The Lion Laying Down With the Fattened Calf

It’s interesting… while Isaiah 11:1-10 sits well within history, it is ambiguous because it also sits above history. In a sense it defies time – it is ageless !  It’s like throwing a stone in a pond… The effect of that action is the release of a burst of energy that ripples out in all directions.

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, the Gospel evidences itself in particular actions, it inspires people with particular visions… Over time the Gospel establishes itself in ways that turns everyday experience on its head…

Imagine for a moment the possibility of a lion laying down peacefully alongside a fattened calf…

I remember visiting a game park in South Africa once. We came upon a grouping of cars and 4wds all stopped along the side of the road. There were a bunch of adults & children all hanging out of car windows, standing out of top of their sunroofs. Some were even sitting on car bonnets. All were pointing admiringly and looking through their binoculars at some far off tree.

And at the base of the tree was a pride of lions all lazing about in the hazy shade. The lions were all stretched out around a stripped zebra carcass.

Then the male lion stood up and yawned and roared. It was a huge sound and he was huge lion! Latent power was oozing from every muscle and sinew. From gaping mouth to claw to tail he was one efficient lean mean killing machine.

Then the park ranger pulled up in front of us. He started berating the tourists who were hanging out their windows and sunroofs and sitting on their bonnets.

He was gesticulating wildly as he drove home his well rehearsed mantra… “Usually… lions who have just eaten aren’t interested in people but you just never know! If for some reason they feel threatened and the male charges… you would be pushing it to get back into your car and to close the doors and windows before he would be among you… and the rest doesn’t bear thinking about… So don’t be so reckless & stupid… Get back into your cars.” 

Now I ask you… if that is the way of the world, can you imagine a time when a fattened calf and a lion could lie down side by side ?

There is a predictable certainty about all the violence & the harsh edge of this world. And yet the writer of Isaiah says, “Behold the one who is overwhelmed and filled up with the Spirit of God… this one who dares to truly live life consistent with that relationship. Behold what he will do… Those things you thought that were so certain, will all change because of his actions. And the changes will be startling, unexpected and beyond your wildest imagining.

They will be glorious to behold and they will amplify the power and the majesty of God”. 

When the Gospel begins taking root, its like the yeast in the dough… a little goes along way and changes the flour fundamentally. It is like a lion laying down peacefully alongside a fattened calf ! 

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. 

Immortal, Invisible God

Lately I have been thinking about Acts 12. The Apostle Peter is in prison when suddenly an angel appears to him but is seen by no other. This angel leads Peter past three sets of guards through one rather large iron-gate and Peter remains invisible… no one sees him. It reminds me of a passage in Proverbs (1:20ff)…  Wisdom is depicted as a woman crying out in the street, on the busiest street corners. She is raising her voice in the squares but the busy people passing by don’t even notice. Wisdom remains dimly perceived… invisible.

Then there is the arrival of Jesus the Messiah. He appears unexpectedly, invisibly – in the guise of a peasant baby in a rural Jewish backwater. Even the people who are aware of his coming are invisible, beyond the awareness of the Roman Empire & the Jewish Religious Establishment. They are Magi from the East and shepherds, the elderly Simeon & Anna…

Later, as Jesus begins teaching in Galilee… He startles people by pointing to the invisible ones… ‘Blessed are you who are poor… blessed are you who are hungry now… blessed are you who weep now (Lk6:20ff)… I tell you, whoever doesn’t receive the Kingdom like a little child will never enter it…’  (Mk 10:15). Even the practice of Jesus’ teaching is to be mostly invisible,  ‘And when you pray… go into your room and shut the door & pray to your Father… in secret’ (Mt6:5f).

And Jesus is humiliated… condemned to death. He is crucified publically, very visibly. Yet only three days later the Risen Jesus begins appearing to individuals and to small groups of his closest followers. He is present and reassuring, recognisable but different. As quickly as Jesus appears, he disappears again from their presence.

 This is the tension of our faith. We live in a world perceived through the senses yet our faith is in, ‘the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen’ (Heb11:1). ‘Day after day pours forth speech…’ all attesting to the glory of God in our world yet, ‘there is no speech, nor are there words, their voice is not heard’.

Our invisible God is more present & active in our world than we will ever know,  yet God mostly chooses to work below the radar and behind the scenes of human history. Amazingly God’s invitation is for us to participate with Him. We are His hands, His eyes, His ears and His feet…

I like what Abraham Heschel says. He says, “There are phenomena which appear irrelevant and accidental in the realm of nature but are of great meaning in the dimension of the holy.”  That means our mostly invisible, everyday actions, can be of great consequence in our world. And they are effective because they are mostly invisible !

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. 

Of Five Blind Men and an Elephant

 

blind_men_and_an_elephant

One day five blind men, who knew nothing about elephants, went to examine one to find out what kind of a thing it was. Reaching out randomly, each began touching & feeling it in a different spot. One man reached out and felt the vastness of its side, while another grabbed onto its ear. The third blind man stretched his arms around a leg, while another was feeling along the cool smoothness of a tusk. The fifth blind man became fascinated and entwined in the trunk.  

When blind men were all satisfied that they now knew the true nature of the beast, they all sat back down to discuss it.

“We now know that the elephant is like a wall,” said the first blind man. “The evidence for it is conclusive.”

Then ear toucher corrected him saying, “I believe you are mistaken, sir, the elephant is more like a large fan.”

“You are both wrong,” said the third blind man who felt a leg, “the creature is obviously like a tree.”

“A tree?”, questioned the tusk feeler. “How can you mistaken a spear for a tree ?”

“What?” exclaimed the fifth blind man who had felt the trunk. “A spear maybe long and round, but everyone knows it can’t move by itself. Couldn’t you feel the sinuous muscles of this creature ? It’s definitely a type of snake! Even a blind man could see that!”.

The argument grew more & more heated, until it erupted into a violent scuffle. The five blind men were punching off into the air as much as they were hitting into one another. All the while they were still arguing their particular points of view.

I really like the story of the five blind men and the elephant. I like what it says about the nature of truth… what it says about the enormity, the complexity of the reality we experience… moment by moment. I like what the story says about the nature of people – of men particularly.

How is it that people become so convinced about their own point of view ? How can they become so blind & stuck and hold onto their partially formed ideas to the exclusion of all others ? 

I like what the 13^th century Persian poet Rumi says about this story. He says, “The sensual eye is just like the palm of a hand. The palm does not have the means of covering the whole beast.”

I have been a Christian for twenty-plus years now and I have a similar sense about being a follower of Jesus. I agree with the Apostle Paul, living in the presence of an unseen God is like seeing through the glass dimly.

The Whole Torah

The Golden Rule. You know Jesus wasn’t the only one to commend the Golden Rule in his teachings. Hillel the Elder – a leading Rabbi of his Age – who was an old man when Jesus was just a boy – was once approached by a non-Jew and asked, “What is the defining essence, the kernel of the Jewish faith ?” Now the learned & wise man could have responded eloquently and long on the deep mysteries of Jewish thought and law. Hillel could have insisted that it would be an utter insult to reduce so profound a system of faith into one brief statement.

Indeed Hillel’s contemporary, the Great Rabbi Shammai, was infamously known for furiously driving away a man who asked a similar question with a stick.

However seeing the man really wanted to know, Hillel responded to the man’s question thoughtfully, saying,

“What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour: this is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary; now go and study !”

The Rock From Which You Are Hewn

God’s story woven into lives of ordinary men…

There’s an interesting word of encouragement that the prophet Isaiah gives the Jews when they are in Exile, when they were poised between the choice of assimilation and despair. It says,

‘Listen to me you that pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him and I blessed him and made him many’. 

I like what Walter Brueggemann says about theses verses. He says that Isaiah is saying if you want to seek God, look to the oldest, most embarrassing beginning we ever had. He says firstly, remember Abraham. On the one hand, he is the strange, impressive father of the faith who leaves his home at God’s command & goes out on a long journey. On the other hand, Abraham is also a pitiful figure – often helplessness and filled with fear.  Two times he gives his wife Sarah away to other men to save his own skin. Despite God’s promise of a child with Sarah, he sleeps with Sarah’s servant Hagar, to get an heir.

Often Abraham appears so confused, so unsure, so barely faithful.

And when you are done reflecting on Abraham, remember Sarah your mother. Sarah is the beautiful woman who other men desire. She is also the mother of Isaac, the promise carrier. However, when you remember Sarah, remember her oldness, remember her barrenness, remember her mocking laughter in the face of God when He promises her a son.

Yet when you remember Sarah, remember that this old and pitiful woman now laughs a new laugh – an Easter laugh. God uses her very barrenness to create newness. Sarah is the example for all barren people, who have within them no gift of life, no capacity for faith – yet God does something new and unexpected in the face of all the evidence.

What impresses me about this foundational story of Scripture, is what it says about the way God’s story is unfolding among us. Abraham and Sarah are people we can identify with because they are fragile and tentative, often moving forward with fear & hesitation. These are people just like us.

You know, God’s story often isn’t in the grand epics of history, the stories told by the winners. When I read the large sweep of Scripture, it seems to me that God’s story is mostly unfolding quietly, below the radar, twisting and turning – always with the very real possibility of failure. Yet when we remember this story of faith, remember that it is told and retold through the same fragile stories of other biblical characters. Remember the scheming of a timid Jacob, the stuttering of a reluctant Moses, the paranoid actions of a bipolar Saul, the treachery of a wife stealing David, the depressed and suicidal Elijah…

The very wonder of God’s story is that he achieves his purposes in the world through broken ordinary people, just like us.

Bruggemann says we remember these stories because they model faith and they invite faith.

We remember these stories because when these fragile people centered their stories in God’s story, they lived life BIG – filled with purpose, newness and imagination.

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 !

 

Sharper Than Any Two Edged Sword

Getting your head around the Cross is difficult. The Cross is really rather awkward in the sense of being clumsy & inelegant. Think about the metaphors we reach for to describe it. Think about the old hymn… “At the Cross, at the Cross – where I first saw the light & the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight and now I am happy all the day…” What about the words from a more recent song, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound; amazing love, now flowing down. From hands and feet that were nailed to the tree… His grace flows down and covers me”.

Part of the awkwardness of the Cross, is the holy paradox… the place of God-forsakenness is also the place where God is profoundly present. The Cross describes the execution of a particular man but it also describes the possibility of the crucified God, the very pain of God…

The paradox of the Cross is dissonance & tension – even anxiety itself, like being on the knife edge of uncertainty. Remaining here means the knife cutting deeper, ‘…piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow… able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart’ (Hebrews 4:12).  Imagine a deadend place of such brutality and physical violence also being the place of safety, of confessional intimacy and so… much… more…

The awkwardness of the Cross is that it is not just some kind of splendid vision that we observe, we behold and we adore. Instead, the Cross is the beginning of a journey right now - that will eventually take us to an unbounded place, to a place that even death cannot hold us back from participating in. A place where we will see God face-to-face.

The irony of the Cross is that its very awkwardness, its enigmatic character speaks most plainly about the lengths God is prepared go in his pursuit of people.