Free will, choosing and sneezing

Blog. Right. Um, well…

 

So, I have a few spare moments while Atticus (oldest son) is playing with a new friend and Archer (youngest son) is “napping” or, rather whining in his bed...

At any rate, I thought I’d take this opportunity to vomit some of the philosophical nuggets that have been churning my stomach lately (you’re welcome for that picture). So, here goes:

Let’s start here à I feel like it is a plague in our generation to look back on the limitations of our childhood or the hardships that we’ve seen and simply be content to be in the place we are in life because of those events, circumstances, situations, etc.  I use the word “plague” because, like a plague, this sort of thinking seems to eat away at the fruit of people’s abilities and gifts (to develop the analogy a bit).

The fundamental issue with this line of thinking is that, while some of the consequences of said events (or whatever) may still be in effect, there are always opportunities for new circumstances. In fact, I’m a believer (as of now) in the idea that, to a large extent, we create our realities. We do this by way of our free will and choices. For example, I choose my friends, my job, my career, where I spend my time, where I spend my money and what I do in those places, with those people. If I choose or have chosen people who cause my life to be less than what I want out of life, then it is only my own choices that have brought those people to influence me. If I want to change it, I do. Now, in reality, this isn’t as easy as it sounds (feelings get hurt…or whatever :P), but the truth is that I hold the power to decide who influences me.

So, while I don’t choose how those people act, I choose who to be around.

This same principle holds true for other places in my life:

 If I constantly don’t have money because I go out a lot, I must stop going out. It may not be as fun, but it changes the reality that I am short on cash.

If I don’t like the job I have for whatever reason, I quit. It may be a struggle to find other work and there may be other struggles that go along with this, but it changes the reality that I don’t like my job.

There are seemingly endless examples of how the power of choice can shape your reality, but my point is not that we can choose, but that we must.

To simply offer up our past as an excuse to our present is essentially quitting on being the creator-of-your-reality that you were meant to be. I believe that God gives us genuine free will and I believe that he does so because, as creatures made in the image of the Creator, he wants us to create. Now, you may not feel creative, but odds are it’s because you haven’t flexed your creative muscles for some time and like physical muscles, if you don’t use them, they are weak. I’m not saying go paint a picture, I’m saying look around you and change what you don’t like about your life.

*** I feel the need to disclaimer here: if you love every aspect of your life, this blog post is obviously not for you J but you can share it with someone who needs to hear this if you want. ***

Now, this is not easy, so I don’t want you to read this and say “hey, he said it was cake!”

It is simple, not easy. The simple part is “1. Identify what you don’t like, 2. Find the first step to change it, 3. Take that step, 4. Repeat 2-3 until 1 is no longer true”. The hard part is that steps 2 & 3 may come at a cost. It is that cost that must be counted, weighed and decided upon.

For some, the cost may be friends. For others, it may be the respect of someone whose opinion you value (whether you should or shouldn’t). Whatever the cost, it’s not mature or relevant to blame your discontent with life on a reality that was or is when there are ways you can change it.

In short, if you don’t like something about your reality, then change it.

This is a good (not really) segue to my next topic: waiting.

I’m there. Right now. And it sucks.

Sometimes waiting for the next opportunity can be agonizingly slow. I think, for me, it’s because I am a “do-er”; I like the doing part. I like seeing a vision of a project or job completed and I want to do it and see it actualized. However, this is not always how things go down.

If you’ve kept up with my blog (I don’t know why you would have, but whatever), you know that I’ve been looking for a full time music ministry position of some type. This is my passion: music and ministry. So it seems logical that those two things are the two things I should be doing with my life, gifts, time, etc.

But! That means waiting for me right now.

I recently talked about this with a close friend of mine and (by way of incident) we came up with the great picture of how I feel AND how much of main line Christianity has portrayed the Christian life.

“It’s like waiting for a sneeze. It burns and is uncomfortable; sometimes you can’t talk or think or do much of anything until that sneeze comes.”

For me, some days I feel like this. Like there is a never ending list of things to do and I can’t do any of it because I’m “pre-sneeze”. Unfortunately, sometimes the church encourages this kind of thing; that is, the idea that “you just need to wait until God plops his plan in your lap in a nicely catalogued, 3-ring binder with color coated tabs and a table of contents so you can find where you are in his plan at your convenience”. …ok, that was kind of cheeky. I’ve never actually heard anyone say to do this, but that is the feeling that I get sometimes when people try and encourage me (pessimist much? I think so). Sometimes it just feels better to hear people identify with me; not try and convince me that the “pre-sneeze” is where I need to live.

Instead, I think it is important to realize that, when you’re “pre-sneeze”, you just have to keep doing what you can where you are. For me, that looks like serving faithfully at the awesome church that I find myself at and it looks like being Christ to those around me by way of service, love and encouraging. It’s not always comfortable, but it’s a lot better than JUST waiting for the sneeze. By doing this, I sneeze. (That came out funny) What I mean is, that by staying active, I make things happen. I stay active in the things that I feel called to do, I am much more fulfilled than just waiting around for the next step to happen. Make life happen by doing.

While I think I could probably prattle on and on, I think I’ll spare you since you graced me to read this far.

Take away points:

1.      Create your reality. Choose to.

2.      Sneeze while you’re waiting. Choose to.

I guess that’s it. Thanks for reading, sharing, “liking”, etc. If you have a minute, pray for me J

 

Peace,

The Dread

 

It's been a little while

Hello all,

It's been a little while since I last wrote. Life got busy...

yuck.

Moving on, however, I hope to have some more free time in the near future (if I can manage to not re-overload myself).
One of the most recent things that has gone on with me is that I've decided to pursue full-time ministry. The funny thing is that I actually decided this back in the fall of 2010 when I changed my major from Biology to Philosophy and Religious studies. At that point, I was all gung ho that I would work in a church and spend my life serving the Kingdom of God. Needless to say, I got side tracked. And as I started to learn that there were seemingly infinite possibilities for my future, I started to think that maybe I could figure this thing out ('cause that's worked out for me before...).

My control-freak  mindset wanted to figure out where I would serve and how I would serve and where I would live and the kind of money I would make and the kind of life my family could live and the list goes on and on and somewhere in it all, I kind of stopped listening for God's direction. My first love was always music ministry; it's actually what I first felt called to do. Being a part of music ministry teams since the age of 12 has created a constant in my life; even the times when I was off partying away my mind and not being the person I knew I needed to be, my hypocrisy was worth it because it was the music that was my link to God. My one way back. That is how big a role music ministry played in my life and it's what I knew God wanted me to devote my life to. Now the reality is that I'll likely never get rich off of music ministry, but that's ok because that isn't why I love it.

So, part 2 to why I've been bouncing around from "real job" to "real job" goes something like this:

I got scared.

It's really as simple as that. Fear told me that I'd not be good at it, I was under qualified and should find a "real job" to provide for my family while I do worship ministry part-time. I think that this plan could work for some people, but I also know what I was called to do and that is to sell out.

So, as of late, I've been looking for that full-time position that God has for me somewhere. I have no idea what that will look like and its really kind of exciting to wait and see, but I still struggle.

I'm kind of a melancholy person naturally, so pessimism is only ever a stone's throw away. I often struggle with my imperfections, my lack of righteousness and wonder if I'm ever really going to be "qualified" (by my standards of course) to lead God's people in any capacity. ...this is fear talking again.....

I am encouraged by people in the Bible like Moses who made up excuse after excuse to not follow his calling and Jonah who turned tail and ran (and that worked out for him too...after a while). See, I know that I am lacking a lot, but I believe I'm called for a purpose. I read once that, in regards to ministry, "the moment you think you're qualified, you most definitely are not". Now, the reality is you need some basics (understanding of theology, scripture, in my case music, etc.) but I think what the author was getting at is the idea that when we can be "good enough" or have enough experience "under our belts", then and only then we can do the thing God has for us. This is just ridiculous.

If there is something that God has for you (and me) to do, we're to be faithful and pursue it and trust that his Spirit will give us words to speak when we need them and guidance when we need it and reprimand when we need it. This is living by faith and not by sight.

So, I'm looking for a place to serve and dealing with a very selfish, insecure person who lives in my mirror.

I hope that you too will look for what God has built you to do. It's a life-long struggle and a day-to-day decision to do so, but it's so worth it.

Thanks for reading. and if you could spare a prayer for me, I'd really appreciate it.

Pax,
The Dread

just realized this one never got posted.

            There is a lot of teaching here in 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 from Paul to the church in Corinth. Paul covers three main topics in these verses: a statement of why they are doing what they are doing, a point-of-view adjustment for the letter recipients and finally a note on what the church’s role is in this world.

            So, looking at the three sections in pieces, Paul starts this selection with his statement about what his true motives are. He says that it is their (the church and himself) responsibility to work hard and that God will see how sincere their hearts are in searching. He says that if they seem crazy, it’s only to glorify God and not to draw attention to their own actions. Paul then draws a parallel between the Christian life and the life and death of Jesus. He says that since Christ has died for the entire world, they believe that all Christian believers have died to their old lives and are re-defined as living for Christ. This moves into his second section in which he says that, as Christians, we have to look at our lives as new in nature and in purpose. Living with this perspective on life will keep us from evaluating things from a human perspective. He ends chapter five with a section that functions as a replacement identity for the church in Corinth. He basically says that God’s whole point in sending Jesus was to reconcile people to him; in the same way, Christ is sending us to continue the work he started in bringing God and people back together. He says “we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us” (NLT v. 20).

            This passage was extremely important for the church in Corinth as they were dealing with all types of immorality and non-Christian traditions penetrating the church there; as people who were fairly new converts they were slowly losing their mission focus without a solid Christian leader living among them. This passage gave them a point of reference on how they should be assessing ideologies and traditions that were leaking into their church. This portion of Paul’s letter also gave them a sense of purpose and belonging in that he gives them the title of “Ambassadors for God”; they are the one’s pleading with people to come back to God through accepting Jesus and what he did to bridge the gap between man and God.

            This message is just as applicable in our lives as it was to the church in Corinth. We all too often as materialistic, western Christians forget that evangelism and calling people back to God is a central mission accepted by us when we accepted Christ and that in deciding to become disciples, we are also deciding to make disciples. It is all too easy in this age of communication and technology to forget that we are dead to our materialistic selves and our identity is now in Christ as the continuation of his message of love. Paul also gives a word about directing glory to God and not bragging about how spectacular our ministry is, but rather having a sincere heart for lost people. This charge for this ancient church is the same charge for our church.

            My reaction to this passage was that of a student listening to a teacher. Paul writes in such a direct way (this being a letter) that everything he says is instruction for my life. All we have to do is place his instruction in current day terms and settings which, strangely, is similar to the sinfulness of the church of Corinth. I know I can learn something from Paul and I think that any Christian can also grow by applying Paul’s instruction based on its validity and not on his reputation.

           

Through the difficulties of decision making.

In the last few weeks or so, I’ve been going through what I’ve come to call my “quarter-life crisis”. This has been a time for me to stop and evaluate everything that I’ve been doing, what my goals are, what I want out of my education and who I want to be. Needless to say, this has been a heavy time. Out of this heavy time, however, there has been beauty. There is something great about stopping to survey the landscape of one’s life. You get fresh perspective on what you’re doing and it can be an encouraging and energizing time. One of my favorite people, Michael Gungor, covers it well in his book “The Crowd, the Critic, and the Muse”. He describes times like these as climbing out of the valley of the Grand Canyon to the edge and looking at the big picture in all of its God-given beauty and then making one’s way back to the bottom where the work gets done.

From a lot of these ponderings, there is one thing that has come to light and that is that I have some serious decisions to make; ones that could change everything. While I’m not studied or skilled in metaphysics, I do believe in some sort of butterfly effect. I believe it’s evident when I reflect on how (for better or worse) one selfish decision in my past set in motion events that would eventually put me where I am today. Now, I can’t know whether some of these things would have happened regardless of that decision, but I do know what did happen and it’s the actualities that lend themselves to support some theory of chain reactions where if we had chosen a different page in life’s “choose your own adventure” book, things would have been dramatically different.

So, I thought I’d share some of the insights that have helped me along in this big-decision-making time in my life. If you can use them, God love you for it. If not, well, thanks for spending some time reading my thoughts; it does mean something to me that you’re just reading it at all.

First and foremost in our decision making process, we need to understand that some things in life simply take priority. For me, this is an easy enough thing to distinguish. I intend to devote my life as a servant-minister to other Christians in some capacity. What that actually looks like is evolving and what that will look like in ten years, no one can say. But for me, the bottom line is simple.

 This got me thinking about how one can feel assured that one made the right decision and the truth is that you can’t. It’s difficult to swallow, so take some sugar with it, but the truth is that you will never know beyond a shadow of doubt that you made the best decision. Thankfully, Scripture and tradition tells us that God has our best interest at heart and, though we’ll mess up (and we will), he can make beautiful things out of our mess. This isn’t an excuse to not try, but it is encouragement in the face of uncertainty. So in order to attempt to make a broader rule of thumb in regards to decision making, I’ll offer the following statement (that I tweeted earlier):

“The only true obligation you have is to love God with all that you are and then to love people like he does”.

It seems like a simple modification of Jesus’ two greatest commands and what theologians refer to as Jesus’ “new command” and it is, but what I have done is set it in the context of decision making. For those of us in the position to make these decisions, we need to keep one thing at the forefront as our primary decision-making filter: love God. Thankfully, this can be done in innumerable places, times and processes. So this first and greatest command actually alleviates a lot of stress while still narrowing our options down. Thus, we must first ask “which of these options best demonstrates my love for God?” Now, don’t be discouraged if this doesn’t narrow it down too much; like I said, loving God can look like any number of actions.

The next filter or standard we then use is “loving people” and not just loving people like we’re comfortable loving people, but loving people like God loves people. This raises the standard to an unreachable height, but it is inspiring because we can reach beyond our natural capabilities (via God’s Spirit) and touch the heart of those that God loves. Loving like God means loving when it’s hard and uncomfortable or even painful. It means costing you something of yourself and it means possibly facing rejection. Take heart, though: Jesus himself faced those things so that he could demonstrate God’s great love for us. So this next filter also doesn’t narrow down the options too much because there are people everywhere and, thus, you can love people wherever you are in contact with them.

Now, you might be thinking “I thought this blog was going to be helpful” or “can’t you just tell me what the right thing to do is?”And while I wish I had all the answers, the reality is that we’ve each been given tasks to accomplish and no one can do yours for you.

We can, however, be encouraged that God extends ridiculous amounts of grace. I’m writing a song right now that starts with this line: “God is not the god of the necessary, but he is the god of extravagancy…” I believe that’s true and within that extravagancy, we find that he only asks two life-defining things of us: to love him with everything and love people like he does. When these are our parameters of decision making, we find that it takes a lot to get outside of his grace. He gives us room to make real decisions and while many Christians will pray “your will be done”, many don’t realize that within his perfect will, he gives us choices. God is so creative that he created creatures that create and can reason like he does and make decisions like he does. It’s part of who we are.

So I apologize if I didn’t make your decision-making-process any easier, but I hope you can take this as encouragement that there is grace extended to you in whatever you decide. There is a broad plethora of options, all of which allow for your only true obligation (as opposed to the ones we place on ourselves):

Love God with everything that you are and love people like he does.

Grace and Peace to you all,                                                       

The Dread

About a Relationship, Not a Religion: An Apology for the Christian Tradition

I have heard many Pastors and lay-Christians say this phrase “It’s not about a religion, it’s about a relationship.” Boy, doesn’t that feel cozy. See, I used to love this phrase. This morning, however, I couldn’t get this phrase out of my head (which is weird because I don’t think I’ve heard it in a while) and I started to realize how misleading this statement is to a Christian’s spiritual development (that is, discipleship).

So I started thinking and I came up with several reasons why it is more damaging than good for us to keep repeating this. I didn’t, however, feel like anyone would simply take my word for it, so I found some people who agree and I’ll introduce them as I come to them.

Premises

First, the phrase in question is very inaccurate. Oddly enough, most of the people I hear say this are, in some way or another, a Christian leader in a formal Christian context. What is odd about that is that this statement throws out the Christian religion in place of a Christian relationship but those repeating this statement would not have a platform or the authority to say this statement had it not been for the Christian religion. I’ll press further: they may have not ever heard about the Christian God if it hadn’t been for the Christian religion. This effectively renders the statement self-contradictory and, thus, self-condemning.

Now, don’t misunderstand me, I am well aware of the atrocities that have been committed in the name of the Christian church. I would hope that it is obviously not these that I am talking about. What I am talking about is the pliable Christian tradition that tells and re-tells the story of Christ and then offers us ways to be a part of that story.

Against dead church-ism

I think what the proliferators of this statement are trying to say is that going to church and performing the rituals without a heart for God behind it is null and void. I think that this is a noble thing point out (though I don’t necessarily agree with the way that people tend to use this intention to point fingers at liturgical traditions), but I think that as leaders it is our responsibility to be exact with our words. Religion, then, is not the enemy. It is the heart of whoever is practicing said religion that is at fault. Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 29:13 “these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.” Jesus, actually quotes Isaiah in Mark 7:6 and goes on to put a finer point on it in verse 15: “It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.” Obviously, Jesus and the great prophet Isaiah were against worshiping without having a heart for God behind one’s actions. Jesus makes this clear in John 4:23-24 when he says that true worship must be done in spirit and in truth. This means that our worship must come from our deepest being and be honest. So, when I’m having a cruddy day, I don’t have to slap on a smile to worship God. I simply need to be honest in my heart that I know who he is and I’m having a cruddy day.

The apostle Paul also wrote to the early church of the importance of having a heart for God. We see in his first letter to the Corinthian church:

“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.”

Paul’s thoughts here coincide well with John’s letter in which he wrote “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God for God is love” (1 John 4:7-8).

From these passages and good reason, we can assert that if we are to do anything, especially worship, it must be done from the depths of our spirit and in an honest way and, most importantly, from a heart that loves. Again, I don’t think any evangelical Christian would disagree that doing things void of love and with the wrong heart behind it is worthless, but the statement “it’s not about a religion, it’s about a relationship” throws the wrong bathwater out. Neither Jesus nor the apostles spoke out against religion and, in fact, both were pious in their practices of Judaism (Mark 7 and other places) and Christianity (see the letters to the early church in the New Testament). We mustn’t lose our religion in the misguided search for a fulfilling life in Christ.

Against over-spiritualization

There is something to be said against churches whose leadership has lost the value of a faith that is motivated from love and true spirituality. I, however, want to give a word of warning in letting the pendulum swing too far to the other side and result in a hyper-individualistic and super-spiritualization of one’s faith. The Christian tradition does not teach a spirituality that is wrapped up in some high-church theology or some guru-level spirituality. While some may cite scriptural passages such as the thief on the cross (Luke 23:40-43) in order to justify the superfluousness of going to a formal worship gathering, this passage cannot be twisted to say that it is right for a Christian to abstain from the formal gathering. The conversation between Jesus and the dying criminal must be read within the context of the fact that they’re dying. For those living, Jesus says “come follow me”. That following, today, is most life-giving when we stay connected to the body of Christ in the formal church which is located, yes, inside the Christian religion.

Western, post-Christian, culture has left Americans (and other country’s citizens) with a do-it-yourself spirituality in which one can have a relationship to God apart from the body of Christ. This notion while in its most basic form is true, is not how Christ left us to live. Instead, he is constantly placing our relationship to him in conjunction with our relationships to each other (Matthew 28:19-20, Luke 24:49-53, Luke 22:25-27, John 13:34-35). This is why Jesus’ greatest commands are to love God and, secondly, to love people (Matthew 22:37-40). For us to let things become overly individual and overly spiritual detracts from how Jesus regarded humanity.

Finding balance

So here’s where we stand: somewhere between dead, rote-repetitious traditions and overly individualistic, overly spiritualization of reality. It is important that we acknowledge the necessity for a vivacious spiritual life as well as the need for a life that is connected with people in a real way. Our balance is important because, while we can come to an understanding of Christ and a relationship with him by ourselves, we are prone to folly. Theologian Ellen T. Charry writes in her book By the Renewing of Your Minds: the Pastoral Function of Christian Doctrine:

“We started out by observing that insight and understanding are not the only way we are formed. We also come to understanding by doing: thinking is shaped by experience…It is not only the case that we must know God in order to love him. It is also the case that in loving we learn what loving is…The need to quiet the din of a busy life, however, should not be understood in opposition to Christian service (which can keep one very busy). The criticism that practicing doctrine has been severed from hands and feet is real. One can grasp what our theologians are inviting us to consider through silence. But being in Christ can remain theoretical unless one meets Christ by caring for children, the elderly, the poor, the sick and those in prison.”[1]

For us to actually be Christian, we must do so. By that, I mean, we must “do”. We cannot let our faith remain theoretical and we cannot divorce ourselves from the larger church. To do so is damaging to our spiritual lives and our understanding of who God is. For Christian leaders to guide people towards this folly is scary. “It” is about a relationship, but it is a relationship that is found within the context of a religion that has been abused and misrepresented. This does not mean that we should get rid of it, only that we should practice it more carefully.

There has been no thought more damaging to Christian spiritual formation than the anthropology that man is an eternal soul trapped inside a carnal body. No, the Christian understanding of humanity is that we are both spiritual and carnal; we are one unit. For us to assume otherwise results in all kinds of misconceptions of how we are to conduct ourselves; we see everything from rigid piety that is convinced that the physical world is the problem to a restricting empiricism that sees scientific discovery and physical observations as our only salvation. This is not what God shows us in his incarnation, life, death and resurrection. Man is 100% spiritual and 100% physical. Being a part of the Christian tradition allows us to exercise both in a way that grows us in our relationship with Christ.

Concluding thoughts

I had no intention at the outset of writing this blog to write over people’s heads or get some personal glory. I only long for the Church to in America to value herself again. To say that we don’t need our own religion is like me saying that I don’t need my bones in order to live. The church is our structure, our skeleton. While it can be difficult to describe at times due to its beautiful diversity, the church is the body and bride of Christ. AND the church practices a religion; it is a religion that fosters a relationship through maintaining other relationships.

If you are a Christian – especially a Christian leader – I implore you to abolish this cozy phrase from you library of Christian phrases. It feels good because it doesn’t require much out of us. For us to simply “be” in a relationship doesn’t necessarily require us to do much except “be”. Furthermore, there is no accountability here. If someone thinks I’m acting wrongly, I can simply say “my faith is between me and God” or “only God can judge me”, but this is no way to be a Christian in a community. Religion, on the other hand requires something of us. It demands we give our time and actions to being a Christian in more than theory. If I don’t show up to church for a month, the Christian tradition gives my brother and sister Christians a clear indicator that something may be wrong with me and then, in love, they can reach out to me.

Our religion is valuable. Let’s not get rid of it because some hearts are in the wrong place.

Pax,

The Dread

---

[1] Charry, E. T. (1999). Conclusion. By the renewing of your minds the pastoral function of Christian doctrine (pp. 240-241). New York: Oxford University Press.

A Book Review for you:

ok, it's been a while, but here is the latest bit of work from my Master's course: Spiritual Theology. enjoy!

In her book, By the Renewing of Your Minds: the Pastoral Function of Christian Doctrine, Ellen T. Charry endeavors to catalogue history for the purpose of demonstrating that theology should be about connecting people to God, not merely about philosophical method. She accomplishes this goal by highlighting some of the most influential characters that Christianity has in its family tree.

THEOLOGIANS:

In order to approach this large task, Charry begins with the foundations of the Christian religion by pointing out the apostle Paul and some of his major pastoral applications. First, she demonstrates that Paul is more interested in how God changes people, than how people can better themselves. Following from this interest, he imparts at least three life-applications as part of his implied theological framework. First, he attributes all Christian excellence to divine action; that is, no man can be righteous in his own power. Then, he shows that Christian self-esteem should be grounded in a new identity in Christ as our new ontological reality. This is more than a title change and is, thus, in contrast to those Christians who would ask “are you saved?” or “are you born again?” as if a change of category title is all that is required. Finally, Paul leaves us the idea that a holistic Christian life is social; thus, there are no “lone-ranger” Christians because the life that we live is to be in imitation of a God who is not solitary, but actually exists within the community of himself.

Moving on from Pauline theology, Charry takes a look at the gospel of Matthew and his transmission of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. The author points out that the righteousness that Matthew relates from Jesus’ teachings is grounded in the highest level of ethics. For him, righteousness is more than following a set of rules; instead it is shaping oneself into the mold of Christ so much so that one’s intentions are pure, not just one’s actions. This higher level of righteousness is proactive, not reactive by finding foundation in the practice of being others-focused. While Matthew could be accused of portraying Christ’s message in an overly individualistic way, what can be attributed to him is the success of taking a system that was focused on what a person was to do and reorienting it to the deeper purpose behind the rules; namely, what a person is supposed to be. The pastoral concept is that we are to be introspective enough to grow in the righteous standard of Christ.

Progressing through time, Charry examines Athanasius of Alexandria whose pastoral thrust was in the concept of Christ being our example and that he is constantly showing us how to direct our lives towards God. Athanasius taught that humanity was intended to have access to bodily resurrection from the get-go, but by self-degeneration via our own intellect, God revoked those privileges. Not content to watch humanity wallow in its own degeneracy, God implements a way back to himself by the example of Christ. Thus, salvation isn’t about completing an unfinished creation, but about restoring our correct identity and all that that identity entails including taking the model of the Father and the Son as exemplary for our own relationships.

Next to be examined is Basil of Caesarea who was very focused on catechizing his followers. He did so by treating his readers as high-minded seekers of knowledge of God. Basil appeals to the integrity and, perhaps, vanity of his parishioners by always lifting them up and concurrently providing guidance and instruction that they needed. Basil’s pastoral emphasis was for Christians to utilize the trinity as a model for Christian human relations. The mutual respect and cooperation between the members of the trinity is the blueprint for Christians and how they should grow together.

After Basil, we progress to taking a snap shot of the aretegenic leanings of Augustine of Hippo. Augustine’s pastoral goal, much like Athanasius’, was to help his readers learn to identify themselves in God. In contrast, however Augustine does this through shame and exposure of short-comings. Regrettably, the western obsession with the intricacies of salvation have largely obscured Augustine’s purpose of helping people see themselves as having the imago Dei. While Augustine could be accused of producing doctrine that are more or less unhelpful, it can be extrapolated from his writings that he would largely support the more practical means of coming to know God by way of associating oneself with Christ.

Charry progresses in her assessment by encountering Anselm of Canterbury next. Humble obedience is the staple for Anselm’s teachings and, under a penal substitution understanding of atonement, he points to Christ as the one who lowered himself so that we would learn how to lower ourselves. For Anselm, this means of growing in spiritual maturity is one that has echoed throughout history. The concept of becoming what one studies is obvious in other theologians such as the aforementioned Athanasius and Basil. The example of God as merciful master gives us a model for when we are in authority and the example of God as obedient servant gives us a model for when we are under authority.

Following Anselm, Charry goes on to assess St. Thomas and Dame Julian side by side. Thomas takes God’s actions on the cross to be more indicative of the synthesis between anger and love; specifically, that love should temper anger. He also takes a more legalistic approach to salvation theology in which salvation is more about righteousness than love. By contrast, Julian emphasizes the love of God and views the cross as an exercise in trust and love. She was so extreme in her position that she went as far as to challenge the classical understanding and state that God in fact has no anger at all. The pastoral application from these two understandings of Christ’s actions at the cross would be to find some amalgamation of the two views. Yes, the cross is about righteousness, but it is a righteousness born out of Gods loving nature.

Approaching the Protestant reformation, Charry ends her procession through Christian leaders with a look at reformed theologian and pastor, John Calvin. Calvin is notably aretegenic in all his writings. This is a difficult thing for modern readers to see at times because he does not shy away from using fear, guilt and shame as motivators toward righteousness. Most contemporary people understand these things to be primarily damaging, so the utilization of such human emotions has largely fallen out of practice. Calvin essentially makes the Christian life all about the individual and God, thus taking Augustine’s dependence on the Holy Spirit to an extreme level. He also approaches salvation as black and white: He sees everyone as either “in” or “out” of Christianity. Because of the unstable political and religious atmosphere, Calvin intended to show people why piety was still to be sought after. That is the bridge between what is arguably one of the staunchest set of doctrine in Christendom and the heart of a pastor.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:

In the examination of these Christian builders, we see how pastoral function has played a foundational role to all doctrine. Early theologians were not theorizing about how to do theology, they were merely responding to the world around them as they saw appropriate. This is why we should not leave theology as merely rhetorical theory, but instead we should connect it to our lives; that, as demonstrated by the shakers and movers of Christianity, is the purpose of theology. Our actions should flow out of a changed instinct that is oriented towards righteousness; they should not simply be a rational reaction that is filtered through a set of doctrine.

Going forward in my Christian leadership, I think that this book has helped me to grasp a large scale take of things. Looking at the history of theology is like taking a panoramic picture of a landscape; while there are many nuances – colors, shapes, action and stillness – there are still more themes that can be taken. Charry takes that panoramic picture and points to a specific theme that all life-giving Christian leaders would do well to note: understanding that pastoral function and theoretical theology must go hand-in-hand. In fact, they have never flourished apart from each other. This is my biggest lesson from this book and I hope to impart this concept to all who look to me as a leader.

Pax,

The Dread

People of God

Enjoy!

            The people of God; this is a title that has been a part of the Christian religion since the beginning. In fact, it is inherited from the ancient Hebrews who founded modern Judaism. The term is not one that pious religious adherents take lightly as it is one of the most characterizing terms that is unique to the Judeo-Christian tradition; namely, that God is relational and (for whatever divine reason) chooses to have a people. Just as it has for Jews of all eras, the phrase “people of God” gives Christian believers a pattern to follow, a name to live up to and a future to pursue.

            The term “people of God” is found in Hebrew texts as early as the exodus of Moses and the Hebrews from the slavery of Egypt. When Moses and his brother, Aaron, approached the pharaoh about releasing the Hebrews, they said “This is what [Jehovah], the God of Israel, says: Let my people go…” (Exodus 5:1)[1] From this very early record of the historical Judeo-Christian tradition, we see YHWH, the God of the Hebrews, claiming the people of Israel as his special possession. We continue to see the Israelites called the people of God as time progresses. For example, we see that the temple worship performed by the Levite priests contained this notion strongly. In a blessing recorded in the priestly handbook, Leviticus, we read of YHWH speaking of Israel and saying “I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.” (Leviticus 26:12)[2]. By Davidic times in Jewish history – approximately 1000 BC[3] – Israel was a well established world power and had really engrained the concept of being special to YHWH into their religion and culture. In the psalms, we read of God delivering his people, protecting his people and giving justice to his people (psalms 53:6, 94:14 and 135:14)[4]. No other passage of scripture sums up the Jewish understanding of how they related to YHWH better than the Deuteronomic text that reads “For you are a holy people, who belong to [Jehovah,] your God. Of all the people on earth, [Jehovah,] your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure.” (Deuteronomy 7:6)[5].

            I draw out the early sightings of this phrase only to demonstrate that as Christians, we must remember our roots. Often times, in western Christianity, we forget that our beginnings were much farther back in time than the incarnation of God. In order to gain a correct understanding of our own inclusion as the people of God, we must give credence to how the writers of the bible understood the term. Obviously, there is a real exclusiveness to the way the Jews understood their repute with God. This idea that they were better than every other people group drove many of their political and economical decisions. More than the way that they understood their relations with the world around them, the title “people of God” shaped their self-image. Piousness was prized due to the self-imposed standard of holiness. I don’t say this in a condemning way – indeed, it is good to strive for holiness – I only mean to demonstrate that this was their primary definition of self and from this definition they looked to the coming of the Messiah with the hopes that he would restore their former glory and power in the same way that they had seen David do as king. In short, the early Jew’s idea of being the people of God meant that they deserved to be in power according to earthly politics. Jesus turns this notion on its head.

            In keeping with the traditional understanding of what it meant to be the people of God, we read in the gospel of Luke, the prophecy of Zechariah (father of John the Baptist) in which he speaks of the impending incarnation and what it will mean. He says in verse 68 and 69 “Praise [Jehovah], the God of Israel, because he has visited and redeemed his people. He has sent us a mighty Savior from the royal line of his servant David…”[6] The actions of Christ on earth were far from what traditional Jews expected out of their Messiah. Effectually, what Jesus did was push the boundaries of the small circle that enclosed the people of God to the point where it could include the entire world population. After Christ’s ascension, we see the early church founders writing letters in an effort to guide new Christians in navigating this new definition of being the people of God. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul gives a decisive voice in the matter of the Jewish ceremony of circumcision. He says “It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation. May God’s peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people of God”[7] (Galatians 6:16; emphasis mine). Paul understood those who believed in the deity of Jesus and in the message he came to proclaim to be a part of God’s people via a metaphysical transformation of self.

In order for contemporary Christians to understand what it means to be the people of God, I would like to speak briefly on what it means to be a people. In America, we often forget what it means to be a people. This is largely in due to the fact that our nation is built of people from all nations speaking all tongues. Couple this demographic hurdle with the hyper-individualism of the twenty first century and it is easy to see why post-modern people tend to forget how to identify as a people group first and an individual secondarily. To be a people means that the corporate is greater than the individual. It is in this context that we encounter the phrase “people of God”; Israel, while obviously being made up of many individuals is regarded consistently as a single entity by God throughout the bible. Drawing from the New Testament scriptures, we must continue this understanding of personhood. We are the people of God because we are a part of the single entity that is the ecclesia. Our primary allegiance is to what is traditionally called the Kingdom of God and it is in this kingdom that we are freed from the kingdoms of this world.[8] We then identify with the story of redemption and intimate relationship with the creator which gives us a future of eternal association with the divine to look forward to.

Progressing into our daily lives, we should be like the early Israelites who utilized the title “people of God” as the life defining title over and against every other label they could possess. Understanding that we are God’s own private possession and object of affection is foundational to our own self regard. When we view ourselves in this manner, we find value in the mundane decisions that we encounter in life; this is how we determine our conduct and stewardship of our possessions. This is what makes us distinct from the world around us. We are the people of God; this is our definition of self.

 

Pax,

The Dread

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[1] Townsend, Kenny. "Exodus." Life application study bible: new living translation, black, bonded leather, personal size.. S.l.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005. 103. Print.

[2] Townsend, Kenny. "Leviticus." Life application study bible: new living translation, black, bonded leather, personal size.. S.l.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005. 195. Print.

[3] Tullock, John H., and Mark Harold McEntire. "Israel's Time of Glory: David and Solomon." The Old Testament story. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. 152. Print.

[4] Townsend, Kenny. "Psalms." Life application study bible: new living translation, black, bonded leather, personal size.. S.l.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005. 900, 944, 985. Print.

[5] Townsend, Kenny. "Deuteronomy." Life application study bible: new living translation, black, bonded leather, personal size.. S.l.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005. 275. Print.

[6] Townsend, Kenny. "Luke." Life application study bible: new living translation, black, bonded leather, personal size.. S.l.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005. 1673. Print.

[7] Townsend, Kenny. "Galatians." Life application study bible: new living translation, black, bonded leather, personal size.. S.l.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005. 1996. Print.

[8] Wilson, Jonathan R.. "The Story of the Kingdom." God so loved the world: a christology for disciples. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2001. 23-39. Print.