CrossWalk Community Church Napa: Recent Episodes
CrossWalk Community Church Napa
Each week CrossWalk looks at Christian faith, the Bible and spirituality from a progressive perspective with deep roots of love.
Enjoy this teaching which dovetails Jesus' instruction to be perfect like our Heavenly Father is perfect and Father's Day...
Most Christians know Jesus said to do this. Most Christians I know wish he hadn't. Most Christians I know struggle with this. Maybe it's more of a heart thing than a mind thing - maybe we can't think our way to it but have to love our way through it.
Jesus told his follows to turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, and give the shirt off your back. From our vantage point, this sounds like instruction on how to be a nice person. To the original audience however, it was coaching on nonviolent resistance.
Jesus said do not resist an evil person. Hmmm. Do we agree? What could he have meant? Get ready to be disturbed.
Jesus made it simple - "let your yes be yes and your no be no" - which is good, wise advice for living with integrity. Yet his wisdom leads to deeper principles that cause us to reflect on how we use our words. Very relevant for this time and all time.
This teaching is part of a year-long series on Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, informed by excellent essays found in the book, "Following the Call: Living the Sermon on the Mount" (Plough Publishing House: 2021).
Nerd out with theologians Andrew M. Davis (andrewmdavis.info) and Thomas Jay Oord (thomasjayoord.com) as Pastor Pete asks questions about God, The Force, The Dark Side, and more.
This week, we look at how CrossWalk provides a haven for the mistreated, especially in faith circles where women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ are not always treated as equally created in the image of God.
Listen to the full, unedited interview with Robert Simmons which was partly featured during the teaching on April 13, 2025. Great stories, insights, and helpful information for those wanting to grow their allyship with the LGBTQ+ community.
In this episode you will hear powerful stories about how CrossWalk offered refuge for those evacuated when Mother Nature call.
Enjoy Douglas Avilesbernal's fantastic talk on being sanctuary for immigrants. Doug is the Executive Minister of the Evergreen Baptist Association to which CrossWalk belongs. EBA is one of 33 regions that comprise the national work of the American Baptist Churches.
The first several minutes of this talk features Peta Schindler telling her story of why she came to CrossWalk, which had everything to do either the church's openness to new ideas. The teaching that follows walks through an incredible story of boundary stretching a paradigm busting as the Christian community developed.
Jesus said the the pure in heart are blessed, that they see God. What did he mean? What might it mean for us?
Enjoy Rev. Dr. Angie Barker-Jackson's teaching based on Jesus' Beatitude, "God blesses those who are merciful, of they will be shown mercy." So good!
"God has not called us to be warriors. God has called us to be wombs."
God blesses those who hunger and thirst for just. They will be satisfied. - Jesus. Really? Is this true? What about people who die for the cause of justice? What about Jesus - did he experience satisfaction as he addressed the social justice issues of his day? In this teaching, we look at one story in particular from Jesus' life that exemplifies his ability to be deeply grounded spiritually while addressing the plight of a woman caught in intersectional prejudice. Turns out that the experience left him genuinely satiated.
Enjoy Rev. Dr. Angie Barker Jackson's teaching on Jesus' provocative Beatitude, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." See below for the resources she referenced. (YouTube audience – find hyperlinks from this teaching at CrossWalkNapa.org/Teachings).
Check out the covenant Angie referenced from The Poor People’s Campaign (PoorPeoplesCampaign.org/covenant-of-nonviolence) – and why not say yes to its invitation?
Check out the following books Angie noted as well: Holy Ground: On Activism, Environmental Justice, and Finding Hope Racial Ecologies Becoming Rooted: 100 Days of Reconnecting with Sacred Earth Rooted in the Earth: Reclaiming the African American Environmental Heritage
Check out these organizations: SoulFlowerFarm.org CanticleFarm.org TempleofEarthApothecary.com Check out these Voices: Rev. Dr. Ambrose Carroll Genesis Butler (2017 TEDxCSULB)
Blessed are they who mourn for they will be comforted. Maybe this simple a statement of fact - when we mourn, we find comfort. How well have you learned to mourn?
Jesus said that the poor in spirit are blessed. That sounds ridiculous. What was he talking about? What can we learn from what he was saying? What would the Spirit of God call us to do to help the plight of the poor?
Jesus didn't know what he was talking about. He got the word "blessed" all wrong. Maybe it was a brain fog moment - he meant to say "lousy" or "miserable" are the poor, mourning, humble, and persecuted. Or... Maybe he was speaking a truth we in the modern Western world know little about. Maybe we have much to learn about what he taught and modeled that will lead to a much deeper - and better - experience of "blessed."
Starting with the "Blessed are the" statements at the beginning Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, and running all the way through, there are statements that simply don't jibe with conventional thinking. Was Jesus a little off? What do we do when it appears Jesus was so out of touch?
Jesus had a large vision he was pursuing that all of his teaching, healing, and living exemplified. As was the case for him, if we are paying attention and actually trying to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, there will always be a tension between the vision of the Kingdom of God's good news and the prevailing, alternative good news proclaimed by myriad cultural and systemic forces around us. Which "Kingdom" will we honor most? Which good news will be build our lives on and proclaim?
You can read a summary of this teaching (and referenced resources) at CrossWalkNapa.org/Teachings. This post is informed by, and references noted are sourced from (unless otherwise noted) Following the Call: Living the Sermon on the Mount Together, which will provide guidance to CrossWalkNapa teachings throughout 2025.
The context of Jesus' most celebrated teaching is a perfect prologue. Jesus climbed up the hill to teach his most devoted followers how to be like him. Those who desires, ascended. Will you?
Enjoy this brief overview of what’s coming to CrossWalk in the coming weeks and months, as well as a brief teaching on the story of the Wise Men.
What was Mary saying yes to, beyond the obvious? What is the Spirit of God always inviting everyone toward? What does "yes" mean? And what does star dust and dark energy have to do with any of it?
It turns out the first Baptist preacher ever may have sounded like the judgmental, fear-mongering, tent revival caricature, but that would be wrong. His message was actually incredibly inclusive, redemptive, and hopeful, and fully aligned with joyful birth narrative of the one he was preparing his audience for. Joy to the world!
The Christmas story imagining Jesus' birth is one that depicts the very human experience of conflict, tension, angst, hurt, fear, ego, and also bears witness to the ongoing potential for all of us: peace. The stars above may help us in our pursuit...
Perhaps the vision of the Second Coming of Christ in the traditional sense can no longer be taken literally or seriously. There may be a better version hidden in plain sight that squares better with the Jewish Jesus, history, and our collective experience. Caution: heresy ahead!
Gratitude alone is a tremendous force for good. Add faith to the mix, and it's power increases exponentially.
We welcome Brian Henderson to the stage. He is the Executive Director of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, a global organization supporting churches who are or are becoming welcoming and affirming especially of the LGBTQ+ community.
Enjoy this teaching from Angie Barker Jackson as she takes us deeper in to the transformational power of community!
In this series finale informed by Mark Feldmeir's book, Life After God, we take a look at stages of faith development and what motivates us to embrace faith in the first place. We also consider what happens after we die and what hope we have related to our faith.
What do we do with mystical experiences? How do they fit with our tradition, with reason?
Despite what you have ben told, while God does love you, God does not have a plan for your life. God does love you, but has more of a vision or a dream of what life can be. Not one way, but a broad range of ways that are guided by the shalom of God. And, great news! God supports you and I toward this vision even if we veer off course.
This teaching, informed by Mark Feldmeir's book, Life After God, has us take a look at how we view God's power, which affects how we engage God. Is God an all-powerful being who commands or more relationally-oriented, inviting all creation forward?
Enjoy the first week of the Life After God series, where we wonder what the role of doubt plays in the experience of faith. This series is informed by Mark Feldmeir's book by the same name.
Enjoy this scholarly presentation by Eric Seibert as he helps us figure out how to understand and "handle" some of the ugliest parts of the Bible - where God appears to be the origin of apparent evil.
In the conclusion of this series, we look at what living the faith looks like in one frame. We are invited to follow Jesus, whereby saying yes means we will actually try to follow Jesus in order to experience the life and faith he enjoyed. This involves stretching our minds (lifelong learning), kneeling in service to others, standing for grace and justice, communing with God via personal and corporate spiritual disciplines, and connecting with each other in genuine, compassionate community. This teaching offers a lot of practical tips on how to pull this off. Check out the related blog for hyperlinked resources: https://www.crosswalknapa.org/blog/2024/9/1/faith-in-process-putting-it-all-together.
This teaching is all about the components of being connected to community and its' benefits, filled with lots of stories from CrossWalkers.
Jesus modeled and taught "life in God" - the epitome of faith. A key component of his practice was standing with and for grace in his time. What did he do? What did he instruct? What will we do in our time?
Want a faith that is vibrant like Jesus'? Try modeling your life and faith after his. This week, we talk about kneeling in service to others, taking time to think about motivations and what to do when serving no longer produces joy.
If you desire a faith that enhances your life by bringing everything together and also brings more shalom into the world, lifeline learning is required. This teaching offers a range of biblical stories offering insights on the learning process so that we might have a clue how to do it!
Associate Professor Jenny Matheny, Ph.D., Truett Seminary (Baylor) hits a home run with this teaching based on 1 Samuel 25:1-35 NRSVUE. Enjoy!
If you are a human being, you live with regrets. We will hold them our full lives. How much they hold us is in part up to us. Hopefully this practical teaching will help you live your human life, with regrets and all.
Jesus went back to his hometown and was rendered essentially powerless by the unbelief of people who were not willing to see him for more than he had been. This passage offers us a moment to learn about the process of transformation, so that we continue to grow in faith and not be the ones limiting the flow of the Spirit of God. This story also invites us to consider when it's time to cut bait, as Jesus did, when he realized shalom wasn't going to flow in Nazareth due to the obstinance of the townspeople.
Enjoy this incredibly rich, relevant story remembered from Jesus' life. May you reach for the tzitzit on the kanaph in pursuit of the sozo you want and the sozo you need!
The tales of David and Goliath and Jesus calming the storm offer some wisdom for how we face our own giant storms.
Jesus shared two provocative parables - one about sowing seeds and the other about mustard. How do these relate to our lives today? How do they inform our actions in a world that needs more shalom?
We are prone to repeating and repeating and repeating behavior that keeps us in cycles that at least hold us back and sometimes cause enormous pain and suffering in ourselves, relationships, and world. There is a way forward that leads to freedom, health and growth for one and all.
Enjoy this fantastic teaching offered by Angie Barker-Jackson, built around the story of God visiting Abraham under the trees of Mamre. Profound insights here!
Stories connect us. Listen to these stories celebrating people in our lives who made a difference. Who is an unsung hero in your life?
This week we take a look at the event that made this day the birthday of the Church, and spend some time celebrating CrossWalk's many people who make it such a great space.
In this final segment of the teaching series informed by Diana Butler Bass' Freeing Jesus book, we pay special attention on the spiritual presence Jesus promised would come, with a special nod to the Spirit's feminine characteristics.
John 14 offers a passage of hope that has also been used as a "clobber verse." In this teaching, we find help and hope from Diana Butler Bass - a different way of thinking about the word "except" that is truly liberating.
Any of the titles we ascribe to God or Jesus both liberate and limit. Lord is both wonderful and problematic, helpful in some ways and restrictive in others. But what if the Lord's Kingdom has been misrepresented to us? What if our vision has been overly influenced by our conquering past and world-dominating Super Power present (hint: it has). This teaching explores "the Lord" and leaves us unsettled. Good luck.
History changed the understanding of savior into an otherworldly superhero who came to save the day and will come again to do it again a final time. Too bad that's not how Jesus - or his original audience - wanted to be known. Imagine how history would have unfolded differently if the actual rendering of the word savior as healer would have dominated? How can we embrace this meaning today? What are the implications for our private lives and even global conflicts?
What does it mean for us to refer to Jesus as our teacher? When we appreciate that Jesus was referred to as "rabbi" we begin to get a better idea about who he was and what the relationship meant between the rabbi and their disciples.
In this teaching, informed by the book, Freeing Jesus, by Diana Butler Bass, we take a look at Jesus as a friend. Note: the whole service was about friendship, including a game of Name That Tune, a short film and meditation based on friendship, and the teaching. If you'd like to watch it, go to our Live videos and check out 2024-04-07.
The Easter story is tricky. Do you think it's true? What does that mean? In this talk, we explore what it means to say something is true, give a nod to The Tower, offer a framework to understand and interpret mystical experiences, and consider what the point of Jesus was then and now. Hint: it has a lot to do with love.
Sometimes we don't experience the full impact of the story because we constantly break it up into smaller chunks. This week, enjoy hearing Mark's version of the full story of Jesus' last week of life with some breaks for reflection, a meditation, and some music from Mark 11, 14 and 15.
The version of the death of Jesus as a sacrifice for sin is well known and has been effective in causing many to join the Christian faith. Yet there are aspects that are deeply problematic - so much so that many are leaving the faith because of ithem. The earliest understanding of the cross didn't see it as a means of forgiveness, but as a model for grace under pressure, consistent with the message Jesus lived and taught throughout his ministry. Perhaps the earlier message might woo people back to the faith they though they knew...
Sometimes not paying attention to the original language's meaning can lead to generations of misinformed and deformed faith...
God - however we understand who and/or what God is - is all about the Hebrew concept of shalom. Deep peace, well-being, wholeness are some words in English that don't quite capture it. And then there's the beautiful mind-bender part of shalom that somehow brings together seeming opposites. When we embrace this fully, we discover that the most awful parts of our past can be transformed into something meaningful in our lives - the gnashing teeth of the monster in our memory can be pacified. It's work, but we are not alone, of the Sprit of God, being all about shalom, is constantly with us, for us, helping us move forward to, well, more and more and deeper and deeper shalom.
Enjoy special guest teacher and CrossWalker, Rev. Dr. Angela Barker-Jackson, as she wraps up the Simplicity, Spirituality, and Service series dovetailing Bruce Epperly, James Cone, and lectionary texts.
Jesus had his mind blown during his baptism, which sent him into the wilderness to sort out who he was, who he wanted to be, and what he wanted to be about. The temptations toward ego were strong, but he chose for God's shalom instead. When he came out of his time away, he essentially invited any and all others to do the same.
While mysticism born from meditation, contemplation, and other spiritual disciplines always affects more than just the devotee, we need to be reminded that all of the great voices and leaders who advanced shalom in the world gave themselves to the service of others or causes greater than themselves. What they experienced of the divine compelled them to think bigger than themselves. Their view from the mountaintop above cast the vision for the valley below. What valley are you going through? What valley are we going through? How does the presence of God shape your vision? Read the full blogpost here.
How do we develop a faith that yields genuine compassion and not just inner peace? While daily practices surely help such development, perhaps it's the work we don't necessarily want to do that will transform us more into the form of Jesus.
Jesus didn't just grow older, he grew wiser. He didn't just gain any kind of stature he developed a stature of personhood that was favorable to God and all people. He invites us to do the same.
St. Francis, Clare, and Bonaventure fully devoted themselves to the Way of Christ. How did they do it? What can we learn from them?
Welcome to the first teaching in the new series, Simplicity, Spirituality, and Service, loosely based on Bruce Epperly's latest book by the same name. This week we are reminded of the essential component of Jesus' Gospel - the role of the Spirit - in forming our vision and steps to bring more and more shalom into our lives and world.
Enjoy these stories from CrossWalkers about their new beginnings! CrossWalkMoth is our play on NPR’s series that seeks to increase human connection through storytelling.
Why didn't the folks of Bedford Falls come after George with torches and pitchforks once the arrest warrant was issued? Why did Luke want to draw our attention to Mary, the cave-barn, and the shepherds in the field the night Jesus was born? How was Jesus informed by his own birth narrative? What does this mean for how we live our lives as people of faith?
How can we say "It's a Wonderful Life" or "Merry Christmas" when we're in a season of suckiness? The movie and the Christmas story give us some hints that offer help when faced with sucky situations and suckmeisters.
There are similarities between the iconic Christmas movie and the birth narratives of Jesus. And, it turns out, the similarities extend to our own lives. There is gold here. And hope.
The natural response when filled with gratitude is to be gracious and giving toward others, to become more interested in others' well-being. When communities work together for the wellbeing of others, this necessarily becomes political, as shalom calls faithful communities to ensure shalom's development for everything, everyone, everywhere.
Feasting together is nothing new. Our ancient Jewish ancestors have been coming together for thousands of years to remember and reset their lives. Thanksgiving affords us the opportunity to do the same.
This week we focus on the decisions we make that help us cultivate a life of gratitude, even regarding difficult scenes from our past that we struggle to reconcile.
Gratitude improves our experience of life and even our physical wellbeing. Yet sometimes we struggle to be grateful. This talk help us sort out our gratitude feelings and offers some insight for the journey ahead.
The problem of evil is a significant reason many people leave the faith. The classic paradigm works for many, yet a growing number of people cannot accept a perspective that ultimately holds God responsible for the evil in the world that God could apparently thwart if desired. Open and Relational Theology offers another perspective that makes more sense. Don't throw out your faith; consider evolving your paradigm instead.
Synopsis. The heavens declare the goodness of God. Creation itself – from the smallest organisms to the expanding universe – are generative, life-supporting, and beautiful. Such a trajectory means that the guiding energy or force behind it is supportive, creative, faithful, reliable, consistent, generous, caring, and many other words that, taken together, simply boil down to one word: love. The Bible says that God is loving, so much so that it goes further to say that God is love. For those struggling to believe in a greater being, perhaps you can settle with the reverse of God is love: love is God. In light of the beautiful creation in which we live and the love of God that is energizing, guiding, and inhabiting it all, how are we to respond to such good news? Perhaps we should entrust our allegiance and our passion to following in the footsteps of Jesus who invited us to consider that such a giving of ourselves to what he was teaching would in fact save our lives. And perhaps not just our lives, but the lives of many others and the planet we call home.
This teaching features the perspective of three Process theologians: Marjorie Suchocki, Bruce Epperly, and Monica Coleman. Suchocki begins with an overview of prayer from a Process lens, followed by related thoughts from Epperly and Coleman. The latter two then address the question of praying for healing, specifically, offering their own "how to" approach.
The deconstruction and reconstruction process of faith – which we should expect to be an ongoing experience throughout our lives – can be extremely challenging at times. We may certainly wonder if God is even real. Such massive questions impact our confidence and interest in prayer. Sometimes we give up. Jesus instructs us to keep on praying, though, trusting in its efficacy. Could it be that when we least feel like praying is when we most need to pray?
Prayer is about living and breathing attuned to God in a dynamic relationship. We do our best to remain conscious of the spiritual sea we’re all swimming in, responsive to the winds of the spirit, and humble enough to admit that we may have been nudged by God without knowing it was God, which should elicit awe. When lived this way, life is truly a spiritual adventure that leads us to deepening maturity and service toward the world’s wellbeing. Note: This episode begins with a brief meditation leading into communion.
Christ is the
environmentin which we all live and breathe and have our being. It connects us, comforts us, inspires us, heals us, moves us, woos us. Christ is that aspect of God that is always on the move everywhere, in everything, the Source of ongoing creative energy, novelty, ingenuity. Much larger than the focus of God’s presence on one leader (the classic rendering of Messiah-Christ), and even bigger than the individualistic anointing, Christ represents that other element, the this-ness of life. When we wake up to that, we enter reality differently. We see the world differently. We see ourselves differently – more graceful – and do the same for others. Ego takes a back seat in favor of something much deeper and greater. Our vision for life expands from self-centeredness alone to a deep respect for the wisdom of loving our neighbors as ourselves – we realize we must pursue both. Realizing we are all – everything – swimming in the same sea, we lend and direct the flow of Christ beyond ourselves toward everyone and everything. In this we join Christ, adding to the creative, healing work, unkinking our hose, and allowing the love to flow. We become joyful conduits of love, light, grace – Christ.
We continue moving forward, deeper into what it means to be attuned to God's wooing us to be partners in bring more and more love and beauty into the world. What does it say about God that we wold be invited to such an adventure?
The teaching this week happened to dovetail nicely with the lectionary texts being used by thousands of churches worldwide this week:
Psalm 119:33-40 (MSG)
GOD, teach me lessons for living
so I can stay the course.
Give me insight so I can do what you tell me—
my whole life one long, obedient response.
Guide me down the road of your commandments;
I love traveling this freeway!
Give me a bent for your words of wisdom,
and not for piling up loot.
Divert my eyes from toys and trinkets,
invigorate me on the pilgrim way.
Affirm your promises to me—
promises made to all who fear you.
Deflect the harsh words of my critics—
but what you say is always so good.
See how hungry I am for your counsel;
preserve my life through your righteous ways!
Romans 13:8-14 (MSG)
Don't run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along. The law code—don't sleep with another person's spouse, don't take someone's life, don't take what isn't yours, don't always be wanting what you don't have, and any other "don't" you can think of—finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can't go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love.
But make sure that you don't get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can't afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ and be up and about!
Matthew 18:15-20 (NRSV)
“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
I wasn’t sure how to title this series on prayer. I landed on Entangled: Quantum-Informed Prayer because it is so abundantly clear... I could have gone with Prayer after we let go of God as Merlin or Genie or Santa... But I figured that might be too much for those who love those paradigms.
In his book, Praying with Process Theology, Bruce Epperly offers seven weeks of daily devotional thoughts, affirmations, and prayers that he hopes will teach and foster a robust, thriving spiritual practice for folks who resonate with Open and Relational Theology (Process Theology fits under the umbrella of ORT). In the first section, Epperly offers some bedrock affirmations to ground our practices:
Affirmations: the world in which we live.
• Our world is a dynamic, ever-evolving process. Relationship is primary to reality.
• We live in a world characterized by dynamic interdependence.
• We live in a universe of experience, and this includes non-humans as well as humans.
• Value is co-extensive with experience and reality.
• Every creature has value and deserves ethical consideration, apart from human interests.
• Creativity and freedom are essential to reality, including the nonhuman world.
• The future is open, and our actions make a difference in shaping the world to come.
Affirmations: God’s nature
• God is present everywhere and in all things.
• God experiences everything and God’s ongoing experience of the world is constantly growing in relationship to an evolving universe.
• Although God influences all things, God’s power is best understood in terms of love rather than coercion or domination.
• In all things, God works for good – even life’s most challenging situations.
• God’s power is persuasive and invitational, a call forward, as the source of possibilities and ideals appropriate to every occasion of experience and our whole lifetimes.
• The future is open for God as well as us.
• God needs us to be partners in God’s dream of world transformation.
Affirmations: our spiritual journeys
• God is present in our lives as the “still small voice” speaking in our “sighs too deep for words.”
• Our spiritual practices bring God’s unique and personal visions for our lives and the world to consciousness.
• When we pray, we align ourselves with Gods’ vision for us and experience greater divine energy/presence.
• Our prayers, in an interdependent universe, create a field of force that enables God to be more active in our lives and the lives of those for whom we pray.
• Our prayers create new possibilities for divine and human activities and may influence the nonhuman world in amazing ways.
While you may find yourself easily nodding your head to much of the above, realize that many of the statements above challenge long-held classic Christian beliefs. The truth is that many Christians today have one foot in ORT and the other in classic Christianity. Their stated beliefs mirror the tenets challenged by the statements above while their experience simultaneously resonates with those same statements. In my experience as a human being who has moved through and away from dominant classic Christian beliefs that have reigned supreme for at least 1,000 years, and as a pastor who has led many through the same journey, I can tell you that the deconstruction-reconstruction process is very difficult. Prayer becomes collateral damage in that process. If God isn’t “up there” then where am I directing my prayers? If God isn’t omnipotent in the way I’ve been told to believe, what is the value of my prayers? These questions are the “why” behind this series. I believe Epperly’s book will be very helpful in moving into a renewed passion for prayer. My teachings might help, too. Might...
It might help to remember that Jesus was a fan of prayer. He integrated solitude into his rhythm. He encouraged us to ask, seek, knock – all directed toward God. His model for prayer: attunement more than atonement. His final prayer: that his followers would be connected – one with God like he was – and that they would continue his work. We can answer Jesus’ prayer by our decision to grow. Will you so choose?
A Model for Prayer
Our loving, supportive, holy ABBA:
Your presence is here and everywhere!
May your Divine Commonwealth come!
May your will be done through us!
We are grateful for the gift of food
and work for all to eat their fill.
May we work for a world
where mutual grace and respect abound.
May we foster SHALOM everywhere.
Strengthen us for the work to which we’re called.
Amen. May it be so.
Taking a cue from the unexpected twists and turns from the book of Jonah, we invited CrossWalkers to come share stories of the unexpected in their lives. Such good, diverse stories! So fun!
What can God do? How powerful is God? How much does God know? How does God interact with the created world?
What do we learn about God in the story of Jonah? Given that the entire purpose of the tale is to hold a mirror to Israel’s face to point out their hateful prejudice toward other human beings as a contradiction of God’s love for everyone, we might just simply say that God is graceful. That’s a good conclusion all the time. Love is the defining characteristic of God – a higher, deeper, broader, stronger love than we can imagine. God’s love forces us to grapple with some assumptions about God that appear in Jonah’s tale.
The story has God telling Jonah to go to Nineveh, but Jonah goes in the opposite direction, toward Tarshish. God then sends a storm to wreck the ship. The sailors repent, losing their cargo, and finally, reluctantly, cast Jonah overboard (a paradox: they were more reverent of the gods than Jonah). The storm immediately ceased. Jonah is rescued from the watery grave by a great fish who swallows him at God’s command.
After Jonah has the opportunity to write a lovely poem inside the pitch-black belly of the fish filled with all sorts of stomach acid and no oxygen – for three nights – God directs the huge dogfish to vomit Jonah out on shore. Dogfish are well known for vomiting not in the ocean, but onto dry land. Not really – this is yet another reminder of how purposely ridiculous this story is. God appealed yet again to Jonah to go to Nineveh, which he did.
After giving the worst sermon ever preached, the Ninevites repent, and God relents. Jonah, of course, gets pissed about God’s grace, focusing anger on a plant’s life and death (an act of God’s direction again) rather than the beauty of God’s grace and Nineveh’s salvation.
What is this story saying about the character and nature of God? God apparently can change the weather instantly, can call a large fish to find and swallow Jonah and somehow keep the fish’s intestinal track from killing him, and then causing him to vomit him up on queue onto dry land, break the plan to destroy an entire city, cause a plant to grow, call a worm into action, make the sun a little hotter so that the plant withers – all to teach Jonah a lesson. Yet somehow it was impossible to affect Jonah’s mind enough to do what was asked in the first place. The stakes were high, too. The sailors lost their cargo. The Ninevites’ lives were on the line – all hinging on Jonah. It sure seems that if God were all powerful, that would include the capacity to make Jonah do his bidding.
Of course, the book of Jonah is pure fiction and therefore perhaps we shouldn’t get too caught up in the details. Yet it remains a true story of human nature, and presents us the opportunity to wonder what kind of God the original audience believed in, and invites us to wonder what kind of God we believe in.
Maui lost Lahaina as hurricane-force winds fanned the flamed from one house and community to the next until nearly everything was wiped out. We know how wildfire works and know that such fires can cover the length of a football field in seconds. What stubborn Jonah was responsible for such destruction? Who failed to throw him to sea to avert disaster? And what kind of God would allow such destruction in the first place if God had the power to calm the wind at will? Without a doubt, unless you are emotionally dead there certainly must have been times in your life – maybe right now – when you wondered why God didn’t show up to answer your cry for help, to calm the winds of destruction, to stave off cancer or COVID, to keep the economy moving forward, to end racism in a snap, to eliminate slavery of all forms worldwide immediately, and to move the SF Giants into first place with a wide margin over the Dodgers somewhere toward the end of September (no need to be picky about the date so long as there’s no way the Dodgers can catch us – we can be reasonable, right?).
Recall that the Bible was written over centuries of time by a wide variety of authors living in very different cultures and contexts than our own. They lived in a primitive time when it was assumed that the gods controlled nearly everything. And yet in the Bible we see clear tension in God’s character – sometimes willing and able to do literally anything, and at other times not. At times it appears that everything was God’s plan, and at other times God changes God’s mind, even going back on God’s own word. This reminds us that we are people in process. Each age has the freedom and responsibility to do their best to understand who God is to the best of their ability. That’s where we are today. Jonah does not solve the problem. God is graceful (unless you were among the sailors or their customers or that big fish that got seasick or the plant or the worm that lost its meal and probably died in the blazing sun). How are we to think about all of this?
I’ve already mentioned that the Bible needs to be taken in context – we need to let it be what it is – a profoundly rich library from hundreds and hundreds of years of history, thousands of years before our time. Some new information has come out, however, that reminds us of something else that is related to the Bible: sometimes our struggle with a text is a problem of our traditional understanding being off from the start. Much of Western Christian theology was heavily influenced by a Western, Platonic based worldview. That’s a big problem, especially when considering Hebrew texts which are rooted in the Eastern tradition. We assume that the ancient writers thought about power the same way we do. They didn’t. They didn’t think about omnipotence the way we do. Further, no modern theologian or philosopher worth their salt believes that “God” truly has total power to do anything God wants to do – it simply doesn’t hold up to simple logic. The Jewish creation story does not have God creating out of nothing, either even though that has been drilled into our theologies by tradition.
Open and relational theology offers an alternative approach that is biblically supported, philosophically sensible, and rings true with our experience. Rather than God commanding or controlling anything, God works with and in creation to move toward deeper shalom for all. So, in the Jonah folktale, this would work out as God’s presence being one of multiple factors leading to a potential outcome. God doesn’t have full control, however, so long as there are other variables in play (and there always are). The interaction with Jonah is illustrative of this dynamic. God makes clear what he wants the prophet to do, yet Jonah does the opposite. God doesn’t override Jonah’s agency. Rather, as Jonah makes his decisions, God adjusts God’s moves like an ongoing chess game. God doesn’t know what will happen because it hasn’t happened yet. God is one (very significant but not controlling) character in the story. Jonah and all the others all have their play, too. What would have happened if the Ninevites refused to repent? Would God smite them? Or would God give them a pass since Jonah was so sucky?
We have decisions to make regarding the character and nature of God. If you prefer the traditional model where God is in control and in charge, you’re welcome to it. But the story of Jonah doesn’t fully validate that, does it? Neither does your lived experience or the history of humanity overall.
As we consider Jonah and the influence it had on other books and films (Pinnochio and Moby Dick), it makes us think differently about Jonah itself. There is a much deeper current running through Jonah than a surface reading yields.
Week one of four: we begin with a little academic overview, and then launch into some Lectio Divina. Special shout out to Vintage High School Junior Lauren Rasler for her excellent help reading the story!
This week we were thrilled to offer Camp CrossWalk for our CrossWalk kids! Monday through Friday, our younger CrossWalkers had a blast while learning cool songs, hearing great stories, making amazing crafts, eating incredible snacks, and playing super fun games! Why do we do this? Simply because we love the kids and want to help them have an incredible life. We believe the way of life taught and modeled by Jesus guides them toward the best life for themselves, all others, and the world itself. Here is a recap of the biblical stories we shared with the kids this week, along with the point we were trying to make.
Monday we talked about Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15:11-32 (which should be renamed the Prodigal God). The story is about a son who dishonors his father, himself, and others in the worst ways imaginable. When he finally hit rock bottom, he realized he would be better off as a servant for his father than where he was. He went back, ready to apologize and ask to be nothing more than a servant. Much to his surprise, however, his father was looking for him, hoping that he would one day return. When the son showed up, the father ran to him, embraced him, cleaned him up, fully restored him to his former status, and threw a party to celebrate. This is how God is toward us. Always loving. Always welcoming. Always wanting the best for us. Always with us as we move forward to the depths of wellbeing.
Tuesday we talked about Jesus inviting people to follow him, saying that he would make them fishers of men and women (Mark 1:17-18). Sounds kinda creepy at first glance, doesn’t it? Sometimes its portrayed that way – Jesus turning people into his minions to sell his snake oil door to door. The better way to understand this that we shared with the kids is that Jesus is inviting us to follow him in encouraging people to embrace the way of love in their lives and in the world. What Jesus was saying is what God does all the time, wooing us toward the way of love for ourselves, for others, and for the whole world. Love is the path that seeks wellbeing for everyone and everything on the planet. God always calls all people and all things toward love, for love.
Wednesday, we talked about Jesus’ parable of The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). In this story, a man made the fateful decision to walk a perilous journey from Jerusalem down to Jericho alone. This was unwise on his part as that journey was known for high crime rates. Sure enough, he was mugged, beaten to unconsciousness, and left for dead. A priest came upon the scene, but instead of helping, he walked on the other side of the road. A religious man came upon the scene next and avoided the man similarly. Finally, a deeply loathed man came along who everybody in Jesus’ audience thought was an awful person. But instead of being awful, the man stopped, attended to the beaten man’s wounds, hoisted him onto his donkey, and took him to a hotel where he put him up and paid for his care. The point of the story is that the way of love is active, and everybody can do it. The story also suggests that religiosity isn’t worth much if it doesn’t love people who clearly need it. Perhaps you are starting to catch the theme here...
Thursday we taught about the story of Jesus and Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10). Zach was short and had probably heard about it his whole life. That may have contributed to him choosing a job that made him an outcast – a tax collector. In those days, the Roman Empire would contract with locals to collect taxes from the people. Tax collectors were notorious for hitting people with bigger tax bills than they owed simply because they could get away with it. Zacchaeus was loathed by his peers – he was a sell-out to their Roman oppressor and cheated his own countrymen for profit. People had to deal with him, but they didn’t want to. When Jesus saw him, he took the way of love, speaking value into him from the start. Hearing love from another changed Zacchaeus’ life. We never know how our loving attitudes and behaviors might contribute to their wellbeing and restoration. Love is powerful.
On Friday, we looked at the story of Jesus walking on water (Matthew 14:22-33), freaking the disciples out, and inviting Peter to come out and join him. Peter walked on water toward Jesus, but as soon as the disciple’s eyes paid more attention to the wind and waves, he began to sink. Jesus rescued him, taking him to the boat, saying, essentially that if he had kept his eyes on him – had faith – he wouldn’t have sunk. Did this story literally happen as it is written, or was it fictionalized history to make a statement about the power of faith when faced with fear? Who cares if it was a literal story – the point is true.
Lots of good stories here. So many things to take away. What’s nudging you?
We are all a mix of wheat and weeds, yet God shows up to us endlessly with redemptive possibilities.
Enjoy this interview of author Alex Brown (The Hidden History of Napa), hosted by CrossWalker Stephen Corley and Sheri Smith, Director of the Napa History Museum.
Enjoy this robust discussion among four amazing CrossWalk women regarding the story of Hagar and Ishmael.
The influences of fear, greed, and power will always be present. These forces have influenced the most egregious suffering on humanity and the planet itself. These forces are always at play in politics, even in a perfect democracy like ours... Sigh...
But there is a greater influence that has been and always we will present. Call it the Spirit, God, our Ground of Being, Higher Power, or simply Love. This influence has led to more beauty, more freedom, more inclusivity wherever it goes. This influence is at work no matter who is in charge, even amid horror. This influence is winning, even though there are times of setbacks usually due to the influence of fear, greed, and power.
The Jewish people tapped into the greater influence and wrote about their experiences that we can read for ourselves in the Bible. The Jewish creation myths in the first few chapters of Genesis make this clear: the God moving and working in creation viewed everything as good, and human beings as very good! This contrasted with other theological perspectives that portrayed “the gods” as beings to be feared, entities that seemed motivated by greed and power just like humans. This Jewish way of seeing allowed them to move into the world differently. Yet, just like us, they struggled to welcome and include, limiting the rights of women, orphans, and immigrants, and despising certain other people groups.
Yet something was at work that influenced these ancestors of our faith into a different way of seeing everything. I recently saw a Facebook post from the Executive Minister of Evergreen, the region CrossWalk calls home within ABC-USA. It simply states something obvious in the Bible - viewpoints and policies changed, softened over time to become more inclusive, not less.
Ten to fifteen years after Jesus died, there was a rising Jewish star named Saul who was adamantly opposed to the Jewish sect of Jesus followers. He was so filled with hatred that he gained authority to hunt them down to arrest them and bring them to “justice” in Jerusalem where he likely hoped some of them would be stoned. In his view, they were apostate – worthy of the wrath of man mirroring the certain wrath of God to come. Like many committed Jewish leaders, he had strong opinions about who God loved and who God didn’t. Non-Jewish people, Samaritans, the uncircumcised, women, people who didn’t conform to dominant sexual identities – these and others were not loved by God as far as Saul was concerned, and therefore he needn’t love them, either. Apparently, religions themselves – and their adherents – can be overly influenced by fear, greed, and power. Jesus challenged all three of those things, which is why he was killed. All of that changed for Saul while he was enroute to rustle up some of Jesus’ followers. He was stopped in his tracks on that road to Damascus by a spiritual experience of a blinding light shining down on him, with a voice self-identifying as Jesus. Saul was blind in many ways, and it took some time for him to see clearly – maybe for the first time in his life. Ironically, the once hyper critical legalist became one of the greatest advocates for grace. Once barely tolerating Gentiles, Saul changed his name to Paul to foster greater trust in them, becoming known as The Apostle to the Gentiles.
On one occasion where legalism crept into a new Christian community (fear, greed, and power still loomed), Paul directly spoke into the errant vision that was dividing people and calling into question God’s love for them:
For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.
And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir. – Galatians 3:26-29; 4:6-7 NLT
This movement of the Spirit toward greater inclusion and love influenced people over and over again. We now live in a time when we are enjoying the great advances that once seemed impossible. While it is tragic that we still have a long way to go, let us celebrate how far we’ve come. There will be setbacks to freedom and inclusion, influenced by fear, greed, and power. Yet we, as people of faith, join the greater influence of Love that will continue to improve and enhance the world and the people in it – all toward shalom/peace/deep wellbeing for all.
I want to celebrate the fact that our denomination, American Baptist Churches USA, re-affirmed our commitment to gender equality at their recent Biennial in Puerto Rico. Rev. Nikita G. McCallister is now the President of ABC-USA until the next Biennial. That’s awesome. Oh! And she’s also black – double reason for celebration! Fear, greed, and power are at play, but the greater influence of Love is winning.
When I first arrived at CrossWalk, if you were gay, you kept it to yourself, and most likely you did not come to church here. Now we are known as a safe space for our LGBTQ neighbors! There will be setbacks in our culture regarding equality, equity, and inclusion due to fear, greed, and power – those forces are real. But the greater influence is on the side of Love and is winning.
For many in our country, there is concern about immigration, and a fear that when so many foreigners enter our country, we’re doomed. I simply don’t see it that way. I have many friends in the community who have come to the United States from south of the border. Many of these are Executive Directors working to make Napa a stronger, healthy, more vibrant community. They love their heritage, but they love being in the United States because of the dream it represents. A more recent person that has become very important to me immigrated to the US at six years old. Her mother, aunt and uncle, her siblings and cousins all crammed into a two-bedroom apartment to try and make a go of living in the United States. Her mom and aunt and uncle worked multiple jobs – not just for themselves but so that their kids would have a better life than they would have had in the Philippines. Diana and her sister graduated from one of the highest ranked public schools in the country in SoCal, and both went on to graduate from college. She and my son, Noah, met at Pepperdine and remained friends after graduation. After she returned from teaching in South Korea as a Fulbright scholar for a year, she and Noah reconnected. One of Diana’s dreams is to use her skills and education to help Filipino immigrants become fully engaged citizens of the United States. She also hopes to do something to help her community in the Philippines thrive. Diana is no marauder. She is a contributor. While there will always be some who are not well and do not mean well for others, I believe the vast majority of those who come into the US simply see the dream and want a part of it. The sooner folks who look like me can embrace that – and them – the sooner we can get be rid of the racial divide that persists. The fear of the unknown other, greed and power are real, powerful forces at work to be sure. But the greater influence of Love is beckoning us forward to help us become a more perfect Union. The Spirit invites all the to the table in Love and for the sake of Love.
We are a people of faith loved into being, loved forward, loved home. Sometimes the forces of fear, greed, and power will overwhelm us for a moment or season. But these are not the forces that create life – they destroy it. We are being called to be co-creators in this life, in this world, in this nation, in this community, in this church, in our relationships, in ourselves, all supported by the Love that will never let us go.
Before Jesus sent the disciples into the countryside to help spread (and be) Good News, Matthew has him giving a sort of commencement address. But it seems kind of tone deaf and not very Jesus-like. Why do we make of this? What takeaways are we left with?
This week’s focus in Borg’s book is on implementing practices that Jesus taught and modeled as a way of living into the faith. At CrossWalk, we emphasize this a lot, represented in Jesus’ stretching, kneeling in service, gracing those who were experiencing injustice, connecting with God through spiritual disciplines, and being an incarnate presence with others in deep community. The fruit of all these movements working together is the abundant life Jesus promised. Following Jesus pays off for everyone (and the planet, too).
I am following the Lectionary this week, focusing on the calling of Abram and Sarai in Genesis, and Matthew the tax collector in the Gospel of Matthew, followed by a related miracle story. Excellent and brief commentary on those passages is copied below for your perusal.
What sticks with me in these stories is the dynamic of the invitation offered and the participation involved to accept such an invitation. Particularly sticky is Jesus’ comment about coming to heal the sick and not the well. To me, this raises questions about our self-awareness and arrogance in relation to our capacity to receive and accept the ongoing invitations of the Spirit of God throughout our lives. How many times have I slipped into the role of the pride-filled onlooker scoffing at others, only to hear that when I am in such a mental space, Jesus really doesn’t have anything for me, because I am self-duped into thinking I am “well”.
May we all walk in humility to know that we are all works in process, always in need of help to help us live and be well through each stage of life. May we be humble enough to perceive the ongoing invitation extended by God to us for our wellbeing. May we be humble enough to see such an invitation as pure gift to receive and employ. May we be humble enough to express our gratitude for it at every turn.
Second Week after Pentecost (Year A): Genesis 12:1-9 and Matthew 9:9-13,18-26
Big Picture:
1) The season of “Ordinary Time” begins this week in earnest — not “ordinary” in the sense of commonplace, but rather in the sense of “ordinal,” or “related to a series.” Think of Ordinary Time as a six-month series, a step-by-step pilgrimage through the story of Jesus’ ministry, with Matthew as our guide (next year it’ll be Mark, and the next, Luke; John gets sprinkled in throughout the three-year cycle).
2) The Christian Year is divided almost in half: about six months of high holidays (Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Eastertide), and about six months of Ordinary Time. Like the tides coming in and going out, or a pair of lungs inhaling and exhaling, these two sides of the Christian Year go back and forth, back and forth, the festival seasons of Christmas and Easter giving way to an extended season of everyday life, and then vice versa. And so we begin this week, appropriately enough, with two classic stories, centuries apart, of being called to a life of following God: Abram’s (later “Abraham”) and Matthew’s.
3) The passage from Genesis 12 begins the saga of Abraham, the story that in many ways sets in motion the history of the Jewish people. Genesis 1 - 11 covers the so-called “primeval history,” a collection of ancient accounts and fables gathered from different eras and authors, each with a distinctive mythological style: the first story of creation (“Let there be light!”); the second, quite different story of creation (Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel); the story of Noah’s family, the flood, and the ark (“I have set my bow in the clouds…”); and the story of the Tower of Babel (“because there God confused the language of all the earth”). With this “primeval history” as background, here in Genesis 12, the book’s focus and style markedly shifts: for the next ten chapters, we’ll hear the saga of Abraham and Sarah.
4) Matthew 1 - 8 lays out the stories of Jesus’ birth; his baptism many years later; his temptation in the wilderness; his first major sermon (the so-called “Sermon on the Mount”); and several stories of Jesus healing. Before that major sermon, the initial disciples Jesus calls are fishermen on the shores of the Sea of Galilee — but here in chapter 9, he shifts gears and calls Matthew, a tax collector. Looking ahead, Jesus is on the verge of sending out the twelve disciples to heal and preach (Matthew 10). Matthew is apparently the twelfth disciple recruited into the fold.
5) Finally, Matthew’s early audiences would have been at least loosely familiar with the purity practices recorded in Hebrew scripture: menstruating women were allegedly “unclean” (Leviticus 12:1-8; 15:19-30), as were corpses (Numbers 19:11-13), such that anyone and anything they touched also became “unclean.” And for their part, tax collectors were widely despised as instruments of the Roman imperial occupiers and their collaborators. Indeed, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses “tax collectors” as a shorthand for people lacking in virtue: “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” (Matthew 5:46). As we’ll see, Jesus overturns all of these ideas in this week’s story, and bearing them in mind helps highlight the tensions driving the narrative: Is he really eating with tax collectors — and recruiting one to be a disciple? Did that “unclean” woman really just touch him, the Holy Teacher? And did he really just touch a stranger’s corpse?
Scripture:
1) Jesus has been on the move throughout the countryside, and here he comes across Matthew sitting in his “tax booth” (or “toll booth”) (Matthew 9:9). Matthew was likely a kind of customs official, charging a “toll” or “tax” on goods being transported to market; for example, such booths were sometimes set up along roadsides near fishing villages. Tax collectors were widely unpopular, not only because the taxes themselves were onerous, and not only because such funds supported the Roman Empire and its collaborators — but also because tax collectors were often suspected of charging more than required, and pocketing the difference.
2) It’s striking, then, that Jesus would call such an “undesirable” to be his twelfth disciple; it certainly raised eyebrows among some Pharisees, as did Jesus’ custom of eating with “tax collectors and sinners” (Pharisees were a local religious group, in many ways similar to the movement gathering around Jesus, and therefore a key rival in that local context). But it’s also worth thinking about that Jesus’ other disciples — many of whom, after all, were fisherman! — likely didn’t care much for tax collectors! Indeed, the gist of the overall story suggests that by calling Matthew, Jesus is driving home a point intended not only for outside observers, but also for his own followers.
3) And what is that point? In a nutshell, that no-one is disqualified from becoming part of the movement — and indeed that Jesus is most interested in people who need help, just as a physician is most interested in people who are sick. As Matthew has been making clear all along in these opening chapters, Jesus is a healer: he comes not to reward those who are already well, but rather to help us become well in the first place.
4) But not, please note, to “make us well” without our active participation. A woman Jesus meets on the road serves as a definitive, iconic role model: she has been bleeding for twelve years (and so likely has been ostracized for twelve years), and yet she approaches Jesus with a fierce form of hope, saying to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well” (Matthew 9:21). The underlying word here — translated as “be made well” in the NRSV — is the Greek word, sózó (pronounced “SODE-zo,” rhymes with “ROAD-so”), which can also be translated, “save,” “heal,” “preserve,” or “rescue.” And in pursuit of this salvation, this healing, this rescue, the woman is nothing less than audacious. Not only does she make her way through the entourage of disciples in order to touch Jesus’ garment, she pushes through the words of Leviticus, too, the ancient ideas that not only is she “unclean,” but anything she touches will become “unclean” — including the one whose clothing she reaches out to touch!
5) It’s worth pausing here to let this sink in: a supposedly “unclean” outcast, a woman, boldly touches a Holy Teacher without his permission, apparently desecrating him in the process. The disciples must have been wide-eyed, stunned. Will Jesus be angry? Has he been defiled? Jesus stops, turns around, and confronts the woman…
6) …and without skipping a beat, praises her for her boldness, her daring, her persistence, her faith: “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well” (again, the word is sózó). And this formulation, too, is yet another surprise, since one might well draw the conclusion that Jesus’ power is the reason the woman is healed (Matthew 9:22). But on the contrary, Jesus draws attention not to his power, but to hers. Your faith has made you well…
7) And so Jesus continues on his way to the house of a leader of a local synagogue, a man whose daughter has just died. With a boldness that mirrors the woman’s faith, the man, too, believes that Jesus’ touch can make his daughter “live” (here the underlying word is zaó (pronounced “ZAH-oh”), the same word in “One does not live by bread alone” (Matthew 4:4)). When he arrives at the house, Jesus disperses the mourners, takes the girl’s corpse by the hand — and she gets up. She lives. Here again, with his actions Jesus dissolves supposed barriers: between “clean” and “unclean” (Numbers 19:11-13), between life and death. Thus the story foreshadows Jesus’ death and resurrection, as well as the broader promised resurrection to come.
8) The idea that “faith” is a kind of audacity is at least as old as the story of Abraham and Sarah, a saga which begins with God’s call to “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). At least two things stand out in this ancient story: first, that it begins with God delivering a single, powerful word — “Go” — summoning Abram and Sarai (later Abraham and Sarah) to leave what’s familiar and set out on an adventure. And second, that the purpose of this calling isn’t only for their benefit; it’s ultimately for everyone: “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).
Takeaways:
1) As Matthew arranges them, these episodes share a common theme: Jesus’ barrier-dissolving, healing, life-giving ministry, an approach to “salvation” that defies conventional categories. Is Jesus more interested in “eternal life” or “life here and now”? Sózó carries both connotations at once, effectively debunking the distinction. God saves the righteous and damns sinners — right? Nope. Jesus comes to save sinners, he says, the outsiders, those who need help and healing. Even tax collectors! For Christians today, this means: Even and especially people you look down on, or distrust, or otherwise disrespect. While we’re counting them out, Jesus is inviting them in.
2) Likewise, just as Jesus dissolves ethnic and sociopolitical barriers between Jews and Gentiles (a major theme in Matthew’s Gospel), he also dissolves barriers of contempt and marginalization within religious communities. For Christians today, then, the task is most definitely not to criticize Jewish practices (thereby ironically falling into the contempt trap all over again!), but rather to identify and root out Christian practices that implicitly or explicitly divide and marginalize, creating “outsiders” and “insiders.”
3) These stories also provide a glimpse of how Jesus thinks about scripture. He engages holy writ not with uncritical obeisance, as if every word in Leviticus or Numbers (or any other book) is to be taken at face value, but rather with wise rabbinical judgment, carefully weighing which passages are most important, which passages help throw light on other passages — and then applying those insights at the right time, in the right place, and in the right way (remember: “love your neighbor as yourself” is from Leviticus, too! (Leviticus 19:18)).
4) “Faith” is framed here as a form of audacity, a mode of barrier-dissolving boldness — and the woman with a hemorrhage is cast as a prime exemplar, a role model no less impressive than the local religious leader. The two make quite a pair: on one hand, a long-suffering outcast; on the other, a consummate insider. And in both cases, an audacious trust Jesus calls “faith,” a pivotal power possessed by each and every human being: “your faith has made you well [sózó]…”
5) Finally, a key hazard to avoid in coming to grips with these stories is the mistaken idea that any apparent absence of a “cure” means afflicted people are to blame for their “lack of faith.” Indeed, the fact that sózó and zaó encompass such a wide range of meanings — from salvation to health to resurrection to thriving to restoration-to-community — should stand as a guardrail against this misinterpretation. Healing comes in many different forms, physical, emotional, social, and otherwise, and we can trust that our most daring, faithful efforts will be met with God’s merciful healing touch, regardless of the form that healing takes in any given case. For that healing, after all, is the good news of the Gospel in these stories: Follow me. Yes, you. I know, I know: I know all about your past; but I’m calling you to a new future. Take heart, my children, reach out, push through, and dare to touch the edge of my cloak — for I am already reaching out to you, and will yet take your hand, both today and in the end. And when I do, I will call on you to stand up, to go (“Go!”), to set out, to embark on an adventure. In a word: to rise.
Enjoy Gordon Waggoner's creative, thought-provoking journey through one of the most puzzling - and uncomfortable - stories of Jesus, the cleansing of the Temple.
This week’s teaching dovetails nicely with Marcus Borg’s chapter on Sin and Salvation from his book, The Heart of Christianity. The root meaning behind the word “save” that provides foundation for the word salvation is “to heal”. To make well. To make whole. To bring harmony where there was discord. To bring peace – not simply the absence of conflict but something much deeper – a sense of everything working together for the wellbeing of the whole. Salvation for an individual would be that a person is deeply well and whole. Salvation for a relationship would mean that the relationship was deeply well and whole. Applied to communities and countries, it would mean that all involved feel the same deep peace and wellbeing, a fairness for all. Saving the planet would mean that it is well and whole, too, operating in health and harmony. The salvation sought, I believe, is at the core of every person’s deepest desire. Deeper than the self-centered goals of the Western world that focus on personal success and accumulation without significant regard for the impact of their pursuit on other people and the planet itself. I believe God’s invitation to Abraham to begin something new was an attempt to foster a way of relating to ourselves, each other, the planet, and the divine that leads toward that wellbeing. The single word for that state in Hebrew is “shalom”. The Christian phrases “eternal life”, salvation, abundant life, and Kingdom of God (among others) refer to the same thing.
The dominant thinking that people in our culture think of when they hear the words “sin” and “salvation” concern the afterlife: get your sins forgiven by God so that you will be welcomed into heaven. In this view, God is the Forgiver and Heaven Provider. While this is not entirely wrong, it is so woefully incomplete in its scope that it is nearly false given its paucity. If we were to write an essay on a test addressing what salvation is about, and our answer was that the whole thing is about dealing with the forgiveness of sins, we would get an “F” on that test, where “F” does not stand for “fantastic” but rather failure because it is such an incomplete understanding. And yet this is the primary understanding for many people today. No wonder people are leaving the faith at an accelerating rate that has not been seen in our country since its founding! What a boring story!
Borg points out that the earliest answer to such a question regarding salvation referred to the Exodus – the people of Israel wanted, needed, and received God’s help in being liberated from their Egyptian slaveholders. God was Israel’s Liberator. Centuries later, the Jewish people found themselves in exile and longed to return home, which God helped happen in time – another facet of salvation for them. God was Israel’s Guide. God as Forgiver was present, for sure, but one among several other understandings as well.
I believe that God – the “More” than flesh and blood – is firstly known by love and welcome, so the first and very common rendering resonates with me, especially when I have become aware of my attitudes and behaviors that have led to the disturbance of shalom (a good way to think about the definition of sin). I have also at times in my life felt enslaved to certain thoughts and behaviors that I did not choose or welcome – they were the reality I lived within without my input. Family systems, popular culture, our political ethos may at times feel like enslavement – no way out. I have experienced God freeing me to varying degrees from the shackles inherent in a variety of systems that constrain us. I have also felt very much disconnected from my True Self at times over the course of my life when I knew who I saw in the mirror did not reflect who I really am in the depths of my being. I experienced God wooing and nudging me back home to myself. All these images therefore resonate.
Jesus Christ is often referred to as Savior by those who follow him. What was he saving us from? We can use the framework above and see the relationship to Forgiver, Liberator, and Guide. But if we look at his life, we may find that he was about saving us in myriad ways. It is important to note that Roman Emperors used the term “Savior” for themselves, that Rome’s Empire and its way was truly Good News for all those who came under its subjection, and that they saw themselves as the promoters and providers of healing and wellbeing. When Jesus spoke of Good News, he was not just saying something about God and himself, he was also taking a shot at Rome and its Emperor. Jesus was a provocateur, wondering where shalom was “off” and offering ways to usher it back more fully.
So, what did Jesus do and how did it serve to save?
In the Gospel of John, we see that the salvation Jesus was about was eternal life, abundant life, for all. Not heaven – though the hope for afterlife and all it meant shows up in John – the life Jesus came to teach and model was one that was life in God as Walter Rauschenbusch would say was his goal. Life in God – Life in the Spirit – yielded all sorts of good fruit individually and corporately. What he taught and did helped foster the very life made available to us.
In John’s Gospel remembrance of Jesus, we identify five major movements his incorporated. He stretched – he was a lifelong learner who at times challenged long-held ways of thinking. Having our paradigms deconstructed and reconstructed is liberating and guides us toward wellbeing – learning is a form of salvation from constricting thoughts and ideas, and Jesus was all about it. How have you chosen to stretch in the past year? How will you choose to stretch in the year before you? How might this help foster more shalom for you and all others?
He kneeled in service to others, offering healing (a literal translation of “saving”), food, touch – all of these met real needs with real hands. There is something amazing about service – when we serve, the one we serve is sometimes (maybe often) not the greatest beneficiary. The one who serves often walks away feeling more blessed than those they served to bless! How did you serve others over the past year? How will you serve others in the coming year? How might such service bring about more of a holistic wellbeing for all involved?
Jesus also graced people who were severely lacking it because it had been withheld from them. Grace happened when he intermingled with lepers and healed them, when he gave sight to a man born blind, when he forgave a woman [who was set up in order to get] caught in adultery, and when he invited himself to dinner at Zacchaeus the tax collectors’ house. While these are individual stories, these encounters pointed to a vision for all people to be treated similarly. The word for this is justice. Jesus spoke and taught words that called for justice and how to promote it nonviolently. To follow Jesus today calls us to offer grace to individuals and justice for people groups who are not treated fairly. How have you responded to this call to be a conduit of grace and justice? This is an obvious way of bringing shalom into the world.
Jesus broke away to connect with God regularly. He undoubtedly spent time in deep reflection and listening – what we call mindfulness and contemplation today. How have you spent time for such things in the past year? How will you in the year to come? Such stillness serves to limit the constant distractions that clog our ears, making it challenging at times to hear the still small voice of God which, in one translation, is the sound of silence. Sometimes the only way we can become whole and well is to first be quiet enough to notice where we aren’t whole and well.
Jesus spent his public ministry in the incarnate community of faith – people who knew and wanted to foster the Spirit in and between them. There is salvation in community – from feeling isolated, from being siloed, from hubris, from everything that happens when we try to live solo. There is a wholeness that is very difficult – if not impossible – to experience apart from community. NOTE! The United States is built on radical individualism. To be in genuine community may feel incredibly unnerving to many US citizens because it calls us to think “we” more than “me”.
A final note about wellbeing and wholeness. All parts of our story are still with us, and everything belongs in our story. I do not believe that God orchestrates what happens in our lives, so “everything belongs” does not mean that it was predestined or foreordained to happen and therefore we should shut up and deal with it. Nope. I don’t believe God controls because God by love, and love does not control. What I mean is that there are parts of our lives that we keep tightly locked away because they are deeply painful. We ignore and deny their part in our story, pretending that in doing so we are robbing those chapters of their power. That is a lie. All the chapters are part of our lives and continue to speak into our lives. They inform us. They can also serve us toward shalom if we incorporate them carefully and appropriately. Since all the chapters are in you whether you like it or not – like the Bible itself! – perhaps it is wise to give them their place at the table. Doing so has helped me see areas of my life where I was really disconnected from wellbeing. But looking is terrifying because we are afraid of what we may see about ourselves. Yet the Spirit of God is love. The Spirit is a Good Shepherd. The Spirit is a loving parent who wants to help us heal, to find resolution, to identify lies we’ve embraced about ourselves and live in truth instead. Facing chapters we want to remain closed requires tremendous courage, and sometimes professional help from therapists. For me, the process has helped me identify lies that told me I wasn’t good enough, that I wasn’t loveable, that I was not capable, not smart, not talented, not worthy, not forgivable, a failure, a wimp, and on and on. Looking at the chapters not only requires courage, it takes work to sit with and examine what we’ve taken away from those chapters and determine what is truth and what is fiction. However difficult, the process serves to make us whole, which means God is with us, because at the end of the day, such shalom is the end and means of all that the Spirit of God is about.
May you discover anew that God is indeed Forgiver, Liberator, and Guide, as well as hundreds and thousands of other roles all working to lead us individually and collectively toward deep beauty, truth, wellbeing, peace, and love.
What follows is my annual State of Communion, where I give some highlights of what CrossWalk has been up to in our fostering salvation in its fullest sense here in Napa and beyond.
2023 State of Communion
Dear CrossWalkers,
Our goal as a church is to be a catalyst for the wellbeing of everyone and everything, everywhere, starting with those within closest reach. This is what love invites us to do. This is what cultivating shalom means – for individuals, families, communities, our city, state, nation, and world. As stewards of creation, it means we also do our part to foster the wellbeing of the planet itself – another expression of shalom. Our approach is to do our best individually and corporately to follow the model and teaching of Jesus. The Way he lived life in relationship with God/Abba helped manifest the best of life for all in his time and space. When we incorporate those same movements – Stretching, Kneeling, Gracing, Connecting, and Incarnating – we usher in the best of life in our time and space. Here are some of the ways we moved like Jesus since our last Annual Meeting:
We Stretched.
· Kids. Our Children’s Ministry continued to grow, benefitting from customized curriculum that fits CrossWalk’s progressive ethos and theology. It takes our Children’s Ministry Director, Lynne Shaw, significant time and talent to create a God-is-Love based offering that kids will enjoy, and parents will approve. Each week features a faith-related lesson/story, a craft, a snack, and activities all tied together by the same theme which is determined each month. Thanks to an incredibly generous grant from which we will benefit for 10 years, we were able to hire Emma Matheny as our WeeCare Lead Caregiver. Having a qualified, caring person like Emma makes it a whole lot easier for parents to drop off their kids. A huge shout out goes to retired teacher Renee Pelagi who covered Lynne while she was with me on Sabbatical! And another huge thanks to the faithful, loving volunteers who invest love and energy into our littler CrossWalkers! We intend to expand the program very soon to accommodate continued growth and programming needs for older kids.
· Adults. Because of my Sabbatical last year, the teaching portion of our weekly service was exceptionally broad and diverse! I received much positive feedback about the variety of speakers and their content – there was something for everyone, I think. Thank you for being so welcoming and receptive! When I returned, I took us through a handful of series that I hope were helpful: Why Stay Christian? (informed by Brian McLaren’s book), Becoming Our True Selves (informed by Martha Beck’s The Way of Integrity), LOVESTRONG, and The Heart of Christianity(heavily informed by Marcus Borg’s book). I like weaving together appropriate texts with books that can be read and talked about – I think it increases the stretch factor. There were non-Sunday opportunities to stretch as well, but I am choosing to make note of them later in this report.
We Kneeled.
· Food Pantry. Karie Nuccio and Linda Smetzer, along with a handful of other volunteers, have masterfully pivoted again and again to do what we can to offer food to select Napans who may otherwise slip through the cracks of the broader system. This targeted approach serves folks with dietary restrictions and/or cannot get to the Food Bank due to their unique circumstances. This pivot was born out of the pandemic when we stopped turning our gym into a grocery store once a month. Recently, they struck a partnership with the city agencies to load the pantries of folks emerging out of houselessness. What an incredible way to bless these neighbors!
· Deborah’s House and Immigrants, Tijuana, MX. Deborah’s House, a place where women and children find refuge and restoration from domestic violence, is up and running again after pandemic and other challenges temporarily brought it to a halt. The Global Servants we support, Deliris and Moise Carrion-Joseph not only pastor the women there, but Moise (especially) serves the immigrant community toward rebuilding their lives in Tijuana instead of trying to do so in the United States, which is highly unlikely and far too expensive for most. We hope to send some CrossWalkers to visit them before our next Annual Meeting. Let me know if you are interested in making the trip!
· Furaha Community Centre. Our friends in the Huruma slum outside Nairobi, Kenya continue to do good work. The good news is that many more churches and individuals have risen to support this school that provides a top-notch education for the poorest of the poor in one of the worst slums in the world. We originally provided school feeding programs but have switched to helping with projects for their high school facility in recent years, providing tables and chairs for their multipurpose space used for eating, studying, and meeting.
· CrossWalk Campus. We continue to provide space for a wide range of organizations that are doing important work. We have partnered with Feeding It Forward, led by David Busby, which captures food that would otherwise be thrown out and repurposes it for our food insecure neighbors. That partnership has led to a large refrigeration unit behind our sanctuary for their use, funding for the last leg of remodeling in our Gym kitchen (which is underway) and more solar panels to offset their electrical usage. We are “home” to over 40 distinct recovery groups helping people overcome a wide variety of addictions or support for those related to others in recovery. We are the home of A Place of My Own preschool, which strives to meet part of the growing need in Napa for affordable childcare. Several nonprofits look to us for meeting space for a variety of events that promote all manner of good work in Napa. Our gym is home to schools, clubs, and groups. We recently invested significant time and resources to renovate the gym locker rooms, bathrooms, and lobby so that we can serve the community more effectively. Funds were generated from an individual donor, two grants from the Napa Valley Community Foundation, and funds we accumulated from rental income. We saved tens of thousands of dollars thanks to CrossWalkers who handled the bulk of the labor. Thank you, Jim Cannon, Jim DellaSanta, Ed Edwards, Ben Neuman, and Ted Valencia! By the way, what we do with our facility is already a model for other churches to follow. What an opportunity for churches to serve – simply by opening their doors. For CrossWalk, it has become a sustainable win-win-win: groups who need us find space, we gain enough rental income to make it worthwhile, and wellbeing is fostered in the process.
We Graced.
· The God of Justice Bible Study. This robust group spent eight weeks working through a study to help participants become more fully aware of the importance of justice throughout the Bible. Why is this under the “Grace” report? Grace expressed communally is the work of justice. Huge thanks to Pam Gumns and Emily Vigoda for leading this important group, which could also fit under the “Incarnate” umbrella.
· Black History Month. We were once again privileged to host Napa’s Black History Month Celebration, which was a standing room only event! Congratulations to the planning team on such a turnout. The guest speakers, presenters, and food were all fantastic. We look forward to hosting once again on Saturday, February 3, 2024!
· Building Lasting Bridges. In February, Stephen Corley interviewed Author and Pastor Katie Choy Wong about her book and work regarding anti-racism. From that, Stephen is now leading a group through the book (along with workbook exercises) and has plans to continue to develop this important aspect of CrossWalk. Look forward to good things ahead!
· Earth Care Day Clean Up. Thank you to those CrossWalkers who skipped church to lend a hand cleaning our “home” at Napa sponsored events/spaces.
We Connected.
· Sunday Services. We have a rhythm in our services that we mostly stick with so that regulars can benefit from the flow and can confidently tell friends what to expect. We made a shift to what I refer to as a “karaoke” approach to our worship music starting in December (though we experimented with it before that). I have been amazed at how well you CrossWalkers have embraced it! Thank you to Shannon Prutch, Reis Tucker-Meade, Anne Waggoner, and Brian Worel for using their gifts to lead us in song each week! If we have devoted CrossWalkers who have musical abilities and want to share their gifts, we are certainly open to it! Let me know if you are interested or know someone who is. Or if you have drama skills or dance skills – let’s use them! A huge shoutout to CrossWalkers who help us stay awake with their early-morning coffee making that is so welcoming to all who come, and Anne Base for providing 600,000 doughnuts over so many years – all completely healthy. And to our Greeters who make everyone smile and feel welcome.
· Mindfulness. We have incorporated time for mindfulness into our services for many years, which helps us center and be more open to the whisper of the Spirit in our lives. We are blessed to have several capable CrossWalkers to lead us in this part of worship: Pam Gumns, Loren Haas, David Kearney-Brown, Jeni Olsen, Sharon Rogers, and Gordon Waggoner. Thank you all! Plus, we are extra fortunate that Dave has been training in this field for many years and is delighted to offer courses at CrossWalk, as he is currently doing featuring material from Martha Beck’s The Way of Integrity. Thank you, Dave!
We Incarnated.
· New Members! Over the last twelve months we welcomed the following to our membership: Pam Bryant, Elizabeth Campbell, Casey and Zion Curiel, Kim Hester-Williams, Jeanette Hull, Dave Kearney-Brown, Barbara Orsini, Don and Peta Schindle, Reis Tucker-Meade, Emily Vigoda.
· Baptism! Congratulate Rachel Alley-Tracey, Norman Prigge, Candace Ramsey, Nicole Timm, and Lori Westphal on their baptism at our Maundy Thursday service which waws held April6, 2023.
· Sunday Services. Being the “Body of Christ”, a community committed to embodying the love of God fully is what “incarnate” means in this movement. This surely takes place on Sundays as we come together in faith.
· Groups. Over the last twelve months several groups have been offered that typically hit two or three movements at once. The God of Justice Bible study and Building Lasting Bridges groups provide stretching and incarnating as they talk about justice (grace for the masses). My groups typically hit stretching and incarnating, as does Carol Toland’s book study group.
· Meals! While I was away on Sabbatical, you all joined together several times for lunch after our Sunday service – something we want to keep going! Men’s Breakfast was served for the 6-10 guys each month. Women’s FUEL group enjoys lunch once a month after service. All of these are opportunities for us to gain and grow friendships over time and are very important for a full life.
Bonus: We Administrated.
· Leadership. It took an enormous amount of work to get things ready for my time away on Sabbatical – from myself ahead of time (setting up guest speakers and lots of miscellaneous details), Dar for taking on more responsibility in my absence, and the Board of Stewards for overseeing it all. I cannot thank you enough for that time away. It helped me see things that I simply could not while on the job or simply on vacation. I was the first pastor in this church’s 163-year history to receive such a gift. I hope is becomes a standard for future pastors as well – the model is once every seven years – a reward, a relief valve, and an opportunity to reset that represents a wise long-term investment in the church. Thank you, Stewards and Officers and all other behind-the-scenes servants who make CrossWalk tick, and for all of you who were so incredibly supportive of Sabbatical!
· Officers. We are seeing transitions happening in our corporate officers. Ed Edwards was appointed Treasurer by the Board of Stewards in January, following Stephen Corley’s tenure for several years (thank you for your service, Stephen!). Linda Smetzer has been at the Board of Stewards’ table for many years, and we are finally letting her retire. Thank you, Linda, for faithfully serving so well for so long – the Church/Board Secretary is an important corporate role that you fulfilled incredibly well. Hayley Russel, while not an officer, resigned from her role at the end of March after many years of service for which we are grateful. New member Elizabeth Tausch has stepped into the role as Interim Financial Secretary – thank you for filling the gap on such short notice, Elizabeth!
· Property Development. While I mentioned some facility improvements being made (and didn’t mention others that aren’t nearly as fun to talk about, like plumbing and roof issues), the Board spent significant time over the last two years looking into developing our unused property. We entertained using it for housing of some sort, or childcare, or a theme park for cats (it already is!). After much deliberation and discussion with community leaders, contractors, and potential partner organizations, the Board of Stewards in April decided that such a move would jeopardize CrossWalk’s ability to move freely in the future to minister to the community as we see fit. New construction requires a new use permit which potentially bring many (and some sever) limitations that would hinder our operation. The Stewards believe that such cost is much, much greater than the limited benefits we (and the community) would receive if we built housing or something non-ministry related. Things can change with time, which could cause the leadership to visit the issue once again, but this is unlikely to occur soon.
For CrossWalk to be a sustainable exemplar of The Way of Jesus, we need CrossWalkers to be supportive. How can you let us know your skills and interests so that we can help you develop your life and faith? How might you use all of who you are to help CrossWalk? How might you help us financially? Inflation affects CrossWalk. Can you help us more than you have before to offset our increased expenses?
Finally! Please attend our Annual Meeting, Sunday, May 21, 2023 @ 10:00 Service. Ballot items:
· Election of Officer Candidates. Treasurer: Ed Edwards. Church Secretary: Carol Toland
· Election of New Steward Candidates: Pam Gumns. Bob Nations. Sharon Rogers.
· Adoption of 2023-2024 Proposed Budget: $520,770
Questions? Attend Town Hall Meeting Sunday, May 7 (Large Conf. Rm.). Email me, Treasurer, Stewards.
I am so grateful to be the Senior Pastor of CrossWalk Community Church. God has partnered with and empowered us to co-create a beautiful expression of “Church” that is a breath of fresh air for many who seek God, and a lifeline for those who gave up on faith because of poor experiences elsewhere. You are awesome people. Thank you for blessing my life, my family, this community, and far, far beyond.
Toward Shalom, With Shalom, TOGETHER,
Pete
Today, as part of The Heart of Christianity series, we look at the phrase “born again” and it’s place in our faith. Borg notes (The Heart of Christianity, 107), “In the Gospels and in the rest of the New Testament, death and resurrection, dying and rising, are again and again a metaphor for personal transformation, for the psychological-spiritual process at the center of the Christian life.” Here are just a few examples:
Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! – 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (The Message)
I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that. – Galatians 2:19-20 (The Message)
I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. – Romans 8:38-39 (The Message)
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate... If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. – 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (The Message)
Jesus, after telling the curious Nicodemus that we must be born again – or born from above – to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, continued his metaphor to help his “get” what his logic was keeping him from understanding.
Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the 'wind hovering over the water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.
"So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be 'born from above'—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone 'born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God." – John 3:5-8 (The Message)
Paul was transformed. I think Jesus was, too. And I think it surprised them both when it happened. They were both smart people, thinking people, and very capable people. I am sure they offered a helping hand and were ethical, hard-working people. But I don’t think it was logic or learning or serving that transformed them. I think, in the end, it was love. Expressed in myriad ways, I think love is the only thing that truly transforms us – our hearts, our minds, our calendars, our budgets, our eyes, our ears, our mouths. When we are touched deeply by love, everything changes. The transformation that love brings is a cooperative effort that we can help or hinder, but love is in constant flow. Supportive, guiding, sustaining, nourishing, strengthening us now and forever – as much as we can handle and as much as we will welcome.
How has love already transformed you over the course of your life? Who was involved? How did you cooperate with love? When have you hindered the transformation love was offering?
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
SALT Commentary…
Big Picture:
1) This is the fifth of the seven weeks of Eastertide. Between now and Pentecost, we’ll continue exploring Jesus’ teachings on faith and intimacy with God.
2) This week’s reading from the Gospel of John includes one of the most famous — and infamous — verses in the New Testament: Jesus’ remark that “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Too often, this sentence is distorted into a dogma of exclusion, as if Jesus is saying, If you’re not Christian, you’re damned. As we’ll see, this is a drastic misunderstanding of what Jesus is actually up to in this story.
3) What’s he up to? He’s trying to reassure his anxious, heartbroken disciples. Why are they anxious and heartbroken? Jesus has just delivered a devastating one-two punch: first, the news that “I am with you only a little longer” and “Where I am going, you cannot come” (John 13:33); and second, that Peter — and by extension, the whole group — will deny and desert him in his imminent hour of need (John 13:38). For the disciples, worse news could scarcely be imagined. They’re stunned, and beginning to panic — and at precisely this moment, this week’s passage begins.
4) The larger context is John’s version of the Last Supper (John 13-17). John doesn’t include the Eucharist in his narrative, instead focusing on how Jesus washes the disciples feet and then delivers the so-called “farewell discourses” — basically his last words of guidance and consolation for his followers as he takes his leave. The broad strokes in this section of John, then, are that Jesus is on his way out, the Holy Spirit is on her way in (as we’ll see in next week’s reading; see John 14:15-26), and the post-Easter church is about to be born, a community that, Jesus insists, will go on to do even “greater works” than he did (John 14:12). Christians tend to valorize Jesus’ time “in the flesh” — but for John, the symphony of salvation continues to crescendo with each movement, and the rise of the Spirited-church-abiding-in-Jesus is an even “greater” phase of God’s redemptive work.
Scripture:
1) The disciples are distraught — and understandably so! Think of it: from their point of view, here is the Messiah, the one they believed would deliver them and the whole world, the one on whom they had pinned all their hopes, all their lives — and now he’s leaving? Not only leaving — now he’s going to suffer, to be humiliated, desecrated, vanquished? And his disgrace — in the end, wouldn’t it result in their disgrace as well? No wonder they’re disoriented, wide-eyed, and afraid. Thomas says out loud what they’re all thinking: “How can we know the way?” (John 14:5).
2) This context of crisis and desperation is the interpretive key for understanding what happens next. Jesus’ response, so far from a cerebral, scolding lecture on salvation or “who will get to heaven,” is actually an exercise in urgent, poignant pastoral care. He’s assuring his companions that his imminent departure is not abandonment, but rather a move that will make way for an even deeper intimacy. It’s as if he’s saying, On one level, I’m about to leave you — but on a deeper level, we’ll be closer than ever. Don’t worry. Take heart. Trust me — and trust the One who sent me!
3) Thomas asks, “How can we know the way?,” and Philip follows up by asking Jesus to “show us the Father” — as if to say, At least give us some coordinates, so we can find our way to “God’s house” once you’re gone (John 14:5,8,2). Jesus’ response amounts to this: You already know the Way! You know the Way we’ve been traveling, the Truth we’ve been learning, the Life we’ve been living — so just keep going, and when you do, I’ll be right there with you, because I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I’m not merely your guide; I am the Way. So keep going and learning and living toward God, and we’ll be together as you go…
4) Remember, the Gospel of John begins by identifying Jesus with the divine Logos, the life-giving divine Word, Thought, Reason, Pattern (all legitimate translations of the Greek word, logos) underneath and at the heart of everything. For John, by living in and through this Pattern, by walking in and through this Way, we live and walk in communion with the One who, in the beginning, was with God and was God (John 1:1-5).
5) In other words, Jesus insists that even though he’s leaving, his followers’ everyday lives of living out his teachings — especially the new commandment he’s just given, to “love one another as I have loved you” — will be sure signs of their ongoing communion with him. The tone of this teaching, then, isn’t stern admonition; he’s not saying, If you want me to be with you, you’d better follow my instruction (much less, If you want salvation, you’d better be a Christian!). On the contrary, his tone is tender-hearted, since his aim is to console and assure his friends: Don’t worry. Just keep following my instruction, walking in the Way — and I’ll be with you. In fact, our companionship will be even closer than it is now. Today we walk side by side — but in the days to come I will live in you, and you in me. Today, you walk in my footsteps — but in the days to come you will walk, so to speak, ‘in my feet,‘ and I will walk in yours. You will be my body, my hands and feet and word for a world that needs healing and justice and good news. You see? I’m not abandoning you. On the contrary, I will abide in you, and you will abide in me (John 15:4). I will not leave you orphaned! (John 14:18).
6) The upshot of all this — Keep going in the Way, and we’ll be together, closer than ever! — is that Jesus wants to leave his disciples with a profound sense of confidence and equanimity: in a word, “peace” (John 14:27). John writes in Greek, of course, but in the background here is the ancient Hebrew notion of shalom — not just the absence of conflict, but the vibrant presence of personal and communal well-being. My peace I give to you, Jesus says near the end of this chapter, a sentiment he’ll repeat when he appears to the disciples after his passion and resurrection (John 14:27; 20:19,21,26).
Takeaways:
1) At its heart, this is a passage of consolation, of Jesus reassuring dismayed disciples — then and now — that he isn’t abandoning them. He will not leave them orphaned. And he doesn’t interrupt this care and consolation with a jarring aside, a stern pronouncement about excluding other people from salvation (!). No, his remark, “No one comes to the Father except through me” is intended to calm and console his friends, to give them “peace” in the midst of turmoil. He’s saying, Don’t worry: I’m leaving, but we’ll still be together. Just keep going toward God in the Way we’ve been traveling, and I’ll be with you — for I am the Way! I am the Divine Logos! As long as you’re going toward God, you’ll be going “through” and with me…
2) Here’s another way of looking at it: In this story, no one has asked Jesus, “Who gets to go to God? Just your followers? Or others, too?” If that were the question Jesus was responding to, then “No one comes to the Father except through me” would indeed be a doctrine of exclusion about salvation’s scope, as if to say, Only my followers get to go to God. But on the contrary, the question that actually arises in this story, the thing Jesus is actually responding to, is more like this: “We’re going to God, we’ve committed our lives to that journey — but without you, our shepherd, won’t we lose our way?” As a response to THAT question, “No one comes to the Father except through me” is a doctrine of consolation about Jesus’ presence, as if to say, Fear not — for as long as you are going to God, you’ll be with me, walking beside me and in me and “through” me — for I am the Way!
3) What’s more, as we explored last week, Jesus has already warned his followers against exclusionary presumptions: “I have other sheep,” he says, “that do not belong to this fold” (John 10:16). Jesus is indeed with us — and we dare not put limits on who is or isn’t included in that “us.”
4) We often think and speak of the good news of Christ’s advent, his arrival, his coming near — but here we learn of the good news of Christ’s departure, his “going away” (John 14:28). Jesus goes away like a tablet dissolves into water: the tablet is gone, but at the same time its presence pervades the water entirely. His absence, then, also makes way for a new presence of the Spirit, all of which gives rise to the community of the church, the movement that will go on to do even “greater works” (John 14:12). In other words, Jesus leaves in order to make possible an even more intimate communion with us, and with creation as a whole: “I am going away, and I am coming to you” (John 14:28).
5) This theme of mutual indwelling is shot through John’s Gospel, and also through the Bible as a whole. Genesis depicts human life itself as possible only via profound intimacy with God: we live each day precisely to the extent that divine breath is in us (see Genesis 6:3, where God says, “My spirit shall not abide in mortals forever…”). Likewise, in Galatians, Paul says, “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). In Acts, Paul preaches to the Athenians that God is the One “in whom we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). And in John, Jesus abides in the One who sent him, and we abide in Jesus, as deeply, organically related as a branch is to its vine (John 15:5). For John, the ultimate goal is not merely to follow Jesus or obey his commandments, but rather to live in Jesus as he lives in us.
6) In practical terms, what would such mutual indwelling look like? It would look like Jesus, and at the same time it would look like us — that is, it would look like us being true to ourselves, the people God made us to be. In a word, it would look like love: incarnate, tangible, down-to-earth love. And from another angle, it would look like peace: not just any peace, but what Jesus calls “my peace,” the shalom of God, a buzzing, blooming, fruitful community, coming and going, alive with the Spirit, healthy and whole.
Why are you bothering with this whole faith thing? Seriously – what’s your motivation?
I imagine that your responses are along the lines of learning about God, learning how to be a better person, making a difference in the world, etc. Awesome.
If you blow the whole faith thing, what is your greatest fear? If you turned your back on God entirely, what would you be most terrified might happen? Sorry for the clumsy wording – you get my point.
In the fourth chapter of his book, The Heart of Christianity, Marcus Borg walks the reader through three sets of comparisons: competing Worldviews, dominant Concepts of God, and resulting notions of the Character of God. Here is a picture of those three sets for your observation:
Most of you reading this are at least open to the idea that there is “MORE” to life than the particles and force fields that hold everything together in the universe. I think I can safely assume that. (For further reading on this subject I recommend Rob Bell’s What We Talk About When We Talk About God).
Assuming we’re on the same page in our pursuit of “MORE” leads us to thinking about God. How we get our minds around God matters, as Borg notes: *It makes a difference how we see the character of God, for how we see the character of God shapes our sense of what faithfulness to God means and thus what the Christian life is about* (*The Heart of Christianity*, 66).
With this last quote in mind, slowly read through the Concepts of God and The Character of God comparisons and imagine how these different perspectives shape what being “faithful” might mean.
For some of you reading this, your greatest fear if you blow off the whole faith/God thing is that you will pay a very serious price as soon as you die: hell. Since CrossWalk is a church that seems to attract folks with no significant church background or those looking to recover from a damaging church background, I know this is true for a good number of you. The reason you have this deeply rooted fear is because you have been operating in the Supernatural Theism way of orienting yourself to a God of requirements and rewards; a God of law. Walk away from God and you’re screwed. Forever. Sucks to be you. This view of God has been so strongly set in your brain that you experience real anxiety at the thought of challenging that view. Yep, really sucks to be you – you can’t even question it without fear of burning for eternity. Better not question anything. Just keep doing what you’ve been told will keep God pleased and your butt out of hell…
I questioned it at a fairly early age – I was 13 years old. I grew up in a mainline denomination as opposed to an Evangelical/Fundamental one. This means that Supernatural Theism ruled the language, but the “turn or burn” rhetoric was absent from our pulpits. The notion of forgiveness itself bothered me. I couldn’t understand the whole “Jesus died as a sacrifice for my sins” piece. I knew the story and the argument, but it just didn’t add up. I even asked my sister Ann, who went into a flurry of activity to help me “get it” – at one point she murmured under her breath, this kid is really screwed up… True – I was not fitting into the Evangelical/Fundamental/Orthodox story even then. That understanding of grace didn’t seem like grace at all. It seemed incongruent that a loving God would punish someone forever if they didn’t believe the right thing.
Some people freak out when they hear or think this. They immediately jump to supposed heretical thinking about universalism, and counter with “axe murders and war mongers better not be in heaven”. Borg has a good response to this: Unconditional grace is not about the afterlife, but the basis of our relationship with God in this life. Is the basis for our life with God law or grace, requirements and rewards or relationship and transformation? Grace affirms the latter(Ibid., 67). Further, Borg connects the dots between hosting a view of Supernatural Theism versus Panentheism and the life it fosters:
What’s at stake in the question of God’s character is our image of the Christian life. Is Christianity about requirements? Here’s what you must do to be saved [and stay saved]. Or is Christianity about relationship and transformation? Here’s the path: follow it. Both involve imperatives, but one is a threat, the other an invitation (Ibid., 68).
If Supernatural Theism works for you and is making you more Jesus-like, then keep it going. It is biblical – it’s just not the only biblical way to view God. It is a way readily understood by our ancient ancestors who lived in a time when sacrifices were a regular component of religious cultic practices. I can understand that perspective. I can respect and appreciate the view. But I do not espouse the view. It does not resonate with me, and in many ways creates dissonance, is a distraction, and even a roadblock in my relationship with God and my quest to know God and become more aligned with God in my life.
The panentheistic alternative – also biblical – resonates deeply with me. In that view there is room for wonder, mystery, awe. As Borg notes, God is not separate, but right here, and more than here. Expansive, yet deeply personal in God’s intention and interaction in my life. I can tell you that I have experienced the reality of the presence of God in this approach, even at times when the other view would tell me it would be impossible to enjoy such presence given my state.
For those of you who have been reared in a Supernatural Theistic paradigm, making this shift really hard work. Keep it up. It is worth it. If you cannot live with it, trust me as one you know personally that there is more to learn. You can still respect what you were raised with and respect those who really resonate with it. The songs and verses can still play a meaningful role when viewed in context. But the good news is that there are new songs to sing that speak a different way that brings life and love into our lives and into the world, that raises the bar on behavior away from law and into covenant and love. It leads to a deep, mature life of response to the love we experience, and helps us to love more fully personally and as proponents of social justice. It is rich and deep. A life-pursuit of discovery and growth.
Open and Relational Theology (ORT). This approach to God has become part of our ecosystem at CrossWalk. Tom Oord is one of many voices writing and speaking about it – I happen to think he is especially gifted at making academic thought accessible for everyday people who don’t have much experience with the language and style of academia. Check out his book, Open and Relational Theology for a great, readable overview. Here are a few claims from ORT:
· God knows more than any other being.
· God is the most powerful presence everywhere.
· God’s PRIMARY characteristic is love, and therefore does not control anyone or anything.
· God influences but never forces, which means the future is open and unknown - we affect it.
· God’s character remains constant, but God constantly changes in response to creation.
The implications of ORT principles are far reaching, challenging long-held beliefs that may not have been valid in the first place. This can be quite unsettling to say the least. For me, however, the implications are exciting and hopeful because it means our lives actually matter because we really do have choices and power to cooperate with God for the wellbeing of everything and everyone. This is better than a genie-in-a-bottle God that doesn’t exist anyway, or a Superman God who ends up not saving the day consistently enough to be very super. How’s this messing with you?
The Bible is foundational for the Christian faith. Yet many people have left the church because of how the text has been handled, and how earlier Christianity has demanded that the Bible to be understood. For people who grew up with the earlier Christian view, the Bible is seen as God’s product, so powerfully influenced by the Holy Spirit that it is inerrant (there are no errors) and infallible (it cannot be wrong). To question this way of thinking about the Bible puts one immediately on thin ice, and may even call one’s faith into question. According to foundational statements that support both Fundamental and Evangelical Christianity (both are earlier expressions of the faith), you are not a “real” Christian if you don’t see the Bible as God’s product. And if you’re not a real Christian, you have no real hope. Better invest in some fire-resistant pajamas for your afterlife experience…
If you’ve been raised in that earlier tradition, messing with the idea of the Bible as God’s product feels like heresy because that’s how you’ve been taught. This is a terrifying venture.
Millions of people – and that number is growing – have simply walked away from even thinking about the Bible at all because they know enough to know that to see it as God’s product doesn’t make sense. Yet the Bible is central to the Christian faith – to chuck it essentially destroys the faith, because it is the central text that shapes the faith in the first place.
This chapter of Borg’s book will be helpful for both types of readers, giving you a way to embrace the Bible without checking your brain at the door, and giving you confidence that your hope may not be in jeopardy – in fact, it may be emboldened.
The primary difference between the earlier-and-currently-loudest rendition of Christianity and what is emerging ultimately comes down to determining how the Bible came to be. The earlier version quickly quotes from Paul’s letter to his protégé, Timothy: All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17). This quickly led to people creating the bumper sticker that says, The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it. Essentially, that verse is interpreted as saying that God wrote the Bible, even if human hands were used. It’s not a good or even correct interpretation, but it’s popular, and has been used to justify a lot of awful treatment of people in the world: slaves, women, the LGBTQ community, people of other faith traditions, and people who don’t agree with this interpretation.
The emerging view of Christianity view the Bible as a human product in response to God, written for their current audience with great care and prayer. The Spirit of God was surely sought and received, but the scrolls the biblical writers wrote on were filled with their fingerprints: their worldview, their sensibilities, their agenda, everything. If we think about who God is, we can affirm that God would not want to wipe those fingerprints away, as God uses people as they are, capitalizing on who they are, working in cooperation with people’s total identity to bring redemption into the world. In this view, the Bible is an historical product of two historical communities: Israel and the early Christian movement. The truth that it contains is related to the time and place in which it was written. Some of those truths easily relate to all times. Others are clearly time-specific, need to be appreciated, yet kept as a relic from the past that no longer speaks directly to our current reality. When the Bible is approached this way, a lot of the problems disappear.
Within the emerging paradigm, the Bible is still understood to be divinely inspired: the Spirit of God surely moved in the lives of the people who produced the Bible. Their written response to God’s movement is the Bible we hold. By extension, this way of viewing the Bible has implications for the sacred texts of faith traditions beyond Judaism and Christianity. Using the same criteria, we can appreciate what they are communicating in their time and place in history, too.
In the emerging view, the Bible is Sacred Scripture. Our ancestors declared that what we have were the most important documents to the faith in it’s earliest expressions. The Bible provides the foundation for our belief, identity, and wisdom for how we think about reality and how to live. The text is sacred in the sense that it serves to connect us to the divine. The Bible is no less important in the emerging tradition than the earlier tradition – the primary difference is essentially on who gets the most credit for producing it.
The final major distinction Borg recognizes as it relates to the Bible is that it needs to be appreciated as metaphor, and not necessarily literally. This might initially freak people out who have been raised with the earlier paradigm, as it might conjure up the idea of the Bible-as-fiction, or worse, Fake News. Borg notes that modern Western culture identifies truth with factuality, and devalues metaphorical language. When we ask the question, “Is that story true?” we are usually asking, “Did that actually happen?” This bias toward factuality blinds us to metaphorical truth – something we all operate and employ quite frequently and comfortably without apology, even while we denounce it. We are hypocrites in this regard, as I would guess the two most memorable teachings of Jesus which communicated great truth were parables. The parable of the Prodigal Son and the parable of the Good Samaritan are widely known and embraced as communicating great truth about the love God has for people and what love looks like when it’s lived out faithfully. Yet they are stories. Not factual events. They never happened, yet they’ve happened a million times. Metaphor, as Borg notes, is not to be understood as less-than-factual, but rather more than literal. Read that again. Borg further contends that “the more-than-literal meaning of biblical texts has always been most important,” and that “only in the last few centuries has their factuality been emphasized as crucial.”
One of my favorite musicals is Into the Woods, which dovetails multiple children’s fables together into a crazy mish-mashed adventure. I love it because of the truth it speaks about the human experience. Great truth is communicated through the lyrics and characters and storyline. The metaphor is more than factual.
With the understanding of the Bible as historical, sacred, and metaphorical, let’s take a look at a text (Luke 8:22-25, NLT) and see what we can do with it, and what God might do with us.
One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and started out. As they sailed across, Jesus settled down for a nap. But soon a fierce storm came down on the lake. The boat was filling with water, and they were in real danger.
The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”
When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves. Suddenly the storm stopped and all was calm. Then he asked them, “Where is your faith?”
The disciples were terrified and amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “When he gives a command, even the wind and waves obey him!”
Debate all you want as to whether this story is literally true. At the end of the day, however, the metaphorical truth is what will be of actual value. I am confident that over the millions of times this story has been shared, the application has not been, “So, if you’re ever in a small watercraft in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, and a storm comes on real fast and threatens to capsize you, remember that Jesus calmed the storm.” I am certain the power of the story has come across something like this: “I felt like the storms of life were going to take me out. I cried out to God for help. Somehow, some way, a peace came over me that I cannot explain, and I got through it. It’s like God gave me calm in the middle of the storm like Jesus did with the disciples.” For a group of Christians in the first century who may have been consistently hiding from those who threatened to literally kill them, this was particularly comforting and true. Truth spoken into their historical context. It was part of the sacred story that helped them understand the nature of God and everything else, shaped their identity, and provided wise counsel to help them move forward in the way of Christ. This story provided great truth, regardless of whether or not it actually happened literally.
Here is a helpful tool to help you gain metaphorical truth from a text:
When I hear the story of ______, I see my life with God in this way: _____________.
Let’s end with a Psalm and a reflection in light of the text we viewed. Held together, we see that Luke was tying God and Jesus together, to encourage readers to see that thread and have hope.
God visits the earth and waters it.
God turns a desert into pools of water,
a parched land into springs of water.
The river of God is full of water.
God waters the furrows abundantly,
softening the earth with showers,
and blessing its growth.
– Adapted from Psalm 65:9-10
Christ sails with us to the other side.
Christ turns a raging storm into calm waters,
a place of terror into amazement.
The sea of Christ is full of possibility.
Christ rebukes the wind,
softening the storm with authority,
and accompanying our way.
So true.
The way we think about faith also varies from person to person, but the prevailing way most people in Western culture understand faith is simply believing in God, and believing certain things about God. There is billboard that states in huge letters, “There is proof that God exists!” For agnostics and atheists alike, faith and belief are about God’s existence. Is that how people have always thought about faith? Addressing primarily Jewish Christians everywhere, the Letter to the Hebrews in the Bible’s New Testament gives us a picture of faith:
By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.
By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said. That's how it happened that from one man's dead and shriveled loins there are now people numbering into the millions.
Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that—heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them. – Hebrews 11:8-16 (The Message)
The word faith is obviously a critical part of the equation in these verses. In fact, some refer to the whole eleventh chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews as The Hall of Fame of Faith because it lists so many people in Jewish history who were champions when it comes to faith. Did they understand faith the same way most Western people do today?
In short, the answer is no. It’s not that we get it totally wrong so much as we don’t appreciate the fullness of the meaning of the word as those who have gone before us. This is largely due to the massive paradigm shift that took place in the 1600’s whereby the scientific approach to everything bled into theology. The reason we can be confident that we’re missing out on something is related to the meaning of the word faith over time in the Christian tradition. In the history of Christianity, there have been four ways to think about faith, each described below.
Faith as Assensus (think “assent”). The most dominant way most Western people think about faith is that it is an assent to belief in something as true. Factually true, to be more precise. Factually true even in the absence of evidence. As Borg stated, “Faith is what you turn to when knowledge runs out. Even more strongly, faith is what you need when beliefs and knowledge conflict” (30). In contemporary culture, the earlier Christian view calls for faith that God created the world just as Genesis portrays, that the Red Sea really was parted, that the sun really did stand still during a battle, that a virgin really did become pregnant, and every other miraculous thing happened just as it reads in the Bible. Borg points out that there was no conflict between belief and knowledge prior to the scientific revolution, because the conventional wisdom of the day (regarding everything) was totally aligned with theological thinking. Faith required no effort then as it does now. The opposite of this kind of faith is doubt and disbelief, which is often viewed and articulated as sin. Borg contends that this faith-as-belief is relatively impotent because it holds very little transforming power. This way of faith is one that remains largely in the head – a thinking exercise. In contrast, the remaining three are relationally understood uses of the term. What truths do we hold to as “fact”? How about “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; God’s mercies never come to an end – they are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness oh Lord!” (Lamentations 3:22-23).
Faith as Fiducia (think “trust”). Rather than giving assent to a list of beliefs about God, this way of faith is “believing in God as trusting in God”. Kierkegard described faith as akin to floating in a deep ocean. Panicking and flailing your arms struggling to stay afloat will get you drowned in a hurry. But trusting the ocean – that buoyancy is real – and relaxing will find you floating. Think of the story of Peter walking on water to meet Jesus. When his trust shifted from the Spirit of God to the choppiness of the waves, he sank. The Bible depicts God as a rock, a fortress upon which we found our lives. Jesus invited us to consider the birds of the air and the lilies of the field to teach about this kind of faith. The opposite of this is mistrust, which leads to anxiety and worry, which is what motivated Jesus’ birds/lilies analogy. Jesus taught that little faith, little trust in God led to anxiety. The hope offered in this mode of faith, then, is a less anxiety-ridden life, which is a free life, free to live and love. That kind of radical trust offers great transforming power. Trust God in the same way that you trust gravity. Trust in the flow of God like you do the power of moving water over time – it transforms even the roughest terrain. Trust in the love of God to support justice over time – transforming even the hardest of hearts – painfully slowly at times, but surely.
Faith as Fidelitas (think “fidelity”). This kind of faith refers to a loyalty to a person, a relationship. Allegiance and commitment of self at the deepest level are intended here. The opposite, of course, is infidelity. Cheating on God – choosing not to be faithful – was an issue the Jewish nation struggled with in the form of idolatry. The prophets told Israel they were guilty of adultery. Fidelity means much more than “not cheating”, however. Faith in this way implies a radical centering on God so that to love God means to love what God loves. Bells might be going off in your head as you recall the greatest and second greatest commandments: love God and love your neighbor with everything you’ve got. It’s ethical, not just a head trip. Jesus’ eyes were changed. He began seeing “others” as “neighbors” and it changed the trajectory of his life. It also got him into trouble, because not everyone is ready or willing to see “others” unequal.
Faith as Visio: “Vision”. In this mode, faith is a way of seeing, our vision of the whole, of what is. Borg nods to theologian Richard Niebuhr in his unpacking three ways of seeing. A first way of seeing envisions the world as hostile and threatening, which leads to a defensive posture warranting our desire for greater and greater security. In earlier ways of thinking about Christianity, Godself needs to be feared as one who will “get us” in the end if we don’t get things straightened out. A second way of seeing has us looking at everything as indifferent and uncaring. While this does not breed the same level of paranoia as the first, it still makes us walk with a tight grip in order to maintain security. The third type of vision sees “what is” as life giving and nourishing, even gracious. Faith involves seeing God as generous which leads to radical trust in God, and a willingness to spend oneself for the sake of a vision bigger than self. It is an orientation that recognizes and elicits freedom, joy, peace and love. The Christian tradition itself in all its fullness is a metaphor for God – to live within one is to live hand in hand with the other.
Aside. Borg points out that Martin Luther’s life changed dramatically because of his faith. Earlier in his life he committed himself to a life of faith in the assensus kind of way. In fact, it was after he tried his best to live in assent to beliefs about God and beliefs about rules to follow that he came to the conclusion that there had to be another way than the works of and assensus-type faith. His transformation led him to see differently, trust God, and be faithful – the last three relational modes of faith.
Is there value in the mode of faith that calls for assent to certain beliefs? Borg says yes. Within the faith tradition, there are some big notions that deserve big affirmations: the reality of God, the centrality of Jesus to the Christian faith, and the centrality of the Bible. He notes that our heritage who created and affirmed the creeds of old weren’t simply making statements of items of belief, but that they were committing to a person – God. Their affirmations were statements of loyalty. For them, to believe was to belove. I would add that believing in love as the primary characteristic of who and what we call God is also worthy of our assent that is helpful in sustaining the other relational facets of faith. Side note: many place omnipotence as God’s primary characteristic, but as Oord notes in his book, The Death of Omnipotence and the Birth of Amipotence, the notion of God being almighty is not founded in the original language of the Bible. Mistranslations have given us the words that connote God’s primary characteristic being all-controlling power.
As I’ve noted throughout, it is very likely that the dominant way you have understood faith is through the assensus vein. Now that you have learned or been reminded of more ways to think about faith, I hope your appetite for God has been whet as well, that perhaps you’re realizing that you may have sold faith short, that there is more here than we’ve thought before. Something incredibly rich, life giving, rewarding, inviting, and compelling.
Which aspect of faith do you sense God inviting you to explore more? Here’s an idea. Pick one of the ways to develop. It’s not hard, just reflect on it, pray about it, and ask God to lead you toward it. Then keep your eyes, ears, mind, heart, and hands open and see what develops. If you need help, I’d be happy to sort some ideas out. The point is to develop a robust faith that fosters more divine and less dust…
We conclude this session – as with each session – with a paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer (Jim Cotter):
Eternal Spirit,
Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all this is and that shall be.
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven.
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love now and forever. Amen.
Note: This is a twelve week series based on Marcus Borg’s seminal book, The Heart of Christianity, with significant input from the group discussion book, Experiencing the Heart of Christianity* by Tim Scorer.
Can you remember when...
· TikTok didn’t exist? Snapchat? Facebook? Myspace?
· COVID-19 wasn’t in our vocabulary?
· Working remotely wasn’t viable?
· Zoom meetings weren’t a thing?
· Streaming your movies and shows wasn’t an option?
· When your only way to watch your shows and movies was an arial antenna?
· TV’s were a new luxury item?
· Smartphones and tablets didn’t exist?
· Mobile phones were the size of bricks and only used by wealthy people?
· Telephones required cords?
· Telephones didn’t have buttons to push – only a dial?
· Bottled water only referred to those that sat upon a water cooler?
· Nobody gave a second thought to drinking from a garden hose?
· Your home didn’t have a flush toilet?
· You last saw Elvis?
Can you remember when...
· Very few churches broadcast their services on the radio or TV?
· Attending church was only possible in person?
· Most stores were closed on Sunday out of respect for Christian worship?
· Bibles were actual books people carried instead of on their phones?
· The only version of the Bible most people knew about was the King James Version?
· “In God We Trust” and one nation “under God” were not part of our currency or pledge of allegiance?
· Literally two thirds of the people in our country went to church on Sunday, and you were an outlier if you didn’t?
· The dominant teaching of the Church was that God created the heavens and earth and everything in it in six literal 24-hour days?
· The church was known more for its work championing the cause of fairness and safety for women and children than convincing people to believe as a means of guaranteeing heaven?
· Most religious authorities viewed God as a distant, almighty judge ready to smite the earth?
· Most human beings believed that the earth is flat?
· Most human beings believed that the sun revolved around the earth and not the other way around?
· There were three popes in power?
· The Church split over whether or not communion bread should contain yeast?
· The Church confidently declared that some people may suffer eternity in hell?
· Religious leaders confidently declared there is no such thing as the afterlife for most people?
· Jesus’ disciples were hiding in fear that they would face a similar fate as Jesus?
· Jesus’ body could not be found in the tomb Easter morning?
· Jesus’ followers came out of hiding and boldly began proclaiming the Good News just like Jesus did?
Why was Easter so important to the earliest Jesus followers? Easter served to validate their hope that there was more than the life of flesh and blood, sourced in the presence of God that so clearly anointed Jesus. Easter also confirmed that the grace of God was extended to them –followers of the Jesus who was just executed by the joint effort of politics and religion. Everything before Easter suggested that Jesus was wrong (because he died), and that they were hopeless fools with little-to-no-chance of being welcomed by God. Their fate seemed sealed. The fact that they experienced Jesus alive in a beyond-flesh-and-blood way communicated to them that he was still being welcomed and empowered (blessed) by God. As his followers, they felt assured that they would be, too.
We live at a time and in a place where the overwhelming majority of people believe in God and, at least at funeral services, believe in a welcoming afterlife. This is new, historically speaking. We live at a time of great transition that will be studied as one of the massive shifts in the Church’s history that happens every 500 years or so. We’re somewhere in the middle of it, and the transition will outlive us. People in the United States are leaving the Church in unprecedented numbers. More shocking is the fact that they are also leaving the Christian faith itself, largely because of the poor reputation of the church being too dogmatic regarding its own positions, and far too critical, unbending, and even harmful regarding social issues deemed important today, like equality, fairness, opportunity and protection for women, children, immigrants, LGBTQ and BIPOC neighbors, plus being out of tune with the majority of the United States citizens regarding gun violence and reproductive rights. Sprinkle in the covering up of the sexual exploitation of children and adults by clergy, and, well, good grief – what’s not to love here?! Or maybe it is the Church’s demand that you sign off on a collection of books called the Bible as so heavily handed inspired that you must declare it to be without error and incapable of being wrong. Or the requirement to affirm the Virgin Birth, a six-day creation, a literal hell, and a golden ticket guaranteeing heaven because of the human sacrifice of Jesus that somehow means God forgives you 2,000 years later. Maybe you have considered leaving the faith, too. Yet, many people – millions, in fact – find great peace, hope, and strength in the same Church that is off-putting for millions more. How does that make sense?
Perhaps we should recognize that we are living in our time and space, with information our predecessors did not. They did the best they could, and with the best intentions, to understanding what is inherently beyond our full comprehension even if we can experience this Greater Other we call God in many ways. Maybe instead of walking away from the whole thing because of a binary that some have created is an overreaction. Maybe we should wonder anew about the wisdom of those whose writing has endured, appreciating their worldview without having to embrace it, and seeking the wisdom they gained from their experience.
The truth is that the early followers of Jesus experienced something that was beyond flesh and blood in such a way that it drove out their fear and cowardice; something so powerful that it gave them courage to risk martyrdom, so important that most of them were martyred – not due to their violence, but due to their radical pursuit of shalom and the inclusion it demands.
Their pursuit was like that of Jesus, who discovered fresh insights from the past that led to him proclaiming Good News that was also, simply, NEWS! – God is primarily known as the source of love. For everyone. For creation itself. Which changes absolutely everything for those with ears to hear.
Easter represents a new day for the disciples of old and calls us to embrace new days of discovery today. What do you really believe? Why? If the best faith has to offer is a more beautiful, more whole, more rooted, more connected, more unifying, more loving, more hopeful, more open, more gracious, more generous, more peaceful, more joyful, more patient, more kind, more of the qualities everyone wants – for everyone and everything – then isn’t it worth the effort and pursuit?
I invite you to join me on the journey for the next weeks ahead – and discussion midweek if you can make it. The study has helped many worldwide and many right here at CrossWalk to gain new insight, and to own and rebuild their faith. The invitation to go deeper extends from beyond me – may you hear the gentle, respectful wooing of the Spirit of God calling you to discover anew what you may have begun to walk away from.
The Lord’s Prayer is uttered globally every week, and several times a day by recovery groups in CrossWalk’s rooms. After learning more and more what Jesus was about, I attempted a paraphrase of that prayer, which I invite you to pray with me now:
Our loving, supportive, holy Abba
Who art here and everywhere,
Thy Divine Commonwealth come.
Thy will be done through us.
We are grateful for the gift of food
and work for all to eat their fill.
May we work for a world
where mutual grace and respect abound,
modeled after You.
Strengthen us for the work we’re called to.
Amen. May it be so.
John 20:1-18 MSG
Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone was moved away from the entrance. She ran at once to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, breathlessly panting, "They took the Master from the tomb. We don't know where they've put him."
Peter and the other disciple left immediately for the tomb. They ran, neck and neck. The other disciple got to the tomb first, outrunning Peter. Stooping to look in, he saw the pieces of linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in. Simon Peter arrived after him, entered the tomb, observed the linen cloths lying there, and the kerchief used to cover his head not lying with the linen cloths but separate, neatly folded by itself. Then the other disciple, the one who had gotten there first, went into the tomb, took one look at the evidence, and believed. No one yet knew from the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. The disciples then went back home.
But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she knelt to look into the tomb and saw two angels sitting there, dressed in white, one at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus' body had been laid. They said to her, "Woman, why do you weep?"
"They took my Master," she said, "and I don't know where they put him." After she said this, she turned away and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn't recognize him.
Jesus spoke to her, "Woman, why do you weep? Who are you looking for?"
She, thinking that he was the gardener, said, "Mister, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him."
Jesus said, "Mary."
Turning to face him, she said in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" meaning "Teacher!"
Jesus said, "Don't cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, 'I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.'"
Mary Magdalene went, telling the news to the disciples: "I saw the Master!" And she told them everything he said to her.
Palm Sunday gives us a lot to chew on in our time, as it did then. Jesus’ fans know that he intends to make a dramatic entrance into Jerusalem. They are poised and ready to lay down their cloaks as a type of red carpet for him, and Jesus had apparently made prior arrangements to ride in on a donkey, which some would recall as a reference to the prophet Zecharaiah’s writing (see 2 Kings 9:13; Zech 9:9). The crowd borrows from Zechariah shouting their proclamation that God’s chosen leader is arriving to bring peace. Later that same week, Jesus would hear something quite different: “Crucify him!” How do we make sense of this?
The short answer provides a very simple explanation: the audiences were largely different from one another. The Triumphal Entry crowd was mostly made up of Jesus fans (with others there, too), and the crowd before Pilate was made up of mostly different people (with a few Jesus fans trying not to be “outed”). It wasn’t that people changed their minds so completely that they wanted Jesus dead after they heralded his arrival. It’s that the people who wanted him dead probably wanted it before he arrived. Who were in these different crowds?
The latter crowd was very likely encouraged to gather by the Jewish leaders who were Sadducees – a branch of ancient Judaism that mostly lived in Jerusalem itself. It was largely Law-oriented, politically powerful, more affluent, and protective of the status quo they were charged to maintain by Rome. If they kept the Jewish people peaceful in Jerusalem, Rome allowed them to remain in office with power. They were also known as ones who did not believe in life after death and took some shots at Jesus around this issue. When Jesus came into town, disrupting the Temple life by overturning the money-changing tables (a way to seriously rip people off – like currency exchangers who give a poor exchange rate), Jesus made a serious stink. He was literally challenging economic injustice that was being sanctioned and promoted by representatives of God. By flipping tables, he was offering a Jubilee of sorts where the books got wiped out and the wealthy were forced to share with the poor whom they abused. Jesus’ teaching that week further infuriated the Jewish leaders because Jesus was challenging their authority as he offered different interpretations of scripture. The Jewish leaders, seeing that he had a strong following of people who wanted to see change saw him clearly as an antagonist who would ruin their nation. They wanted him out, which means they wanted him dead.
There were others in both crowds – Zealots – who were hoping and praying for God to support their violent overthrow of Rome. The kind of Messiah they wanted was a Macho Man who would bring lots of bravado and military might to the battlefield. There were many Jewish people from the region Jesus lived and taught that felt alienated and ripped off by Rome and the Sadducean elite who lined their pockets to stay in power at all costs. They were confident that since Israel was God’s nation, God would be with them in the fight to save their nation through force. They were fighting to protect and redeem their land – they were fighting for their faith itself – a holy war with Judaism on the line. They likely had mixed feelings about Jesus on Palm Sunday. They perhaps wondered if this guy who was drawing crowds and performing miracles clearly empowered by God would finally call his followers to arms during the Passover celebration – a fitting time for such a feat. Maybe the donkey was a rouse? The table flipping perhaps gave them some hope – that was an act of anger for sure. As the week wore on, however, he clearly showed no intention to bring a coup. Judas Iscariot – the disciple who betrayed Jesus to the Jewish authorities who arrested, indicted, illegally tried and called for his execution – was likely a Zealot who turned on his leader out of deep disappointment.
There were also Pharisees in the crowd who weren’t happy with the Sadducean leadership but were not willing to take up arms against them or Rome. Jesus was a Pharisee, ardently followed Jewish Law, but, unlike the Sadducees, believed that there was more beyond the grave (and in this life, too). As a group, they were not sure what to do with Jesus, who challenged their interpretations of scripture that gave him license to blatantly violate some of the laws they were supposed to uphold. They may not have wanted to see Jesus killed, but they likely would have been happy to see him fade away.
Jesus’ followers resonated with Jesus’ message. They would have chosen to follow him more than they would the leading Pharisees, the loudest Zealots, and the richest Sadducees. They recognized Jesus as clearly anointed by God, validated by miracles which then supported his authority to offer alternative interpretations of scripture. This was not a decision without implications, like choosing Dawn dishwashing soap over Ivory or Dial or Palmolive. To take such a stand was to inherently challenge those who were opposed to Jesus. There was risk involved and they knew it. In light of the reality of potentially being excommunicated from the faith community, or worse, getting arrested and beaten by religious authorities, or the very worst, martyrdom, do you suppose they treated their association with Jesus lightly? Of course not! With so much on the line, they had to have great confidence in their decision. The rabbis from both the Pharisee and Sadducee camps would have at minimum cautioned them from being lured away from time-honored traditions and interpretations. The Zealots would have called them wimpy and faithless given their “cowardice” in not being willing to put their lives on the line for the land and people of God’s Chosen. It would have been far easier to simply align with one of the established camps.
Do you see any parallels from the Jewish characters at Palm Sunday and the following week and Christianity in our time? Are you aware of very similar dynamics at work today in the Church?
The differences between various branches of Christianity are too many to address. Yet I do want to address one issue that is strangely in debate. Like the Zealots of old, there is a branch of Christianity that envisions Jesus more akin to Rambo than Gandhi. While he may have come in peace, when he comes again, so they believe, he’ll be coming with a very sharp sword. There will be a lot of bloodshed where people are divided up for slaughter or salvation. These modern Zealots, of course, will be strumming harps while men, women, and children are slain and the earth itself is destroyed. No matter – God will make a nice, new shiny one for them in just a matter of six days! This apocalyptic vision of the end times is wildly popular and has basis in the Bible. It is well known that the Jewish people expected God to bring wrath and justice at any moment, freeing them from Roman tyranny. The Gospels themselves seem to portray two sides of Jesus – one that looks a lot like Gandhi, and the other, Rambo. What do we do with this? How do we reconcile two seemingly different images?
The ramifications of which image we embrace are massive. The Rambo branch not only has Jesus wearing all the military gadgetry possible, it also implies that his followers should, too. And, since they believe that the United States is the world’s greatest Christian nation, then defending it and expanding it with military might is the act of the faithful. To defend and promote the American flag is to be a true Christian. In this visage, America becomes the New Israel that God will defend to and through the end of time. This particular branch of Christianity began developing after WWII, but began taking on more extreme positions through the 1970’s and 1980’s, all the way up to now. They happen to be the loudest voice of non-Catholic Christianity in the United States, and the most powerfully organized and aligned religious body in the United States. While their strength is waning as people in the United States are leaving churches and Christianity, they still own the largest publishing houses, seminaries, and religious media outlets. The case they make is, on the face of it, hard to challenge on an emotional level. Their position is that the Bible is inerrant (has no errors), infallible (it cannot be wrong), and should be read plainly (without the input of non-Christian schools of thought that represent higher criticism). This means that we can simply read the text and apply it without much effort. What could go wrong? With this approach, we can embrace a theology where God creates everything at God’s word, male and female are created as distinct, complementary genders never to be confused and therefore narrowly defining marriage, LGBTQ folks are an abomination not to be respected or treated fairly, we’re to take up arms as a matter of faith, and the world is going to be destroyed by God anyway, so no need trying to save it. Massive implications.
However, I don’t read the Bible that way. I think the Bible was written by serious, devout, faithful people who wanted to do their best to write what they wrote. I am sure they prayed for guidance and clarity, and I am sure that they sensed God being with them as they took on their project. I am also sure that more than their fingerprints found their way into their writing. Their interpretations and hopes and dreams – all informed by their worldview – made its way in, too. A plain reading of the text doesn’t make much room for that because it is assumed the God essentially guided their quills. It takes some Olympic level logical gymnastics to deal with inconsistencies and errors, often ending with, “we can’t make sense of it now, but once we’re in heaven it will all make sense.”
Is Jesus more like Rambo or Gandhi? I’m going with Gandhi, who modeled his nonviolent approach to challenging English Imperialism after – can you guess? – Jesus. What we see at Palm Sunday and through his last week of life is completely consistent with the Prince of Peace that Jesus was. He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, not a war horse, a bicycle, not a tank. Are there passages that wreak of apocalyptic fever that are attributed to him? Yep. But I am not sure they are original to Jesus. If they were, then Jesus didn’t live into them much since he was known for his pacifistic resistance and discouraging violence. The overwhelming witness of Jesus’ teaching and lifestyle was nonviolence in pursuit of shalom.
Just like in Jesus’ day, we have a choice to make on the same issue. Do we really believe that Jesus was the Prince of Peace driven by deep love for all people and creation, or a tough talking, military-ready strongman? Whichever way you decide, there are repercussions. If you choose the Prince of Peace, know that the largest and loudest non-Catholic voice in the United States challenges you. It is not an easy stance. And if Jesus really was the Prince of Peace, how does that affect our personal worldview about violence on an individual level, and on the national front?
I wonder if we should view every day as Palm Sunday, an opportunity to welcome and celebrate this one into our world, into our lives, and allowing Jesus to inform the use of our hands and feet, our minds our lips, our calendars, and our pocketbooks.
The story in John 9 about Jesus healing a man born blind is so much more than a miracle story. This is another story of a character who begins literally blind to Jesus who progressively sees him as a healer, then as a prophet (truth and wisdom teller), and finally as one anointed by God. The storyline conflict couldn’t have been set up better – a guy born into the epitome of sin and God’s judgment (blindness, as understood in the 1st century) gets healed by a means that required “work” (kneading mud like dough) on the Sabbath (when no work was to be done – one of the Ten Commandments) by an “ordinary sinner” (Jesus) who was not part of the Jewish leadership elite (where it was assumed God’s power for such things resided). This is a story about what happens when God is clearly moving in unexpected – and unwelcome for some – ways that buck the system. It’s a story the first disciples resonated with because they lived it out themselves. Over their time with Jesus, they saw God working more and more in unconventional ways. Their view of him shifted from a magician to a truth and wisdom teller to one the God was clearly working through. Their seeing him differently led them into uncomfortable and painful consequences, starting with being alienated by religious leaders and for most of them martyrdom.
We humans beings really like control. It keeps everything in its place. But how do you control a reality that is beyond our ability to confine, categorize, and predict? You can’t. Yet we try our best. We are experiencing an upheaval in Christianity that has been centuries in the making. Constantine made Christianity the Empire’s religion and the power immediately challenged the mandate to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly. About 1,000 years ago Church leadership began taking the faith into a dark period where corruption continued to run amuck with literally buying God’s forgiveness with cash or military service. Roughly 500 years ago the Church doubled down on the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture – something Jesus himself would not agree with – and categorically rejected science because it challenged the veracity of the Bible. A century ago, a new flavor of American Christianity began to build strength with the help of politicians who wanted the Church out of the social conversation. Fear of the Soviet Union and its atheism drove masses to revivals to “get right with God” in case their death came too soon as nuclear war broke out. The lure of power and prestige led the leaders of those revivals to neglect horrific cultural issues, relegating Christianity to become little more than an individual, spiritual pursuit. An entire political party so intertwined itself with this flavor of Christianity that to be one was assumed to be the other. Some of these decisions may have been well-meaning, but that doesn’t mean they were wise or congruent with the transformational faith Jesus taught and modeled. Those decisions are coming home to roost, witnessed in an unprecedented departure from not just church attendance, but Christianity itself. The response from the faith leaders who have been supported by the system people are leaving? Doubling down on the very precepts and methodology that got them there in the first place. History repeating itself all over again.
And what might we expect to happen to those who see things differently and question positions that don’t add up theologically or otherwise? The same thing that happened to the man born blind and the disciples who witnessed the whole thing: kicked out.
The good news? Jesus – the teacher and modeler or the transformative Way of living in the Spirit – sought him out, welcomed him, and invited him to follow. The Sprit of God still does. To all those who choose to see and proclaim, carry on.
I’ve been waiting for the right time to share this with CrossWalk. First, the message Diana Butler Bass brings to close out the Wild Goose Festival could not be better for a Sunday in March - Women’s History Month. Second, what she brings is so helpful for people trying to get their brains around the Bible, especially those who grew up in traditions that forced compliance with the false idea that the Bible is inerrant and infallible because it was essentially written by God through human hands - none of this three things are true, and this teaching offers a reason why we should take the Bible seriously, but with an open stance. Realize that what she is sharing is relatively new information regarding a text that has been in circulation for nearly 2,000 years! We are still learning about the origins of the text in the Bible. Third, the text of Lazarus being raised from the dead (John 11) shows up next Sunday - so we’re a little early but for good reasons. Fourth, the good reason I’m offering this today and not next week is because I am ill. I’ve got some sort of cold/flu thing with an infection to boot. to hear me teach today would be even more painful than usual! Grab a cuppa and enjoy!
Warning! The following story may be difficult if you have ever been the victim of a religious zealot who wanted to tell you how wrong you are about your faith – and how right they are. It may be challenging if you have ever experienced discrimination because of your gender. And it may be triggering if you have ever been shamed privately or publicly. The woman you are about to encounter had been treated as an apostate by any and all Jews living on every side of her country, had been mistreated as a woman because women are always mistreated to varying degrees depending on the context, and was shamed by her community, forcing her into isolation. What might Jesus do with such a person? How will he exhibit the weakness of God that is stronger than humanity’s greatest strength?
How do you relate to the woman in this story?
Who might you come across who has experienced the world differently than you? How will you approach such a person? What are typical, destructive approaches? Why are they chosen? What keeps us from following the path laid out by Jesus?
Commentary...
Lent 3 (Year A): John 4:5-42 and Exodus 17:1-7
Big Picture:
1) This is the third of the six Sundays in Lent. Matthew has been our main guide this year, and we’ll come back to Matthew on Palm Sunday — but as we follow the lectionary over the next three weeks, we’ll explore stories from the Gospel of John.
2) In Jesus’ day, Samaritans were the descendants of generations of intermarriage between (a) Jews left behind during the Babylonian exile and (b) Gentiles the conquering Assyrians settled in Israel. Thus Samaritans shared a common heritage with Jews, but also were quite different: for example, while Samaritans held that the proper place to worship God was Mount Gerizim (see Deut 11:29), Jews held that it was instead the Jerusalem Temple. Imagine Roman Catholics and Protestants in early modern Europe, with their mutual bigotries, suspicions, and appetites for vengeance. Jews and Samaritans were likewise enemies, their similarities only sharpening their contempt. All this would make this week’s story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman surprising to its early audiences, even scandalous — not least because for many Jews, “Samaritan” was a kind of shorthand for both “apostate” and “adversary.”
3) John presents this dialogue as a companion to a parallel exchange that happens soon after between Jesus and the crowds (John 6:25-35). Here, the woman asks Jesus for water; later, in John 6, the crowds ask for bread. Jesus responds to the woman that there is another, more deeply nourishing “living water”; and later, to the crowds, he says there is another, more deeply nourishing “true bread” (4:10; 6:32). Misunderstanding this special water as physical, the woman asks for it, saying, “Sir, give me this water”; likewise misunderstanding, the crowds say, “Sir, give us this bread” (4:15; 6:34). And then, in each story, with an “I am” statement, Jesus declares his identity (4:26; 6:35). In this way, John highlights a basic underlying choreography — encounter, misunderstanding, invitation to deeper insight — as a paradigm for the learning involved in discipleship (from the Latin discipulus, “student”). Through these stories, Jesus calls us, too, to move beyond narrow-minded ideas and adopt wider, deeper forms of trust in God.
4) This is part of a larger pattern in John in which people misunderstand Jesus because they are thinking too literally, prosaically, or conventionally. Think of Nicodemus (“How can anyone be born after growing old?” (John 3:4)), or the crowds who ask for bread (“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (John 6:52)), or the skeptical hometown crowd (“Isn’t this Jesus, whose parents we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” (John 6:42)). Prosaic misunderstanding is a recurring motif in John, and accordingly, should function for us as an important cautionary signal: don’t take things too literally! Open your minds to “higher” or “deeper” or more "poetic" insight, forms of thought more fitting for what Jesus himself, in his conversation with Nicodemus, calls “heavenly things” (John 3:12).
5) Just a page or two earlier in John’s story, Jesus launches his public ministry by driving the merchants, animals, and money changers from the Jerusalem Temple, in effect enacting Zechariah’s ancient prophecy: “there shall no longer be traders in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day” (Zech 14:21; John 2:13-22;see SALT’s commentary here). The idea seems to be that the traders are part of a layer of separation between God and humanity that will one day be overcome. Holiness will overflow conventional bounds, and the-temple-as-we-know-it will give way to a more widespread and direct mode of encountering God. This basic theme surfaces again in this week’s story.
Scripture:
1) What’s most striking about the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman isn’t its content — it’s that it’s happening at all. They break two taboos at once: one against a religious teacher speaking with a woman in public, and the other against Jews and Samaritans interacting on such intimate terms (asking to share water, for example). John goes out of his way to call attention to this scandalous dimension of the dialogue — and sure enough, both the woman and the disciples are taken aback (John 4:9,27). Two fault lines of social division — gender and religious/ethnic sectarianism — are brought front and center.
2) From the outset, Jesus’ language signals to his listeners that he has in mind an unconventional meaning for the word “water,” just as he does later for “bread” in John 6:25-35. For here is “water” and “bread” that comes not from the ground or the clouds but from a person, and for those who partake, “hunger” and “thirst” are banished. This is something more than a meal ticket, and indeed something more than physical hunger and thirst. Jesus is talking about a deeper, more profound form of nourishment and wellbeing.
3) By John 6, it comes clear that Jesus is using “eating” as a metaphor for “learning,” for “taking in” and metabolizing the life-giving instruction of the incarnate Logos (see SALT’s commentary on John 6 here). This week’s story highlights two consequences of this instruction, two principal features of the Way of Life Jesus recommends: first, that we subvert and dismantle divisive hierarchies, like the one patriarchal societies create between men and women. And second, that we build bridges over religious and ethnic sectarian divides, like the one between Jews and Samaritans. In a word, the Way of Jesus comes down to this: reconciliation.
4) The conversation itself implicitly exemplifies this barrier-breaking and bridge-building, but it also makes explicit the reconciliation at the heart of the Gospel. The woman challenges Jesus to clarify an ancient dispute: “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem” (John 4:20; the Greek word for “you” here is plural, as in, “you Jews”). Jesus proclaims that “the hour is coming” when this religious divide will be overcome, and both Jews and Samaritans will worship God “in spirit and truth” (John 4:21,23). Just as in the cleansing of the Temple, Jesus points toward a new epoch in which holiness will overflow conventional bounds, reconciling ancient enemies.
5) It’s worth remembering that the Gospel of John was written after the Roman armies had destroyed the Jerusalem temple, a period when both Jews and early Christians were struggling to make sense of the world without what they had considered its sacred axis. Rabbinic Judaism eventually refigured “the temple” in the home, and early Christians refigured “the temple” as the body of Jesus, which is also the body of the church.
6) In Exodus, too, the presence of “living water” is a sign of God’s abiding presence with us. In the story of Moses striking the rock, the wandering, anxious Israelites ask a fundamental question, the doubt lurking beneath all other doubts: “Is the LORD among us or not?” (Ex 17:7). The presence of a new spring gives them the courage and consolation they require; and likewise, the “living water” Jesus provides becomes a “spring of water” within us, an ongoing sign that Jesus is Emmanuel, “God with us” (John 4:14).
Takeaways:
1) For John, Jesus’ arrival signals the dawn of a new era, a new intimacy with God, a new conception of “the temple” not as a building but as a person “in spirit and truth,” Jesus himself, God’s Word made flesh. The old sacrificial system must end; there's no need for animals and money changers, and no need for competing sacred sites, either. In fact, these aspects of the old system are impediments to the dawning new day.
2) And “the old system,” as it turns out, is made of more than brick and mortar and money and sacrifice. It’s also made of social barriers between men and women, Jews and Samaritans, friends and enemies, insiders and outsiders, “us” and “them.” But Jesus heralds a new era of reconciliation: Take down the barriers! Bridge the divides! For the hour is coming — and is now here! (John 4:23).
3) What’s driving Jesus in all of this? It’s the ancient passion of the Jewish prophets, a sacred zeal that moves against and beyond the sacrificial system of dead animals and toward an intimate simplicity of prayer, spirit, and truth, unbound by any particular building, mountain, or economic arrangement.
4) And it’s an ancient passion, too, for the coming of God’s Jubilee, a new exodus from all bondage, a new freedom to abide in God, as God abides in us, in a world drenched with divine presence and glory. These ideas are shot through the prophets: think of Jeremiah’s “temple sermon” (Jer 7), or indeed his prophesied “new covenant” in which God’s law is written on our hearts (Jer 31:33). Think of the devastating critique of sacrifice in Isaiah, Hosea, and Amos (Isa 1:11; Hosea 6:6; Amos 5:22), or the famous verse in Micah, contrasting animal sacrifices with justice, kindness, and humility (Micah 6:6-8). In his own way, Jesus picks up this prophetic mantle. At its heart, his mission is about dismantling the barriers that keep us apart from God and neighbor — and in that sense, his mission is finally about reconciliation, mutual indwelling (“Abide in me, as I abide in you” (John 15:4)), and living a just, kind, and humble human life.
Today we will be blessed by three examples of feminine power as we launch into Women’s History Month.
In the year 486 BCE, Xerxes, son of Darius the Great and grandson of Cyrus the Great became King of the Persian Empire. Susa, in present day Iran, was his home base. Three years after he became king – and after a successful military campaign dealing with an uprising in Egypt – Xerxes threw a dinner party for all his buds. His wife, Vashti, threw her own party for her girlfriends. Thoroughly drunk on wine or ego or power or all the above, Xerxes started bragging about how beautiful his wife was to all the boys. At one point he thought it would be neat to show her off so they could see for themselves, so he sent for her. She refused to come for unknown reasons – a very powerful move. Still drunk, he summoned his equally drunk advisors about how he should respond to such a public rejection. Rather than find out if there was a good reason why she could not make an appearance, Xerxes and his “Yes Men” decided to make an example of her so that women everywhere would respect their husbands. She was stripped of her crown and banished from the King’s presence. Women everywhere certainly got the message, but it probably wasn’t one of increased respect for Xerxes. Yet it probably did engender respect for Vashti.
Once sobered up, Xerxes began to feel bad about his reaction. But before he got too mushy, his servants recommended that a wide search take place to find him a range of virgins from all over his Empire from which he could select new wives – one might even be suitable for Queen! Sorrow was replaced by something else, and the search was on.
Esther, a Jewish woman who lived in the area along with others in the diaspora, was apparently the exact kind of beautiful Xerxes liked. In 479 BCE, she became queen (but chose not to mention her Jewish ancestry). Her adopted father-and-cousin, Mordecai, stayed close to guide and protect her from a distance. At one point, he was instrumental in foiling an assassination attempt on Xerxes’ life. Mordecai was a strongly principled man deeply committed to his Jewish faith. When an antisemitic man named Haman became Xerxes’ top advisor, demanding to be bowed to wherever he went, Mordecai refused based on his allegiance to God, the only one worthy of such respect. Such behavior drove Haman nuts – so much so that he went way over the top with a plan to seek revenge. Instead of simply punishing Mordecai for his insolence, he instead deemed it appropriate to design a pogrom to commit genocide instead. He even offered to fund it himself, but likely lined his pockets instead. All Jews were to be killed and their property plundered in the last month of the year.
Mordecai let Esther know of the plan and begged her to consider pleading with Xerxes on behalf of the Jewish people. Perhaps she was born for such a time as this? Esther immediately jumped at the idea and ran to Xerxes exerting her marital rights for an audience and demanded action. That’s nothing close to the truth. Recall what happened to Vashti for simply refusing to get paraded around when she was hosting her own event. Esther was surely aware of it. More than simply refusing a visit, she would be challenging a decision he authorized. How likely would Xerxes empathize with her, admit his mistake, and change everything? She was terrified for good reason. She asked Mordecai for the Jewish people in Susa to join her in a three day fast leading up to her subtle request for an audience with Xerxes.
In a series of strong moves from a strong woman, Esther put on her royal garb and stood outside Xerxes’ court, hoping he would notice her and welcome her presence. He did notice her and called her to him, stretching out his scepter for her to touch – a weird way of offering the microphone. He asked her to speak her mind and make her request – anything she wanted, really. She asked to host a dinner party for him and Haman. He granted the request and showed up for dinner that night. Again, he asked what she wanted, and she asked to host him again the following evening. He granted that request. After dinner, he once again offered to grant whatever she wished. She told him about what Haman had planned and begged for help. He did! One of the first ways he helped was to immediately hang Haman (on gallows created for Mordecai) and kill his sons to insure he couldn’t cause any more harm.
Unfortunately, the edict was still in play, so Esther again bravely and passionately asked for help to craft a new edict granting the Jews permission to defend themselves against those who planned their demise. Xerxes granted the request, and the Jewish people were saved. This week marks the Jewish festival of Purim, remembering the story of Esther and lampooning the foolish character Haman. It is one of the few days that rabbis are encouraged to get thoroughly drunk and act like idiots. Side note: The Book of Esther is the only book in the Bible that has no reference to God. Hmmm. What do we make of that? Are we to assume God was not at work?
During the first week of April, 30 CE, Jesus was in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. One evening a respected Jewish leader and member of the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus, paid him a visit. Nicodemus resonated with the Pharisaic tradition as did Jesus, which meant that he was devoted to the keeping of the Law and was also open to the nearness of God’s activity and the hope of life beyond the grave. He came to get to know Jesus, who was gaining renown. It was past sundown. The darkness mentioned wasn’t just about the time of day – John’s Gospel is hinting that Nicodemus himself was in the dark.
The knowledgeable Nicodemus soon found himself out of his depth as Jesus talked about being born again from above, and being responsive to the Spirit of God like sailors would the wind. To be born again is to live in God. Looking upon and learning from Jesus brings healing and wellbeing, much like the snake on the staff that Moses lifted in his day.
Jesus noted that all of what he was doing and saying originated with the love of God for the whole world, for the world’s healing and wellbeing, not judgment and destruction which religion all-to-often trumpets. It was a lot for Nicodemus to take in. He left with more questions than answers. He would come around to understanding eventually, but it took time – as it nearly always does.
Jesus was offering a fresh take on what it meant to be people of faith. He was emphasizing a relational dynamic between God and people and planet that was far removed from our lizard brain tendency toward genie-in-the-bottle transactional thinking whereby we follow the rules and God looks out for us. More crassly, we manipulate the game so that if we do our part, God must do God’s part if God is faithful. In this way we become God ourselves, giving into the second temptation Jesus entertained (and defeated).
The Way Jesus was espousing is deeply relational and ever responsive, all aimed at transformation on every level. It is more about being aware of the dynamics at play in ourselves and around us, listening for the still small voice to offer guidance. It doesn’t need to pay much attention to the letter of the Law and it’s keeping because in following the Spirit the Law is fulfilled. This is where the magic happens. Imagine if everyone, everywhere, was attuned to the leading of the Spirit of God. How quickly would wars end, unjust economic structures torn down, inequality and unfairness be eliminated, sustainable approaches to healthy food production embraced, human trafficking stopped (and reparations of some sort made), and substance abuse no longer relevant? Consider any of the world’s ills – would they not be addressed comprehensively if we all followed the same voice?
A critic may argue that this is impossible, because one person’s interpretation of the Spirit’s leading could be entirely different than another, right? Wouldn’t a Christian slave trader in the 1600’s believe they were doing God’s bidding given the teaching of the Church at that time? Same goes for the slave owner in early American history. What about the antisemitic advocates of Nazism? One person’s dreamy vision of God is another person’s nightmare.
Yet that’s where Jesus’ own parameters come into play. Jesus’ entire schtick is rooted in the love of God and in the Jewish idea of shalom – wellbeing, harmony, peace – for people and planet. If love is the guiding force – a love that loves all equally – those attitudes and behaviors that are destructive toward self or others or creation itself would be off the table. Sorry, slave traders, slave holders, Nazis, and every other form of self-centered worldview that benefits itself at the expense of others. Theologian and author, Tom Oord, in his book, Puriform Love, defines love as “to love is to act intentionally, in relational response to God and others, to promote overall well-being.” When we understand that this is God’s nature, Jesus’ ethos, and our invitation, all our greatest hopes for ourselves and everyone and everything else come into view along with a roadmap.
Following the Spirit of God – flowing with such Wind – is also incredibly freeing. By the way, are you aware that the Holy Spirit in Hebrew and Greek are feminine words? How much stronger can you get that the essence of God is feminine! For the love of God, pay attention Southern Baptist Convention – empower women to preach – God has been from the beginning! This strong, feminine presence enabled Jesus and his followers to pick grain on the Sabbath to deal with their hunger, venture into leper colonies because they needed to be loved, offer grace to prostitutes, restoration to traitorous tax collectors, and friendship with Samaritans and all other foreigners. The freedom of the Spirit allowed the newly formed Jewish Jesus followers to justifiably abandon the bulk of Jewish Law because, as Jesus noted, loving self and neighbor – in themselves an act of loving God – fulfills the entire Law. He was essentially saying that love is the point of everything. He also noted that God’s motive in empowering Jesus was love for the world, not disdain.
It was my love and hunger for knowing God more deeply that transformed my life as a teenager, as a college student, as a young pastor, and even now as a not-quite-as-young-but-just-as-freakishly-muscular pastor... It has helped me think more deeply about some points of orthodoxy which simply don’t add up and let them go. It has allowed CrossWalk to become the fluid body that we are, known mostly for our love expressed in service.
While Jesus and Judaism certainly had much to say about the depths of love, the reality is that such whispers can be heard by everyone, everywhere, regardless of their theological leanings. Love is deeply universal. Love is at the core of our being. Even adamant atheists can hear the call of love and respond lovingly, thus somewhat unwittingly and faithfully following the Spirit of God they do not believe in! The wrong questions revolve around the length of the train of God’s robe in heavenly dwelling places and how many angels can stand on the head of a needle. The right query is about the nature and calling of love.
Could it be that the only book in the Bible that does not mention God doesn’t need to because it is filled with God, with love? What else would motivate Mordecai to caution the King regarding the assassination attempt? What else would motivate Esther to risk everything in seeking Xerxes’ help? Why would Esther call for a three day fast if she did not believe that something happens when people are so dedicated to such a mindful practice? Why would Esther risk her life again seeking more help from her disreputable husband? Love is present throughout the story, and it is powerful. Jesus lived love. His later disciples would say that God is love.
You who have a messed-up life right now – what is your next loving move? Take it. You who are in conflict with your significant other – what is a loving move you could take? Take it. You who are caught up in the tension of our news cycle – what does self-love look like? Do it. You who are caught in a cycle of unforgiveness, realizing that carrying such hatred is like eating poison waiting for the object of your hatred to die – what does love instruct you to do? Do it. You who are worried about the state of our earth – what does love compel you to do? Do it. Whatever your challenge, whatever your hope, listen for love and trust its source. Put on your Nikes and just do it.
We are living in the Spirit of God like fish live in water. Ask a fish about water and the fish will ask back, what is water? Could it be that we are so surrounded by the love of God that holds everything together that we are blind and deaf to it? May we today choose to see, choose to believe, and choose to love. May we be brave enough to set aside our doubts about the particulars of theology and choose to fully embrace what we know to be the end and means of God – love. May we celebrate with our Jewish brothers and sisters that Haman’s hatred was defeated by love, that even though his pockets were lined with bribes, there was a power greater than greed that won the day. May we celebrate by raising a festive glass and toast the wonderful news that we don’t have to have all the answers, we don’t have to have it all figured out, so long as we can agree on love and be love to one another. This is our invitation for eternity and for eternal life. Amen. May it be so. Amen.
Eternity is not infinity.
It is not a long time.
It does not begin at the end of time.
In its entirety it always was.
In its entirety it will always be.
It is entirely present always.
– Wendell Berry
After Jesus’ baptism, we are told in Matthew’s Gospel that he went into the wilderness for 40 days. He fasted the whole time, which suggests that his time away was spent not for vacation but for spiritual clarity. He was famished, but was he any clearer on who he was going to be? Enter Satan, a prosecuting attorney type of character who, like the serpent in the Garden of Eden, was there to test Jesus’ mettle. Three temptations were issued – turn stones to bread to satisfy hunger, jump off the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem to see if God would catch him, and finally bow down to Satan to gain global power.
There are some practical things we can learn from every temptation that can help us live better lives. Being mindful of the why behind our needs and wants keeps us from being primarily controlled and motivated by our bellies/passions. The fact that the moral behavior of self-identified Christians is not much different than those with no religious affiliation tells a story. Paul chastised the Corinthians about their eating habits that were out of step with Jesus’ Way. Being aware of our theology keeps us from playing God as evidenced in our prayers and piety – are we living out a transactional contract with God that puts us in control? Is that what faith is all about? Unfortunately, there are plenty of examples of how Christianity opted again and again for dedication to an orthodoxy of “right beliefs” instead of one of “believing in the right way”, resulting in season after season of rigid, demanding legalism akin to what Jesus challenged in his day (which got him killed). The Apostle Peter struggled with this – as did the earliest disciples – and so do we. Staying aware of our ongoing lust for power and control on every level of our lives helps keep us from giving in to such temptation. There is no shortage of evidence regarding how the Church has failed here, often becoming the useful idiots of those in power unawares. Judas certainly struggled with this, as have others who have wanted power and domination instead of the weakness of God.
The practical takeaways are helpful and good. But they miss the deeper point.
Jesus was Jewish. Any self-respecting Jew would have bells going off in their head at the mention of a 40-day trek through the wilderness as it would call to mind Israel’s 40-year journey through the wilderness enroute to the Promised Land after the exodus from enslavement in Egypt. If that weren’t enough, every retort to the temptations was a quote from Moses found in the book of Deuteronomy, where he reminded the wandering people what they had learned along their four-decade journey. The journey was deeper than self-help practical tips for living a successful life. Israel’s journey – and Jesus’, too – was a course on learning the Way of being in relationship with God, trusting in God more than our lizard brains. Will we place our faith in our counter-intuitive, counter-cultural relationship with God or will we opt for what is familiar and comfortable?
This LOVESTRONG series is built on Paul’s radical statement that the weakness of God is stronger than the greatest human strength. It is the weakness that fools us because it initially doesn’t add up. The weakness can be thought of in a range of ways – humility, self-sacrifice, choosing the other over self, giving ourselves away and trusting that it will somehow work – none of these computes in a world of lust for immediate need fulfillment, control, and power. But that lust and the way we are prone to react had led to perpetual pain and suffering, especially on the part of the most vulnerable.
The Way of Jesus is different, just as the Way the people of Israel were taught. The Way of God is a way of weakness that trusts in something deeper, more beautiful that works on a profoundly elemental level. The weakness of God trusts in the nature of reality to work as it should instead of controlling outcomes. It trusts that the Spirit of God is at work in ways we don’t fully understand. When we follow that weak, humble way, people thrive in loving equality and equity because we won’t tolerate abuse of other human beings for the sake of passion, piety, profit, or power. We will not allow our home – creation itself – to be treated in ways that jeopardize the future based on our apathy, pride, and lust for more and more and more to our detriment.
The Way called Israel to live deeper and weaker. The Way called Jesus. The Way calls us to an entirely different operating system that looks weak yet is strong. Will we consider it as we are tempted by our passions, false piety, and power? Will we choose the weak way of Jesus who humbled himself even to dying on a cross for the love of the world? Will we be wooed to loving ourselves, our neighbors, and our planet so deeply that all thrive?
Enjoy this interview with Katie Choy-Wong, author of Building Lasting Bridges: An Updated Handbook for Intercultural Ministry. Hosted by Stephen Corley. Get this free workbook with lots of exercises to help us all build lasting bridges!
The poet declares at the beginning of the longest Psalm which celebrates walking in the Way of God (Psalm 119:1-3 NLT):
Joyful are people of integrity,
who follow the instructions of the Lord.
Joyful are those who obey his laws
and search for him with all their hearts.
They do not compromise with evil,
and they walk only in his paths.
Sounds good. Simple, even. What’s so difficult about that?
Moses, in his swan song, instructs the people he led out of Egypt toward the Promised Land to make a choice to follow the Way of God – something they had been learning to do during their 40-year Exodus from slavery:
“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20 NLT)
Sounds a lot like the Psalmist. Still sounds simple. Should be an easy decision.
Many centuries later we catch up with Jesus as he was teaching his famous Sermon on the Mount. In this section of what I call his stump speech, he encourages a broader and deeper understanding of the Way of God:
“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell (Gehenna – you’re throwing your life away). – Matthew 5:21-22 NLT
Makes a lot of sense. Kind of simple and perhaps even obvious?
Roughly two decades after Jesus died, the unlikely Apostle, Paul, wrote to the church he founded that was struggling in surprising ways:
But for right now, friends, I’m completely frustrated by your unspiritual dealings with each other and with God. You’re acting like infants in relation to Christ, capable of nothing much more than nursing at the breast. Well, then, I’ll nurse you since you don’t seem capable of anything more. As long as you grab for what makes you feel good or makes you look important, are you really much different than a babe at the breast, content only when everything’s going your way? – 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 NLT
Hmmm. Interesting. A little embarrassing for the Corinthian church members. Paul is saying that they were struggling with something that appears to be quite simple and basic: choosing the Way of God over less beneficial ways.
Each of these forms of instruction was getting at the same thing: follow the Way of God, which inherently requires a different kind of strength than our human nature recognizes. A way of being in the world that is countercultural and counterintuitive. An approach to life that is generally not reflected in our images of heroism and strength. This series, LOVESTRONG, seeks to examine the weakness of God that Paul was referring to, which he claimed to be stronger than the greatest human strength (1 Cor. 1:25). How do we see it in the verses we see here? What is the weakness of God? What is it in contrast with?
In his writing to the Corinthian church, the weakness Paul is referring to is a lived-out humility, a selflessness, a servanthood orientation reflected in Jesus’ death on the cross. Jesus was falsely accused, wrongfully tried, found guilty on trumped up charges, and punished well beyond what would be appropriate for his actions, which included his torturous death. All the way through what we call the Passion, Jesus refused to play the game: he didn’t fight back with words or swing back with his fists. Instead, he chose humility. What a wimp?
We like our heroes tougher than Jesus. At least in appearances. There were some moments in Jesus’ life when he couldn’t hold back, and he called out religious leaders appropriately. But what was he calling out? Hubris. The way Jesus was living and teaching – the Way of the Spirit of God – was and is humility, not hubris. The religious leaders were rigid in their interpretation and execution of the Law. They knew the right answers. They were certain. Jesus, in his humility, offered ways to think that challenged such an approach, which is what got him in trouble.
Hubris – being a loudmouth, the invulnerable tough guy, the know-it-all – is easy. We view hubris as confident strength as human beings. Yet it takes great humility – which requires much more courage – to be vulnerable enough to be aware of what we’re thinking and feeling and why, of recognizing when we’re not seeing things accurately or fully, of choosing a different approach than we had before. The Way of the Spirit of God requires humility because it constantly requires us to be humble, to assess where we are, what we’re thinking, and what we’re doing in light of Jesus.
Humility – a facet of the weakness of God – is incredibly strong. When we have moments of clarity when we see our connectedness and unity over that which divides us, we find incredible power. Think of moments when we have seen our country united even though the divisions were still there. The aftermath of Pearl Harbor. The response toward faith in reaction to the Soviet Union’s declared atheism. The assassination of JFK. The assassination of MLK. The tragic end of the Space Shuttle Challenger and crew. Mass shootings when innocent lives were brutally taken. 9-11-2001. Natural disasters. In each of these instances – and there are plenty of examples – humanity came together with compassion. We corrected our pride-focused lenses and saw ourselves and others as human beings. This is a humility that is easily acquired, but often short-lived. Such moments may lead to the immediate outpouring of support in many forms, but it often doesn’t last long.
Real change, real transformation, requires a long-haul type of humility that takes incredible strength and courage, because our nature and support systems always want to pull us back to the status quo. Moses was worried that this younger generation of Jews would make the same mistakes as their parents, choosing hubris that led them away from the heart of God over humility which saw the Spirit as the source of life and instruction. Jesus was deeply aware of the reality that hubris had led to power plays by the religious leaders that hurt the people they led. Paul was disheartened to learn that the Corinthian Christians had a short memory and were stunted in their growth to the detriment of the more vulnerable members of the community. All their counsel to their respective audiences carries all the way to us, asking the same question: are we people of hubris or humility? Are we satisfied with a certainty that is stuck in the status quo or are we humble enough to be open to whatever the Spirit of God is calling us toward?
Strong and courageous humility continually braves the question, how has my life experience shaped my way of seeing things? Have you had one of those moments where you are looking for your sunglasses only to realize you were already wearing them? We are always wearing lenses that shape how we interpret the world we live in. We cannot help it, and we cannot not be shaped by it. Our respective lenses help us see some things more clearly than others, yet also blur our vision in other areas. Realizing that we are not seeing reality without “correction” is the first step toward seeing more clearly. But that is difficult to do because our hubris rarely wants to admit that we may be wrong. This is a bummer, because our lenses are always on all the time, and if we aren’t humble enough to recognize it, we will be bumping into a lot of furniture and people, tripping our way through life potentially injuring ourselves and/or others, even unwittingly at times.
This impacts all areas of life, and it informs how we think about race in the United States. I celebrate the very significant strides we have made in our country regarding racial equality and equity. Indeed, the arc of history has bent toward justice! Yet we must remember that someone was doing the bending along the way, taking the incredibly challenging role of asking about cultural lenses that had been worn in our country since its founding. A lot of people have died because those lenses were not recognized out of hubris.
I grew up in a predominantly white environment. I didn’t have much opportunity to get to know people from other cultures or skin tones. While I am broad stroking my own story here, I can admit that while I was raised to be respectful, I didn’t understand why it appeared that black Americans seemed to really struggle. They made the crime headlines more than others, were more likely to be arrested, more broken marriages, less education, lower income, more likely to live in poverty, etc. This created a lens through which I interpreted race. It left black Americans on the whole seeming like the problem children of our country. Why can’t they collectively get their act together? We never talked about race in my family, and schools only gave a paragraph or two in history classes: everybody knew about slavery and emancipation, segregation, and the civil rights movement, but that was about the extent of it.
Don’t get me wrong – I was as respectful as I knew how to be and would not have welcomed any notion that my lenses needed to be challenged. It wasn’t’ until college that I began to see differently, in part, because I had meaningful friendships with black students. Partly because my coursework forced me to research just one facet of race: education. My senior project took on the question of whether race should influence acceptance into college. Since the 1980’s some colleges accepted black students over white students even though they didn’t perform as well academically. On the face of it, it seemed patently unfair and unjust. But the more we researched, the more we realized that we were only seeing the tip of the iceberg of a much larger, very complex, far-reaching issue.
Black represents more than race and skin tone. It represents culture as well. Black culture – like any culture – has its own way of speaking and being in the world (and, of course, while there is a larger “black culture” in America, there are lots of nuances within it, just as in white culture). Language is a big part of that. What happens if college entrance exams – the ACT and SAT – are written from a different cultural perspective, where the language reflects one culture and doesn’t really care about the other? English may be the language, but that’s not the end of the story. What we learned was that the tests themselves, being designed by the dominant white culture, reflected how white people do language and communication. The more distant a culture was from the dominant white culture, the worse they would perform on the tests. This is just one piece of the issue where we need to be brave enough, courageous enough to question our lens instead of defending our hubris. There is much, much more to know about the iceberg below the surface of the water that I would learn in the years since then – why reconstruction in the South failed after emancipation; why black people seemed stuck in less desirable housing markets; why public schools in black areas underperformed and were under-supported compared to other areas; how the GI bill that helped create the Middle Class after WWII left out black Americans, severely stunting the capacity for generational wealth and opportunity; voting rights and how they impacted elections; the politics of fear-mongering that was and often a thinly-veiled way to further support race-based anxiety; and the justice system that was not and still is not just in carrying out the basic commitment to fair trials under the law – it goes on and on. It is much easier to double-down on hubris which does not want to recognize any deeper problems. To wonder about our own lenses requires great humility and courage. This is a choice, and the choice leads to greater life or more death.
Moses, Jesus, and Paul in their own way were calling for humility – the weakness of God approach – to take seriously the choices before us. To examine what is before us. To examine the lenses we are wearing. Such humility requires great strength, and yet such a Way of being is also the only way that leads to lasting and increasing maturity and wellbeing. We can’t hubris our way out of a hubris problem – it’s a live by the sword die by the sword type of thing. Jesus didn’t wield a sword. Instead, he wielded a servant’s foot washing towel which had to be a swallowing pride moment for him and those who got their feet washed.
I love what our country represents – protected rights and freedoms to pursue a good life. I love it. We have made massive strides toward everyone getting access to that dream. The good news is that we have the opportunity to continue bending the arc of history in that beautiful direction! It will not be easy, but what a gift! We get to make our country a more beautiful, equitable place! And our motivation runs even deeper than our patriotism – this desire for human flourishing is deeply imbedded in the Spirit of God that breathes equally into all lives everywhere, calling us to greater and greater life.
This day, how will you choose? The weakness of God that is stronger than the greatest human strength? Hubris or humility?
College freshman David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell A. Blair Jr., and Joseph McNeil sat down to share a cup of coffee and a doughnut together. It was February 1, 1960. The store was a Woolworth’s Store in Greensboro, North Carolina – sort of like a large CVS with a Buttercream Bakery alongside (for Napans too young to know what a Woolworth’s was). They did not get served. Because they were black. Woolworth’s was happy to sell them goods in the store but refused to serve them food. This was nearly a century after the US passed the 13th Amendment forbidding slavery in our land and territories. This led to many other people in many other cities to do the same, a nonviolent form of resistance drawing attention to the obvious difference in the treatment of blacks and whites. All lot of meaning wrapped around four friends out to get a bite to eat.
Meals shared by Jesus followers are more than they may first appear. Why are they even mentioned – ever stop to think about that? It turns out that a lot of action took place around the supper table – more than just the eating. Significant events that informed the earliest Jesus followers. Events that they would remember every time they came together as a community of faith. Here are some of the meals that they would recount, and in their remembering, they would be renewed in their understanding of what it meant to be a disciple – each a form of resistance to the status quo, each a practice of the better which is the best way to critique what needs to change.
· The wedding at Cana reminded them that Jesus was proclaiming that the Kingdom of God was at hand, and that it offered an abundance of life and joy and promise and celebration for all who embraced it. This was a resistance against Rome as the bearer of Good News and hope for the future.
· Remembering the shared drink between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well brought radical inclusion to mind – of people and various theological beliefs. True worshipers worship in spirit and truth. It reinforced the idea that there is living water that refreshes us and never runs out – the spirit of God. This was a drink of resistance against all the discrimination and hatred that had been building, and instead a choice to live in unity.
· The feeding of the 5,000 reminded them that the humble witness of one who was willing to sacrifice what he had – a young boy with a sack lunch – could inspire thousands to share what they had so that nobody went hungry that day. Right after that, Jesus said I Am the bread of life – was he talking about God, his way of life, or both? That’s some good dinner discussion. This was a resistance to the fear-driven scarcity mindset and trust love and generosity instead.
· One evening Jesus dined with some uptight religious leaders when a known immoral woman fell at his feet, weeping, and washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and hair. Jesus was criticized by his hosts. Jesus turned the table on them, celebrating her hospitality. Then he announced to her that her sings were forgiven. This was a resistance to transactional thinking, an embrace of radical, transformative grace.
· How could they forget the dinner with Lazarus? He was dead and entombed just days before, and now he’s eating with the gang because Jesus called him forth! Lazarus’ sister, Mary, anointed Jesus with extremely expensive perfume – likely her dowry – an unwitting gift that would stay with him through his arrest, torture, and death. This was a resistance toward death itself, accompanied by an act of radical generosity.
· During his last supper with his closest followers, Jesus washed everyone’s feet, reminding them of the chief principle of the way of God: selfless service. This would be exemplified even more on the cross, which Jesus silently endured as a statement of nonviolent protest in the face of political and religious power. This weak way of God would challenge the worldview of all who understood it. This was a resistance to the way the world thinks of power. The Way views selfless service as the marker of true power.
· After Easter, Jesus cooked breakfast on the beach while the disciples were out fishing. The reinstatement of Peter to the fold – and act of forgiveness and redemption – reminded all who knew of it that grace is always available, and that the reinstatement was an invitation back to the way of selfless service, not a promotion to hold power over others. This was a resistance against cancel culture and an embrace of a grace that is honest and restorative.
When the meal shared with the faith community did its work, it resulted in a deepening love and respect for God, each other, and others. This was an act of resistance against the normal social order that valued, promoted, and perpetuated classism. Everybody was welcome around the same table among the people of The Way. Rich and poor together – crazy. And yet, even the church in Corinth, founded by Paul, felt the power of the Change Back Attacks (Martha Beck), and needed to be corrected. Selfishness was an issue. Wealthier arrived to the shared meal earlier and ate and drank to the extent that the poorer members who arrived later found nothing to eat or drink. This goes against the core meaning of proclaiming the Lord’s death until he comes, which is to remember that Jesus laid down his life in humility for those he loved – the embodiment of selflessness. Therefore, wait for each other out of love and mutual respect. To really follow Jesus means we choose selflessness, we choose to resist the cultural norms of power and position, and instead opt for a way of being that honors others as equal brothers and sisters. This is scandalous. This is the weakness of God Paul referred to that is stronger that the greatest strength of the world.
On February 1, 1960, four college freshmen took a seat at a diner’s counter for coffee and a doughnut, a nonviolent way to shine light on the fact that they were not being treated as equals in a country that prided itself on equality, that also boasted – especially at that time in our history – as a nation founded on God (a reaction to the Soviet Union’s atheistic Communism). Paul would have words for Woolworth’s, for local and state politicians, for national leaders, and for pastors and Christians who had succumbed to culture instead of serving Christ. He would have applauded the four freshman and celebrated the hundreds more who followed their example. He would have done so not because he wanted to create political noise, but because he chose to live in the footsteps of Jesus, to take the weakness of God approach over the great powers of the world.
It is good to join our ancestors in the faith and rejoice that one meaning of the death of Christ is that we are forgiven and loved by God unconditionally, which frees us from much anxiety. Yet to essentially stop there is a decision to remain in spiritual infancy. Jesus was a man of deep faith in God’s love, grace, and presence. That faith led him to bold action to bring the Commonwealth of God more and more into life on earth. To follow Jesus is to choose the weakness of God, the selflessness, the attitude and action of humble service evidenced in the character of God and quite obviously in Jesus. There is much work to do! We are invited to be part of bringing more and more shalom into the world, to help our country live up to its declarations and aspirations more and more, to deepen the maturity toward a more perfect union.
Martha Beck offered an exercise that I found quite powerful from her book, The Way of Integrity. See what it does for you...
Exercise: You are the world
1. Sit with your eyes closed and picture Earth from space, a perfect sphere of blue, green, brown, and white, hanging in a pitch-dark vacuum.
2. As you look at your home planet, think about the problems and sources of suffering that seem to threaten it most.
3. Let yourself focus on something you find especially troubling. It might be racism, political corruption, poverty, climate change, cruelty to animals, war, or crime. Whatever sparks the strongest reaction in you, allow it. Don’t try to get the “right” answer, to choose what’s most virtuous or politically correct. Feel what you really feel.
4. “Zoom in” on the issue you’ve identified. Though it will be painful, really focus on what’s going wrong. Remember everything you’ve ever learned about it. Know what you really know.
5. As you let yourself feel outrage or despair about this issue, write down everything that’s wrong about it. Say what you really mean. Make a list. If necessary, continue the list on a separate sheet of paper.
The global issue that bothers me most is creating all these problems:
6. Now write down what must happen to fix this problem. You don’t need to have sophisticated answers, or even logical ones, at this point. Just say (or write) what you really mean: “People have got to stop seeing each other as inferior!” “We must not put any more garbage into the ocean!” “We’ve got to start treating animals as fellow beings, not objects!” Make another list:
Here’s what someone (or everyone) should do to fix these problems:
7. Go back to your image of Earth. Now replace that image with your own body. If you have a negative reaction to that, know that your contribution to the planet is touched by that negativity.
8. Look at the problem you’ve chosen as your area of focus. Ask yourself: Is there any way in which your treatment of yourself mirrors this problem? Here are some examples:
· You may worry about polluting the land and sea but still put a lot of toxic substances into your own body.
· You may be angry about some human beings seeing others as inferior while seeing yourself as inferior in some way.
· You may hate cruelty to animals but drive your body—an animal—to keep overworking, staying cooped up when it longs to go outside, or forcing it to do work that it hates.
· You may be distressed about poverty while “impoverishing” yourself by denying yourself things like relaxation, kindness, play, or free time.
When you think of a way you are inflicting on yourself the problem you see in the world, write it here:
Here’s how my “global issue” shows up in my own life:
FYI: Enjoy this article that speaks more into the countercultural nature of communion.
Can you remember the feeling the first time you came across a magnificent sight like the ocean, the mountains, Yosemite’s granite-walled valley, the Grand Canyon, Lake Tahoe, a redwood forest, or the night sky from high elevation at new moon? When we see such things, we feel awe. Sometimes we don’t really have words to describe what we’re seeing and feeling. We feel overwhelmed by the experience. We just want to stare awhile and take it all in. We take a photo, but they never do it justice.
Think of that kind of experience and try to imagine amplifying it by a factor of 100 or 1000. We’re talking about a mind-blowing event in life. There is a Japanese word for this phenomenon that doesn’t happen to everybody: Satori. Satori refers to experiences where the veil of reality is pulled back and we see things as they really are. Some in the Christian tradition calls this a unitive vision from a liminal space. When someone has such an experience, they are altered.
I think Jesus had such an experience. Maybe it was his baptism, since all four Gospel accounts remember it as a moment when the Holy Spirit anointed him – like a dove, the symbol of peace – and God was understood to have said, “This is my son, in whom I am pleased.” After this, according to some of the Gospel accounts, he went into the wilderness. I think he had a satori and it blew his mind. He needed to break away and think about it for a minute.
The Apostle Paul, one of the greatest champions of the Way of Jesus, responsible for taking the Good News from Israel to Rome and also given credit for 2/3 of the New Testament writings, wasn’t always a fan of Jesus. Just the opposite. We are first introduced to Paul at the martyrdom of Stephen, who was stoned to death for his proclamation of Jesus as the anointed one whom everyone should follow. Paul – known at that time as Saul (the Hebrew version of his Greek name), oversaw the coat check room. He stood by guarding everyone’s garments so that they could more effectively throw rocks at a man whose crime was to challenge orthodoxy.
Saul was extremely intelligent. He was trained by the best a brightest and was on his way to Jewish Super Stardom. He was zealous for God and Judaism – so much so that he is remembered for gaining letters of authority to extradite Jesus followers back to Jerusalem for trial, which would likely lead to their torture, imprisonment, death, or all three. On his way to the ancient city of Damascus (which still stands today) he experienced a massive satori. A brilliant, blinding light stopped him in his tracks (see Acts 9:1-19). He heard a voice come from the light claiming to be Jesus – the one who caused all the trouble. The voice gave him marching orders, which Saul obediently followed. This experience radically altered Saul, who eventually changed his name to Paul to relate better to a Greek audience.
The before and after pictures of Paul could not be starker. Before, he was a zealous legalist who demanded strict conformity to the Jewish Law – all 613 of them – which at one point Paul would claim to be blameless of ever violating even one of them. Jesus – who lived 10-15 years before Paul’s conversion – was clearly apostate since he challenged orthodox positions of Judaism and was guilty of violating (and challenging) the sabbath. His teaching and behavior were so egregious that it prompted Jewish leaders to orchestrate his arrest and execution – better to kill one instead of many was their thinking. In an instant, Paul became the greatest apologist, evangelist, and theologian for the Jesus movement. He spent the rest of his life promoting Jesus, even though it at times resulted in being tortured, imprisoned, impoverished, and eventually martyred. Inquiring minds want to know – what the heck happened in that satori to have such an impact?
That’s actually what satoris do. When people get a true glimpse of “heaven”, they can’t unsee it. It alters their view of everything in an instant. Such experiences really cannot be described – they defy description. Do you know what happened when Teddy Roosevelt sent paintings of Yosemite Valley back to Washington for them to consider it for protection? They refused to believe the paintings were acurate! They questioned the validity of what they were seeing! Why? Because who had ever heard of a 3,000-foot wall of granite, or a 2,425 foot waterfall, in a valley which has more waterfalls (in the Spring) than any other place on earth? Who could make sense of Half Dome? The Sentinels? It is an unbelievable sight. Satoris are all of that times 100 or 1000.
While the specific experiences people have when they have such visions, there are some similarities, which I think is fascinating. Two things in particular stand out to me. First, people see the world differently. They see the interconnectedness of everything. It is apparently overwhelming in its beauty and complexity. Such experiences foster a view of the creation where it is seen not as dangerous, frightening, and meaningless, but safe, enticing, and alive (SEA). They see the SEA. One example that might help us understand what is seen is the reality of fractals in creation – repeated patterns that show up at all levels and in many things – maybe everything. Patterns of connectedness. People who experience satori come away seeing themselves, everyone, and everything as interconnected. We are one. There is one final error that Beck points out related to this: “the belief that there has ever been any distinction between the separate scraps of matter we imagine we are, and the all-inclusive truth that extends beyond anything we can conceive. When we fully dissolve the lie of being isolated within ourselves, we join Dante and everyone else, everything else. We forget ourselves as small, doomed beings on a threatened planet and remember ourselves as “the love that moves the sun and the other stars.” Because we are connected and inherently joined by love, we naturally see others and creation itself as precious, and worthy of honor and respect. We also recognize that since we are connected, what we do matters – we affect everything one way or another, for good or not so good.
This brings me to the second thing that jumped out at me about people who experience satori. The result of the experience is compassion. They do not emerge from such unitive vision caring less about others and instead choose to become more self-absorbed to the neglect of others. Just the opposite. When people see “heaven” they care more and do more for people and all of creation. They set out to do healing work. Often, according to Beck, what they do with their compassion is related in some way to their integrity, their true selves, which is connected to who they are as historical people – people with history. Our healing work matches our true nature. Where to go to find people to heal? Where healing is needed, which takes them back into the Dark Wood of Error to help those who are struggling to find their way out. Devoting themselves to such healing work brings peace wherever we go, a peace that is our true home. The Jewish tradition had a word for this kind of peace: shalom. That Hebrew word is what Jesus talked about referring to salvation and the Kingdom of God – they are both about bringing deep peace into the world.
How did Jesus’ satori affect him? Most likely, before his experience, he was aligned with the message John the Baptist was preaching. Jesus was technically a Pharisee. He was spiritual, believing that there is more going on in the world than simply mechanics and biology, that God is active in some way. And he believed in keeping the Law to maintain favor with God. John’s message was to get our houses in order for the coming Messiah who was going to deliver Israel from the bondage of Rome in ways similar to what happened with Pharaoh in Egypt. Jesus came to John to be baptized, a sign of his agreement with that message. We do not have any evidence from Jesus’ life to suggest that he thought any differently than John as he went into the water. We have conflicting evidence that John thought of Jesus any differently when he approached. Something happened either immediately before and/or during and after the baptism: John recognized the anointing was taking place. I believe a satori happened for Jesus at that moment that was so powerful he had to break away for a while to process it. When he returned, his message was quite different than John’s, and quite different than what Jesus may have thought before. Jesus didn’t come out of his retreat talking about hellfire and the end of the world – he did not preach a worldview that sees everything as dangerous, frightening, or meaningless. Instead, Jesus came back valuing those who were most vulnerable, who had been told they had little value and were perhaps cursed by God. He came back with an expansive and inclusive view of God, where God is known by love and grace (and related justice) and not wrath. Jesus was changed by heaven.
But what about Paul? Saul entrusted his life to the very “enemy” he was out to arrest. Ananias was a Jesus follower who God told to help Saul after his satori. The fact that Saul trusted Ananias with his life speaks volumes. But maybe that was out of sheer panic. What else can we look at to help us understand just how powerful this change was? Instead of maintaining his course trying to eliminate Jesus followers, he almost immediately became one of their most vocal champions. Unimpressed? Imagine how startling it would be to hear that Matthew Gaetz , extreme-right Republican congressman from Florida, became a staunch advocate for Bernie Sanders overnight. Or vice-a-versa. Unthinkable! Yet that’s what happened. Furthermore, Saul mostly went by Saul, his Hebrew name, because he identified first and foremost as a Jewish man. Yet in due time, he exclusively went by Paul to gain familiarity with Gentiles. What about his theology? Paul was a conservative theologian – near Zealot-like in his passion. At one point he bragged about how exceptional he was:
Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!
I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.
I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! Philippians 3:4-11 NLT
Paul shifted from reliance on the Law to reliance on faith in the very Christ he wanted to snuff out! Holy Cow! He even convinced the fledgling Christian leadership in Jerusalem to pare down the Jewish Law to just two – including the elimination of circumcision! HOLY COW! But what about Paul’s life, what changed there? Paul shifted from persecutor to persecuted, taking whatever licks came to him for proclaiming the Way of Jesus Christ, leading eventually to his own martyrdom. When we get a glimpse of what we call heaven, our vision changes, our beliefs change, our priorities change, and our hearts move us to care for others at great personal cost. They are conduits for great peace in the world because that’s where their home is. They cannot not be agents of shalom.
Martha Beck has not had a satori. Yet she has learned from those who have that living in integrity – becoming our True Selves – leads us to be shalom bearers. She has discovered that the greatest use of her life is to serve others. When she does, she finds herself in peace, at home.
Want to experience more heaven in your life? You may at some point have a satori. But don’t count on it. Instead, seek the things that Jesus and Heaven are all about – shalom. When you do, in alignment with truth, we find ourselves at home, too. In shalom.
Pam Gumns, Co-Founder of Free The Girls, a nonprofit organization that serves enslaved women toward their freedom, shares much information about this global issue and what we can do about it.
Convergence. Today provides and interesting convergence. The biblical texts that are being read today all over the world are about the declaration of Jesus as the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world – and then called his disciples to come help him do it. The Old Testament passage refers to a passage where Isaiah feels discouraged in his work as a prophet of God. Psalm 40 is a song of deliverance and hope. We are in part three of a four-part series journeying through Dante’s Divine Comedy with the help of Martha Beck’s wisdom from her book The Way of Integrity, which is about becoming our True Selves. And all this lands on the weekend here in the United States when we remember, celebrate and recommit to the vision of Martin Luther King, Jr. What fun!
Snake Oil? My doctoral work had me take a deep dive into the Gospel of John as I plumbed the depths of Soteriology – the study of salvation. I was at my wits end as a pastor, feeling like a snake oil salesman pitching a potion promising heaven. My Doctor of Ministry degree program gave me the opportunity to discover the incredible depths and beauty of what God was trying to do in the world and for the world God created, loves, and believes to be very good. Part of my struggle was that the classic understanding of Jesus’ life and death boiled down to his death on the cross as a sacrifice for sins, appeasing God’s wrath so that we are assured heaven. That’s the snake oil potion – drink that Kool-aide and go to heaven. Taking a comprehensive look at Jesus’ life, ministry, and teachings, however, made it obvious to me that while God’s grace was certainly central for him, penal substitutionary atonement was not. Richard Rohr has noted multiple times that John’s declaration of Jesus as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world is singular, not plural. Jesus came to address the sin of the world, not to atone for the billions of daily sins by becoming a final sacrifice (that idea developed much later). So, we’re talking about the sin of the world. The error of the world, the off-the-mark condition of the world, the something-is-off of the world. The world, apparently, had adopted a storyline that wasn’t right which was leading to a lot of pain and suffering. The world was believing a story that was a lie, which led it into darkness – a collective Dark Wood of Error. That lie needed to be seen for what it was – a trip through the Inferno was necessary, which is what Jesus was doing as a beacon of Light in the world. Purgatory ensued as well, even as he continued to help those in the Dark Wood make their way in and through their respective Infernos.
Lamb of God. This week a scholar pointed out something completely obvious that had escaped my attention – something that never struck me before. Lambs were never a symbol for sacrifice. Goats, sheep, bulls, and birds, yes. But not lambs. More specifically, considering the overall context of Jesus as a Jewish man living in the first century CE, and because of multiple related references, we can view Jesus as a Passover Lamb. Not a lamb that was killed to forgive sin, but a lamb whose death paved the way for exodus – a people living in bondage freed to new life. A people stuck in the Dark Wood of Error, recognizing their suffering, now being liberated to a new chapter. Jesus was the agent who guided people from the Dark Wood, through the Inferno, up through Purgatory, enroute to Paradise. He invited and taught his disciples to do the same. The Spirit of God is still inviting and teaching followers to carry out the same mission.
Climbing Up Purgatory. Dante’s Purgatory is a mirror image of the Inferno. Whereas the Inferno began with minor, innocent mistakes and descended to the most grievous errors of righteousness (liars), Purgatory begins with the steepest grades, the hardest climb at the beginning, with the ascent getting easier as it gains elevation. What is purgatory? This part of the human journey is when we begin to purge ourselves of the lie-based stories we’ve been living with. We purge-a-story that needs to be replaced by truth. Purging such stories is not easy – we face internal struggle and external pressures to keep the lie alive and in place. Purgatory is where we learn to live in truth, which can be very difficult at first, because we’ve grown used to living the lie.
Integrity and True Selves. The point of Purgatory is to help climbers become their True Selves, to live in the Way of Integrity: to know what you really know, feel what you really feel, say what you really mean, and do what you really want. The salvation offered by God expressed through Jesus is not merely one of declaring that you are saved from the Inferno, but that you are meant to be a new creation. Different than you once were. To be Christian is to be forever becoming, forever learning to walk in the Way of the Spirit, which yields the richest, deepest, and most meaningful life possible. This is no self-centered, hedonistic life – that kind of paradigm is not born of the Spirit. Just the opposite. When we are in lock step with the Spirit, we look more and more like Jesus, one decision at a time. Each decision comes with pushback.
Change Back Attacks. Beck calls the external pressure Change Back Attacks. What she is talking about is a core tenet of systems theory, which contends that systems work very hard to remain intact, so that when a part of the system steps out of line, the rest of the system works to get it back in place to keep the status quo. Martha Beck experienced this quite fully when she committed to going a full year without lying. No lying to herself as much as she was aware. No lying to others. No matter the consequence. Note: she did manage ways around social situations. When someone would ask her how she was doing, instead of offering the culturally appropriate “I’m doing great!”, she instead replied, “I’m a hot mess!”, which would generally be met with a laugh, not any follow up questions. So, she was being truthful. Or she would change the subject and not answer the question. Her truth-telling meant that she could no longer defend positions at BYU she knew to be false – be it doctrinal issues or lies about the Mormon culture that was oppressive toward women and was hiding moral atrocities as is seen in the rest of the global church. Speaking such truth made the headlines – at least in Utah. Her “Way of Integrity” crusade garnered a lot of attention as people found in her wisdom great hope and liberated lives. She was, if I may be so bold (if not just obvious), doing the work of Jesus. And, like Jesus, she experienced similar backlash. The Mormon machine rose against her. Her abusive father denied her accusations and her family denounced her. People appealed to the good work her father had done, and that she should just keep quiet. But to be silent is to lie when silence ultimately perpetuates the deceit. This is purgatory – learning to live in the light of truth. At the beginning of our journey to such new ways of being, the climb is very, very difficult.
Pete’s Purgatory. I can relate a bit to that on a professional level. As I discovered more and more what I believed to be true based on my academic pursuits, I shared more and more, albeit very carefully, yet organically. It has not been easy knowing that what I shared over the years has barbequed one holy cow after another – precious pets of faith – making it painful to stay if you were happy where you were. Many of you who are newer never knew those who once sat in your seats – who paid for your seats. Purgatory is necessary. But Purgatory also really sucks at times. Yet now, 23 years into my role, I can say that while we have new challenges along different lines, the bulk of the theological heavy lifting is likely behind us and affirms something Dante discovered as he made the ascent: it gets easier. I would even go further, echoing from the saints gone before us but also my personal experience: even if persecution returns, it will be easier, too, even if it is severe, because of where I’ve trod to get here.
Stories of Liberation. In her book, Beck offers story after story of people who were in the Dark Wood, went through the Inferno to learn the lies they’d been embracing, and started their way up Purgatory. A man miserable in his military career who stopped believing the lie that he had no choice retired and began new work that gave him joy. A woman who was given a year to live who chose to use her remaining time checking off bucket list items even though she was in great pain. Sharee was ready to take her own life out of great despair. When she took one last moment to reflect, she realized how many lies she had been living with. She marched back into her life and chose to live in truth instead. While it was incredibly difficult, she emerged on the other side healthier, stronger, and happier. Another woman put her life on hold to raise her kids, and felt she could never go after her dreams related to art. That was a lie she believed. Once she saw it, she started the climb up Purge-a-Story and found ways to make her life happen according to the truth.
MLK, Bender. Martin Luther King, Jr., caught the vision and accepted the call to live in truth and help others do the same, which eventually called the entire nation to consider whether it had been living a lie, and whether it would choose to live in truth. What happened when he began shining a light on the acts of racial prejudice with nonviolent protest? Violent Change-Back attacks from law enforcement. What happened when he nonviolently focused that light on the systemic framework that allowed that racial prejudice to perpetuate – the right to vote, the right to ride on any seat in the bus, the right to drink from any water fountain, the right to live in any neighborhood, the right to a good education, the right to military benefits promised to all vets but only given fully to white ones, etc.? Vehement, concerted Change-Back attacks from politicians, police, and the public in the south. Only when the nonviolent protestors were severely beaten crossing the George Pettus Bridge did the hearts of most Americans soften and warm toward the cause. Legislation was passed, and many moves toward true equity have taken place, yet it is a climb that is still wrought with Change-Back attacks. On January 6, a panel of three federal judges ruled that South Carolina’s First Congressional District is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Following the 2020 census, the Republican-dominated legislature moved 62% of the Black voters previously in that district into the Sixth District, turning what had recently been a swing district into a staunchly Republican one that Republican Nancy Mace won in November by 14 percentage points. District Judge Richard M. Gergel said: “If you see a turtle on top of a fence post, you know someone put it there…. This is not a coincidence.” MLK once quoted another pastor from a century before him that said “the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice”. But it should be noted that it only bends toward justice when those who care about justice do the work of bending, which I believe is born from the heart of God and supported by the Spirit’s power. Jesus was a bender. His followers were benders. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a bender. Martha Beck is a bender. All who strive to follow in Jesus’ footsteps are called to be benders – we cannot help it because we are Light bearers who, when seeing a lie, cannot any longer let it remain so. Beck notes that the most dangerous places for creating change are also the ones where it’s most desperately needed. A friend of mine reflected on it this way:
Martin Luther King Jr. from his speech on February 6, 1968, where he spoke out against the injustice of the Vietnam War:
“On some positions cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it Right? And There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right.”
This resonates with me on a deep level. Being part of a minority that recently achieved its full natural rights of existence in this country in the last 8 years, I know what it is like to survive by playing it safe, to survive in the politic and to conform to what is popular. To survive meant being in the closet. But it is not enough to just survive. It is not right.
It is through people like Martin Luther King Jr. and those who were drawn to him who stood up for what they believed, to say it is not enough to just survive, but to live fully and respected for who they were as human beings. That was not safe, that was not politic, and that was not popular. But it was right. It is not enough to survive, but to stand up against oppression of not only our neighbors here at home, but of our neighbors across the sea. That was not safe, politic, nor was it popular. But it was right.
It is through people who stood up and asked “is it right?” that darkness has been beaten back to illuminate the humanity of those who were banished from society just for being a different color, a different gender, or a different orientation.
And it is through people like you, who have all gathered here today in remembrance and respect of Martin Luther King Jr. that the torch is once again held high to continue the fight against the dark. And that is Right.
Come and See and Bend. The disciples who accepted Jesus’ invitation were all ordinary, everyday people. They came with varying levels of readiness to embrace what Jesus was doing. His simply invitation was, “Come and see.” Some had more time than others when they heard the invitation. Some were skeptical. Some were deflated. All were invited to come and see. The same is true for us. The Spirit of God meets us in our Dark Wood of Error, guides us down through the revealing Inferno, and leads us to climb toward the heights of purgatory, where we learn to live more and more our True Selves as we purge story after story that is not based in truth. None of the journey is easy. Beck notes that the effort, accordingly to psychologists who study happiness, “puts us into a state called ‘flow.’ As we master it, our brains secrete hormones like dopamine and serotonin, which put us in bliss. It’s human life at its most delicious” (169). Climbing Purge-a-Story is hard, yet so rewarding. So worth it, so liberating, so genuine, so powerful, so life-giving, so impactful, so meaningful, so eternal. This is what living the Way of Integrity offers. This is what we increasingly experience in Becoming Our True Selves.
A man went forth with gifts.
He was a prose poem.
He was a tragic grace.
He was a warm music.
He tried to heal the vivid volcanoes.
His ashes are
reading the world.
His Dream still wishes to anoint
the barricades of faith and of control.
His word still burns the center of the sun
above the thousands and the
hundred thousands.
The word was Justice. It was spoken.
So, it shall be spoken.
So, it shall be done.
- Gwendolyn Brooks
Have you ever had a moment in your life when you were not at your best? Sometimes the moment lasts a day, sometimes a week, sometimes a season when, in retrospect (and sometimes in the moment) we feel like an alien took over our bodies or something, because the attitudes and behaviors we’re exhibiting really don’t reflect who we want to be, who we believe ourselves to be. When we’re in such moments, we feel a bit lost and in the dark. We’re not exactly sure how we got there or how to get out. It’s not a pleasant experience. Have you ever been there? If you haven’t, I wonder how you are enjoying your cruise on the River Denial?
I wondered if there are any biblical characters that went through such common experiences. A few notables came to mind immediately, but the more I thought about it, the more stories came to mind of people who got lost. Adam and Eve. Caine and Abel. Noah. Abraham. Isaac. Jacob. Joseph. Moses. Aaron. Saul. David. Solomon. Hezekiah. Elijah. Hosea. Jonah. Job. Peter. Paul. Judas. James and John. John the Baptist. Jesus’ family. Oh, and Jesus. I am leaving out many more, but hopefully you get the point. Every one of these characters spent time feeling lost, not living into or out of their True Selves. For some it took time and consequences to wake them from their stupor. For some, they woke up so late that they roused only to die. We generally don’t wittingly choose to get lost – we simply find ourselves there.
Martha Beck, Ph.D. is a renowned author and coach for people who realize they are a little or a lot lost. In her book, The Way of Integrity, she takes her readers on a fantasy journey crafted by Dante in his classic, The Divine Comedy. Beck sees more than a sci-fi tour of hell in this prose. She sees a journey that every person is invited to take as part of being human. Not everyone makes it all the way to Paradise, where we find great freedom and peace, because getting there is difficult. Some get stuck in hell. Most remain lost in the Dark Wood of Error, which is that space when we realize we are not living as our True Selves, but rather our small selves.
From Beck’s long experience, she offers some symptom signs that we may be in the Dark Wood of Error, where we have lost sight and touch with our True Selves – who we are made to be, who we can be and long to be, who we can get back to being. You may be in the Dark Wood of Error if you are feeling purposelessness. Or emotional misery. Or physical deterioration. Or experiencing consistent relationship failures. Or consistent career failures. Or can’t shake persistent bad habits. Of course, there can be other reasons beyond being in the Dark Wood of Error for the symptoms. Yet I imagine there may be something resonating with you here, because this reflects very real human experience. Dante’s work became a classic for a reason. He was onto something. He wasn’t simply describing his central character’s experience, was he?
Are you lost in the woods? Try the following exercise from Marth Beck.
Exercise: Finding integrity in the dark wood
Here is a simple exercise that will put your feet squarely on the way of integrity, no matter how lost you may feel. Below you’ll find a list of simple statements. Your job is to say them out loud. Whisper them privately, proclaim them to a friend, shout them at the next telemarketer who interrupts your day. And just for a moment, as you say each sentence, tentatively accept that it might be true.
Now here’s the important part: as you speak each sentence, feel what happens inside you. Your pride may sting, your inner critic may put its back up like a startled cat. But does your body relax a little, despite the apparent negativity of a given statement? Does your breath deepen? Do you feel a battle easing in your gut, your heart, your head? Just notice this. Don’t worry about what comes next. Okay, go.
My life isn’t perfect.
I don’t like the way things are going. I don’t feel good.
I’m sad.
I’m angry.
I’m scared.
I’m not at peace.
I can’t find my people.
I’m not sure where to go.
I don’t know what to do.
I need help.
If we realize we are in the Dark Wood, we might wonder how we got there. Beck believes that our True Selves get drowned out by other influences from our respective cultures. In the Western world, she believes that pursuing and portraying culturally defined success leads us astray because the achievement of such success rarely delivers what we really desire for our lives. This drive to get out of the woods as fast and easy as possible is represented in Dante’s Mt. Delectable. Yet when we try climbing the mountain, we quickly realize it will be in vain and worse, potentially deadly.
Especially in places where consumerism drives culture, advertising can be an incredibly powerful influence in our lives, tempting us away from things that really matter to us. Take a moment to engage Beck’s exercise to help us get her point.
Exercise: Culture or nature?
First, recall the last time you saw some sort of advertising that really appealed to you. It might have been a television commercial, an ad on social media, or a display in a storefront. As it grabbed your attention, you might have felt strong desire for whatever was being advertised. Suddenly, you wanted—really wanted—the latest model of that smartphone, or that slick new car, or a trendier jacket than any you now own. Write down the thing you wanted.
Something advertising made me want:
For a moment, think about having this thing. Notice how your body feels as you hold the thought. Maybe you almost thirst to own this item. Maybe you feel a little racy with hope, or bitter with the conviction that you’ll never have such an awesome object. As best you can, write down a description of the sensation you get when you let yourself want this item. What do you feel, physically and emotionally, when you think about getting it?
When I imagine getting the thing advertising made me want, I experienced the following sensations:
Physical sensations:
Emotional sensations:
Now, shake it out. Literally. (Shaking your head, hands, or whole body, the way an animal might as it climbs out of water, can help clear your mind and emotions.) Let go of the advertising image. Notice if this is hard for you, if you’re almost compelled to go place an order for the New Thing, or at least stare at images of it. Whenever you can let go of this wanting enough to feel centered in the present moment, answer the following question:
When you’re alone in the quiet—say, lying awake at night—what do you yearn for? Not just want, yearn for. Write down the first thing that comes to mind.
Something I yearn for when I’m quiet:
Allow the sensation of yearning for this thing to grow. Vividly imagine having it. How does this image affect your body and your emotions? List them below.
When I imagine getting the thing I yearn for when I’m quiet, I experience the following sensations:
Physical sensations:
Emotional sensations:
Can you pick up any differences? The exact experience will be particular to you, but people typically feel completely disparate sensations when they’re triggered by advertising, as opposed to letting their desires emerge spontaneously from within.
A final influence she identifies is what she calls “cultural hustle”, doing things we really don’t want to do, things that are not aligned with or True Selves. Give a look at Beck exercise and see what sticks.
Exercise: Detecting your hustle
If you found out that some of the things you do every day come from culture, not your true nature, you’re hustling up your own version of Mount Delectable. Are you ready to get radically honest about that? Then ask yourself the following questions, and pause after each until you can feel the real answer. (Again, you don’t have to do anything except allow for internal recognition of the real situation. Just notice the difference between things you genuinely love to do and things you do for other reasons.)
· Do you ever hang out with people you don’t truly enjoy? Who are they?
· Do you consistently make yourself do anything (or many things) you don’t really want to do? Make a list.
· Are there things you do solely out of fear that not doing them will upset someone, or lower your value in someone else’s eyes? What are they?
· Are there any times in your daily life where you’re consistently pretending to be happier or more interested than you really are? And what areas (relationships, job activities, places) do you tend to do this?
· Do you ever say things you know aren’t true, or things you don’t really, truly mean? What are they?
As Dante recognized that climbing the mountain was not going to work, he came across a guide from his imagination – his favorite poet, Virgil. Beck notes that guides seem to show up when we are in the Dark Wood. These Soul Teachers, as she calls them, are there to help us find our way. She notes that there are some common themes that seem to show up for many people. Soul teachers: Capture our attention. Come with a dash of magic. Offer genuine love. Don’t share our culture’s values. Don’t care about our hustle. Know when to quit.
Inner guidance is available to us as well, flowing from our True Selves. This inner voice is capable of helping us live with integrity, making choices that foster the peace we desire. Try this exercise on for size:
Exercise: Meeting your inner teacher
Maybe you’ve never had an experience of pure, sweet integrity. Do you want to have it? Or maybe you’re remembering an experience of feeling briefly but totally aligned with your own truth. Do you want that feeling back? If so, one powerful step you can take right now is to acknowledge not only that you’re feeling a bit lost, but that you would really like to have a soul teacher. Our society doesn’t encourage you to admit this, but if it’s true for you, your heart won’t stop yearning for the mentor to arrive. Allow this feeling and keep your eyes open—your soul guide may show up any minute, from virtually anywhere. And if you’d like something to do while you’re waiting for that to happen, here’s a way you can access your inner teacher right now.
For this exercise you’ll need five to ten minutes in a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted. You’ll also need something to write with. You can use your own paper for this exercise, or fill in the spaces provided here.
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In the previous chapter you wrote down a few things you consistently make yourself do, even though you don’t really want to do them. Now pick one of these things (or think of a brand new one) and write it here.
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With this activity in mind, say to yourself, “I am meant to do [this thing].” For example, if your activity is “take out the garbage,” mentally repeat, over and over, “I am meant to take out the garbage.”
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As you repeat “I am meant to [take out the garbage],” notice any physical sensations. Scan your body, noting the feelings in your muscles, joints, stomach, gut, skin surface, and so on. Write down anything you notice:
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Now turn your attention to your emotions. As you repeat “I am meant to [take out the garbage],” what emotional reactions arise? Anxiety? Bliss? Apathy? Write them down:
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Answer this question yes or no: As you mentally repeat “I am meant to [take out the garbage],” do you feel free? Now let go of the thought “I am meant to [take out the garbage].” Instead, mentally repeat this sentence: “I am meant to live in peace.” You don’t have to believe this, just repeat it in your mind over and over.
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As you repeat “I am meant to live in peace,” again notice your physical sensations. Scan your whole body with your attention and write down what you’re feeling physically:
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Still repeating “I am meant to live in peace,” notice any emotions arising. Write them down:
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Finally, answer this question yes or no: As you mentally repeat “I am meant to live in peace,” do you feel free?
Let’s take stock for a moment. We recognize that there are times in our lives when we find ourselves in the Dark Wood of Error. We are lost there because we have been influenced by external cultural factors that are not necessarily aligned with our True Selves. These influences may encourage an easy out via Mt. Delectable, but such a pursuit is perilous. When the time is right – when we are ready – we discover that guides are available to help us move forward. We also recognize that deep within us our True Selves speak, helping us discern those decisions that lead us to deep peace. This is all well and good.
What might not seem well and good is the news Virgil shares with Dante – the same news all worthy guides share with us. The only way out of the Dark Wood of Error is through the Inferno which has inscribed above its gate, Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. The hope that needs to be abandoned is that we can keep on living exactly as we have been and somehow also live our True Selves. This is called denial, which is a separation from reality. Our living from our small selves got us into the Dark Wood of Error. The Inferno holds secrets about ourselves, the things that have influenced us. The Inferno is the place where we can look in the mirror and see what has been there all along. Some of that which we will see is much too traumatic to look at alone – we need trained professionals. But much of what needs to be seen simply requires honesty, which requires great courage. When we choose to step through the hell gate and into the Inferno, into the total honesty zone, we realize that we do not control what happens next. Beck offers a newsflash: we really don’t control anything, anywhere, anyway! Time to let go of our denial and pursue the truth that just may set us free.
Guts are required to move forward. Our cowardice will sometimes tempt us back into the Dark Wood and set up camp. Beck offers an exercise to help us defeat cowardice and replace it with courage. Quite simply, she encourages us to realize that in each moment we have what we need to survive. We fret over what might happen, but in reality, we only have right now. We are not living in the past. We cannot live in the future. We only live right now. When we focus on our present, our Now, we find peace and strength. Meditation revolving around breathing helps us find peace in the moment, which gives us strength and courage because, guess what? – the future is filled with moments where we can walk in peace.
Next week, we’ll enter hell. What could go wrong?
John’s Prologue (John 1:1-5 NLT)
In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.
God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.
Christ isn’t Jesus’ last name. Christ means anointing. Jesus was clearly anointed by God given his teaching, his lifestyle, and his ministry (especially of miracles).
Christ is the presence of God that permeates everything. We witnessed it in Jesus – an ordinary man by his own account and preference – who woke up to the presence of God that is everywhere, always, and inextricably intertwined in all of creation, including ourselves. We are not separated from God as the tracts tell us – not literally – because that is impossible. Our separation is in our blindness, in our incapacity to recognize what’s been here the whole time. Jesus was unique in this – he took a major step forward from the great prophets Elijah and Elisha, and from Moses. For Jesus, God was never “up there” but in here and everywhere. That Good News changed his perspective which changed his life and eventually changed ours! Richard Rohr notes,
“We daringly believe that God’s presence was poured into a single human being, so that humanity and divinity can be seen to be operating as one in him—and therefore in us! But instead of saying that God came into the world through Jesus, maybe it would be better to say that Jesus came out of an already Christ-soaked world. The second Incarnation flowed out of the first, out of God’s loving union with physical creation” (The Universal Christ, 16, 14-15).
If Rohr is right – and I believe he is, perhaps we need to train our eyes differently. Amy E. Herman, in her A Lesson on Looking TED Talk, refers to her work on “seeing” that has helped people from a wide range of industries pay attention to things they might otherwise ignore. Could it be that we need to learn from her when it comes to our faith? Is it possible that if we had eyes to see, we could discover God in the midst of the artwork of our lives as often as we are willing and able to look and see?
Author Madeleine L’Engle (1918–2007) saw incarnation this way:
A sky full of God’s children! Each galaxy, each star, each living creature, every particle and sub-atomic particle of creation, we are all children of the Maker. From a sub-atomic particle with a life span of a few seconds, to a galaxy with a life span of billions of years, to us human creatures somewhere in the middle in size and age, we are . . . children of God, made in God’s image.
Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, Christ, the Maker of the universe or perhaps many universes, willingly and lovingly leaving all that power and coming to this poor, sin-filled planet to live with us for a few years to show us what we ought to be and could be. Christ came to us as Jesus of Nazareth, wholly human and wholly divine, to show us what it means to be made in God’s image. Jesus, as Paul reminds us, was the firstborn of many brethren [Romans 8:29].
I stand on the deck of my cottage, looking at a sky full of God’s children, knowing that I am one of many brethren, and sistren, too, and that Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
Bathed in this love, I go into the cottage and to bed.
Writer and organizer Kelley Nikondeha describes how the context of Jesus’ birth demonstrates God’s Incarnation amongst those who suffer and are oppressed:
The advent narratives demand we take the political and economic world of Roman Palestine seriously. The Gospel writers named the empires of Caesar and Herod not for dramatic effect; they didn’t mention a census or massacre for literary flourish. The Gospel writers used contextual markers to describe in concrete ways the turmoil of the times that hosted the first advent.
It is this very context that makes the advent narratives contemporary—whether in Israel-Palestine or lands beyond. Our troubled times, shaped by all manner of injustice, cause continued suffering, making the loud cries of lament and cries for peace timely, as they are answered by advent. . . .
The Incarnation positions Jesus among the most vulnerable people, the bereft and threatened of society. The first advent shows God wrestling with the struggles common to many the world over. And from this disadvantaged stance, Jesus lives out God’s peace agenda as a counter-testimony to Caesar’s peace.
This is the story of advent: we join Jesus as incarnations of God’s peace on this earth for however long it takes. God walks in deep solidarity with humanity, sharing in our sufferings and moments of hope. Amid our hardship, God is with us. Emmanuel remains the name on our lips in troubled times (Kelley Nikondeha, The First Advent in Palestine: Reversals, Resistance, and the Ongoing Complexity of Hope).
And how about this? Father Greg Boyle is the Founder of Homeboy Industries, which offers jobs, services, and dignity to former gang members. He has witnessed the healing that comes from having reverence for reality—which is where we bump into God:
We remember the sacred by our reverence.... This is the esteem we extend to the reality revealed to us. Jesus didn’t abandon his reality, he lived it. He ran away from nothing and sought some wise path through everything. He engaged in it all with acceptance. He had an eye out always for cherishing his reality. A homie, Leo, wrote me: “I’m going to trust God’s constancy of love to hover over my crazy ass. I’m fervent in my efforts to cultivate holy desires.” This is how we find this other kind of stride and joyful engagement in our cherished reality. The holy rests in every single thing. Yes, it hovers, over our crazy asses....
I always liked that Saint Kateri Tekakwitha’s name “Tekakwitha” means “she who bumps into things.” What if holiness is a contact sport and we are meant to bump into things? This is what it means to embrace a contemplative, mystical way of seeing wholeness. It gives a window into complexity and keeps us from judging and scapegoating and demonizing. If we allow ourselves to “bump into things,” then we quit measuring. We cease to Bubble-Wrap ourselves against reality. We stop trying to “homeschool” our way through the world so that the world won’t touch us. Hard to embrace the world . . . if we are so protective and defensively shielded from it. A homie told me once, “It’s taken me all these years to see the real world. And once ya see it—there’s only God there.”
Boyle closes the gap between the secular and the sacred:
We don’t want to distance the secular but always bring it closer. It’s only then that ordinary things and moments become epiphanies of God’s presence. Some man said to me once, “I want to become more spiritual.” Yet God is inviting us to inhabit the fullness of our humanity. God holds out wholeness to us. Let’s not settle for just spiritual. We are sacramental to our core when we think that everything is holy. The holy not just found in the supernatural but in the Incarnational here and now. The truth is that sacraments are happening all the time if we have the eyes to see... the Infinite is present in it all... (Gregory Boyle, The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness).
And finally, Rachel Held Evans sums it here:
To understand Mary’s humanity and her central role in Jesus’s story is to remind ourselves of the true miracle of the Incarnation—and that is the core Christian conviction that God is with us, plain old ordinary us. God is with us in our fears and in our pain, in our morning sickness and in our ear infections, in our refugee crises and in our endurance of Empire, in smelly barns and unimpressive backwater towns, in the labor pains of a new mother and in the cries of a tiny infant. In all these things, God is with us—and God is for us.
May we have eyes to see, really see, and appreciate and embrace the incarnation of God in all of creation, and at this time, in Jesus, that we might embrace the reality of incarnation in ourselves. May that truth permeate us, change our vision of ourselves and all others. May we find great strength and courage and self-esteem to move forward in the knowledge that we are forever loved, forever held, forever included in the grace of God.
A Closing and Opening Prayer: God, Lord of all creation, lover of life and of everything, please help us to love in our very small way what You love infinitely and everywhere. We thank You that we can offer just this one prayer and that will be more than enough, because in reality every thing and every one is connected, and nothing stands alone. To pray for one part is really to pray for the whole, and so we do. Help us each day to stand for love, for healing, for the good, for the diverse unity of the Body of Christ and all creation, because we know this is what You desire: as Jesus prayed, that all may be one. We offer our prayer together with all the holy names of God, we offer our prayer together with Christ, our Lord. Amen.
As a nation we celebrate the birthdays of key historical figures in US history. It’s meant to honor their memory and rekindle ours. George Washington, of course, led the Revolution, and after serving his term as president, peacefully transferred power to the next president. Abraham Lincoln made the Emancipation Proclamation and led the US through Civil War, freeing slaves. Martin Luther King, Jr. peacefully protested to increase genuine equality and equity for those who didn’t have it, especially African Americans. Christmas is, of course, the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the unlikely founder of Christianity which strives to follow his teachings.
I don’t remember spending any time placing a mini plantation on our mantel to honor Washington or building a log cabin anywhere in our home for Lincoln or buying greeting cards with a two-story Queen Anne style home to honor MLK. We don’t focus much at all on their birthplaces – we focus instead on their leadership legacy. Yet where people start sometimes alludes to what matters to them later. Washington was born into great wealth on his family’s plantation. Perhaps it was his wealth that helped him truly see how poorly the King was governing that moved him toward revolution? Lincoln spent the first half of his life in a log cabin. Could that beginning have shaped his understanding and empathy of those who physically labored to get by? Could MLK’s beginning have shaped his understanding of segregation’s severe inhumanity? Could there be a correlation between Jesus’ beginning and his leadership mission and vision?
In the first century, nobody sent Christmas cards of Jesus’ birth site. Because it was humiliating and unfit for any publicity. There is almost nothing about Jesus’ birth narrative that is beautiful. An extremely poor couple finds their way to Bethlehem just as Mary is going into labor. In a part of the world that is noted for the hospitality ethic, nobody makes room for them. How humiliating is that? The only option given them was a cramped space where farm animals were kept. Smelly. Filthy. Unholy. Mary gave birth in that awful setting with only the help of Joseph and a supporting cast of a cow, donkey, a goat or two, and sheep. Think gas station bathroom. You can’t get much lower. And the first folks to come greet them? Not the Mayor of Bethlehem or the Governor or Chief Priest, but the lowest-on-the-totem-pole shepherds, who smelled like the labor and deliver barn. Nobody wanted to get that card in the mail! Can you imagine receiving a Christmas card of a family crowded into a highway gas station bathroom? If we didn’t have angels signaling that this was happening, nobody would see it as anything more than pitiful. Yet this beginning spoke volumes of what was to come. This beginning was countercultural and counterintuitive. This is the narrative the Luke’s Gospel chose to spotlight. In the worst circumstances imaginable, God was powerfully present. Not rejecting them. Not ridiculing them. But joining them. Inhabiting the space with them. Empowering them. In the humblest of settings, with the humblest of means, we recognize God showing up.
The theme continued all the way through Jesus’ life. He was not known for climbing the corporate ladder but rather descending it to be near and befriend those who felt rejected (because they were). Outcasts. Lepers. Prostitutes. Tax Collectors. And mostly everyday people. He walked around proclaiming that God did not favor the powerful over the powerless as has always been believed even to this day, but that God has a more pronounced presence with those who struggle. He challenged the religious and political systems that protected the status quo that favored the wealthy at the expense of the poor. He called out bad theology taught by the highest leaders of Judaism. He lived in defiance of their narrow teaching. He proclaimed love for all and he himself loved all. His way was love all the way through his death. He was no Zealot looking for a violent revolt. He was a pacifist rebel who was so effective at what he taught and lived that we don’t just give him a day to honor his memory, we give him a season.
What Jesus are you remembering this year? The glossy, overly romanticized, highly filtered Jesus that never existed, or the one whose birth was a rebellion of norms that shaped the Rebel Jesus? His birth reminds us that God is with those in the worst of circumstances. His life proved that it was true.
This week I read an email sent out by Pete Enns to his fans. Enns is a biblical scholar, author, speaker, and host of The Bible for Normal People. He wrote:
Over a decade ago, I heard well-known scholar of early Christianity, John Dominic Crossan, speak at an academic conference... He said if you took someone who knew nothing of Jesus, but did understand the religious-political powder keg of 1st century Palestine— understood the tensions between various Jewish groups with different ideas about God and how to live in their own land under Roman rule, and tensions between Jewish and Greco-Roman customs, now centuries old—and then handed that person the Gospel of Mark, that person wouldn’t have to read much before asking, “Who is this Jesus?” and “When is he going to be killed?”
I like being reminded of this Rebel Jesus, the one Jackson Browne wrote about. I want to forget the Jesus who behaves, who looks like he would fit right in at church, who acts as expected, colors between the lines, and never wanders off the beach blanket, and remember instead the rebel Jesus, the countercultural, sometimes snarky, sometimes funny, uncompromisingly in-your-face-against-hypocritical-gatekeepers, uber-compassionate toward outsiders, challenger of the status quo, total mensch Jesus. That’s where I’d rather be this Christmas.
Some of us need to pause and remember Jesus on this celebration of his birthday to reset our minds. Is there any part of us that lost sight of who he was and what he was about? Have we traded the rebel for a revolutionary? Or worse, for a model of the status quo? The Rebel Jesus challenges our thinking, our worldview, our held beliefs, our motivations, our attitude, our biases, and our behavior with Grace. How will we be altered considering his birth?
Some of us are struggling and need to be reminded that God draws near to the brokenhearted – broken by struggle, poor health, economic issues, bad luck, bad choices, bad start, etc. Some of us relate to the humiliation of the stable and manger all too easily. That’s were God showed up with love and light. God is with you. You are not alone. You are loved, supported, and empowered by the Source of everything.
Considering all that Jesus’ birth represents, have hope, peace, joy and love! In the Rebel Jesus these were reborn in a time of political turmoil, deep prejudice, inhumane injustice, and extreme poverty. Christmas declares forever that God is like a current that runs deeper than despair, flows with and toward love, for everyone (including you!). Always. May you find yourself in that flow. May you find yourself altered where you need it. May you find yourself full of the love of God that has always been there, and always will be.
The Rebel Jesus by Jackson Browne
All the streets are filled with laughter and light
And the music of the season
And the merchants' windows are all bright
With the faces of the children
And the families hurrying to their homes
While the sky darkens and freezes
Will be gathering around the hearths and tables
Giving thanks for God's graces
And the birth of the rebel Jesus
Well, they call him by 'the Prince of Peace’
And they call him by 'the Savior’
And they pray to him upon the seas
And in every bold endeavor
And they fill his churches with their pride and gold
As their faith in him increases
But they've turned the nature that I worship in
From a temple to a robber's den
In the words of the rebel Jesus
Well, we guard our world with locks and guns
And we guard our fine possessions
And once a year when Christmas comes
We give to our relations
And perhaps we give a little to the poor
If the generosity should seize us
But if any one of us should interfere
In the business of why there are poor
They get the same as the rebel Jesus
Now pardon me if I have seemed
To take the tone of judgement
For I've no wish to come between
This day and your enjoyment
In a life of hardship and of earthly toil
There's a need for anything that frees us
So, I bid you pleasure
And I bid you cheer from a heathen and a pagan
On the side of the rebel Jesus
It is possible to be unhappy and have no joy. It is also possible to be happy and have no joy. But what a difference when you tap into and build your life on joy, which remains whether you are happy or not.
Sometimes what initially sounds so condemning and judging turns out to be quite redemptive.
Perhaps, instead of waiting for God to show up and save the day, we should, as our ancestors in faith did, say yes to the invitation from the Spirit of God to join in the work God is already doing to bring healing and shalom to the world. Perhaps, with the Spirit's empowering, we are the ones we've been waiting for.
What happened to the hero in this story that made him have a different response to the wounded victim than the religious leaders on the other side of the theological aisle? It's a parable - a made up story - so we only have our imagination to work with. If he was a human like me (and many others), the something that happened must have been an expression of Divine Love that changed his heart, his eyes, his mind, that led to a change in the way he used his hands and feet and mouth. Maybe, as was the case for the disciples, we may have similar experiences that lead to similar outcomes.
The well-known and loved parable of Jesus also happens to be extremely provocative as it describes an Abba-God who is exceedingly, prodigiously, recklessly generous in many ways.
Actor Theresa Donahoe performs the show she wrote, and autobiographical dramedy that is fun, witty, poignant, touching, vulnerable, and compelling.
Actor Theresa Donahoe performs the show she wrote, and autobiographical dramedy that is fun, witty, poignant, touching, vulnerable, and compelling.
How do we live Christianity in such a way so that we avoid becoming the very thing that has led so many to leave the faith? Is is possible to live and alternative faith without simply becoming the other side of the binary?
How do we live Christianity in such a way so that we avoid becoming the very thing that has led so many to leave the faith? Is is possible to live and alternative faith without simply becoming the other side of the binary?
In this talk, Pete gives an overview of many reasons why people are not just leaving churches, but the faith itself. He then shifts to a number of reasons why he chooses to stay using Brian McLaren's framework in is book, Do I Stay Christian?
In this talk, Pete gives an overview of many reasons why people are not just leaving churches, but the faith itself. He then shifts to a number of reasons why he chooses to stay using Brian McLaren's framework in is book, Do I Stay Christian?
The politicization of Christianity has become increasingly pronounced and more conservative over the past century. In this teaching we trace the history of the marriage of the Republican politics and conservative Christianity.
The politicization of Christianity has become increasingly pronounced and more conservative over the past century. In this teaching we trace the history of the marriage of the Republican politics and conservative Christianity.
Hear from McLaren himself on what prompted him to write the book that inspired this teaching series.
Hear from McLaren himself on what prompted him to write the book that inspired this teaching series.
The Jewish people are celebrating their New Year today, bring in 5783. They have reason to celebrate. There have been countless pogroms and policies that were designed to limit or eradicate them as a whole, and they they survive! Unfortunately, much of the hatred has come from Christianity which is rooted in Judaism. How would Jesus respond to us? To a similar situation?
The Jewish people are celebrating their New Year today, bring in 5783. They have reason to celebrate. There have been countless pogroms and policies that were designed to limit or eradicate them as a whole, and they they survive! Unfortunately, much of the hatred has come from Christianity which is rooted in Judaism. How would Jesus respond to us? To a similar situation?
Christianity has left a lot of blood in its wake. How do we make sense of it? Is it truly reflective of the faith? No wonder people are considering leaving... This teaching provides an honest look at history and the body count. The teaching also takes another look at Jesus and discovers that the Way he taught and modeled is not represented by the violence that litters Christianity's history. There is a Way that leads to life for everyone, and for a healthy planet to sustain us.
Christianity has left a lot of blood in its wake. How do we make sense of it? Is it truly reflective of the faith? No wonder people are considering leaving... This teaching provides an honest look at history and the body count. The teaching also takes another look at Jesus and discovers that the Way he taught and modeled is not represented by the violence that litters Christianity's history. There is a Way that leads to life for everyone, and for a healthy planet to sustain us.
This week I am featuring Eric A. Seibert, Ph.D., Professor of Old Testament at Messiah University. Tom Oord introduced him as the world’s foremost authority on divine violence in the Bible. I heard this lecture at the 2022 Open and Relational Conference at the Grand Targhee Resort adjacent to the Grand Tetons. Seibert’s insights take an honest look at how many verses portray God as violent and offers a sensible approach to dealing with them. Such violent portrayals of embolden some people toward violence, and simultaneously serve to repel others from considering the faith. This lecture will provide a key that will help us see the violent passages for what they are and help us move forward in the loving Way of Jesus that he derived from his Abba.
This week I am featuring Eric A. Seibert, Ph.D., Professor of Old Testament at Messiah University. Tom Oord introduced him as the world’s foremost authority on divine violence in the Bible. I heard this lecture at the 2022 Open and Relational Conference at the Grand Targhee Resort adjacent to the Grand Tetons. Seibert’s insights take an honest look at how many verses portray God as violent and offers a sensible approach to dealing with them. Such violent portrayals of embolden some people toward violence, and simultaneously serve to repel others from considering the faith. This lecture will provide a key that will help us see the violent passages for what they are and help us move forward in the loving Way of Jesus that he derived from his Abba.
In my experience, hypocrisy is one of the leading reasons people give for why they aren’t interested in practicing religion. The people who seem to be the most devoted don’t actually practice what they preach, and statistically, religious people aren’t all that “better” than non-religious folk. On the one hand, the hypocrisy is certainly evidence. On the other hand, perhaps it speaks to an even deeper, more troubling issue: given the history of the Church, does Christianity really have the power to transform people into more mature, humane human beings? Did Jesus ever encounter anything like this? If so, how did he respond?
In my experience, hypocrisy is one of the leading reasons people give for why they aren’t interested in practicing religion. The people who seem to be the most devoted don’t actually practice what they preach, and statistically, religious people aren’t all that “better” than non-religious folk. On the one hand, the hypocrisy is certainly evidence. On the other hand, perhaps it speaks to an even deeper, more troubling issue: given the history of the Church, does Christianity really have the power to transform people into more mature, humane human beings? Did Jesus ever encounter anything like this? If so, how did he respond?
What if Jesus' mission was different than what is currently envisioned? Would we want to follow him anymore?
CrossWalk welcomes to the stage Laruen Ng, Director of Leadership Empowerment, ABHMS.
Watch the teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.
As American Baptist Home Mission Societies’ (ABHMS) director of Leadership Empowerment, the Rev. Lauren L. Ng convenes a team of experts who cultivate faith-based leaders across the United States and Puerto Rico.
“I have a passion for innovative, alternative and entrepreneurial models of ministry and the emerging leaders who pursue them,” she says.
It’s invigorating, she says, to recognize potential among people of faith and to walk alongside those who show promise for ministry.
“I’m most excited about collaborating with emerging faith-based leaders across the nation,” Ng says, “getting to know them, their successes and challenges, and how we might support them in common service to our God.”
Flexibility, Ng contends, is key to such a ministry.
“We continually need to be open to fresh ideas and new directions, saying goodbye to things that don’t work,” she maintains. “I endeavor to stay receptive to the movement of the Spirit for the sake of this ministry.”
Ng has been actively involved in the denomination since her youth. And as a former member of ABHMS’ board of directors, she is no stranger to ABHMS’ ministry.
Says Ng: “I have witnessed firsthand the organization’s faithfulness to the call to cultivate leaders, equip disciples, and heal and transform communities.”
In this teaching we learn more about Jesus' favorite term for God - Daddy - and wonder why it hasn't stuck. There are historical and very human reasons why we are more familiar with Kingly God, a Judge-Holding-Court, and a an unmoved mover, which have also kept Jesus' term largely unpopular even now. Yet as Jesus followers, should we be following Jesus' lead and letting the term work into our way of being in the world?
This interview was given as part of a service to allow Pete to talk about the impact of sabbatical on his life and ministry, but also afforded the opportunity for newcomers to hear his broader story.
CrossWalk welcomes back to the stage Matt Real, Manager of Spiritual Care, Kaiser Permanente.
Watch the teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.
Matt is currently the Manager of Spiritual Care for Kaiser Permanente in Roseville, CA. Previously, Matt was the Senior Pastor of American Canyon Community Church for over 15 years - a sister church of CrossWalk in the American Baptist family. Matt and his wife are delighted by their two kids, and love to road trip to National Parks and recently crossed the pond for a family trip to London.
CrossWalk welcomes to the stage James Warnock, Hospital Chaplain (Retired).
Jim is well known in Napa Valley for the loving care he provided as Chaplain at Provident Queen of the Valley hospital here in Napa where he served many years. He and his wife are also key leaders in the field of suicide prevention, providing training opportunities through workshops focused on providing tools to help people know how to engage others who may be considering taking their own life.
CrossWalk welcomes to the stage Jennifer Matheny, Assistant Professor, Nazarene Theological Seminary.u
Watch the teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.
I have taught Biblical and Theological Studies at the undergraduate level for the past 8 years. Two years into this university teaching adventure, God began calling me to return to school for doctoral studies. I often describe this “invitation” similar to the dwarves (Thorin and Company) popping into Bilbo’s home (An Unexpected Party) in The Hobbit. Saying yes to this adventure in doctoral studies has given me the research space to seek interdisciplinary methods and reading strategies for some of the violent and difficult narratives in the Old Testament. From my years of teaching, preaching, and ministry, these difficult texts have been the ones that I have experienced as road blocks for many on their faith journeys. Thinking through ethical reading strategies with others has created welcome paths through some of this difficult terrain.
Journeying with students as they seek next steps in life and ministry is one of my greatest joys. In the classroom, my hope is to create a safe space for theological dialogue and equip students to engage in the tough questions of the text (and life!). My desire is that this educational experience in seminary will be a transformative and inspiring space of integration in all contexts that students are called to participate in Kingdom work.
My family has served for over twenty years in ministry, from youth ministry (Kansas, Missouri, California, Oklahoma, Canada) to church planting (Oregon) and church revitalization (California).
My husband Art and I have two children and we enjoy watching them play sports. Emma (rugby and basketball!), is currently in her undergraduate studies at Westmont College. Samuel, (basketball and soccer!), is in high school.
CrossWalk welcomes to the stage Kim Ferrario, Professor, USC School of Education.
Watch the teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.
Dr. Kimberly Ferrario is a Professor at the Rossier School of Education. Currently, Ferrario teaches in the MAT TESOL Program, the MAT Credential Program, and the Organizational Change and Leadership EdD program.
Her research interests include sociocultural aspects of language and literacy development, assessment, teacher professional development, classroom discourse, writing pedagogy, and ways English learners can move from novice participant to legitimate positions in discourse communities of the classroom. Dr. Ferrario received the UC Linguistic Minority Research Institute Dissertation Research Grant to fund her study that focused on high school English learners’ opportunities to use English in their various school contexts and in their out-of-school lives. Findings from her study build toward a more comprehensive notion of legitimate student participation, and a research agenda that integrates in-school and out-of-school resources to help teachers support their English learners in the classroom.
Ferrario has 20 years combined experience teaching for a school district in the North Bay Area in California at the elementary level, as a reading specialist, and as a literacy coach/coordinator of professional development in language and literacy for K-12 teachers. Prior to joining the USC Rossier School of Education, she taught an academic literacy course for teachers and supervised student teachers in the credential programs for CSU Sacramento and UC Davis. She received her Master’s Degree in Language and Literacy in the School of Education at California State University, Sacramento and completed her Ph.D. in Language, Literacy and Culture at the University of California, Davis.
CrossWalk welcomes to the stage James Brenneman, President, Berkeley School of Theology
Watch the teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.
James E. Brenneman is the president of Berkeley School of Theology, Berkeley, CA, one of the founding seminaries of the Graduate Theological Union. Prior to coming to Berkeley School of Theology in 2017, Jim was the sixteenth president of Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana (2006-2017). Originally from Kalona, Iowa, Jim grew up attending school and church in Ybor City, the Cuban quarter of Tampa, Florida. Jim is an ordained Mennonite minister and was the founding and lead pastor of Pasadena Mennonite Church (Pasadena8, CA) from 1986-2006. He also served on the faculty of the Episcopal Theological School at Claremont for 15 years, where he taught Hebrew Bible. He lived in South Pasadena, CA for 26 years prior to moving to Goshen, Indiana in 2006 , returning to CA in 2017. He and his wife, Terri J. Plank Brenneman, a clinical psychologist, have one son, Quinn Miguel Plank Brenneman. On December 31, 2006, Brenneman was selected by the Elkhart Truth to be one of the "Ten People to Watch in 2007".
CrossWalk welcomes back to the stage Andrew M. Davis, Program Director, Center for Process Studies.
Andrew M. Davis is a philosopher, theologian and scholar of world religions. He is Program Director for the Center for Process Studies at Claremont School of Theology at Willamette University. A native of northern California, he was born and raised among the towering redwoods of Occidental and the meandering woodlands of Santa Rosa’s Bennett Valley. It was out these natural settings that his passion for the questions of philosophy, theology and religion first emerged. He holds B.A. in Philosophy and Theology, an M.A. in Interreligious Studies, and a Ph.D. in Religion and Process Philosophy from Claremont School of Theology. An educator and advocate of cross-cultural knowledge and religious literacy, his studies have led him to a variety of religious contexts and communities around the world, including India, Israel-Palestine, and Europe. He received the 2013 Award for Excellence in Biblical Studies, the 2017 fellowship with FASPE (Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics) and the 2020 Presidential Award for Academic Excellence. He was recently nominated and elected as a fellow for the International Society of Science and Religion (ISSR). He is a poet, aphorist and author or editor of several books including How I Found God in Everyone and Everywhere: An Anthology of Spiritual Memoirs (2018); Propositions in the Making: Experiments in a Whiteheadian Laboratory (2019); Depths as Yet Unspoken: Whiteheadian Excursions in Mysticism, Multiplicity, and Divinity (2020); Mind, Value, and Cosmos: On the Relational Nature of Ultimacy (2020); Process Cosmology: New Integrations in Science and Philosophy (2021), and Nature In Process: Organic Proposals in Philosophy, Society and Religion (forthcoming, 2022). For more about Andrew’s work and research interests, visit his website at andrewmdavis.info.
CrossWalk welcomes to the stage Andrew M. Davis, Program Director, Center for Process Studies.
Watch the teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.
Andrew M. Davis is a philosopher, theologian and scholar of world religions. He is Program Director for the Center for Process Studies at Claremont School of Theology at Willamette University. A native of northern California, he was born and raised among the towering redwoods of Occidental and the meandering woodlands of Santa Rosa’s Bennett Valley. It was out these natural settings that his passion for the questions of philosophy, theology and religion first emerged. He holds B.A. in Philosophy and Theology, an M.A. in Interreligious Studies, and a Ph.D. in Religion and Process Philosophy from Claremont School of Theology. An educator and advocate of cross-cultural knowledge and religious literacy, his studies have led him to a variety of religious contexts and communities around the world, including India, Israel-Palestine, and Europe. He received the 2013 Award for Excellence in Biblical Studies, the 2017 fellowship with FASPE (Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics) and the 2020 Presidential Award for Academic Excellence. He was recently nominated and elected as a fellow for the International Society of Science and Religion (ISSR). He is a poet, aphorist and author or editor of several books including How I Found God in Everyone and Everywhere: An Anthology of Spiritual Memoirs (2018); Propositions in the Making: Experiments in a Whiteheadian Laboratory (2019); Depths as Yet Unspoken: Whiteheadian Excursions in Mysticism, Multiplicity, and Divinity (2020); Mind, Value, and Cosmos: On the Relational Nature of Ultimacy (2020); Process Cosmology: New Integrations in Science and Philosophy (2021), and Nature In Process: Organic Proposals in Philosophy, Society and Religion (forthcoming, 2022). For more about Andrew’s work and research interests, visit his website at andrewmdavis.info.
CrossWalk welcomes back to the stage Audrey Ward, Author, Pastor (Retired)
Audrey Ward has served as an elder in United Methodist Churches of the California Nevada Conference for thirty years and served as the Pastor of the Saint Helena congregation in the Napa Valley for many years before retiring.. Her column, ''Regarding Children'' has appeared regularly in local as well as national papers.
CrossWalk welcomes to the stage Audrey Ward, Author, Pastor (Retired).
Watch the teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channeld as an elder in United Methodist Churches of the California Nevada Conference for thirty years and served as the Pastor of the Saint Helena congregation in the Napa Valley for many years before retiring.. Her column, ''Regarding Children'' has appeared regularly in local as well as national papers.
CrossWalk welcomes to the stage Brother Muhammed Anwar, Imam for Napa Valley.
Watch the teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.
Brother Anwar immigrated to the United States from Pakistan decades ago, and has been the Imam for Napa’s Muslim community for almost two decades. He also owns a towing business that he runs with his sons who also live in the area.
CrossWalk welcomes to the stage Rabbi Niles Goldstein, Congregation Beth Shalom.
Watch the teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.
Rabbi Niles Goldstein is the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Shalom of Napa Valley. Rabbi Goldstein, an experienced and dynamic Reform rabbi and educator, is also the award-winning author or editor of ten books, including Gonzo Judaism and God at the Edge. He was the founding rabbi of The New Shul, an innovative and independent synagogue in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, which he served for over a decade. Prior to his arrival at CBS Napa in 2017, Rabbi Goldstein worked in a variety of congregational, interfaith and academic settings while based in his native Chicago.
CrossWalk welcomes to the stage Will Nesbitt, MFT, Program Director, Mentis (Annual Meeting)
Will Nesbitt, LMFT, is responsible for oversight, management, and implementation of agency clinical programs in the areas of housing, school based, and therapy (both office and community based). Mr. Nesbitt has been with Mentis since 2019 working in the Satellite Housing Program and Permanent Housing Program and worked as a mental health therapist for students in the Boys & Girls Club in St. Helena and Calistoga. He was the area director for a faith-based non-profit for 7 years prior to working with Mentis. Mr. Nesbitt holds a Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Western Seminary. He has worked with a broad range of populations from adolescents to adults with mental health needs ranging from mild to severe. When Will is not working he is spending time with his wife and son, exercising, and training jiu-jitsu.
CrossWalk welcomes to the stage Wakoh Shannon Hickey, Author, Scholar, Chaplain, Zen Priest
Watch the teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.
Wakoh Shannon Hickey is an independent scholar specializing in American religious history, with particular interest in minority traditions and women leaders; Buddhism in East Asia and the West; religion and medicine; and interfaith engagement. She is also a priest of Soto Zen Buddhism and a professional chaplain with experience in hospital, university, hospice, and prison contexts. Her 2019 book "Mind Cure: How Meditation Became Medicine" is a religious history of mind-body medicine.
CrossWalk welcomes to the stage Douglas Avilesbernal, Executive Minister, Evergreen
Watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.
Doug has been the Executive Minister for the Evergreen Baptist Association of the American Baptist Churches since 2018, a unique model for churches in our denomiation and any denomination. When CrossWalk was encouraged to withdraw from our previous region due to our inclusivity, Evergreen and Doug welcomed us with open arms. He has been involved with intercultural and diversity work for over 20 years. He has been actively involved with American Baptist Churches USA’s work in this regard since 1999, beginning with a program called the Xtreme Team, which sought to immerse young adults in different cultures around the world for one month at a time, allowing them to live alongside Christians different from themselves and to learn what their world was about. That work led to a continued focus for him within the American Baptist Churches denomination around the issue of intercultural engagement. Among other assignments, Avilesbernal has led annual conferences for Missionary Children for American Baptist International Ministries, where issues pertaining to life in diversity are lived out in many different contexts.
There is a Way that leads to life at its best. It was modeled and taught by Jesus. This teaching lays out the components of the Way so that we can get ourselves on it!
We need to talk about Bruno... Easter is more than an historical footnote about what happened to Jesus after his illegal arrest, false trial, torture, execution and burial. It's about now. Easter is everyday, which means death in all its forms can be championed with the power of God.
What can we do to avoid becoming our own version of Judas? What can we do to remain in the zone like Mary? And, does Jesus care about the poor?
So you think you're familiar with the parable of the prodigal son? Maybe it's time to take it for another spin...
You only have so many days to live. Who do you want to be? As Christians, we claim to believe that Jesus modeled a way of life that was deeply connected to God and was abundant and meaningful. How congruent is your life with his? Could it be that becoming more aligned with Jesus might lead to a richer experience of life that that benefits all people everywhere?
A talk that encourages you to let go of the idea of a God who never actually existed and embrace the one the Jesus experienced, lived in, and promoted.
Enjoy this full service including musical interludes between major take-aways from this week's text, The Transfiguration.
Jesus taught and modeled nonviolent resistance, a message lost on a lot of people who look like me, but not at all missed by his audience and other people who have felt oppressed. Gandhi took notice and followed suit. What does it mean for Jesus followers to actually follow in these footsteps?
Enjoy the second episode of this series, today considering the different dimensions of faith.
We begin a new series today! Building on the previous two series, we will explore foundational concepts of faith, God, Jesus and the Bible, and the practical concerns related to the Kingdom of God, spirituality, becoming more and more whole, being open and inclusive of other faith traditions, and more.
Hear from the author of the book which we used as a basis for this series talk about the central, key component: love.
Why care for the earth if it's going to be trashed by God, anyway? Why take care of other people or societal problems if we're just in the waiting room waiting for our heavenly appointment? These attitude-laden questions are based in conventional theology that keeps God distant, and the world and its inhabitants totally depraved. There is another way to think and live in the world. God is not high up in heaven, God is present, according to Open and Relational Theology.
Evil and suffering is perhaps the biggest problem people of faith face. How can such suffering and a powerful, loving God coexist? Open and Relational Theology addresses this - and even solves - this problem well.
In this part of the Open and Relational Theology series, we take a look at how God is relational. Most folks nowadays readily embrace this idea, but it hasn't always been that way. This teaching is complimentary to the chapter, "Relational," in Tom Oord's book, Open and Relational Theology, from which this series derives it's name and much content.
Today we consider the openness of God - is God unchanging and unchangeable? How does God relate to time - does God already encompass the future? Is God affected by creation, and humanity in particular? If so, that represents a change on God's part - what do we do with that?
Frustrated with the answers your current or prior theological framework provided? There are alternatives, and this is a good one that we will explore in coming weeks.
How many Christmases have you celebrated? My answer is the same as my age, approximately 44 if you round things down correctly. Or 52. Whatever. For some, it’s not the same as your age, especially if this Christian holiday wasn’t part of your family of origin’s tradition. Maybe you grew up Jewish or Buddhist or Muslim or something else. Maybe there was a time in your life – maybe it’s now – that you really struggled to celebrate this holiday for one or more of a variety of reasons. Perhaps you can’t believe the whole virgin birth story. Or Christianity in general given its checkered history of doing some wonderful things in the world while sometimes – even at the same time – doing or promoting or silently endorsing some truly horrific things. Maybe you don’t have room for religion at all – it seems so out of step given the advances of science, and may feel irrelevant in our area where we have so much – why do we even need God? Or maybe you’ve distanced yourself because of the commercialization of Christmas. I understand that next year Wal-Mart will start selling Christmas trees mid-January with a Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend Sale! That may not be accurate, but I bet someone is thinking about it... Jim Gaffigan highlighted some of the surprising things that have come to be associated with Christmas during his comedy segment on CBS Sunday Morning – anything resonate with you? I hope this Christmas you can let yourself take a deep breath and hit pause on all those concerns, if just for 36 hours. Because there are some great, hopeful messages that the Christmas story offers.
Jesus’ birth narrative and his subsequent ministry represented the breaking of a new dawn for humanity. Paradigms about the character, nature, and location of God were shattered. Ideas about who God would honor with a visit were obliterated as an old couple of little societal importance was invited into the story, as was a very young woman and her fiancé, plus lowly shepherds watching sheep deep in the night, and even foreign, non-Jewish scholars who noticed a new star that was not meaningful to Jews but surely was to non-Jews. All these characters were invited to wonder anew about God and how they made sense of the world. More, this God invited them into the development of the storyline – this wasn’t something that was simply happening to them – they got to choose to engage or not. This meant that they had inherent power and agency even to say no to God. It is hard for us to appreciate how significant all of this was back then because we take so much of it for granted now.
The whopper game-changing stuff happened in and through Jesus, however. While there is still debate about the veracity of the birth narratives, there is little debate about the impact of the man whose birth we celebrate. Most people basically like the person of Jesus even if they can’t stand his Christian devotees! Why? Because he was best known for showing love, kindness, and support for those in his world who rarely received such things. Jesus was a voice of equality, equity, and inclusion long before civil rights movements were moving. His accessibility, teaching, healing, choice of venues, language and style – all of it communicated the message that God loves everyone equally, fully, and irreducibly. More, Jesus claimed that the Spirit of God was what was behind all the wonderous things about him, that the Spirit was in him. Pretty hard to argue with given all for which Jesus was known. He went further. He told his disciples (and by extension everyone else) that the indwelling Spirit was available to everyone – and in fact was already in residence, ready to be awakened and activated. To actualize this relationship with the divine within had such transformative power that for those who did so it was as if they had been born again. Such an inherent, innate gift from God further strengthened the power of everyone’s equality – if God chose to inhabit everyone, what does that say about how God feels about everyone? The idea that God was not in heaven “up there” but everywhere – even in creation itself – was not particularly new. But the idea that everyone is anointed with the Spirit of God was very new. This is hard for us in our time to appreciate when we sort of assume it. It wasn’t always that way.
Following the guide of the Spirit paved the Way for everyone to follow that leads to an abundant life for all. Life lived guided by the Spirit leads to the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control – all the sorts of things that are the foundation of all the desires we have for life. What dawned with Jesus’ birth and subsequent life was possibility, capacity, knowing that our foundation is love and so is our unshakable destination. This is still big news, still blowing minds, still shattering paradigms.
How might we choose to enter the story this year and allow our minds to be stretched, our hearts warmed with the news that God is as close as the manger, for all people. How might that soften our gaze toward each other and ourselves? How might that truly bring more joy to the world when together we choose to welcome the Christ child – not just two thousand years ago but tonight, in our own lives, to be born in us. With such openness in mind, hear the story again as if for the first time:
At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child.
And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.
That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in highest heaven and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them. (Luke 2:1-20 NLT)
In the final teaching in this series, we ask the critical question related to all we've covered: so what? And a second critical question: now what?
Do we really have to believe in the Virgin Birth to be people of faith? If you really want to, you can, but there is another way to think about what happened in the person of Jesus that might be more freeing. For more information, check out the associated blog: https://www.crosswalknapa.org/blog/2021/12/10/god-with-us-heartbeat
What if God is always moving but our limited expectations restrict our capacity for experiencing God?
In this kick-off to this year's Advent series, we take a look at the images we have held of God, which are helpful but also necessarily limiting. All this teaching to set the foundation for what is to come.
This TheoEd Talk featuring author Diana Butler Bass helps us rethink what gratitude has been - and still is - yet much more importantly, she talks about at the "much better" that gratitude can be.
In this session from An Interesting Conference on Sexuality hosted by Jonathon Foster along with Tom Oord, we hear from Elaine Padilla, an author and a professor of Philosophy and Religion, Latinx/Latin American Studies at LaVerne University. She's super interesting and I love what she talks about in her video. I will not soon forget the phrase she uses here, "the immodesty of love." Find some of Elaine's scholarly work at researchgate.net/profile/Elaine-Padilla.
In this fourth and final teaching on the healing of Blind Bartimaeus, we take a look at the Jesus Bart chose to follow. There are a range of Pseudo-Jesus' peddled in American churches today that don't line up to the Jesus of the Gospels. Which Jesus do you follow?
In this session from An Interesting Conference on Sexuality hosted by Jonathon Foster along with Tom Oord, we will hear from James Alison, a Catholic theologian, priest and author, and one of the foremost Girardians (Rene Girard) in the world. James shares his thoughts here about how Jesus chose to occupy the place of those who've been cast out. The thought should not have been lost on us that it's the LGTBQ+ crowd who have been cast out by so many over the years. Find out more about James at jamesalison.com
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In this teaching we take a look at groupthink - the phenomenon where people do things collectively that they would not otherwise do as individuals.
In this session of An Interesting Conference on Sexuality hosted by Jonathon Foster along with Tom Oord, we have a wonderful presentation from Monica Coleman. Monica is a process theologian, author, and someone who speaks around the world on all kinds of topics. She brings to light the interrelatedness of all things, the importance of communication, consent, and power in all things sexuality related. When you check into Monica's work by going to monicaacoleman.com, you'll find she speaks on many of the issues that religious leaders usually avoid: sexual and domestic violence, mental health, postmodernism, and religious diversity. Monica is a great gift to us all!
Linda Kay Klein (who is interviewed by her husband, Jimmy). Linda is something of a trailblazer. She's the best selling author of Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free. She has a lot of wisdom to offer and among other things in this video, I think she gives women permission to be themselves, to begin to define sexuality on their own terms, and to name the dis-health of the evangelical purity culture. Yes, it's challenging, but that's not to say that staying with the "tenants" of the purity culture isn't messy either! Linda has spoken around the world from the TEDx stage to The Apollo’s Women of the World Festival. Her work has been featured by the New York Times, NPR, CBS, NBC, Elle Magazine, and 150 other outlets. Learn more at lindakayklein.com
Blind Bart lived under the label of being blind for perhaps his entire life. This meant that he was treated as a person who was considered dumb, cursed by God, and a burden on society. Surely he struggled with despair. Do you? Other labels - ones chosen for us and ones we choose - simply limit our capacity to be who we created to be: our True Selves. Maybe it's time to shed our labels and begin to live into who we really are.
We're embarking on a series based on Mark 10:46-52 for the next few weeks. There is so much here. Listen in to get an idea where we're headed.
How do we recognize and manage the tension between the shaping forces that formed us and the Way of Christ to which we are invited?
In this teaching, we will take a look at how humanity tends to think about how we interact with God, and hear Jesus' correction which is still, to this day, counter-cultural.
ET wasn't;t really a movie about an Extra Terrestrial. Jesus' comments on divorce really weren't about divorce. His statement about children wasn't about being like a carefree kids with God. All have deeper, much more meaningful currents that are as true today as ever.
This week's texts have us ask a lot of questions about humanity, ourselves, and why we want some things that are really awful and incongruent with the love of God.
The great line from the American Songbook standard, Nature Boy, is "the greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." Nice. Also messy for human beings, even Jesus, who was called on his bias from an unlikely source., and the audience of the New Testament letter from James. There is some comfort knowing that growing from mistakes is part of the human experience. There is also hope knowing that growth and maturity are possible.
Jesus schooled the Jewish leaders for focusing solely on their ethical living that they became heartless legalists. His brother James schooled his readers about the importance of loving the vulnerable among them as an expression of their being loved by God and loving God - they apparently didn't think much beyond their own needs as people of faith. How do you keep the balance of being and doing, of loving others as an outflow of being loved by God?
A few moments of nerdiness on the subject of evil, and whether or not we need to keep a paradigm that includes Satan and demons, and then practical teaching about how to stay in the zone of faith.
Why did the wisest man in the world act like such a fool at times? We do we? What can we do to minimize our foolishness?
I am the bread of life. What does that mean? What were the people looking for in Jesus? What are we looking for? What does "I am the bread of life" mean for us today?
How do the character and nature of God, our character and nature, and healing impact each other?
What do you do with stories like John, where a guy who does everything right gets rewarded with execution by decapitation? What do you do with every other awful related thing that doesn't make sense? Why stick with the faith?
What happens when Jesus returns to his hometown, where one might expect a home field advantage? A dustup.
At first glance, this story appears to be just another couple of healing accounts. Not so fast - there is so much more.
Enjoy this teaching on Jesus' Kingdom of God parables of the scattered seed and mustard seed.
A talk on Ezekiel's best-known vision, my recent overdue break due to exhaustion, the human experience, and markers for nations that want to meet God's standard.
Zen Buddhist Priest and former university religion professor Wakoh Shannon Hickey, Ph.D., provides for us an over view of this enduring ancient religious tradition.
Zen Buddhist Priest and former university religion professor gives us an overview of this ancient religious tradition.
Zen Buddhist Priest and former university religion professor Wakoh Shannon Hickey, Ph.D., teaches us about this ancient religious tradition.
Zen Buddhist Priest and former university professor Wakoh Shannon Hickey teaches us about this ancient religious tradition.
What if pizza was the point of everything Jesus taught and did? I think I made a pretty convincing case...
May 2021
Pastor’s Annual Report
Dear CrossWalkers,
What a year! What an understatement. At our Board of Stewards meeting in April 2020, we prepared ourselves for a dismal year, not knowing how long we would remain closed, or how many CrossWalkers would be directly impacted in their health or employment or housing or all of the above. We took a conservative, wait-and-see stance, putting in place some immediate financial controls to limit our exposure, while taking advantage of the resources made available. All the while, we provided the same amount of ongoing direct ministry to CrossWalkers as when we were on campus, except everything was virtual. Services saw good and steady attendance across Zoom, YouTube, and our podcast. New people found us and engaged with us. With the campus empty, we made a wide range of improvements using Capital Improvement funds created for that purpose over many years. Lots of areas have been refreshed, new flooring has been installed, some rooms reconfigured, others totally redone (HUGE thanks for Loren Haas, Jim Della Santa, Ted Valencia, and Lynne Shaw). The gym is still on its way as the kitchen, locker rooms, lobby and lobby bathrooms are getting renovated. A range of grants have come in from outside CrossWalk to help with these projects – isn’t that great? Thanks to your generosity, CrossWalk has come through the past year with flying colors. We are stronger now than we were then. We are better equipped to serve than we were before. We have felt the sting of death, yet we have also experienced hope and are choosing to lean into it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Annual Meeting Items and Information. As our Annual Meeting approaches, I wanted to give you some information so that when you attend the meeting on May 23rd, you are prepared to vote or ask any questions you may have.
When: May 23, 2021 @ 11:00. As has been our practice for many years, the Annual Business Meeting will open before our 11:00 service begins, with the first agenda item being worship! CrossWalk Active Members will be mailed a ballot to cast their vote. You can return it in person or mail it in. If you did not receive a ballot, we may have made an error. Please contact Dar for assistance.
- Church Officer Election. The Board of Stewards has once again nominated Linda Smetzer to remain as our Church Clerk, and we newly recommend Stephen Corley as Treasurer. Stephen Corley was appointed to the Treasurer role by the Stewards last June after Michele Corley resigned from the position. While a Steward, Stephen sat on the Finance Team as the appointed liaison for the Board. He was an obvious choice and has done a great job.
- Stewards Nominees. The Stewards asked a range of CrossWalk Active Members to consider running for these three-year terms. The three nominees we present today are outstanding. CJ Prutch is just finishing a year filling a vacant space on the Board and is eligible to run again. Karen Kenny has served on the Board as well and will continue to be an excellent Steward. Becky Peterson is recently retired from her career largely on the Executive level of critical Non-Profit Organizations. While in retirement, she will continue to consult with NPOs. What a gift to have her skillset onboard! We thank Beth Cortez, Bruno Bardet, and CJ Prutch for their service as their terms come to an end.
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2021-2022 Proposed Budget. The Stewards are recommending a modest increase to the budget, from $382,354 to $388,690. There is one big, exciting change in the budget that deserves celebration. We will no longer be squirreling away funds each month to eventually pay off our solar energy system because we have now saved $50,000 to pay the contract off when it comes due in 2023! This means we are ahead of schedule! Yay! It also means we can allocate funds toward ministry, in this case, a half time Children’s Ministry Director. Our search will be methodical, informed by the feedback of CrossWalk parents of younger children as well as from a few community members. Yay! Also, know that the budget reflects a 2% COLA increase to keep up with inflation, which is roughly the same amount. Even though it is a little more money, it is not a raise – it simply keeps us current. To not provide COLA would essentially be a pay cut.
- Payroll Protection Programs. CrossWalk qualified for and pursued both rounds of the Payroll Protection Program and was awarded both. The first round funded nearly a year ago and provided a protective buffer for our uncertain economic future (as it was designed). We kept all staff throughout the past year. Recently we received a letter stating that the first round has been completely forgiven – the loan became a grant. We received a second round in March and anticipate that it will be completely forgiven as well since we are abiding by its terms. These funds were extremely helpful and greatly appreciated!
- Restricted Funds. The biggest news to share about what we were able to do here has to do with our Reserve Fund and another, newly created Children’s Ministry Director Fund. We were able to double our Reserve Fund and establish the Children’s Ministry Director Fund. The Reserve Fund is tapped when our contributions do not meet our contracted needs, which happens from time to time. The newly increased amount provides a more adequate buffer given the size of our budget. The Children’s Ministry Director Fund was created because in years past, we have not been able to sustain the position due to lack of funding. While the compensation for this role will come from the General Fund, this dedicated reserve fund provides an extra cushion to guarantee the role’s sustainability. Also, if we believe we have found a candidate that requires us to offer more compensation, this fund could be used for that, too. The fact that we never needed to touch our Reserve Fund during the past year is amazing. The fact that we were able to double it and create a new fund is truly incredible and is why we can feel confident going forward with a new hire.
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Inclusive Church. Recently, the Board of Stewards adopted the following statement of inclusivity and asks you to formally affirm it as well:
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We, Crosswalk’s Board of Stewards and Leadership, believe in inclusive faith community. A faith community which celebrates and affirms every person and does not discriminate. We will continue to challenge discrimination against people on grounds of disability, economic power, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, learning disability, mental health, neurodiversity, or sexuality. We believe in a faith community which welcomes and serves all people in the name of Jesus Christ; which is scripturally faithful; which seeks to proclaim the Gospel afresh for each generation; and which, in the power of the Holy Spirit, allows all people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Jesus Christ.
CrossWalk Goals. When considering how effective we are as a church, we use the life and ministry of Jesus as our primary reference point. One word is associated with Jesus more than any other figure in world history: resurrection. More than just life after death, this word also refers to Jesus’ work in the world, bringing life to dead places, bringing the renewal that comes with shalom, restoring people with the very Good News that God is love and that all people are loved. Embracing this quality and experience of eternal life is a choice that falls into five major areas that we pursue with significant intentionality: embodying grace that stands for justice while helping the broken rise, kneeling in service to others, stretching in our understanding, connecting with God to foster deepening spirituality, and incarnating the Spirit of Christ with each other in community. Here are some highlights from the past year:
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Grace: Justice, Mercy, with Humility. How did we embody Good News?
- We reached a growing number of people over the past twelve months. Every Sunday we held virtual services on Zoom, YouTube, and also on our podcast. On Zoom, we welcomed roughly 30 homes onto the screen each week (between two services) to watch together and discuss afterward. Our YouTube channel followers increased from not much over 100 to 477. That doesn’t mean they watch every week, but it does mean they are watching us. Our Facebook followers also increased from 1,116 to 1322. The meaningfulness of these numbers has more to do with our “reach capacity” more than anything else. The numbers on YouTube and Facebook represent interested people who will hear what we say.
- Stories. There has been a recurring theme in the stories that come our way. They almost always refer to people who didn’t realize there was a way to embrace faith like we do. They are finding acceptance, inspiration, and despite our virtual approach, they are also finding community. Amazing. One really cool thing was that I received the Excellence in Leadership Award from the Center for Volunteer and Non-profit Leadership (CVNL). Most Napa NPO’s are aware of it. It was such a great honor to be recognized outside of the church world. Of course, a leader who has no followers is just a person taking a walk, so the award really represents Team CrossWalk – I just got to receive it – thank you for being awesome!
- Solidarity. CrossWalk, either through her pastors, or signage, or campus, or in the community, has taken stands for greater inclusivity in Napa. Last June, I helped organize a Healing and Grieving Vigil with Napa clergy to honor George Floyd’s murder, which went well. In the Fall we officially joined Common Ground, the local affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), which is a community organizing group that works to effect important social change. Recently, the Board of Stewards unanimously voted to affirm legislation, The Equality Act, which is aimed at providing and protecting rights for the LGBTQ community. Stephen Corley has been engaged with the Evergreen Association in a training program designed to help us increase our understanding and influence regarding racial equality and equity, with the hopes of bringing the training to CrossWalk.
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Kneeling in Service. We weren’t able to kneel in the same ways as we did prior to the pandemic, but we still did a lot!
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Food Pantry. The heavenly crowns for Karie Nuccio and Linda Smetzer are getting so loaded with jewels they are going to need neck braces when they arrive! These two put in multiple days each week collecting, organizing, and distributing food to those who would otherwise fall through the cracks! We expanded their space this year, too, which meant they had to help make that shift happen. Thanks to Ben Neuman, Jim Della Santa, Ted Valencia, and others (sorry if I missed you) who helped expand their space!
- Sanctuary Childcare Center. In the summer our campus was used by the Boys and Girls Club for childcare for essential workers. It all happened quite safely.
- Evacuation Center and Charging Center. We were called on twice to open up as a shelter. During the LNU Fire, we had very few guests. The Glass Fire, however, brought hundreds to be processed into hotels, while we housed around 30 for a week or so. We also opened during the Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events as one of PG&E’s designated charging stations in Napa. At PG&E’s expense, a generator and automatic switch was put in place during fire season. We have contracted with them for the next four years regarding this role.
- Emergency Pet Pantry. We welcomed this important partnership with Jamieson Animal Rescue in the summer, which now provides pet essentials to those in need every week.
- COAD. Dar and I both gave (and give) an enormous amount of time to help lead different areas of the COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disaster). Dar is the Co-Chair of the Food Services Sub-Committee. I am the Co-Chair of the Mental Health and Faith Leaders Sub-Committee and am currently the Vice Chair of the Executive Committee. The first three months of the pandemic were absolutely grueling but tapered off some since. It is very important work, bringing the immense resources of Napa’s NPO’s together to meet the need the County cannot meet alone. Napa County’s COAD is the envy of all CA counties!
- CrossWalk Campus Feasibility Study. We are in the middle of a feasibility study in partnership with Human Good that will give us some ideas of how we might leverage our property to do even more to serve Napa in the area of affordable housing. Nothing to share yet, but we will once the study is complete. Could be very exciting, or terrifying, or both, and neither!
- Stretching our Understanding. We are a church that takes learning seriously. Even though we have been virtual for a year, I have tried to bring in some voices that offer fresh perspectives. A year ago, I offered a resource featuring Richard Rohr, followed by a teaching series on Paul’s Letter to the Colossians. In the Fall I did a series called Go Be Jesus, which examined what Jesus was really about in his ministry (hint: social justice was a HUGE piece). I probably did something about Christmas in December – can anybody remember? In January I offered a different voice, Barbara Crafton, on the subject of Forgiveness. Very powerful series and incredible follow-up discussions. In February I focused my teaching on racism which likely made everyone uncomfortable. In March we focused on Grief with the Spring Cleaning series, to help us take stock, deal with our grief, and move forward. In May we will feature Wakoh Shannon Hickey, Ph. D., who will teach us about Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Sikhi. Do you feel stretched?
- Connecting with God, Deepening our Spirituality. Honestly, this year has been tough for measuring this one, except that we tried hard to encourage meditation as a means to reduce pandemic-related stress. We did receive feedback that it was helpful.
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Incarnating Christ in Community. Like the above, this was not easy given COVID-19. I celebrate something I also kind of hate: Zoom. Zoom worked reasonably effectively to keep our relationships intact, and still does. As much as we would prefer to see each other beyond a tiny square on our devices, can you imagine how much worse it would have been without it?
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In Remembrance. We grieve the loss of Bill Swanson, Dot Hoover, Roger Langley, Larry McCart, Max Proteau, and Kenn Vigoda. Wonderful people who are dearly missed.
- New Members! This past year we welcomed Colleen Chappellet, Ed Edwards, and Keith Ridenhour into our membership! Hurray!
In conclusion, it has been quite a year. If asked a year ago what I would be happy with by this time, I would have said “survival.” Literally and figuratively. Despite the challenges, we have prevailed over the past year. Thank God. Thank God. Thank God.
Let’s keep moving forward.
In this glorious journey together,
Pete Shaw, Pastor
We look forward to welcoming you on campus at CrossWalk! Whether inside or outside, we believe we can host a limited number of guests safely. When we are outside, we can obviously accommodate many more than when inside.
- Please reserve your space! Get tickets here. Ticketed guests are guaranteed to get a seat. Those without a ticket will be seated as space is available. Please note that the tickets are identified as Fully Vaccinated and Not Fully Vaccinated. This helps us know how many people we can accommodate. No extra points or special treatment for overachievers who somehow managed to get vaccinated with all three of the vaccines available.
- Entry will only be allowed through the main entrance into to the sanctuary. Don’t even think about parachuting into the courtyard from a hot air balloon.
- Face coverings are required on campus at all times regardless of vaccination or the pod you are sitting with. This increases safety for all, and also means you really don’t need to brush your teeth.
- No food or beverages will be provided. Cigarettes, cigars, and joints will also not be provided.
- There will be singing (if you want to join in) – keep your face covering on. Only the people on stage are allowed to take their face coverings off – they will be socially distanced as well according to state guidelines. Masked singing means you won’t be heard much, so if you’re a terrible singer, this is your chance to really let it out!
- Tables are arranged to provide social distancing. Please do not move them as it will disturb The Force.
- Hand sanitizer will be readily available for your use. Do not ingest (unless it’s on a corn chip).
- We will have prepared kid boxes with stuff for them to do during service (Pre-K-6). Please take all of the contents home but leave the box at church to be sanitized and refilled for next week.
- Before and after service, continue to respect social distancing. The state strongly discourages lingering conversations before and after the service. If someone is a long talker or a close talker, blame the state and walk away!
- When outside, if you are attending as an individual to be seated alone, we will have two areas of chair sections available – one area shaded and closer to the stage, the other sunny toward the back. Chairs are socially distanced. Please don’t move them as they are carefully positioned to keep the church afloat.
- We will set fully vaccinated folks together as much as possible. Fully vaccinated people do not need to be socially distanced when seated together, which means we can put more of you around a table. If you can’t stand those people, know that we will pray for you.
- For not-yet-fully-vaccinated guests: if you are seated at a rectangular table with others not in your pod, know that our intention was for you to sit at opposite ends of the table to ensure the prescribed six feet of social distancing, and to make sure they can’t hear you complain about my teaching.
- When we meet outside, come prepared for shade or sun. If you’re seated in a spot that is sometimes sunny and sometimes shaded, we will surely focus on your discomfort for our livestream via YouTube for all to enjoy.
- When meeting inside, know that we have really good ventilation, so feel free to wear an abundance of cologne.
- Any questions or concerns? Email us back and we’ll do our best to help! Oh, wait, that’s not a joke.
Is it possible to experience peace in the midst of grief, fear, and utter chaos? Apparently so. The question is how might we choose to open the door the the peace of Christ that longs to enter in?
Nobody wants to be a "Doubting Thomas", but maybe we've got it all wrong - or at least part of it. Enjoy this provocative teaching by our friend, Douglas Avilesbernal, Executive Minister of the Evergreen Association of ABC-USA.
Enjoy the audio of our 2021 Easter service, which was also the first service back on campus in over a year due to COVID.
The final segment of this series which ties in with Palm Sunday, helping us see the "Triumphal Entry" with new eyes, and ourselves as well.
Sometimes the story we are living is as ugly as that of Sara and Hagar, yet God is faithful to be with us through it all. Hear time-honored wisdom about how to move forward after loss.
Join us for the first of four teachings about cleaning up our past and present in order to make room for the future.
Enjoy this service featuring the last of our Colorful series, which includes a nod toward the Jewish celebration of Purim that honors Queen Esther's courageous decision and action to thwart the pogrom of Haman that would have resulted in Jewish genocide.
I had a lot to say today - get some extra coffee! In this teaching I highlight key historical moments that helped me see our country's systemic racism much more clearly.
Enjoy part two of the Colorful series where we examine equality and equity issues with the help of our faith history, theology, US history and current realities challenging our nation and world.
This is the first part of the Colorful series where we will look at some biblical/theological stuff, US history, and the need to rethink how we process equality and equity in our country (hint: we need Black History Month for a reason...).
Barbara Cawthrone Crafton concludes her teaching and group interaction on the subject of forgiveness.
Barbara Cawthrone Crafton continues her teaching and group interaction on the subject of forgiveness.
Barbara Cawthrone Crafton continues her teaching and group interaction on the subject of forgiveness.
Barbara Cawthrone Crafton continues her teaching and group interaction on the subject of forgiveness.
In this video, Barbara Cawthrone Crafton begins her discussion about the complexities of the issue of forgiveness that impacts every human being.
Enjoy this series finale where we gain guidance about our part in realizing God's dreams for the world, which happen to be our deepest dreams as well.
As we take some time again this year to reflect on the birth of Jesus, consider the context. Israel had been under the thumb of foreign oppressors for centuries (save for a blip or two when they revolted, only to be squashed again). Around the turn of the first century BCE, the Roman Empire was fully in place and in charge. They were brutal in many respects, and the Jewish people longed for someone to lead them out of oppression into new freedom. Would God send a messiah, and anointed one, to bring about such dramatic change that would surely include a military conquest? Many surfaced, claiming to be the messiah, and were usually wiped out soon enough. In addition, the leadership of the Jewish faith was corrupted by the power and influence they were awarded by Rome to keep the peace. Reform was needed. That’s the basic historical context into which Jesus was born.
What about your context? There is a continuum that represents how we approach the birth narrative of Jesus. On one end are those who engage the story as literal, historical fact. On the other end are those that see it as fiction created to provide a clearly God-ordained beginning story for the person who would become such a powerful conduit of God’s Spirit – a truly anointed Messiah, even if not what people expected. Wherever you are on that spectrum, choose to wonder what truth is here for you today in the story, regardless of factuality. That’s where the greatest power comes from anyway. Use the song Silent Night by Pentatonix to warm you up to the story we will revisit.
Mary’s part of the story (Luke’s Gospel). In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”
Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So, the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. For the word of God will never fail.”
Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.
What a weird story. Wouldn’t you agree? I wonder if what God was doing impacted Mary’s health: how she felt physically and emotionally. I wonder if she became more conscientious about what her lifestyle once she realized she wasn’t just looking out for her own health, but someone else’s.
We’re living in a weird story, too. We are being asked – all of humanity – to be conscientious about our physical and emotional health. And not just for ourselves, but for someone else. The physical limitations aren’t anywhere near being pregnant, but the emotional weight of what we are all experiencing is pronounced. We are not invited to give birth to a baby, but we are invited to welcome Christ into our lives anew, to make room for more of God, more life and light, more shalom – a deep peace that comes from harmony within, with each other, and with all of creation. Mary was under tremendous stress, yet God was fully with her. We are under incredible stress, yet God is with us, too, ready to be realized in new ways every day. The song Be Born In Me, performed by Francesca Battistelli invites us to reflect on the dynamics Mary endured and perhaps what we endure, too.
Joseph’s Story (Matthew’s Gospel). This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.
As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:
“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
which means ‘God is with us.’”
When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born.
What a weird story. Wouldn’t you agree? I wonder how Joseph’s life was impacted by this turn of events in any way, shape or form? I wonder if his pride was hurt in any way? I wonder if he ever felt like this was an unwelcome intruder into his life’s unfolding narrative? I wonder if he ever felt like being voluntold was unjust – why should he have to change his life, his plans? How unfair?
We are living in a weird story, too, where we may feel that our rights and freedoms are infringed upon by others. It may even feel unjust at times what we are called to do. We may assess the price we are having to pay to weather the multiple storms of 2020 as unfair. If we’re honest, we might admit that our pride has a way of eclipsing our compassion. Why should I be forced to wear a mask? Why should my business be shut down? Why should the business I want to support be shut down? Why shouldn’t I be able to gather with whoever I want? In a country that is built on radical individualism, a pandemic that calls us to radically consider the “other” is a tough medicine to take. Joseph must have felt like he got ripped off, and likely struggled from time to time with the cost he was called to bear. Yet God was present with him, helping him bring Jesus into the world and Christ’s presence into history in a new way. Reflect on Joseph’s perspective with this song, The Carol of Joseph, by For King and Country.
The Birth (Luke). At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child.
And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them. And Joseph named him Jesus.
That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.
What a weird story. Wouldn’t you agree? I wonder what fears these shepherds faced that night. They were given a job to do that night – were they terrified? Did they feel like the risk was too high? Were they in danger? What about their flocks? Would their following the orders of the angel jeopardize the safety of their flock? I wonder what went through their minds going to a cave-barn to see the heralded baby – why is this the setting for such a birth? They would surely be aware of their poverty, along with Mary and Joseph. They would be fully aware of the fact that they were poor, too poor to get a room. Poor enough to realize that the crisis of a government decision does not affect everyone equally, but as is always the case, the vulnerable pay a much greater price than everyone else. Yet God showed up even in the barn, even in the manger, proclaiming that Christ comes for all, all the time, in all places.
We’re living in a weird story where we’re seeing the gap widening between the vulnerable and less vulnerable. Storms highlight where the roof leaks, and we have been reminded that our country, as great as it is and as proud as we are to be her citizens, has a leaky roof. Some simply aren’t protected from the elements. For them, it might be easy to believe that God has left the scene. But the Christmas Story suggests otherwise – God is especially with the poor.
In contrast to the poor shepherds and the poor parents of Jesus we have a story about some rich dudes to add in as well...
The Wise Men (Matthew’s Gospel). About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”
King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”
“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:
‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
are not least among the ruling cities of Judah,
for a ruler will come from you
who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’”
Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”
After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.
What a weird story! Wouldn’t you agree? I wonder what the Wise Men thought about all of this – a bunch of rich, well-educated leaders who went to honor a king, at great expense to themselves, only to have it lost and wasted on a poor peasant couple. Did they at any time feel incredulous? Or too good for the cave/stable, or for Joseph and Mary? How did their sense of privilege get in the way of their experience? I bet this experience was surreal for them. I wonder if they thought their wealth was a sign of God’s favor and blessing like so many people do, and could not imagine what this scene meant?
We’re living in a weird story, too, where we are being asked to see things differently about ourselves and everyone around us. The Wise Men did their part in welcoming Jesus and bringing Christ into the world – they honored God’s anointing with humility and generosity. They recognized that a gift had been given the world by God and they responded in kind.
The greatest character in this weird story is the one that is in every scene. The very Spirit of God through various means is everywhere – in angelic visits, dreams, choirs, and stars. The very Spirit of God is in our weird story, too. Can you perceive it? Can you appreciate that while we celebrate and honor the birth of Jesus, we are at the same time invited to allow Christ – the anointing – to be born again and again in our time? Will you welcome the gift of love and life into your life, knowing that you are loved, valued, and held?
Our final song is All Is Well, performed by Voctave. This may seem in contradiction with the reality of the weird Christmas Story and our weird story right now with all that 2020 has ushered in. This is no saccharine gloss over of denial. This is actually a bold proclamation that no matter what we face, alone or together, there is something – some One – who is greater than our suffering, who will carry us through and welcome us fully whenever we lean into it and will welcome us home when our suffering ends. There really is a peace that passes understanding, and it is witnessed in that stable, in that manger, in the whole scene and in all the characters. Christ is born. Then. Now. Forever.
Can any of you remember the first three months of 2020? Neither can I. I had to go back to our YouTube Channel to remember what I was talking about. I did a series on Old Testament characters and our children’s ministry followed suit on their own level. Hints of COVID-19 were trickling in increasingly since before the New Year, and by mid-March, we stopped hosting worship services on campus. We’ve offered virtual services ever since, along with virtual noon and evening Wednesday Praxis groups, virtual Teeters’ dinner group, virtual Men’s Breakfast, and virtual FUEL Women’s Brunch. As far as our adult programming goes, we haven’t missed a beat, still offering virtually much of what we did on site, with no drop in participation. We’ve even gained some folks!
Pulling off virtual Sunday services takes significantly more time than “live”. Early on, our musicians recorded a bunch of songs to use, giving us a sense of “home” for our services – that required a lot of time from them and our sound and video team. Thank you! In order to have Sunday services recorded and produced has meant that I have to have everything done earlier in the week, record it, edit it, and upload it – which eats up the better part of a day or me each week. Once uploaded to our YouTube Channel, Ted Valencia would then download it and burn DVD’s of the service for our members who don’t have internet access. Then he and Dar deliver them to their homes. Thank you! I share this simply to make note of the fact that providing what we would normally do on site requires much more work than meets the eye – most churches are in the same boat.
Because of CrossWalk’s role as the primary evacuation shelter for Napa County, we have been deeply involved with Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) for years. Whenever a crisis hits Napa, the Office of Emergency Services activates COAD, because the County cannot meet all the needs on their own. The COAD had to meet the unprecedented challenge, along with the County, to address food needs for about four times the regular number of people due to COVID’s impact on jobs. Mental and Spiritual needs were pronounced as the crisis hit and continued, including needed messaging on dealing with stress. Children! What do you do with children during a global pandemic? What about animals and their needs when money is tight? What emergency financial assistance is needed and how can it get safely get where it needs to go? What about volunteers? How do you safely deploy volunteers during COVID? And how do you communicate effectively with a multi-lingual community? Along with Executive Directors of roughly two dozen non-profits in Napa County, Dar and I were honored to help provide voluntary leadership throughout this activation. Dar is the Co-Chair of the Food Access Subcommittee, and I am the Co-Chair of the Faith Leaders Subcommittee as well as the Mental Health Leaders Subcommittee. In addition, I am on the Executive Committee for the COAD, serving as Treasurer. All told, for the first three months of COVID, Dar and I each logged over two days of work each week just to meet the need, all on top of our normal CrossWalk responsibilities. COAD shifted to a more sustainable pace in July, requiring roughly a day of work each week for me. CrossWalk’s campus and staff have been honored to serve in many capacities throughout the COVID response – we can take pride in that! So important!
Mother Nature didn’t care about the fact that Napans were already overly stressed with COVID, and delivered back-to-back record-breaking fires, consuming hundreds of homes, including that of our beloved CrossWalker, Karen Kenny (we stand with you!). CrossWalk was immediately opened for each fire to provide shelter and support in partnership with Napa County. All of this was made more complicated by COVID, of course, because it’s not safe to house people indoors during a global pandemic! The first fire did not require much in the way of sheltering. The second fire, however, with significantly populated areas being evacuated, flooded our campus with hundreds of evacuees. We did the best we could to offer safe, welcome space while people waited to be placed temporarily in hotel rooms until they could return home. But that is not a fast process, and we housed dozens before people were able to move on. Thank you to all who were able to help while the shelters were open! Yea CrossWalkers!
In April, our Food Pantry stopped distribution, as everybody was directed toward the Food Bank. Karie Nuccio and Linda Smetzer, however, have been working their tails off reorganizing after we expanded and tiled their space. They still receive donations from a couple of local grocery stores and are able to help a very limited number of clients. They put in many hours every week. They are awesome!
Furaha was also impacted by COVID. Kenya shut down the schools, forcing cramped living conditions in the slums. We immediately provided several thousand dollars to help them get food out to their most vulnerable families, which was of great help. In October we sent thousands more to help them buy some much needed COVID-related supplies which will help them reopen safely, and we hope to send them even more in December to help them with some renovations of both the primary and high schools.
This year has brought much grief, especially those who have lost their loved ones. We stand with the families of Bill Swanson, Dot Hoover, Roger Langley, Larry McCart, Kenn Vigoda, Max Proteau, and Lisa Haas’ dad, Lawrence Paul Scott, Sr. Say an extra prayer for these families as they were not able to honor their loved ones as we usually do. Some of us have lost employment and are anxiously waiting for this season to pass. This has been a year of strained emotions, to say the least. Breathe, please, and don’t try to go it alone.
COVID has meant that nearly all of the groups that meet at CrossWalk have had to meet online as well. We took advantage of the campus being empty and have completely remodeled three of our conference rooms that are used most heavily by recovery groups. In addition, we have repainted the main lobby and hallway, giving everything a fresh look. We intend to remodel the front office soon and repaint the Education Wing hallway as well. We ripped up the awful carpet in our Education Wing and have replaced it with beautiful tile. Our Gym kitchen was completely gutted, and we are working hard to bring it up to commercial grade. We are partnering with Feeding it Forward – a local non-profit organization that captures otherwise wasted food and repurposes it for those in need. Now that fire season is over, we will also be addressing much needed work in our locker rooms and Gym lobby bathrooms so that when we offer shelter, it will be truly hospitable. All of these renovations have been funded apart from our General Fund. For years we have been building designated funds from rental income, grants and directed gifts allocated for such improvements.
CrossWalk is still open, which requires funding. In some ways this has been an understandably difficult year financially. We usually receive a significant amount of income from groups who rent our facility – much of that is obviously gone. Because of the jolt COVID has done to our economy, some folks have not been able to support CrossWalk to the level that had hoped. By those two measures – rental income and regular support, it’s been a tough fiscal year. However, we were able to secure the Payroll Protection Program loan/grant which helped us tremendously, and a few extra, over-the-top surprise contributions and awards have also come our way which have really helped us survive. THANK YOU for your financial support! We cannot make it without your generosity!
As we journey through Advent toward Christmas Day, we especially want to support our young families who are sick and tired of looking at screens. We are supplying them with Advent kits to help them experience a more faith-filled, creative, meaningful, and interactive season in the weeks to come.
Our purpose as a church is to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, ushering in holistic wellbeing for all people and the planet through lifelong learning, kneeling in service, proclaiming grace while pursuing justice, cultivating deep spirituality, and inclusive loving community. All things considered, I think we did pretty well. This has been a grueling year for Dar and I – one of the most challenging and taxing in each of our respective 20+ years serving CrossWalk – much more work under much greater stress. Thank you for your love and prayers. We are doing our best to serve the church and the community well, hoping to make God smile and CrossWalkers proud. We are honored to serve you all – please let us know what more we can do.
With shalom toward shalom,
Pete
Pete@CrossWalkNapa.org
In the finale to the Go Be Jesus series, Pete answers the question for himself: why bother with Jesus?
This teaching walks through various ways of connecting with God which were practiced and modeled by Jesus.
Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Haggray, Executive Director of the American Baptist Home Mission Society offers this teaching at a special event at another church. He used a passage of scripture that we have been looking at for two weeks, yet offers a different perspective than we have brought up in this series. It was so good, we stole if for our purposes! Thank you, Dr. Haggray!
In this second look at some really good Good News stories, we see that Jesus did more than heal - he took a shot at various forms of injustice, inequality, and inequity.
A reminder that the Good News Jesus came to proclaim as he ushered in shalom as the key component of the Kingdom of God was truly good news for all people.
In this teaching, we revisit a few key verses from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount to discover some things obvious to Jesus' original hearers but lost on us. Fasten your seat belt - it's going to be an uncomfortable ride.
What would Jesus say if he were to give a campaign speech? Wonder no more - we already have it, AKA The Teaching on the Mount.
Rob Bell did an awesome job in this Nooma Video, Dust, explaining what “Follow Me!” meant to Jesus’ original audience. It was a huge deal for Jesus to invite “everyday” people to become his disciples, and to do so implied that Jesus believed the disciples could actually learn the Way of Jesus and live it out. Further, at one point Jesus said to them that they would do even greater things than he did!
Remember that the Way of Jesus wasn’t simply to be a nice person, but rather to bring much needed change to the world with shalom (the means), with the goal of shalom (the end). This was what the Kingdom of God was all about. This deep peace and harmony, this real wellbeing for everyone and everything would challenge the status quo and threaten ways of the world that are not shalom. Largely, systems that use power, intimidation, and domination, which favor those with more power over those with less, would be called out, because, simply, such a paradigm is incongruent with the nature of God. This kind of mission would require great courage because eventually those using power to ingratiate themselves at the expense of others would do what it takes to protect their power by attempting to eliminate the threat, usually with some sort of violent behavior. Slander, lies, and even physical harm were experienced by Jesus. What happened to the Master would happen to his disciples. And yet, despite the challenges, the mission would be worth it and it would work, no matter how awful they were treated. Why? Because the Kingdom of God is what is real and true and everlasting, and the kingdoms of this world always pass away. One leads to life and living, the other death and dying. The “Follow Me!”, ironically, was an invitation to lay down one’s life for something much greater than oneself. Not violent, suicidal martyrdom, but giving oneself to a cause so fully that it actually did lead to death. Paradoxically, such a move led to deeper experiences of life. Jesus once said that if we hold onto our lives with a tight fist, we will actually lose the life we want so badly, but if we follow in his footsteps completely, we will find life – life everlasting, real, holistically well, harmonious, in rhythm, and in a word: shalom.
All of the above is simply to say that Jesus didn’t come to start a “nice” campaign, but rather a campaign to change the world with love, which is very much needed and worth it, and also very challenging. And, as Bell noted, to be asked to follow implies that the one asking believes we can actually do it. Awesome.
I can’t leave it there, however, knowing what I know. Bell can only do so much in a brief video, and he did a fantastic job introducing us to what “follow me” meant. But I know that if we are aware of how saying yes to “Follow Me!” plays out, we will be in a lot better shape. Our expectations will be aligned with reality, and we won’t get thrown when it hits the fan. Because it will. So, I offer just a few glimpses from the life of Peter – the one who dared get out of the boat to join Jesus on the walking on water experience Bell referenced. If you want to see shalom realized in the world so much that you accept the invitation, you can expect the following to happen…
Sometimes you will ace the test. When asked by Jesus, “Who do people say that I am?”, the rest of the disciples waffled a bit, but Peter nailed it: “you are the Messiah/anointed one” (Matthew 16:13-20). Jesus commended him, saying that such anointing is exactly what the Kingdom of God is built upon. Such a moment of spiritual insight was a mountain-top experience for Peter. As you learn the Way of Jesus, you can expect such moments of true insight and inspiration coupled with a sense of divine blessing and celebration. Such awakenings feel really good. Enjoy them. Record them. Remember and savor them. And remember that you have not arrived yet – there is more than a lifetime of learning ahead. Stay humble, because such awakenings can very easily tempt us toward pride which, you may have heard, generally precedes a fall…
Sometimes your pride will lead away from Kingdom of God sensibilities in favor of well-conditioned and supported paradigms of the world. Course correction will come. Hint: correct as soon as possible to avoid robbing yourself and the world of potential shalom. Peter was feeling so confident as the star pupil that he forgot for a moment that he wasn’t the Master. After Jesus articulated what lay ahead for him and those who followed (his non-violent shalom campaign would so threaten the power of those who held it that they would kill him), Peter let Jesus know that he must surely be mistaken. Jesus’ response? “Get behind me, Satan, for you have in mind the things of men and not the things of God” (Matthew 16:21-28). “Satan” needs to be viewed as a role here more than some weird demon-possession moment. In this frame, Jesus is feeling the power of a prosecuting attorney asking if that’s really what Jesus wanted to do. The very human, lizard-brained side of Jesus surely wanted to avoid suffering and death and instead pursue the very common (and failure-assured) method of using power, intimidation, and domination to bring about a shallow, false peace. That’s what so many of his followers wanted him to do – how tempting! In a way, the temptation was Peter’s as much as Jesus’, wasn’t it? Peter didn’t want to suffer and die, either. He wanted to enjoy power and control like so many others. But that’s not the Way that leads to life. Count on your pride to tempt you throughout your life. Count on hearing the stinging words, “Get behind me Satan” again and again. It’s simply part of the deal.
Sometimes our fears and insecurities will get the best of us, and we will fail. Peter denied even knowing Jesus when it mattered most (see John 18). You will, too. Maybe with your lips, but most likely with your life – your attitudes and behavior will at times belie your insecurities and missteps. No way around it – it will happen. And it will feel like a sort of death. We will repeat this cycle again and again because we are human beings trained on the kingdoms of this world which run counter to the Kingdom of God. Knowing this ahead of time helps. Expect failure.
When we fail, shalom, by its very nature, will want to restore us. This sounds all warm and fuzzy like a Hallmark channel movie, but it’s actually painful work, a required death before resurrection, because it requires us to agree with what happened regarding our failure. After Jesus was experienced alive in a new way after his horrible death, Peter quickly realized that he was still welcome in the company of disciples and in the company of God. This was true. Yet there was unfinished business to conduct: the failure needed to be recognized and thought through in order for reconciliation to take root. Jesus held Peter accountable in an incredibly memorable scene on a beach. We like to skate over such steps in our lives. It is much easier to just sort of casually nod to our failures and move forward. It is not easy to break away from such face-saving devices. In fact, it is incredibly hard to really look at where we’ve blown it. Yet, if you want to grow forward, it is an absolute necessity. The accountability isn’t punitive but restorative. The point of the scene wasn’t to scold Peter but to help him see what had happened more clearly so that he could grow from it (John 21:15-23). This difficult exchange and call to follow may seem incongruent with Jesus’ statement that his yoke is easy and his burden is light, right? It’s only easy when we are fully aligned with the Kingdom of God. When we’re not, when we are trying to live in two kingdoms simultaneously, life is incredibly difficult. Stay humble and in the zone of shalom. Christians have become known for being grumpy instead of lovely.
We will grow exponentially in love and have ever deepening and heightening experiences of love if we keep on following the One who invites us forward. Peter (or his disciples) told his listeners:
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.– 1 Peter 1:3-9 (NLT)
Do you hear the call from the Spirit of God that flowed through Jesus so long ago calling the original disciples? It still beckons, still calls to all people everywhere who long for more shalom in the world that will come about from the incredibly challenging yet rewarding work of bringing it about with shalom itself. By the Spirit of God, Jesus is still calling. Will you follow?
Bonus Material. If you want a picture of what this journey has, in part, looked like for me, suffer through some of the stories of my discipleship below…
I grew up in a devout Christian home in a mainline Christian tradition, where there wasn’t much emphasis on hell or judgment or sin forgiveness. When my parents thought I was old enough to make a decision to become a Christian, it was quite solemn. I was baptized by my dad (who was a pastor). A bonus of baptism is that, in my family, it meant you got to take communion. To be honest, the wafer thing tasted awful and the grape juice was watered down. I also remember not feeling much when I first took it. I was sincere in my decision, but a lot of emphasis was placed on being grateful for being forgiven. I understood it, but it didn’t connect all that much for me. Maybe it was because I was 9 or 10 years old and didn’t have a whole lot of juicy sins to forgive? Stealing a significant portion of my brother’s Halloween candy when I was 5 or 6 was the worst thing I could come up with. At that point, I was just affirming that it was my decision to follow Jesus as the leader of my life and the guarantor of heaven. I’ve run into a lot of people with a similar story. It’s not unmeaningful, but it also kind of generates a “meh” response after a while, and I’ve known many people who didn’t really do much with their faith after their confession. It was still an important yes for me, however. It stuck with me and is part of my story.
Was that how faith started for you – sort of affirming what was already there – like you were essentially a Christian out of the womb? I think this is akin to a lot of the initial following accounts of the disciples -theirs was an easy yes (at first).
When I was in high school, I had a lot of great conversations with my neighbor, Brenda, who was a few years older than me. We became really good friends over the summer, mainly having each other to hang out with. She had a different vitality to her faith than I did, and I wanted it. Hers was a really relational faith where she seemed to have ongoing conversation with God, and sensed God speaking back to her in myriad ways. She wasn’t crazy or anything – it was simply a lived-out faith. I sensed something in me inviting me into the same kind of faith experience, and I said yes. It was an incredibly moving experience that I will never forget, which brought with it an experience of the Spirit of God that was unexpected, immersive, and mind-blowing. It was a born again kind of event, where I saw the world in a very different way than I had before. The yes deepened my understanding of God and life itself. I was a changed person.
Have you ever had that kind of experience where you sensed God calling you to follow into that kind of relational faith? I think this is like what we see when Jesus interacts with the Samaritan Woman at the Well.
Even though my household faith was not “judgy”, I certainly picked up on what was on the don’t list: don’t drink or smoke, don’t swear, and don’t have sex. My parents never actually talked with me much about sex, but youth groups and church camps sure did! The born-again buzz that I had stuck with me for awhile, but I didn’t have a person in my life to guide me or help me (my parents would have helped, but I as a teenager, so, you know…). My faith struggled as the experiential side faded. I still believed, but was really in an agnostic phase for about four years, which took me through high school and halfway through college, when all of the temptations to explore the pros and cons of the don’ts are turbo-charged by hormones and coming of age. A crisis of faith born of a heartbreak brought me to my knees after my sophomore year in college. I was in really rough shape, and sought healing from the church I attended. After a couple of days attending a weekend seminar on helping people heal with God’s help, I sensed God inviting me to give it a try myself. When I finally caved, carrying four years of shame and guilt and pain and sorrow and disappointment, I found God to be graceful, welcoming, restoring, forgiving. An experience I will never forget. It was what I consider my adult conversion. Once again I felt born again, seeing God, my life, and the world around me very differently.
Have you had that kind of experience, where you felt reborn after life sort of killed you? I think this is like the story of the woman who was forgiven much, or the woman caught in adultery who was then freed by Jesus, or Zacchaeus the tax collector.
The next several years were filled with success. I graduated from college, married an incredible woman, sailed through seminary earning my Masters of Divinity, landed my first pastorate which went extremely well, and moved to California to become the pastor of what is now called CrossWalk. The early successes – which I believe God was working in to varying degrees – pumped up my ego pretty good. My first few years at Napa proved to be one of the hardest seasons of my life where a lot of pain from a lot of pride brought me to a crossroads. Things were so hard for a while that my faith was shaken a bit. Yet, even while I was in the throes of spiritual turmoil, I sensed God with me. Such a strange experience of grace during a time when I am sure my pride led me to deeply offensive attitudes and behaviors that were not in line with following Jesus. Once I reached my breaking point, I gave up on my own way of thinking and being and gave in to yet another yes to the invitation to follow Jesus. Once again, I was met with the freedom that comes with grace. I was deeply humbled in all the best ways – not humiliated – and experienced God quick to comfort and guide again. Another layer of born again, again. This cycle has repeated itself over and over again over the years. Usually, I become aware of my pride from either my work or my marriage, and for good reason: those are the areas where I am most known and seen, where feedback is most present. We can easily blow off comments and observations from casual friends or the majority of Facebook friends, because we tell ourselves that they don’t really know us (which is probably true). But when those who are closest have the courage to speak truth into our lives, we either own it and deepen our relationships and our experience of living in shalom, or we pull back and distance ourselves from such painful reality, which also keeps us from growing deeper. I’m so grateful for a strong partner who is not afraid to speak truth into my life, as hard as it must be for her to say and as hard as it is for me to hear. I hate it in the moment, and yet it is necessary if we are to grow as people and in our relationship.
Have you had any experiences like this, when your pride catches up with you, when your attitudes and behaviors don’t reflect Jesus much, and your life doesn’t much reflect the Kingdom of God or the shalom it brings? I think this is like the time Peter challenged Jesus’ game plan to go to Jerusalem, and much later when he balked his way through the unclean foods vision, or Paul’s conversion experience.
There have been times of great sorrow, when the shadow of death has covered my eyes and weighed down my heart. I have known grief that is too deep for words, when you weep so hard you can’t make a sound as you just try to breathe, when you can’t sleep because it hurts, and when you wake, the pain is still there. I know what it feels like to have a loved one slip away leaving you without them. It is so hard. And yet, there is a voice that invites me to follow even in those moments. When I have said yes to that invitation, I have again and again been met with comfort and hope. Not like a magic wand that makes it all disappear – grief is a process that takes time. But there is grace for each moment, an appropriate amount to get me through, to give me strength and rest. This is a great expression of shalom, of healing and wellbeing that, when embraced, when met with a yes, it takes us deeper into the heart of God and into our True Selves where we discover that we are born again, again, in some way.
Have you ever said yes to such an invitation from God? Have you found God to be faithful in your grief? I think of Martha and Mary when their brother Lazarus died, and how Jesus brought hope on that fourth day.
There have been times when saying yes has led to pain and suffering for the benefit of others, when I have sensed that I needed to bear a cross and follow Jesus. Crosses mean death is imminent. As a pastor, I have had many experiences where I sensed the need to introduce new ways to seeing scripture and of thinking theologically, and it always comes at a price that I mostly pay. Usually this happens after I have been stretched in my thinking and seeing which requires its own level of suffering before I inflict it on others. Over the years I have sensed God inviting me to speak about a bigger, more expansive Christianity that is inclusive of everyone and respects other faith traditions rather than disparaging them. I have led the church through so many changes I lost track of how many we’ve gone through! I’ve felt invited to lead us to expand our ministry abroad, and more broadly in Napa. For many people who love CrossWalk, they cannot imagine it any differently. And yet, every major step represents an invitation to risk on the Way of Jesus.
Have you ever had such experiences where you knew you were being called to follow that would carry a personal cost, and yet you did it anyway? Peter and Paul were champions of the faith, and they took their licks every step of the way. Resistance came from Rome, from Jewish leaders, and at times from within the Christian community.
I share my experiences with you because I think the Christian life is saying yes to Jesus’ invitation to follow again and again and again and again in a hundred different ways and contexts, all born from God’s desire to create more shalom in the world – personally with us and for the world through us. We will often be tempted to be complacent – that’s human nature – yet when we give into our lethargy we miss out on shalom that could be ours. How much better if we could start each day waiting and looking for the invitation to follow! How much more shalom would we enjoy, and the world around us, too?
The invitation always comes. It is a constant. Do you hear it? Will you follow?
Jesus's public life looked a lot like a political campaign. Most people think of him as a really nice guy, and that Christians are simply supposed to be nice people. Nice is good. But Jesus didn't get executed because the religious and authorities and Roman officials collaborated due to his niceness. What we he about? What was he trying to do? What garnered such attention to result in his death?
In this final teaching on Paul's letter to the Colossian church, Paul appears to veer off of his lovely musing about the ever-present, unconditional love of God in Christ, and seems to shift into a legalistic, judgmental mode. He also writes stuff that was used to support slavery in America and also keep women subservient to men. How do we handle such texts? Buckle up!
A poster child of Paul's instruction to the church at Colosse emerged in our time: John Lewis. Learn about faith turned into practice from the last of the Big Six from the US's Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's.
The Good News really was (and) is good news for the Colossians in the first century CE and today. You may be surprised just how good it is...
Bible scholar Pete Enns offers insight that may crush or inspire you. Are you open to discovery?
July 4th is a holiday celebrated by many Americans with backyard barbeques, parades, and vacation getaways. During non-COVID-19 periods, Disneyland would be absolutely packed, and wait-times for rides would soar. Have you been to Disneyland? If so, what’s your favorite ride? One of my favorites in Splash Mountain, where you ride in log down a river, moving through a storyline where a bunny outwits a fox, all leading to the climax: a 52.5-foot drop that gets you up to 45 mph and usually wet. It’s a fun ride. But I digress…. Back to July 4th!
Thomas Jefferson didn’t wake up July 3rd and think that writing the Declaration of Independence might be a fun, cathartic journaling exercise. He wrote it with the encouragement of his leader-peers after years of injustice. The Declaration lays out the reasons why the colonies were leaving Great Britain:
· He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
· He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
· He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
· He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
· He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
· He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
· He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose, obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
· He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
· He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
· He has erected a multitude of New Offices and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
· He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
· He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
· He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
· For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
· For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
· For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
· For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
· For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
· For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
· For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
· For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
· For suspending our own Legislatures and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
· He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
· He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
· He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
· He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
· He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
It’s a long list. It took a long time before the colonists were willing to make such a declaration. Jefferson even noted our human tendency to put up with a lot until we simply cannot take it any longer:
“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
The breaking point had been reached, and the rallying call went out: Colonist Lives Matter! I don’t know if CLM ever actually caught on…
One of the most powerful lines that we Americans love to celebrate is at the beginning of the Declaration: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. This is part of the American Dream that makes us proud of our melting pot country. The reality is, however, that not all of the ingredients in the American Stew were willing participants, and some were clearly celebrated while others systematically sidelined, used, and abused.
Jefferson himself embodied the paradox. The one who penned that all men are created equal is said to have owned 600 slaves over the course of his lifetime and had 130 slaves on hand to keep up his Monticello property – many of the slaves there were multi-generational. Some call Sally Hemings his mistress but make no mistake – she was Jefferson’s slave whose primary job was to bring him “comfort”. Six children she bore evidenced his debauchery and the pain she surely endured. Thomas Jefferson, while trying to end slavery in the United States for reasons unrelated to equality and equity, died having actually strengthening it in part because he never really woke up to the deeper reasons why slavery needed to end in the US.
Jesus lived with a similar paradox. There is a story remembered about him when he was outside of what we call Israel (Mark 7:24-30, The Message):
From there Jesus set out for the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house there where he didn’t think he would be found, but he couldn’t escape notice. He was barely inside when a woman who had a disturbed daughter heard where he was. She came and knelt at his feet, begging for help. The woman was Greek, Syro-Phoenician by birth. She asked him to cure her daughter.
He said, “Stand in line and take your turn. The children get fed first. If there’s any left over, the dogs get it.”
She said, “Of course, Master. But don’t dogs under the table get scraps dropped by the children?”
Jesus was impressed. “You’re right! On your way! Your daughter is no longer disturbed. The demonic affliction is gone.” She went home and found her daughter relaxed on the bed, the torment gone for good.
What we may have here is evidence that Jesus really was a human being and was shaped by his Jewish culture to despise non-Jewish people. Thus, he uses the term “dogs”. Make no mistake, when he uses this term, he is not thinking lovingly of family pets and cute Facebook posts. This was a term of great degradation which the woman fully understood. Jesus, here, is prejudiced.
But he didn’t stay that way. As he moved forward, he became famous for being incredibly inclusive and promoting equality and equity. The first person with whom he identifies himself as the anointed one was a Samaritan woman – a picture of the most hated group in ancient Judaism. In addition to this woman and a hated non-Jew, he extended grace and welcome to everyone – people born with diseases, tax collectors, prostitutes, etc., and was greatly criticized for it. His stands did not come easy. In contrast to the tyranny of the prevailing culture in which he lived, he broadcast:
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11:28-30, The Message)
The disciples were slow on the uptake. They struggled in predictable ways as their worldview was blown up by Jesus. Their experience with Jesus and beyond reshaped how they understood God and what God was trying to do in the world. They increasingly woke up to the Kingdom of God and its beckoning while they lived in a very Roman-occupied Jewish context.
The Apostle Paul, who never met Jesus, was completely oblivious to the dream of God until he was stopped in his tracks with an experience of Christ manifest as blinding light. It’s hard to say what happened, exactly. Did the experience blind him? Or did he realize that he had ben blind all along? Either way, he was taught to see by the very Jesus followers he was bent on destroying and became the most influential voice of Christianity other than Jesus, writing two thirds of the books in the New Testament.
Awake as he was, Paul lived in paradox. He is the guy who declared the counter-intuitive and counter-cultural message of the Kingdom of God (Galatians 3:28-29, The Message): In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ’s family, then you are Abraham’s famous “descendant,” heirs according to the covenant promises. All men (and women) are created equal! Hoorah!
And yet, Paul lived at a time where slavery was a part of the economy and culture (albeit nowhere near as awful as American slavery). When he had the opportunity to be a voice for emancipation, like Jefferson, asked a Christian slave owner (ahem), Philemon, to be kind toward the runaway slave, Onesimus, who found safety with Paul. Here is the entire letter of Philemon (The Message):
I, Paul, am a prisoner for the sake of Christ, here with my brother Timothy. I write this letter to you, Philemon, my good friend and companion in this work—also to our sister Apphia, to Archippus, a real trooper, and to the church that meets in your house. God’s best to you! Christ’s blessings on you!
Every time your name comes up in my prayers, I say, “Oh, thank you, God!” I keep hearing of the love and faith you have for the Master Jesus, which brims over to other believers. And I keep praying that this faith we hold in common keeps showing up in the good things we do, and that people recognize Christ in all of it. Friend, you have no idea how good your love makes me feel, doubly so when I see your hospitality to fellow believers.
In line with all this I have a favor to ask of you. As Christ’s ambassador and now a prisoner for him, I wouldn’t hesitate to command this if I thought it necessary, but I’d rather make it a personal request.
While here in jail, I’ve fathered a child, so to speak. And here he is, hand-carrying this letter—Onesimus! He was useless to you before; now he’s useful to both of us. I’m sending him back to you, but it feels like I’m cutting off my right arm in doing so. I wanted in the worst way to keep him here as your stand-in to help out while I’m in jail for the Message. But I didn’t want to do anything behind your back, make you do a good deed that you hadn’t willingly agreed to.
Maybe it’s all for the best that you lost him for a while. You’re getting him back now for good—and no mere slave this time, but a true Christian brother! That’s what he was to me—he’ll be even more than that to you.
So if you still consider me a comrade-in-arms, welcome him back as you would me. If he damaged anything or owes you anything, chalk it up to my account. This is my personal signature—Paul—and I stand behind it. (I don’t need to remind you, do I, that you owe your very life to me?) Do me this big favor, friend. You’ll be doing it for Christ, but it will also do my heart good.
I know you well enough to know you will. You’ll probably go far beyond what I’ve written. And by the way, get a room ready for me. Because of your prayers, I fully expect to be your guest again.
Epaphras, my cellmate in the cause of Christ, says hello. Also my coworkers Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke. All the best to you from the Master, Jesus Christ!
Hmmm. Paul was on the right track, yet not fully there, kind of like Jefferson.
The reality is we human beings are complex creatures. We live in our respective cultures and are generally unaware of how powerfully they shape our vision of absolutely everything. At some point, a combination of things takes place. The reality of our existence in our multi-layered cultural context (personally and corporately) becomes so unbearable that we have to change, or we die (literally or metaphorically). And/or, we become captivated by a vision of something so compelling that we willingly leave our present cultural context in favor of the new, different one. Either way, we set out to make a change. We plan our way forward and give it our best shot and discover what Peter Drucker famously noted: organizational culture eats strategy for breakfast.
Change is often experienced as very difficult for good reason: it is very difficult. In faith, becoming born again is just the beginning, the waking up – the growing up, living “woke” is hard and ongoing and evolving. In family systems and politics and the general culture, the same is true. Sometimes we cannot see our blindness. Sometimes we see it and don’t want to wake up as fully as we know we should. The whole thing is a process.
The early Jesus followers struggled through this yet prevailed – they kept moving forward.
The United States engaged civil war – Jefferson’s predicted fear – that resulted in emancipation. Legal equality (on the books, anyway), didn’t show up for another century. Experiential equality and equity still call us forward – a dream that beckons us to realize more and more in our time. Jefferson’s Monticello recognizes the paradox and shines a light on it rather than trying to keep it in the shadows so that we see our history in plain view. It in no way celebrates Jefferson’s inhumane treatment of fellow equals.
Disneyland, which keeps moving forward as a cultural mandate, is reshaping Splash Mountain, letting go of the Song of the South motif with all of the ugly characterizations it subtly perpetuated of slavery and slaves, and instead is investing in a new story that celebrates the accomplishment of Princess Tiana, and African American self-made woman who defeats those who worked against her.
We will continue to hear cries of injustice in our nation whose pledge to pursue liberty and justice for all is not yet realized. It will take time. It will take longer if American citizens do not take their pledge seriously. It will take longer if Jesus followers remain asleep toward the Kingdom of God and perpetuate the dominant culture that will not change on its own. It will be hastened if we allow the Lord’s Prayer to fashion us more and more into the likeness of Jesus, which means living primary in the Kingdom of God even as we exist here and now. That prayer is one that is uttered globally, as evidence of something bigger and better than puny kingdoms and countries that, in comparison to the age of our earth, are but a breath.
What are you going to do to become more awake to the Kingdom of God and it’s beckoning? What steps are you going to take that are different than the culture that perpetuates the very ills that plague us? How will you live more like Jesus?
Check out this site for resources specifically related to racism in the US: https://medium.com/wake-up-call/a-detailed-list-of-anti-racism-resources-a34b259a3eea
Today I am featuring another great voice in the Christian tradition - Barbara Brown Taylor. This video was taken a few years ago - sorry about the grannies - but I think you will agree that it is an excellent teaching. Enjoy!
Luke 10:25-37 (NLT)
One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”
The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”
The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.
“By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.
“Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’
“Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.
The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”
Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”
This teaching features author and scholar Barbara Brown Taylor as she taught at our sister church, Riverside, in NYC. Enjoy!
This talk features Author and Scholar Diana Butler Bass tackling the issue of gratitude on a level we may not readily consider. Could it be that gratitude is deeper than a Hallmark card or journal entry?
What sticks with you about this teaching? What does her message compel you to do?
This is the last of a five-session series featuring Richard Rohr as he presents an Alternative Orthodoxy. The process questions below are from a small group resource entitled Embracing an Alternative Orthodoxy.*
As you’ve seen and heard, Richard Rohr names things as he sees them! In one moment he uncovers religious dysfunction and holds it up to the light; in the next he presents a vision of relationship with God that is transformative and inspiring. Given the breadth of the territory, it’s inevitable that Richard touches themes in your own journey of religious and spiritual growth.
From the 10 statements below, choose one or two that connect with your own story in some way. Share, either with one or two other people or with the members of your small group, how these statements in some way speak to your own experience or the experience of people close to you:
1. People who are initially attracted to religion are people who like social order. They think that God came to earth to be a policeman. This attention to social order in religion has a place in the first half of life when the ego needs to be contained in boundaries. If you stay in this first half of life religion, you stay at the moralistic level.
2. Scripture, Jesus, the mystics and saints recognized that the goal of religion is not a perfect moral stance, but union with God.
3. Union with God is achieved by doing things wrong rather than by doing things right. Perfection is not the goal.
4. Moralism is less concerned with love and more concerned with creating an ego identity that can hold the moral high ground. Too often the heads of religion are involved in finding sinners and in managing sin.
5. We see Jesus exposing ugly morality throughout the gospels. It’s always the same story: the one who is always wrong is, in Jesus’ eyes, revealed as right.
6. What undoes moralism is a moment of unitive consciousness, a moment of grace, a moment of unearned love, a moment of forgiveness, a moment of unmerited consolation. That’s the only thing that breaks down the quid pro quo world of morality.
7. God has come to save us all by grace. The mystics have no trouble surrendering to that. For Bonaventure, God is a fountain full of outflowing love, only flowing in one direction, always and forever. There is no wrath in God; there is no anger in God. There is only outpouring love.
8. You will obsess about moralism if you don’t get to the mystical level. You become more anal-retentive the older you get when you haven’t experienced God. It’s not joyful; it’s not a wedding banquet; it’s not happiness. You get more desperate, more impatient, and you want more laws to obey.
9. When you get moralistic, it’s not long before you get violent. When you are sure you are on higher moral ground than other people, it’s very quick that you have a right to torture them, exclude them, punish them, kill them and, as Jesus says in John’s Gospel, when you do it you will think you are doing a holy duty for God.
10. The mind that emerges from mystical experience, from second-half-of-life maturity is the contemplative mind. You don’t calculate life; you contemplate life. If you want to grease the wheels to second half-of-life consciousness—to the mystical level—the best way is to contemplate.
THE WEAKER I GET, THE STRONGER I BECOME!
Richard spoke enthusiastically about Paul in Session 3 and returns again with glowingaffirmation of Paul’s understanding of the mystery of the cross. Here are some keylines to remind you of what Richard said about Paul:
· If you take the whole corpus of Paul, it’s 90% mystical.
· Paul reveals that all these constructs to create order in the world are doomed tofailure.
· Paul’s key for creating order in the universe is by introducing disorder at its center. That’s what he means by the mystery of the cross.
· Your only ordered world is your ability to deal with disorder and failure.
· Paul introduced a new order that is recognizing, honoring and using disorder for goodpurpose.
Below are three passages from three of Paul’s letters. Read each of these aloud and discuss:
Where in his writing do you see Paul giving expression to the interplay between moralism and mysticism that Richard is uncovering in this session? Feel free to go to other passages from his letters that come to mind.
Paul may not have anticipated that his letters would be read not only by the folks in Corinth, Rome and Galatia, but also by us. What would you say to Paul in response to the passion and vulnerability of his writing?
Galatians 2:19-21 (The Message)
What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.
Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.
Romans 7:4-6 (NRSV)
In the same way, my friends, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we are slaves not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (The Message)
Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, “My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.”
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.
GROWING MYSTICS
Doug opens up an exploration of how churches can both be a barrier to the experience of God as well as a community to open up that experience when he asks:
Essentially, you’re saying that the destiny of every Christian is to be a mystic. That seems so implausible that we put it off to the next life! I say to folks (half joking) that I set out to be a mystic and then got ordained. The sheer busyness of the job rendered it nearly impossible. I can see individuals and small groups coming together to enter into that kind of unitive consciousness and I can see that having an effect in action, but how in the world do you make it a bigger phenomenon?
Richard responds:
When I say mystical, I mean experiential. It is possible if we get out of the realm of law and doctrine. Most people have God experiences but there’s no one to tell them, “You just had it!” We’ve made it a churchy thing as we ministers well know: you’ve had it when you’ve been around candlesticks and vestments. This is why we get back to this need for spiritual direction—wise people who can say, “That moment of communion you had with your little baby while you were breast feeding today—that’s it! That moment of enjoying that wildflower and feeling that jerk of joy in your heart—that’s it!” We need to un-churchify the gospel. It’s just too darn churchified! People are having religious experiences and don’t know it.
In the conversation that follows Richard’s reflection, the members of the group openup various aspects of this matter of church as a block to mystical experience or churchas a guide in that process. Allow their conversation to be a source of reflection for yours:
Raymond asks:
Can church be a place where people are helped to identify the presence of God in their everyday lives, a place where people can talk together about how their everyday lives are an experience of God?
What would it take for church to be more like that? What success have you had in creating
that kind of opportunity?
Suzanne asserts that people can have experiences of God in any moment quite apart from the presence of a priest, rabbi or preacher. The other members of the group support that, and Richard speaks about “the training into subtle consciousness” that is required as individuals move to this deepening practice of Presence. The group recognize the power of community in this process, and Richard underscores the need for communal support of the individual:
If there isn’t community holding you accountable to what you say you’ve experienced, helping you unpack your experience, it doesn’t go anywhere. I could be heard to be encouraging individualism, but I’m not. That doesn’t go anywhere. We’re social beings. Unless I let your holiness rub off on me, I won’t experience my own. As Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am.” We have a total promise of presence, just as strong as in the bread and the wine.
Talk together about the power of community (whatever size) to be a place for holding you accountable in the growth of your mystical consciousness, as well as a setting in which you become ever clearer about the daily presence of God in your life.
NO MORE COUNTING
Richard offers this final reflection at the end of the five sessions:
Here in this second half of life—
the mystical, the contemplative, the adult Christian—
you stop counting and let God stop counting.
The counting game is over.
The ego counts; the soul experiences.
It lets it be and learns from it, but it doesn’t weigh and measure.
Here in this American culture of entitlement—
people counting what they deserve
and think they have a right to—
entitlement creates unlikable people.
We worry about our children growing up
in an entirely entitled society.
But then there’s the world of grace—
the world of the gospel,
the world of mercy.
It’s all gratitude and confidence, the confidence
given by God’s gratuitous choice and love
to use you as an instrument,
to dwell in you.
Validated at the deepest inner level:
no need to be rich,
no need to be famous,
no need to be good-looking,
no need to think that I’m better than you.
The need itself is taken away.
If you can just notice in your own mind and emotions
whenever you’re counting
or thinking God is counting,
that’s not where you want to be.
It’s a waste of time.
It’s finally self-defeating.
Organized religion creates membership requirements,
and then you’re right back into counting.
The gospel
is a great leveling
of the playing field.
All of us equally carry that divine image.
All you can do is give thanks, because it’s totally undeserved.
It has nothing to do with you: gift, gift, gift, gift, gift.
The grace of God freeing us
from the burden of counting.
What insights and practices will you take away from this series that will help you give up counting?
How will you support yourself in being in the culture of entitlement without being of that culture?
BE THOU MY VISION
Be thou my vision, O joy of my heart;
naught be all else to me save that thou art,
thou my best thought, by day or by night,
waking or sleeping thy presence my light.
Be thou my wisdom, my calm in all strife;
I ever with thee, and thou in my life;
thou loving parent, thy child may I be,
thou in me dwelling and I one with thee.
Riches I heed not, nor vain empty praise,
thou mine inheritance, now and always;
thou and thou only, the first in my heart,
great God of heaven, my treasure thou art.
Great God of heaven, after victory won,
may I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.
Irish ca. 8th century; translated by Mary Elizabeth Byrne, 1905;version by Eleanor H. Hull, 1912.
- Adapted from Embracing an Alternative Orthodoxy: A 5-Session Study by Richard Rohr with Tim Scorer, Morehouse Education Resources, 2014)
Below are process questions from the small group series* featuring the teachings of Richard Rohr.
LIVING YOURSELF INTO A NEW WAY OF THINKING
Here are some memorable statements from Richard as he speaks about the priority of orthopraxy over orthodoxy:
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You do not think yourself into a new way of living; you live yourself into a new way of thinking.
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Every time the church split, we lost half the gospel. The half we lost in 1054 at the Great Schism was contemplative practice.
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Let the institutional church maintain the superstructure of creed, ritual and doctrine; that frees us to worry about the structure of our daily lives.
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You can be perfectly orthodox and not understand the lifestyle of Jesus one bit!
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Begging keeps you at the social level of everybody else, in their lives and in solidarity with their pain.
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The great thing about orthopraxy is that there is really nothing to argue about until you do it! You don’t believe something until you have done it.
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We got lost in proving our metaphysics and then making others believe it. We spent all our time in enforcement, as if Jesus came to earth to enforce ideas.
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I don’t know a single example of any of our churches burning anyone at the stake for not taking care of the widows and orphans.
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We live in a wonderful time when we see that faith is not about belonging systems or belief systems. If Christianity is going to be renewed and reformed, it has to move to practice-based Christianity.
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The globalization of spirituality is making practice essential, because people don’t believe you any more until you’ve done it. Most of the things we said we believed were no skin off our back!
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The wonderful thing about orthopraxy is that it asks something of you. That’s why we’ve avoided it for so long!
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Going to a place in my daily prayers where for 20 minutes I have to go into this kenosis—this dying to myself, dying to my feelings, dying to my own angry thoughts—no one wants to do that!
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Orthopraxy asks something of you. Orthodoxy allows you to be a policeman of other people and never really do it yourself. This gives you a false high moral ground without deserving it for a moment!
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The word orthodoxy is not found in the scriptures. Jesus never encouraged this mentality, in fact, quite the contrary.
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Isn’t it ironic that a religion that believes that the word became flesh puts so much credence into words!
Imagine a line down the center of your meeting space. This is a continuum. At one end is extreme orthodoxy (#1) and at the other extreme orthopraxy (#10). Of course, there are many points on the continuum between the two extremes (#2-9). Choose a point that represents where you see the measure of your faith life in terms of these two ends of the continuum and go stand there. Why did you choose that spot? Are you where you want to be? Why or why not? If you want to be somewhere else on the continuum, what might it take to get there?
SOUP BOWL MUTUALITY
Suzanne shares her concern about churches that serve food to the poor and homeless but only on condition that they hear a sermon. She advocates for a principle that says, “In order to get a bed and a bowl of soup you don’t have to join my club.”
In response, Richard offers insight about true mutuality of relationship:
The need to have people join your group to convince you that you are right is much more love of self than love of God.
Christianity has largely been a belonging system instead of a transformational system. We have this attitude in our history that the best thing we can do for “them” is to present the gospel and get them to come to church.
The assumption is that I’ve got the truth and you don’t. I ensconce myself in a superior position. The great thing that our Catholic missionaries learned after they were in the mission for as little as three years can be summed up in this way: “I came to convert them and they converted me.” Until that realization comes, the I-thou relationship of the true body of Christ hasn’t happened.
When the other has as much to teach me even though I’m the one providing the bowl of soup, that’s mutuality. When I know what that other person has suffered and can hear their story and allow that story to influence me, that is the body of Christ re-formed. We can’t maintain this one-sided evangelism where one group ensconces itself as the giver and keeps the other group co-dependent on them as the receiver and call that being like Jesus. I’m sure many people do that with the best of intentions, but very often it preserves them in a kind of hidden egocentricity.”
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When have you had an experience anything like that of a missionary in which you were the one converted (transformed) in a situation where you thought that you were the converter?
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It’s quite possible that you have not risked the kind of vulnerability and transformation implied in this conversation. What yearning for personal change and growth emerges in you as you listen to Richard speaking about the challenges of the Way of Jesus and the promise therein?
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Perhaps your church is involved in service to the poor, to the homeless, to people in extreme economic distress. What practices are in place that ensure that the system isn’t one of co-dependence, conversion, superiority and egocentricity?
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Richard makes reference to a passage from the letter of James, James 2:14-18. What meaning does it have for you as you struggle with this matter of a life as envisioned by Jesus and the early Christian community?
GOOD THEOLOGY STILL MATTERS
The emphasis in this session on orthopraxy leads Doug to raise the critical matterof concepts and belief:
We are incapable of having a content-less mind. So, what difference does it make what we believe conceptually?
In affirming that good theology is important, Richard raises a historical situation in New Mexico that involved the Franciscans:
When they were withdrawn for political reasons, the Franciscans trained laymen to run the church with no priests. For more than 100 years these sincere, well-intentioned laymen ran the church without any infusion of good theology. In that time the church became very guilt-centered, punitive and moralistic. That’s an extreme example of how devolved Christianity can get if you have no content with good sources. What happens is you get charismatic, manipulative and dominant personalities taking over. It’s true in any institution: the loudest and most manipulative personality controls the show. So, you finally have a choice between good teaching and good thinking, or a cult of personality. I can talk this way because the Franciscans gave me excellent education in theology. You get to know the “big Tradition,” then you can critique the “small tradition.”
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How do you ensure that your practice is grounded in good theology?
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When have you been aware of situations where practice was grounded in bad theology?
WAITING FOR THE GOD EXPERIENCE
Richard offers some observations on why it is that most people who have no experienceof Holy Presence are unable to sustain a contemplative practice:
The Center has been here 27 years now. I’ve seen the vast majority of people experimentwith contemplation but not last. If you haven’t had a previous experience of an actuallover/presence/encounter/person you don’t know what you’re waiting for. You get tiredof waiting for an energy or idea or “enlightenment.” If they haven’t had a Jesus encounterof any type—a baptism in the Spirit, as charismatics would call it—I find that byand large most people give up on contemplation.
I find again and again in my own experience here that people who stay with it arepeople who already know that there’s someone to wait for, that God is real. They’renot trying to manufacture God experience; they’re trying to deepen already existingGod experience. It really gives me sympathy and patience for people who give up. Theydon’t know what they’re waiting for or if it’s worth waiting for. Contemplative prayerdoesn’t give you a lot of pay-off if you’re not committed to the practice itself.
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How are people in your discussion group being sustained in their contemplative practice through a real experience of Presence or encounter with the Divine?
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And what about the absence of that experience? How have you been sustained in your desire for a deepening relationship with God even when there is no word? (The word of God was rare in those days; visions were not widespread. 1 Samuel 3:1)
FALL ING UPWARD
Doug says: “I’d like to hear you, Richard, talking more about keeping people engaged in pursuing that experience even if they haven’t had it.”
Richard responds:
The reason I wrote Falling Upward is because I feel for the vast majority the falling experience, which is inevitable if you are living a real human life, is the normal path of transformation. I say in Naked Now that great love and great suffering are the classic paths. You don’t fall into great love or great suffering without falling. You don’t go there intentionally. It’s always outside your control: I can’t succeed at this; I don’t look good; I just lost my house…my money…my marriage. We don’t want to wish these things on anybody but, again and again, you see these are the things that catapult people into the second stage of life, or unitive experience. We know we can’t program those, but we clergy were given the impression that’s what Sunday was about. We would program a religious experience.
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What do you understand to be the significance of the title of Richard’s book, Falling Upward?
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In what ways have you experienced this great truth of human life—that the falling experience is the normal path of transformation?
ACCOMPANIMENT
The conversation brings the group around to a consideration of the importance of accompaniment: There’s a task we have to accompany people so that they can give language to their experience in a way that leads them beyond the practice to deeper consciousness. We often don’t have the words.
Richard states:
We only have the language of faith as assent to doctrine. That’s totally inadequate to the inner experience. The ministry of spiritual direction (accompaniment) is growing broadly. There is a recognition of it in Buddhism and Judaism as well. In the matter of accompaniment, there have to be elders who are at least one step beyond you. I want someone to be a little ahead of me. Those kind of people as teachers and learners are just proliferating today. It’s wonderful.
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Who is it who accompanies you in enabling you to put into words and awareness your experience of the divine? What access do you have to someone who is trained as a spiritual director?
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Adapted from Embracing an Alternative Orthodoxy: A 5-Session Study by Richard Rohr with Tim Scorer, Morehouse Education Resources, 2014)
Our country - and humanity - has come a long way, yet we have a very long way to go because of the depth and strength of the undercurrents regarding racism. When the violent rioting regarding George Floyd erupted, my wife and I had the same visceral reaction of dread. We know the riots and looting are in angry response to four centuries of unjust, inhumane treatment of people of color on American soil, where “the darker your skin, the worse the injustice” has been the unwritten rule of law. George Floyd was murdered, and even white people were upset. But as soon as the violent riots began, my wife and I knew that the worst caricaturization of people of color just got validated in white people’s eyes, and the care and curiosity regarding systemic injustice and inequity was eclipsed instead of piqued. Every time I have taught on race, at least some of the feedback I received were clear displays of white fragility. My white friends: please do not dismiss the riots because they are violent. Instead, lean in and wonder what the underlying story might be. Choose to learn about this more deeply instead of shrugging your shoulders in confusion. White Fragility is very sobering, as is So You Want to Talk About Race? Because white people dominate the power structures in the United States, it is incumbent on white people to recognize and address the problem in concrete ways. We don’t like to hear that racism is a “white” problem when the headlines sure seem to indicate otherwise. Welcome to Systems Theory: People of Color are not the problem but rather the symptom of a greater problem that they alone cannot correct. As white people, we need to lend our voice and inherent power to the long-term goal of true equality and equity - something we have taken for granted that others have never known. This is a stated ideal in our nation’s founding documents, and much deeper than that, is deeply connected to Jesus’ life and teaching.
This teaching was part of an ongoing series based in part on Adam Hamilton’s book, Unafraid and originally published on April 22, 2018 as a part of a series dealing with fear.
Fear of difference creates a very constricted, exclusive, and small religion and life—the very opposite of the abundance into which God invites us. – Richard Rohr
Adam Hamilton and I grew up in the same neck of the woods – suburban Kansas City. Being six years older than me, our life experience from our earliest years was very similar. He grew up in Prairie Village, the suburb where my dad was pastor of Prairie Baptist Church, which enjoyed the vibrancy of being a church in the “new” part of town where all the professionals lived. Our family lived further out in Overland Park, which is now a sprawling, massive suburb that extends way south of where it used to end. Like Hamilton, while I grew up in a household that would never tolerate hate speech, I also did not experience much exposure to non-white people. We had an Asian family at church who became good friends. Some refugees from Laos. Down our street lived my brother’s best friend, Billy, who was Filipino. I can’t remember knowing anyone black my first eight years of life.
To give a concrete expression to the undercurrent of prejudice that existed in the state proud of its Underground Railroad heritage, Hamilton offered a covenant from one of J.C. Nichols’ housing developments: “None of the said lots shall be conveyed to, used, owned nor occupied by Negroes as owner and tenants.” Later, the covenant was extended to Jewish people, which meant, of course, that Jesus would not be allowed to live next door… Racism lived in the community that raised me, written right into the neighborhood HOA.
Let’s get some definitions under our belt about this subject. Racism is defined as “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior.” Prejudice is defined as “dislike, hostility, or unjust behavior deriving from unfounded opinions.” And finally, xenophobia is defined as “intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries.” Do any of these descriptions describe you? Lucky for you, there is a very quick, simple test to find out whether or not you are on some level racist, live with prejudice, and struggle to some degree with xenophobia. Using your middle finger from one hand, place it on the wrist of the opposite hand (or on your jugular vein on your neck) and check for a pulse. If you have a pulse, you struggle with all three of these things. How dare I say such a thing about a good person like you? Because it is human nature. We are biased toward our own kind. Interestingly, we are also biased toward the dominant kind of the culture we grew up in. In the United States, this means there is an implicit bias toward Caucasians. Move to a part of the world where whites are not dominant, and you will discover that the bias shifts toward the majority. Calling BS on me? Take a test from Harvard University that will open your eyes to what you see.
Hamilton suggests that the longest running fear in the Bible revolves around being afraid of “others” who are not like us. While the story of Cain and Abel certainly is about much more than that, he makes the case that it may point to a division between herdsman who roamed the land feeding their livestock and farmers who tilled the land. The disdain toward Gentiles (non-Jews) in the Old Testament is easy to find and extends into the New Testament as well.
Jesus’ first sermon poked the racist bear, so to speak, when he clearly spoke about how God’s favor is not exclusive to Jewish people, but extended to non-Jews as well via Israel’s most beloved prophets of old – Elijah and Elisha! It nearly got him killed. The sermon provided an allusion to what was ahead for Jesus’ life and teaching. Above all others, Samaritans were the most loathed by Jewish people. So, naturally, Jesus went on to befriend a Samaritan woman at a well, and probably his best known parable positioned a “Good Samaritan” as it’s hero while portraying Jewish religious leaders as severely lacking. Very bold moves toward inclusion.
Peter, one of Jesus’ original disciples and key leader of the early Christian movement struggled with his racism even though he walked with Jesus where he never thought he would. The account of Peter and Cornelius is a remarkable picture of two people who overcome their prejudice which led to inclusion soon thereafter. Paul, who had plenty of implicit bias to work out, became a champion of inclusion as he started up church after church all around the Mediterranean from Israel to Rome. His entire letter to the Roman church was in response to racist-based division between exclusive Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians who wanted a place at the communion table. His letter to the churches in the region of Galatia was in response to well-meaning but narrow-minded “Judaizers” who were trying to impose inappropriate laws on inferior Gentiles. This is where Paul wrote the famous words:
“For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.” – Galatians 3:26-29 (NLT)
These biblical examples serve to illustrate the fact that this human issue of fearing those who are not like us is clearly not new. What we may not appreciate, however, is that it is still a serious issue here in the United States where we proclaim liberty for all. It’s still an issue for me and you, even if we can’t admit it. This is not to say that I believe you’re all a bunch of cross-burning KKK members looking to lynch anybody who isn’t lilly-white and blue-eyed. What I am saying is that the issue remains – and will remain – but can be managed down in us and in those we influence if we know what to recognize as racist and learn how to live with different sensibilities.
Brene Brown, in her excellent book, Braving the Wilderness, identifies a method that humanity has used to enable racism to grow to its ugliest and most horrific expressions. Dehumanizing is a primary way we step toward legitimizing mistreatment of “other” people. She writes:
Dehumanizing and holding people accountable are mutually exclusive. Humiliation and dehumanizing are not accountability or social justice tools, they’re emotional off-loading at best, emotional self-indulgence at worst. And if our faith asks us to find the face of God in everyone we meet, that should include the politicians, media, and strangers on Twitter with whom we most violently disagree. When we desecrate their divinity, we desecrate our own, and we betray our faith (58).
In her book she illustrates how dehumanizing is what enabled Nazi Germany to kill millions of Jews: they were systematically dehumanized. Killing a Jew wasn’t killing another human being in their rhetoric – may as well have been a rat. When we use derogatory, sweeping terms for entire people groups, we are engaging in dehumanization. When we denigrate others by speaking of all Hispanic people as Mexicans or illegals, we dehumanize. When we call the LGBTQ community “the Gays”, we dehumanize. When we slur our way around using pejorative terms about women, liberals, conservatives, Muslims, Jews, the poor – fill in the blank here – we dehumanize, which allows us to treat them inhumanely.
To bring this up close and personal (and current), Brown bring up the Black Lives Matter Movement and the controversy around supporting police and all people everywhere. She writes:
Shouldn’t the rallying cry just be All Lives Matter? No. Because the humanity wasn’t stripped from all lives the way it was stripped from the lives of black citizens. In order for slavery to work, in order for us to buy, sell, beat, and trade people like animals, Americans had to completely dehumanize slaves. And whether we directly participated in that or were simply a member of a culture that at one time normalized that behavior, it shaped us. We can’t undo that level of dehumanizing in one or two generations. I believe Black Lives Matter is a movement to rehumanize black citizens. All lives matter, but not all lives need to be pulled back into moral inclusion. Not all people were subjected to the psychological process of demonizing and being made less than human so we could justify the inhumane practice of slavery (59).
So many times I have heard people who look like me say, “I just don’t understand why they…” protest, commit crimes, riot, etc. Exactly. We whiter folk just don’t understand. We don’t get it because we’re not black, LGBTQ, female, Hispanic, Muslim, an immigrant, or any other form of other. The best way for us to move forward, if possible, is to discover ways to meet people who are different than us so that we increasingly grow toward the conclusion that there is no “them”, only us. Much of our fear is based in ignorance. The sooner we can discover just how false our expectations have been, the sooner we can be free from the fear of people not like us. We can do this by befriending someone different than ourselves, and we can do this by learning from their perspective (books, articles, movies, TedTalks, etc.)
One of the last letters written in the New Testament came from John. Speaking to people who were struggling to discover how to live like Jesus amidst people who were “different”, he offered these words:
God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.
We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.
If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both. – 1 John 4:17-21 (The Message)
The Greek word used for love here is “agape”, which is not simply a loving feeling, but an active love that serves even if personal sacrifice is required. Hamilton, building from John’s words above, gives us this rule to live with when faced with fear of others. He encourages us to ask ourselves, “In the situation I find myself in, what is the most loving thing I can do?” That’s good advice that helps minimize fear and serves to create a better world in which to live. For everyone.
TOUCHING THE COSMIC CHRIST
You’ve heard Richard Rohr talk about his understanding of the Cosmic Christ, a key element of alternative orthodoxy that is an aspect of the legacy of the early Franciscans.
It may be a challenge for you to really grasp all that is intended by the term Cosmic Christ, but the presence of your group and its process can support you in coming to terms with this theological perspective. Discuss the four questions below as you work together to understand this concept. For each question, there are key words related to an aspect of this theology:
· Key Words: the big bang—the first incarnation—the birth of the Christ mystery—the interplanetary Divine.
o What are the implications of saying that the birth of Christ occurred at the moment of the creation of the material universe?
· Key Words: a second incarnation—2000 years ago—an exemplar—for Christians—the mystery of God
o What does it mean to use the two words Jesus and Christ together, not as two names for Jesus but as an expression of a mystical reality?
· Key Words: Eucharist—elemental incarnation in a material universe—“Oh my God, I am the body of Christ!”
o How might you now experience the Eucharist differently as you consider these insights about the Cosmic Christ?
· Key Words: Nothing is secular—grace indwelling—mountains as cathedrals—Divine image
o In unitive consciousness, how you love anything is how you love everything. How might your life be transformed if you embraced the Franciscan vision found in Richard’s teaching in this session?
PAUL GETS IT!
Richard Rohr encourages us to see the gift that Paul is to us as we struggle to grasp this vision of the Cosmic Christ. Read the following indented text then consider the questions that follow:
The personal incarnation happened 2000 years ago, we believe as Christians, which is Jesus. They became so infatuated with this person of Jesus that very quickly they seemed to call him the Christ, although there’s no evidence that he ever called himself that. The scriptural evidence is that it was Paul who got it. Paul gets it because Paul knew Jesus Christ the way we do. He never knew Jesus in the flesh. He hardly ever quotes him and yet he talks with such authority, such certitude. He met the Christ mystery and until you know that, you do not understand the mystic Paul. He is in love with this Christ mystery, which is the same Jesus Christ that you and I meet.
So when we introduce people to Jesus without the rest of the incarnation—the Christ—we end up with a moralistic religion. Moralism takes over whenever you don’t have mysticism. You will become more moralistic the less it touches upon unitive consciousness. The Christ is something you know mystically. When I say mystically, I mean experientially. Whatever happened to Paul on the Damascus Road, he knew experientially some universal meaning to this Jesus figure—and he universalized from that. His most common single phrase in his authentic letters is in Christo—in Christ. That’s his code word for this understanding.
We are living inside this incarnation. We are the Christ too! He’s not denying Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the holon, the exemplar of the whole, the stand-in for everybody. We can’t fall in love with concepts, energies, ideas and forces. You’re not going to give your life for a force. As 1 John says, we need someone we can see, and touch, and look into his or her eyes, and relate to. Persons love persons. That pulls our soul out of itself.
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When have you “experienced” the Christ mystery in the way that Paul seems to have done?
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Paul and Richard would have us see that we are living inside an incarnation—in Christ—but we don’t fall in love with a concept. What do you fall in love with in such a way that your soul is enlivened?
OUR GOD MAY BE TOO SMALL
If we follow Franciscan orthodoxy, which teaches that Christ is incarnated in all creation right from the big bang, then sooner or later we have to deal with the matter of other civilizations, cultures, traditions, revelations and religions in a way that honors the Christ mystery that is incarnate in the immense diversity of creation. Read Richard’s reflections on this matter and then consider the questions that follow:
Jesus is the personal personification of the eternal Christ mystery, but the Christ mystery was already available to the Stone Age people, to the Persians, to the Mayans, to the so-called barbarians and pagans. These were not “throw away people!” That’s what you came down to if you were Roman Catholic: God was waiting for the Pope to appear and everything else was throwaway. Imagine that! You’d have to say that this is a petty God, a small God.
If we don’t balance out Jesus with Christ, our very theology is going to become a very limited worldview. It ends up being in competition with other world religions instead of a vision that is so big, so cosmic that it includes everything and everybody.
When you return to a Trinitarian notion of God, it opens up interfaith dialogue, because you admit God is formless. You admit God is energy and spirit, which is the Holy Spirit. Suddenly we have all kinds of levels for dialogue. What happened when we pulled Jesus out of the Christ mystery and out of the Trinity? We overplayed the Jesus card apart from who Jesus really is. That made us unable to talk to Hindus and Buddhists, to respect the Jewish roots of this very Jesus.
Jesus then becomes in competition with Muhammad or Buddha. It becomes a personality issue: “Do you like Jesus. Well, if you don’t like Jesus, well then God doesn’t like you!” Come on! The question is, “Do you like the Christ Mystery?” I can see your answer to that in the way you walk down the street and the way you respect the person at the checkout counter. There are some Hindus that like the Christ mystery much better than a lot of Roman Catholics, Evangelicals, Lutherans and Episcopalians. I’m happy to be Christian, but that doesn’t put me in competition or a race with the other world religions to prove that I’m better.
We’re not trying to be rebels anymore; we’re not trying to be reactionary or heretics. We’re just trying to be honest about our experience. And that ability we now have to be honest about our experience is making us ready for an adult Christianity, for an adult notion of what’s really happening, without throwing out Jesus. You’ll go back and fall in love with Jesus more than ever before, but now you’ll recognize that this Jesus is not just the Savior of my soul, but he’s the naming of the very direction of history—the Alpha and Omega—this perfected humanity that he reveals in one moment of time and where we are all being seduced toward.
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In a creation of such awesome diversity, where the Christ mystery is available to all, what is it that gives you your Christian identity? What do you claim as a follower of Jesus Christ?
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Richard has a way of provoking more good questions even while answering the earlier ones. What questions would you like to ask him as part of deepening into a more adult Christianity?
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What would you like to talk about with people from other faith traditions now that we can acknowledge that they have something to say?
A LOT TO WRAP OUR HEADS AROUND!
For many who are listening to Richard, what he is proposing is nothing less than a shift in worldview at the deepest level. He helps us to appreciate the challenging journey of transformation by reminding us several times of the levels of consciousness that Ken Wilber has articulated: archaic—magical—mythical— rational—pluralistic—mystical (non-dual).
Jennifer gives voice to the kind of challenge involved in this intentional movement toward non-dual living:
It’s hard for me to wrap my head around it. It goes back to Richard’s definition of faith: the dichotomy of not knowing and knowing. A lot of it’s my upbringing in the scientific method and the emphasis on proof. I think that’s why the historical Jesus is so attractive at the rational level because there are things you can know and things you can understand. Yet, at the same time we don’t call ourselves Jesus-ians! We call ourselves Christ-ians. So we really need to understand what it is to be Christian and to understand Christ and God in all creation from the beginning. It didn’t just begin with “I”— incarnated here on earth. It’s a lot to wrap your head around!
Richard acknowledges Jennifer’s observation and hints at what the process of transformation might look like:
Your mind, your prayers, your songs, your reading of the scripture will almost have to readjust for two years; but then you’ll see it everywhere. Once you see it, you’ll know this isn’t my idea. It’s there, but no one told me to pay attention to it.
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Where do you find yourself in this process of growing consciousness? In what ways does Jennifer give voice to your thoughts and feelings?
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Richard is hinting at a classic process of spiritual practice and discernment: “putting on a new mind” as Paul would say. What are your practices for opening yourself to a new way of seeing that would transform your life completely?
MOVING LIBERALS ALONG
Doug makes an observation that holds a mirror up to liberals, the very people who are likely to be using this study:
There’s a liberal temptation to focus so much on the historic Jesus until we can say X, Y and Z about the historic Jesus. When you get the cosmic aspect it blows open both the conservative and liberal paradigm.
Richard responds:
It critiques the liberal just as much as the conservative, because neither of us understands the Christ very well. Ken Wilber has pointed out in describing the level of consciousness that the downside of the pluralistic level—where most liberals are—is that they are so in love with pluralism that they hate any notion of hierarchy. When you go to the mystical level (the Cosmic Christ level), then you really appreciate hierarchy. Then you have a new criterion for critiquing the liberal just as much as the conservative. Liberals tend to be trapped because they are just smart enough to dismiss everyone below as superstitious and ridiculous and everyone above them as falsely religious in their mystical silliness. They stay there, many of them, the rest of their lives and can be just as dogmatic, authoritarian and dualistic while thinking they are not. You can really appreciate what Wilber calls hierarchy. Yes, there are things that are still needy of analysis and critique—not dismissal—and that includes the liberal mind, the pluralistic mind, which thinks that the goal of history is pluralism. The goal of history is union with God which honors pluralism but doesn’t get trapped there as an end in itself.
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Where do you find yourself in this analysis?
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How might churches with a liberal bias encourage their members to experience the goal of history as union with God?
BENEDICTION
Christ whose glory fills the skies,
Christ the true, the only light,
sun of righteousness arise,
triumph o’er the shades of night.
Dayspring from on high, be near;
daystar, in my heart appear.
Dark and cheerless is the morn
unaccompanied by thee;
Joyless is the day’s return,
till thy mercy’s beams I see,
till they inward light impart,
glad my eyes and warm my heart.
Visit then this soul of mine,
pierce the gloom of sin and grief;
fill me, radiancy divine,
scatter all my unbelief;
more and more thyself display,
shining to the perfect day.
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Charles Wesley
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Adapted from Embracing an Alternative Orthodoxy: A 5-Session Study by Richard Rohr with Tim Scorer, Morehouse Education Resources, 2014)