…It’s the lunacy that lies at the heart of “predestination”.

 

One needs to be a mental contortionist of the highest order to even consider this outrageous proposition. That you or I could spend  a lifetime with those we love and hold dear, yet God doesn’t, and that at some point in time we are “ripped aside” (much like those in Nazi Germany) where our own chosen-ness has all the hallmarks of a sociopathic deity.

 

It doesn’t matter how this is explained or what romantic notions of love it imagines it is not love but the broodings of a dark deity. It seems the premise for this is that God’s ways can, never, be understood and so we subscribe all manner of lunacy to it. I long for the day when Good and noble things are attributed to the mystery of God. Could I be wrong….yes! Absolutely. For me God must be bigger and better than my own worst enemy. It’s because of these that I no longer call myself Christian. Yes! It’s a stupid, petty vote against a tyrant God.

 

I’m not opposed to the Bible or Christianity my apologies If I’ve created this impression, it’s the space I still call home but for me the home has undergone significant renovations so much so that the building is almost unrecognizable (in fact some would say it’s no longer a building but more a “foreign” object) the foundations are still intact and remain strong. It’s important to build foundations, and with some due diligence, and once we have we don’t need to go back and build them again or to keep on re-checking them; although periodical check-ups are important.

 

Some think the house is the foundation, and see little difference between the two. As we “grow up and out” so must the house reflect these same changes otherwise we find ourselves still living in the nursery. To have a faith that is “frozen in time” is not a faith but more a by-product of something else which could be the fear of change. It’s been well documented, historically, that the Church is one of the most ridged, inflexible, unchangeable institutions (the last real change was more than 500 years ago). If the Church were a business it would have been declared “bankrupt” long ago. The model that attracts me most and it seems countless others could be described as” Adult Christianity”.

 

 It seems to me, and of course I could be wrong, that Christianity has been locked in for over 500 years to a one dimensional one size “fits all” model that could be described as adolescent. It’s not so much the foundations that need changing, but in some cases they do need “re-stumping”, but the building itself and it’s this that I’m endeavouring to draw attention too. One such example is this; we now have somewhere around 30,000 denominations worldwide. The primary reason we have so many is that there are those who see single facets of theology as being, so important, that they need to “break of and divide” not engage, or facilitate. This is but one example of a very adolescent reaction, not an adult response.

 

The next reformation (and we can hear its distant rumblings much like one hears the rumblings of a slow freight train) will be about “the Spirit” and not so much dogma, teachings, doctrine, even orthodoxy. This will be its primary reference point. This is already happening in what has now been called the, new, global South.

 

                                                                                                                                                                

…Danger! deep quarry

Near to where I live, in Jells Park, is a long walking track, it takes you around an old disused quarry. It’s a huge quarry surrounded by a high barbed wire fence, at intervals of fifty meters or so there are large metal signs with these words DANGER, DEEP QUARRY! NO UNAUTHORISED ACCESS!. Almost as if in defience, to the left side of one of these signs is a large hole in the wire fence. If you step through this hole, as I did,  you discover a well-worn track. A little further down this track you come across another sign it reads; “Please take your rubbish home and lets keep this place pristine” The second sign is at odds with the first it has scant regard for its warnings.

The track winds its way through a thick wooded area filled with lots of beautiful cypress trees. The track turns a blind corner and then it takes you to a clearing where the views are nothing short of breathtaking. For a few moments I felt as if I was somewhere else the view reminded me of pictures I had seen of the great lakes in the wild outback of Canada, I stood there for a long time feeling a sense of awe. Of course those on the other side of the fence could not know of this, would never know of this, the warning sign would have done its job.

There will always be those amongst us who see the warning signs merely as a challenge not a thing to be feared.Thank God for those saints, both past and present, who respectfully decline the rowdy voices within the Church who are more concerned with safety, security and a no-risk venture.

These same voices can be compelling, convinced themselves that they are the very voice of God.We need these same voices, to do things with reckless abandon with little concern for the outcome makes for a short life.However, the problem for the Church is that these same voices are the ones that always seem to be heard those who fear the most, sometimes, speak the loudest. “lovers of the boat”: cry out in one accord ‘DON’T ROCK THE BOAT’.

We need anchors they are most helpful in a storm, but what if there is no storm? what of the anchor then?.

…Many cling to the anchor, others love the ocean more.

Belief systems are important they have an important place but there comes a time when you need to ‘move on’. The right reason to walk away is because you see and understand its limitations. Some will walk away from a place of frustration others out of disillusionment feeling “is that it” and others because it has served its purpose. It seems to me, and I may be wrong, that far to much of what we call Christianity is all about believing.

In defence of the Church I think this happens by default and not so much design.The implication is this; If I believe all the right things somehow I’ll be safe I’ll be OK. The greater implication, is that if we believe all the right things all the right outcomes will happen.The limitation with any belief system (I call it a system because it doesn’t bring, real, change) is that it only conveys information yet this information often feels like transformation.

The mouse feels like he’s making progress because the spinning wheel “feels” like progress any movement feels like progress, how often have you taken what you thought was a short cut and then ended up behind the same car. In much the same way belief systems create the feeling of movement,  eg: I know more about God, so therefore I must know God more. Its been proven that those who have the right orthodoxy are not the ones who live all the right things. Belief systems are static and stationary in fact they often keep people locked in. When it comes to doctrine we don’t encourage or engage people in dialogue and we don’t encourage, real, questions because it’s not about your questions it’s about the answers.

Because people have not taken the time to work through or question the answers the teachings are never assimilated into real life real living. How often have you spoken to a Christian who still believes exactly the same things he or she was taught 20 or 30 years ago even if the beliefs are now outdated and irrelevant.Strangely, We cling to things we don’t understand because the clinging often feels more important than the thing itself, it’s almost superstitious and medieval in its out working, in that if we don’t believe the right things something worse will befall us.

Christ is entombed in every life. Sadly, The gospel is presented in such a manner that Christ must first “come in”-thereby giving the impression that he was NEVER there to begin with. The western version presents Christ as having some sort of “sin-phobia” (and so we must first get “clean”).

One of the most misquoted verses is “Behold! I stand at the door and knock”. This idea sets up a precident-as I have witnessed in countless lives- that goodness and God are ALWAYS found OUTSIDE ourselves. I have met numbers of Christians who, still, see themselves as bad, sinful even wicked and this very notion was put there by a flawed dualistic view of the gospel.Paul says “Christ is all and is IN ALL”.

…In Australia significant numbers of people are on a spiritual quest, very few however see any connection between spirituality and the Church. The Church is seen as a place that is dominated by belief systems. Surprisingly, very few of these same people are looking for certainties-how can any sort of spirituality be explored within such a context?.

Many are dubious even deeply suspicious of certainty yet much more interested in mystery.It seems the Church is the thing that keeps people from Jesus yet is the very institution that purports to speak exclusively on his behalf. Any attempt the Church may make to co-modify Jesus / spirituality will lend itself to the same reaction or response as that of the commercial retail sector; we either buy it or reject it.

 

The Church has long lost its roots little realizing that people are seeking a journey with signposts and fingers pointing towards the general direction.The Church has packaged the person of Jesus removed his mystery and exchanged him for theological absolutes.

 

Last night I attended the Tabor Theological College 2011 graduation ceremony. I studied at Tabor for six years and during that time made many friendship’s and so last night I went along to see a good friend, and former fellow student, graduate.During my years at Tabor I saw many hundreds of students come and go through this institution.

Many students enrolled with the expectation that most, or at least many, of there theological certainties would be endorsed. For many students this was a very difficult transition and for many it was all to much and so they they left. If this is a challenge at a theological institution such as Tabor-and I’m sure this applies to many other colleges-what does it say for the average church attender who are largely uninformed.

Elton True-blood once said “an unexamined faith is not worth having”. During my time at 89.9 LIGHTFM I met many hundreds of ministers and Christians. My one endearing memory was just that; that most Christians have a faith premise that is not only ill-informed but largely unexamined. This is the basis for a great deal of angst and an even greater level of disillusionment.

For most church-attenders the theological level is not much greater than that of a Sunday school student. Its not the people are dumb or stupid-god-forbid- but more that the premise and or expectation of WHO God is, is not that much different. One only has to look at the interventionist thinking of many Christians to see that this is true. For many God is like the perennial life saver who “rescues and then retreats” and this in only ONE such example the list, of course, goes on.

The thing I appreciate about Tabor is that it endeavours to teach its students HOW to think It’s not, just, what we think but HOW we think that must be challenged. Sunday school is a good place to begin but a terrible premise from which many try to build a faith- life .

My time at the radio station showed me that many have a faith premise that is largely uninformed, unexamined and to make matters worse these same ideas are often untouchable for many they become the foundation that leads to many other absolutes.Its our unexamined expectations of WHO we think God is, that must be challenged. Little wonder that R, Rohr encourages Christians to embrace what he has called  “adult Christianity”.

We could begin by creating spaces where those in the second-half-of-life are not only recognised but somehow honoured and, even more important, their wisdom incorporated within the Church.The second half of life is not exclusively age related although the transition does often take place somewhere around the late thirties to early forties but for others it comes much sooner and for others, sadly, it never happens.The first half of life is the foundation of life or as Merton said “it’s the building of the container” it’s not only necessary but essential-just like as in life itself its an essential part in what it means to “grow up”.

Seems that most Churches are “stuck” in the first half. The adolescent stage of faith is defined essentially by ego needs.The need to be right the need to have theological absolutes, the need to define ourselves by who is in and who is out.Its all very insular and dualistic a self protective form of spirituality.Its about belief systems and having a theology that makes us feel right and others, therefore, wrong. There is nothing wrong with this in that its part and parcel of of what it means to be adolescent however if we find ourselves, still, in the first half lf life when we are in our forties and even older something is amiss. Training wheels should never be criticized they are there for a good reason but if one never learns to ride, independent of them, something is wrong.

Second half of life spirituality incorporates what has gone before, but now draws its life from a very different source.We don’t decide to make the transition it is done to us we are taken against our will.This transition happens when we go through some great difficulty, maybe its a serious sickness, a divorce the end of ones career or the death of someone close. It’s then that the, old, frame of reference no longer seems relevant or even necessary. Like Jonah we are taken down so that we can go up. It’s what some have called the gospel of descent it’s the gospel of descent that, paradoxically, becomes the gospel of ascent. We simply cannot go up unless we first go down-this is very much at odds with the message heard in many Churches where it is all about winning and knowing who we are in Christ and or living a victorious Christian life.When we finally emerge from the belly of the whale we are different people. It’s the end of ego-centred spirituality and the beginning of something that feels much bigger much more liberating but, equally, one that is now very hard to define even harder to describe. Like Jonah we now find ourselves in the sunlight of a new morning.

It  takes a major crisis because this seems to be the only thing that can disengage and dis-empower the ego.This is the meaning of the words of Jesus when he said ”he who loses his life will find it”. Like so many other verses this one has, also, been misunderstood.

At the heart of Paul’s Christology is the book of Colossians. According to many theologians the central theme of Paul’s Christology-and Colossians -is that in Christ all things belong Christ is all and is in all. Paul’s, very Jewish, understanding of YHWH is that God was at the centre of all things or- to use the words from a modern hymn-God’s centre is everywhere and his circumference is no where There is simply no place where God ISN’T. This is never passive but active, dynamic, always life-giving and affirming.

The gospel came to the west it then became westernized- in that it was influenced deeply by Greek platonic thinking it became a gospel that was best characterized by dualistic thinking. God was no longer at the centre of all things and so we had to keep on bringing him back to the centre we had to drag God back it became a divided gospel that said God is HERE but NOT there. The very idea that we had to accept Christ into our hearts -because he wasn’t there to begin with-is foreign to the gospel of Jesus and of Paul.

A better description for conversion is that-like the resurrection story- we let God OUT we simply cannot let God IN. When we  recognise where it is that God IS -rather than creating artificial places where God ISN”T- that is the very basis for where conversion takes place. Jesus said the kingdom of God is within this verse has come to mean all sorts of things but the obvious meaning seems overlooked that God is ALWAYS within and that the great tragedy is that we fail to see this.

 

Our operative God image is often a subtle combination of our mom and our dad and/or any other significant authority figures. Once we begin an inner life of prayer and in-depth study of sacred texts, we slowly begin to grow, and from then on it only gets better.

Grace does its work and creates a unique “work of art” (Ephesians 2:10). Most early “God talk”—without self-knowledge and inner journey—is largely a sincere pretense, even to the person who consciously believes the language (see teachings of Socrates, Teresa of Avila, Carl Jung).

The miracle of grace and true prayer is that they invade the unconscious mind and heart (where our real truth lies)—and thus really change us! It invades them so much that the love of God and the love of self invariably proceed forward together. On the practical level, they are experienced as the same thing! Adapted from Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, pp. 162-163