Psalm 109:8- The Misuse of Scripture

To call this new campaign by the religious right misguided is an understatement.  Below you’ll find a newsclip focusing on the religious right’s (mis)use of Psalm 109:8. The video which follows is a well-articulated rebuttal to such fear-based violence from a monk at All Saints Monastery.  May we begin, as Christians, to spread the message of God’s love once again.

Theopoetic

Have recently ordered Theopoetic by Amos Wilder, my curiousity piqued by L.B.C. Keefe-Perry’s animated ruminations on the Theopoetics website.  Keefe-Perry also has a new website, The Image of Fish, which I believe will spark many constructive conversations.  Check it out.

“You can’t build an empire out of dialogue.”

and other great thoughts as L.B.C. Keefe-Perry discusses theopoetics and the emergent church:

Can the Church Really Show Christ’s Love If…

If you’ve read the past few entries in this blog, you may know that I am in a bit of a transition church-wise.  My home church is a wonderful, caring, giving, living group.  However, I find a lack of peers of which I can truly relate to.

The new church I’ve attended has more of my peers age-wise, but a couple of things caught my eye today which made me pause and wonder if I’m on the right track.  I’ll just mention one here, since it relates to video shown below.  On a table showcasing a bunch of theological books was a card advertising a book company called  Exodus Books, which had many titles regarding homosexuality, as in Healing Homosexuality and Reparative Therapy for Male Homosexuality.  I immediately cringed.  Despite its openness and welcoming attitude, despite its “hip and relevant” decor and demeanor, this church was, however subtlety, negating the worth and value of someone made in the image of God.  I’m sorry, but I don’t believe that someone “chooses” homosexuality.  I believe they are born that way, and it is no genetic defect or inherent sin manifestation, or whatever fear-based titles you wish to put on it- who am I to say how God creates one of my fellow human beings?  And therefore, to see this card, to see how someone could be “repaired,” was quite, frankly, offensive.

Therefore, stumbling across this video allowed me to breathe a sigh of relief.  Forgive the interviewer, you interjects too many “yeahs” and “uh-huhs” for my taste.  The message still gets through loud and clear…shouldn’t it be about the love Christ taught us?

Not Alone.

Today I learned that I do not control the universe.

Having all my lesson plans ready and organized for the coming days, I went to pick up my wife from work.  On the way, I thought I’d give a quick call to my parents, to let them know I was alive and assuage the guilt of not calling them for over a month.

Long story short: my father has been sick.  Quite sick.  My sister and brother-in-law too.

For the past three weeks, he has battled high temperatures, joint pain, chronic fatigue, and faced a barrage of tests which have poked and prodded him, including an extraction of bone marrow.  His blood platelet count is down, and he has tested positive for Lyme disease.

Needless to say, a bit concerned here.

For the past few weeks, I have been restless, wanting to put my faith into action, dissatisfied with the lack of discussion and questioning of my home church, Emmanuel, and seeking new places to connect with my Christian peers.  I’ve wanted to take the reins with my walk with God and determine the new and next paths to go down.  This has been a good thing, partially.  But I’ve also allowed myself to become a bit self-absorbed, withdrawn, and irritable.  Not exactly a place of openness and communication.  Which, of course, would lead to grace, if my impatience would give it just a moment to seep into my shielded soul.

So for all my renewed theological arguments, I’m reduced to a speechless state of worry, and only able to offer my father the words “I’ll pray” and “I really want you to get well.”

Left simply to recognize my worry and concern, and offer it up to He who says “I am with you.”

Even though I’ve wanted to be by myself.

I now know I am not.

I don’t know if I really believe that sometimes, but in either case…

Grace and peace.

Hope.

Not from my heart, but from the hearts of others:

Beautiful post from Anne Jackson on FlowerDust.net.

 

Inspiring Daily Show clip Brian McLaren posted on his site.  

 

Thoughts on Tradition…

I’m currently in conversation with people on Julie Clawson’s blog (onehandclapping) which involves a discussion of tradition.

Interesting, thought provoking stuff.

The Violence of Commitment

The violence we should use in religion is the violence of commitment:  Using every means you have as a creative being to bring yourself closer to God…I believe that everybody on earth was created in God’s image.  We are all related in being created.  So I, as a created [being] have to respect other created things.  That’s what I mean when I say putting God at the center.  He created us this way.  We have to learn to live together.

Such were the words of an Orthodox Christian nun of the St. Mary Magdalene monastery located at the Mount of Olives who  Bruce Feiler spoke to as part of the stirring conclusion of his book Where God Was Born.  This nun exemplified the passionate position that the God of Christianity is a God of Love, not hate.  Therefore, when I need to send my friend Liz a link to Rob Bell’s Bullhorn Nooma video, to provide her with some relief and hope after she stumbled across this, I am convinced more and more of the need for the gospel to truly be the Gospel- the Good News of a loving, compassionate God.  If we as Christians remain quiet while our misguided fellow brothers and sisters in Christ preach a message of hate and exclusion, instead of the redeeming message of love and inclusion spoken from the lips of Jesus, then where exactly do we stand?  Book Burning?  Is this what we want to be reduced to?  Or shall we be lights in the darkness, bringing peace and love to those we meet, regardless of race, sexuality, creed, etc.?

Feiler writes that “religion can only be saved by religion,” that the “only force strong enough to take on religious extremism is religious moderation.”  I believe he speaks the truth in this regard.  Do we want to be content to shout from the mountaintops our “rightness” or feed the poor and hungry at the foothills?  No matter what translation of the Bible you read, care for the poor, the widow, and orphan is pretty self explanatory.

For too long we have allowed the message of Christ to be used as a weapon, not as a unifying force for good.

Sometimes Art Comes From What We Walk Upon

This clip has been circulating all over the net, including two on my Google Reader, PeterRollins.net and Solar Crash.  I don’t think I have anything particularly insightful to add in addition to the “wows” and “OMGs!” I’ve seen elsewhere regarding this fascinating artist from Ukraine.  I will say that I took the opportunity to show all my students this clip, a moment of sharing where I stepped out of my normal curriculum just to, as I stated to them, “not analyze, but witness something beautiful.”  It felt freeing to go with this moment, the impulse not to simply teach, but share.  I hope and pray I have more of these moments this year.

Coffee and Theopoetics

Today a day for my mind to ramble and explore.  Currently reading Speaking in Parables by Sallie McFague and The Orthodox Heretic by Peter Rollins, both of which explore the metaphoric implications of parables.  Upon researching Sallie McFague’s bacckground online, came across Theopoetics(dot)net, a fascinating site exploring the relationship between postmodernism, narrative, poetry and theology.

All of this culminating in what I hope will be a better understanding of my role as a teacher of literature and my ongoing journey of faith.  The two had seemed almost disparate, but the more I explore and read, the more perspectives I have encountered in the past three years, have served to show me a connection between the two hitherto ignored or unseen.