Supernatural

“The heavens are telling the glory of God… day after day pours forth speech…” (Psalm 19)

Supernatural… The other evening I was in an interview and I was asked what I understood by the idea ’supernatural’ ! Now I knew how I was supposed to answer but for a few moments my mind went blank. I was stuck ‘between’. I was thinking, “Why can’t I say something ?” Then in the expectant silence I realized I had moved on.

In the West we make a distinction between the natural and the supernatural worlds. The natural world is that which is – those identifiable rhythms that are part of the whop and weave of everyday life. The supernatural, on the other hand, implies a rather more occasional intervention on the part of a rather more distant God, like something from the twilight zone.

The problem with this dualism is that from our rational scientific viewpoint the supernatural becomes a rather exceptional blip on the horizon… a way of explaining the unexplainable. The supernatural ends up becoming a test for the true believers… those who embrace the superstitious and the magical !

Yet the Scriptures continually speak of the ‘Godness’ of the world… the intimate care and ultimate involvement God has with us and around us. I like what the prophet Hosea says. He says, “Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord; for his appearing is as sure as the dawn”.

The possibility of knowing God isn’t exceptional. It is certainly God’s initiative but his ‘appearing’, his presence resonates with the rhythms of the natural world itself. That God would make himself known, that God would make himself available to us is as sure and consistent and wondrously filled with possibility as a new day dawning. There is nothing supernatural about that but it’s certainly not ordinary either.

The idea of responding in awe and wonder is the idea of heightened awareness of being overwhelmed by moments, by experiences, by phenomena, by encounters that are supercharged. But isn’t that the journey of a disciple… the idea of perceiving the world with new eyes and new ears ?  This is an intensifying of everyday experience. In God’s reality the world sparkles & glistens… it is all supernatural !

Outwards and downwards.

Hasidic Storytelling

One morning, the Rabbi was walking through an uninhabited region with his disciples. “I am thirsty,” complained one of the young men, “I am burning, I am dying of thirst.”

The countryside was like a desert. There was no sign of water anywhere.

“Don’t worry !” said the Rabbi, “When God created the world, He saw your thirst as well as its remedy.”

Shortly afterwards they came upon a peasant. He was balancing two pails of water on his shoulders.

“My Lord has gone mad,” grumbled the peasant, “this morning he sent me here to walk backwards and forwards with this load of water – just like that, for no reason at all.”

“You see,” said the Rabbi to the thirsty student, “when God created the world, He arranged all this madness, so you might quench your thirst.”

The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me

The good news of the Kingdom is that God wants us to participate with him… God didn’t just send Jesus to save us as individuals. God’s plan is much, much bigger. Jesus stood up and read from the scroll of Isaiah in the Synagogue in Nazareth, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me”  (Luke 4:16-30) because that’s God’s model for redeeming creation.

Jesus says, “You know all those things you have been longing for in a Messiah ? Today, those things you have hoped for begin with me. God’s reign isn’t just still coming, it’s here right now. And I want you to follow me, so by an effort together we can begin repairing a hurting world. We can participate with God in putting it all… back… together”. 

That’s the way that God is choosing to work in our world. It’s mostly anonymously and invisible and below the radar. You see when our actions on behalf of justice and mercy resonate in tune with the purposes of God, they become so much more. They ripple out in all directions. 

Here Is My Servant In Who My Soul Delights

Traditionally Isaiah 42:1-9 describes one who is known as the Suffering Servant. There is definitely a sense of weakness and vulnerability about this figure in verses 2 and 3. “Here is my servant… he will not cry or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street”. This is one who lives among ‘bruised reeds’ and ‘dimly burning wicks’. This sounds like a subjugated person, a slave whose spirit has been broken… a man living from day to day who does what he is told.

However I also notice that this is vulnerability & weakness that has been turned on its head.

Scripture also says, “I have put my Spirit upon him”. And the suffering servant’s task is nothing less than bringing equity and justice to the nations. This is one who will redress the imbalance… And Scripture says, “…he will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice upon the earth”. Wow ! That is no small task for one who is an exiled foreigner in a strange land.

And what or who makes this possible ? v6 “I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations… I am the Lord, that is my name.”

I suppose my question here is, ‘Is this what it means to begin living life in ever increasing circles ?

It’s interesting… Abraham Heschel makes the comment that no other problem has occupied OT scholars more than the identity of the Suffering Servant. Who is he ? Is he the prophet who wrote the passage ? Is the suffering servant the whole of exiled Jewish nation ? Or is he the Messiah, the one who is to come ?

A couple of weeks ago I described the writing of Isaiah as deliciously ambiguous. This means that over time it seems to accrete more & more meaning. While a passage like this sits well within history, it is ambiguous because it also sits above history. In a sense it defies time – it is ageless.

That’s the remarkable thing about the Gospel… When people open themselves to the Spirit of God there is something remarkably consistent about the outcome. It gives people particular priorities, it evidences itself in particular actions, it inspires people with particular visions… Over time it establishes itself in ways that turns everyday experience on its head… Imagine for a moment the audacious possibility of a subjugated exiled foreigner, an alien bringing forth justice to the nations. Imagine an expat community of weakened Jewish exiles without a country being given as “a covenant to the peoples, a light to the nations”.

I call this living life in ever increasing circles…   

The Heartbeat of the Universe

‘What is God doing among us ?’

I spoke in church on this topic yesterday. I thought it would be a great opportunity to look at the many changes the church has negotiated over the last twelve months or so. I thought it would be the perfect occasion to dream forwards, painting a picture of what I thought this church could become. But then I read the question… 

You know, it is easy to be apart of a faith community that declares Jesus is Lord, who worships and prays to God Sunday by Sunday, who are even effective in reaching out into their community. It is much more difficult to be apart of a community who are aware of what God is doing among them.  

It struck me in a way that left me feeling uneasy… I can become so busy personally doing ‘good’ for God – that I can so easily miss out on what God is doing.

I was chatting recently with a wise grey haired friend of mine who pastors a Baptist Church in Sydney. He said something during our conversation that stuck with me. He said, “All we ever have to truly concern ourselves with as a church is what God is doing among us and getting into sync with that… participating with God in that”.  

That sounds straight forward enough, even like common sense. Yet when you really think about it, when you reflect and ponder on it for a while… the practical implications are huge. This is about a community developing an exquisite sensitivity to the Spirit of God, so that God’s purposes and the intentions of the community are one. It’s about finding a way to resonate together, to vibrate in tune…

So the million dollar is, ‘What is God doing among us ?’ ‘Are we aware and sensitive and participating with God in that ?’ It’s like standing on the edge of a yawning abyss and trying to work out how the next few moments might pan out if you take a few steps forward. There is fear… there is anxiety… there is halting hesitation. 

Yes We Can

On Wednesday afternoon this week, I walked in from a day of being out & about. I turned on the TV and began watching the closing stages of the US presidential election. Seeing Barack Obama, listening to him speak and the crowd’s reaction was electric. I felt that tingling sensation of particularly significant moments in life. 

And I thought to myself, ‘Why am I responding this way ? This is an American election!’ (I live in Australia). Then I realised, this man inspires me…  He inspires me in a way the John Howards and the Kevin Rudds of this world don’t.

Now I don’t know if Obama can deliver on what he says he will do. Time will tell. Politically he is a lot less experienced than either John Howard or Kevin Rudd but the invitation of his victory speech in Grant Park, Chicago – was clear. It was to participate with him, to journey forward together. His message was despite the challenges, despite all the difficulties ahead, as Americans united together, our creed will be, ‘Yes we can !’

It’s interesting… the Jesus I read about in the Gospels also inspires me. As a follower of Jesus I don’t want someone on my side who necessarily has all the answers, who says, ‘Follow me because I know what to do’. I’m not sure I even want a hero – someone of amazing courage & strength to save the day!  When life gets tough, I want someone who stands right by me in solidarity, who listens to me and accepts the imperfect reality of who I mostly am.  

When I read the Gospels Jesus is like that… Sure, he is anointed by God and there is a thunderous voice from heaven saying, “This my son with who I am pleased… listen to him”. However what makes him a credible witness and so popular among the people is his accessibility. Jesus listens to people, he eats with social outcasts… his stories & his words inspire, offering hope and acceptance and healing.

The Jesus I encounter in Scripture is mostly weak and vulnerable. When they punch him he buckles over in pain, when they beat him he bleeds, when he looks out over Jerusalem… he cries out of a breaking heart… overflowing with compassion. 

Jesus’ invitation to people is no secret formula. It is no hidden way to a prosperous life. Jesus’ invitation is to follow him, to participate with him so that together following God in all his ways becomes a journey filled with possibility and hope. Our creed is, ‘Together, empowered by the Holy Spirit… yes we can participate with Him in repairing the brokenness of a hurting world’.

This is the Jesus who inspires me… the Jesus I want to follow. 

Oral Bible

It’s interesting… the larger part of the Scriptures is narrative. Most of the Bible began life as oral storytelling. The very DNA of the Scriptures are narrative units designed to be memorized. 

In Jesus’ day, Jewish boys between the age of 6 & 11 yrs, would go to their local Synagogue for school and the focus of their studies was the Torah. Apart from learning to read & write Hebrew, kids would memorize Genesis through to Deuteronomy by heart. Kids who showed particular aptitude would move on to memorize the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures then the next step was the oral traditions – the Mishnah – that included the rulings of particular rabbis down through the centuries. Beyond that, gifted students would become disciples of particular rabbis. So if the memorization of Scripture was the foundation of Judaic discipleship, I’m wondering why we don’t use narrative memorization in the same way for kids in our churches ? Particularly if we want our kids to grow into mature disciples of Jesus.

Kids learn & think initially in very concrete ways right up into their teens. The type of Bible teaching that seeks to draw out underlying principles for personal application is much more abstract & suitable for adults. My teaching experiences over the years have taught me that narratives stick much better than principles. Kids seem to get clever at reading truth into stories at a surprisingly young age.

New Tribes Mission pioneered the oral storytelling method as a way of introducing the Gospel to animistic tribal groups. They would begin with the Old Testament and over the course of six months, up to even a year, they would move through to Jesus & the Gospels. The idea was to imbed Jesus’ story in God’s much bigger story that we encounter in the broad sweep of the Scriptures. 

Similarly, when my wife & I were working in Africa, we worked among a people group who were mostly illiterate. That meant they were oral learners & as we discovered over time, truth imbedded in narrative is very important to learning and holding important information to these kinds of people. One of the questions I started asking myself was, “What if we gave people an oral Bible instead of a written one ? What narratives from Scripture would it need to be made up of to capture the broad sweep of the Scriptures & the kernel of the Gospel ?”

As the stories of Scripture become a rich part of our psyches, they flavour our imaginations, our actions and thinking a lot more than our traditional deductive styles of teaching. I wonder if that is why Jesus taught using parables.

He trusted people, with the help of the Spirit of God to come to truth & insight by themselves.

The Idea of North

During the week I began the process of putting my philosophy of ministry down on paper. This is what it is looking like so far. A work in progress… 

“My philosophy of ministry is strongly flavoured by my experiences overseas. I embrace this and am attempting to translate that experience synergistically into my context here.

Consequently, I am passionate about mission as an organising principle for a community of disciples who gather around Jesus as their living middle. I am committed to discipling practices that ground people in the deep channel of Scripture and a developing Biblical worldview.

I am committed to building spiritual maturity to the point where it is self-sustaining, sensitive to the Spirit of God and actively seeking accountable relationships with other disciples who are further along in the journey. 

I am committed to helping people discover & exercise their spiritual gifts both individually & corporately, to creatively experiment & to tenaciously fail forwards together for the sake of Kingdom of God.

I am committed to modelling an authentic & costly discipleship that moves beyond prestige and comfort for the sake of those who are yet to encounter Jesus anywhere in our Global village”.

Reflecting on what I wrote yesterday, I know I don’t always do what I say above very well… sometimes I get sidetracked. Sometimes I am scattered & selfish and I get shunted off into a siding for a while. When I am open and focused, I resonate in tune with the Spirit of God & my life as a disciple is about getting habitual about the rhythms of the Kingdom. 

Cover Yourself With the Dust of Your Rabbi

In the ancient world, a disciple who accepted the call to follow a rabbi, entered into the inner circle of that master, sharing life in all of its intimacies – warts and all. The aim of being a disciple was the application, the translation of all the long learning & memorization of the Hebrew Scriptures into real life lived under the watchful eye of the Rabbi.

A disciple would follow his rabbi everywhere. One of the sages of Mishnah, Yose ben Yoezer, used to say, “Cover yourself with the dust of [your rabbi’s] feet, and
 drink in [his] words with gusto.”

The idea of being covered in the dust of your rabbi came from something that was a common sight in 1st century Palestine.

I like how Rob Bell describes this… He says a rabbi would be walking down a dusty local street and right behind him would be his students doing their best to keep up with him, as he went about from place to place teaching his yoke. By the end of the day, the disciples would have the dust from whatever their rabbi had been walking in literally caked all over them.  

Covering yourself in the dust of your rabbi… this is what devotion means when you are a disciple of Jesus.

Walking On Water

There is a narrative whose presence in the Gospels leaves me feeling slightly off balance. Its like a splinter in my imagination…

6 times the story of Jesus and his followers out in a boat on wind blown waters at night appears in the gospels. In each telling some elements of the story remain the same – the disciples, a boat, the wind, their unbridled fear – yet the identity of Jesus is elastic and ambiguous !

In some instances Jesus is in the boat and in other instances he is out of the boat walking on the water. The disturbing thing is that when Jesus is in the boat up close and personal, those who know him best are left asking the question, “What sort of man is this ?”  Out of the boat he appears at distance like some kind of ghost or phantasm and the disciples cry out in fear and terror. Neither option brings relief.

As the boat moves out onto the water, away from the crowd and the safety of the known, it is as though it slipped through a crack between the worlds. The disciples took Jesus out in the boat ‘as he was’ yet out on this margin Jesus expands and intensifies. In sleep his dreams evoke the restless, primordial, creative possibilities of Genesis – the storm like ‘a wind from God over the face of the waters’ – pregnant with change & newness. Likewise his prayer alone on the mountain evokes Moses and encounter with holy Otherness – the storm moving before him like ‘the voice of the Lord… over the waters… the God of Glory… thundering’ – powerfully declaring the One who walks on water.

John captures this ‘holy otherness’ when he tells the story. In his telling, Jesus doesn’t calm the storm. He instead reveals himself to them as ‘I am – do be afraid’ & when the disciples try to take him into the boat, they instantly arrive at the their destination. What happens in-between happens on Jesus’ terms. And Jesus will not be contained or domesticated.

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me

Over the last 2000 years the Cross has become loaded up with symbolism. In the vast flow of human history and experience, the Cross hangs like some vast, dynamic constantly moving orb. Like oysters encrusted on a ferry pier – the Cross is dense with century upon century of accumulated meaning. Like the pull of some massive sun, simply standing at a safe distance and observing is not an option.

It reminds me of Simon of Cyrene – an observer in the crowd as Jesus comes by struggling to carry the weight of the Cross. When Jesus stumbles, Simon is chosen from the crowd by a Roman soldier and the Scripture says he is ‘compelled’, strongly encouraged – some would say even forced to carry the Cross of Christ. The picture painted is one of reluctant & unavoidable participation.

And Jesus declares to his followers this is the way of the Cross, “If any of you wishes to come after Me, you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me”. (Mt 16:24)

Perfection = Mercy

The Sermon on the Mount has many demanding teachings. Perhaps the most confronting for me is Jesus’ injunction at the end of his teaching on loving enemies. He says, “Be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect”. It’s interesting when you look at what Jesus says in his similar teaching in Luke’s gospel, instead of using the word perfect, Jesus says, “Be merciful just as your Father is merciful”.

Perfection in Matthew equals mercy in Luke’s gospel. Being perfect just like our Father in heaven means being merciful.

So this is love expressed as mercy, generosity, openness, sensitivity & forgiveness… As disciples of Jesus, this our way of being in the world that impacts everything that we do.

Arms Wide Open

The Sermon on the Mount. These words of Jesus are life… life lived abundantly, generously, with arms wide open. They create the space for us to live life BIG, to embrace today – even when the storms of life come. These words are demanding because every stroke and letter is absolutely brimming with the merciful, compassionate and grace-filled way that God deals with people. These teachings of Jesus are what it means to live life naked and exposed in the very presence of God himself.

That’s why everyone who hears these words of Jesus and who acts on them are like the wise man who built his house upon the rock. The rains came down and the floods came up. The winds blew and beat on the house but it did not fall because it was founded on a firm foundation. I like what Rob Bell says about storms. He says it’s not like the storms might come. Storms come. The difference between a wise and a foolish man is in their ability to weather the storm. 

He Who Saves One Life, Saves the World Entire

Living life naked and exposed in the presence of God himself. I think this is what Jesus has in mind in his teaching of the Sermon on the Mount… why it is so demanding. We are not merely talking about Jesus giving new order to the parameters of Jewish religious life or even temple worship, but the Spirit of God being granted access and transforming all areas of life. Anything that has God in such close proximity is deeper, wider and higher than ordinary living.

You see when we dwell in close proximity to the Scriptures, when we turn them over again and again, when look back over their writing down through the ages – something becomes very clear. God has priorities. God desires some things more than he desires others…   

Like the time Jesus calls Matthew the tax collector. Jesus is sitting eating a meal openly with a number of tax collectors and other social outcasts. Some Pharisees are walking by and they ask Jesus’ disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with those kinds of people ?” And Jesus, hearing what they are saying, turns to them and replies, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy not sacrifice’”. 

Jesus says this because as a good Jew who had memorised the Torah, word for word – Jesus knows God’s priorities. God desires mercy more than he desires sacrifice. God desires compassion more than he desires contemplation. God desires our hearts more than he desires our intellectual ascent.

Why ? Because the goal of life isn’t purity and holiness – that’s a by-product. The goal of life is an intensity of living, a fullness of life, concretely focused into habits of action that help to repair the brokenness of a hurting world. It’s like the Jewish Talmud says, “He who saves one life, saves the world entire.”

Really Turning the Other Cheek

“You have heard it said, ‘You shall not murder’ and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment’. But I say to you that if you are angry with your brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment…”.

“You have heard it said, ‘An eye for an eye…’. But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also…”.

 “You have heard it said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”.

 

I really feel the stretch of Jesus’ teaching in these passages from the Sermon on the Mount. When I reflect on how my own life measures up to the Sermon on the Mount, I have a sense of missing the mark, of failing daily. In my darker moments I would be sorely tempted to just… give up !

Now, I also balance this with the tension of experiencing God’s grace, of my sense of assurance that the blood of Jesus covers my sin, that before the throne of God I am already declared pure, holy, acceptable, with a righteousness that is not my own. The freedom of it allows me to enter boldly into the presence of God Himself.

While the grace of God releases me from the overwhelming sense of guilt that comes from working hard for salvation, I also wrestle with the tension of scriptures like Mt 5:20, that says, “unless our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, we will never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven…”. What about John 14:12 where Jesus says, “The one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and in fact will do greater works than these…”. 

Words like these create tension, they create discomfort and uneasiness within us about the teachings of Jesus. I wonder if the anxiety & dissonance is Jesus’ intention, indeed God’s intention for Scripture in general ?  You see I think God can work with us in those places. He wants access to all areas of our lives. I think these are the teachable moments, the places where Jesus teachings can be translated into meaningful action that flavours our total response to living. 

Rather like a wise man who builds his house upon the rock….

 

Turn It Over & Turn It Over Again

There’s an ancient Jewish proverb from the Talmud I have grown rather fond of. It goes like this, “Turn it over and turn it over again, for everything is contained in the Scriptures. Regard it, grow old in it and never abandon it, for there is no greater virtue.”

During the week I have been reading through the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel. I have been turning it over again and again, I feel have been regarding it to the point where it has grown rather old. Thankfully, I didn’t abandon it.

For me the Sermon on the Mount has been personally demanding reading. It has made me feel contrite & reflective about the quality of my discipleship; even the integrity of my walking with God.

You can’t read very far into the Sermon on the Mount without starting to feel the weight of God’s glory, the light of his holiness pouring into all the nooks and crannies of our mixed intentions… even filling the yawning gap that exists between our words and our actions.

Like John Calvin before me, I notice that these series of teachings read more like a dense compilation of many teaching sessions, rather than one singular occasion. There doesn’t seem to be that logical, sequential development of an argument that one would expect from a master teacher, delivering his message.

Instead each topic appears like its own particular teaching, concentrated & hard-hitting – complete in and of itself. 

Jesus Yolk

Jesus didn’t leave much behind. It occurred to me the other day, he didn’t bequeath any property or buildings, any wife or offspring, Jesus didn’t write anything down, he didn’t leave behind any revolutionary guerrilla army, he didn’t leave behind a new religion or liturgy.

Remember Jesus said, “Do not think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill it. Truly I tell you, not one stroke or letter will pass from the law until it is all accomplished”.

What Jesus left behind was his yolk… his interpretation of the Scriptures and a rather disturbing life lived in the light of those interpretations.  It was a life lived in contrast and challenge, dissenting against the status quo and the prevailing power structures of the day.  It was a life lived swimming up stream against the status quo.

Instead of an Adventist Jesus walking along all serene and white and surrounded by smiling children and adults and wild and tame animals, think of a Jesus filled with righteous anger overturning the tables of the money changers in the Temple causing disruption and chaos in all directions.

Let’s face it, if you were a reputable lending institution, would you approve a home loan for such a person ? As disciples we are called to take up our Cross and follow this Jesus – not just to believe. If we are truly Jesus disciples then why have so many of us been granted home loans ?

The only tangible thing Jesus left behind were his band of disciples and his final instructions, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations… teaching them everything I commanded you”.

If all Jesus left behind his yolk, his disciples and his instruction to make more disciples, then why do we hold on so tightly to our property, to our buildings & particular ways of doing things; whether we sing particular songs in particular ways, how many times we come to church, the particular ways we dress ? Why do we hold so tightly onto these things when Jesus modelled living life in the face of a deep and passionate embrace of the Scriptures, a life in the intimate presence of the Father, in actual connection to a circle of disciples ? My question is why don’t we grab more tightly onto these things ?

Jesus reaches down from the Cross, he grabs hold of us and he says, ‘Come and die’ ! The challenge of that is which Jesus do I believe in ?

Is it gentle Jesus meek and mild, who I adore and contemplate or is it the grubby, human peasant Jesus -  with the roughened hands of a carpenter in the Gospels who calls me out to follow ?

I believe in the Jesus who, “though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but instead emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born on human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross”.

I pray for the courage to travel where he leads and to do so just as lightly ! 

Like Old Men Dreaming and Young Men Seeing Visions

This is what happens when mission comes home…

In Acts 2, the Disciples are all gathered waiting expectantly. They are sitting in an upper room where they were staying in Jerusalem. Jesus has just ascended into heaven and the Scriptures say the Disciples were occupying themselves by constantly devoting themselves to prayer.

Suddenly, the room is filled with a sound like the rush of a violent wind. Then tongues of fire appear among the Disciples. Scripture says they are filled with the Holy Spirit & they begin speaking in a great variety of languages. This experience is so overwhelming, that it draws the Disciples out onto the street below. They are speaking in this incredible diversity of languages and they are quickly surrounded by a large & curious crowd. Now the crowd is confused because people from all over the Roman Empire are understanding what is being said by these Jewish disciples in their own native tongues.

Then Peter gets up and he addresses the crowd. He says, “You may suppose that what you are witnessing here is a group of people who have been drinking too much. Let me assure you, my companions are not drunk… It is only 9am in the morning. No, this is what the prophet Joel spoke of in the Scriptures when he said, “In the last days… God will pour out his Spirit and your sons and daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams… and everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved”.  

Scripture goes on to record that when Peter finished speaking, that the number of people in Jerusalem, who ‘welcomed’ his message and were baptised that day, numbered 3000 people.

This is mission vision. This is what happens when mission comes home. This is the Spirit of God drawing near and holy bedlam breaking out. This is messiness & diversity, it is a tremendous energy expressed as movement outwards. This is the Spirit of God being present and His people responding with an amazing clarity of purpose.

You know mission often takes a while to find its rhythm. However, once it begins to truly sing, it spreads like a wildfire. 

Go And Learn What This Means

Sometimes blogging intensifies the chances of people missing each other. At times it seems to lack the intimacy of two friends who through an effort together can clarify confusion or continue speaking about an issue until they vibrate in tune.

 

Recently I asked the question, “What would happen if we allowed mission to become the focus of our churches instead of worship ?” Out of the hit and miss world of the internet I got back this comment… “A church that is first and foremost mission-oriented is a church of works. Works are both wonderful and needed in the world but they must be God working through us rather than us doing what make us feel good…” Now keep in mind I titled my post, ‘I Desire Mercy Not Sacrifice’… This is a direct quote from Matthew 9:13, where Jesus is being criticized by his rabbinic peers for eating with the wrong kinds of people. Jesus is reminding the Pharisees of a verse from Hosea that is saying that true knowledge of God translates into merciful actions on behalf of undeserving others rather than pious temple sacrifices.

 

I make no apology for saying it is time to refocus the church around the organizing principle of mission when the church is losing ground in this country. I’d have no trouble gathering around the organizing principle of worship if 80%, 70% even 60% of people in our communities declared the Lordship of Jesus. The problem is the truth that on any given Sunday there is less than 10% of people who do that.

 

Jesus says to the Pharisees, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice…” because fundamentally discipleship means being a sent one. The Kingdom of God propels people out into a hurting world to engage with those who don’t yet know Jesus, to stand in solidarity with them where they are, to serve them compassionately, mercifully. Amazing grace is the knowledge of God expressed as compassionate action among undeserving men. John 20:21 sums up this idea, “As the Father sent me, so I send you…”.  

“Doing what makes us feel good”… for me this kind of activity is costly, mostly sacrificial… going against the flow. When I think back to my experiences of mission in Africa and South East Asia sometimes they were oh so sweet, often they were just plain hard. Yet the stretch of those experiences made me more God dependent, more sensitive to what the Spirit of God was doing.  

I pray for the refocusing of the church around the organizing principle of mission because the organizing principle of worship isn’t releasing the Kingdom of God and holy bedlam into our communities.

 

“Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24) The prophet Amos spoke these words because his vision of Yahweh was the vision of the missionary God – the mystery of a never-ending surging, fighting movement.

The Undecidable Ghost or Derrida Revisited

I have been thinking about life out on the margins. For a while now, I have been particularly interested recently in what lies beyond the boundary of the margin – chaos. It strikes me that Jesus walking on the water in the storm is Jesus at ease in a field of chaos. Jesus deliberately takes his disciples into that place. There Jesus is neither terrified or diminished. We usually talk about the Jesus who calms the storm – what about Jesus creating the storm ?

When Jesus is walking out on the water and the disciples see him they think he is ‘a ghost’. Jacques Derrida says there is something interesting about ghosts – he calls them ‘an undecidable’. The figure of a ghost seems to be neither present or absent or it is both present & absent at the same time. There is a tension – a dissonance in this in-between place that breaks open the meaning of things. 

Life has many such tensions. The story of Jesus – the ghost – walking on the water is one. Our faith is based on the rock-solid idea that Jesus is the God-man ! Think about that tension – the church fathers argued about how that was possible for nearly three centuries. As Derrida says there is an uneasy tension in those kinds of paradoxes and for me that isn’t rock solid – that is dynamic & fluid – expanding and intensifying then contracting again – forming and un-forming – like Galadriel when she is offered the ring by Frodo in the ‘Fellowship of the Ring’. 

When I think about Jesus as the Rock, it makes me think about perspective. For example, from a distance a large company like Walmart appears rock solid – institutional, a solid pillar of free market retailing. Yet I wonder if the daily experience of Walmart up close is more asymmetrical & dynamic – a lot less certain. Jesus called Peter ‘the Rock’ and he was all over the place.

When the disciples respond in terror to Jesus walking on water and in fear to the storm – Jesus’ movement is toward them and His words restore peace – easing their discomfort. Jesus is rock solid & consistent in his expression of the pathos of God – God’s compassion & care ! Yet peace on the waters comes at the expense of stepping away from the experience of Jesus in his Glory !

GK Chesterton in his book ‘Orthodoxy’ says, “… the more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild.”

Give me a Jesus who is rock solid but also give me an elastic Jesus who expands and intensifies to become a volcano in full vent !

 

What If Mission Came Home

Last Sunday evening I attended the commissioning of some friends who are preparing to serve in overseas mission. It was inspiring to here them speak with passion and honesty about their desire & intention to serve God in South East Asia. Their challenge came as a question, “How could we simply kick back into home renovation and career building when there are so many people who have yet to hear about Jesus right on our doorstep ?”

Over the last few weeks I have been reflecting on the question, “What happens when mission comes home?”  I have been seeking to challenge the idea that mission doesn’t just belong with the 1% of christians who leave their homes and travel to other lands where the Gospel isn’t. Mission and mission practices belong right here at home as well. Mission could be the organizing principle around which we re-orientate the whole church. Supporting missionaries in other cultures could be but one expression of our total mission vision.

I was reading back through the covenant that my wife & I made with our home church before we left for South East Asia in 2005. In that covenant we said the following,

“We identify the centrality of the missional task within our own lives as disciples of Jesus Christ. We reaffirm our desire to follow God where he leads and to be His witnesses & disciplers in those places. Through the Holy Spirit’s enabling we will seek to creatively evoke and to nurture the Gospel as a powerful & vital alternative to the dominant culture in which we will live. We renew our commitment to open our lives to otherness & difference so that we may authentically connect & participate in the lives of others”.

As a consequence of this statement we committed ourselves to a number of concrete practices. Firstly we committed ourselves to weakness that deliberately sort the role of a learner & a lifestyle of simplicity. Next we committed to listening & sensitivity that sort discernment from the Spirit of God, fluency in language learning & nonjudgmental insight into the cultural practices of the people with whom we will work. We committed ourselves to hospitality that sort to create nurturing & safe spaces where storytelling, discipling & worshipping communities could thrive. Next we committed to advocacy biased on behalf of poor and marginalised people that sort their participation in processes of reversal, empowerment, transformation, healing & reconciliation – so they could experience the presence of the Kingdom of God among them. Finally we committed ourselves to excellence in our professional roles.

As I read back through this list of concrete missional practices I find myself asking the question, “If we were prepared to commit ourselves to these things over there then why can’t we commit ourselves to those same practices back here in Australia ?”

I Desire Mercy Not Sacrifice

Mission as an organising principle… I was listening to Michael Frost talk about this in the last couple of days. He was saying he has a fear of mission becoming a style thing, of it being domesticated when it should be dangerous and costly and totally reorientating. His is a vision of mission as a never-ending, surging fighting movement.  It’s interesting… Jesus says to some rabbis who are critical of his eating with social outcasts, “Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy not sacrifice”. What would happen if we allowed mission to become the focus of our churches instead of worship ?

When mission is the organising principal discipleship is key. The goal is one of maturing to the point of knowing what to do to personally grow and doing it. Disciples are even deliberately pursuing accountable relationships with people further along in the journey.

This is the vision of a church who breaks out of its building and seeps into the cracks and crevices of it’s surrounding community. It is always listening, sometimes participating in the conversations of the community, even starting some of those conversations. In mostly quiet, unassuming ways, whenever it encounters pain and violence and oppression, it offers solidarity and hope and healing.

It is the vision of a church whose edges are permeable, where sensitivity & awareness reaches out from its very middle, to the ends of the earth. 

It is the vision of a church that is deliberately creating spaces for people and experiences beyond itself, allowing them to get close. This affects disciples in costly ways – including the use of their time and financial resources, even relationships. It is a church that engages in ministry enterprises and experiments that are provisional, home grown and have every possibility of failure.

What would happen if we allowed mission to become the focus of our churches instead of worship ?

Holy Bedlam

Luke 4 describes Jesus spending time in the desert, out in a place where people and civilisation were absent.

Out in the desert under the blazing sun, Jesus is distilled & concentrated so that all that’s left is a focused and very determined Son of God who finds the heart of what his mission will be.

Scriptures says that Jesus returns from the desert filled with the Spirit of God, and the very next Sabbath he stands up in his hometown Synagogue and reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me… The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and the recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.”

What is Jesus saying here ?

Jesus is boldly declaring what is called the Great Reversal. Essentially Jesus is saying that the Spirit of Almighty God is leading him to engage in concrete actions that will fundamentally reverse the status quo.

In other parts of the Gospels this movement to reverse the vast litany of injustice in the world is called the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God refers to a future time when all peoples will be united in all their diversity in a kingdom of justice and righteousness and mercy. There will be peace and equal prosperity and even harmony among men and women. Essentially the Kingdom of God is a future time when the reign of God will be universally recognized and established among people.

The message of Jesus was that this future is has made its beginning. It is breaking into the world right now in the person of Jesus.

What impresses me about Jesus is that he walks out from the Synagogue, through the middle of a murderous crowd & does exactly what he says he will do. And as he wanders about teaching his gentle message of freedom and justice and reconciliation, while he is healing people and working miracles – Jesus attracts a vast following of people from all walks of life. At the same time Jesus deeply offends other people… people of power and influence, people whose position is best maintained by keeping things exactly as they are.

Now the outcome of Jesus pursuing his mission was that the religious establishment conspired to killed him. And the outcome of that conspiracy ended with Jesus being killed off on the Cross.

What makes this Great Reversal so potent is that 3 days later Jesus began appearing again to his closest followers.

And you know what, Jesus’ message didn’t change after he was resurrected. Instead of saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…”, Jesus tells his followers, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon you because he has anointed you to bring good news to the poor. He has sent you to proclaim release to the captives and the recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.”

“Go on, go and share this teaching with all people. Go make disciples of all nations… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…”.

By the time the Apostle Paul begins writing to the early Christian communities, this broad sweep of Jesus’ teaching has been distilled and concentrated again into a potent confession that propels would be disciples on their way. It says, “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord & believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved.”

Here we have it… People who follow after Jesus, people who say Jesus is the main thing are people who deeply, truly, profoundly believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. As a result they begin to re-orientating their lives around the teachings of Jesus. They become participators in the Great Reversal. They seek to embody God’s justice and mercy and goodness. They group their lives together and they become God’s alternative community and the Risen Jesus is their ‘living middle’.

When people associate their lives together, when this Risen Jesus becomes the living middle, then it is possible for community to arise among them and the Kingdom of God spreads like a wildfire !

Storm’s Coming…

There are 6 stories about Jesus immersed in a storm that appear in the Gospels. Like all good stories about chaos, these stories get told from different perspectives.

In Mark’s telling of the story, Jesus sends his disciples out in the boat, and he goes off to a nearby mountain to pray. Soon, the disciples are out in the open water, it is dark and the wind starts whipping the waves up into a frenzy. We are given an image of the disciples straining & struggling to control the boat in the large swells. Off in the distance they notice a figure walking towards them on the water and they are terrified because the disciples think it is some kind of ghost. Jesus calls out to them, “Don’t be afraid. It’s me !” Then he gets into the boat and the storm ceases. And we are told that the disciples are utterly astonished.

The good news is when the storms come – not ‘if’ they come but ‘when’ they come – when chaos descends and overwhelms our lives – Jesus is not diminished or made irrelevant. Far from it, Jesus is at ease and amazingly present and powerful in those places.

In Mathew’s telling of the story, he focuses on Jesus’ disciple Peter – who is an experienced fisherman & a close friend of Jesus. In those moments after he sees Jesus walking on the water in the storm, Peter steps out of the boat and starts walking towards Jesus. What amazes me about this picture, is that while this is 2 steps beyond the reason of a smart fisherman, Peter has begun to encounter Jesus on his terms. Think about that for a moment, Peter is encountering Jesus on his terms when he steps outside of the boat. And what happens ? In this God space of holy chaos, a fisherman can walk on water.

For some reason Peter takes his eyes off Jesus – Rob Bell says he begins doubting himself. Peter notices where he is standing and he is gripped with fear. As Peter begins to be swallowed up by the angry water, Jesus reaches out his hand and grabs hold of Peter and together they return to the safety of the boat.

The good news is that when the storms of life come, Jesus is powerful and present and we are wonderfully held.

In GK Chesterton’s book ‘Orthodoxy’, he says, “… the more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild.”

Give me a Jesus who is rock solid but also give me an Elastic Jesus who expands and intensifies when all about me is a storm of chaos !

 

Judas Kiss…

“…And falling headlong, he burst open in the middle…” (Acts 1:18)

Ernest Hemingway says, “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” What an amazing statement. What an ennobling and heroic observation of the persistence of the human spirit. And yet I have a question  for Mr Hemingway ? He speaks of the many but what about the others ? What about the others who die despairing and broken ? Broken at the broken places… What about all those who fall headlong – bursting open in the middle so that all their bowels come gushing out ?

Judas the disciple of Jesus was one of those. Why is the silence surrounding him so deafening ?  It make me wonder…

Judas must have had great potential. He was chosen from among many, to be an apostle no less. He must have been trusted and methodical because he was the keeper of the common purse. Judas must have been a consistent man, steadfast and unbending.  Why ? Because Jesus fully knew his dark & terrible purpose.

Judas the apostle. Judas the visionary, Judas the impatient man of action. Judas – the man who kissed life passionately with his mouth wide open.  Judas who kissed my Lord and betrayed into the hands of his enemies.

I want to ask… Why Judas ? Why ?

What was it that drove you to despair & quiet desperation ? What blocked all your sense of a bright future and left you curled up in the corner in fear ? Judas, what caused you to fall headlong – bursting open in the middle so that all your bowels came gushing out ?

I had a friend called Matt. He was a quiet and thoughtful man of great potential. He was a deep thinker, strong and unbending when he set his mind to it. On March 10, 1998, Matt died in his car – he took his own life in quiet desperation, silently despairing  - bursting open in the middle and all alone ! He was only twenty years old.

And I am still left wondering… Why Matthew, why ? I still miss him !

Imagine…

God’s reality is… that disciples live between… they are catalysts… bridge people… heralds of the new kingdom… God’s alternative community whose actions are like Jesus’ teachings… shattering, opening, inviting ! Outwards and downwards ! 

Anybodies…

The thing that amazes me about Jesus is that he took the 1st century model of rabbi & disciple and he turned it on its head. Instead of taking the best of the best, Jesus begins his ministry by calling anybodies – men like Simon the fisherman, and Matthew the tax collector.

Jesus starts with a small band of anybodies – men who seem to be constantly struggling to understand and apply his teachings – men who at times are so barely faithful. And using discipleship as the means of connecting people – as the engine house, if you like – Jesus begins a movement from this small band of anybodies and they end up changing the world.

No wonder Jesus says, ‘I can guarantee you this truth: Those who believe in me will do the things that I am doing… indeed they will do even greater things…’(Jn 14:12). Jesus believed that his circle of disciples could become like him. Jesus still believes that those that follow after him can be like him, that they can still do even greater things…

Actual Attachment…

I don’t think the quality of our attachment to Jesus today is merely metaphorical. Discipleship still translates into actual attachment.

It is our intentional connectedness to an actual circle or community of other disciples who are focused on Jesus. As we open ourselves up & share the very fabric of our lives together, these people become the concrete face of Jesus – they are Jesus within, between and among us.

Our actual concrete connection to Jesus also translates into the intimate connectedness we have with Scripture and the solidarity & help we offer to the stranger, the alien and even our enemies. 

Adhesion…

It was generally customary for a disciple in Jesus’ day to study under the same Rabbi for years. They would develop a deep bond – a relationship of great love and respect. Adin Steinsaltz says that the relationship between a rabbi and his disciple was generally held in ancient times to be more important than that between a father and his son.

The Mishnah even says,“When one is searching for the lost property both of his father and of his rabbi, his rabbi’s loss comes before his father. His father brought him into the life of this world, however his rabbi, who taught him the way of wisdom – of the Torah, has brought him into the life of the world to come”.

So against this background Jesus’ rather startling words in Luke’s gospel begin to make sense… “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26)

Jesus is making it crystal clear that the attachment between a rabbi and his disciples comes first.