Slowing Down and Creating Space

I ran across this at a conference I recently attended. Slowing down, creating space for God, friends, life, leisure, is always a challenge. The poem is metaphor for the need we all have to create that sacred space.

Fire
By Sam Intrator and Megan Scribner in
Teaching with Fire: Poetry That Sustains Courage to Teach

What makes a fire burn
is space between the logs
a breathing space,
too much of a good thing,
too many logs
packed in too tight
can douse the flames
almost as surely
as a pail of water

So building fires
requires attention
to the spaces in between
as much as to the wood

When we are able
to build open spaces
in the same way
we have learned
to pile on logs
then we come to see how
it is fuel, and the absence of fuel
together, that makes fire possible

we only need to lay a log
lightly from time to time
a fire
grows
simply because the space is there
with opening
in which the flames
that know just how it wants to burn
can find its way

Easter as First Degree Murder

This week, Christians all over the world will celebrate a murder. As a matter of fact, if you want to get specific, it was a murder, a betrayal, and pretty much a lynching fueled by a bunch of self-righteous religious prigs. Thomas Merton, writing about this lynching, says that Jesus was put to death on the cross because he did not measure up to man’s conception of his holiness. I think that’s profound. Most people in my tradition will be quick to note that it was we, humankind, who really murdered Jesus. The religious and political leaders were really accessories to the crime, a crime that was first committed in a park years earlier by the first man and woman. But the murder, with its corresponding resurrection, after a short stint in the morgue, was way more than a simple homicide. It was one act in the drama of redemption where God rescues and restores his creation after things go terribly wrong.

Why did Jesus have to die? Why couldn’t God just forgive? Why the big deal about the cross? It’s really not that complex. Lets say I wreck your car. You can force me to pay for it or you can forgive me, which means you end up paying for it. Any way you cut it, someone pays! That’s life. Now, in Christianity, our offenses against God are of horrific proportions. They are way more than just wrecking his car—though I suspect he’d not like that either. These sins, as they are called, are so offensive that we are considered “hostiles” or “enemies.” In fact, by our actions, we’ve declared war on God and God declares it back! Therefore, someone is going to have to pay. Either God pays or we pay!

And because God is both infinitely loving and infinitely just, he chooses to pay for us. (He can’t be loving without being just because it would be unloving to be unjust.) So God enters our world in the person of Jesus and by his exemplary life and sacrificial death, he shows us both how to live and saves us from how we lived. Because he pays the cost of our indiscretions we don’t have to. And by his resurrection he proves that he is God and promises us what’s to come. This payment is received by faith as it would be if I wrecked your car and you chose to pay the damages. He saves us from our self-condemnation and from our self-righteousness. This has profound implications too broad for this post.

I realize that this message is not popular today. I also realize that there is an entire segment of “Christianity” that pays little attention to the propitiatory (Oooo—big word!) element of this and focuses primarily on Jesus as a good example. But that misses the point. Ghandi was a good example. Jesus claimed to be God. At any rate, it’s the reason a significant segment of the worlds population will celebrate a murder. I start celebrating Sunday.

Burp Castle--a review

I visited a local pub with my daughter not long ago. It’s called the Burp Castle. It’s in the East Village so just going down there is like going to a circus. It claims to be the Temple of Beer worship. Now, I’m not a big beer guy but this place is fun. The tenor of the place is quiet so you can actually talk. When it gets too loud the bar dude (or dudette) says, “SHHHHHHH” and the place actually quiets down. There’s a picture of Jesus on the wall with grains and hops in his right hand instead of the Word of God or a sword like he’s described with in the New Testament. I’m not sure I like that, but I understand what they are trying to do.

Frankly, it’s the kind of place I think Jesus would have spent some time in, though I’m not sure he would have appreciated the way they pictured him on the wall. He looks kind of wimpy and way too religious with angel sort of things around him celebrating the grain and all. But it is sort of normal to bring Jesus down to our level these days. He’s easier to manage that way! People want to manage Jesus instead of letting him manage and take leadership over their lives. But there I go—getting all spiritual and stuff. I can only imagine how the New Testament writers would have written about this image, “And out of his mouth came grain and…” Not an overpowering picture of the guy who claimed to be God! Instead of riding on a horse, like it says in the Bible, he’d have to be riding on a combine! That kind of Jesus is a little too small for me and certainly not in line with what the New Testament says. Matter of fact, its that kind of wimpy Jesus that turns me off to religion. That’s not the real Jesus. You can’t control the real Jesus. But that’s another story.

It’s a fun experience if you want to be with people. If you don’t like people, don’t go there. The place is always crowded!!! They don’t serve food just high quality Ales and a good atmosphere. It’s small and you can easily walk by it. The address is 41 East 7th St., New York, New York. Enjoy! It may even be a good place to talk about Jesus!

Christmas as Breaking and Entering

God should be thrown in jail. “For what?” you may ask. For breaking and entering. In American law I think that’s more than a misdemeanor when you enter and then actually take something-which he clearly did, eventually. Let me make my point.

We are at the season when Christians everywhere celebrate this breaking and entering; God’s felony. That’s what Christmas means. God broke in—to our world. He came in uninvited. The whole Christmas story of the baby in the barn with the angels and all that is about the start of God’s heist, about his breaking and entering (which leads ultimately to a murder but I’ll talk about that in my Easter post). Most Westerners seem out of touch with the crime. I’m not sure why. I’ve had someone break into my house, and believe me it gets your attention. But in the US, it’s almost as if it didn’t really happen. And anyway, we replace what he stole pretty quickly because we just go out and get more stuff. We don’t even miss anything.

But today when we celebrate this crime, I’d like to offer one thought: in this break-in we have revealed to us the true nature and character of God. He could have broken in by smashing down doors or breaking windows or making a big scene. He didn’t. He could have come on a white horse or in a motorcade or in a tank or something like that. He didn’t. He snuck into our world looking like a snotty nosed kid who cries and poops in his pants, like every other kid. The break in was a farce on the outside, but ultimately it became an inside job. Word has it that the thief looked sort of like the picture on this post!

He broke in because we locked him out. He broke in because we’d bought a bill of goods about who he was and who we are what the future holds for humankind. Some really old writer, who seems to know what he is talking about, said that we preferred stolen fruit with our significant other to sweet friendship with the sovereign creator (Read Genesis 3 to get the full story). There were eternal consequences to our choices. So he broke in, showed up, and revealed himself to woo us back and to demonstrate clearly to everyone, even those who don’t really like him, who he was and what he was about. And, he did this in a way that no religious figure on earth has ever done.

This is what makes Christianity so unique and frankly, it is why I celebrate Christmas. And what did he ultimately steal? Our faults and flaws and sins and mistakes and everything that ruins our lives! But there is more to it than that. God’s break-in was a Robin Hood Christmas. He stole from us, who thought we were rich (when we were actually impoverished) and gives us back something much greater, if we are willing to have it. He offers us back our hope, our lives, and our true selves when we, by faith in what he accomplished through the break-in, reject our false selves, along with the sin that goes with it, and trust the criminal God (Jesus) with our lives. Trust a criminal with my life? It’s an insane idea! But, it’s Christianity. I hope anyone who actually reads this post will ponder this and celebrate the crime with joy! I plan to.

Why I Don't Like Religion

I was in California a few weeks ago and read an article in the San Diego Union Tribune about the nativity scene set up in the Washington State capital building. Next to the nativity scene there was a sign posted that read, “There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but a myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.” (San Diego Union Tribune, December 7, 2008) I’m sure that will tick off some religious types. Sadly, while I personally disagree the ‘no gods or devils’ thing, and especially with the way irreligious types try so hard to denigrate what is important to so many religious types (like diluting the real meaning of Christmas or Easter) I can actually understand why they say what they say--about religion that is. Frankly, at one level, I agree with them. Religion does harden hearts and minds! And for that reason, I don’t really like religion. Religion has been the root of a great many atrocities. Religion has caused untold heartache. That’s a true statement. The weird thing about their perspective, however, is they seem to forget that the same thing is true about irreligion! While the Christians have the Crusades and the Muslims have their holy war and current jihad against infidels like myself, the irreligious types have Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. Talk about hard hearts and enslaved minds?! And all of those guys were atheists! So lets get off the “religion is the source of a great many atrocities” gig. The truth is, so is irreligion. The question really is why? What makes religion and irreligion the same or different? And why, would a guy like me, who is technically religious, not like religion? Hmmm. Sounds like the start of a series of blogs! More later!

What Sean Bell Tells us about Race Relations

Sean Bell has been dead for a while now. But he’s still talking. It’s been a few weeks more than two years since Sean Bell, a black man, was killed outside a strip club early in the morning on his wedding day, November 26, 2006. He died under a hail storm of bullets when a police sting went bad. Two of the three officers involved were minorities. One officer, a minority, fired 50 shots from his service revolver. The officers felt their lives were threatened and had understood one of the suspects to have a gun. There was no gun. There was no crime being committed. There was just one big bad mistake.

Last May a judge handed down a verdict of not guilty for any of the police officers on any charges. I was a little surprised at the time, as it seemed that manslaughter, at least, would have been something they’d be charged with but it was not guilty. The black community was outraged per usual. In all of this there seems to me to be several challenges as we consider race relations and our human condition. First, people want justice. And justice sometimes doesn’t seem to be just. What is just for one person seems unjust for another. Would it have been just to put the police officers in jail? Second, it seems that we all need to believe the best about others a little more. The police officers heard one of Bell’s friends say he had a gun in his car. These friends were formerly convicted felons and they were all outside a strip club at 4:00 am. We can’t bring Sean Bell back but maybe whites and blacks alike need to believe the best in each other a little more. I have some terrific African American friends. I believe the best of them not because they are black or white but because they are human, created in the image of Almighty God, and have demonstrated that they are trustworthy. I could give you the names of some white people I wouldn’t trust for a minute. It’s not a white or black thing! It’s a people thing. Third, I think we need to spend time getting intentionally involved in the lives of those who are different than we are. How many of us actually go to someone’s home and eat if they are of a different race or different religion than we are? It’s rare, even in New York.

Each racial community brings special reminders of God that should be mixed into the soup of life. The relational meal smells really really good when a variety of racial spice is added! I think we all need to recognize the contribution each ethnic community brings and celebrate it. We also need to be aware of the negative tendencies of our own racial community. If we started dealing with the junk our own racial groups contributes to the trash of life perhaps we’d be less likely to be critical of others.

Greed is Greater than Sex

I used to think that sex was the most powerful non-survival drive known to man. After reading this mornings paper, I’m beginning to wonder if its really greed! The financial markets are being shaken to the core today by the demise of yet another series of financial institutions—Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch. These failures have come because of these institutions participation in the recent mortgage scandals and risky real estate deals. What drove these smart men and women, who make millions of dollars a year, to take on such risky investments? Probably the same thing that has driven many “regular” people to buy things on credit that they cannot really afford: Greed! Not many of us are exempt. I’m sure not, but this whole ugly mess has really made me think. I keep running across friends who are either on the verge of declaring bankruptcy or in the process. The lesson for me is to not buy things I can’t afford, not live an extravagant lifestyle, and seek to value treasure that doesn’t fade away. To listen to the commercials on TV during sporting events, the only real way to have security is to allow some of these big financial institutions to invest your money. I guess that theory has been blown to hell! Maybe this will make some more people think! What really lasts? What is really secure? What do you think? Click the comment link to the bottom right, if you have an opinion, and lets dialogue.