Don’t waste your robbery

On Friday and Saturday of last week I had the opportunity to hear John Piper speak at a Desiring God conference themed by his book Don’t Waste Your Life.  He ended with 20 areas of life not to waste, and I think my favorite by far was his exhortation to not waste your robbery.  It was a point not only inspired by the gospel, but also this NPR article.  Piper noted that although the article doesn’t mention Christ, at the very least the would be victim was running off of “Jesus fumes.”

Miraculous Healing: Experience and Theology

My friend Dave posted a quote about the role of miracles that some of you might find provocative. My additional provocation is this: Is your theology for miraculous healing based more on scripture or experience? It seems to me that in this area many people choose a theology for miracles that either excites their imaginations (not necessarily for God), validates their experience (just as true for those who have witnessed miracles as for those who earnestly prayed yet whose loved ones still passed away), or calms their fears (e.g. “I must not have enough faith” or “If God still heals, that means in His supremacy and love He allowed my _____ to die”). Scripture is then used to validate this experiential theology instead of struggling for a scripturally comprehensive theology that our earthly experiences of healing/not healing will strive to find their validity in. My hope is that in searching for the latter I will find one that stretches my imagination, is confirmed as true by experience (but not dependent on it), and leaves me trembling at God’s glory and power.

Sacrilege

Is it sacrilegious to disagree

With a most honorable brother

Whose martyred blood hangs over every word

Posthumously printed

 

I ask because I sometimes wander there

And risk the heresy of arguing

With one whom so many revere

Including myself

 

For though I refuse to be the accuser

I cannot be the nodding head

Who refuses to question

Even the most saintly

In case you didn’t know…

There is absolutely nothing you can do to be any more or any less beloved by God. All that is required of you is to humbly accept the scandalous grace that is offered and in weakness invite God to change you. What was done on the cross at calvary was sufficient for the world, for it was there that God’s perfect justice and perfect mercy met. It was there that grace and truth collided in a way that changed everything. Wrath was satisfied, love was shown and a world full of horribly broken and sin filled people was extended an invitation to be scandalized by the love of the Father who runs to embrace the returning prodigal. And in that embrace is a wonderful opportunity to become a new kind of prodigal, one that squanders his inheritance of mercy, grace, and love on broken people and in dark places. All that is required is the humility, the acceptance, and the returning (repenting). The salvation and love are from God.

G-lawr-ee

“The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth

and strips the forests bare,

and in his temple all cry, ‘Glory!’ “

Psalm 29:9

Maybe it’s just me, but connecting these three responses to the voice of God paints a fairly humorous mental image. I imagine several rather surprised deer giving birth, the bark and leaves flying off of trees, and a church full of people watching the spectacle shouting “Glory!” in a way that turns it into a three syllable word.

Saving St. Francis from the Hippies

A few years ago I picked up an antique book from my grandmother’s library entitled Blessed are the Meek. I would label it a creative non-fiction about St. Francis of Assisi, and reading it was what first peaked my interest in the mendicant monk. I knew that some parts of the book were probably embellished for the sake of story telling, but they were still very much inspiring.

Then I saw Bother Sun, Sister Moon which portrays Francis as a potentially mad, nature loving, somewhat anti-establishment, icon for a love movement. In the movie he was generally hated by the church and government, but found favor with Pope Innocent III because of his simple understanding of the gospel.

Most recently I finished reading Francis of Assisi and His World by Mark Galli. In a wonderfully academic way, Galli paints a more accurate historic picture of St. Francis than any of my previous sources. The book is well researched, and explains much of the what was happening in the world around St. Francis in addition to his biographical information. It validated a surprising amount of Blessed are the Meek, and tore much of Brother Sun, Sister Moon to pieces. I was pleased to find out that Francis did in fact cross enemy lines during a crusade to convert a sultan. Even if the dialog between the Sultan and Francis has been poorly recorded it remains that he managed to insult every religious and cultural rule while in the Sultan’s presence and still receive an escort back rather than a beheading. I was also thrilled to see the devotion to the Church displayed in Francis’ life (much in contrast to the Hollywood portrayal). Not blind devotion, but a devotion concerned with reformation and one that was not afraid to quietly challenge the status quo. His primary concern was obedience – not nature loving freedom. Although he took great joy in nature and felt a familial bond with all other created things, Francis was devoted to praying the hours, begging, preaching and serving. In Francis’ song ‘The Canticle of Brother Sun’, from which the movie derived its title, we find that in all things natural St. Francis found a reflection or a connection to the Father. The Canticle begins:

“Most High, all-powerful, good Lord
Yours are the praises, the glory, the honour, and all blessing.
To You alone, Most High, do they belong,
And no man is worthy to mention Your name.“

This leaves no doubt that it was God whom Francis adored above all, and creation only brought him joy in that he felt it also praised God.

Brother Sun, Sister Moon was close in that St. Francis did find favor with Pope Innocent III, and did tick off some of the Catholic authorities simply because his lifestyle and message brought their expensive habits into question. But overall Francis was generally approved of by church leaders because of his submission to the hierarchy and his literal interpretation of many things Jesus said.

All that said, Francis of Assisi intrigues me all the more and I heartily recommend Mark Galli’s book to any who are interested in a more accurate picture of what he was really like.

Darkness and Light

“When we are confident of our identity in Christ we gain the integrity to be the same person in darkness and in light.”

Matt Naylor

The Reality and Uncontrollability of the Other.

” This experience of the reality and uncontrollability of the Other reaches its peak in the experience of Jesus as a person who cares for others and for the world. Every Christian shares in that reality to some extant, some consciously, most unconsciously. This experience of Jesus shows itself in an ability to live by one’s own convictions despite other people’s opposition to those convictions; in a breadth of empathy that transcends social and economic class; in a deepening trust of the Father of reality; in a willingness to engage in the war against evil and to stand for justice and mercy even when one must die small deaths in defense of them; and a willingness to die those deaths and leave resurrection to the Father. “

The Practice of Spiritual Direction, HarperSanFrancisco

Worship and Drugs

In my first semester at Fresno State I took a sociology class on the control of deviance. In that class the professor, Dr. McCloud (of the clan McCloud?), made an interesting point. Almost without exception, every culture has come up with some way to achieve an altered state. For many of the cultures it was a drug of some sort, and had close ties to religion. Now, whenever I see a pattern that appears to be universal it makes me wonder if it says something about how we were designed. There are definitely healthy and unhealthy ways of achieving an altered state (e.g. running a marathon vs. burning holes in your brain with Meth), but the pattern made me wonder if there is something in how we were made that requires times when our brains get just a little less oxygen, and our minds shift into a different mode for a while. If that is the case, then God would probably have prescribed a perfect way of reaching that point. A way that was healthy, a way that gave Him glory, a way that was for His sake and not the sake of the act its self. It seems to me that worship through song often fills this role.

Please hear me rightly. I am not saying that worship requires reaching this state, but I am saying that if it does we probably shouldn’t feel guilty about it. However, if at any time we find ourselves hungering for the feeling and not the reality of God we risk perverting worship into a harmful drug, one that just might burn holes in our spirit rather than our brain. And that damage could similarly result in flawed thinking and dangerous misperceptions of reality.