Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

Christianity has not yet seen its time - Kenneth Tanner

"Only near-sighted people can suppose that Christianity has seen its time. Christianity has only taken its first, I would say timid, steps in human history. To this day many of Christ’s words are incomprehensible because we are still moral and spiritual neanderthal men. The gospel arrow is aimed towards eternity, and that which we call Christian history is in many ways a series of clumsy and unsuccessful attempts to bring Christianity about."

— Father Alexander Men

I think this is true.

Humanity does not understand that humans are made in the image of a tri-personal God, so that being in communion, being in relationship, is the way everything is meant to flourish.

Humanity does not yet understand that this divine community is not the origin of evil or death but goodness and life.

Humanity does not yet understand that everyone is already related to this community because the one tri-personal God has made every human in their image.

Humanity does not yet understand that one of the persons of God became human, that the Son took on the *one human nature* all humans share, and so this person who is God become human, Jesus Christ, is now the brother of every man or women who ever has lived, is living, or ever will live.

Humanity does not yet understand that this means that God has already related Godself to every human as their creator, as the invisible image that each one bear, and as the human sibling of Jesus Christ.

This is true whether or not we are indifferent to this person who embodies this truth, hostile toward him, apathetic about him, skeptical about him, or welcoming him.

And I could quite literally go on and on and on.

Joy Infused - Sarah Van Diest

There’s a little idea I had about those who walk this earth in the most impoverished of circumstances, and yet live lives overflowing with joy, with smiles wider than what seems sensible, or even possible given their living conditions. It is an amazing thing to witness. Whether your mind first flashes to the African plains or to the narrow streets of Mongolia, there are examples of this seemingly contradictory, perplexing reality: joy in the darkness.

My small theory has to do with the nature of God and his interconnectedness with all he created—and with the permeating composition of truth.

The truth the Father gave us was that the meek shall inherit the earth. The small shall be made great. The last shall be first. Basically the idea is that which presents itself as reality in the here and now will be undone and overturned in the age to come: the Upside Down Kingdom.

What if, and this is my question, there is a sense buried deeply in the souls of those whose existence is externally defined by what they do not have of their impending grandeur? What if this coming richness secretly, quietly produces in them an overflow of joy? In other words, what if somehow those who are exceedingly poor have been implanted with the hope of their future wealth? What if God infused their hearts with the promise? What if their souls know?

In places where great poverty is abundant, and this joy I speak of is found, there is also the consistent presence of unspeakable evil. Violence of the most profound nature is prevalent and common. The line between light and dark is incredibly thin in places like this. The distance from joy to horror is shockingly small. Lives are cut short or oppressed to the greatest extent imaginable. Joy is attacked and snuffed out by pain. It seems as if evil attacks where life is vibrantly lived.

I try with all I have to make sense of our world and our view of God. I sometimes rest in the idea that his thoughts are not my thoughts and his ways are not my ways; that he could ask where I was when he told the oceans where to stop or told the stars where to shine. He is God. I am decidedly not. And then I wonder about thoughts like the one I have here about the future hope being somehow imbedded in the souls of those whose existence is lived out on a garbage heap. Maybe.

And flip this idea on its head and think about those of us who live in “first world” nations and conditions. We tend to want more than we have and be dissatisfied in spite of our abundance. We scratch and claw to get and obtain more. Always wanting more. Our restlessness steals our peace. Evil hardly needs to invade our lives because we hardly live. There is very little about our lives that is considered life.  Perhaps that permeating composition of truth which imbeds the souls of the impoverished with the understanding of their impending fortune also imbeds our souls with the knowledge of our tenuous standing. I don’t know.

It’s just a thought.

And even if it were true, that we are dissatisfied with all we have because we somehow know some day our position of abundance will go to others, there is enough blessing to go around. Even the last in the Kingdom is favored.

Prayers in the Liturgy and Questions from a Former Evangelical - Lazar Puhalo with Brad Jersak

Vladika speaks on the beautiful prayers in the liturgy, the non-violent love of God and then answers some questions I ask as a former Evangelical.

 

"A Hobbit, a Wardrobe and a Great War" - Trailer

Finding Our Voice by Listening to the Father - Eden Jersak

Click the following link for the MP3 of Eden Jersak's message,
"Finding Our Voice by Listening to the Father":

EDEN JERSAK sermon
"Finding our voice by
Listening to the Father"
- Feb 17 2019

 

JFZ - Judgement Free Zone - Joni Miller

JFZ                                                                         

What if the church was more like PLANET FITNESS and less like “church”?? If when you walked in you were greeted by a few friendly faces, told where things were and found your “spot” in the room. As you get situated in your space you look up and bigger than anything else in the room you see this enormous sign:

JUDGEMENT FREE ZONE

What if the church was a Judgement Free Zone?? If we were free to come in as frail human beings and see each as we truly are…broken, un-done, needy, not “put-together”, poor (thus the $10 membership fee), poor in spirit, too loud, too quiet, too raw, too un-kept, too large, too small too White, too Black, too Spanish, too Asian, too African, too European…just too….

What if we were allowed to let down our guard, put away our masks, undo our mindsets and step into “The Zone”…disregard our misgivings our differences and our short-comings and have a moment to unveil our hearts in truth and reality before the ONE who came to save …and rescue:

Jn 3:17- God did not send His Son into the world to condemn or judge the world, but to be its Savior and to rescue it.

Don’t get me wrong…there are still a few mirrors and membership- a quick glimpse of yourself and others and a commitment to the process…it’s still earth and we’re still people…we are still “working out our salvation”. But right above the mirrors there’s another sign:

NO LUNKS

*At the “PLANET” that means no dropping huge amounts of weights on the floor to make a loud sound so everyone will look at you!  *At church it simply means *no primidonnas showing off their bulging “spiritual muscles” while looking down on those who are weaker and less “spiritually developed”!! No Lunks.

Is it possible to lose the old ways of looking at someone and instantly deciding/judging “who” they are or “what condition” they are in?? Instead, can our arms be open as w i d e as the Loving Arms of Jesus as He welcomes each one of us into His Heartbeat…no matter what our condition, strength (or lack thereof), background, abilities or even beliefs? Can we get past judgement??? Can our walls read:

COME AS YOU ARE…YOU BELONG HERE

What if next week you’re the one who slipped back into your “sin”, your “addictive ways”, your rotating problems,…what if you’re the one who doesn’t speak the right language, who feels like giving up and ending it all…what if you’re the one who is weak and staggering into your seat…what if in your moment of utter collapse and despair you look up and you see:

JUDEGEMENT FREE ZONE on the wall… on a visitor card…written on the heart of the girl/guy sitting next to you.

I WANT TO GO TO THAT CHURCH!! 

by joni miller 

*pages from my journal 2/4/19 , ©Joan Miller, UBP

 Joni Miller is from West Chester, Pa where she is the Dir. Of Worship & the Arts at Cornerstone Christian Fellowship. She and her husband, Dr. Robert S. Miller (Bob) founded Cornerstone in 1991. In 2015, Bob died after an exhausting battle with prostate cancer. Her writings are actual pages from her journal from 2015 through to present day as she continues the journey through grief, loss and hope.                                     

Sin and Confession beyond Shame - Jonathan Martin

I’m mystified by the notion that the only two ways of thinking about sin available to us are “total depravity” (all the “wretched worm” nonsense), or “sin is an oppressive, outdated word,” which is equally silly.

I absolutely buy into "original blessing” (Genesis 1) over original sin (the blessing is far more “original” than the curse). The tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Genesis 3 is the tree of judgment, & represents playing God rather than accepting our creaturely limits, living in trust & dependence. Sin is mostly about living out of alignment with Love.

I adore Francis Spufford’s brilliant definition of sin in Unapologetic: “HPtFtU (human propensity to f*** things up”). Anybody who has ever dealt with a self-destructive addiction has come to the depths of this. It doesn’t change the fact that we are created (good) in the image of God. Sin, our propensity to place self over against others/community/God, distorts us, but the image of God in us is not lost. We are not shattered, but bent, & in need of grace to set us right.

Barbara Brown Taylor nails this in Speaking of Sin, when she calls sin a “helpful, hopeful word” that enables us to “move from guilt to grace.” She calls the language of sin “the lost language of salvation.” (note that sin has nothing to do with SHAME, which is NEVER a helpful, hopeful word).

Knowing this, I am practically giddy to pray the prayer of confession in the mornings from the book of common prayer: “Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.” I’m giddy because I know how merciful God is, that I am forgiven, & in no need to beg for it. But I get out of alignment with Love easily & often. Repentance is realignment, not moralism—it’s more about motive/intention. It feels so good to have my heart set right again.

The confession & absolution keeps me from having to go around feeling guilty & pretending as if I’m guiltless, both. I pray the confession not to wallow in guilt, but because it returns me to grace for myself & others. I pray the confession, because that’s where the party is. Selah.

footnote: I find communities on the wrong side of unjust systems are not squeamish to think about sin: not so much about individual wrongs, but systemic injustice. We are not "born rotten," but we are in fact complicit (think white supremacy, patriarchy, colonialism, etc.) This adds depth & meaning to "things done & left undone." If we want the world to be made right, no weaker word than repentance will do.

How the Bible Actually Works: new book by Peter Enns

MOVE BEYOND THE IDEA THAT “BEING RIGHT” 
IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEASURE OF FAITH

HOW THE BIBLE ACTUALLY WORKS

In Which I Explain How an Ancient, Ambiguous,
and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom,
Rather than Answers—
and Why that’s Great News

By Peter Enns

“Far from diminishing the value of the Bible…approachable and well-reasoned, Enns’s book will find an audience with Christians seeking a broader understanding of Scripture.” –Publishers Weekly

“Throughout, Enns is good company. Though his subject matter is serious, his writing is sprightly and cheerfully enlivened by his occasional snark and sarcasm. Consequently, the book will find a general readership intrigued by the insight and, yes, the wisdom he offers.”
–Booklist

PETER ENNS is beloved for his irreverent, progressive, andfaithful perspective on the Bible. In his previous books The Bible Tells Me So and The Sin of Certainty,the scholar, author, podcast host, and bloggerdebunked common beliefs that we project onto the Bible which steer us in the wrong direction and, he argues, cause all sorts of spiritual problems.

Now, at last, Enns explains how the Bible actuallyworks and why it speaks to us so powerfully even when it does not behave as we think it should. “The Bible becomes a confusing mess when we expect it to function as a rulebook for faith. But when we allow the Bible to determine our expectations, we see that Wisdom, not answers, is the Bible’s true subject matter.”

HOW THE BIBLE ACTUALLY WORKS (HarperOne; February 2019) outlines the three defining characteristics of the bible: that it is ancient, ambiguous, and diverse. These qualities, Enns maintains, demonstrate that humanity’s understanding of God is an ongoing process. Enns argues that the Bible itself invites readers to consider context and their own circumstances as they interpret and reinterpret scripture.

Rather than considering the Bible as an ancient book weighed down with problems, flaws, and contradictions that must be defended by modern readers, Enns offers a vision of the holy scriptures as an inspired and empowering resource to help us better understand how to live as a person of faith today.

HOW THE BIBLE ACTUALLY WORKS makes clear that there is no one right way to read the Bible. Moving us beyond the damaging idea that “being right” is the most important measure of faith, Enns’s freeing approach to Bible study helps us to instead focus on pursuing enlightenment and building our relationship with God—which is exactly what the Bible was designed to do.

Peter Enns is the Abram S. Clemens Professor of Biblical Studies at Eastern University in St. David’s, Pennsylvania, and has taught at Harvard University, and Princeton Theological Seminary. He is the host of The Bible for Normal Peoplepodcast, is frequent contributor to journals and encyclopedias, and is the author of several books, including The Sin of Certainty, The Bible Tells Me So,and Inspiration and Incarnation.

 

Ron Dart with Paul VanderKlay on Jordan Peterson, CS Lewis, Thomas Merton, Hermann Hesse

Paul VanderKlay's third conversation with Ron Dart. Ron is editing a book on Jordan Peterson. In this conversation they talk about three mid-20th century authors: CS Lewis, Thomas Merton and Hermann Hesse in relation to the shaping of faith in the modern world.

Whereness: a Hermeneutic of Being - Fran Francis

Tena koutou katoa

Ko Takarunga te maunga ahau

Ko Waitemata te moana ahau

Ko Pakiri te awa ahau

Ko Oriana te waka ahau

Ko Oruamo te kainga ahau

Ko Ngati Pakeha te iwi ahau

Ko Gray te hapu ahau

Ko Fran Francis ahau

Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa

 

Greetings to you all

Takarunga is the mountain that is special to me

The harbour of “Sparkling Waters” is the sea that surrounds me

The Pakiri river is a source of life to me

Oriana is the vessel which brought me here

Oruamo/Beach Haven is where I live

I am from the tribe of Europeans

My people are the Gray family

I am Fran Francis

Greetings to you all, three times over.

Introductions in Aotearoa New Zealand if you are of Maori (indigenous) ancestry follow this distinct pattern, and I should emphasize, are much more nuanced, complex and beautiful than I can manage. I confess to being horribly jealous of those Maori adults and children who can recite their “whakapapa” or genealogical story back to the ocean-going canoe(waka) in which their ancestors arrived.  These are people with a strong sense of what John O’Donoghue called “whereness.”

Dark Energeia - Sarah Van Diest

“The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these” Isaiah 45:7.

Physicists christened the force responsible for the acceleration of the expansion of the universe as “dark energy.” Space was once thought to be empty with nothing between the bodies of mass it holds, and its expansion from its initial Big Bang was believed to be slowing down. The radical theory and subsequent observation that the universe is instead accelerating in its expansion led to the discovery of what literally fills that so-called empty space: dark energy. Physicist Alan Lightman says, “…dark energy apparently hides out in empty space… and comprises a whopping three-quarters of the total energy of the universe” (The Accidental Universe, p.15). It is the massive force that is ever pushing the universe’s boundaries outward and at an increasing rate.

Dark energy is not something we can see; it is invisible, and no one knows exactly what it is. What is widely agreed upon, however, is that if there were more or less dark energy in the universe than there is, life could not have come into existence. Too much and the universe would have expanded at too fast a rate for bodies of space to form or atoms to even unite, and too little and the universe would have collapsed back in on itself quickly after it had erupted (p. 17-18). Our existence was made possible by the presence of this oh-so-perfect amount of dark energy in our universe. In this respect, we owe our lives to dark energy.

Boyd Barrett & Brad Jersak discuss "Come and See" immersive audio gospel (coupon code)

This Skype conversation between author and theologian, Brad Jersak, and Boyd Barrett, the creator of "COME AND SEE - An Immersive Audio Experience" covers why the project began and how it's continuing to be created and produced.

CLICK HERE for audio only.

CLICK HERE to download the FREE first chapter of COME AND SEE.

CLICK HERE to pre-order the entire project.

If you use the coupon code CLARION while ordering the entire project, you’ll get a 25% discount that lowers the price from $20 to $15.

 

Love the Sinner, Hate the System - Brad Jersak

LOVE THE SINNER; HATE THE SYSTEM

While Christ showed scandalous grace to sinners, his opposition to the corrupt temple system—to its hypocritical patriarchy and exploitative moralism—was biting and frankly, threatening. His prophecies of the fall of Jerusalem came with tears of grief, but nevertheless, he graphically foretold the catastrophic and inevitable demolition of that house of cards. “It’s all coming down,” he would say. “Every last stone, overturned. The city walls and its temple will burn with unquenchable fire. The Valley of Gehenna will once again smolder with the corpses of those who think they are exempt from judgment.”

Why? What sins would warrant such a collapse? Same as today. God’s grace for the penitent sinner does not extend to the worldly power systems that enslave both victim and perpetrator between its serrated teeth. Corrupt networks are slow to come down, but they must and they will, even when they use a temple or church as its covering infrastructure.

Jeremiah outed the fallacy of crying, “The Temple, the Temple, the Temple” as if it were an impenetrable safe house. “Your temple won’t save you. You’ve repurposed it as a den for thieves!” The system would topple, first to Babylon, then later to Rome. My apocalyptic side says it’s happening again. Right now. 

It’s not as though God strikes down his Temple or his people directly. The wrath involved is intrinsic to the sin—a self-devouring mechanism with a long but finite shelf-life. 

THE CURRENT CRISIS

One commentator on the current crisis of the clergy abuse scandal messaged me his diagnosis of the problem: