Waving or Drowning?

Junk Religion

Jesus and the Buddha made it clear to their followers that life is suffering, and we cannot avoid it. Every person carries pain--it's in a big black bag that gets heavier as we get older, filled with betrayals, rejections, disappointments, and hurts inflicted along the way. We'd better know what to do with all of this, because it will not just go away. Women tend to talk about it, which can turn into gossip or lead to healing. Men are more likely to stuff their pain--or export it to Iraq or wherever today's enemy resides.

If we don't find a way to transform our pain, we will always transmit it to those around us or turn against ourselves. And we'll create tension, negativity, suspicion, and fear wherever we go. Anyone who encourages you to project your pain onto others (Muslims, your family, gays, etc.) or to turn it against yourself has no truth or wisdom to offer. If your religion is not teaching you how to recognize, hold, and transform suffering, it is junk religion.

Richard Rohr, On the Threshold of Transformation

(How to) Look at Jesus

More good stuff from NT Wright, via The Work of the People:

 

Untitled from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.

The Definition of a Christian

Regular readers will know that I generally put quotes or other items that I don't comment on over on my Tumblr page. However, occasionally some material is so good that I'll put it in both places. Here's another example:

A Christian is someone who’s animated by the spirit of Christ, a person in whom the spirit of Christ can work. That doesn’t always mean that you consciously know what you are doing.

As it states in Matthew 25, “When have we seen you hungry? When have we seen you thirsty?” We may have no idea that we do what we do for Christ. But Christ said: “Because you did it, you did it for me.”

It never depends upon whether we say the right words, but whether we live the right reality.

Richard Rohr, adapted from Simplicity

Although I'm just about out of enthusiasm for the term "Christian", for me this is absolutely a defining statement. Maybe more to the point it's a radical redefining of what it means to be in the service of God's plan to redeem all of Creation.

And yes, I'm aware that some will vehemently disagree. Thoughts welcome.

Divine Grief

Some very personal thoughts on death and hope from NT Wright, as he considers the recent death of his own father. And yet another great piece from The Work of the People. (Another one cross-posted to Tumblr because it's too good to leave off of either platform...)

Divine Sorrow from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.

Random Thought: Thinking About Bubbles

I'm thinking about bubbles this morning.

The bubble of suburban consumerism. "The Bubble", the term I use for the city that I love, my home, Vancouver. (Some parts of Vancouver are more bubblish than others--you know who you are, my North Shore peeps.)

I'm thinking about the riot in Vancouver, the disgusting tragedy of it, and also the need others who don't live there seem to have to make it something more than it was.

More than anything I'm thinking about the derth of anything to believe in, of the larger story to belong to and be a part of. Not that there isn't one--there is--but we've collectively forgotten, and the entity that is the keeper of the story no longer teaches it. Perhaps they've forgotten too.

And yet we carry with us an echo of something we can't quite identify. We saw that this week too. We saw it in the man in the black cap, and those who came to his aid. I call that our spiritual DNA. 

We live in a time of transition. Any thoughts?

The Whole Sweep of Scripture

N.T. Wright on how to read the Bible. Brilliant, as always, and another great piece from The Work of the People.

 

The Whole Sweep Of Scripture from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.

Brokeness, and Things Jesus Never Said

Did you ever notice that Jesus did not ask or answer the law-and-order questions that culture desires from religion? Jesus never spoke of what we call “family values” or institutional loyalty or national security or war economies, which are now taken for granted as religious values by both churches and politicians. In fact, Jesus was not even a good example of family values: single, celibate, no children, no steady income, and “no place to lay his head.”

It’s clear that Jesus has a completely opposite agenda, one rejected by the world and much of the church. He asks us to join in solidarity with human weakness and suffering, with the outsiders, the oppressed, and the disadvantaged. If we fail to receive the “sacraments of brokenness” that are all around us, how will we have the courage to discover that we, too, are broken? How will we ever know the suffering face of God, who created them?

Richard Rohr, On the Threshold of Transformation

(cross-posted from Tumblr)

The Plan

Whatever else the Bible is--and it is likely many things--it is certainly God's plan to redeem all of Creation, proclaimed and demonstrated by Jesus, empowered by the Spirit, and put into action by us.

(Cross-posted to Tumblr)

The Two Paths

All great spirituality is somehow about letting go. There are two paths that really transform us and make it possible for us to let go: the path of great love and the path of great suffering. Love that does not let go is not really love. And suffering moves us to turn loose out of sheer desperation.

There's no way to plan or program great love or great suffering; each comes on its own terms. There is no precise technique or foolproof formula for great love or great suffering. They are their own teacher, and they instruct us in their own time and in their own way. All we can do is try to be ready to fall, because both love and suffering feel like falling. 

Richard Rohr, On the Threshold of Transformation

(Cross-posted to Tumblr)

Welcoming Home Prodigal Pain

I have amazing memories of wonderful conversations with Ian Cron in a bus driving through the West Bank last year. He's a good man, and I'm looking forward to getting to his new book Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me: A Memoir…Of Sorts. In the meantime, watch this video (from Alter Magazine) to hear about welcoming home pain, and what Ian hopes readers will get from the book.

(Click the image above to go to the video.)