... plus the perhaps once-in-a-lifetime achievement of catching four kinds of trout in one half-day - cutthroat, rainbow, brown, and brook.
Learning more about fly fishing from the many experts in our group - especially Dick, Rich, Jeff, Jim, and Pat
Too many good conversations about theology and the spiritual life to count.
A suggestion ... if you've never been to Yellowstone, plan a vacation there. Spend at least four or five days, and spend most of your time in the north half of the park. Roosevelt or Mammoth Hot Springs would be great places to stay in a cabin. Hike. Fish. Ride horses. Drive and stop whenever you see something interesting. Take a lot of pictures. Write poetry. Draw pictures of what you see. Go outside at 3 a.m. and watch the stars. Be inspired. Eat every meal picnic-style at a different place alongside the road or trail. Swim in the Gardiner River at the hot springs. Don't be in a hurry. See how your view of God is expanded from the vantage point of Yellowstone's sacred grandeur.
Recent feedback on my books ...
From the US, on SMJ ...
B
rian I wanted to let you know about a class I will be facilitating this fall. I work with [XXX] and also get to teach a class among some incredible "older church ladies". they have been reading Secret Message of Jesus. The great thing is these ladies are between 60 and 92. They are determined to be kingdom agents. I wanted to know if you had an update or encouragement for them. We have walked along some incredible paths of study AND they truly love being Kingdom people. thank you so much.
Please let your group of 60-, 70-, 80-, and 90-somethings know that Moses was reportedly a 120-something who was still going strong as one of God's agents ... so this posse of church ladies shouldn't be discouraged even though they're still relatively young! (Think 1 Tim 4:12) Thanks so much for the encouraging note ... and for the following ones as well.
From Australia, on NKOC ...
I'm not sure if you will have the time to read this email. I'm sure you get heaps!! Just finished your book, "A New Kind of Christian" and I absolutely loved it. Thankyou so much for having the guts to write it. I feel like I've become a Christian all over again. I went to the local bookshop and bought copies for my family it really is inspiring, thought-provoking and excellent.
From New Zealand, on AGO ...
I have just finished reading A Generous Orthodoxy and wanted to say in a 100 words or less... I recently heard someone describe the Spirit as the space between the branches and the leaves of a tree where you catch a glimpse of the sky ...reading your book consolidates that concept for me. We have more wrong than we have right in our Orthodoxy - but Together we have it all.
From Norway, on AGO
Hi Brian,
Sorry for the informality. Just some straight from the guts feedback... I started listening to your book "A Generous Orthodoxy" as an audio book on a long walk yesterday. I almost screamed with impatience over the two chapters of "about this book" before I got to hear about the seven different Jesus aspects - which I found very enriching and thought-provoking.
To me all that stuff at the beginning was you trying make a statement to your fellow publicly active Christian leaders....kind of "Hi, I want everybody to play nice here and not say nasty things about each other and especially not about me because I am not trying to upset anybody, I just want everybody to like me and I can be very tolerant, forgiving and understanding and humble, I am so humble you can't possibly be mean to me .... and on and on and on.
I'm sorry. I know this sounds nasty. I am writing it because I think all that meta information at the beginning is really for your peers, not for us readers. And if you mean what you said about hoping that the book could be an introduction to faith for people who are new to Christianity or on their way to believing... how many of them would wade through all that self-justifying and in-speak to get to the heart of the matter? It probably doesn't matter with a printed book. And I can see why the convention is that an audio book contains, word for word, what the printed one does. But in the audio medium... in my opinion ....it sucks.
It finally happened ... last weekend, I was typing away on my MacBook and it froze. My hard-drive had melted down. I took it to the local Apple Store, and within 24 hours they had installed a new (slightly larger) hard-drive. Unfortunately, they couldn't recover the data. Fortunately, I had backed everything up a few weeks ago, and I use gmail so all my email stuff is saved externally. I only lost about 50 pages of recent work. It could have been a lot worse.
Can I be one of those nagging people who reminds you that you could be next, so please back up your stuff!
I leave tomorrow morning early for a few days in the mountains, fly fishing with some good friends who are theologians and love fly fishing, hence the name of the group - "Ich-theology" [insert groan here]. If the scheduling function on my blog works, there should be a few posts coming up even while I'm away.
creative communication
Blaine Hogan passed on this report - with good photographs - about some creative communication in the Seattle area, courtesy of the good people at Mars Hill Graduate School.
objectivity, transparency, and reliability
There's a connection, I think, between the furor over Sotomayor's wise-Latina speech and the controversy over Dr. Gates' arrest. Both controversies relate to the confidence shared by many (especially white folks, and especially white males) that laws and institutions are objective - meaning that it's "just the facts, Ma'am," and that personal biases, experiences, and perspectives can be bracketed and rendered insignificant in the face of pure reason or something of that sort. This blog (thanks again, Bob C) reflects "the epochal shift" that is underway (part, I imagine, of the postmodern/postcolonial transition) in our global culture ... so that transparency (being open about your experiences, biases, perspectives, even limitations) earns more credibility than claims of objectivity (as if you had no vantage point at all ... ).
Quotable quote:
Outside of the realm of science, objectivity is discredited these days as anything but an aspiration, and even that aspiration is looking pretty sketchy. The problem with objectivity is that it tries to show what the world looks like from no particular point of view, which is like wondering what something looks like in the dark. Nevertheless, objectivity — even as an unattainable goal — served an important role in how we came to trust information, and in the economics of newspapers in the modern age.
You can see this in newspapers’ early push-back against blogging. We were told that bloggers have agendas, whereas journalists give us objective information. Of course, if you don’t think objectivity is possible, then you think that the claim of objectivity is actually hiding the biases that inevitably are there. That’s what I meant when, during a bloggers press conference at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, I asked Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Walter Mears whom he was supporting for president. He replied (paraphrasing!), “If I tell you, how can you trust what I write?,” to which I replied that if he doesn’t tell us, how can we trust what he blogs?
So, that’s one sense in which transparency is the new objectivity. What we used to believe because we thought the author was objective we now believe because we can see through the author’s writings to the sources and values that brought her to that position. Transparency gives the reader information by which she can undo some of the unintended effects of the ever-present biases. Transparency brings us to reliability the way objectivity used to.
Thinking about a DMin?
I recently learned that my friend Jason Clark will be leading a new cohort with George Fox Evangelical Seminary's new Doctor of Minstry program in Global Missional Leadership: http://www.georgefox.edu/seminary/dmin/gml/index.html. The cohort will launch in January 2010 in Nairobi, Kenya. George Fox already has an amazing faculty - including Len Sweet and other great folks - and now having Jason on board makes a good thing even better. Worth checking out.
Sunday meditation ... a beautiful movement
My friend Bill Duncan was the first person to recommend Paul Hawken's book Blessed Unrest to me some time ago. Then many people recommended his amazing commencement address. A few days ago my friend Graeme Codrington recommended this short video featuring Hawken (about 6 min):
Destructive, dehumanizing ideologies - whether they be racism, nationalism, communism, capitalism, socialism, industrialism, secularism, reductionism, chauvinism, religious supremacy/exclusivism - have driven our world to this precipice of stress, breakdown and suicidal behavior. But thanks be to God, there is a healing movement afoot, an uprising of blessed unrest that I believe reflects the moving of the Spirit of God.
As in Jesus' day, this movement is full of ironies: people who think themselves first and foremost are often found sitting on the sidelines criticizing it, or so engrossed in arguments about other things that they're missing it entirely. Meanwhile, people who consider themselves disqualified outsiders find themselves right in the thick of it, participating as unwitting agents of God's saving love.
I stumbled more deeply into all this as I researched and wrote SMJ and EMC ... and I've become convinced that the new kind of Christianity that is emerging around the world has a key role to play in this beautiful thing that God is doing at this critical moment.
Today I'm imagining a sunny day in Galilee when a crowd of over 5000 gathered to hear Jesus teach about a new movement he called the Kingdom of God. It was a movement of reconciliation, not revenge ... healing, not abuse ... liberation, not oppression ... stewardship, not exploitation ... celebration, not fear. This beautiful day came in the aftermath of the latest horrible atrocity committed by the emperor's local puppet ruler (Herod's murder of John the Baptizer). In contrast to Herod's violence and corruption, this day with Jesus was filled with peace, hope, and mutual service .
At the end of the day, Jesus led the crowd in a kind of divine guerrilla theater, as the people demonstrated an alternative faith-based local economy of abundance, giving, and sharing, exposing the imperial economy's greed, hoarding, and fear. May that beautiful movement continue and spread in and among us all today. For where evil and ugliness abound, God's grace and beauty abound all the more.
Talking While Stupid: Efrem Smith gets it right
I think President Obama was right to soften the tone of his statement the other day on the Gates arrest incident; the word "stupid" wasn't a helpful word choice.
But the word, I think, accurately describes the reaction of a lot of white male commentators to the incident.
Let's assume (for a minute, anyway) that Sgt. Leon Lashley, the African American officer who was present at the arrest, got it right when he said Dr. Gates reacted inappropriately to the investigating white police officer, Sgt. James Crowley. Further, let's assume that Sgt. Crowley acted "according to protocol" in arresting Dr. Gates for his overreaction. And further, let's assume that President Obama spoke inappropriately when he used the word "stupidly" without knowing the full story. I'm not saying this is the whole story, or the best way to view the story, but even if we grant these assumptions ...
What remains truly stupid, in my opinion, is for the discussion to stop where it seems to stop among many cable news pundits, sanctimoniously blaming Gates, Crowley, or Obama for this or that transgression. It's especially unwise for white folks like me ... many of whom remain surprisingly unaware of the concept of white privilege ... to fail to see the background reality into which this incident provides a teachable moment. (For a refreshingly reflective analysis, see this short article.)
Whether it's the Gates incident or the Sotomayor hearings, I am saddened to hear so many white American Christians (Catholic, Evangelical, etc.) jump on the Hannity/Limbaugh/Buchanan/Beck/Fox News bandwagon. Their reactive move toward finding someone to blame -- case closed -- reveals to me how much these commentators (rather than Billy Graham, any recent Pope, the Bible, or any denominational headquarters) have become the primary source of spiritual formation (not just political misinformation) for large sectors of the white American church.
Sadly, many commentators in the world of Religious Broadcasting simply apply a thick coat of cosmetic prayer and Bible-talk to the same ideology of their secular thought-leaders. (If your blood pressure is low in this regard and you need to notch it up a few points, watch, listen to, or read Bill Moyers' recent piece on Right Wing Radio ... Rage on the Airwaves. Especially note Bill O'Reilly's spookily frank comments on the "white male power structure.")
Thank God for bridge-building leaders like pastor Efrem Smith, seeking to provide the American Christian community a more fair, balanced, and wise perspective. He, like many of my friends of color, understands how Dr. Gates must have felt, because he has his own stories of committing the "crime" of DWB or DWH (Driving While Black, or Driving While Hispanic). Notable quote:
It’s important that my White evangelical brothers and sisters not let Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh give the proper perspective on seeing this issue. Jesus had the ability in Scripture of seeing the world from the vantage point of the child, the woman, the Samaritan, and the poor. Why are some evangelical conservatives only willing to see this from the vantage point of the police officer? I know that Dr. Gates isn’t poor, but he does represent the historically marginalized in our nation. And please don’t down-size this social sin to victimization. I’m not a victim, I’m just an African-American male who gets pulled over by the police from time to time for no reason. This is why, I’m with Dr. Gates on this one and you should be too.
"Jesus had the ability ... of seeing the world from the vantage point of the [other]," Smith rightly says. The Biblical word for that ability, I think, is compassion. So, as we assess this situation, may we have compassion for Dr. Gates, for Srgts. Lashley and Crowley, for President Obama, and for all our neighbors of whatever skin color who share an ugly history and a messy present moment and the common challenging of creating a better future.
And yes (I'm preaching to my own soul here), may we also feel compassion for the broadcasters whose punditry serves to reinforce white male privilege and reduce compassion for too many of us. After all, they can only speak what's in their hearts, and right now, there's a lot of fear and outrage screaming inside them. Their fear and outrage will only grow as resistance to white male privilege grows, white male privilege being so inherent to reality as they have known it that they consider it normal and the way things ought to be. Unless they are liberated from their fear and freed to discover a better vision of how things can be, their reactions will only get even more shrill and extreme.
Without compassion, without the ability to see the world from the vantage of the other, we're all TWS (talking while stupid).
Q & R: Anderson University presentation on faith-sharing
Here's the question:
I recently watched Brian’s McLaren’s youtube presentation for the Anderson University Chapel Convocation on October 23, 2008. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5745330950759630992&hl=en
I would like to purchase a copy of that presentation. If that is possible, please tell me how to go about it.
We are a new church plant in Johannesburg South Africa and our minister
reads and devours your thoughts and books.
When are you next in South Africa?
You can find my schedule here on the site. I just returned from South Africa ... and I don't know when I'll return. But I love your country and hope it's soon! Later this year I'll be in Australia and new Zealand.
I'm planning to cut my travel in half beginning next year, in part because I want to shrink my carbon footprint, and in part because I need more time to focus on writing and living at a sustainable pace. In the next couple years, I hope to get to Southeast Asia, Brazil, India, and Europe ... maybe Russia and Central Asia at some point. I expect to be in East Africa again next May as well.
Abortion common ground ... Joel Hunter gets it right (along with Tim Ryan and Rosa DeLauro)
On abortion ...
Here's a public statement I offered on the abortion-reduction bill proposed by Rep. Tim Ryan and Rep. Rosa Delauro. The Ryan-Delauro bill should be (or may already have been) presented in Congress today. The bill seeks to reduce the number of abortions by addressing the causes of abortion; it seeks to prevent unintended pregnancies, provide support for pregnant women and new families, and expand support for adoption.
Short-term polarization on certain issues may be inevitable, but long-term paralysis is not. I'm thankful to (and for) Rep. Tim Ryan and Rep. Rosa Delauro for seeking the higher ground of common ground on the abortion question. They are demonstrating that people can disagree on the moral and legal status of abortion and yet agree on something deeper and higher - the wisdom of seeking to reduce the number of abortions. Where partisanship may produce paralysis, wise leadership finds a way forward, seeking good-faith progress. I hope the Ryan-Delauro bill's passage in the coming days will build a new momentum for this kind of creative third way in public life.
For more on the bill, see this report. The range of reactions - from reactionary to welcoming - is clear in this passage from the article:
The bill's backers hope President Barack Obama, who has appealed for a more civil tone to the debate, will embrace it as a step toward reducing the need for abortions, but many staunch anti-abortion leaders remain hostile. "It's part of a big political scam," said Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee.
At issue is the so-called Ryan-DeLauro bill - first introduced in 2006 and being reintroduced Thursday by Reps. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, and Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. Supporters range from abortion-rights activists to Roman Catholic academics who consider abortion an evil.
"This is a landmark bill for the culture wars - a prototype for how we can approach things in the future," said the Rev. Joel Hunter, an evangelical megachurch pastor from Orlando, Fla., who opposes abortion.
Hunter, who serves on the White House faith-based advisory council, said the key to the bill is its breadth - appealing to liberals with proposals to prevent unintended pregnancies and to conservatives with provisions to support women who choose to carry unintended pregnancies to term.
"When you realize you need someone who's been an adversary to help you advance your own projects, that's a big deal," Hunter said.
Tom Krattenmaker gets it right ...
I wrote yesterday about signs of change in the Religious Right community in Seattle. Tom Krattenmaker notes a similar change down I-5 in his native Portland, OR, in this USA Today column.
Notable quote:
In his religious history book Discovering God, Rodney Stark, a Christian, points out that the church, over the centuries, has often lost its way when it has been in charge of countries and cultures. Think Western Europe at various points in its history, where the church's dominant status correlated with periods of arrogance and listless participation.
Given the demographics, dominant status is not a "problem" that's going to afflict Portland's evangelicals anytime soon. That's hardly stopping them from doing what has always served Christianity best. Shane Claiborne, a Christian activist based in Philadelphia, described it this way when he came to speak in Portland earlier this year. The best way for Christians to make people know about Jesus, Claiborne declared, is by "doing fascinating things."
Using technology/media wisely ...
Bob Carlton passed on these questions for interrogating/evaluating media ...
Interrogating media
via elearnspace by gsiemens on 7/21/09
When seeking to understand media, gurus/experts like to use questions as guides. Two of the more provocative media thinkers - Postman and McLuhan offer the following to interrogate media (and technology):
In his lecture Technology and Society, Neil Postman offers the following questions for consideration:
What is the problem to which this technology is a solution?
Whose problem is it?
Suppose we solve this problem decisively, what new problems might be created because we have solved the problem?
Which people and what institutions might be most seriously harmed by a technological innovation?
What changes in language are forced by new technologies and what is changed and forced by this new language (meanings)?
What sort of people and institutions acquire special economic and political power because of technological change?
McLuhan offered the following questions for evaluating media:
What does it extend, enhance, accelerate, intensify or enable?
When pushed beyond the limit of its potential, it will reverse what were its original characteristics; into what does it reverse?
What does it displace or obsolesce, that is, render relatively without dominant power or influence?
What does it retrieve from the past that had been formerly obsolesced?
jimmy carter gets it right on women ... and so does Jodi Mikalachki
Whatever you thought of Jimmy Carter as president, you have to respect his post-presidential work for peace, compassion, and justice. (The same goes for Bill Clinton. Have you wondered what Barack and Michelle Obama will do in the years after 2016?) Here's a report on the recent statement Carter (and others) made regarding religion-based subjugation of women ... the kind of context in which I was raised and in which many of my friends (male and female) still live. Religious communities, like human beings, need to mature ... and it's high time for a change in outlook towards women. (Not to mention many other subjects ...)
From the Associated Baptist Press article:
"This discrimination, unjustifiably attributed to a Higher Authority, has provided a reason or excuse for the deprivation of women's equal rights across the world for centuries," he said. "The male interpretations of religious texts and the way they interact with, and reinforce, traditional practices justify some of the most pervasive, persistent, flagrant and damaging examples of human rights abuses."
At its worst, Carter said, the belief is used to justify slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But he said discriminatory thinking is also behind the continuing gender gap in pay and why so few women hold public office in the United Kingdom and the United States.
"It is simply self-defeating for any community to discriminate against half its population," Carter wrote. "We need to challenge these self-serving and out-dated attitudes and practices -- as we are seeing in Iran where women are at the forefront of the battle for democracy and freedom."
Late addition: Just read this in an email from my friend Jodi Mikalachki in Burundi, affirming Carter's comment:
President Obama has been in Africa recently, invoking the African blood that runs in his veins as a kind of charter to encourage African leaders (and Africans generally) to recognize that the fate of Africa lies in their own hands. I'm sure he is no less aware than I am that many factors outside African control also have a great impact on the continent (the world financial crisis precipitated by American greed, for instance; the continuing interference of former colonial powers in African politics and economics; the cynical indifference of individuals, corporations, and nations that continue to sell/supply arms to repressive dictators and equally destructive insurgents). But thoughtful Africans themselves are increasingly taking the line that leadership is the continent's main problem. Personally, I think the greatest impediment to the positive transformation of Africa is the deplorable status of African women and girls. Any continent that consigns half its human resources to back-breaking labor, largely unaddressed sexual violence, and many more (life-threatening) pregnancies than most of them want, is bound to fail. Nothing could do more for Africa than the steady education of girls, and I am experiencing first-hand how very difficult it is to keep them in school once they reach their teens.
Seattle Times gets it right ...
This article on the current state of the Religious Right union matches my own sense of things in my travels across the country. I've heard conservative Evangelicals say almost word for word what people quoted in this article say ... The times are changing.
Here's what former RR leader and Assemblies of God Pastor Joseph Fuiten had to say:
"I don't want the church to be viewed as oppressive, [and] as opposed to people living their lives and eking out whatever happiness they can."
He says he believes that different times call for different strategies and says that now, with the country less in sync with his traditional values, and many hurting because of the economy, people need to hear about hope, not about hell.
"God is not coercive," he said. "The idea that people ought to be free to live their life and live the way they want to — I don't object to that."
My prayer is that Christians of all sorts - Evangelical, Catholic, Mainline Protestant, Pentecostal, Orthodox, etc. - will at this time of change do three things - no, make that four:
First, we need to learn from the mistakes of the Religious Right, which were legion. That requires us to get serious about a theology of civic responsibility and the common good, which, thankfully, groups like Sojourners, Faith in Public Life, Center for Public Justice, and others are (in their various ways) eager to help us do if more of us will pay attention. It's not just the RR tactics that were amiss, and not just the strategy: on a deeper level it's the theology that undergirded the whole affair that needs to be rethought.
Second, we need to seek - prayerfully and humbly, and rooted in more seasoned theological reflection - more constructive and wise ways to invest civic energy for the common good, because the antidote to bad political engagement is not no political engagement, but rather wise and effective political engagement.
Third, we need to avoid overreacting, baptizing an agenda of the left (or center, or whatever) with the same kind of naivete that the right's agenda was previously embraced. The temptation to overreact will grow greater as the Religious Right II re-forms (as it will no doubt do), perhaps as a more extreme, fractious, reactionary, and perhaps even militant group than before.
Fourth, we need to avoid shaming those who now realize their efforts in the Religious Right were misguided. Many have told me they now feel misled and abused, both by political leaders and by their own religious leaders, are they ready to turn the page and move forward with those of us who never could stomach the RR attitude, tone, theology, or agenda in the first place. More and more are now coming to agree (as you could sense in some of the interviewees in the Seattle Times article): the Religious Right approach was disastrous ... but they don't need the rest of us to add insult to the injury they already feel with "I told you so's" and that sort of thing. Yes, we need to look back and frankly name what went wrong, and yes, we need to honestly assess the costs to Christian mission (not to mention the political process) the misadventure has inflicted upon us and the whole world. But at the same time, we need to move positively and constructively and hopefully forward.
If too many of us react to the failures of the RR with either cynicism or disillusioned apathy, we will only compound the fractures instead of heal them. There's plenty of good work for the common good waiting to be done.
Comment on A Generous Orthodoxy ...
This note is from an Anglican priest in England ...
I have just finished reading "A Generous Orthodoxy" : on the eve of the 30th anniversary of my ordination as deacon in the Church of England.. I was ordained priest the following year.
I simply want to thank you for your book: the criticisms you make of the various traditions are made in love, even if, mercifully, they are sharp and honest and challenging. Your affirmation of what is good in all these traditions is really refreshing and a great encouragement.
It strikes me, thirty years into ordained ministry in a variety of parishes, that God is so patient with us and so impatient, simultaneously! He is ever nudging, cajoling, inviting, encouraging us to be attentive to His presence and action beyond the tidy limits of our structures... to "define" is to draw a boundary round..God is beyond boundaries! Praise Him for that! Orthodoxy is in any case about "right worship"... doxa is about "glory", dogma about "teachings".
I am thrilled that God in His love and beauty and majesty encounters us in those graced moments when our only response can be worship...your book has not only prodded me intellectually, but has fed my worship. So, thank you!
Q & R: Doctoral research ...
Here's the question:
Back in 2003, I wrote my Senior Project at ??? University on the Emerging Church in the United States. Interestingly, I used Cedar Ridge, in part, as a case study to highlight ecclesial shifts happening among evangelical churches even then.
Now six years later, I am exploring thoughts on a doctoral project at ??? Theological Seminary in ???. My question for you, to use a tennis analogy, is more like a “lob shot.” My question is: Currently, what do you think most needs to be explored and examined in the Emergent Church conversation that could most benefit the Church? Put another way, if you were thinking of writing a 35 page journal article about some aspect of the Emergent Church, what would your focus be?
Thanks for any time and response you can offer to this general question.
I am grateful for the vital ministry you are carrying out in these days. As you probably well know by now, you are a strength to many of us young clergy who are living in this liminal time in Christian history.
What a great question! Response after the jump ...
Grace and I are enjoying a special summer of writing and celebrating our 30th anniversary in Southwest Florida ... I think you can see it in our faces! (Thanks, Rachel, for the picture!)
war and peace ...
After the jump, you'll find a masterful paper (presented on the occasion of John Calvin's 500th birthday) by Mark Vander Vennen, co-author of the equally masterful Hope in Troubled Times. You can also read it here ... This will be worth your investment of time ...
The comment below just came in relating to the youtube video above ...
Although I can no longer describe myself as a "Christian" (because so much of what generally passes for "Christianity" in my country is, frankly, offensive to the work of Christ), I do sincerely appreciate what Brian McLaren is saying here.
And I hope more people will listen to him.
This resonates with a conversation Tim King and I had yesterday ... about the increasing numbers of people calling themselves post-Christian. By this they don't mean pre-Christian, or non-Christian, but something else and something more than what the word Christian commonly means to people: judgmental, exclusive, characterized by religious supremacy, pro-war, anti-poor, anti-environment, anti-gay, ingrown, and culture-war-ish. All this brings another youtube video to mind, based on a song I wrote (with Aaron Strumpel):
an ever-new narrative of good news ... a Sunday meditation
The twentieth century presented us, she suggests, with two types of narratives - collective and individualist. The grand collective narratives were primarily economic: market forces shape our lives and promise a better future. But once-promising economic narratives, whether in their communist, socialist, or capitalist forms, she suggests, have lost their luster - tarnished by a series of events including the current economic crisis and the longstanding environmental crisis.
Individualist narratives, she says, are still popular, but they are ultimately unhelpful. She quotes documentary film-maker Adam Curtis:
"What we have is a cacophony of individual narratives, everyone wants to be the author of their own lives, no one wants to be relegated to a part in a bigger story; everyone wants to give their opinion, no one wants to listen. It's enchanting, it's liberating, but ultimately it's disempowering because you need a collective, not individual, narrative to achieve change," explains Curtis.
Curtis' analysis reminds me of a conversation I had with philosopher/theologian Pete Rollins in Belfast pub a couple weeks ago. We were talking a shift we were both sensing in the postmodern philosophical community - a reappraisal of the importance of big stories or collective narratives. (I won't call them "metanarratives" because I think that term is largely, though perhaps unconsciously, associated with the narratives of empire ... which include the dominant Christian narrative, sadly ... which is a subject I grapple with at length in my upcoming book, A New Kind of Christianity.)
Bunting explains that for Curtis, collective narratives
... shape our understanding of the world and of who we are, and how we make sense and order experience. Powerful, grand narratives legitimise power, win our allegiance and frame our private understandings of how to measure value and create meaning. They also structure time – they fit the present into a continuum of how the past will become the future. This is what all the grand narratives of communism, socialism, even neoliberalism and fascism offered; as did the grand narratives of religion. Now, all have foundered and fragmented into a mosaic of millions of personal stories. It is a Tower of Babel in which we have lost the capacity to generate the common narratives – of idealism, morality and hope ... that might bring about civic renewal and a reinvigorated political purpose.
Can a new collective narrative - a good one, a healing one - emerge? If so, where will it come from? While Curtis is optimistic, Bunting raises a terrifying question: what if ...
... the new grand narrative has already emerged and it is one of environmental catastrophe. Perhaps this reinforces the sense of political paralysis. That the only grand narrative on offer is so terrifying – of a world rapidly running out of the natural resources required to sustain extravagant lifestyles and burgeoning population – that it disables rather than empowers us to achieve political change. Terrified, we retreat into private stories of transformation – cosmetic surgery, makeovers of home and person – because we see no collective story of transformation we can believe in.
Bunting concludes:
Every other modern narrative – communism, socialism ... neoliberalism and fascism – laid claim to a version of the kingdom of God, a better world that would nurture a better human being. They were all narratives of redemption and salvation. All that we have now is apocalypse, and it is paralysing. How then can we build hope?
Faith communities would be the logical source of a hope-inspiring narrative, but what are our religious communities doing? Some are closing in on themselves, digging into culture-wars bunkers, lobbing occasional grenades but offering zilch in the way of a hopeful narrative that is anything like "Do not fear. I bring you good news of great joy for all people" (Luke 2:10), or "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because God has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor ..." (Luke 4:18 ff). Some are offering the religious counterparts of "cosmetic surgery, makeovers of home and person," focusing on personal prosperity or the suburban nuclear family or the maintenance of religious institutions, traditions, and staff, but hopeless about community, society, and the planet.
But - thanks be to God - I believe there are rumblings of a bigger and deeper collective narrative emerging in nearly all our faith communities. Although I don't think any one religion will have a monopoly on it, but rather that each religion will bring treasures to the table, I believe Bunting is right to mention the Kingdom of God. I believe that the good news of the Kingdom of God - the essential (and still amazingly unappreciated) message of Jesus' life and teaching - provides the heart and soul of the new narrative we need. This is where constructive faith meets our collective life (including our personal lives) - in politics, economics, ecology, poverty, and peacemaking. Here's how I put it a while back (EMC, 300-301):
It's interesting - astonishing really - that Jesus doesn't simply say [in Matthew 17:20), "Nothing will be impossible for me," or "Nothing will be impossible with God." Instead he says, "Nothing will be impossible for you." This is our call to action, our invitation to move mountains and so reshape the social and spiritual landscape of our world. yes, change is impossible through human effort alone. But faith brings God's creative power into our global crises, so the impossible first becomes possible and then inevitable for those who believe. Mountains can be moved and everything can change, beginning with our stories, beginning with faith, beginning now, beginning with us.
Fr. Richard Rohr gets it right ...
I love getting Richard's daily emails ... a recent one went like this:
Question of the day:
Why did God choose to become incarnate
in the body of a man?
The “sacred feminine” is in many ways a rediscovery of Jesus’ spirit, a reemergence of a well-suppressed truth, an eventual political upheaval, a certain reform of our hearing of the Gospel and someday perhaps the very structures of the churches—and all proceeding from a deep knowing in the feminine womb, the exact place from which we received Christ for the first time.
The feminist insight explains a vast majority of Jesus’ teaching and style, a male acting very differently in an almost totally patriarchal Jewish society. Like Mary, the Church also has somehow “treasured these things in her heart” (Luke 2:19), but only in time will they be ready to come forth, like Jesus from her womb.
Jesus would never have broken through as a genuinely new revelation if he had acted nonviolently inside of a feminine body. It would not have been revolutionary or a challenge—because we expect and demand that women be patient, nurturing, forgiving, healing, self-effacing, and self-sacrificing. Women are expected to be nonviolent in a violent male society. But we are still not prepared for males or institutions or nations to act nonviolently, even in the church. That is why God had to become incarnate for us in the body of a man. Jesus had a male body but a very feminine soul, which was genuinely new. Unfortunately, we basically rejected most of Jesus’ teachings and style as impractical and unreasonable in the pyramidal “real world” of church and state.
Adapted from Simplicity, pp.130-131
Even if you're somewhat uncomfortable with generalizations about masculine and feminine traits, as I am, Richard's main insight - on Jesus' role in overturning Roman-style dominating/conquering/violent masculinity and providing a very different model - is a truly important one, especially in light of the fusion of patriarchal/dominating/pugilistic-masculinity that is so deeply embedded and celebrated in many religious circles, whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or whatever.
spoken word from dominic flores
As part of the LA night experience where I spoke on connectivity/wholeness (Thursday), dominic flores shared a fantastic spoken word. It's included after the jump. You can learn more about dominic's work here.
Home from LA/Anaheim ... Texts of talks given there
After another red-eye (I'm surviving quite a few of them this summer ...), I'm back in Florida, savoring memories of a really wonderful time with the Episcopal Convention. I haven't been keeping up with the news reports, but I can share my clear impression: there is a good and prayerful spirit among the bishops and delegates ... and a sense that a corner is being turned in this community of faith. The texts of my two talks are included after the jump, for any who are interested.
just a 'wee' note from ireland to thank you so much for coming to share with us @rehab.........my husband and i have been in youth ministry for over ten years and recently took a fresh direction in our adventure with Jesus..anyway just wanted to say thank you..what you said really spoke to us and encouraged us ...it was so inspiring and we look forward to hearing you again in the future..
Just a quick note: saw you at Summer Madness and was definitely intrigued by your points of view. I like being perplexed by different opinions, it's good for my soul.
We have a group of guys who meet in a pub where we live in Hillsborough (County Down, south of Belfast - you're welcome any time!), on a monthly basis, and it's a sort of informal arrangement that a few of us hope will gently evolve into some kind of accountability group. Nothing written down per se, just an informal collection of people who have the opportunity - whether we take it or not - to ask difficult and challenging questions of themselves and one another in a space and time away from all that preoccupies us.
I was wondering, therefore, if you wouldn't mind dropping me a quick line with the 'soul friendship' brief questions you had at the seminar you took on the friends from your past and present, or pointing me in the direction of whichever book of yours talks about it:I forgot to bring a notebook and am not technologically savvy enough to remember to put such things in my phone! ... Hope you returned safely and thanks once again for your gracious answers to some good questions.
This amazing, beautiful, and sensitive Australian documentary shows fascinating dynamics playing out among some Amish folk ... The ending brought back memories for me, as we have a son who is a cancer survivor, and he was diagnosed with leukemia at about the same age as the beautiful little Amish girl Marie.
An old song given new life ...
I recently received this encouraging note from a Catholic teacher in Taiwan ...
I wanted to thank you for your song Immanuel from Learning to Love. Attached is a PPT I created based on this song in a presentation I gave on the feast of Corpus Christi for a youth group in a Catholic church in Taiwan where I teach and serve. I used Immanuel as I wanted to express the most important point of this feast is the message of a the sacrament of Eucharist as a means to put us with God again.
As I gave the presentation I thought that at the writing and recording of this song so many years ago, I can't imagine that Brian could have foreseen that one day an American teaching in Taiwan would translate it into Chinese to share with a youth group there.
As a teacher I don't usually get the see the fruits of what seeds I intent to sow. I wanted to let Brian know that one seed of his song Immanuel bore fruit in Taiwan yesterday. Thank you.
Thanks for this encouragement!
Here's the powerpoint, but unfortunately, I can't get the Chinese characters to translate ... Download file
Australians (and others) ...
If you'd like to hear a beautifully-done Australian radio broadcast (ABC) on Jesus and the Kingdom of God in which I participated (along with Richard Horsely, Shane Claiborne, and others), you can listen to it here (July 5).
I'll be in Oz this October - hope to meet many old and new friends there! (Stay tuned at my schedule page for details.)
The Joint Understanding for the START Follow-on Treaty signed by President Obama and President Medvedev on July 6, 2009 commits the United States and Russia to "reduce their strategic warheads to a range of 1500-1675, and their strategic delivery systems to a range of 500-1100." Of course, negotiators for both sides still have to work out the details and draft the treaty, hopefully to be signed by the end of the year when the START I agreement expires. The follow-on agreement will contain the rigorous inspection regime.
While the agreement, to be implemented in seven years, represents a modest step in nuclear arms reduction, it is a significant step toward the goal of a nuclear weapon free world. The leaders at the G 8 Summit meeting in L'Aquila, Italy, released a statement that called for: moving toward a world without nuclear weapons, strengthening the nonproliferation treaty and securing nuclear weapons and materials from terrorists. While in L'Aquila President Obama formally announced his plan to host a Global Nuclear Security Summit in March 2010. The Global Nuclear Security Summit will likely involve up to 30 countries and will address the risks posed by nuclear terrorism, the safety of nuclear stockpiles and atomic smuggling.
Blessings from the staff of Faithful Security.
Among Episcopalians ...
There's a good vibe here in Anaheim at the Episcopal General Convention. My friend Sarah Dylan Breuer (who was just elected to the Executive Council, by the way) said it well in an article in the Center Aisle newsletter here:
"Three years ago, the tension was palpable, and emotions ran high. Some testified in tears, the pace was frenzied, and fear - perhaps even panic - was in the air and in many voices, both pro and con. Two days ago, debate was calm and reasoned on both sides, and observers noted that members of the House seemed to be listening to one another deeply and prayerfully."
And this is why we need to ask ourselves whether the present form of globalization is entirely appropriate, given the circumstances confronting us. I mean there are, clearly, benefits, but we need to ask whether it requires adaptation so that it also enables, as it were, globalization from the bottom up. This, after all, is the way Nature operates! It grows things from the roots up, not from the sky down. At the moment we operate under a form of globalization that tends to render down all the rich diversity of a culture into a uniform, homogenized mono-culture. And this is where the Modernist paradigm needs to be called into question before the damage being done is irretrievable…
Also, you can read about the G-8's move to help the hungry here.
True - 20 billion looks like a lot less than it used to in light of the amounts our nations have "donated" to banks and major corporations, but this amount will make a real difference for many of our brothers and sisters who are suffering real need.
(Thanks to Faith and Public Life for the good links!)
A Generous Orthodoxy - study resource
Thanks to Brian Gordon in Pennsylvania who put together a list of Scripture verses, one for each chapter of A Generous Orthodoxy. This could be of good practical use for groups studying the book together. You'll find the list after the jump ...
En Route to LAX ... best short speech of the decade
I'm heading to the Episcopal Church national gathering where I will give two short talks. If they're half as good as the recent commencement speech by Paul Hawken (included after the jump), I'll feel very satisfied!
Here's the question (actually a response to one of my recent postings, details included with permission):
Dear Brian,
I just read about your frustration with people's response to your EMC message - I get it! - More people seemed to miss the point than not but it did deeply impact my life. I just want you to know that your message in that book was one of the single most influential messages that has shaped my life. For once Christianity became relevant & practical on so many more levels to me. Passion ignited.
And most of all I realised everything must change - including me (although it has been a pretty stop/start rocky road along this journey called change, hehe).
Your message about trade justice is what particularly influenced me - so much so that I began speaking at my church, buying and handing out Fairtrade organic chocolate. This chocolate came along with the message that we have the power to help end poverty through our consumer decisions. And that every day we can vote with our $ for a better world through our product choices. This lead me to my current job...
I met a good lady whilst speaking and I now work for her at her business - at its base the business is called Rise Up but trade as/ house our different brands. Our products are Fairtrade Certified organic, No Sweat Shop, and we offset our carbon emissions caused by the manufacturing process. We also have product lines that we give all of the profit we make from away. This profit goes to the work of formal charity partners including World Vision Australia, Oxfam, Compassion Australia, Opportunity International Australia, Watoto and more.
My favourite brand to work with is our fashion label - 'they thank you' - http://www.theythankyou.com.au/ We also do promo products(the blurb line is "inherent in the process of manufacturing products we use in business and everyday life is a significant opportunity to alleviate poverty & help the environment. Doing this with style and excellence is what we call eco-ethical."), sleepwear, basics, fabrics, etc The base website for our business is http://www.riseup.com.au/ - and our message is "You can change the World by what YOU buy."
Anyways - I just wanted to say a HUGE thanks as it was your msg in EMC that lead me to change my life and landed me in this role that I feel so privileged to be in. Your message does produce change and it that change can be articulated genuinely and practically. I also read Secret Message of Jesus which also shaped my direction, again - thanks!
Thanks again Brian and I really hope this encourages you!
God Bless,
Andrew Macpherson
Rise Up
Sydney, Australia
My friend Eboo Patel leads the Interfaith Youth Core. (Yes, it's spelled that way on purpose.) He shares this beautiful story from Albania in this month's newsletter ...
There are certain stories that I can't tell enough times. They speak to the importance of interfaith cooperation so elegantly and powerfully that they practically tell themselves. This month, I want to share one such story with all of you.
Let me start with a remarkable fact: almost every single Jew in Albania, whether they were Albanians or refugees from other nations, survived during the German occupation during World War II. The Jews were protected, through the raids and searches and the times in between, by Albanians who followed the national honor code of Besa: the deepest promise a person can give, the word that is never broken. Under Besa, Albanians took Jews into their homes, treated them as family, fed and clothed them, and sacrificed their own safety and the safety of their families for the sake of their guests.
Let me add another fact that makes this story even more remarkable: Albania was the only European country with a Muslim majority.
Nazlie Alla, whose Albanian Muslim family sheltered Jews from Greece, Slovakia, and Germany, said, "As Muslims we welcomed them all. We welcomed them with bread, salt, and our hearts."
At the time, Albania had around 800,000 citizens, only about 200 of who were Jewish - though over 2,000 refugee Jews from Greece, Austria and Italy were taken into the homes of Albanians as well.
And it wasn't just Muslims making sacrifices - the entire population, approximately 70% Bektashi Muslim, 20% Orthodox Christians and 10% Catholic - risked their lives to save Jewish strangers.
The comments of one man particular - Sadik Kalaja, who was twelve years old when his family sheltered a Yugoslav Jewish couple, allowing them to light Sabbath candles in their home - struck me. He said:
"My father gave us an order: If there is a knock on the door, take responsibility."
As we go through this work together, I hope we carry this ethic above all. It is an ethic of Islam, an ethic of Albanian national tradition, and should be an ethic of the 21st century.
(For these and other stories of righteous Albanian Muslims, see Norman Gershman's book Besa: Muslims who Saved Jews in World War II)
Jesus taught us to love our neighbors as ourselves ... whatever their religion, background, identity, class, political affiliation, whatever.
Q & R: Greek philosophy
Here's the question ...
Hi Brian,
I was wondering ... do you find it concerning that everything we think we know is in one way or another founded on Greek philosophy? I was stunned last night when I remembered that everything from our perceptions about the divine, the way we approach reading and learning, our understanding about heaven and hell all hang by my best estimation on either Greek or Greco-Roman philosophies ... and in theology, Plato seems to have am especially wide influence that is buried down to the level of what I think are our basic assumptions.
Sorry to just throw that at you point blank like this, but it's kind of freaking me out. Just wondering if you know of anyone, or have had any experience with this? My knee jerk reaction is to try and throw as much of the Greek philosophy relating to God and the bible out the window as I can ...
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Hello Brian,
You must get hundreds of these emails, so I'm guessing that you are overwhelmed and wanting more ease and freedom to do other things?
I just finished reading "everything must change" after having read and loved "The Secret Message of Jesus". I have been moved and excited after reading both books, as much of what you say and the style in which you say things seems to resonate as true for me.
I am wanting to contribute to the continuing dialog encompassed by your work as it applies to my passion, which is the use of language for the purpose of connection between people. In your book "everything must change", you describe three systems as if they are external to us -- which they are -- but there is something about those systems which also lives within each one of us. You and I were created with a need for security, a need for equity and a need to consider each other's needs and share in the joy of meeting them (i.e. prosperity). While I do believe that the three systems you present are real, I realized that there are others, which not only help us to meet our basic survival needs, but there are ones that help us to live life to its fullest! A couple of examples are "Beauty," "Learning" and "Community". As a society, we have built tremendous infrastructures around those needs, and they influence how we live and share life on the planet.
So, the systems outside of us have formed because we were created with something within us that requires fulfillment in order to sustain life and to enjoy a life lived to overflowing. In my discipline of compassionate communication, I strive to bring these internal "heart needs" outside and directly into dialog as a means of connection. "Connection" is a something special which happens as empathy and honesty are present in a dialog...
I hope that you are intrigued by what I have said so far. I would enjoy hearing if anything I have said has stimulated something within you.
In my travels, I get to meet so many wonderful and amazing people doing truly beautiful and good things around the world. One of them is Jodi Mikalachki. She is a volunteer with Mennonite Central Committee in Burundi, where she works with The Christian Union for the Education and Development of the Underprivileged, a tiny Burundian NGO that helps the Batwa (or Twa people). She teaches and trains teachers at the Hope School of Nyangungu. After the jump, you can read her recent newsletter (shared with permission). It gives a window into what it looks like when people live Jesus' gospel of the kingdom of God (which was the main subject of my books SMJ and EMC) in the nitty gritty of human lives and communities. In addition to the beautiful stories themselves, you'll enjoy Jodi's obvious talent as a writer. Quotable quote:
Peace is precarious here, domestically and nationally, and sometimes I feel that I’m walking like a privileged idiot through a minefield. But I am deeply grateful for the ways people are allowing me into their lives, not just as an outside “fixer,” but as someone who is part of a community working things out under difficult circumstances. May you all be so blessed where you are.
What happens when a theology professor at a respected Methodist seminary speaks his mind about seven things he hates in his denomination? We'll see in the weeks to come! In the meantime, read his refreshingly frank posting here. And consider speaking your mind about your tribe too - not nastily, not polemically, not aggressively, just with vulnerability and frankness, as in this good example.
Pope Benedict Gets It Right
Jim Wallis has provided a helpful summary of the Pope's encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth). The subtitle explains the subject more clearly -- "on integral human development in charity and truth" -- and the timing of its release (coinciding with the G-8 summit) suggests something about its purpose: to challenge the leading economic powers (and all the faithful) to see the current economic crisis as "an opportunity for discernment, in which to shape a new vision for the future" - a future focused on "justice and the common good."
Of particular interest to me is his strong endorsement of the key concepts behind the sustainability and fair trade/ethical buying movements. These related movements help us see that the economy is an important sphere where we can, in a sense, cast votes with every dollar we spend, literally loving our neighbors (or not) by the way we buy (or don't buy) groceries, clothing, corporate shares, and so on.
In a recent book, Adam Werback (who in 1996 became the Sierra Club's youngest president -- at the age of 23) defines sustainability in terms of four bottom lines instead of one (short-term profit for investors/owners):
True sustainability has four equal components:
-- social, to address conditions that affect us all, including poverty,
violence, injustice, education, public health, and labor and human rights
--economic, to help people and businesses meet their economic needs—for
people: securing food, water, shelter, and creature comforts; for
businesses: turning a profit
-- environmental, to protect and restore the Earth—for example, by
controlling climate change, preserving natural resources, and preventing
waste
-- cultural, to protect and value the diversity through which communities
manifest their identity and cultivate traditions across generations
With each dollar we spend, we can vote for companies that do good business, that respect the planet, that treat their workers well, that promote the social common good, and that preserve and enhance cultural health and diversity. With communism dead and buried for nearly twenty years now, it's time to realize that "capitalism without a conscience" may be our new greatest threat. People of faith - from the Pope to you and me - can play a role in the reinvention of our economics in the years to come.
In the past, our economies depended on slavery and child labor to survive. People who called for reform were labeled as unrealistic and anti-business. Those of us who work to "shape a new vision for the future" will similarly be mocked, opposed, and ignored today and in the years to come. But in the end, we will see breakthroughs because, as Dr. King said, there is a moral arc to the universe, and it tends towards justice. That's as true in economics as it is in politics, thanks be to God.
The sentiment of the song reminds me a lot of what I put in a post a while back, where I said ...
Many of you will remember the two lists I talked about on the tour - the list of intramural religious debates in the Christian subculture hanging on one wall, and the list of global crises hanging on the other. A year after the EMC tour, it's clearer to me than ever that many if not most Christians in the US remain focused on the "religious arguments" list. In one Q & A session after another since our tour, I've watched the conversation be pulled away from Jesus' gospel of the reigning of God in relation to life-and-death global crises, and turned toward controversies and inquisitions about doctrinal opinions and "theological correctness." Some nights, I didn't even realize what had happened until I went back to my hotel room and just wanted to cry.
If you really want to get depressed, read the comments below the music video and survey the online buzz about the song. With a few happy exceptions, so many people ignore the point Derek's making and start arguing about ... you guessed it. Sheesh.
Robert McNamara ... died July 6, 2009
I grew up seeing McNamara on the news. The documentary in which he plays such an important part -- Fog of War -- is deeply powerful. Here's a trailer:
After the jump, there's a well-written tribute to the man, by someone who formerly hated him and later grew to respect him, Jonathan Granoff. Worth reading.
If you're anywhere near Princeton University on August 4, check this out.
Amazing price ...
I just found out that Amazon is selling Everything Must Change for $8.80. That's the lowest price I've seen for hardcover ... I continue to hear good reports from people using the book for reading groups, small groups, church and seminary classes, etc., around the world. Might be a good time to stock up for a group this fall ...
Back from Ireland ...
What a tremendous event Summer Madness is! Wonderful people, a great spirit ... and we even had a few minutes of Irish sunshine. Highlights - there were so many - included hanging out with old friends like Jools Hamilton, Jason Clark, Sean Callaghan, and (too briefly) Andy Hickford ... meeting many new friends and having some good and deep dialogue ... great Q & R sessions (question and response) after my presentations ... and some tremendous live music. I was especially glad to finally hear and hang out with Foy Vance. His concert was absolutely amazing ... great work with loops, an uncannily powerful and versatile voice, finely crafted songs, and everything you want from a gifted performer - energy, humor, fun, and long sips of meaning as rich as Guinness from the tap.
Here are two wee* tastes of his work:
*proof I've actually been in Ireland: I caught a wee case of the contagious "wee."
More on Newbigin
A friend (Jeff P) sent me this in response to the recent posting on Lesslie Newbigin. What great quotes ...
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Hey Brian,
I appreciate the blog post you did last week giving your responses to the "Newbigin" critique of your work. You responses were well said and helpful. I have been rereading Foolishness to the Greeks the last few weeks so his thinking was fresh in my mind when I saw your blog. I too feel like you work is very much in line with Newbigin's. A few passages stood out as I was reading the critique and your responses. Both come from Newbigin's essential of a Christian doctrine of freedom.
"Second, the church, which is entrusted with the truth, is a body of sinful men and women who falsely identify their grasp of truth with the truth itself. The paradox of grace, that the church is a body of forgiven sinners, both forgiven and sinful, applies to the church's understanding of the truth. At the very point of his confession of the truth, Peter could become an agent of Satan (Mar 8:29, 33). He grasped the truth but immediately made it an instrument of falsehood. Because sin remains a reality in the life of the forgiven community, the church can and does allow the truth entrusted to her to be turned into an ideological justification of her own human interests, and God
