A Response to Last Night's Call by President Obama

A response to last night's call by President Obama for less strident rhetoric, and for commitment toward a better nation:

We who call ourselves Christians follow the lead of the One Whose birth we recently observed, who was called Prince of Peace. Not only do we follow-after Him; we try to follow His lead, imitating His practices and adopting His perspective as our own (a kind of holy "fusion of horizons," so to speak). Fortunately, for our trying to "get along together," we have a model given us by our earliest forbears in the faith.

The early Christian churches, in addition to scrapping amongst themselves all too often, for little or no reason, did do some things right. For example (and relevant to this issue today), the
"Passing of the Peace" was originally a "kiss of peace," which swiped a social symbol of reconciliation -- a public kiss, visibly symbolizing "peace between me and thee" (similar to the origins of the symbol of shaking right hands together, as in "look, no sword"). A smackeroo
on the cheek, men to men, women to women (to keep other tongues from wagging about those licentious Christians) -- but done intentionally as a part of every worship service in order to live out the reality of peace-making. In this case, it was a weekly opportunity to mend fences, and
become what the church was intended to be: a harmonious community reflecting the will of God for humans. People in conflict were expected to make up with each other; if you even suspected that somebody had a gripe against you, you were to go to them (pre-emptively!) check it out, and patch things up between you. And this was done not only to keep the peace on Sunday in the worship space. This was how folks learned God's ways of making peace -- by daring to mend fences, learning by doing, with every expectation that said practice would leak into our week.
Moreover, this was Christianity's public witness to the world not only that there are better ways to get along than by murdering each other, but that peace in society was eminently possible.

So, I urge those of you who belong to faith communities, and urge you to urge your friends of similar persuasions, to adopt the "passing of the peace" as a practice to show peace-making to the world, and train each other in the ways of peace, as a public witness in light of this tragedy. Make it more than a sort of second "hi, howya doin" backslapping time of greeting. Explain clearly the whys and wherefores, and then dare your community to do this in the name of the Prince of Peace who blessed peace-makers.

By such acts we declare that violence is against God's will for humanity, and we show our power to demonstrate better ways to get along (rather than simply bemoan this tragic world).

Otherwise, violence will be the only option folks perceive.

May God comfort all those who have been affected by this past weekend's violence in Tucson.

Bob

Signs of Hope

Egypt's Muslims attend Coptic Christmas mass, serving as "human shields"
by Yasmine El-Rashidi, Ahram Online, Friday 7 Jan 2011
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/3365.aspx

(From the website: Ahram Online is the English-language news web site published by Al-Ahram Establishment, Egypt’s largest news organization, and the publisher of the Middle East’s oldest newspaper, the daily Al-Ahram, in publication since 1875.)

Look Busy...

Greetings, fellow travelers,

Planning anything after May 21? You might want to rethink: Jesus is coming on that very day. Well, according to this source:

http://www.familyradio.com/graphical/literature/judgment/judgment.html

Of course, we all hedge our bets and say, "Well, we'll see...." But notice how grounded on Enlightenment rationalistic scientific calculation the whole enterprise is. And locking even God into a box of predetermined scheduling. Not to mention having to do a lovely little tapdance with scripture verses in order to show that Jesus didn't really mean what he said about "nobody knows the day or hour." Now, rather than just enjoying a moment's snicker together, let me ask: in what exactly does this attitude place its faith? The relational, interactive person of God, or a mechanistic moralistic arbiter? (okay, loaded question) And, following from that question, what is the motivation for placing faith in the mechanism of a plan (rather than the Planner)? In short, against just what windmill is this attitude tilting?

Now swing around and look forward: what is the overt outcome lurking behind the words? And what is the hidden desire (perhaps hidden even from this position's advocates)?

My guess is that the whole thing revolves around feelings: powerlessness, loss of control, dependency, perhaps some resentment and anger as well. So we bargain that when we perceive that the ideal world (as we envision it) is slipping away, the Biggest Kid on the Block will intervene, and the Informed Ones will be rescued from any and all ambiguity, safe on the lifeboat to Heaven (so to speak), leaving all others to rot. Oh, the language offers an out for unbelievers, but notice that it doesn't seem very enthusiastic about bringing outsiders on board. Much more time (=words) is spent on the details of the coming disaster.

Furthermore, what is the whole point of the End, in this view? Retribution around the corner against those in the driver's seat presently (= "them"), and bliss for the underdogs (= "us"). That is, the End of all things is seen as evening the balance of the moral scale -- in favor of "us." Such a view leaves itself wide open to the criticism, "well, then, does that mean that God has to rectify a mistake?"

Missing from this view (according to me, of course) is any sense of God's freedom to "save" any and all, any divine emotion except anger, a somewhat more organically biblical (my view again) sense of the eschatological end as a consummation, a restoration of the harmony intended at Creation, a cosmic redemption, universal reconciliation, and so on. The End as Completion by the God Whose ways are simply beyond our comprehension (much less our calculation!). "Faith" crouches into defensive fear (I will follow the rules so I don't miss out), rather than deep trust, in God as free agent of goodness, operating within the ambiguities and contradictions of this life.

Cheers,
Bob

For Starters...

Okay, I've broken down and now am an official blogger. Here's this Newbie's first post.

So what is up with the title of said blog?? Is it dispatrioticrespectfulhereticalblasphemous? Mais non! Not at all intended to be so. Just following the practice of Jesus, who, in his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, prefaced his "thy will be done" commitment to God with a radically honest "I don't want to do this! Take this cup away from me!" (see Luke 22:42)

I plan to "dance the edge of mystery" (to quote one of my favorite authors, David Buttrick), devoting my all to the ways of God shown through that living parable named Jesus Christ, and also respecting the grace given us humans created by Love in the image of God by speaking my piece boldly into the living Presence of God.

Then we will talk. As rhetorician Kenneth Burke observed, we participate in an eternal conversation, and our piece contributes something new in the world, that then bounces of all the other somethings-new to illuminate the path of others. Nobody has The Truth (save God, and God has chosen to reveal that in bits and pieces), so we gain a little ground through the give and take of conversation.

So, converse, already!

Devote yourself to God's Way -- and make your suggestions as well. Always in faith.

I invite you to join the discussion. Welcome!