Life for the Ages

Growing up in fundamentalist church, the message I got about the future was this:

Christians have to try as hard as they can to keep the world from getting really bad. 

You won't be successful because at some point, God will get so disgusted, He will rapture the Christians out and leave the world to be plunged into a "tribulation" that will be increasingly terrible over a period of 7 years.  But don't worry, because if you are a Christian, you won't have to live through that. 

So your job is to try to get as many people as possible to believe you about the coming judgement 
and the only possible escape from it.  

Side note. Since it will all burn anyway, things that are related to life on earth shouldn't be enjoyed too much because Heaven is wonderful place so conversely, everything here is second rate. 

And this, confusingly, was often referred to as The Gospel.  Or good news.

South American Folk Art Painting - Coming to Etsy soon

There are a lot of reasons I don't see the world and the future and the gospel and my life here that way anymore.  And here is one of them.

In John 5, Jesus is once again in a fight with the religious leaders of his day.  This time, the question is about what right he has to challenge their rules about what people could and couldn't do on the day of rest.  Jesus goes on to explain that God the father has turned over two things to him:  The authority to be the judge of people and the authority to give them eternal life.

The word "eternal" in greek is not really about the future.  It's about a quality of life in the now.  It's the same idea as "an ageless beauty"  or a "life for the ages."   It's a word that is unconcerned about time.  Jesus taught that when people heard his words (the words of a fellow human)  and believed they were an accurate expression about and from the Father (the Divine) then Jesus gave them this eternal life.. a life of quality and great dimension.

vintage iris painting - Coming to Etsy soon

Jewish people then and now had a concern for the here and now.  They did not have a teaching of certitude about what happens after life.  They referred to it as "hidden."  What did matter was how you lived your life now.  If you were to someday go to God, it would be best to spend your time preparing to be with God, much like you might prepare to visit a foreign country, by acquainting yourself with the culture of that place.

What Jesus said to them was strange to them then and strange to us now.  He suggested that the best preparation could be made by believing that He was the embodiment of that future culture and the best communication about it.  He was telling them that all their guesses about how to prepare could be answered by the boss, the founder, the owner, the author, the inventor, the President, the genius behind the whole thing. They just had to believe it was really Him

Dogs playing poker - vintage magazine clipping - found in a book 

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For us it is a struggle is to believe that Jesus would affect our here and now, not just our future. The old cliche is that we Christians didn't mind his divinity, but we struggle with his humanity ...and maybe his appreciation for it.  He gives this life to whoever he wants... not necessarily people who say a certain prayer, walk an aisle or profess a certain creed that is agreed upon by the larger group.  Jesus is the way, but the way people understand, communicate, and place trust in Jesus can be very different.  What we know is that Jesus gives life. Eternal life.

This life is a gift and the only sensible reaction to a gift is gratitude.

I know a lady here in NWA who is more than 80 years old, and for the last decade or so, she has seen everything through the lens of gratitude.  She gets up every day and walks a prayer labyrinth and expresses gratitude.  She is a potter and every piece she makes now has the word "gratitude" on it.  Even in the face of true injustice and disappointment, she has a sweet curiosity for life. She is not a follower of Jesus, but I think she is on to something transformative.  As Jesus followers, imagine believing that the lives we are living are a gift right here and right now, not in some future perfect situation, but right now are in fact.... "Your kingdom come"  "on earth as it is in heaven."

Believing this way allows me to see the good that God spoke of over and over again in the first chapters of Genesis.  There is something satisfying and sweet about life on this good planet.  Of course it is flawed by un-health and a competing decay.  But it is also a world on track for redemption and the lives of Jesus followers are somehow tied to that future good.   We live in what theologians have refereed to as "the already/not yet."

a recent painting by my daughter - inquire for availability 

I have a more optimistic view of the future now.  And I deeply enjoy life.  I grieve the sad things that are very real and very painful about human existence. The Kingdom of God is not fully in place, so terrible things still happen. But I approach each day with a sense of gratitude for what is.  I don't deny the negative, but I don't deny the positives either.  There are many things that are good and wonderful to enjoy here and now.  Eternal life is now.  It's a life for the ages.

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disclaimer: this is a summary of a recent sermon.  My theology is still in process and I do not have time to invest in arguments.  I write only to process my thoughts and share ideas with those who might be interested. There are lots of ways to see things, just like there are lots of ways to express creativity through art.  

Most Offensive

Recently, one of my readers sent me a blog post to read and interact with. He and I know each other from our Christian school days, and through the magic of Facebook, we reconnected.  I think that some of the conclusions I have come to and the questions I ask on this blog have bothered him.  I'm pretty sure I understand the gist of the blog post he sent me and the gist of what he believes, because it's very much what I used to believe too.  

You see, it isn't that I don't believe in the gravity of God and the weight of Scripture anymore. It isn't that I don't believe in "absolute truth" as a concept anymore. It isn't that I don't think the Bible is true.  What I believe now, though, is that none of us can contain it all. Like a plastic water bottle in a hot car, we leak bpa an other toxins into the water of Truth. With our worldview, our understanding of culture, our personalities, our prejudices, our limitations, our frustrations, we muddy the truth in some way or another.  Even the idea of Absolute Truth is a product of modernism and the Enlightenment. And so it is with humility that I now approach what I think I know about God and the Bible.  I attempt to live out what I understand it teaches, while being aware of the good in other denominations, other cultures and even other faiths.

The blog post I read suggested that the most offensive thing to irreligious people is that God exists and has revealed Himself and His expectations of human beings in the Bible and that we are all responsible to follow those expectations or will face judgement for our choices. 

I want to suggest that that really isn't thing what makes many Christians so offensive to the rest of the world. I see people willing to live in submission to many things they believe to be true: they eat vegan or gluten free. They limit themselves in uncomfortable ways because of their beliefs about the environment. They submit to a lifestyle of doing without because of their beliefs about the way the government is broken.  They live in harmony with other people who believe differently from them politically, culturally, and religiously. What IS horribly offensive to them about the typical Christian is the arrogant stance that their interpretation, their church, their version of Christianity is the one TRUE way and everyone else must believe exactly like them because God is happiest and most pleased with their flavor of Christianity. 

Recently, I read an article about a girl who was part of the Westboro Baptist Church...you know who they are...the ones with the terrible signs showing messages of confrontation against those they disagree with.  While most fundamentalists of my childhood are embarrassed by this church and their activities, many of them hold nearly the exact same set of beliefs.  This girl was suddenly taken with the idea that maybe in all the world, and in all of history, how could it be that her church was the ONLY true church? How could they be the ONLY ones who were right?

I love the Bible. I follow Jesus.  And I humbly admit that I might be wrong in the way I understand the Bible. There are many parts of it that are hard to understand, hard to accept, hard to explain. There are parts that can be offensive.  But I personally don't need to be offensive. I don't need to make it harder for people than it already is by not understanding the culture where I live.

We live in a world that is post-modern and post-Christian.  I think many Christians are deeply unsettled by these facts. They are angry that things changed, much like people get mad when Facebook changes some feature. They want things to go back to "the good old days."  I'm not sure "good old days" ever really existed, but if they did, they are over now. Suggesting that people hate God and just want to defy Him are weirdly comforting ideas to Christians who can't seem to get the hang of this new way of thinking. It creates a straw man to fight. And I see it every single day on Facebook. The comfort of "us" against "them."

As Christians, we are called to show others what God is like. It grieves me that too many Christians are showing that God is against others, that He hates them, that He can only be satisfied if others join up with a group of people who are arrogant, self-satisfied and offensive. They don't listen. They don't love. They are hypocritical. They are rude. They are a little bit ignorant. They offer easy answers and very little practical solutions. They are only interested in people becoming just like them. That is the most offensive thing about Christianity.

An Insider's Review of Fundamorphosis

I think it's pretty clear that when it comes to being a pastor and a pastor's wife, Robb and I are not what most people are used to. We cuss. (Mostly to make one another laugh). We drink. We watch the same movies and tv you do (maybe not if you watch Honey Boo Boo, but I'll try not to judge you...much). I don't play the piano for church (anymore) or teach Sunday School.  We have been known to refer to a worship service as "kickass." We don't post verses as facebook statuses and we don't worry at all about "what the gays are doing to America."  I can only guess that people from our past lives assume that we have gone liberal. Maybe they think we are rebelling. Or that we have gotten lazy in our faith. That we are not as committed to following Jesus as we were 16 years ago when we started at our first church. 

I can tell you this: We love Jesus deeply. We read the Bible and pray with our kids every morning. Our lives our centered around serving people through our church, Vintage Fellowship. We have given up every kind of security and wrestled with God for this faith. We are on a journey with him that has taken us in a direction we would never have guessed, and in my case, I'm pretty sure I initially wouldn't have wanted to go. The story of this course-change is Fundamorphosis.

Curiously, the words and chapters of Fundamorphosis would have been totally different if I had written it, even though I was part of most everything that happens in it. I would have told different stories that changed my heart and mind. But the change still took place. And that is what we are learning about how people are left after reading the book....that there is something common about the change. That they find themselves in the stories. That they are finding words to express what is happening inside of them.  That's why Brian McClaren said it "could be the start of a movement."  And another reviewer said that "the butterfly might be the new symbol of Christianity for a generation."   Uh. Hey, we're just regular people here. Seriously, a movement?

There have been times over the years when I have asked pretty relentless questions of Robb. 

"Seriously. Tell me the truth.  Did we just walk away from everything we know so we can wear jeans to church and have a band?" 

It's not about the external changes....those things that make people from our old lives uncomfortable. The reasons that they say they won't read the book. Those are just a by-product of what has changed in the way we understand God and the way we are in relationship with him.  For a long time, I thought we were a very small group of people who saw things this way.  I thought of our church as a little haven for a small niche of people who have been deeply wounded by their churches or who just need a big theological yard to play in. What I am starting to understand is that, like Robb writes, we are all theologians on some level. That we are all on a journey with God and that we all need the space to grow and change in that journey.  Unfortunately, many of the churches available to people don't allow for this journey. They don't allow for growth and change.  And they don't allow for questions....only answers. Fundamentalism has become a hindrance to people's journey...like trying to take a long, exhilarating walk on a circular driveway.

It goes without saying that if your faith in God has suffered in a fundamentalist church environment, you might want to read Fundamorphosis. It will likely encourage you that you are not alone. That your questions matter. That God is gentle with your doubts. That there are other ways of living a vibrant Christian life than the way your pastor has delivered it from a high and lofty pulpit above you. If Facebook Christianity leaves a bad taste in your mouth, if "God said it, I believe it, that settles it" leaves you feeling ashamed and deeply unsettled, if you are tired of feeling afraid of the future of America and marching as an embattled member of God's army, Fundamorphosis may be meaningful to you. I won't promise anything, but you might want to try it.

But I also want to suggest Fundamorphosis to those of you who watch Fox news every day, listen to Christian radio, attend a "Bible Believing church", and sincerely pray that the world become the same kind of Christian as you. You can't imagine how a real Christian could vote Democrat. Your conscience would never allow you to drink a beer at dinner or casually use an expletive. You fear for your children in such a dark and godless world.  You are vigilantly involved in your church and deeply immersed in the rhythms of your traditions. I want you to know that Robb is not trying to change your mind. Fundamorphosis is not an appeal to be just like us. It is a story, an explanation, of what it is like to be here.  What it is like to ask the questions and to live with the consequences of what you believe.  You may not agree, but maybe it will help you understand your child who is gay. Or your co-workers who just got another tatoo.  Or the people who are leaving your church and never coming back. Or the people who would never come there in the first place.   Robb and I have been there. We have a deep love and hope for you and your faith journey too.