The gospels speak of two kinds of grave.
One was whitewashed, the other was empty.
The whitewashed grave is the symbol of the false facade,
of the outwardly beautiful appearance that does not last.
The empty grave was the grave of the God-man, Jesus Christ,
the one who was himself emptied….
Around the emptiness of the grave were born both
the hope of the future and the Church,
which was, is and must always be
the Message of what is to come.
Robert Adolfs | Grave of God
(Thanks to Nate Wigfield for first posting this.)
Friday, August 14, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Peter Rollins chat transcript
Peter Rollins did a twitter chat interview with Third Way Magazine yesterday. I put together a transcript for those who would be interested. It was fun to see Peter limited to short answers (twitter only allows messages to be 140 characters long), as he usually has long, detailed responses which bunny-trail in several different directions (and you wonder why I like him!). I cleaned it up a little to get rid of text-speak and possible confusion from the letter limit.
---------------------------------
Third Way: We should get this one in first. Someone asked: 'If I've never heard of you, can you sum yourself up in 140 characters?'
Peter Rollins: Orthodox heretic, a/theist, Christian in the non-Christian sense of the term, bluffer and lover of Columbo
We'll get to some of that but, first, 'Orthodox heretic' sounds like an oxymoron, or is that a false opposition?
Orthodox is often thought to mean 'right belief', but perhaps it is better thought of as 'right praise'... in this way one can be orthodox while being a heretic... i.e. living in praise while acknowledging that we get God wrong
So to be orthodox, or to be heretic, or to be an orthodox heretic – are these things we should have as ambitions?
Being a heretic is not enough. There are good and bad heretics. One must try to be an orthodox one. A heretic who tries to live in love.
Also, being orthodox is not enough... without acknowledging you are a heretic pride can enter
How can you authentically praise something if you know you might be wrong about what you're praising?
If I fall in love I may not know what would please the person, but I act with the best knowledge I have, & in fear and trembling. certainty is not needed in order to act... love is!
@rhull56 asks 'What convinces Peter that the idea of God is worth taking seriously?'
Philosophers take the question seriously. Not so sure Christians should... Christians should b more interested in Christ-living
Wow... its hard getting big concepts shoe-horned into twitter (good question BTW)
Then perhaps he'd add 'Why Christ?' In the book you adapt Buddhist tales, for example.
Because the life (of Christ) that we read of is a radical one that, if followed, could lead to the continued transformation of society... Christianity, I believe is a radical faith based upon a radical idea. But I think that much of the actually existing churches misses this...
Perhaps only Marxists are as guilty as Christians of misrepresenting their founder
The shoe-horn point: The Orthodox Heretic reminds us that Jesus spoke to uneducated 1st Century peasants. Should all theology be that digestible?
We need to distinguish between theology & the truth of faith. The former is intellectually demanding the later is life demanding. Jesus was mostly about the truth rather than theology.
Not that theology is wrong at all! Its just not true :)
When Jesus spoke of the Father, was that true?
Yes & No. God as a Father 'yes', but as any kind of Father we experience 'no'. This 'yes/no' operates in all theology. It reveals something which remains all the time concealed. Belief should not be read as empirical certainty. Belief is more than this, it involves doubt, commitment, hope, faith and desire
Where does that leave the creeds? The 'We believe'?
The creeds attempt to help re-orient our lives, so that those 'beliefs' become modes of being. We come to live the death and resurrection. When we say, 'I believe in the resurrection' we primarily commit ourselves to becoming the site of new life to those around us. It is not primarily a mere intellectual assent.
There's nothing simple about a fable, but this book is more accessible than the others. What was the thinking behind that?
Buddhism has koans to draw out Enlightenment, we have parables... I wanted to explore this. I think attempting to change how people think is limited. I want to transform who we are. Parables are a mode of doing this.
these fables will get used by preachers. If each reader is the writer, how do we build one united body of believers?
We are unified not by shared belief but by a love and commitment to the same source. Unity in difference. We are often not good at this.
How might that work in practice? Between, say, Bishops Robinson & Akinola?
The creation of suspended space in which liberal & conservative lay down their positions in the liturgical hour2encounter each other. This is the place of 'neither/nor'... neither Jew nor Greek, Gay nor Straight, liberal nor conservative.
It is a participation in the divine Kenosis (see Philippians 2:7: "Jesus made himself nothing...") in which God is emptied of all identity. We do this and take on the identity of Christ.
you suggest that Jesus' teaching was often audience-specific, changing according to context. So was he a moral relativist?
No, he was driven by love. The issue however is that love is not possible to pin down. When we make love concrete we distort love... but we must do this anyway. Love is what drives us, but when we put it in to action it will look different in different contexts
in some tales you, the writer, imagine new words into his (Jesus) mouth. But yet you also warn against personal conceptions of God?
Both under-describing and over-describing are strategies for making sure we do not reduce God to our understanding. The Bible does both. God is given various personalities (warrior, peacemaker, unchanging, changing) & also we are told God is un-nameable.
The point of these parables is not to describe something but to perform something... Parables are a performative discourse
Thanks very much Pete. One final question from @sch3lp: 'What's the dynamic between story, its teller and its hearer?'
hmmm Story is like the child, teller is like the mother and the hearer is like one who adopts the child
---------------------------------
Let me know your thoughts! I especially enjoyed the distinction he made between, theology and the life of faith, as well as the thoughts on belief and certainty.
---------------------------------
Third Way: We should get this one in first. Someone asked: 'If I've never heard of you, can you sum yourself up in 140 characters?'
Peter Rollins: Orthodox heretic, a/theist, Christian in the non-Christian sense of the term, bluffer and lover of Columbo
We'll get to some of that but, first, 'Orthodox heretic' sounds like an oxymoron, or is that a false opposition?
Orthodox is often thought to mean 'right belief', but perhaps it is better thought of as 'right praise'... in this way one can be orthodox while being a heretic... i.e. living in praise while acknowledging that we get God wrong
So to be orthodox, or to be heretic, or to be an orthodox heretic – are these things we should have as ambitions?
Being a heretic is not enough. There are good and bad heretics. One must try to be an orthodox one. A heretic who tries to live in love.
Also, being orthodox is not enough... without acknowledging you are a heretic pride can enter
How can you authentically praise something if you know you might be wrong about what you're praising?
If I fall in love I may not know what would please the person, but I act with the best knowledge I have, & in fear and trembling. certainty is not needed in order to act... love is!
@rhull56 asks 'What convinces Peter that the idea of God is worth taking seriously?'
Philosophers take the question seriously. Not so sure Christians should... Christians should b more interested in Christ-living
Wow... its hard getting big concepts shoe-horned into twitter (good question BTW)
Then perhaps he'd add 'Why Christ?' In the book you adapt Buddhist tales, for example.
Because the life (of Christ) that we read of is a radical one that, if followed, could lead to the continued transformation of society... Christianity, I believe is a radical faith based upon a radical idea. But I think that much of the actually existing churches misses this...
Perhaps only Marxists are as guilty as Christians of misrepresenting their founder
The shoe-horn point: The Orthodox Heretic reminds us that Jesus spoke to uneducated 1st Century peasants. Should all theology be that digestible?
We need to distinguish between theology & the truth of faith. The former is intellectually demanding the later is life demanding. Jesus was mostly about the truth rather than theology.
Not that theology is wrong at all! Its just not true :)
When Jesus spoke of the Father, was that true?
Yes & No. God as a Father 'yes', but as any kind of Father we experience 'no'. This 'yes/no' operates in all theology. It reveals something which remains all the time concealed. Belief should not be read as empirical certainty. Belief is more than this, it involves doubt, commitment, hope, faith and desire
Where does that leave the creeds? The 'We believe'?
The creeds attempt to help re-orient our lives, so that those 'beliefs' become modes of being. We come to live the death and resurrection. When we say, 'I believe in the resurrection' we primarily commit ourselves to becoming the site of new life to those around us. It is not primarily a mere intellectual assent.
There's nothing simple about a fable, but this book is more accessible than the others. What was the thinking behind that?
Buddhism has koans to draw out Enlightenment, we have parables... I wanted to explore this. I think attempting to change how people think is limited. I want to transform who we are. Parables are a mode of doing this.
these fables will get used by preachers. If each reader is the writer, how do we build one united body of believers?
We are unified not by shared belief but by a love and commitment to the same source. Unity in difference. We are often not good at this.
How might that work in practice? Between, say, Bishops Robinson & Akinola?
The creation of suspended space in which liberal & conservative lay down their positions in the liturgical hour2encounter each other. This is the place of 'neither/nor'... neither Jew nor Greek, Gay nor Straight, liberal nor conservative.
It is a participation in the divine Kenosis (see Philippians 2:7: "Jesus made himself nothing...") in which God is emptied of all identity. We do this and take on the identity of Christ.
you suggest that Jesus' teaching was often audience-specific, changing according to context. So was he a moral relativist?
No, he was driven by love. The issue however is that love is not possible to pin down. When we make love concrete we distort love... but we must do this anyway. Love is what drives us, but when we put it in to action it will look different in different contexts
in some tales you, the writer, imagine new words into his (Jesus) mouth. But yet you also warn against personal conceptions of God?
Both under-describing and over-describing are strategies for making sure we do not reduce God to our understanding. The Bible does both. God is given various personalities (warrior, peacemaker, unchanging, changing) & also we are told God is un-nameable.
The point of these parables is not to describe something but to perform something... Parables are a performative discourse
Thanks very much Pete. One final question from @sch3lp: 'What's the dynamic between story, its teller and its hearer?'
hmmm Story is like the child, teller is like the mother and the hearer is like one who adopts the child
---------------------------------
Let me know your thoughts! I especially enjoyed the distinction he made between, theology and the life of faith, as well as the thoughts on belief and certainty.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
a million miles
Donald Miller's new book "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" is coming out soon, and he's posted the first 3 chapters of it online to give a taste and get some feedback. I highly enjoy reading his books so if you've never read anything of his you are in for a nice surprise. Don said in his blog that this book starts a little slow, so that's why you get to read 3 chapters instead of just one sample chapter.
The book is based around some ideas he learned at a writer's conference- that good stories need conflict and difficulty and pain to be enjoyable. Think of your favorite adventure story, one that makes you feel alive and excited, even though you are only observing from a distance. It's probably full of more hardship and loss than most of us have ever imagined in our life. But it's also full of more hope and excitement and triumph than most of us think could really ever happen.
Our lives are usually geared to be as smooth and comforting as possible, and our biggest dreams are often of more stuff that is easily attained. We have no conflict or adventure, and we are bored to death. Maybe even literally.
A note from the beginning of the book:
I know a lot of us are in a place of reassessing our lives, so maybe this will be encouraging to you. I want to get to a place where I am free to follow the dreams God puts in my heart, but I feel stuck because of the bills and responsibilities I have. That's the reason why I am selling my house (and pretty much all my furniture!), and why I downgraded my car a couple years ago, and why I'm trying to stop spending so much money on entertainment. I want to simplify, to need less money, and hopefully then to be able to work less and have more time to invest in the areas I'm really interested in. It's crazy because I don't know how to make money in any of these pursuits, but I'm trying to trust God with that. I think Jesus was serious when he said not to worry about food or clothing or shelter, and I want to start trusting him for even those basic things.
The hard thing about music and books and movies is that sometimes they inspire us to live in new ways, and other times they suck all the creative juices right out of us. Sometimes they take us away to another world and help us imagine how our world could be different too. Sometimes they just help us escape our own pain and fears for long enough to forget the anguish we feel deep inside.
But what if we could live in such a way that we could let out those stories etched deep in our hearts? It's hard for me to believe that those feeble, disjointed dreams rattling in my head are worth the effort it would take to discover if there is anything to them. But what if the whole point of life is not even actually accomplishing something useful or beautiful, but instead just enjoying the story as it plays out?
The book is based around some ideas he learned at a writer's conference- that good stories need conflict and difficulty and pain to be enjoyable. Think of your favorite adventure story, one that makes you feel alive and excited, even though you are only observing from a distance. It's probably full of more hardship and loss than most of us have ever imagined in our life. But it's also full of more hope and excitement and triumph than most of us think could really ever happen.
Our lives are usually geared to be as smooth and comforting as possible, and our biggest dreams are often of more stuff that is easily attained. We have no conflict or adventure, and we are bored to death. Maybe even literally.
A note from the beginning of the book:
If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you probably wouldn't cry at the end of the movie when he drove off the lot testing the windshield wipers. You wouldn't tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on and sit in a chair to think about what you'd seen. The truth is you wouldn't even remember that movie a week later, except to feel robbed and want your money back. Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who got a Volvo.
But we spend years living those kinds of stories and expect life to feel meaningful. Maybe that's why we go to so many movies, because our real lives don't feel meaningful anymore.
I know a lot of us are in a place of reassessing our lives, so maybe this will be encouraging to you. I want to get to a place where I am free to follow the dreams God puts in my heart, but I feel stuck because of the bills and responsibilities I have. That's the reason why I am selling my house (and pretty much all my furniture!), and why I downgraded my car a couple years ago, and why I'm trying to stop spending so much money on entertainment. I want to simplify, to need less money, and hopefully then to be able to work less and have more time to invest in the areas I'm really interested in. It's crazy because I don't know how to make money in any of these pursuits, but I'm trying to trust God with that. I think Jesus was serious when he said not to worry about food or clothing or shelter, and I want to start trusting him for even those basic things.
The hard thing about music and books and movies is that sometimes they inspire us to live in new ways, and other times they suck all the creative juices right out of us. Sometimes they take us away to another world and help us imagine how our world could be different too. Sometimes they just help us escape our own pain and fears for long enough to forget the anguish we feel deep inside.
But what if we could live in such a way that we could let out those stories etched deep in our hearts? It's hard for me to believe that those feeble, disjointed dreams rattling in my head are worth the effort it would take to discover if there is anything to them. But what if the whole point of life is not even actually accomplishing something useful or beautiful, but instead just enjoying the story as it plays out?
Monday, June 1, 2009
Free Eugene Peterson Audio Book
Hey, I just got an email about this! Download an audio book version of Eugene Peterson's "Christ Plays in Ten-Thousand Places" for free. I love The Message and have heard a lot of wonderful things about Peterson's other books, including this one. Give it a listen. ChristianAudio.com also has a lot of other quality audio books from some of my favorite authors, which might be a great option for those of you who don't have a lot of time to read or don't enjoy it. Plus, they have some sweet free lectures and interviews.
http://christianaudio.com/free_download.php
This concludes today's infomercial.
http://christianaudio.com/free_download.php
This concludes today's infomercial.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
re-learning old practices
For 3 years I lived according to a certain routine that brought me closer to God than I had ever been before. It was such a formative and beautiful time in my life even though it consisted of long days going in multiple directions, lots of emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual stretching, and intense practice of the disciplines. But somehow over time I began to weaken. The things that had given so much life now seemed to suck me dry.
I have gone through a process for several years where nearly everything in my life has been shaken and torn down. My beliefs, my dreams, my actions, my worldview, my identity. It has been the most difficult thing I have ever experienced. Often I thought I was dying. Now I'm certain that I was. I didn't understand it at the time, but now I see that I had accidentally built all of these good practices and beliefs over the top of insecurity and fear. Instead of bringing life and healing to the broken places of my life, I tried to cover up and ignore the painful things. I was trying to earn love instead of receiving it with grace. God had to tear everything to the ground so he could fix my cracked foundation. I had to become a failure in my own eyes in order to really accept that God loved me anyway- even when I had nothing to offer.
This last year has been a time of rebuilding, but I have really struggled with implementing the old practices I had learned. I have been extremely hesitant to enter back into anything that looks like what I did during my furnace years- prayer, reading Scripture, passionate worship, and spiritual disciplines. I don't want to fall back into the old patterns again. Even though I know these practices are essential, I haven't re-learned how to join these spiritual practices with the other aspects of my life in a that supplements my whole life in a healthy way. The only way I knew how to pray or worship or lead was an channeled around an attempt to ignore or hide the brokenness in my heart.
I've been trying to learn, and it has been very up and down. This year I've been trying to take time 3x a day to pray using a Celtic Daily Prayer book. It has been so helpful because most days I don't have my own words to pray. I have needed to read the prayers of fellow Christians from hundreds of years ago, and I've found them to so often resonate with my heart. But even then there have been many days I just haven't wanted to even try that much. I have discovered that on the days I feel good I don't take the time to pray. And often on the days I'm most hurting I will avoid any time with God even though I knew that I needed him to do something.
This morning I realized a few things. First, that I've been subtly thinking of God like a doctor or counselor. I only go to him when I have something wrong. I only share my thoughts so he will tell me what's wrong and fix them. I am still living in a reactionary way, looking for a quick answer to get me better so I can keep running along and being 'normal'. I think I understood this on some level, which is why I would avoid God when I was really struggling. I knew God is more than medication and didn't want to treat him like that.
The odd thing is that I go to my parents when I am hurt physically or emotionally. I talk to them about what is happening, but I don't think of them as a doctor or counselor. I have a deeper relationship with them than just 'fixing' me. I just don't know how to really walk with God like a parent, even though the Bible is full or fatherly and motherly descriptions of God.
The other little thing that came to mind is that the times I set aside for focused prayer are not supposed to be about being more prayerful or spiritual or obedient. I want to learn to pray and worship all day in everything I do, not just at 3 set times during the day, and I found myself dreading those prayer times because I didn't want to get back into the habit of believing that certain times or places or things are more 'spiritual' or 'godly' than others. But these times can be a way of setting my direction for the day, of choosing how I want to live this day. When I am driving on the freeway, I only rarely need to turn the steering wheel but I am driving the entire time. On some trips I might go for hours straight ahead, but other times I will need to constantly be turning corners or avoiding other cars. So maybe I can learn to be aware of where I currently am in my life, and adopt a lifestyle of prayer that is dynamic to that. It's always good to set a direction when you begin a journey, and you will need to change your course throughout, but whether you are turning or going straight ahead or even stopped on the side of the road for a break, it is still all part of the same journey.
I know these aren't really new ideas to most of you, but I wanted to process them and record what I'm learning so they didn't slip away. This has become a little more real to me today and I wanted to share it with my friends.
I have gone through a process for several years where nearly everything in my life has been shaken and torn down. My beliefs, my dreams, my actions, my worldview, my identity. It has been the most difficult thing I have ever experienced. Often I thought I was dying. Now I'm certain that I was. I didn't understand it at the time, but now I see that I had accidentally built all of these good practices and beliefs over the top of insecurity and fear. Instead of bringing life and healing to the broken places of my life, I tried to cover up and ignore the painful things. I was trying to earn love instead of receiving it with grace. God had to tear everything to the ground so he could fix my cracked foundation. I had to become a failure in my own eyes in order to really accept that God loved me anyway- even when I had nothing to offer.
This last year has been a time of rebuilding, but I have really struggled with implementing the old practices I had learned. I have been extremely hesitant to enter back into anything that looks like what I did during my furnace years- prayer, reading Scripture, passionate worship, and spiritual disciplines. I don't want to fall back into the old patterns again. Even though I know these practices are essential, I haven't re-learned how to join these spiritual practices with the other aspects of my life in a that supplements my whole life in a healthy way. The only way I knew how to pray or worship or lead was an channeled around an attempt to ignore or hide the brokenness in my heart.
I've been trying to learn, and it has been very up and down. This year I've been trying to take time 3x a day to pray using a Celtic Daily Prayer book. It has been so helpful because most days I don't have my own words to pray. I have needed to read the prayers of fellow Christians from hundreds of years ago, and I've found them to so often resonate with my heart. But even then there have been many days I just haven't wanted to even try that much. I have discovered that on the days I feel good I don't take the time to pray. And often on the days I'm most hurting I will avoid any time with God even though I knew that I needed him to do something.
This morning I realized a few things. First, that I've been subtly thinking of God like a doctor or counselor. I only go to him when I have something wrong. I only share my thoughts so he will tell me what's wrong and fix them. I am still living in a reactionary way, looking for a quick answer to get me better so I can keep running along and being 'normal'. I think I understood this on some level, which is why I would avoid God when I was really struggling. I knew God is more than medication and didn't want to treat him like that.
The odd thing is that I go to my parents when I am hurt physically or emotionally. I talk to them about what is happening, but I don't think of them as a doctor or counselor. I have a deeper relationship with them than just 'fixing' me. I just don't know how to really walk with God like a parent, even though the Bible is full or fatherly and motherly descriptions of God.
The other little thing that came to mind is that the times I set aside for focused prayer are not supposed to be about being more prayerful or spiritual or obedient. I want to learn to pray and worship all day in everything I do, not just at 3 set times during the day, and I found myself dreading those prayer times because I didn't want to get back into the habit of believing that certain times or places or things are more 'spiritual' or 'godly' than others. But these times can be a way of setting my direction for the day, of choosing how I want to live this day. When I am driving on the freeway, I only rarely need to turn the steering wheel but I am driving the entire time. On some trips I might go for hours straight ahead, but other times I will need to constantly be turning corners or avoiding other cars. So maybe I can learn to be aware of where I currently am in my life, and adopt a lifestyle of prayer that is dynamic to that. It's always good to set a direction when you begin a journey, and you will need to change your course throughout, but whether you are turning or going straight ahead or even stopped on the side of the road for a break, it is still all part of the same journey.
I know these aren't really new ideas to most of you, but I wanted to process them and record what I'm learning so they didn't slip away. This has become a little more real to me today and I wanted to share it with my friends.
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