Wondering Pilgrim

Scandal and folly

jester The church is no stranger to either and often bears both at the same time. This morning the resolution of a strange and very public dispute between a local priest and his diocese is in the media. No doubt it will add fuel to the fire of the public perception that the church is a collection of nuts!
One of my favourite church satire sites is Ship of Fools.
Comedy shows often depict clergy as incompetent clueless idiots.
So why continue? Ironically, this can also be one of the most endearing features of the church as we pull back the skin.
Who doesn’t love the Vicar of Dibley?
And the Apostle Paul caught on. 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Any vision that has the cross, an instrument of shame and torture, as its focus is bound to attract derision.
According to Renée Girard, we all need a scapegoat upon which to project our chaotic and destructive desires and maintain a cohesive and civil society. When that scapegoat transcends this imposed role and becomes a messiah that redeems society, we are flabbergasted.
Hence Paul preaches Christ crucified, “a scandal to his own people, and foolishness to others.”

When Jesus let fly …

Jesus Cleansing the Temple Christian activism, maligned by many, has one prominent stand-out exemplar – the cleansing of the Temple by Jesus described in today’s text in John 2:13-22.

Holding passive sit-ins at parliamentary offices seems mild compared to the passionate action of Jesus turning over moneychanger’s tables and fashioning a scourge to drive animals from the temple precincts.

Both evoke the question that bridges the ages, “By what authority do you do these things?”

The occasion in John’s gospel becomes an opportunity for reflection on how Jesus as the Christ embodies in his death and resurrection a new cosmic order. The Temple and its ways will be no more.

Christian activism similarly challenges the way things are with the way things might be according to the cosmic order of shalom ushered in by Jesus. It looks forward to the day when things, as they are, will be no more due to the spirit of the living Christ that is already at large amongst his followers, already practising shalom amongst themselves and eager and zealous to see it spread.

Hope when all is hopeless

haggai Haggai is not a well-known prophet but his words are like fresh spring water bubbling up in a parched paddock. His work is summarised well by Rev’d Peter Walker in today’s commentary on the text in With Love To The World, “he inspired Israel to recognise that a shattered people can rebuild their community.”

I remember how, in my first month of service at Fremantle, WA, we ministered to survivors who had come down from the Christmas Day, 1974, devastation in Darwin from Cyclone Tracy. They believed it was the end of Darwin. Today Darwin is the thriving capital city of the Northern Territory.

More recently, near and far, communities destroyed by wildfire are rebuilding against all odds. No matter how captive we become through depressing circumstances, it seems that, collectively, there is enough of a spark of resilience to start again.

We see glimpses of it in the places of deepest despair – Syria, Manus, Nauru.

Haggai’s strident optimism and hope may still catch us wherever we are.

Jeremiah’s critique

Opening_parliament_house_1988 The complaints in Jeremiah’s critique could well come from the press gallery in the Canberra, or Washington, or London of today. Unjust bias for the wealthy, subterfuge, graft, double-dealing – all happening amongst the ruling class of Israel in the years leading up to the first destruction of Jerusalem’s temple and forced exile of the population to Babylon in 587 BC. Surely there is nothing new under the sun.

Jeremiah’s frustration is palpable. For almost forty years, no one listened to him. Even today, though remembered, his name is used as an epithet for pessimism and doom. Yet his message carried an antidote for us who stand at today’s crossroads.

Thus says the Lord:
Stand at the crossroads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way lies; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

Jeremiah did not cease, and he was vindicated.

Dissing the Decalogue?

Hear the phrase “Ten Commandments” and you’re likely to get a reaction! They form today’s text from Exodus 20:1-17

The scared and anxious in our society want to reclaim them as a kind of fortress to which to retreat. Chiselled into our court buildings and taught every day in our schools, this set of edicts will protect us from all that threatens our cohesion and security. More progressive views in our community prefer to leave them to a bygone age with little relevance for today.

To understand the context from which the Ten Commandments (Decalogue) emerged, an escaped band of slaves seeking cohesion through faith and community while wandering the wilderness and growing a sense of destiny, we can transfer the essence behind the Decalogue into our own time.

It boils down to a sense of rootedness in the Source of our own being (Jesus called it “loving God”) and is evident in the first four of the ten. In loving the Source of our own being, the natural corollary is to care for our community, as small or as large as we perceive it to be (Jesus called it “loving our neighbour as our selves”) – these are the final six commandments.

No need to diss ’em!

Identity crisis?

who-do-you-say-i-am_std_t_nv Sometimes over-familiar bible passages throw out a surprise. Today’s text from Mark’s Gospel follows the meme we grew up calling the “Good Confession.” Jesus asks his disciples “Who do you say I am?” and Peter makes the “good confession” – “You are the Messiah [Christ].”

The surprise is being asked to consider whether we are to understand this exchange as Jesus testing his disciples to see whether they’ve “got it” yet, or whether he was seeking affirmation for himself.

In this modern era, the expectation is that we are creators of our own destinies, highlighting the freedom of the individual to pick and choose their path.

In previous days, one’s identity was formed primarily by their extended family, or tribe, or cultural group. The ascendancy of the concept of the individual is a much later thing. This cast’s Jesus two questions “Who do people say I am?” and “Who do you say I am?” in a much different light. It increases our awareness of his vulnerability. He is reliant on those around him, those who have become part of his following, to grant him his identity. We are in the part of Mark’s Gospel where he has firmly established himself as a well known public figure whose message is in direct contradiction of that of the Empire.

For him to carry this consciousness through to its costly conclusion requires an affirmation from beyond his inner awareness. Peter supplies it.

Once Peter realises the implications and the cost and tries to divert Jesus from his course, Jesus rebukes him. The power of recognition in the words “You are the Christ” is too strong to resist.

We should think twice before making the “Good Confession,” for once uttered it can’t be taken back without great cost, and once uttered it requires great cost to follow through.

We are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder…

Jacob’s story is not exemplary. He was a smooth operator who finally met himself in a confronting way – a way that involved disturbing encounters with the Source of his being. One of these encounters (Genesis 28:101-17) became a song sung by oppressed slaves of the southern states of the USA. Its plaintive cry perhaps expresses Jacob’s inner journey from bondage to health and integrity.

At the age of 99…

… if one is a denizen of the British Commonwealth, one might begin to expect that one may be soon on the way to receiving a message of congratulations from Buckingham Palace. You’ve hit the ton! Life is complete as you turn the century.

Abraham got covenant. And his wife, Sarah, was caught up with it too.

Not only that, they got a name change. Life was not ending; it was just beginning, and they were being summoned into a challenging relationship – one full of grace and great responsibility. And the story begins to unfold.

Abraham and Sarah, the parents of three great world faith traditions, become exemplars of what it means to be in relationship with the Source of all Being.

Can good arise from a mess?

I have spent a lot of time with people trying to find their way through chaos. Some situations are just so daunting you wonder if anyone can see a way through to the next step, let alone an exit to clearer space where the air is fresh and the whisper of freedom can be heard. And this is on a one to one scale. What if its a whole community that is so enmeshed in the thorns and brambles of an impossibly bleak scenario?

Today’s text from Isaiah enters Jerusalem’s destruction in 587 B.C. As in yesterday’s text, memory is the antidote to despair. As the community is carted off into exile in a strange land with an alien culture, leaving behind all that is familiar and all that constructs their identity, they are called to a deep and intimate recollection of the author of the faith that is at their core. Profound disappointment and desolation have an antidote, and it’s only as far away as our collective memory of the Creator’s preference for we who are the created.

As we through our callousness ignore and forget those around the world who are seeking asylum and safety, let us see amongst them their capacity to recall the core of their faith, simply by remembering. And let us do the same.

Keeping it together through remembering…

02052011127 When we engage the Lent season introspectively, we can quickly find ourselves confronted with our own inner chaos. The wind howls, the foundations shift and wild things bay at our feet. We wonder how we are going to keep it together for forty days.

Psalm 105:1-11 is given to us as today’s text as a kind of a handrail to keep us steady. It is a reminder of how the Hebrew people recounted and focused on their historic stories of salvation and promise. Followers of Christ, too, have a shared history of salvation and promise. Drawing on these in our desert times keeps focus on the path we are following.

The Psalm draws us to “to call, give thanks, sing, rejoice, tell, seek and remember” (Rev’d Peter Walker in With Love To The World)