Good friends, there's more spirit in a quake than a shake

Here’s a fantastic newspaper article by Melbourne columnist Catherine Deveny of The Age, describing in a wonderful, humorous way her experience of visiting a Quaker meeting last Sunday. Her reflections are even more striking when compared to her experience and previous article about a mega-church youth event she attended.

This article helped me realise why I'm feeling more and more at home with the Quakers, those 'Selfish, power-hungry bastards'. Have a read and please do laugh!

AS I was leaving for the Quakers’ meeting, my mate said: "You need to get there 10 minutes early for the Unveiling Of The Relic".

"What happens then?" I asked.

"Well, the men with the beards, wearing the hoods, shave, brand and sacrifice the newest member, known as The Unclean, before they perform acts in the Circle Of Darkness on The Goat of Truth."

"So who quakes?" I asked.

"Everyone," he said. "Wear clean undies. Trust me."

A discussion then followed about what Quakers were, that, typically, ended up more about what they weren’t. "Aren’t they the ones with the big hats and buckles?" No, they’re the Pilgrims. "Aren’t they the ones who make furniture?" No, they’re the Shakers. "Well, are they the ones with the horses and buggies, Abe Lincoln beards and Little House On the Prairie outfits, who raise barns?" No, they’re the Amish.

Eventually, and after a mention of Uncle Toby (as in the oats), I was off for some red-hot Quaker action. And I was excited. In a grey carpet, fluorescent lights, lots of pamphlets, instant coffee kind of way.

And I wasn’t disappointed. There was indeed grey carpet, fluorescent lights, lots of pamphlets, instant coffee … and 20 chairs in a circle.

If you like sitting in a circle staring into space, you’re gonna love the Quakers. They’re the Claytons religion. The religion you have when you don’t have a religion. Because they’re not a religion. They’re a ‘‘religious society of friends’’. You don’t even have to believe in God to be a Quaker. You don’t even need to be a Quaker to be a Quaker. You can sign up and become a member, or just be an ‘‘attender’’. Jesus! Would it kill you to give me something to be scared of? I’m an escaped Catholic.

They don’t have a church. Or clergy. Or parishioners. Or a doctrine. Just friends, a room, and an ethos of truth, equality, peace and simplicity. Selfish, power-hungry bastards.

"Our worship follows no ritual or order of service. We gather together in a silent meeting, for an hour."

And so we did. Sitting round a coffee table covered in pamphlets with a pot plant in the middle, we mostly sat in silence. Part meditation, part group therapy, part sitting in a doctor’s waiting room.

Every now and then someone would say something about faith, journeys, occasionally even God. One woman talked about a Quaker meeting as a place you come to have your answers questioned. The idea is the spirit connects us all and anyone moved by the spirit can speak.

I was more moved by a dozen people sitting in silence than I was last week by a thousand or so being force-fed mumbo jumbo between power anthems at Planetshakers. I felt more connected to the man asleep next to me at the Quakers than the Planetshaker who spoke in tongues through a song about Opening Your Legs For Jesus, or something.

At the end of the meeting we all held hands and had coffee. I chatted with some Quaker friends who were lovely, despite their belief in an imaginary friend in the sky. They talked about how Quakers are about working it out yourself. DIY spirituality. And how the nature of people being attracted to spiritual anarchy made it difficult to get decisions made and stuff done at times. "God loved the world so much she didn’t send a committee," one joked.

I couldn’t help thinking there’d never be a Quaker terrorist cell. Their inherent non-conformity would make it impossible for them to be extremist about anything. I relate with them. The only thing I believe in is nihilism.

Quakers are mavericks. God, no God. Member, no member. Turn up, don’t. They encourage people to explore other religions. "Quakers do not have a fixed creed, but believe that each individual must find their own understanding of God, and is guided by their conscience in finding the way to live."

It’s hard to be cynical about the Quakers, but that’s not going to stop me. I kept thinking about comedian Bill Hicks talking about the anti-marketing dollar being a good market.

Despite the sensible shoes, serviceable clothes and no-nonsense haircuts, the Quakers know how to have a good time. They’re holding a ’50s night next month called Quake, Rattle and Roll. You gotta laugh. Or not.

What a fantastic column, and sense of humour! Catherine has a new fan!

(un-joyful) advent thoughts about joy

I’ve been feeling rather uninspired and uninspiring lately. Something you may have picked up by the quality and number of posts. Quite a bad spot to be in, when you add in missing home, nostalgia about studying in the states, trying to find meaning in a new country, and some really big conversations about meaning, identity and spirituality. There seem to be some lights and the end of some of the tunnels, and I’ll let you in on them when I know what they are!

There’s also cool news about jobs for next year, furniture at home, and some pictures of our second Sydney adventure. When/if I get to them. Oh, and my garden now has some green tomatoes, capsicums and strawberries. No signs yet of any melons, and the rocket has aphids. There are pictures of them too (the garden, not the aphids), that I’ve been meaning to put up, but like I said, haven’t had a substantial amount of motivation or inspiration to get it done.

Deadlines and external pressure help in that regard. So I do have one piece of creativity that I can show for the last while - a reflection on Joy for Advent. I was asked to write 3 pieces for this week for a church. Quite an interesting task, since Joy is not up there with the many emotions running around in me head.

But I tried. Here’s the first piece… a bit cerebral and cynical, with some big words thrown in to show off, but true to where I am. Something to read if you are looking for an un-joyful Advent reflection on joy. (Hey, you never know what arb things people are looking for these days) ;)


Advent Reflection 1 - ‘Defining’ Joy

I’m not usually a supporter of ‘dialectic definitions’. Actually, I don’t really know if there is such a thing as a ‘dialectic definition’, but let’s pretend there is. What I mean, is that I don’t usually buy sayings such as, ‘you can only know peace if you have seen war’, or ‘only real sinners understand grace’ etc. The implication is that an emotion or state can only really be known once you have experienced its opposite or absence. For me, this type of reasoning seems too negative and dualistic.

However, this advent, my ‘rule’ seems to have met its exception in Joy.

I’ve been trying to ‘describe’ joy, and found that it is rather hard. The fabric or texture of joy is rather elusive. You either know what joy is, or you don’t. It’s not a propositional truth - something you can explain - but rather an experiential or relational truth – something you must experience. Hence my struggle in trying to reflect on Joy using words.

The only way I can come close to grasping the real texture of joy, is to place it alongside two other strong and complimentary emotions (themselves also rather hard to explain). So, let us begin our reflection on Joy this week by holding it alongside Sadness and Peace.

Although you would think Sadness is the opposite of Joy, it isn’t really. In a strange way, in times of despair the only thing that allows us to truly mourn, and still come out the other side, is that sliver of joy that seems to be hiding patiently, graciously, just below the surface of our lives. In my life, my saddest moments have often been a precursor to a renewed understanding of true joy and life.

When I rise up, let me rise up joyful, like a bird

When I fall, let me fall without regret, like a leaf.

~Wendell Berry, Let Me Rise

For his anger is but for a moment, his favour is for a lifetime.
Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

~ David (?), Psalm 30

And then there is Peace. Peace is far more restful, controlled, and safe than exuberant, wild-partying Joy, but yet, there’s a common texture to the two:

Joy is Peace at play,

And Peace is Joy at rest

~ Anne Lamott, Travelling Mercies

Joy. It’s not the opposite of sadness, nor equal to peace, but it’s somewhere in there. It is an other-worldy state that can’t be drowned by sadness, nor quietened by peace.
Perhaps, like any real emotion associated with the mystery of advent, it is actually just grace by another name.

Party-animal god

And, here's the week's third and final piece on Joy for my advent reflections.
Party time!

Advent reflection 3 - A God of Joy

For the kingdom of God is not food and drink
but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
~ Romans 14:17

Of all the adjectives used to describe the kingdom of God, I’m rather surprised at the choice of Joy. Somehow my childhood images of angels playing harps on fluffy clouds, doesn’t really seem like Party Central. Wasn’t the joke that the party was always downstairs with the devil and all the good music?

Thankfully, the image of God as an old, boring, stern white man does not find any support in Scripture. In contrast, the God of the Israelites is a God who is full of Joy. We may even go as far to say that this God is a party animal God! It follows then that God’s reign/kingdom would be full of Joy.

What would be the overarching description that you would give you your experience of God’s reign? I hope that Joy is in there somewhere amongst the adjectives.

Let us reflect some more extent of this Joyfulness, and the celebratory God we serve:

In the Jewish Scriptures, where the notion of ‘the kingdom of God’ finds it’s roots, the Lord mandates 46 different festivals and parties for Israel in their year. That’s almost party a week!

In just the first 5 books (the Torah) of the Jewish Bible, God institutes 7 sacred festivals. What’s more, three were considered as ‘major feasts’: the Feast of Passover (Pesach), the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), and the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot).

These are often called ‘pilgrim feasts’ because all adult males were required to travel to the sanctuary to take part (Deuteronomy 16:16). There’s no VIP list, or ‘by invite only’ in this Kingdom. Everyone is invited, even mandated, to come to the party.

What’s more, if 7 days of partying wasn’t enough, when the 7 day Tabernacles festival ended, there was one more day of partying to celebrate the fact they had just had a week long celebration! Phew! It was called the Last Great Day, the 8th, an extra day of assembly. No work was permitted on this day and the people once again gathered at the Tabernacle to join their Joyful God.

This advent, whether your waiting is sad, nostalgic, peaceful, or at ease, may it lead you closer to the Joy of the promise of advent, when we can once more party and sing:

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing.

when faith and frisbee meet (and other high flying stories)

Things have been really busy here, with 3 jobs, Frisbee practices and a few weekend trips out of Canberra. I've still got some admin to do, and some pics to post here (of Sydney, camping at the coast, life etc) but thought I'd share a few frisbee stories quickly:

1. Last week my indoor ultimate team (the giant dwarfs) won the Indoor Winter League in Canberra. We were unbeaten in the 12 league games over the last 2 months, and on Wednesday won our semi game, and the final. It was a great re-entry to competitive ultimate, and a great way to meet new folks in Canberra. We finished with a beer at All-Bar-Nun in O'Connor, just up the road from our house, to celebrate.

2. Yesterday I booked tickets to Brisbane! Mixed nationals is there on October 18-20, and I'm part of the Kaboom team from Canberra. I'm excited about playing at this level, seeing a new city, and training with the Canberra folks. I'm not sure what to expect, but we do have about 5 people who went to worlds, so we should do rather well.

3. And lastly, the headline story:

On Sunday i spoke/preached at Kippax. Gordon is a clever man, and knew that one of the few ways to get me back into a pulpit would be to ask me to speak about Ultimate. So that's what i did. They are having a series on 'What are you passionate about', and as Ultimate really is something that grounds/energises/fulfills me, i was asked to tell the congregation about it. Not having been in a pulpit for about 6 or so months, this was a real mind-bender. Was it a Sunday sermon, or a frisbee development clinic talk? It was really different not to be standing there daring to speak God's word, but yet to still be talking about 'good news', and something that i take part in religiously.

Anyway, i think it went rather well. Many of the listeners were over 50, and i guess won't be taking up the sport tomorrow. However, I did ask them what it was that made them tick, and managed to squeeze in an explanation of Examen prayer in too. After explaining what Ultimate was, I expanded on why i thought Ultimate was such a life-giving thing for me. I found 3 reasons:

i - it is a sport: It gets me out of my head, into my body. As wise man Barry quotes: 'The 3 most important spiritual questions you can ask are, 'How am i eating, how am i sleeping & am i exercising regularly?'" With Ultimate at least one of those can be answered in the affirmative.

ii - it is a team sport: the 'Ultimate community' is a great inclusive, accepting, affirming bunch of people, and a wonderful breath of irreverent fresh air at times.

iii - it's not just any sport: although 'sport' and 'community' can cover a wide range of life-giving activities, there is something special about Ultimate that sets it apart from all other sports. And... that is its philosophy of "the Spirit of the Game." Read about it here and here and see for yourself. Just fabulous.

So, that was my frisbee sermon. To round it off, here's a quote from Ed Headrick, the inventor of the Frisbee:

We used to say that Frisbee is really a religion - 'Frisbeeterians,' we'd call ourselves. When we die, we don't go to purgatory, we just land up on the roof and lie there.

haha! I know, i'm an unashamed frisbee addict (and evangelist). But it is such good news, and so life-giving, that i'm excited to tell others.

Seeing the other as brother (an example)

I went to the funeral of Rev Rob Robertson yesterday. Yes, I managed to get excused from CPE for the afternoon! Thomas was there too. Rob was a Presby minister who started the first multi-racial Presbyterian congregation in SA and was very involved in the anti-apartheid struggle. He died on Saturday at 82 on his daily run. When I came to Cape Town I was told by three different people in independent circumstances (Greg Andrews, Rob Steiner and Keith Vermeulen) that I would do well to meet Rob, as he had done some of the things I was expressing and desiring in the church. My to-do list in my wallet still has the words "Rob Robertson - Milnerton" on it.

Hearing of his death, and more of his story, made me regret not contacting him. I thought i better go along to the service, to get one last chance to 'meet' him and hear how people spoke of him. After the service (and after greeting far too many Presby Colleagues and friends) I went up to his wife to introduce myself. I felt I needed to tell her that, as a Presbyterian student of the ministry, I hope to continue Rob's multi-racial congregation legacy in our country. She thanked me, adding that it desperately needed to be done.

Another moving moment was the story Rob Steiner used to open the service. I want to post and paraphrase it here for others to hear. From what I heard, Rob Robertson really did see the other as brother:

A Hasidic Rabbi once asked his students "How do you know when the night has ended and it is day?" (for they measure days from sunset and sunrise)
One student ventured: "Is it when you can look into the field and there is enough light to tell the difference between a sheep and a dog?" "No" was the reply.
Another tried, "Is it when it is light enough to look at your hand and make out your finger prints?" And another said, "Is it when you can tell the difference between a fig tree and a pear tree in the distance?" Still the answer was "No."
"So what is it then?" insisted the students.

"It is when you can look into the face of another person, any woman or man, and see that they are in fact your your sister and your brother. Until that time, we are still living in the dark" the Rabbi replied.

Here's to carrying on the legacy of this man I almost met.

(See Barry's latest post for another realisation of the other as brother)

Lookin' good for Jesus

This story - Jesus' cosmetic row in Singapore - got me chuckling. How about a "Virtuous vanilla" lip balm or a "Get Tight with Christ" hand and body cream? We all use Jesus for marketing (think church capital projects, Christmas and Easter), but for some reason the local Roman Catholic Christians thought this was taking it too far. What a crazy world we live in! Kudos to Blue Q who thought up these products, they even got the blonde, blue eyed Jesus spot on!

Tokkelokke

Kudos to Justin and Jono who bravely embark on a BTh (Bachelor of Theology) at the University of Pretoria this week. Good on you guys! If you realise early that Greek and Hebrew are your friends, then 4 glorious years of solid reformed theology await you! Enjoy the books and the events, and try help Tuks (especially the Theology faculty) with their badly needed transformation.

PS.. Here's a little blog by some old Tuks classmates to get you acquainted.

Quakerisms - Intro #1

As promised, here’s an excerpt from the “Who are the Quakers” booklet of the Central and Southern Africa Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. It’s only a little booklet, and not nearly conclusive or final, but I found the info helpful. The statement below draws together statements made by the Lesotho Allowed Meeting and the Johannesburg Monthly Meeting (ie congregation).

I love the lack of generalisations, the use of ‘most’ or ‘many’ instead of ‘all Quakers’, and the guiding principles of love and truthfulness. Some of the ‘divine light’ sounds a bit too esoteric and/or Gnostic for me, but I’m sure their pneumatology is in line with that of the New Testament and most mystics. The inter-faith and multi-faith space is also telling.
So, without further commentary, here is intro excerpt #1:

What do Quakers Believe?

There is a Divine Seed in everyone. We each have a direct, unique relationship with God.

We have in each of us, a degree of the same Spirit as was evident in Jesus of Nazareth. We try to be conscious of this Spirit, also called Inner Light, Inner Guide, Christ Within, “that of God”, the Divine Light, the Holy Spirit.

Many Quakers find God fully revealed in the teaching, example and sacrificial life of Jesus of Nazareth.

Love is the basis of our life. Quakers believe that they are required to love that of God in everyone, therefore most Quakers seek to find alternatives to war and violence.

Truthfulness is also at the root of Quaker faith and practice. This is one of the reasons why we have no formal creed, as to do so may encourage people to make statements that they do not truly believe.

We Quakers do not express our faith in set words because we find that the experience and knowledge of God lies beyond words. It must be lived and demonstrated throughout the whole of life.

We have no priests as intermediaries.

We experience the Christian sacraments inwardly, without the use of outward symbols.

All persons must seek individual guidance and must follow the light found within. Each will be helped by the developing interpretations of God in the Bible and the ideas of the great spiritual leaders of all faiths.

The Quaker focus on the Spirit encourages us to be inclusive and gentle, because in relating to one another we are relating to God. This respect for one another allows everyone to grow confidently in relation to God and the Creation.


nice hey? not an approach that one hears much here in churchland unfortunately.

mondays are for subversive quotes

Seeing that pomo-Adam has this cool* “Fridays are for new music” thing going, I thought that I’d do a “Mondays are for subversive quotes” thing. Well, this Monday at least. I had 2 quotes sitting in my inbox for a while now, desperate to get put up here. And, what do you know, another one arrived today. So, here are 3 subversive quotes to shake this blue Monday up:

*I assume it is cool. I haven’t actually listened to his music, but judging by his playlist when we drove to Virginia for an Ultimate tournament, I’m sure it’s good. If we had the bandwidth here in SA to listen to streaming audio then trust me, I’d be listening. And then it would be cool.


Those at the Edge Hold the Secret

Those at the edge, ironically, always hold the secret for the conversion of every age and culture. They always hold the projected and denied parts of our soul, the parts of ourselves that we are ashamed of, that we hate and deny, that we're afraid of in ourselves. Only as the People of God receive the stranger and the leper, those who don't play our game, do we discover not only the hidden and hated parts of our own souls, but the Lord Jesus himself. That's how we say, "Come, Lord Jesus." In letting go, we make room for the Other. The church is always converted when the outcasts are reinvited into the temple.

Richard Rohr, Preparing for Christmas with Richard Rohr


A Gospel That Unsettles

A church that doesn't provoke any crises, a gospel that doesn't unsettle, a word of God that doesn't get under anyone's skin, a word of God that doesn't touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed - what gospel is that? Very nice, pious considerations that don't bother anyone, that's the way many would like preaching to be. Those preachers who avoid every thorny matter so as not to be harassed, so as not to have conflicts and difficulties, do not light up the world they live in.

Oscar Romero, The Violence of Love


Living in Hope

Here's what I've decided: the very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof. What I want is so simple I almost can't say it: elementary kindness. Enough to eat, enough to go around. The possibility that kids might one day grow up to be neither the destroyers nor the destroyed. That's about it. Right now I'm living in that hope, running down its hallways and touching the walls on both sides. I can't tell you how good it feels.

Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

These thoughtful quotes come from daily emails I subscribe to from Richard Rohr and inward/outward. You can too!

A mystic, an evangelical and a fundamentalist die…

I found this wonderful anecdote in Pete Rollins’ How (not) to Speak of God today:

A mystic, an evangelical pastor and a fundamentalist preacher die on the same day and awake to find themselves by the pearly gates. Upon reaching the gates they are promptly greeted by Peter, who informs them that before entering heaven they must be interviewed by Jesus concerning the state of their doctrine. The first to be called forward is the mystic, who is quietly ushered into a room. Five hours later the mystic reappears with a smile, saying, “I thought I had got it all wrong.” Then Peter signals to the evangelical pastor, who stands up and enters the room. After a full day has passed the pastor reappears with a frown and says to himself, H“how could I have been so foolish!” Finally Peter asks the fundamentalist to follow him. The fundamentalist picks up his well-worn Bible and walks into the room. A few days pass with no sign of the preacher, then finally a door swings open and Jesus himself appears, exclaiming, “How could I have got it all wrong!”

Just a liitle jab! Teehee! :)

can we fix you?

Hmmm…
“attempts to fix gays are psychologically harmful”

The ‘homosexuality debate’ isn’t really one of the battles I’m called to fight just yet. Since getting all excited about it a few years ago, and estranging some friends with my views, I’ve let others pursue the inclusion fight. The fact that the Presbyterian Church in SA isn’t even talking about it allows for some relaxing too.
However, I do try keep abreast of theology, news and views. THIS NEWS from Adam is rather interesting. Be sure to follow the comments too - pomomusings is known to have some volatile dissenters (to whom Adam, to his credit, is graciously hospitable to). Very interesting.

the gospel according to Richard

After meeting Richard Rohr in New Mexico last year, I’ve subscribed to “Richard’s Daily Meditations” and been rather enjoying them. I normally don’t do the usual ‘inspirational’ devotional stuff that comes out en-masse from Christian publishers, but it is nice to have something decent to think about in my inbox now and then. Most of his are excerpts from his books, and they are all straight and frank. This week he is speaking about poverty. Here’s a ‘thought’ from last week seemed especially pertinent to me. As a bit of an ecclesiastical traditionalist, I don’t like the thought of loosing traditions and denominations, but it seems a new way is needed. Have a read. What you think? Are the issues of the Reformation non-issues today? If so, what does that mean for us today?

• Church Divisions

A lot of the pretenses of institutional religion I don’t take seriously. Sometimes the Roman Church takes for granted that it speaks for God without acknowledging that what it says is often politically motivated and culturally conditioned (for example, questions of expedience being preeminent to questions of truth). That’s dangerous. I think we are entering a post-denominational period. I know my mother Church is Catholic. I am grateful for the great riches of my Catholic Church. But tradition is a runway, a takeoff point, a clear direction. Catholicism has not been a prison for me but a home “with many rooms” (John 14:2), which Jesus called his “Father’s house”. Because of Tradition, I feel a natural communion with many non-Catholics who share our same gospel values in life-style, practicing the two great commandments and asking similar questions of life. The historical European problems that divided us are a bore, frankly. Why do we have to continue to carry the baggage of denominational issues we divided over? If I cannot trust and work together with other Christians, what hope is there for any ecumenism with Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism? What hope is there for the world? Especially when we can see the historical accidents, the cultural blindness, the self-interest on both sides of every schism and reform. Why should we need to defend that? I have to much baggage to carry already. Often I feel like a juggler in this Church, trying to hold many truths together. I can’t make the great issues of the Reformation key in my life. Especially when I see that so many of the questions were asked entirely by comfortable, white male clerics (on both sides) and, usually, were questions of power and righteousness! If we had to divide, why couldn’t we divide over who was doing a better job of feeding widows and orphans?

from The Other Side, “Poverty and Surrender”by Richard Rohr

big names

One of the cool things about studying here is that Columbia has some rather big names. Today I got the chance to interact with two of the biggest - Brian Wren and Walter Brueggemann.

First off, Brian Wren is retiring, and today he preached his last sermon in chapel. He had a stroke last year, and that has forced him to take things slowly. The sermon was pretty much on death, but said far more beautifully and eloquently than i will ever manage. For Brian, God has not chosen to give him the gift of certainty and full assurance about life (and death). Some people he knows are so certain of their faith. But, if God had gifted him in that way, then the only hymn he would ever be able to write is
"Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine;
Oh what a foretaste of glory divine."
before he would have to shut the book and put down his pen. However, without this faith, his gift is to question, and think, and search, and lament. He has this become one of the most published and prolific of modern hymn writers, with his work published in hymnals all over the world. It was a moving, honest and hopeful sermon, and i saw him at coffee hour and thanked him for it. He also made an interesting remark about resurrection. Whatever the next world is to be, it won't be full of 'individualistic North Americans walking in the heavenly mall looking for fashion accessories.' He is who he is because of so many people, and in the resurrected life people will be just as intertwined and connected as they are today. I like that!

Community Softball and picnic on the seminary fields

I saw Walter Brueggemann (or 'Wally' as some students affectionately call him) at the community softball game last week, and asked him if i could come by and chat. He agreed, and today i popped into his office armed with a bunch of questions. I can't remember all that i asked, or all that he answered. A lot of it was over my head, and with no shared stories it felt a bit like an interview. Anyway, I liked what i understood, and think it will be a good idea to read some of his 55 books (correction: the count is up to 80 books now!), especially considering he is widely regarded as the foremost Old Testament theologian in the world! His name is more widely known than Columbia TS itself.

So, what did he say?
I asked him about where he sees the church going, and, after saying it's direction has to change, he directed me to his latest book on the contemporary church. A burning question of mine was how (and why) he reads the Bible. Social-historical criticism reading of the Bible has made it very tasteless for me, to the point that i hardly read anymore. Walter rather uses rhetorical criticism, and situates the text in our experiences. The really neat switch is that he sees God as a developing character in the text. When i brought up the problem of violence in the Old Testament, his reply is that God is a 'recovering violent-person' (as in 'recovering alcoholic.') This means that God did sanction violence in the past, but is 'recovering' and becoming more fully God. The 'fully-God' characteristics are the words we often see in the Bible such as mercy, steadfast love, grace etc. Those then are the attributes we are to try live into too, as we (also characters in the story) become more fully human. As to why he reads the Bible? It is the only text of its kind that explicitly speaks of the Divine. And it is our text. Finally, to answer 'What is the point of this all?' he used a Jewish phrase and says we are to 'mend the world'. Hooray for old, clever professors!

Loyal to the Truth

I sat down to read a bit of Thomas Merton last night - after a wonderful evening of helping Adam and Jake with their .bE alt.worship installation thing. It so often surprises me how postmodern and contextual Merton is in his thinking. Even from his hermitage in Kentucky he was speaking of a hermeneutic of suspicion, a non-rule based ethic, and favoured right action over right words. Most of what he said echoed the thoughts Jake and Adam used in the worship experience last night - those of Meister Eckhart, Derrida, Ricouer, Rilke etc.

The Truth is a Way and a Person - and a Way and a Person have to be found and followed. Truth is to be lived. There are, in fact, no simple formulas that will suffice once for all. True, there are principles. But a principle is worthless if it is usually known and not applied. And if we apply it, we have to have regard for circumstances that make the principle true in a unique way in this unique case - or that perhaps calls into action some entirely different principle that gives the lie to the first.
How hard it is to be loyal to the Truth when most of the time you do not see any of it! Thus loyalty demands constant criticism, constant rejection of empty formulas, of words use to evade the struggle and to allay anguish, rather than to find Truth or express it. And can we use words simply to find Truth? Is this not an illusion?

The Journals of Thomas Merton, III. 192. April 20, 1958.

Hmmm... what does this have to say about Preaching and its use of 'words'. What empty formulas do I have to reject? Could it be that our Christian principles are contingent and only 'work' in certain circumstances? Uneasy questions! Good old Merton. Just when i thought i was coming back to some absolutes I'm told not settle for easy words or answers that evade the struggle. Truth is expression, not opinion.

Spot the difference

Recognise this picture?

The world according to: Land Area

And this one?

The world according to: Wealth (GDP 2002)

Something wrong?

The world according to: HIV/Aids prevalence

I recently found a wonderful website: WorldMapper -"The world as you have never seen it before". The map of the world is 'redrawn' according to various themes and data. Have a look around - its rather scary at times. Very telling are the maps of wealth, Aids, military spending and child-deaths. Very telling indeed!
These type of statistics always seem to bring to mind George Orwell's words from his political satire masterpiece Animal Farm:

"All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others."

Goodness breaking through

Paul Ricoeur sharing some thoughts at Taizé as to why he was a regular visitor there:

What do I come looking for in Taizé? I would say to experience in some way what I believe most deeply, namely that what is generally called “religion” has to do with goodness. To some extent the traditions of Christianity have forgotten this. There has been a kind of narrowing, an exclusive focus on guilt and evil. Not that I underestimate that problem, which was a great concern of mine for several decades. But what I need to verify is that however radical evil may be, it is not as deep as goodness. And if religion, if religions have a meaning, it is to liberate that core of goodness in human beings, to go looking for it where it has been completely buried. Now here in Taizé I see goodness breaking through, in the community life of the brothers, in their calm and discreet hospitality, and in the prayer. I see thousands of young people who do not express a conceptual articulation of good and evil, of God, of grace, of Jesus Christ, but who have a fundamental tropism towards goodness.

(Delivered during Holy week 2000 at Taizé)

friends and braais

All this being home is tiring work! But it is still great to get in touch with old friends. Not too much has changed actually, I seem to be able to pick up where I left off rather easily.
Friday I was invited to try out the new volleyball court at the church where I was youth pastor until July last year. I started the project and Rob and the team did a great job of completing it - the site looks great. Had some fun in the sun and the sand, finishing off with a braai and chats to my old youth and leaders. Went to another family for dessert and then to a club/pub/bar place to meet my sister.

As I was walking in to "Pete 'n Jerry's" i was 'accosted' by a very attractive lady shouting 'Gareth! Gareth'. It took me a while to realise that this was one of my old youth leaders, fresh out of school and all 'grown up'. She was there with her best friend and boyfriend. She immediately started telling me that she had gone to church once last year but it was boring. For some reason people sense this need to confess their church attendance stats to me, as if i can get them extra Noddy-badges with God. It was funny.

Later that eve this specific lady, and her friend were dancing on the tables, and enjoying substantial amounts of alcohol. Vaughn commented, "great advertisement for today's youth ministry". I agreed. Reflecting on that later that night got me thinking about the whole way we measure (and do) youth ministry. Too often the purpose of keeping kids busy is to 'stop good church kids from going bad'. If that were the reason, i failed on these two wonderful girls. But there has to be another way to do it. Here were two wonderful people (not 'evil' or even 'bad' at all) who were so vivacious that they would far prefer to be out with friends than at a youth group. Can you blame them? There has to be a way of being church that moves beyond trying to keep people 'nice' and 'good', and makes them alive. The way the friends and crowd (and music an alcohol) seemed to do there.

Anyways, that is my little reflection. Being home and hearing the dissatisfied church stories and seeing the 'drop out's' has reinforced why i am at Columbia - to research and begin to find some solutions to the foundational questions i have about the church. Time to get to that thesis!

criss&kate @church braai, v-ball, the men & the meat.

Sat was spent with young adults from church at a braai (and more 'church attendance' confessions), tea with the council secretary of the church (they did pay for half my degree) and then Tania's 25th bday braai (where i was pleasantly surprised to bump into an array of old friends).
Today was church with family (Midrand Presby) , lunch with family friends, meeting with an ex-youth leader, more church (RPRUC) and finally a beer and controversial theology talk with JT.
Tomorrow I'm off to Pretoria to meet two professors at the Uni, worship with the Presby students and have a swim and lunch with two high school friends. Good times!

the gospel according to ... LEGO!

(again - some random reading because i won't be posting for a while)

Here is a great site that shows just how foreign some of the Bible can seem. The Bible in Lego! It is really funny! The section on the Law makes me shudder, and shows how foreign some of it seems. Do we still read all of it, and believe all of it? Is the bible really all true? If so, why don't we still listen to it (and do the crazy things it says). Really crazy things!

John 19:16-17, Luke 23:32
So they took Jesus and, carrying his own cross, he went out to the place called the Place of the Skull. Two other criminals were also led away to be executed with him.

Other cool websites: there are some very clever T-shirt sites around too. The beauty of being in the States is that i can actually order and get shirts delivered! Have a look at these sites, and hey, if you want a T, get them to mail it to me, and I'll ship it over:
Threadless Tees
Glarkware
Random shirts

I heart the Postmaster

That is something you don't hear too often - in the US or SA - but it is true, so I'll say it again! I heart the Postmaster. She/he has been especially good to me this past week: letters, drivers license, Christmas gift from South Africa and ... just yesterday:
A delivery of books to keep me busy over Christmas! Here they are:

Jurgen Moltmann: The Church in the Power of the Spirit
- a contribution to messianic ecclesiology

One of the primary texts for my thesis, some say the most important ecclesiological work of the 20th century.

Peter Berger: The Sacred Canopy

I already have A Rumour of Angels, and The Social Construction of Reality - all for my thesis. The Heretical Imperative is still on its way (wink, wink Postmaster).

Gordon Lathrop: Holy Things
- a liturgical theology

Required reading for my Winter course - Liturgical Theology - with Martha Moore-Keish. Looking forward to that class.

Richard Rohr: Everything Belongs
- the gift of contemplative prayer

One of the books to read for my New Year's conference with Rohr.

and finally:

Jon Kabat-Zinn: Wherever you go, there you are
- mindfulness meditation in everyday life

A highly recommended book from our Men in Ministry class. Should complement Rohr's book well.


10 days of silence in a monastery is exactly what i need if i hope to finish these all on time.

the thesis

Friday was the deadline for the thesis proposals to be in. I was almost swayed by Barry at the last minute to change the theologians - with good arguments - but chose to stick with my original focus. Here then is my Thesis title and statement:

Toward a new South African ecclesiology:
conversations with Moltmann and Berger.

In the changing and increasingly secular South African society, historically white mainline churches need to ask the question “how can we ‘be’ church in the new South Africa?” Within the wider mainline theological tradition, Jurgen Moltmann’s challenging rethinking of ecclesiology and Peter Berger’s secularisation thesis provide interesting conversation partners for sketching this new contextual ecclesiology.

You can read the two paragraph description and motivation over here. Any comments? Now to actually get it written. Next deadline is 4th Friday in January - finish all the reading.