Have I Been Living In a Bubble?
Nov 30th, 2005 by aBhantiarna Solas

I think the answer to that is, Yes. I have been living in a bubble. It’s been more like a cloister. But still it’s been a safe happy place. I’ve disturbed it lately. I’ve rippled the pond. I think this is a good thing, but I’m still more than a little sad by what I’ve found.

As a result of being sick earlier this month, sitting in my chair and extended hours of playing on my laptop I found some new blogs to read. I think I’ve said that before. I’ve spent quite a bit of time at a certain political blog with a definite bend to the left. Some things I agree with, others, not so much (as with everyone you meet). It can be sort of harsh at times, and hard to swallow. So small doses are often in order. As with our little community, there is a community of people who flock to this space and comment.

Here’s what is currently burdening me as I read this blog and the comments therein.

Because of my past church affiliation, I know a lot of people on the “right” both politically and religiously (if that’s a word). I know a lot of “fundamentalist” Christians. Almost to a person, they are gleeful that George Bush is in office. To them, he can do no wrong. It matters not that he lied to get us into this war in Iraq. Their words of explanation are many for that. For all of his perfidies and those of his associates, they have explanations or sometimes no explanation, for he can do no wrong they think. And I am stunned, for similar misbehavior on the part of other politicians of a different political party have brought forth streams of invective from these people; they have heaped tons of criticism and judgement for similar misdeeds from others of another party. But not for George Bush or his associates. Apparently his claims of salvation, of being Christian, are enough to buy their undying loyalty.

But it is far more damaging to the church to have these people in power. After reading this blog for a while, I read comments that range from “they prefer to live like children”, people in the church are accused of not wanting to take any responsibility for anything, we have a “get out of hell free card” that absolves us of wrong doing, we’ve been called stupid, facile, evil, commentary reminding us of what a “certain Jewish carpenter” might have said. The world knows these leaders are behaving like serious hypocrits and they are drawing the line out to the rest of us as well.

The problem is that I wonder sometimes if they might be right. I wonder if most of the churches, or the people in the churches might just be like George and his associates. Or Jerry and Pat and all the rest. They must be. Because no one is standing up and saying anything about it.

The only people saying anything about Jerry Falwell’s vile Take Back Christmas campaign are people in the world. And Christian’s flocking to his backside, Christian’s claiming a false sense of persecution.

No one stood up and said anything about Pat Robertson’s shocking “contract” on Venezuelan president Chavez last summer. That was anything but Christian. Christians everywhere should have loudly and summarily distanced themselves from Mr. Robertson and the “faith” he was peddling. That was not Jesus he was talking about, and we needed to be loud and clear about it.

I think we need to be more careful about who takes the national microphone and speaks for the Church. But then I think, who has control of that? I wonder who is standing in the wings with a big hook and allows people out on stage to take the mic? Who is it that lets Jerry out there but not Jim Wallis? Pat but not Tony Campolo? Who determined George Bush’s faith more palatable, more tangible than Bill Clinton’s?

My point is that we’ve got a lot to overcome if we’re going to speak so these people can hear us. And now we also have to overcome the burden of prevarication as well. Into a generation that is already mistrustful, these leaders are sowing more seeds of distrust from the church itself. And I find myself traversing the pendulum between anger and heartbreak.

Boundaries
Nov 30th, 2005 by aBhantiarna Solas

Among my many hats, one is that of teacher. I teach my lovely children from home. We do this is what used to be the dining room. It’s now the schoolroom. We have a whiteboard and everything … there are lots of maps on the wall, including one from Australia that’s upside-down in orientation, bookshelves with books, all of that. I bring my laptop in and do my work, while the children do their school work.

Last night we had our Design Team meeting here at the house. This is the team that puts together the worship service at my church each week. The church formerly known as Mars Hill (but we don’t know what to call ourselves now).

This morning when we came into the schoolroom, the children were delighted and I was dismayed to find that our beloved AwakeFriend had written the following message on the whiteboard:

November 30, 2005
The teacher is only allowed
to blog for 3 hours today

AND … LightGirl has been asking after my activities. As if she or LightBoy is going to control my activity! And, I’ll have them know I’m doing research for our service on Sunday … I’m providing some of the content and I need to have something to say. And I need to find music for the Eucharist … ETCETERA. So … there. This is certified “holy” work I’m doing.

They just want equal access to the computer … but the evil teacher mommy has control of the keyboard.

Praise God …
Nov 29th, 2005 by aBhantiarna Solas

… from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Raise Him above the heavenly host.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Amen.

For some most excellent news …

Life’s Big Unanswerable Question
Nov 28th, 2005 by aBhantiarna Solas

The biggest question out there is this:

why am I the only person in the house who knows how to change the toilet paper roll?

and it’s corollary:

why does everyone else in the house know how to leave exactly enough on the roll so it looks as tho they are NOT leaving it empty?

If anyone can answer that, please let me know.

In the Waiting Place
Nov 28th, 2005 by aBhantiarna Solas

A dear friend is pregnant with twins, but she has had a scare this weekend. Some indications are that one twin may be trying to make a precipitous and untimely entry to this world, which would mean also his or her exit as well. The tests at the hospital were “inconclusive” and so my friend and her husband were sent home to wait and see. It reminded me of an early pregnancy (just before LightGirl) and child who came and went in so short a time. That life that lasted no longer than a breath but which I hold with me forever. I remember too the hopeful, prayerful waiting; the minutes that became elastic and stretched into hours that would not pass.

I pray with my friends this weekend and into this week:

The compassing of God be upon you and your babies
the compassing of God, of the God of life.

The compassing of Christ be upon you, all four of you
the compassing of the Christ of love.

The compassing of the Spirit be upon you, and babes too
the compassing of the Spirit of peace.

The compassing of the Sacred Three be upon you,
the compassing of the Sacred Three protect you,
the compassing of the Sacred Three preserve you.
Amen.

A Word on Words and The Word
Nov 26th, 2005 by aBhantiarna Solas

Well as you can tell I’ve been thinking a lot lately about words and specifically the Word or scripture. And then I thought about this.

Some people think words are a simple thing. It’s black and white. Simple, right?

I’m a quilter. It’s never just black. Or white. Let’s look at white, for example. I can’t go to a store and just buy white fabric. There are all kinds and shades of “white.” When I get together with my quilting friends and we are talking about a design we spend a lot of time trying to agree on the shade of white we’re talking about at any given time. Or here’s something you may be more familiar with. Imagine you want to paint a room. You’ve just walked into Home Depot’s paint department and found the paint chips, now pick some “white” paint. How many shades of “white” are there? To say, “several,” is putting it mildly.

It’s that way with words too. Every word has different nuances and shades of meaning. Every person hears each word within a range of those nuances and shades of meaning. Each person brings their own particular history, cultural heritage, biases, etc. to each word they hear or see. When you string words together into sentences and paragraphs, the range of meaning that a person can bring to those sentences and paragraphs grows exponentially.

All of those thoughts led me to this: every person then brings all of their own prejudices, particular history, cultural heritage, shades of meaning, etc. with them when they read the Bible. So when I read the Bible I read something a little different than what you read. It’s a little different than what LightHusband reads. And so on. This is good. It also makes sense. In the same manner that I don’t look like LightHusband (thank GOD!), or walk like him or talk like him, I also don’t read like him. I am a unique creation of a God who loves me. So is each person on this earth, so it makes sense that we would each come to HIs Word with a unique perspective. Those with the expectation that we would come to the Bible and each read the exact same thing and hear the words in the exact same way are being very unreasonable ….

… in the most reasoned manner possible.

Identity vs. Authority pars tres
Nov 26th, 2005 by aBhantiarna Solas

And then I re-read my last post and realized how negative I sounded. I’m still carting around a lot of baggage from 14 years in a conservative, evangelical church. The church I am a part of now is not like this at all. I’m very fortunate to have found this community to be a part of. I’m grateful and really enjoying this new experience.

I’ve been mulling over this new concept presented by Mr. McKnight. This idea of the “identity” within Scripture. This concept that we might begin to find ourselves in the community that is presented in the Bible, but that it’s only the beginning. That the Bible is only one place to find God and that He cannot be wholly contained therein. That is not **all** of who He is, it is only a partial revelation, as it must be. Scripture itself makes this abundantly clear. Here is a key quote from his post:

I’m suggesting we use the term “identity.” The term “authority” is that of power — it tells us that we are “under” something. The term “identity” speaks of the Spirit who is at work — in the world in God’s redemptive work, in the Church as the community of faith, and in that community as it tells the story of God’s redemptive work. And I’m not suggesting that we understand “identity” as filling the same spot as “authority,” but that we learn to see Scripture (not so much as the Authority) but as what gives us our Identity because through it God’s Spirit speaks to and guides us.

I’m enjoying this new idea and wondering what paths it might take me down. I will admit to having a problem with the word “authority.” It has usually been used in such a way to say, “Stop asking questions.” I don’t think God is threatened by questions. If He could create the universe, a few questions from someone who loves Him and is earnestly seeking Him, cannot possibly be threatening. Even in Scripture He treats questions with respect. The Psalmist does quite a bit of questioning and we’re told to memorize those poems.

So, yes, I’m glad to add a new metaphor or paradigm to the family. I think “authority” can move over and let “identity” join him at the table. I think it would be good for both.

Identity vs. Authority pars duo
Nov 26th, 2005 by aBhantiarna Solas

It’s the “day after” in many ways today. And I’m in recovery mode. The house is clean from the Thanksgiving Extravangza and we’ve got loads of leftovers so I can relax! So I am sewing and relaxing. It’s heavenly. I’ve been following a conversation on another blog during the day today. It’s been fascinating to me; it might not be to you. It’s about how we (that would be the collective “we”) look at the Bible. So if this is interesting to you, read on. If it’s not, you should just click through to another blog, or go get a drink of water, or something because the rest of this post will be boring for you, unless you’re my mother (or generally just like me) and like reading what I write, but in that case we should make a phone call and get you a “special” white jacket with extra long sleeves.

In any case, you should read that post and the comments on that blog first before you go on … or not. It will give you some context for what I’m talking about here. Mostly I’m writing this post because I’m a big chicken. I had a lot of thoughts that I **almost** posted over on his blog. But every time I wrote them down, they sounded really small and not erudite enough to play in those waters. So I’ll just play in my little pond and stay out of that big ocean.

So the mysterious “other” blog belongs to Scot McKnight, a somewhat famous, published author, theologian and teacher. He is smart. He is trained. And the people who comment on his blog are also smart and trained, or at least they write as tho they are. I am not. But I kept having some thoughts that I wanted to write down and share and I was too chicken to share them on his blog. But I can share them here, on my tiny little blog, in my itty-bitty little corner of the blogosphere.

Mr. McKnight offered up a new paradigm for the Holy Scriptures. His new paradigm is that we might look to them for identity rather than (or perhaps in addition to) authority. This has caused a great deal of comment. You really need to read his words on the matter. He speaks very well on the issue. Some of the comments on this issue have been blistering. Some of the people reading his blog have been terribly offended that he might assault the “authority” of Scripture. Which leads me to want to say to them, “well, my experience has been that the people who are most concerned about the authority of Scripture are usually the people who are most threatened by the questions that these discussions raise.” And thus far, that has indeed been the case.

I clicked through to an article on the right for one of Mr. McKnight’s “Recommended Reading” about the emergent church and Orthodoxy and found myself reading an article about the Eastern Orthodox Church. Here is a quote from that article:

First, without a Pelagian controversy, the conviction that every individual is morally and spiritually helpless never took hold of the Eastern Christian imagination. Further, without an Augustine who wrote graphically about hell, or an Anselm who sharpened the west’s understanding of sin as a capital crime (a far more punitive view than Augustine ever imagined), fear of divine wrath and the consequent need to soothe the terrified consciences of those who despaired of their eternal future did not become a driving force behind either theology or piety. Salvation remained participation in God’s restoration of the world, as it had been in the patristic age, rather than becoming individual rescue from hell, as it did in the second millennium in the west. God and “man” were not at odds with one another quite the way they became in the medieval west.

Now from what I know, (and I went to college with the daughter of an Eastern Orthodox priest who gave me a Bible so that I could do well in my Old Testament survey class) they use the same Bible that we use. The Bible Lydia gave me, that came from her father, was your basic King James version. There was nothing special and Eastern Orthodox-y about it, I don’t remember that there were any extra books or anything.

So, if they are using the same Bible, but coming to some different conclusions about how sin and salvation operate, then isn’t it just possible that those are culturally conditioned? And if they are culturally conditioned, then what indeed is the “authority” of Scripture to which we constantly refer?

You see I don’t have any problem with the Bible being the inspired Word of God. But I do have a problem when it comes down to it being a book of rules and regulations because it was written a very long time ago in a culture that was very different from ours and becomes much like a phone conversation that we can only hear one half of. If we’re not also hearing from God in this conversation and making His activity in our life actually transcendent to scripture then I think we’ve sort of declared that He’s dead and made ourselves gods in His place. I think that’s what people do when they get so locked into the “authority” of Scripture. But maybe that’s just me …

Identity vs. Authority
Nov 25th, 2005 by aBhantiarna Solas

For a new look at an old book click here. But only if you want to read about some fairly dense theological debates.

Nothing Is New Under the Sun
Nov 23rd, 2005 by aBhantiarna Solas

On our last shopping trip to Costco, I picked up Jimmy Carter’s newest book, Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis. It has become my bedtime reading and it’s quite good. I’ve always had an enormous respect for Mr. Carter and thought that his biggest problem when he was president was that he was, perhaps, too good for the job. By that I mean he was, and is, too morally upright to perform in that position. But that’s for another discussion.

He begins the book with a description of his faith and his faith journey throughout his life. It’s very interesting. It also becomes very clear that he is most distressed with the Southern Baptist Convention, the church of his youth. In fact, he and Rosalyn have left that church. When I was first reading about it, I thought it was anger and there is certainly some of that. But the further I’ve gotten into the book, the more I’m becoming convinced that he is also heartbroken over how the church is misrepresenting God and Jesus to the world. One of his comments was particularly interesting. He said (and I’m paraphrasing, because I’m supposed to be cleaning for the Thanksgiving Extravaganza, NOT blogging) that the church is not supposed to be administered by CEO’s with top-heavy bosses, that the church should take it’s direction and model from Jesus who came not to be served but to serve.

And then I read this today in my Book of Celtic Daily Prayer. It’s St. Columbanus’ Day today and this is an excerpt from his Letter to a Young Disciple:

“Too many of our models for authority are ones of hierarchy or domination. We think of rulers and leaders as those who are over other people and supported by them. Instead of a pyramid model where the few dominate the many, in God’s Kingdom it is more helpful to picture a huge saucer into which is thrown all the people of God in all their giftedness, from the least to the greatest. Those more strongly gifted for ministry will not rise to the top, but sink to the bottom where they may undergird and provoke the rest of the people of God.”

Hmmm … in the 600’s A.D. they were struggling with these same issues. I shouldn’t be surprised, and a part of me isn’t. I’m glad to know that Jimmy Carter is a latter-day Columbanus, calling us to a higher plane. I’m also slightly relieved to know that these problems have been around for a long time. But, you know, I wish it weren’t so egregious. I wish we’d made some progress in the intervening 1400 years.

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