How Christian is your bomb?

The present up scuttle in the world is that termed the "War on Terror". News photos and headlines reflect the world's angst over the Iranian nuclear program and North Korea's launch of a crude missile system that could deploy a weapon of some sort to the west coast of the United States. These jihadists must be stopped at all costs even if it decimates the populations of the world in the gross tonnage of munitions expended.

Philip Yancey in his book "Finding God in Unexpected Places" details the peaceful overthrow of Communism in Germany based in the city of Leipzig. There a handful of Christians, and I mean a handful, began to pray and seek God for the relief from their burden because they had no access to the centers of political power as we do in the West their only resort was prayer.

As their numbers grew they began peaceful nonviolent candle-light vigils and marches through the city streets. As their numbers swelled to thousands to almost the entire city population the secret police began to threaten and harass them. In a final showdown the East German dictator threatened to shoot the protesters as they gathered and silently marched through the city. One evening which was to be culminated with a church service the air was thick with tension; the police had orders to shoot to kill. As the church doors opened the Communist party members stormed the church and filled the pews, the protesters simply marched upstairs and sat in the balconies and the worship ensued.

It became apparent that the protesters were seeking nonviolent solutions to the problems they all faced. In short the dictatorship toppled and a stream of East Germans flowed through the wall unmolested for the first time since its erection nearly a half a century before. The power of prayer and vigilance not based in political power or expedience, but of hopeful expectance in a loving God won the day.

As I’ve written elsewhere we pray our prayers and go to bed at night under a nuclear umbrella that has the capacity to unleash enough destructive power to exterminate 100 million people in the span of time it takes to watch a prime-time sit-com.
John

Several years ago I began to read books by authors that opened-up a pathway through the forest of my existence that led me through the deep shade of despair.

These folks instead of ignoring the presence of despair, embraced it, some gave vivid depictions of sitting on the curb in front of a de-tox center, drunk and in the ministry. Others have written of monumental changes in ministry focus that removed them from the company of intellectuals to those whose spirits caught the winds of creation that their enfeebled minds could not. Others yet spoke to the pugilistic indulgence of modern Christianity which uses the Gospel as a battering ram to crash the gates of society, of invading the person like a beachhead.

The conquering church of the Crusades is alive and well from their point of view misguided in a quest yet again to Christianize the culture and dilute the gospel. Revelations as Philip Yancey writes has little to speak of Rome other than to term it "The great whore of Babylon" yet names the churches of Asia and their specific sins and calls them individually to repentance. He concludes that if the gates of hell can't prevail against the church why bother about the peccadilloes of a culture.

The church has lost its way in being salt and light; salt as it seeps into the meat of society gives it flavor and preserves it, light illumines and relives us of fears. I sat in church the other evening as our pastor spoke to the issues raised by the cultural phenomena of "The DaVinci Code". He wasn't an antagonist, he was an explorer reminiscent of Copernicus, or Michelangelo, or others who've bridged the frontiers of belief and the cosmos. In contrast it seems to me we Christians whip out the microscope and in reductionist mendacity divine how finely we have split the hairs of religious arcania. Or we telescope our existence into an eschatological fantasy land, sell tickets to same and wait in long lines for the ride to begin; meanwhile life passes us by.

My journey and hence journal has notations and stops along the way that have been refreshingly real, and sometimes unpleasantly awakening. My illusions, my attachments, and my creation of Castles in Spain take on a Quixote-esque proportion of windmill crusades. Though despair isn’t the “100 acre wood” I dwell in it is also not a foe any longer; but as Milne left a pot of Hunny, so I’ve found a repast, a table set in the wilderness by the Father.

John

A few moments ago as I sat in my lawn chair out back I was thinking, praying, meditating about how the kingdom operates. Here's what occurred to me; Jesus doesn't manage, He reigns. As indisputable monarch of God's Kingdom, Jesus does as He pleases.

He does things from his divine nature and from his humanness that is untainted by sin, co-equal, co-existent; part of the Trinity has human DNA in it. Ok so where ya going with this one John? I believe accountability is a two-way street. For instance if in my holding you accountable I make it so difficult or unbearable for you to be obedient then I'm accountable for that. I'm a fallen human with fallen motives. Jesus however has divine motives His experience of suffering all things and enduring all things uniquely qualify Him as an advocate for us with the Father as intercessor.

Jesus knows of the human condition, of being tired, irritable, sad, lonely, happy, aroused sexually and otherwise. His emotions were in full sway when He cleansed the temple, driving out the merchants and opportunists as a judgment some say on Israel's faithfulness. It says in scripture that we won't be tempted beyond what we can bear, yet we still fall. Our accountability to Him isn't based on a juridical quid-pro-quo, but on our relationship with Him. Because of this He makes our failing bearable, our falling short not a place of isolation but of communion.

Because of His divinity there is part of the Trinity in us. God has chosen to make His abode in us. We are called by Him to make our abode in Him as well. How's this done? We learn to trust as Nouwen says our inner voice. I'm in a struggle in my church that I attend at present, my inclination for self preservation is to fight, to argue, to gossip and build a case and if all else fails trump them with the finality of "Adios Amigo".

I've had days of inner dialogue of conversations with the person I'm struggling with and in the meantime trying to pray, to hear that inner voice. I sat out in the backyard this morning and resignedly told Jesus, "You allowed this to happen." Not in an accusation but a resignation to the fact, the usual course is to ask what the reason is, what do I learn from this, what didactics are at play here. The thought came to me Jesus rules, he doesn't manage, what's that mean I asked. Silence, more silence, I pace, I fidget, I get on line, I get something to drink, I sit down and still silence.

Ah, silence, "don't just do something stand there". When Jesus slept in the back of the boat as it swamped for Him there was silence, for the others there were pragmatics, solutions, seamanship, they sought to manage the problem. When aroused Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves, the "managers" of the boat just quaked in their boots (or sandals as the case may be) now more afraid of Jesus than the storm. They wanted a managerial solution from Jesus, He swept the storm aside and on azure calm seas He rebuked them for their lack of faith.

Not to end our session on a flannel graph note of ascetics, and approbations of faith but Jesus hasn't called us to manage our lives. It is foreign to Him to consider doing anything else but reign. We've heard countless imprecations by some authoritarian Pooh-Bah on our lack of faith for not being in control of the situation. Nothing further from the truth of reigning could be said about needing to be in control.

Jesus responded to Pilate's query don't you know who I am, with a similar question. The difference being that Jesus actually knew who He was and it didn't come from a signet ring or a Procurator’s banner as a symbol of power. Jesus didn't need a seal other than the seal of His blood, it held in it the power of His being; both divine and human, co-equal, co-existent. It's still silent on my inside; the voice of my inner self says "be quiet" and watch. No running around grabbing the tiller, dropping the sail even bailing water, just hang on and watch, watch Jesus, watch the Lord Jesus.
John

Several years ago I came upon a book by Michael Yaconelli entitled "Messy Spirituality". The subtitle says it if not all at least well "God's annoying love for imperfect people."

If you've had some rough sledding in life and especially in church like me, I think you'll find this short book to be an epiphany. I still sport extruder marks from the Play-dough factory of my Christian experience of yore so things like "Unspiritual Growth" and "Odd Discipleship" piqued my very intense interest.

Or as Brennan Manning's friend in New Orleans banner reads on her living room wall "Today I'll not should on my self". Someone tells her she should go back to college, go on the mission field, or she should do some thing she replies, "Don't should on me." I dare you to say that and not smile.
John

In the upper left hand of the screen I'm typing on is one of my most favorite words I know in the English language-create. As a child one or another of my kindergarten or elementary teachers sent home a note saying that I didn't color in the lines, my mother's curt reply, "Thank God!"

The church, by and large, has a poor record of encouraging freedom. She has spent so much time inculcating in us the fear of making mistakes that she has made us like ill-taught piano students: we play our songs, but we never really hear them because our main concern is not to make music but to avoid some flub that will get us in dutch.
-Robert Capon

Man has set out at tremendous speed...to go nowhere.
-Jacques Ellul

The domestication of Christianity has been a pet project of the church it seems for many. We nod approvingly at terms like balance, growth, perspective, and maturity. We sanctify the smoothing-out of life, the niceness of Christians, and the aplomb of spiritual professionalism. Henri Nouwen writes of the need for us to realize the tremendous value of being true to ourselves as God made us.

"It is not going to be easy to listen to God's call. Your self-doubt, and your great need for affirmation make you lose trust in your inner voice and run away from yourself. But you know that God speaks to you from your inner voice and that you will find joy and peace only if you follow it."

The Inner Voice of Love.

John

Finally I got a window seat on the last leg of my trip to and from Missouri last weekend and I looked at the landscape passing by from thirty-thousand feet. The Mississippi river course lay below amidst a quilt work of fields, towns and roads, a lake here and there accented the view. What interested me though was the riverbed which in some places had changed course and left a closed circuit of an Oxbow lake. In other places the river had almost doubled back on itself on its journey finally to the sea, the Gulf of Mexico. Ancient glacial moraine has tumbled down this valley in these muddy waters and contributed to the very mass my home rests on today.

It was among other things a picture of the journey I've had as a believer; of going about getting there in a circuitous routing my failures and weaknesses as a Christian gouging out a course in life. My record as a believer has been one of as much downs as ups, maybe more. I've shredded the Ten Commandments, from the avarice of coveting to murder in the form of character assassination of a foe, to adultery and fornication in the desperate hope of finding acceptance. I could tell you about grace and God's love at this juncture, of how He's sustained me which would all be true and significant.

What I find remarkable about the Father is that He knows about the sharp bends, the pain, the undercurrent of motivation, the eddies of fidelity, in short that which causes pain. Brennan Manning remarked that Jesus was attuned to the pain of humans in His earthly ministry and was drawn to it. He ministered acceptance to the woman at the well, He allowed the worship of a notorious town prostitute in a Pharisee’s home, Simon was wise and well connected, she was considered disposable. The lepers He healed and sent to the elders of that city not only cleansing them of their disease, but relieving them of their disgrace and rejection by the religious system of the day.

Fortunately for us He's equally well tuned to our pain and places of anguish and shame, and moved to reach out to us and embrace us in a healing posture. I hope to tell more of my story in the time to come and thanks in advance for your companionship!
John

Welcome! I'm sure John will have wonderful thoughts to share with all of you soon. I'm the techie wife who is helping (and encouraging) him to do so. I hope you enjoy his humor and meditations on life as much as his family does.
Kind regards to all. . .