Tag Archives: theology

CRACK HOUSE CHURCH – Peter Rollins’ Challenging Critique of “Church”!

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In a soon to be released interview for “The Work of the People,” Peter Rollins offers a challenging critique to those among us who are addicted to feel-good Sunday Church experiences. As someone who spends hours of sweat and toil crafting Sunday morning worship services, I must confess to squirming as Rollins’ critique made me feel like a pusher of dubious integrity. Despite my  discomfort, Rollins’ challenge reminds me of the need to “re-think” my own assumptions and aspirations of what it means to be “church”.

Rollins’ critique speaks to the need to broaden our definition of church beyond that which takes place in a building on Sunday morning to a more inclusive understanding of our life together in community.  When church endeavours to embody Christ, we begin to live our lives together as one in the world. Our common life in Christ reaches beyond our addiction to feel-good Sunday morning worship to include our struggle together to become more fully human.

Pete Rollins will be our guest at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Newmarket, Ontario on the weekend of: April 12-14, 2013. I look forward to learning more from this challenging theologian!!!

EVOLUTIONARY GOOD NEWS – Rev. Michael Dowd

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Evolutionary theologian Michael Dowd, author of “THANK GOD FOR EVOLUTION” advocates for an “Evolutionary Christianity”.  A self-described “New Theist” Dowd explains: “New Theists are not believers; we’re evidentialists. We value scientific, historic, and cross-cultural evidence over ancient texts, religious dogma, or ecclesiastical authority. We also value how an evidential worldview enriches and deepens our communion with God. New Theists are not supernaturalists; we’re naturalists. We are inspired and motivated more by this world and this life than by promises of a future otherworld or afterlife. This does not, however, mean that we diss uplifting or transcendent experiences, or disvalue mystery. We don’t. But neither do we see the mystical as divorced from the natural. New Theists are legion; we are diverse. Many of us continue to call ourselves Christian, Jew, Muslim, or Hindu. We may also self-identify as emergentist, evidentialist, freethinker, neo-humanist, pantheist, panentheist, or some other label. New Theists don’t believe in God. We know that throughout human history, the word “God” has always and everywhere been a meaning-filled interpretation, a mythic and inspiring personification of forces and realities incomprehensible in a prescientific age. We also know that interpretations and personifications don’t exist or fail to exist. Rather, they are more or less helpful, more or less meaningful, more or less inspiring.”

Here’s the TED TALK: Why We Suffer Now, for those who are pushed for time. But if you have the time, I strongly  recommend the longer CAL TECH Lecture:  Evolution and the Global Integrity Crisis,  below in which Dowd is able to elaborate on his ideas.  Fascinating stuff!!!

For more on Evolutionary Christianity click below:

Peter Rollins and Phyllis Tickle discuss EMERGING CHRISTIANITY

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Peter Rollins will be our guest at Holy Cross in Newmarket: April 12-14, 2013

A Creation Open to the Future: Jürgen Moltmann

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 “In border zones between faith and science, when faith encounters series science it requires no defense, but only interest and curiosity.  The question about God and the question what holds nature together are not wholly divergent questions and they are not controversial.”   I will confess that Moltmann often hurts my brain and so I must read him carefully and listen attentively.  But he is always worth the effort.  He always sends me off on tangents I would never have discovered without his prompting.

Here, Moltmann insists that theology does not call into question the results of scientific research, but theology does set these results in the context of wider horizons of interpretation because theology has different questions.  

EMERGENCE CHRISTIANITY: Phyllis Tickle

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The term Emergence Christianity names a conversation. One of the leading thinkers in this conversation is Phyllis Tickle.  PHYLLIS TICKLE, founding editor of the Religion Department of PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, the international journal of the book industry, is frequently quoted in print sources like USA TODAY, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, NY TIMES as well as in electronic media like PBS, NPR, THE HALLMARK CHANNEL, and innumerable blogs and web sites.  Tickle explores the contours of the current Emergence Christianity conversation.

God and the Evolutionary Mind: The God Who Beckons

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Sister Joan Chittister, O.S.B. What does evolution have to tell us about God?  Speaking in April 2012, Sister Joan explores the emerging connections between science, religion and spirituality to find new ways of speaking of about God. The God we know in 2012 is not the God we knew in years past.  We have all known and moved beyond many Gods. As our images of God fail us, we turn to the MYSTERY of God that no one wants: God the fullness of BEING.

Gretta Vosper

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Canadian Progressive Christian author Gretta Vosper will be our guest at Holy Cross in Newmarket the weekend of Nov.30/Dec.1/ 2012 

Click here to view video of Gretta’s presentation at ideacity 2012

The Search for Jesus

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The Doctrine of Original Sin versus the Teachings of Jesus

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Given the choice between the doctrine of original sin and the teachings of Jesus, I’m with Jesus! 

For centuries the church’s doctrine of Original Sin, has defined human nature as inherently sinful.  We are born cursed by the first sin of Adam. Born, some would insist, of bodily sin. Somehow the doctrine of Original Sin, permeates our understanding of the very act of procreation, and in the minds of too many, tainted the very idea of sex with sin. We are born of sin, into sin, and as such must die to our sins.  So, we wash away our sins in the waters of baptism and are reborn as forgiven sinners. For years and years this has been the modus operandi of the institutional church.

This predominant doctrine of the church does not fare well when it comes to Jesus. Jesus knew nothing of Original Sin. Jesus was a good and faithful Jew. Original Sin is not Jewish. Original Sin is not in the Bible. For a good three-hundred years after the resurrection, the church had no doctrine of Original Sin. Today, Orthodox Christians have no doctrine of Original Sin. And yet the Roman Catholic and Protestant denominations have built their institutions on the Doctrine of Original Sin. I dare say that for a good many of us, our very psyche’s have been shaped by the doctrine of Original Sin. Most of us relate to God, as sinners in need of Grace. While there is no doubt that humanity is indeed sinful, I’d like to suggest that we look to the teachings of Jesus, and the ancient traditions of Christianity to recover a sense of the goodness of creation.

We are, as the stories handed down by our ancestors insist, created in the image of our Creator, and we are good. We are as Jesus insisted, loved and blessed. We are as the letter to the Ephesians declares, “God’s work of art” We are as the saints of old have known and written, “God’s delight.” We are as science proves over and over again wondrously made. 

Every day as we learn more and more about creation and our place in it, we know that the ancient nomadic tribesmen of the Middle East got a few things wrong. There was no pristine human state. No time when humans were perfect. There was no fall from grace. The story of the fall is just that, a story told by an ancient tribe to try to explain their relationship to their Creator. Yes there is much truth to be learned from the story. But we cannot learn the whole truth from this ancient tale and we must not base our image of ourselves on this story.

We are wondrously made. We have learned so much down through the centuries and if we are to continue to follow the teachings of Jesus then we “must love God with our whole heart, with our whole soul, and with our whole mind.” We cannot check our brains at the door and don the persona of those “in bondage to sin” who cannot free themselves. 

We have learned much about the cosmos over the centuries and that knowledge, despite our worst fears, does not diminish God. The more we learn about the cosmos and our place in it the more we learn of our Creator and the more we come to realize that it is good. 

We live in a post-Darwinian world. We know about evolution. We know that humans have evolved and are continuing to evolve and this miraculous reality is to be celebrated and not feared. Creation is an ongoing reality. “All of creation has been groaning in one great act of giving birth.” 

But sadly for some, it’s as if the Creator is throwing a marvelous banquet, and we are so preoccupied with our misunderstandings and distractions that we are refusing to attend. It’s long past time to free ourselves from the doctrine of  original sin and embrace the sacredness of humanity.

The universe itself is full of grace. It’s time to open our arms to the embrace of the One who is, was, and ever more shall be, the One who lives and breathes in with and through us. The force that permeates the cosmos. We can hold on to our wounds or we can let them go and move on.

I’m not saying that there is no evil in the world, or that we are without error. But like Dr. Martin Luther King I believe that “the moral arch of the universe bends toward justice” and that standing on the shoulders of all those who have gone before us, creation has the potential to evolve. As part of creation we have the potential to evolve, so that each generation does a little better than the generation before. That means taking responsibility for our mistakes.  Confession is good for us. We can’t learn from our mistakes unless we confess them. We can’t heal from our wounds if we don’t know what they are. We can’t develop if we don’t take a look at our shortcomings. We can’t simply let ourselves off the hook by saying it was ever thus, “We are by nature sinful.” and then keep doing the same things over and over.

Jesus’ life, death and resurrection calls us to do the work of improving our relationships with God and with one another, and to celebrate the goodness, the beauty, the grace, and the love that permeates creation.

There’s no time to wallow in our unworthiness. The banquet of blessings is well underway! It’s long past time to celebrate the blessing that Creation is. We’ve wasted enough time wallowing in original sin. It’s time to stand up and look around us at the original blessing in which we live and breath and have our being. 

We are wondrously made! It’s time to embrace our Creator’s work; it’s time to embrace our humanity!

 Re-reading Matthew Fox’s “Original Blessing”, I am reminded that although the doctrine of original dominates so much of Christianity theology and practice, there has from the very beginning been a splendid chorus of alternative voices who have heralded our Original Blessing.  Contemporary voices are lending their voices to the chorus as we open our minds to the wonders that surround us in the cosmos.

Tangible-atate the Gospel

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Tangibile-atatin the Gospel for Mamma Eternal

One of the joys of being on sabbatical is the opportunity not to preach. I have been a preacher for 13 years. Which means that almost every week I have focussed upon writing a sermon. The drive to dig deeply in order to come up with something to say on Sunday morning is a focus that I both love and hate because it is both joyful and painful. All too often, I find myself sounding like myself. The break from preaching and the need to be creative on demand has allowed me the opportunity to wander off in directions that the weekly sermon demands would never allow the time for. Discovering new forms of expression is marvellous. 

I came across James Forbes via the Living the Questions DVD adult education program and I’ve been meaning to seek him out. His way with words intrigues me. Take a look at this TED talk from 2008 in which Forbes preaches about the Charter for Compassion.  He has a way with words and his phrases break the hold! “Mamma Eternal” is a keeper! I can hardly wait to use it in my own quest to “tangible-atate the Gospel”.

Open to the MYSTERY

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“Infinity always gives me vertigo and fills me up with grace.”

 Bruce Cockburn

 

In pondering MYSTERY we are always indebted to those who have gone before us.

What follows relies on the work of Brian McLaren and process theologian James Murray

A while back, I went to a lecture given by Brian McLaren. Brian McLaren is one of the leaders of what is being called the Emerging Church Movement, which is a movement that is trying to articulate a new kind of Christianity for the 21st century. McLaren told us a story about a friend of his named John who lives in South Africa.

John is a very wealthy successful Zulu who belongs to a Pentecostal church that preaches what is called the prosperity gospel. This is movement that insists that if you have enough faith God will see to it that you prosper and become very wealthy. Well John belongs to a very large Pentecostal church in South Africa that has tens of thousands of member. John is a very wealthy and successful businessman.  And in John’s church if you are rich you gain entry to the inner circle of the pastor and you are called an Armor Bearer.

But after being involved as an Armor Bearer for many years John becomes disillusioned. John says,  “I’m rich but a whole lot of other members of the church who are good faithful people are poor.”  These folks have been doing everything the pastor has taught them to do and for some reason God just isn’t rewarding these poor folks with riches. The pastor keeps laying hands on them and they are not getting rich. It’s worked for me, but I just can’t figure out why it’s not working for them.” So John starts to have doubts about the prosperity gospel and he is deep in doubt.

A couple of years ago John comes to his friend Brian McLaren and he tells him that he has decided to put his faith to a test. John announces that he is going to read Richard Dawkins book the God Delusion. Now for those of you who haven’t heard or read about Richard Dawkins, he is an atheist who has written several books on the fact that God is dead or just an illusion and that people of the 21st century should just get over it. So, John says he’s going to put his faith to the test and read the God Delusion and put it all on the line.  John says that, “If I become convinced by Richard Dawkins, I will give up my faith and become an atheist.”

So John starts reading, and he’s just going to put it all on the line. It’s sort of a good Pentecostal test.  And John tells his friend, “Brian, I’m a good Pentecostal and I know how to hear the voice of the Lord.  And one morning I was taking a shower and the Holy Spirit spoke to me. And the Spirit said, “This man Richard Dawkins speaks the truth.”

So John says to his friend, “Brian what do I do with this? I know the voice of God and God has told me that Richard Dawkins is speaking the truth.”

Well John is a good businessman and he doesn’t have much formal education, but he wants to figure this out. And he says to his friend, “Brian I just had to live with this terrible paradox in my mind. That God has told me that Dawkins is speaking the truth. And months went by and I was in turmoil about this.” And then he said, “It gradually began to dawn on me that the God that Dawkins doesn’t believe in is the God that the missionaries brought to my people. And it was a white god and a colonial god and that god was used to justify putting all of my people in a position of subservience.” And he said that, “It gradually began to dawn on me that Richard Dawkins is killing a god who needs to be killed.” And he said, “The strangest thing happened after this, I found myself loving Jesus Christ more than ever. Because I realized that Jesus was trying to reveal another vision of God, a vision other than the God who kills and destroys and dominates and judges.”

In Jesus’ parable: “people never put new wine in an old wineskin. If they do, the new wine will burst the skin; the wine will spill out and the skin will be ruined. No, new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. People never want new wine after they’ve been drinking the old. They say, ‘We like the old better’.”

Jesus reveals a vision of a God who is beyond our tribal instincts and understandings; a vision of a God who is beyond our fears. And yet, all too often we prefer the old God better. We long for the supernatural being out there separate from the world who from time to time intervenes in the world; that old God who is out there and who can’t be known directly, but only believed in; that old God who sits waiting on a cloud for us to die so that he can judge us and forgive us and reward us. We like the old wine better than the new wine.  And we have these old wine skins so we try putting the new wine that Jesus brings in those old skins, hoping that they will contain it. But the new wine burst the skins and pours out all over the place.

It’s the 21st century and nobody uses wine skins anymore. Why last year when we toured the vineyards of Niagara we learned that nobody’s using cork anymore. The best of the new wine comes to us in screw-top bottles. We’ve moved on and we’ve learned all sorts of things about creation, and that knowledge of creation has expanded our vision of God in ways our ancestors could never have imagined. It’s time to let the old vision of God die.

It’s time to open ourselves to what Christ has and is revealing to us about a vision of God that moves beyond our fears; a vision of God that is reflected in the cosmos as we are beginning to understand it; a vision of God that enhances our knowledge of God and calls forth a spirituality in us that sustains us in our daily living; a vision of God that helps us to experience God.

By peeling back the layers of the tradition of the Church, by unpacking the generations of theological doctrine, scholars are beginning to see a vision of God that Jesus spoke of. The new vision revealed to us in Christ, is one that reflects the reality that, “God is in the world and the world is in God and God is more than the world.” This is a vision of a relational God; a God who is intimate with the world.

We may long for the all-powerful King God, who with the stroke of his arm imposes his will upon the world, but who among us can be intimate with such a god. Is such an all-powerful God even capable of intimacy or would it be like you or I trying to caress an amoeba.

The ancient mystics found in the wisdom literature of the Hebrew Scriptures the vision of God that Jesus lived and died to reveal. They found a vision of God with us, who is compassionate and directing, using our freedom and responsibility, and calling us to use these for the good of others as well as ourselves. A vision of God that emphasizes that, although God is always an important factor in what happens, God does not control history. God is in us and we are in God but we are also members one of another, and our lives are interwoven with the wider natural context of creation as well.

God’s power is relational power as opposed to unilateral power. Unilateral power is by nature coercive—imagine the old god, the cosmic moralist, and ruling like an absolute king. This image is of a God who gives, but does not receive; acts but does not listen; demands but does not compromise; this image of God makes spirituality difficult because it ignores our identities as God’s beloved creatures, it ignores our desires.

The vision of God that Christ reveals is of a God whose power is relational, a God who gives, but also receives, acts but also responds, has a vision but is open to change and transformation. Christ reveals an image of God who creates and gives freedom and creativity to creation. Freedom and creativity are intrinsic to each of us and relational power works to value that by offering a dream or aim to each of us. The future is created out of response and anticipation. The idea of relational power is dependent on diversity, actually welcomes diversity, and offers novelty to each nano second of experience.

Christ’s image of God affirms that God has a vision, appropriate to each moment of experience and, in the broadest sense, for the vast expanses of planetary and cosmic history. God is omnipresent, in all things so there are no God forsaken places. In each moment God presents the world with possibilities. God calls us into God’s dream of the future; a dream of peace and justice and peace for all God’s creation.

If we are in God then what we do matters.  What we do and who we are impacts God. What we do can limit God, but can never defeat God. For in each moment the dream is revised and offered back to us. We can refuse but God does not stop, for there are some who listen and they will guide us. God leads us by persuasion and Christ empowers us by expanding our freedom to be what God is calling us to be, and the Spirit lives and breathes in with and through us.

All of creation is interconnected and intimately related to the Creator.  This expansive vision of God cannot be stuffed into the old wine skins of the institution. New ways of worshipping, new ways of praying, new ways of understanding will move us beyond the old image of God which has soured and turned to vinegar in those old wine skins.

Images of God are but pale reflections of God. Worshipping images of God is a problem as old as time itself.  Such worship has an ancient name. It’s called idolatry. We are called to worship God, not a pale reflection of God. So, our worship will always be incomplete for we peer through a glass darkly. So let us worship with humility, trusting Christ to show us the way.  Let us worship together, mindful that our words and rituals will fail to capture the wonders and mystery of our God, but open to the possibility that together we might capture a glimpse of God or feel the touch of God, or hear the love of God, or recognize the gifts of God as we worship together.

Let us always be prepared to let an image of God die. For we are a people who claim the power of resurrection and we know that in death there is new life. God will come to us again and again, touching, caressing, nudging, persuading, cajoling, imploring, healing, soothing; sometimes shouting, sometimes whispering, often just embracing.

God will be who God will be.  YAHWEH.

Our images of God will come and go, but God remains steadfast. The new wine that comes to us in the life of Christ brings us a foretaste of the feast to come; a taste that reminds us of our connectedness to God and to one another; a sacred connectedness.

So let our prayers open us to the reality of that connection. Let our deeds reflect the confidence that our freedom to act can change the world. Let us be about ushering in the reign of God that Jesus taught. A reign of justice and peace, where each one of God’s children is treasured as God’s beloved.

Let us live with confidence trusting that God is the source of our being.

Let us walk together trusting that God is the ground of our being.

Let us be all that we were created to be.

Jesus said over and over again, in words and in deeds: “Do not be afraid.”

So let us have the courage to drink the new wine that Christ offers and if it tastes a little strange to our palates, drink again, let the flavor move us to a new understanding, a new way of relating, a new way of being.

Let us open ourselves to the reflections of God that are all around us – open ourselves to the God who lives within us.

The Ascension Never Actually Happened – Ascension is Always Happening

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Leaving Behind the Miraculous Jesus to Welcome the Human Jesus

The celebration of Jesus’ Ascension is a church festival that I have always chosen to ignore. The ancient tradition that has Jesus floating up into the clouds stretches the credibility of the church to such an extent that I’ve always assumed that the less said about the Ascension the better. But last year I was challenged by a parishioner to try to make some sense out of the Ascension story so that 21st century Christians would not have to check their brains at the door should they happen upon a congregation that still celebrated the day. What follows is a transcript of my attempt to leave behind the miraculous Jesus in order to be better able to welcome the human Jesus down from the clouds. I am indebted to Bishop John Shelby Spong together with Clay Nelson of St Matthew-in-the-city for their liberating insights.  

Traditionally, on the 40th day after Easter, the church celebrates the feast of the Ascension. But because so few people in the 21st century are willing to come to church during the week, the Ascension is celebrated by the church on the first Sunday after the feast of the Ascension. Since I have been your pastor we have not celebrated Ascension Sunday. But as this particular Ascension Sunday follows so closely after Jack Spong’s visit with us, I thought that it was about time that rather than avoid the Ascension, I’d like to try to confront it.

Jack has been telling his anti-Ascension story for quite a few years now. Just in case you’ve never heard it or have forgotten it, let me remind you. It seems that Jack was speaking with Carl Sagan, the world-renowned astronomer and astrophysicist. Jack says that Carl Sagan once told him  “if Jesus literally ascended into the sky and traveled at the speed of light, then he hasn’t yet escaped our galaxy.”

With that said, let me just say, that the Ascension never actually happened. It is not an historical event. If a tourist with a video camera had been there in Bethany they would have recorded absolutely nothing. 

I know what the Nicene Creed says, “Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.” But like the members of the early church, I do not have a literal understanding of the scriptures. And so, as I do not understand the Bible literally, neither do I understand the Nicene Creed to be a literal interpretation of the faith. Like all creeds the Nicene, Apostles and Athanasian creeds are snapshots of theology as it was at a particular time in history.

We would do well to remember that the Creeds were developed to answer questions about the faith in a time when people understood the cosmos to be comprised of a flat earth, where God resides above in the heavens and located beneath the earth were the pits of hell. I know that the universe is infinite.  I also know about gravity. I also know that it is highly unlikely that Jesus had helium flowing through his veins.  I’ve flown around the world, and I can tell you that there is no heaven above the clouds. So, I can say with confidence that:  The very present Jesus of resurrection faith did not literally elevate into heaven while his disciples looked on.

The writer of the Gospel according to Luke and the Book of Acts are one and the same person. The same writer wrote the Gospel according to Luke to tell the story of the life of Jesus and the Book of Acts to tell the story of the Holy Spirit at work in the followers of Jesus.  Although we don’t know who the author was, we do know that he was not an historian. Neither Luke nor Acts are historical accounts. They are both addressed to a character named Theopholus. Theopholus is  Greek for lover of God. The books are addressed to the lovers of God, that’s you and me and the author makes it clear that he has written these books so that we, the lovers of God, can believe and have faith.  The books were written somewhere near the end of the first century. Somewhere between 50 to 60 years after the death of Jesus.  Perhaps between 80 and 95 of this Common Era.

The important question for most biblical scholars is not whether the Ascension actually happened but rather, what did the Ascension mean to the author in his context. And to that question we might add a more pressing question: Given what the Ascension meant in the first century, does it continue to have any relevance for those of us who live in the 21st century?

I believe that the followers of Jesus experiences of Jesus the man were so overwhelming that they saw in him the human face of God. I also believe that in very powerful ways the followers of Jesus continued to experience Jesus presence.

Those powerful experiences of Jesus after his death were so intense that they defied description. Given that Jesus was now dead and gone, yet his presence still seemed to be with them, the followers of Jesus used the Hebrew story of Elijah and Elisha to construct a belief about the Spirit of Jesus continuing to be powerfully among them.

By the time the writer of Luke and Acts got around to writing these stories down, there were different versions of the story being passed around in the early church. The writer of Luke/Acts paints a picture of a re-formed bodily Jesus going up into the heavens in the Ascension and a windy, fiery Spirit coming down at Pentecost. The writer uses powerful familiar Hebrew images to portray the experiences of Jesus’ followers after his death.

In order for us to move beyond the literal and beyond the historical and even beyond the metaphorical meaning to arrive at the meaning that the story of the Ascension can have for us today in this time and in this place, I’d like to tell you two stories that I heard about from a preacher who serves an Anglican parish in Auckland, New Zealand. Clay Nelson is a friend of Jack Spong who tells great stories.  The first story is an actual, literal, historically accurate Ascension story followed by a metaphorical Ascension story.

The literal historical Ascension story took place in 1982. But it the story that actually began some twenty years earlier when Larry Walters was just 13 years old and he saw weather balloons hanging from the ceiling of an Army & Navy surplus store. It was then that Larry knew that some day he would be carried up to the heavens by balloons. Sure enough when he was 33 years old, on July 2nd 1982, Larry Walters tied 42 helium-filled balloons to a lawn chair in the backyard of his girlfriend’s house in San Pedro, California. With the help of his friends, Larry secured himself into the lawn chair that was anchored to the bumper of a friend’s car, by two nylon tethers. Larry packed several sandwiches and a six-pack of Miller Lite and loaded his pellet gun so that he could pop a few balloons when he was ready to come down. His goal was to sail across the desert and hopefully make it to the Rocky Mountains in a few days.

But things didn’t quite work out for Larry. When he cut the cord anchoring the lawn chair the second one snapped, launching Larry into the skies above Los Angeles. Instead of leveling off at about 30 feet as he’d planned, Larry rose to 16,000 feet and at that height Larry couldn’t risk shooting any of the balloons.    So he stayed up there drifting cold and frightened for more than 14 hours when he found himself in the primary flight approach corridor for LAX.

Legend has it that a Pan Am pilot was the first to spot Larry and quickly radioed the tower telling them that he’d just passed a guy in a lawn chair with a gun. The Federal Aviation Administration was not amused. Larry started shooting out the balloons to start his descent but accidentally dropped the gun. After drifting for a couple of hours he eventually landed in a Long Beach neighbourhood entangled in some power lines. Larry survived without any serious injuries.

Now that is an historically accurate ascension story. It’s a funny story and a true story, but it is not a life changing story. But Larry did inspire a wonderful Australian movie, called Danny Deckchair, which is untrue, is in fact full of truth. Now when a New Zealander recommends an Australian movie, I take notice, so yesterday I watched Danny Deckchair and I do believe that it is a modern metaphorical interpretation of the Ascension.

The movie’s hero, Danny, is a bored labourer who drives a cement mixer. Danny is an unlikely Christ figure whose story is similar to Larry’s. Danny ascends from his backyard in Sydney during a barbecue and lands less than gracefully in a small town in the Australian outback. By this act of departure and arrival everything changes not only for Danny, but also for those he left behind and those he meets in the outback. Danny’s unique departure inspires those at home to take risks of their own: to live life more boldly, to act on their dreams, to become all they can be.

In acting out his dream, Danny finds new confidence and becomes the source of inspiration and affirmation for the townsfolk in the outback who used to see themselves as backwater hicks, but now see the importance of their actions in the life of their town. Everyone is transformed by Danny’s ascension. New Life and love accompany his resurrection.

The writer of Luke/Acts two versions of Jesus’ Ascension are not true like Larry’s lift off but are true like Danny Deckchair.  While the event certainly did not happen in a literal way, the story does attempt to capture the quality of a real man whose coming and going in their lives changed them forever.  The writer of Luke/Acts Ascension story is not so miraculous after all. The Ascension story is about the joy the disciples felt about the ongoing ever so real presence of Jesus after his death. The God they saw in Jesus they found in themselves. In Jesus’ departure they discovered that they could love as wastefully as he did.  They could live abundantly as Jesus did. They could heal and reconcile just as Jesus did.  With Jesus pointing the way they had found God and while Jesus was gone, the God that Jesus pointed to was everywhere, even in them.

If we are to move beyond the literal, beyond the historical, beyond the metaphorical to the life-changing meaning of the stories that have been handed down to us, we may just have to give up our tenacious hold upon the notion of Jesus as some sort of miracle worker who defies the laws of gravity, and time and space.

If we are to engage the stories about Jesus in a way that allows those stories to intersect with our lives we will have to embrace Jesus’ humanity. My Kiwi colleague Clay Nelson puts it like this:  “If your faith is sustained by a miraculous understanding of Jesus that has to ignore what you know about the real world, then let me ask you: Is it a faith that can sustain you in the real world?             Eventually this world of advancing scientific knowledge, that no longer requires a personal God to create, heal and sustain life will make the God we have had irrelevant, if it hasn’t already. I think God would rather be dead than irrelevant.             And if God is irrelevant, Jesus, who has been portrayed by the author of Luke/Acts and the church as the incarnation of this God, will suffer the same fate. If he hasn’t already.”

Nelson reminds us that Jesus was human and the human Jesus does not suffer the fate of an irrelevant god.. “The human Jesus, instead of only showing us God in all God’s glory, also shows us in all of ours. This Jesus becomes a window through which we can glimpse the mystery of love and life and being we are all called into. This Jesus through his radical love of even his enemies invites us into that mystery that surrounds us and is part of our very being.  This Jesus becomes the doorway through which I’m willing to walk into that mystery. For this mystery, I am willing to die to have new life. Mystery makes sense to me, the miraculous doesn’t. The mysterious Jesus inspires me and calls me to new levels of being. The miraculous Jesus helps me as much as telling a child that Santa comes down chimneys. The mysterious Jesus sustains my faith.  The miraculous Jesus impedes my faith.”

Like my Kiwi colleague Clay, I no longer need to believe in a miraculous Jesus in order to experience the mysterious Christ who lives and breathes in with and through Christ’s body here and now.

The writer of Luke/Acts is preparing his audience of God lovers for the arrival on the scene of the very Spirit of God that lived and breathed in with and through Jesus.

So, as we approach the celebration of Pentecost, may you find in these stories handed down to us by our ancestors in the faith an inkling of the powerful presence that Jesus’ first followers experienced after Jesus had left them.

May the joy they felt at the realization that the God they saw in Jesus they now found in themselves. May the realizations that those first followers experienced in Jesus’ departure, when they discovered they could love as extravagantly as Jesus did, that they could live as abundantly as Jesus did. That they could bring about healing and reconciliation just as Jesus did. 

May these realizations live and breath and have their being in you. May you know the joy of seeing Jesus point the way, the joy of finding God, may you know the God Christ points to who is everywhere, even in you. May you love as extravagantly as Jesus loved. May you live as abundantly as Jesus lived.             May you be Christ’s Body here and now, in this place in this time!

Read about the real Lawn-chair Larry here

PALM SUNDAY SERMON – An Inconvenient Messiah

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Palm Sunday Sermon Audio  here

Palm Sunday Worship Bulletin here  to be printed double-sided

Ash Wednesday – Embracing Eternity

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Click here to listen to the worship service:  Ash Wed Service

Click here to download the worship bulletin Ash Wednesday Feb 22 2012

TRANSFIGURATION – Looking back at the way forward.

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Thirteen years ago, I travelled to Newmarket to preach for the first time at Holy Cross Lutheran Church.  It was Transfiguration Sunday and I was preaching for Call.  I knew that the following Sunday the Congregation would gather to vote on whether or not to call me as their pastor.  I’ve been serving as the Pastor of Holy Cross for almost thirteen years and over the years the people of Holy Cross have nourished and challenged me and transformed me into a pastor.  What follows is a transcript of the sermon I preached on that long ago Transfiguration Sunday.  Old sermons reveal our old selves.  While my theology has changed over the years and I would not preach this sermon in the same way now,  I treasure the memory of that hopeful candidate for call.  To the people of Holy Cross:  Thank-you for transfiguring me!  Shalom!

           When I was a teenager, I was always in a hurry.  I wanted to see and do everything there was to see and do.  When I was nineteen, I knew that I just had to get out there and see what the world had to offer.  So with nothing more than a backpack, a three month Euro-rail pass, and eight-hundred dollars in travellers cheques, I boarded an airplane bound for Amsterdam. 

            I was searching for adventure and I was convinced that Europe held the excitement I was looking for. Inside my backpack was the book that would make it all possible.  Europe on Ten Dollars a Day.  I was determined to make my eight-hundred dollars stretch the length and breadth of Europe.  I was going to see and do it all!  It wasn’t easy.  In fact when I look back on it now, it seems like such a lot of hard work.  Up early in the morning sightseeing all day long. Meeting new people.   Fighting my way through the crowds of tourists.  Searching for cheap places to eat and sleep. 

            After two months of travelling from one European city to the next, I just couldn’t face one more castle or museum.  I figured that it was time to get away from the cities so I headed for the Alps. After a long train ride from Munich, I arrived in the Swiss town of Interlaken.  There I boarded a coggle train that would take me to the Alpine village of Grunewald.  The train was filled with tourists anxious to fill their rolls of film with pictures of the mountains, but it was overcast and there were no mountains to be seen. 

            When I arrived in Grunewald, I was told that the youth hostel was only about three kilometres from the station, so I and several other young backpackers that I had met on the train decided to walk to the hostel.  What we didn’t know was that the hostel was three kilometres straight up the side of a mountain.  As we trudged up the mountain we were embarrassed by the speed with which villagers three times our age passed us by.  Despite our youth, the Swiss were much more adept at climbing than we were. 

            When we finally arrived at the hostel there was much complaining about how tired we were.    We were exhausted.  Tired of the demands of travelling.  Too tired to be impressed by the fact that here we were, in a Swiss chalet in the middle of the magnificent Alps.  It was only two-o’clock in the afternoon, but we collapsed onto our beds in the dormitory and promptly fell asleep. 

            I remember waking before any of the others in the room.  From my bed I could see out the window.  The sky was still overcast.  But, I was too weary to even be bothered that I couldn’t see the mountains.  I lay there blankly staring as the clouds drifted by.  Then something seemed to flash by the window.  Out of nowhere there appeared a magnificent snow-covered mountain peak.  It hit me like a flash and then it was gone.  It happened so fast that I wasn’t sure whether or not I had actually seen the mountain or just imagined it. 

            I knew that the Eiger Mountain should be just outside the window behind the clouds.  I had seen pictures of the Eiger in travel brochures.  I had even seen the movie the Eiger Sanction and marvelled as Clint Eastwood navigated the Eiger’s steep slopes.  But had the clouds really opened up or had I just imagined the mountain It was only a moment.  A moment alone.  A moment that lingers still, to this day.  Imagination or reality?  It doesn’t matter.  The effect was the same.  That moment transformed me from a weary traveller into an energetic explorer. 

            The disciples had been travelling with Jesus for quite some time.  They had walked the length and breadth of the arid Judean wilderness.  They had listened as Jesus proclaimed that the Reign of God was near.   They heard him declare good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind and freedom for the oppressed.  They watched as he healed the sick and drove out demons.  They listened as Jesus told parable after parable that threatened to shake up the world as they knew it.  They felt the sting of Jesus’ rebuke when they failed to understand.  And still they followed this itinerate preacher as he trudged through the desert.

            They felt the sweltering heat of the mob as crowds pressed in upon them, bringing their sick and lame to Jesus.  They felt the penetrating heat of the religious officials who rebuked him.  The pressure was on Jesus’ followers to produce proof that this Jesus of Nazareth, a carpenter’s son, was really who he said he was.

            In the middle of all this, Jesus took time out.  Jesus took Peter, James and John and together they left the demands of the anxious crowds behind and they climbed up a high mountain, by themselves.

            On top of that high mountain, something hit them with a flash and was gone.   They seemed to come out of nowhere, and before the disciples could focus and draw it all in, they were gone. Was it really Moses, and Elijah too, that they saw there with Jesus? 

            They all agreed that they had seen the same thing.  And that voice — or was it thunder?– that exploded from the clouds and left their ears ringing.              “This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him!” As they descended the mountain, the voice still echoed in their ears, “Listen to him…listen to him…listen to Jesus.” 

            It was only a moment away from the press of the crowds, but it was a moment that would linger in their minds and hearts forever.   A mystical moment.  An intense and vivid encounter with the holiness and radiance of an epiphany.  And the voice from the cloud echoed in the disciples’ ears, Listen.

             Breakfast tastes incredibly good when you eat it in a Swiss chalet surrounded by friends you have only just met.  People from all over the world with just two things in common: youth and an incredible thirst for adventure.  There was only one thing for us to do.  We had to get a closer look. 

            So about a dozen of us decided to climb to the top of what was called the Oberaletschgletscher  so that we could get a better look at the Eiger. We had been assured by the hostel manager that we could easily walk to the top of the glacier that lay adjacent to the Eiger and from their the view would be magnificent. 

            So right after breakfast we set off; new found fiends from the farthest reaches of the earth.  Canada, South Africa, Tokyo, England, Finland, Australia,  New York and California, and there wasn’t a real climber in the bunch.

            The first part of the journey was pleasant enough.  The alpine meadows were delightful and the conversation was playful.   The switch back trail was a bit more of a challenge as our calf muscles began to feel the strain.  But when we reached the cliffs, I wondered if we were up to the challenge.  Before us lay a series of cliffs into which the Swiss had embedded a series of wooden ladders.  My fear of heights began to surface.  But I was determined to give the first cliff a try.  So one by one we began to climb. 

            Each rung of the ladder was a challenge and I resolved never to look down.   As I climbed hand over fist, step by step, I kept my vision firmly fixed on the butt that was up ahead of me and I forced my self up the cliff one rung at a time. 

            When all of us had safely negotiated the first ladder, several people suggested that perhaps we were overreaching ourselves. Maybe the Oberaletschgletscher was more of a climb than we could handle.  But the keeners in the group encouraged us to go on. 

            After we had slowly made our way up about half a dozen ladders, there was more dissension in the ranks.  But we had come this far and so we headed towards the next ladder.  It was a doozy.  We moved ever so slowly.  I resolved that I had had enough.  Once I got to the top of this ladder, I wasn’t going to go any higher. 

            As I scrambled to the top I was relieved that my climb at least was over. My legs were a little shaky as I straightened up and took a look around.  It took my breath away.  There we were on top of a plateau opposite the Eiger.  We had made it to the foot of the Oberaletschgletscher.  The view was magnificent.  I was awe-struck. 

            Our once talkative little group, was silent as each of us tried to take it all in.  I found a spot of grass and sat down.  The air was fresh and clear, the sun burned bright, and the snow glistened as though it were a sea of diamonds. 

            Over-whelmed by the beauty, no one spoke a word.  I wish I could share the wonder of that moment with you.  It was a glimpse of God’s creative power and majesty.  Everywhere I looked I saw the evidence of God’s grace.  It was truly a once in a life-time mountaintop experience.   One of those rare moments when you are totally conscious of the presence of God. One of those moments that has the power to transform you.

            In some ways it was easier for Jesus’ followers.  They were given a glimpse of God’s power, majesty and grace that I envy.  God’s glory was revealed to them in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Theirs was a first hand experience.  To them was given a vision.  A vision in which Jesus was transformed and God revealed that this itinerate preacher from Nazareth is indeed the Christ; the one sent to proclaim the Reign of God. They heard the voice that spoke from the cloud, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased.  Listen to him!”  They heard Jesus declare good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind and freedom for the oppressed.  Their vision made it absolutely clear to them just who Jesus was and the voice from the cloud made it absolutely clear just what it was they were supposed to do:  “Listen to him!”

            There are days when I wish that it could be just as clear for us.   I wish that we too could see God’s glory revealed just as clearly as Jesus followers did.              I wish that we too could have a vision and that a voice would tell us just what to do.  Not many of us will ever have it spelled out so clearly.  But as I remember my own mountaintop experience, I realize that the voice from the cloud continues to rumble and pound and echo down through the centuries and that if we listen we can hear it today. But in order to hear it, we must take the trouble to listen.              To have the mountaintop experience we must first climb the mountain.  Like the followers of Jesus we must set aside the demands of our life in the world and follow Jesus. 

            Today, more than ever, we need to leave our work behind, put down our paperbacks, turn off our TVs, shut down our computers, get away from the demands of our lives and listen. 

            Stop and listen to the voice of God.  Take the time, clear our calendars and pause.  Be still and know God.   The disciples were indeed fortunate to have Jesus in their midst.  But we too are fortunate.  God revealed God’s self to the disciples in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  And we can look to the Gospel to hear the Word as it was revealed by Jesus. 

            But God’s revelation didn’t end with Jesus.  The revelation of God’s grace continued through the resurrection of Christ.  And by the grace of God, Christ comes to us through our sisters and brothers.  Today the voice continues to echo from the cloud.  God is here, in this place, present with you and with me in worship and in prayer.   God comes to us in Word and in Sacrament.  Be alert and ready to listen. 

            Don’t miss an opportunity to see the beauty of creation in the faces of the Creator’s daughters and sons.    Be alert and ready to listen.  Don’t miss an opportunity to hear God speak through the Scriptures.  Listen to the prayers.  Listen to the hymns.  Listen to the voice.  Listen.   And remember that listening is not a passive activity.  To listen to someone, really to listen, means to enter into a loving, caring relationship, where our actions are faithful, where what we do comes from what we hear, where we respect and value the insights and ideas of another, where we listen to another’s wisdom and foolishness, to another’s pain and joy.  And when we refuse to listen, the relationship is soon broken.

            Listen and hear the voice of God.  God’s Word comes to us with power and with authority.  When Jesus speaks to us through the Gospels, it may come to us as a great revelation, as if spoken for the first time, spoken only to you.  Listen to Jesus!  Hear God’s word of grace and comfort and forgiveness.  Hear God’s word of challenge and commitment.  Hear God’s word of law and command.              Hear Jesus’ passionate words of love and acceptance spoken clearly to you .  Be alert and ready to listen.  Be watchful and attentive.  Be ready to absorb all the sights and sounds of Gods grace and mercy.

            On a mountaintop in Switzerland, the warmth from the sun woke me from my slumber.    My eyes tried desperately to adjust to the vivid colours.  Before me stood the Eiger. I looked out across picture post card Switzerland and I marvelled at the glory and majesty of God’s creation.  Slowly I became aware of my travelling companions. 

            We had gathered together just a few hours earlier.  We came from the farthest reaches of the earth and each of us felt the wonder of the moment.  There on the top of a mountain a rag tag group of travellers was transformed by a glimpse of God’s glory. 

            Without words we began to dig around in our daypacks for something to eat.  With little or no preparation we created a feast from what we were able to scrounge together.  Out of one pack came two apples, out of another a crust of bread, an orange, a banana, a few Swiss chocolate bars and even the remains of a bottle of red wine.  In silence we passed around the ingredients of our feast. 

            I was conscious of God’s presence with us as we enjoyed this holy communion.  Together we held on to the splendour of those moments.  I don’t think that any of us wanted it to end.  God’s glory was revealed at the transfiguration and the disciples received a glimpse of the power and majesty of God.  It was a moment that transformed the disciples forever. 

            Glimpses of the divine splendour of God come to each of us in different ways.  These glimpses of Gods power and majesty are not confined to mountaintops.  Some glimpses come to us in a moment of prayer, or through a word of Scripture, or in the midst of music or praise.  Still other glimpses come to us through a tender word from a friend, a gentle touch of a lover, a word of praise from a parent or a grateful look from a child. 

            God’s revelation of God’s love comes to us in all sorts of moments.  Be alert and attentive.  Be ready to draw in the moment and make it your own.  Be alert and listen.  Enjoy and be nourished by these moments, because just like the disciples of Jesus we too must come down from the mountain.   Because the one to whom we listen to in these moments is the one who, proclaims that the Reign of God is near.  The one who we listen to has anointed us to bring good news to the poor.  The one who we listen to sends us  to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.  The one whom we listen to nourishes us on the mountaintop and walks with us down into the valleys. The one whom we listen to transforms us into the beloved children of God.

            This sisters and brothers is the Gospel of our God.  Amen.