Seeing the beauty in all whom God has created, via the website ufunk.net, “an amazing photo project of photographer Mark Laita that focuses on the contrasts between people, the lives and cultures through beautiful portraits in black and white.”
Beauty is transcended in this moving story of Carmen Tartleton from CNN.com, pictured here with her boyfriend whom she says “was able to see me through my scars.”
An excellent column by colleague and writer extraordinaire, the Rev. Emily Heath, on the beautiful faith and courage of Jason Collins. Also read Jason’s exquisite essay in this month’s issue of Sports Illustrated in which he describes how a relative saw the beauty within him since he was a child: “The first relative I came out to was my aunt Teri, a superior court judge in San Francisco. Her reaction surprised me. ‘I’ve known you were gay for years,’ she said. From that moment on I was comfortable in my own skin. In her presence I ignored my censor button for the first time. She gave me support. The relief I felt was a sweet release.”
This preview in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution of a new exhibit at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens shows that often seeing and imagining beauty go best together.
Phillip Council’s fan-made video of Gungor’s Beautiful Things
The chorus of the song goes: “God makes beautiful things out of dust” ’Nuff said.
Sermon For Sunday April 14, Exodus 3:1-5, 9-10, 13-15; John 8:12-15, 18:33-38
[Note: This is part 2 in a month-long sermon series "Bad With Religion, Good With God" Last week, Dr. Dave Fry, the head of staff, explored the idea that many people feel Church is a place where they have to be perfect all the time and say and do the right things to fit in. Compounding this is the belief that God demands perfection and that we are to think and speak about God in a certain prescribed way.]
Over the last couple of months, the adult church school class that (associate pastor) Holly and I teach, has been exploring the big questions of Christianity through a video series called Animate Faith.
The first lesson, offered by public theologian and author Brian McLaren, focuses on a common struggle among people of faith:
Who exactly is this God we worship?
Is God a mighty fortress, solid and unchanging?
Is God a mystical, unknowable force that floats around us like a vapor?
Is God (in the words of the Westminster Confession of Faith which we affirmed moments ago)
“infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit invisible, without body, parts, or passions, immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute?”
Yes? No? Maybe?
Truth be told, none of us actually know whom God is 100 percent of the time, which makes it challenging to discuss matters of faith if we are unable to speak of God with any certainty.
And yet there are those who speak about God with such certitude that it actually prevents honest and loving God talk and distract us from the reality of God in our lives and world.
During the 8-minute Animate Faith video, McClaren explains:
Sometimes, when I hear people speak about God, I feel like an atheist. The God they speak of I don’t believe in: A God who loves Christians but hates Muslims; or a God who pours luxuries on the rich but consigns the poor to poverty; or a God who cares about human souls but doesn’t care about conserving and protecting our beautiful, fragile planet. So if you ask me, ‘Is God real?’ I first have to ask, ‘Which God are we talking about? And what do you mean by God?’
Let’s first take a look at the Kataphatictradition of using words and images to talk about God, which most Christians practice on a routine basis:
Image from “Animate Faith” lesson on “God: Faith As A Quest.”
As seen in the image above, many depictions of God come from scripture. God is referred to in the books of The Bible as
YHWH,
Creator,
heavenly Father,
king,
and the almighty.
Others illustrations come from a mix of life experience, knowledge of how the world works, a particular theological view and modern twists on biblical descriptions. God is a
watchmaker,
chess master,
the man upstairs,
a still, small voice,
a mother bear,
and what is likely considered the most popular representation of God throughout history—The Old Bearded Man.
There are as many portrayals (if not more!) of the Bearded One as there are words and images for God:
The stern workaholic Old Bearded God as illustrated by the 16th Century Renaissance artist Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel AND 21st Century LEGO builder Brendan Powell Smith in the book The Brick Testament.
Portrait of God on the Sistine Chapel by 16th Century Renaissance artist Michaelangelo
God creating man by Brendan Powell Smith, “The Brick Testament” 2013
The wise, wistful and witty grandfather Old Bearded God as played by Morgan Freeman in the 2007’s Evan Almighty and 2003’s Bruce Almighty, and George Burns in the classic 1977 comedy Oh God!
Morgan Freeman as God in 2007′s “Evan Almighty”
George Burns as God in 1977′s “Oh God!’
The whimsical Old Bearded God as presented in literature,
the best-selling satirical book The Last Testament: A Memoir by GOD in which God makes snarkycomments about everything from the creation of the world to American Idol,
and the beloved children’s book Cat Heaven, in which God, dressed in a colorful outfit, reads to cats that curl up on his bed in heaven.
The Last Testament: A Memoir by God (with David Javerbaum), Simon & Schuster, November 2011
“Cat Heaven” by Cynthia Rylant, Blue Sky Press, September 1997
And the silly fun-loving summer music festival Old Bearded God—a barefooted guy with brown skin, a beard, and a Dr. Seuss hat—my favorite because it’s the description my 4 and half year old daughter Katie gave me (and which I drew) on Friday when I asked her what God looked like.
“God According To Katie Acton” illustration by Andy Acton, Friday April 12, 2013
There are many forms and expressions for God, some of which attempt to explain how God interacts with human beings (a few gleaned from scripture, others from particular religious beliefs) like:
Law Enforcement God who is watching and waiting for us to screw up so he can punish us.
Scorekeeper God who is tallying our good and bad deeds to determine whether we fall on God’s good side or God’s bad side.
Lightning-Bolts-From-The Fingertips God who delivers wrath …in dramatic ways.
These views of God’s personality or character, while commonplace,
are also problematic. They do a great deal of damage to the image of God and Christianity in the world. The distorted notion that God
relishes the opportunity to punish,
keeps score of good deeds,
delivers electrifying wrath or,
flippantly causes bad things to happen,
come from certain Christians (most notably influential religious and political figures) who have scared other Christians into believing such nonsense so they can sit in righteous indignation and power over everyone else.
They project these views of God in the public sphere in a vain attempt to keep people in line—to adhere to an absolute correct way of thinking and talking about God, of interpreting God’s word in scripture, and living out one’s faith in God.
They ultimately try to contain God in a box and only let what they want of God to be pulled forth from their box.
But God cannot and will not be contained, confined or controlled.
God is, in the words of the Exodus story, a flame of fire in a bush that is blazing, but not consumed.
And from that fiery bush, the indistinguishable God chooses the shepherd Moses to go into Egypt:
The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen the Egyptians oppress them. 10 So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
Moses says to this Divine Spark burning in the desert wilderness:
“If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”
God replies:
“I am who I am. …Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’”…‘The Lord,the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.
“Iam whoIam”
That is God’s name. That is who God says God is. Not
The Holy Burning Bush
The Old Bearded Man
The Man Upstairs
The Creator
The Almighty
All wonderful nicknames and descriptions but not the official name of God,
The name of all names,
“Iam whoIam”
“Ehyeh aser ehyeh” in the Hebrew
The word ehyeh is the first person singular imperfect form of the word hayah, which means “existed” or “was.”
So “Ehyeh aser ehyeh” literally means, “I will be what I will be”
“Iam whoIam”
God’s name for all eternity. Not the
judgmental,
punishing,
score-keeping,
wrathful deity
that some Christians want God to always be to scare others into belief.
“Iam whoIam”
God’s title for all generations. Not solely the
Creator,
heavenly Father,
king,
man upstairs,
still, small voice,
or
old bearded deity
that some Christians want God to always be to simplify or water down faith.
“Iam whoIam” is not easily seen, felt or touched.
“Iam whoIam” is not accessible in the same way that you and I are accessible to one another.
When we pray to God or worship God, it is difficult to form the most exact, concrete and consistent image in our minds.
But still, many of us have this feeling that there is something more going on in life that allows us to experience such amazing depths of
knowledge,
creativity,
joy,
love,
mercy and hope
in our relationships with one another and the universe. We have this sense that there is some mysteriously divine and benevolent source behind it all.
And that sense that there is something greater than all of us which also desires to be intimately connected to all of creation is what it means to practice the Apophatic tradition.
Held alongside the Kataphatic ways of speaking about the God, we are reminded through the Apophatic method that “God can never be reduced to images or contained by words.” At the end of the day, when all the God talk has subsided, “reverent loving silence is sometimes the most eloquent form of theology.”
In his recent book What We Talk About When We Talk About God, author and pastor Rob Bell points out that:
When we talk about God we’re using language, language that employs a vast array of words and phrases and forms to describe a reality that is fundamentally beyond words and phrases and forms.
Words and images point us to God; they help us understand the divine, but they are not God…When God is described (in scripture) as father or mother or judge or potter or rock or fortress … those writers are taking something they’ve seen, something they’ve experienced, and they’re essentially saying, ‘God is like that.’ It’s an attempt to put that which is beyond language into a frame or form we can grasp…And sometimes language helps, and sometimes language fails.
When God-in-the-flesh, Jesus, dwelt among humanity more than 2,000 years ago, language about who God was and what God was doing failed the religious leaders and the Roman Empire.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus says to the scheming scribes and Pharisees whom he has just stopped from stoning a woman caught cheating on her spouse:
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
The indignant Pharisees tell Jesus that his testimony is garbage. And Jesus calmly responds:
“Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards;[a] I judge no one.”
The Pharisees and the scribes are unrelenting in their view that God will come among the people of Israel as a mighty warrior and king like David or in the form of sinister storms and plagues (just like in the old days) to vanquish their foes, the Roman Empire.
The religious leaders in Jesus’ time are absolutely certain God is a Law Enforcement/Score-Keeping/Lighting Bolts type deity; never would God come in the form of a peaceful-loving, mercy-bearing carpenter’s son from the two-bit town of Nazareth in Galilee.
And so the language the Pharisees and scribes have for understanding God fails, preventing them from recognizing that
“Iam whoIam” the light of the world
that shines through darkness,
that comes and goes on its own accord,
that judges no one,
is standing before them.
Later on in John’s gospel, Jesus—betrayed, beaten and bound in chains—is brought before Pilate, the Roman governor and figurehead for the Empire.
Pilate asks somewhat condescendingly if Jesus is “the king of the Jews,” which triggers a dialogue between the two about who Jesus or God is:
Jesus answered, ‘Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?’ Pilate replied, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to (The Jewish authorities) … But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’ Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?” Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate asked him, ‘What is truth?’
Pontius Pilate’s allegiance is to multiple Roman gods and to self-proclaimed savior emperor named Caesar who seeks to conquer the world through violence and oppression.
Pilate could care less about the God of Israel and even less about a man who has been brought forth on charges of blasphemy. But he is certain that Jesus’ kingship cannot overshadow Caesar’s throne.
And so the language (or lack thereof) that Pilate has for understanding God fails, preventing him from recognizing that
“Iam whoIam” whose kingdom is not from this world,
whose followers are not called to fight violently for their rabbi’s release,
who embodies the truth that is God,
is standing before him.
God can never be summed up in one word, phrase or idea to serve our own agendas or fit into our nicely wrapped packages.
God is beyond anything we can deduce and imagine.
“Iam whoIam” is the one who hears the cries of those in pain and liberates the downtrodden and oppressed
“Iam whoIam” is the one whose light comes into the world and radiates love in the darkest of places
So this new feature “Week Links” is becoming more of a Friday-Saturday posting instead of Friday only. But, hey it’s better than posting the following week. Without further adieu, here is a round-up of stories that recognize the “The Artists”–those who are creating and those who will create no more but leave a legacy of beauty and whimsy for the rest of us:
Your mama always says “Don’t play with your food!” But when you are an adult with artistic flare and a camera, that rule gets tossed out with uneaten, spoiled leftovers.
For almost every day last month Malaysian artist/architect Hong Yi (who often goes by the nickname Red) created a fun illustration made with common (and occasionally not so common) food. Her parameters were simple: the image had to be comprised entirely of food and the only backdrop could be a white plate.
Why just dream of being part of a comic or a superhero movie? Just draw and photograph yourself into one!
Gaikuo-Captain, has put himself in the middle of his creations. Apparently he originally just wanted to make a profile photo for himself and then ended up with this series of awesomeness!
The modern superhero look we are familiar with today was largely due to the incredible talents of Carmine Infantino who worked at DC Comics during the Golden and Silver Age of comic books (late 50s to mid 70s).
It’s not a stretch to say Carmine was one of the most influential artists of our time. Whether he was bringing the first appearance of Barry Allen to life, or building a bridge between Earth-One and Two in the legendary “The Flash of Two Worlds” story, chronicling the adventures of Adam Strange and reinventing the look of Batman and his entire family, he breathed new life into every character he encountered, and also made a name for himself as a respected and skilled publishing executive. A supreme talent and versatile creator, Carmine stands tall among the legends of comics.
Behind every visionary is a grand encourager and partner. For Jim Henson, the creator of the beloved Muppets and Sesame Street characters, his muse was his wife Jane:
Cheryl Henson, who is president of the Jim Henson Foundation, said her mother had provided ballast for her father’s creative freedom and was his artistic collaborator throughout their life. “She encouraged him to take risks,” she said, “always urged him not to compromise.” In the Henson family lexicon, she said, “We called her the great maza shelaza of the Muppets.”Roughly translated, she added, that meant the mother of all Muppets.
Although his health had been in decline due to a valiant battle with cancer, the news that legendary movie critic and Pulitzer-Prize winning writer Roger Ebert had died rocked a lot of people this week. He was the average day movie goers reviewer and a great lover of film. I will miss his reviews and his writing which was never dumbed down or condescending to the reader/movie-goer.
Roger loved the movies and big ideas and great conversation and hard work. He loved the very idea of living a full and examined life, and he was an inspiration to millions of others. Movie fans adored Roger, of course, but so did all of us who at times can feel that electric surge that is life itself.
There are numerous articles on the web regarding Ebert’s death and his impact on pop culture. I recommend this tribute by another legendary movie critic, Peter Travers and this wonderful piece on Ebert’s religion.
9 years ago this evening, the beautiful, wise and all-around amazing Elizabeth and I got hitched. The marriage has had it’s ups and downs but the challenges have helped us grow as a couple. And we’ve shared a lot of adventures and incredible moments of joy (even in the midst of time of sorrow). We are blessed to be in each others lives and parents to a precious and precocious 4 and a half year-old girl.
Elizabeth and I celebrated by going to dinner at Gary’s Bistro in a local strip mall. (I highly recommend the shrimp and grits with bacon bits and the side order of sauteed spinach.) Afterwards, we perused at Barnes & Noble.
However, the big gift (thank you Charleston Atlantic Presbytery Middle School Retreat for inviting me to keynote in February) is two tickets to The NCAA Men’s Final Four this Saturday at the Georgia Dome! We’ve always been big fans of college basketball and especially enjoy March Madness tourney time. Incidentally, Elizabeth grew up rooting for the 1991-1992 Duke Blue Devils team led by Bobby Hurley (Jersey No. 11) and Grant Hill and the 2000-2001 Duke squad led by Shane Battier and Carlos Boozer.
Elizabeth introduced me to her silly version of the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy (No. 11 in the pre-1980s dusty red Presbyterian hymnals) called Hurley, Hurley, Hurley. We included the hymn in our wedding of course. (The actual words and theme of the hymn are special too but not quite as hysterical to us). During our wedding reception, we all paused for several minutes to gaze up at the TV screen to watch the end of the two NCCA Men’s Final Four games: Duke v. Connecticut and Georgia Tech v. Oklahoma State. There were a few Duke fans like Elizabeth and me, but a lot of Georgia Tech fans considering the good size delegation of friends who came to our wedding from Georgia and were classmates at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur. Duke lost their game, but Georgia Tech advanced to the National Championship.
This time around, we don’t have a particular favorite but are super thrilled about going. The fun adventure of marriage dribbles and bounces right along!
I have often viewed this time between Good Friday and Easter as Dead Saturday (also known as Nothing Saturday, Dark Saturday or Holy Saturday) and typically I spend the hours feeling depressed and morose while contemplating the death of Christ. I am not the only one as I discovered (yet again) while reading a friend’s status and subsequent comment thread posted this morning on Facebook:
I agree with every comment and yet as I read them, I felt something stir inside me. A new idea.
A new idea that began with the question: “What if we’re are looking at ‘Saturday’ all wrong?”
Certainly living in the tension of this ambiguous day is appropriate. Reflecting on how the disciples and world felt at the time of Jesus’ death is important for understanding and deepening one’s faith. But should we spend the entire day stuck in a funk–especially when we know how this is all going to turn out?
It’s hard to forget or unlearn what we know so remaining in the doldrums of this Saturday for any number of hours seems to be a waste of time. After-all many of us preacher types are familiar with the phrase: It’s Friday/Saturday now…but Sunday’s coming!
I’m not suggesting that we immediately and prematurely jump to Easter Sunday or push people too quickly out of a necessary stage of grief and pain. I do believe wholeheartedly in the wisdom shared in yesterday’s Jaweed Kaleem’s Huffington Post column:
If you are not clear in your head about your understanding about somebody dying tragically, if you cannot reconcile that with the higher power of God or force of nature, this will be tough work for you,” said Handzo, who teaches chaplains and palliative care specialists. “You will probably not do it well, and you will burn out. You have to go through death to get to resurrection.
It’s important for me to be reminded that this part of the of the Christian story. … It’s painful, but it’s also what can make things meaningful,” he said. “We can make a mistake a lot of times with people who are dying. We can take our beliefs and say ‘the resurrection is coming,’ or ‘things will get better.’ But some people are not ready for that, they are still hurting and mourning, and they don’t need that happy good news stuff. They need to be allowed to be where they are, to have that Good Friday time.
However, it seems that I and others are more inclined to believe that we have to spend this day mired in guilt, sadness and lament when it would be much more fitting to move through the suffering as a way of observing this Nothing/Dark/Dead/Holy Saturday.
Again, this doesn’t mean we should start shouting “Chris is risen! He is risen indeed!” and burst into loud choruses of Ode to Joy but it perfectly reasonable for us to be happy on this day and embrace the joys of life and God’s creation. True, God is dead, the Trinity is broken and the cosmos is torn…but simultaneously it’s not. God is still ALIVE, otherwise existence would’ve ceased to exist at the moment Jesus uttered his last breath. The world kept turning. The active and present God stayed on the move. There was a process that occurred between cross and empty tomb. There was something that raised a living body from the dead, that conquered death and exposed the cruel and violent powers and principalities. That process. That something. That was God!
God who entered the world in human form (but still remained the holy and mysterious God) died and then raised God-self from the clutches of death–thus transforming the world and creating a new reality, vision, kingdom of God on earth and heaven.
It’s crazy and mysterious and yet true, none the less. God in Christ told the disciples this is exactly what would happen. He would be betrayed, abandoned, killed, die and in three days, be resurrected (Matthew 20:17-19, Mark 10:33-34 and Luke 18:31-33). The disciples were too bound up in the trauma and drama of those three days that they forgot Jesus’ words. But we have the benefit of hindsight, of being able to look at the texts and remember…again, and again, and again that death will not have the final say in this story of God and humanity.
Even though there will be pain, dying and death today and tomorrow on Easter and throughout the Easter season to come and beyond, death. never. has. the. final. say. NEVER. But God does:
No matter how much the mess and distortion make you want to despair, you can’t abandon the work because you’re chained to the bloody thing. It’s absolutely woven into your soul and you know you can never rest until you’ve brought truth out of all the distortion and beauty out of all the mess—but it’s agony, agony, agony—while simultaneously being the most wonderful and rewarding experience in the world—and that’s the creative process which so few people understand…You can’t create without waste and mess and sheer undiluted slog. You can’t create without pain. It’s all part of the process. (Rob Bell quoting characters in a favorite novel in his book Drops Like Stars: A Few Thoughts on Creativity and Suffering, 2009)
So instead of sitting around and feeling numb, let us be a part of the God-process that is shaping something out of suffering, that is transforming mess into beauty, death into life…
Pull out a carton of boring dusty-white looking eggs and dye them with an assortment of colors, either with your kids or by yourself.
Help your 4 and a half year old create a dio-rama with the small plastic safari animals she bought yesterday at the zoo.
Bake bread and take it to a neighbor who has been sick or who you’ve never spoken to.
Make some sandwiches and take them to the homeless men and women nearest to wherever you live.
Call up someone you disagree with and tell them you love them.
Plant some flowers in your yard.
Paint a picture.
Shovel snow from the walk.
Take photographs of the world around you.
Write a song.
Craft a story.
Create. Create. Create. (And) Re-create
Don’t stop creating.
Soap carvings, from “Drops Like Stars” by Rob Bell, 2009
As Christians around the world observe Good Friday, it seemed appropriate to offer some links that offered some perspective on this darkest of holy days:
In a column for the Huffington Post, Jaweed Kaleem turns to those who regularly deal with death and dying for wise and heartfelt reflections on the meaning of Good Friday and Easter:
If you are not clear in your head about your understanding about somebody dying tragically, if you cannot reconcile that with the higher power of God or force of nature, this will be tough work for you,” said Handzo, who teaches chaplains and palliative care specialists. “You will probably not do it well, and you will burn out. You have to go through death to get to resurrection.
It’s important for me to be reminded that this part of the of the Christian story. … It’s painful, but it’s also what can make things meaningful,” he said. “We can make a mistake a lot of times with people who are dying. We can take our beliefs and say ‘the resurrection is coming,’ or ‘things will get better.’ But some people are not ready for that, they are still hurting and mourning, and they don’t need that happy good news stuff. They need to be allowed to be where they are, to have that Good Friday time.
Emily and Ronan Rapp, courtesy of CNN and Parenting.com
A moving interview with mother Emily Rapp who has just published a book on the experience of losing her 2-year-old child Ronan to a devastating and un-curable disease known as Tay-Sachs:
I went through what I think any parent who loses their child suddenly goes through. I was out of my mind. When he died, he was ready to die. Anyone who has witnessed a death or knows someone who died knows that in that final moment the body is unraveling. It will do its thing and you just have to witness it. It’s really wrenching but he was really, really sick when he died, and I wanted him to go because I didn’t want him to suffer any more. I miss him, but there was nothing for him here.
Renown author, activist and Jesus follower, Shane Claiborne, founder of The Simple Way in Philadelphia writes about the importance of taking the story of Jesus’ death, found in the scriptures, into the streets. He recalls courageous acts of worship and witnessing of Christ’s non-violent and loving way smack dab in the middle of grand symbols of violence and hate within the city:
As we approached the final station of the cross, about 20 of us crossed onto the property at Lockheed Martin. We bowed on our knees and began to pray the Lord’s prayer, interrupted by police officers who placed us under arrest. As we stepped into the police van, there was a solemn sense of peace. It was the right place to be. It was a magnificent thing to hear folks honk as they went by. We even had a police officer who had arrested us thank us for our witness and decry the evils of violence and war.
Pope Francis washing the feet of inmates at a juvenile detention center, AP and Huffington Post.
While Pope Francis may be deserving of criticism for refusing to take a stand on particular issues when he was an archbishop in Argentina or his antiquated views of homosexuality, it’s hard to deny that his affinity for the prisoner, the poor and the stranger is not genuine. Clearly, Francis is trying to break down barriers put up by the Catholic Church that has strayed away from Jesus’ command to proclaim good news and care for the least of these. Francis put his compassion on display on Maundy Thursday by washing the feet of 12 young inmates, two who were women. Although Francis has washed the feet of the people throughout his ministry, this marks the first time a Pope has ever washed the feet of those who were not bishops or priests:
The pope’s washing the feet of women is hugely significant because including women in this part of the Holy Thursday Mass has been frowned on – and even banned – in some dioceses,” said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author of The Jesuit Guide. ”It shows the all-embracing love of Christ, who ministered to all he met: man or woman, slave or free, Jew or Gentile.
Don’t lose hope,” Francis said. “Understand? With hope you can always go on.
“Crucifixion at Barton Creek Mall” by James Janknegt, 1985
What Pope Francis so beautifully practices, Rev. Ruth Hawley-Lowry brilliantly describes in words as she urges readers on this Good Friday and beyond to love one another, even our enemies:
Those of us in the Christian tradition are mandated to love one another. Period. But Jesus pushed the issue: “You have heard it said, ‘Love your neighbors and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matthew 5). (Excellent examples of such love exist in Bishop Oscar Romero and the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement.) Archbishop Tutu, who endured the hate and injustice of Apartheid, insists: “God Love Your Enemies As Much As God Loves You” which brings shocking comfort. (“Shocking” because it’s so wrong — and “comfort” because it’s so right.)
Brave, thought-provoking, heart-felt posts from A Church For Starving Artists , The Blue Room Blog , and the Political Theology Blog , have encouraged me to share reflections on the theme of violence and Holy Week via a sermon I preached several years ago during a Maundy Thursday Worship Service at a church I served in Maryland.
“The Only Way”, a Sermon for April 5, 2007, Colesville Presbyterian Church, Matthew 26:47-54
As I read the news earlier this week about deadly workplace shootings at Atlanta’s CNN Center and the University of Washington’s Seattle campus, my mind immediately recalled the murder of my friend Bonkey Nezeriah McCain that occurred 15 years ago in my hometown of Birmingham, Alabama.
Bonkey was at the local Pizza Hut with other members of the Shades Valley High School football team, celebrating their Friday night victory over a rival high school. As the players were leaving the restaurant to head home, a car drove by and a teenage hand reached out of the window with a gun and shot into the crowd. Although he wasn’t the intended target, Bonkey received a barrage of bullets to the chest. He died hours later in the hospital.
Bonkey and his family were active members of Shades Valley Presbyterian Church where I grew up. We became friends in youth group. Bonkey was a gentle, kind and talented guy who always had a huge smile on his face. Bonkey’s death struck a huge blow within he hearts of his family, friends, church, high school and community. It particularly jolted me because it was the first time I have ever known someone who died from an act of violence. The tragedy opened my eyes to see that deaths like Bonkey’s happen all the time, and that the blood of innocence is spilled very day in our streets and neighborhoods.
I have kept the experience of Bonkey’s death very close to my heart for many years, especially when I worked as a reporter at the Birmingham Post-Herald after graduating from college. Covering the police beat took me to the scenes of many senseless shootings and in the homes of many grieving families. Those experiences enabled me to be a pastor–to not just share other people’s stories but be a part of their story. God was calling me to be a source of comfort and to guide others in their life stories–in times of joy and tragedy, love and loss.
As a pastor and Christian, I believe deep down in my heart that God’s love prevails over violence and death and that God’s love shines as a light into the darkness of the world. I know that God’s love and grace for humanity and all of creation is unconditional and steadfast. I’ve seen so many wonderful examples of God’s power in my life. And yet it’s what I precisely know about God’s love for us that makes me shake my head when I hear stories about senseless acts of violence.
There are those times, however, when I have great doubts about humanity because of the way we as a human race have responded to God’s love throughout history. As Satan tells Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane in a 1999 movie about Christ’s life: “Killing for Christ will be a big business through the centuries… You’re dying, your agony will give them another reason to kill and torture each other.” (Satan says these things as visions of the Crusades and World War I appear behind them.
We know this to be true; killing for Christ has become a big business! Jesus’ death and agony have given humankind other reason to kill and torture. But the reason is not, as Satan claims, the fault of God in Christ Jesus. No, it is our fault; it is our sin, our greed, our selfishness, our failure to recognize our own faults and to accept others who are different from us.
Just thing for a moment of all the killing that has been done and continues to be done in God’s name–the Holocaust; the lynching of black men, women and children during the 50s and 60s; the Jim Jones massacre; the war in Iraq; the genocide in Darfur; the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts; the Serbian conflict…
And if we’re not killing and violently harming others in the name of God, we’re doing it with no regard for God and the world God created. Just this week alone:
two women were killed in deadly workplace shootings in Georgia and Washington state
a woman was shot and stabbed by her estranged husband at a fast food restaurant in Louisiana
a 2-year-old girl was killed in a drive-by shooting in Kansas
a 40-year-old woman was killed in a drive-by shooting in Prince George’s County
11 plant workers were killed by a gunmen in Northern Iraq
a woman in the United Kingdom had her ear bitten off by her abusive boyfriend
And if we’re not acting out in violence, we’re endorsing it, even and maybe especially Christians. Often we hear preachers and church members of various denominations talk about Jesus vanquishing the unbelieving infidels of other countries with a sword or god dishing out wrath in the forms of tornadoes on “sinful communities” or deadly diseases on “sinful people.” Look up images of Jesus on the Internet, and you will find several depicting Jesus carrying a .35 on a street corner or holding a rifle in a desert landscape.
How quickly we forget why Jesus came in the fist place. How quickly we forget that Jesus came to spread God’s love rather than to justify our hate. The disciples, after sharing a last meal with their teacher, also quickly forgot the reason why Jesus is there among them. Not long after Jesus shares bread and cup, symbols of the suffering he will endure for humanity, a disciple breaks the body of another–draws his sword and cuts off the ear of one of the Roman soldiers who has come with Judas to arrest Jesus. The disciple is likely wrapped up in the idea that Jesus will be a king who violently overthrows the Roman oppressors.
But Jesus, who has spoken constantly in his ministry about resisting evil and the desire to do violence, says to the disciples (in the reading from Matthew’s Gospel): “Put your sword back in its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” In John’s Gospel, Jesus utters the same command but with the following addendum: “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me.”
The disciple, while rightly angry at the soldiers and protective of his teacher who is about to be arrested, beaten and crucified, has forgotten Christ’s words at the table. Although drawing the sword may be justifiable in this situation and the easy way to get out of this mess in the garden, it is not Jesus’ way. Jesus tells the disciple:
Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen this way?
Jesus, who is both human and divine, has all the power and right in the world to call upon God to send down armies of sword-carrying angels to wipe out the Roman Empire. In an instant, Jesus could’ve made it happen. He could’ve–as Satan tries to convince him in the TV film I mentioned earlier–ended it all by asking God to take him up to heaven from the garden of Gethsemane.
But Jesus doesn’t appeal to God to send armies of angels nor does he forget how God’s purposes must be fulfilled. Jesus knows his cup can not pass before him, that it must be drunk and spilled for the love of humanity and the freedom from sin. Jesus says int he film, shortly before he is betrayed by Judas, “I’m in the hearts of man and I will die for the everlasting kindness of the human heart created by my Father so men will make God’s image shine once again.”
In the betrayal scene from the movie Color of the Cross, which we viewed clips of during the Agape Meal we partook in earlier this evening, Jesus says to the disciple who cuts the ear of the soldier, “The prophecy must be fulfilled. I will come quietly.” Jesus then bends down and heals the soldier’s ear as it is recorded in Luke’s Gospel.
The prophecy must be fulfilled God’s way, Jesus’ way–the loving, suffering, non-violent way, the only way. A way vastly different from our own. And the way begins at the table and with the words of Christ who tells us that his body will be broken for us and his blood will be spilled for us. Not the blood of others, but Jesus’ blood. And it is at this table that we acknowledge and proclaim, not death’s victory over Christ, but God’s nonviolent victory through Christ’s death. Biblical scholar Walter Wink reminds us:
The last supper celebrates Jesus’ nonviolent breaking of the spiral of violence by absorbing its momentum with his own body…Jesus clearly rejected the military option as a way to redress Jewish grievances. He refused to lead troops in war against Rome, or defend his own cause by violent means… Throughout the history of his people’s violent and nonviolent struggle for survival, Jesus discovered a way of opposing evil without becoming evil in the process.
Let us come to this table on the night of Jesus’ last meal, Jesus betrayal and Jesus’ nonviolent resistance to those who arrested him. Let us come remembering and celebrating Jesus’ nonviolent breaking of the spiral of violence that humanity has committed, is committing and will commit after the bread is broken and the cup is poured. Let us come knowing that the spiral, no matter how dizzying it becomes, has been broken, is broken and will be broken by Christ’s suffering and death so that the world might be whole again.
In the name of the suffering and broken servant Jesus Christ our Lord who says it can only happen this way,
Amen.
Sources:
“Jesus,” 1999
“Color of the Cross,” 2006
“The Powers That Be by Walter Wink, 1999
“Lanham Woman Hit By A Stray Bullet Mourned, Funeral Held,” March 24, 2007
“Man Bites Off Partner’s Ear,” April 4, 2007, NW Evening Mail
“Man Accused of Killing Wife At Job,” April 4, 2007, KATC 3 News
“Girl Injured in Drive-By-Shooting Dies,” April 5, 2007, Kansas City Star
Jesus entering Jerusalem, courtesy of Google Images
Pastoral Prayer for Palm/Passion Sunday March 24, 2013
Holy God,
In Christ, You came into the city of Jerusalem, humbly riding atop a peasant’s donkey
From the west, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate entered the city pompously riding in a chariot at the head of a column of imperial cavalry and soldiers
Your people cut palm branches and waved them in the air to proclaim the kingdom of God
The Roman army drew swords and held them high to command awe, fear and allegiance to Caesar
You came to show the people God’s unconditional mercy and love for all.
Pilate comes to demonstrate Roman imperial power and might over all.
You came non-violently to heal and to give to others
Pilate came to violently rule and take from others
And we watch, helplessly, as these two kingdoms, head toward a confrontation–one so great that the curtain of the temple will be torn in two (from top to bottom), the earth will shake and the rocks will split, and the tombs will open and the dead will rise and appear in the city.
We watch, helplessly, as You walk humbly and silently toward your execution by the Roman Empire and the powers of this world.
We watch helplessly as we see Your suffering embodied in our daily lives–people who are starving from hunger; considering suicide after years of horrendous bullying; aching from the beatings by their spouses; agonizing over another night on the human trade market, clutching their hears because their toddler was shot and killed during a robbery.
We watch all of this madness. It. is. all. madness. … March madness!
And we wrestle deeply with our role in this madness of life and in remembering Your maddening final days on earth–
a time of killing and healing,
weeping and laughing,
seeking and losing,
tearing and sewing,
betraying and redeeming,
loving and hating
How will we be affected by this Holy Week of time?
How will we be shaped by this madness, this March madness?
Only you know O Lord. Only You know.
In our helplessness, in our anxiety, in our joyful cries of HOSANA and our angry shouts to CRUCIFY
in our madness, sadness and longing to know what you have us to do…hear our prayers:
Bless the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
Bless those who mourn, for they will be comforted
Bless the meek, for they will inherit the earth
Bless those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled
Bless the merciful, for they will receive mercy
Bless the pure in heart, for they will see God
Bless the peacemakers, for the will be called children of God
Bless those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
Bless each and every one of us with the reminder that we are buried with Jesus through baptism into death so that we may live a new life
lived in freedom from imperial oppression and freedom for the loving just ways of
Your kingdom
Your loving and grace-filled madness (and never ours)
Well, I’m running a bit late on the second edition of Week Links for March 17-23.I spent all of Friday afternoon cleaning up the dirt and debris left by the stump grinder who obliterated the stumps of 13 trees (mostly pines) that we paid to have cut down and removed about mid-week. While I’m proud of the work I did shoveling and re-appropriating the dirt and debris to other parts of the yard (plant beds and Katie’s playground), I could hardly move when I wrapped up at 5:30 pm. The only energy I had left was watching NCAA Men’s Tournament (no complaints, believe me). So I held off posting till today. The theme, appropriately enough, is about “The Life of Trees”:
Starting with a few hand tools in his own backyard, sculptor Keith Jennings began carving faces into trees in 1982, a project he now refers to as Tree Spirits. It wasn’t long before he was commissioned to do a series of the carvings on some 20 trees around St. Simons Island just off the coast of Georgia.
Swiss photographer Pierre Pellegrini shoots some phenomenal long-exposure photographs of trees. The strong perspective and foggy atmosphere seemingly ever-present in his work creates images that are both beautiful and eerie.
Japanese design student Yojiro Oshima has done them one better with a prototype of his unconventional bicycle concept. For his degree project at Musahino Art University’s Craft & Industrial Design Department, he has designed and built a Y-Foil/Softride-style frame by hand
Connecticut-based artist Amy Eisenfeld Genser (previously) recently completed a new series of coral reefs that she painstakingly recreates using rolled bits of paper and acrylic paint. Ahead of her upcoming exhibition at the Architectural Digest Home Show, Genser sat down with All Things Paper for a brief interview. An excerpt on her process: These days I usually work with Thai Unryu [mulberry paper], but I have hundreds of papers in my studio from all around the world. I treat the paper almost as a pigment, layering colors one on top of the other to create different colors. My pieces are about a foot wide. Then I roll one layer on top of the other in all different thicknesses. I seal the roll with acid-free, archival glue stick, and then cut the long piece into sections with scissors or pruning shears. I have pruning shears of all different sizes to accommodate different widths.
Maryann McKibben Dana’s Friday Link Love and Rachel Held Evans’ Sunday Superlatives have inspired me to share my own weekly list of the “best of the web “in a new feature (to be posted on Fridays) entitled Week Links. As a way of distinguishing it from other lists of its kind, links will be compiled by a particular category or theme.
To kick things off, here are some incredible links of what I’d like to call “Fun with Biology”:
The web site Colossal: Art & Ingenuity is mind-blowing. Consider Johnson Tsang’s project which beautifully captures humanity and life within one of the planet’s most commonly used alloys. Tsang’s work flips the notion that we as human beings forge steel to create impressive buildings and wondrous technological devices. Maybe it is we who are forged and shaped by the steel that is at our disposal. And does this then mean that we are controlled by the elements we use, the things we create?
I’ve always loved illusions because the enormous amount of creativity and brilliance required to make it happen. And the most fascinating illusions to me are ones done with water. Brussup’s demonstration, using camera, speaker and rubber hose, is mesmerizing. Draws you immediately in. Also raises the metaphorical qusetion: What can we observe or see anew about life, faith, God, the Church, through a different lens and by re-purposing common tools and items? Check out the video shared by The Verge, an online magazine devoted to science, technology, art and culture:
Design D’Autore-Design & Trend Magazine features colorful eye-popping architectural and artistic designs. The Rainbow House appeared this morning via Flipboard. When whimsy is applied to the most common elements like a house made of wood and brick, the world is immediately transformed from the mundane into something bright, radiant and hopeful.
This ground-breaking story from NPR and National Geographic was also featured on Flipboard today. It’s an interesting piece that is already stirring up controversy by revisiting the argument for/against cloning. The motivation behind de-extinction seems to be about redeeming our past sins for wiping out creatures like the ibex (the last one snuffed in 2000). The process of de-extinction is achievable but does that mean it should be achieved? I’m not sure myself at this point, but my mind wanders to this great and prophetic scene from the 1993 film Jurassic Park:
