Christmas has come and passed: the two faces of our world have been celebrated as we lost the only real face in the crowd. The shopping malls were filled with the crush of acquisition, short tempers, and increasing debt interrupted only by the occasional cute manger scene, busking carolers, and the obfuscated church services attended by the duty bound. Stress increased as we lost the sanctuary of the workplace that normally saves us from relating with family and friends for days on end.
This is the world's celebration of Emmanuel, God with us. Many see Christmas as the establishment of religion, but Christmas marks not the beginning of the Christian religion: Christmas is the announcement of the END of all religion That cold stable, where a young couple fought for livelihood under the oppression of Romans, is where we see the collapse of all the institutions that ever pretended to mediate between God and Man. Yet we persist in obfuscating that simple reality, that God is with us now and forever more. Surely the biggest failure of the church today is how we insist on maintaining our defenses against the simplicity of Jesus. And worse, how we layer it all in such opaque language and ritual that seems only to massage the conscience of those who venture into our churches. What would Jesus say if he were to conducting a celebration of his birth: "God is here, if you have seen me you have seen the Father, sell all you have and follow me, blessed are the poor, go and sin no more, whoever believes in me shall not perish, worship me with all your heart soul mind and strength, love your neighbour as yourself, this voice has come for your sake, receive my Spirit." What would Jesus do if he were conducting a celebration of his birth: "For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some." This is what the end of religion looks like: Jesus becoming like us in order to reach us. Though Jesus was free from all obligation, he made himself a servant to all, to each of us he became like us with all stress and strain included, he became all things to all people that he might save some. Jesus went to extraordinary lengths to overcome the blindness of people with parables, stories, actions, and miracles that were unlike anything we knew, each element carefully constructed to step into the uniqueness of our lives and help us see him from where we stand. How easy it is to settle into our religion and ritual so that I do not have to expend the effort to become something that might reach another. How easy it is to wait for others to fight through the veil of religion to glimpse God. How hard it is for us to tear our veil, put aside our religion, and invest in stepping into the shoes of others.
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Seems pretty futile. Arguing with God that is. I mean, if God is God and all that it implies, what grounds do I have to argue with him? And isn't arguing simply me trying to assert my authority over him? As in trying to say "I'm right, you're wrong"? Hopeless ... he's always right. In 2011 some researchers had two chatbots interact with each other (link). A chatbot is a computer program designed to hold a conversation with humans (do you really know who you're talking to on the internet?). The conversation between the two chatbots quickly descended into argument, interestingly, about God! The researchers theory was that "when these chatbots have conversations with humans, the humans are argumentative" So yes, we're argumentative, because we don't like to be wrong, and we don't like the way things happen. And you or I wouldn't be the first to want to argue with him. Job did: "But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God" [Job13:3]. David's psalms are also quite good examples of someone arguing with God. Its not as if either Job or David ever really thought they were right and God was wrong, but both expressed their need to be honest to God and argue from the point of view of who God is, what God has done, and God's promises. And both, in time came to realize that God's way, however troublesome a time may seem, is nonetheless the best way. "Best" of course is open to definition ... but here means best for God's purposes ... does a soldier fight for his own interests, or does he trust the commander? God says to Job "Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?" [Job 40:8] In the same way my arguments with God are really about me arguing with myself. I know God is right, but unless I argue through my case I fail to understand why I'm wrong. So I argue with God and say "but you said ...", "you once did ...", "you told me ...", "you promised ...". And in going through this I grow in understanding until it makes sense; tragedy and comedy alike, it all finally makes sense. It's a process, and misery and pleasure are the lot of our lives, but above it all God stands perfect in rightness. It takes courage to argue with God, not because of what God might do, but because of what I might discover. Charles Spurgeon said in a sermon: The best prayers I have ever heard in our prayer meetings have been those which have been fullest of argument. Sometimes my soul has been fairly melted down where I have listened to the brethren who have come before God feeling the mercy to be really needed, and that they must have it, for they first pleaded with God to give it for this reason, and then for a second, and then for a third and then for a fourth and a fifth until they have awakened the fervency of the entire assembly ["Effective Prayer," Charles Spurgeon]. When we don't argue our case we end up being wedded to the naivety of tradition, sunk in our human perspective of self importance. But we must be wedded to a God who is paradoxically the same yesterday, today, and forever, while constantly on the move! |
Why?
Probably the best therapy is to express yourself. Why do you think psychiatrists make you lie on the couch and talk, while all they do is murmur "hmmm", "uhuh", or "go on"? Archives
May 2017
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