Forgiveness

I'll be reflecting some on this later today. It seems that Jesus' view was that it was God's business whether to forgive or not. It seems to be in the "job description" of the divine, and outside the scope of our business. That is, from what Jesus says, and from what he does, true humanity simply passes on God's forgiveness, acts as a channel of it. It is, in that sense, not any great deed to forgive, just "par for the course."

Thinking Back to College

I was remembering late nights at Wake Forest reading Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, and then Barth. And, I remember blowing off class occasionally for a "roadtrip." A roadtrip for me could happen on any day of the week. And, my roadtrips were usually just me and a friend, maybe two or three friends, but usually just one other person. It was when we just wanted to leave behind what was going on at school, and go to a place where we could be free for a while. I always remember my best college roadtripping friend, Joe Westmoreland. Joe and I usually would take off mid-week, in the evening, without any planning. Just when we wanted to go (gas was real cheap back then, and I had a diesel/45 cents a gallon/45 miles per gallon!). We would leave Winston-Salem, go to High Point, Thomasville, Concord, Davidson, whereever, just talking all the way like we were in another land and weren't coming back. We talked freely, and told the truth and tested out our ideas and vented our frustrations. And, then at some point we would decide to head back to Wake Forest. And, when we got back, we were redeemed. We felt freer. Because we knew something other students didn't know. We knew we could get away. We knew that our true selves were out there somewhere on the road. We knew we could continue to dream even amidst the confines of class and the college social world. We knew we were free. Me and my friend Joe.

And, there were some other great roadtrippers at Wake. My wife, Sue. My dear friend, John. And, there was Chuck. My friend, Susan. And, there were the roadtrippers from Davidson Summer Tennis Camp - Susan, Amy. And, from Clemson, Jim and Carol and Eddie Iskowski(that was an ill-advised roadtrip!).

But, nobody could be ready to go at anytime like Joe. Nobody, but maybe my Dad and my Grandfather. Some people have just got "roadtrip" in their blood.

John the Baptist and Advent

As I prepare for the first Sunday in the Church's Advent season, I really do have my mind directed towards the coming of Christ. But, that coming on the human side of things was prepared for by John the Baptist. I am fascinated by this prophet, John the Baptizer. He went out to the desert, lived among the wild animals, dressed in animal skins, ate bugs for his main source of protein. And, he began to preach a new message about repenting and believing that God's kingdom was drawing near. I wonder exactly what was so new in John's preaching. I guess it sounded new because it hearkened back to that which was very, very old in Israel: the days of the true prophets like Amos, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Hosea. Days when the way of holiness was understood as unified to the way of justice and mercy in human life. Yes, John brought this message - very old, but always very new. Because, whenever we awaken to the profound depths of such a word like that spoken by Amos: "I hate, I despise your religious feasts. I am sick of the noise of your songs at your solemn assemblies. Your sacrifices and rituals make me sick to my stomach. But, let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream!" When these words get a real hearing, they open human hearts to the coming of God's redemption. That's what John was doing - shaking people back to their foundations - waking them up that God was the only authority that was worth obeying and bowing down to.

And, when John saw Jesus he must have felt this huge weight come off his shoulders. That weight of holding on and getting ready and trying so hard to open the hearts of people to God's truth and help. But, when John saw Jesus, he saw that HELP had arrived. "Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." The sin of the world. That is the real problem we face. The sin of the world. That includes our own individual, family, societal sin, but goes even farther than that. The sin of the world. The twistedness of this world even while there is so much good and promise. The twistedness even of the best people, and the pervertedness of the worst. The sin of the world. The hatred of one nation for another; one group of religious people for another; people of lighter skin hating people of darker skin. The sin of the world.

So, as Advent draws near, I say those hopeful words that John first said: "Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

O, Lord, please come and take away the sin of the world. Take away the sin from my heart, from our hearts, from all hearts, and remove the vestiges of bondage to sin. That at your coming, Lord, we might be free - free at last, free at last, thank God almighty - free at last!

Making Sense of Life Without Religion

Paul Tillich (well known 20th century theologian) once said: Most religious people are practical atheists for most of their lives. What Tillich meant was that even though there are quite a number of people who profess to believe that there is a God who created the universe and even a God who cares about the universe and is involved in it, most of such "religious" people make sense of their lives and make decisions in their lives without being influenced at all by this belief.

There was a movement in the 1960's called "the Death of God" movement, which was a group of theologians who were constructing a new type of religious belief based on the experience of modernity, the experience as they said in which "human beings were gaining mastery over natural forces that everyone had assumed were only subject to divine control." The experience of discoveries that helped control or obliterate diseases, the creation of machines, and even the beginning of the exploration of space caused many people to have a tremendous confidence in modern science as the means of resolving the great problems of human life and society.

Of course, there remained that nasty reality called "death."

Still, theologians, interpreting some comments in Dietrich Bonhoeffer's letters written towards the end of his life, began to speak of living in the world as if there was no God as being the only way to live in faith.

But, Bonhoeffer had a deep trust in the reality and presence and goodness of God. What he was getting at was the "way in which God was in the world." That was the new aspect of Bonhoeffer's thought. Bonhoeffer experienced God as "burdened by life," and not distant from human life. It was for Bonhoeffer as if God was hidden in the depths of human suffering, but, still, God was at the root and at the heart of life.

If God was revealed in the execution of Jesus, then God's presence is in the dark hiddeness of human suffering.

Well, as you might glean from this post, I am not one who makes sense of life without religion. I am most of the time one who makes sense of life with the assumption of the reality of God. But, nonetheless, my understanding of the reality of God is and remains deeply influenced by my experience of human life. And, I believe that God is hidden in this world, and only experienced in places in which common wisdom would not expect God to be present.

I am also, as Tillich says, a practical atheist on many days as well, if he means by that that I live and experience a number of things as if I am separated from the reality of God. But, I lean very strongly towards Bonhoeffer's way and the way of the mystics: faith is a strange combination of the experience of God's presence and the experience of God's absence; but, even in the absence, you are somehow touched by the presence.

The End of the Week and a time to stop

Sunday evening is the end of the week for me. Sunday evening is the time of rest for me. I am very grateful for Sunday afternoon, about 3:30 p.m. when I get home. Though I wasn't particularly happy with my sermon today, nonetheless, the week is done for me. Tommorrow will come and it will start all over for me, but, for now, I am enjoying the "sabbath."

Of course, Sunday is traditionally the first day of the week, but for me, Sunday is the last day of the week. I like everything about Sunday. From a time to worship, to a time to do what is important, not simply what is most pressing. And, then to the time when it all slows down when I get home.

We need times to stop, to really stop. At least, when we are in those periods of our lives when work and home have many demands. But, when our lives seem to have less pressure, we still carry a certain amount of pressure just to live and face the challenges of living well. And, those of us who may not have as many things pressing upon us, still have that burden of living and caring for others in their living. And, we all need times to stop, to be still and know that the Lord is God.

"O Lord, my heart is not lifted up. My eyes are not raised too high. I do not occupy myself with things too great or marvelous for me. But, I have calmed and quieted my soul. Like a child that is quieted at its mother's breast, like a child that is quieted, is my soul."

Amen.

Arrogance, humility and how things get done

The older I get, the more I see how nothing gets done without a dose of arrogance and nothing endures without a large measure of humility. I really get tired these days when I have to rev up the confidence level to an unbearable level just to get something done in my work. And, after its over, I am worn out because I don't enjoy flights into arrogance. I'd rather stay calm, shoot straight, but that won't always get done what is necessary in either the law or in religion. But, I'm having a little more success lately in the religious area with just speaking the truth, staying calm and letting the chips fall where they will. In matters of faith, maybe it is just an illusion to think you have accomplished anything when you act contrary to the way of faith to get it done.

Religion, hatred, and killing

Right in the middle of some of the most violently cruel conflicts in the world is RELIGION. Religion, as a general proposition, is not that great a thing. The simple acceptance that 'religion is good for humanity' reveals a poor understanding of human history, human nature, and religion.

When I was a graduate student in Religion at Vandy, Sue and I got to the be friends with a couple from Yugoslavia: Ronco (husband) and Branca (wife). He was a mechanical engineering graduate student, and he told me that he was Serbian, but had absolutely no use for religion. He did say: "But, I am impressed that you don't kill each other over your religion. That's all I know of religion from my country." Freedom from religion was for him freedom from bloodshed and prejudice and all sorts of crazy misunderstandings.

Of course, in the U.S., we had our days of hatred between Protestant and Catholic, but those days are pretty much over. An anti-semitic strand won't seem to go away. But, we have had a few decades of religious peace in our country, where there has seemed to be a growing tolerance. But, now, since we have joined the centuries old East v. West religious battle, we are learning what my friend from Yugolslavia knew: RELIGION CAN BRING HELL ON EARTH.

And, the anti-human, anti-God nature of violent extremist religion shouldn't make us proud of our own religion, but critical of it, as we acknowledge the hatred and self-interest we smuggle into something that started with a deeply holy experience. Religion in the end gets to be about humans and not about God, unless we criticize our religion by confronting it with our genuine experience of the living God. A man, filled with the spirit of his "religion" and devoid of any experience of the living God filled 31 people full of bullet holes. Now that is what I call bringing hell to earth.