Theologian Paul Tillich defined God as that in which you put your ultimate trust. As such, everyone has a god ... even the atheist who still puts their ultimate trust in something. It's been said that humans have a natural inclination to believe in God, some have even speculated we have a "God gene." That could very well be, but what kind of God do we believe in?
There are a lot of folks who believe in what I call a "lucky rabbit's foot god." This is the god they call on when some crisis hits but who is otherwise either taken for granted or largely ignored at other times. This "lucky rabbit's foot god" is an interventionist deity that waves a finger and poof things happen.
Outside of a crisis, this god is fairly benign - this god definitely does not demand we transform our lives and priorities. But when a crisis hits, those who believe in this god will pull him out like a lucky rabbit's foot and pray for deliverance from the crisis at hand. If their prayers are answered the way they want them to be, it's proof in the power of the lucky rabbit's foot god to deliver the goods. If the prayers are not answered in the manner desired, either it's written off as "god's will" or belief in any deity runs the risk of being rejected outright as irrelevant. I think this god is the one being largely rejected by those who describe themselves as "spiritual but not religious," agnostic or atheist.
Christianity is often perceived as a faith which promulgates belief in an interventionist god. Well, I'm a Christian and I don't believe in a "lucky rabbit's foot" interventionist god. I believe in a relational God who is over, under, in and through all things ... ALL things. I believe we encounter God through our relationships with each other and with creation. This God cannot just be pulled out at our convenience and put away when we're done. Instead, this God lives in an ongoing relationship with each of us and makes demands that we reorient our lives and priorities to live in harmony as God intends. This God demands we live in harmony which requires us to "do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God." This God demands we be reconciling people who forgive those who harm us and seek oneness with each other and all creation.
Prayers to this God do not take the form of bargaining or cajoling. Prayers to this God serve to open us to live more authentically in our relationships - to be fully free and honest about who we are. These prayers are always answered in the affirmative because becoming more real is what God wants for us. These prayers bring peace and harmony regardless of the outer circumstances of our lives.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Things that make you say "Huh??"
I had a great trip to Devon PA last week for the Interim Ministry Network's Fundamentals of Transitional Ministry course. It was a three-day course, so I was up in the Pennsylvania Dutch country for a bit.
I had pass through this area in 1986 when the main east-west route (Route 30) was not much more than a two lane road. It still is in spots, but the closer you get to Philly, the more like a freeway it gets. As I approached Lancaster, the heart of Amish country, I found myself on a six-lane freeway buzzing along at 55 mph ... much too fast for horse drawn buggies!
But just east of Lancaster, Route 30 went back to being a four lane country road, albeit dotted with the big box stores and name brand restaurants that are generally ubiquitous but were unknown in the region 20+ years ago.
At one point, the line of traffic veered just a little to the left to get around a horse drawn Amish buggy replete with flashing lights and red reflective triangle on the back of it. Just as I came upon the 19th century carriage and overtook it ... in front of a Chili's restaurant! If only I had my camera ...
I had pass through this area in 1986 when the main east-west route (Route 30) was not much more than a two lane road. It still is in spots, but the closer you get to Philly, the more like a freeway it gets. As I approached Lancaster, the heart of Amish country, I found myself on a six-lane freeway buzzing along at 55 mph ... much too fast for horse drawn buggies!
But just east of Lancaster, Route 30 went back to being a four lane country road, albeit dotted with the big box stores and name brand restaurants that are generally ubiquitous but were unknown in the region 20+ years ago.
At one point, the line of traffic veered just a little to the left to get around a horse drawn Amish buggy replete with flashing lights and red reflective triangle on the back of it. Just as I came upon the 19th century carriage and overtook it ... in front of a Chili's restaurant! If only I had my camera ...
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Going home again
American novelist Tom Wolfe once said, "You can't go home again." Insofar as going home is the fantasized return to the way things were at some time in the past, he's absolutely right. You can return to a place or people, but it's not the same. You're not the same and neither are they.
I'm thinking about this as I've accepted a call to return to my home congregation, St. Mark's Episcopal in Lappans MD, as a temporary (9 month) part-time Assistant Rector with the charge of working on evangelism and communications. Some may wonder about the first part of that charge as many think Episcopalians don't "do evangelism." Somehow that "e-word" has become a loaded one and strikes fear into the hearts of many mainline Christians who immediately conjure up images of street preachers haranguing passers by. If that's the image your thinking of when you think of "evangelism," that's not what I'm talking about either.
I was listening to Marcus Borg being interviewed yesterday on NPR (don't ask me the program name, I didn't catch it!). I read his book The Heart of Christianity and I highly recommend it - especially to those for whom a literal Biblical interpretation leaves them cold. He made the comment that the decline we have witnessed in the church (attendance and people who identify themselves as Christian) has much to to with Biblical literalism. He feels that many have fallen away because the paradigm of only taking the Bible as literally, factually acurate has not worked for those of us living in the age of scientific discovery and technological progress.
I saw this with my father-in-law. In many ways, he was post-modern ... before there was a word coined for it! He was raised by a mother who was a Southern Baptist and took the Bible as the absolutely factual and literal word of God. When he went to Japan in WWII, he was part of General MacArthur's occupation force. What he saw there marked him. He never talked about it, but we got a glimpse of it when we went through his personal effects after he died. He was in Hiroshima three months after the atomic bomb - we have pictures of the devastation. He encountered people who did not know about Christianity, but who were genuine and good people. He saw the worst of war. He then returned to his family of origin whose Biblical literalism and black and white thinking just didn't square with what he'd been through. After his mother died, he stopped going to church completely.
I can't say for sure, but I think he came to a place where he thought that if being a Christian meant having to take the Bible literally as inerrant fact, he didn't want any part of it. The idea that there was another way to interpret the Bible (as metaphor and image) just didn't occur to him. We had some good conversations about other interpretations when he was alive. It usually began with him saying, "Well, you know I don't believe that crap, but do you think ..." and what followed would be a very interesting question on faith. Whether it was the literalism of the creation stories in Genesis (yes, stories ... Genesis 1 and 2 are different accounts!), or whether or not Jonah really did get swallowed by a great fish, or why did God choose the Jews, he had lots of interesting questions about the faith.
I think one of the things I value about the Episcopal Church is that it is a place where questions are honored and even celebrated. To me, that's part of evangelism. Evangelism comes from the Greek (yes, the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding would be at home here). Euangelion means to tell good news. That's what being an evangelist is - someone who tells good news. I think it's good news that you can come to an Episcopal church with all your doubts, questions and even unbelief and not be judged or condemned - we think God loves you right where you are and will love you and be patient with you as you wrestle with your faith!
So I am going home again, in a way, but in a different role to help tell (and teach others to tell) the good news of what God is up to in our area.
I'm thinking about this as I've accepted a call to return to my home congregation, St. Mark's Episcopal in Lappans MD, as a temporary (9 month) part-time Assistant Rector with the charge of working on evangelism and communications. Some may wonder about the first part of that charge as many think Episcopalians don't "do evangelism." Somehow that "e-word" has become a loaded one and strikes fear into the hearts of many mainline Christians who immediately conjure up images of street preachers haranguing passers by. If that's the image your thinking of when you think of "evangelism," that's not what I'm talking about either.
I was listening to Marcus Borg being interviewed yesterday on NPR (don't ask me the program name, I didn't catch it!). I read his book The Heart of Christianity and I highly recommend it - especially to those for whom a literal Biblical interpretation leaves them cold. He made the comment that the decline we have witnessed in the church (attendance and people who identify themselves as Christian) has much to to with Biblical literalism. He feels that many have fallen away because the paradigm of only taking the Bible as literally, factually acurate has not worked for those of us living in the age of scientific discovery and technological progress.
I saw this with my father-in-law. In many ways, he was post-modern ... before there was a word coined for it! He was raised by a mother who was a Southern Baptist and took the Bible as the absolutely factual and literal word of God. When he went to Japan in WWII, he was part of General MacArthur's occupation force. What he saw there marked him. He never talked about it, but we got a glimpse of it when we went through his personal effects after he died. He was in Hiroshima three months after the atomic bomb - we have pictures of the devastation. He encountered people who did not know about Christianity, but who were genuine and good people. He saw the worst of war. He then returned to his family of origin whose Biblical literalism and black and white thinking just didn't square with what he'd been through. After his mother died, he stopped going to church completely.
I can't say for sure, but I think he came to a place where he thought that if being a Christian meant having to take the Bible literally as inerrant fact, he didn't want any part of it. The idea that there was another way to interpret the Bible (as metaphor and image) just didn't occur to him. We had some good conversations about other interpretations when he was alive. It usually began with him saying, "Well, you know I don't believe that crap, but do you think ..." and what followed would be a very interesting question on faith. Whether it was the literalism of the creation stories in Genesis (yes, stories ... Genesis 1 and 2 are different accounts!), or whether or not Jonah really did get swallowed by a great fish, or why did God choose the Jews, he had lots of interesting questions about the faith.
I think one of the things I value about the Episcopal Church is that it is a place where questions are honored and even celebrated. To me, that's part of evangelism. Evangelism comes from the Greek (yes, the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding would be at home here). Euangelion means to tell good news. That's what being an evangelist is - someone who tells good news. I think it's good news that you can come to an Episcopal church with all your doubts, questions and even unbelief and not be judged or condemned - we think God loves you right where you are and will love you and be patient with you as you wrestle with your faith!
So I am going home again, in a way, but in a different role to help tell (and teach others to tell) the good news of what God is up to in our area.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)