In the youth group I lead, we often use movies and television shows to teach the Bible. We have two meetings each week, one on Wednesday and one on Sunday. On Sunday we often have a study focused solely on the Bible or some piece of church history, and on Wednesday we usually use a TV or movie-based Bible study. This isn't universally true, we have some movie studies on Sunday and some in-depth Bible-only studies on Wednesday. But, generally speaking, this is how our youth group works.
Well last Wednesday a young lady from our group asked whether the parallels that we find between the movies we watch and the Bible are there on purpose, or by "accident". It is an important question. Over and over again, my youth come to me with pieces of cinema or entertainment that we can use to illustrate various Bible passages. I have produced, with the help of many of my youth, over 50 Bible studies using every kind of movie and television series. How can this be so? How can SO much modern entertainment be related to what we do in church of all places?
To answer that question, let me talk a little bit about the process I use to write these studies. Those who have worked with me are well aware of my 'triangulation' method of curriculum development. I start with the movie itself. That might seem strange and somehow sacrilegious. Shouldn't I start with the Bible and move from there? In point of fact, I assume that the Bible relates to ALMOST every human experience in some way or another. The Bible is an extended meditation on people's relationship with each other and with God, extending over 1500 years or more. This is literally thousands if not millions of people, encountering God, encountering life and reflecting on what it all means. It is such a great record of, if nothing else, just people living life. Almost all art and entertainment also relates to some concrete human experience. Even the most abstract films have to speak to something of our actual encounter with the world to be entertaining or moving in any way, shape, or form.
So starting with the film I look for any particular scene or moment that brings up some important moral question or reflection on the human condition. I then turn to the Bible and look for lessons or images related to the same issue. So it is not true that EVERY movie is related to the Bible, directly, but some part of the Bible and the film are likely to be related to some issue we all have to deal with. Life is the reference point. The Bible is life at its most raw, to the degree any film or television show also relates to life, it'll also relate to the Bible. And that becomes the third angle in my method. After we've looked at the issue raised by the film and seen what the Bible might have to say about that issue, we ask questions about our own lives. It gets personal, as any good religious meeting should. Religion is both a very personal, and a very public thing. The key is to use the movie and the Bible as 'lenses' that let us look at life in a new way, and help us clarify our own vision about this grand adventure called the human experience.
Phillip K Dick believed that the Book of Acts unveiled a reality that is hidden underneath the veil of common experience. I think Dick was on to something, though I'm loathe to accept his ontology. I believe that the Bible, and religion in general, can help us see into the world at a level of 'depth' that other points of contact miss. That depth dimension is, in reality, the very ground of the common experience Dick saw as illusion. But whereas other points of contact with the world, like scientific investigation, give us a lot of precision and certainty, religion's vision is necessarily vague and risky. You have to sacrifice precision to get deeper, and when you get deep, your vision gets murky. That is just the cost of being a limited, embedded human being. I believe the Bible is a special kind of access to that deeper level of existence. If I didn't I wouldn't be a Christian. But it isn't the only access we have, nor is it in all ways complete. Other religions, and all kinds of art, can also help us keep in contact with that deeper place that gives us a glimpse of who we really are, and what it means to be in relationship with that Wonder we call "God". So I find it perfectly appropriate to use movies and television and music, which are for better or worse the prevailing artistic endeavors of our day, to help us on our spiritual journey. And I don't think it should surprise us at all when we keep finding connections between the art we love and the Holy Scripture that is the foundation of our lives.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
IONA Presentation on Ruth & Naomi
The story of Ruth and Naomi is told in the Book of Ruth, which has been for a long time one of my favorite books of the Bible, and a book of real significance, a significance I fear is often overlooked. So it is my pleasure to talk to you about it today.
The Book of Ruth begins with the story of the family of Naomi and Elimilech, who leave their ancestral home of Bethlehem during a time of drought and famine, and settle in the area controlled by the Moabite tribal group. Now in Moab they set down real roots. Their sons Mahlon and Chilion married Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah respectively. But eventually tragedy struck the Elimilech family. Elimilech himself died, and eventually Mahlon and Chilion also died, leaving Naomi alone with her daughters in law without any familial support system at a time when it was very difficult for women to survive without such a support system. So Naomi, broken and dejected, decided to return home to Bethlehem where she could, perhaps, find aid from family members. Ruth and Orpah tried to persuade Naomi to let them go with her, but Naomi refused. She said in essence, "my family system cannot be your support, and I cannot produce a new family for you. So you go back to your own people, and your own gods." Orpah reluctantly agreed to stay in Moab, but Ruth would hear none of it. She insisted on staying with Naomi and finally Naomi relented and let Ruth return to Bethlehem with her.
Now once in Bethlehem they must have found the support system they sought, because they seemed to find a place to live. We are told at one point that there was some family holdings of Elimilech, and that is likely where they took up residence. To boot, Ruth found work gleaning in the fields of a relative of Naomi's named Boaz. Gleaning was the practice of picking up the crops that were dropped during harvest. In Leviticus, the Hebrews were commanded to leave whatever they dropped while harvesting crops for the poor, and that is how Ruth and Naomi survived. Now Boaz took a liking to Ruth, inspired by her willingness to work so hard for a woman she wasn't even related to by blood. He showed her kindness and conspired with his workers to make sure she got more than what she and Naomi needed. And they survived like this for about a season.
Naomi detected in Boaz's kindness to Ruth a possible attraction, and so she told Ruth to lay at Boaz's feet and ask him to 'spread his cloak over him', which would be a sign that he would be willing to redeem or marry her. So one night Boaz was half passed out from drinking in one of his barns, and Ruth laid by his feet. When he woke up she asked him to lay his cloak over her. He was deeply moved by Ruth's willingness to choose a mate not based on what was best for her, but what was best for Naomi. That inspired Boaz and he said that he would indeed marry her, but that there was a relative more closely related to Mahlon who had first rights to her and the Elimilech family holdings. So he met with this relative and kind of played a trick on him. He said to him in essence "Hey, you are entitled to the property of Elimilech's family, but I have to warn you, if you accept it you will also have to marry the wife of Mahlon, Ruth." The man detected in Boaz's words a warning and passed on his rights, leaving Boaz free to marry Ruth, which he did. And they had grandchildren for Naomi that brought her great joy. One of those grandchildren was Obed, who was the father of Jesse, who was the father of David. And so Ruth is the matron of the Davidic Dynasty.
Now when talking about the historical significance of the book, I want to go back to a particular passage towards the beginning that I think embodies most of what is really important. When Ruth is trying to convince Naomi to let her go with her to Bethlehem she says to her "where you go, I will go. You're people will be my people, you're God will be my God, and where you are buried I will be buried. May God deal with me, be it ever so severely if anything other than death separates you from me."
You see there is a tradition in the Bible, a tradition of exclusivism and particularism. It is the idea that God had a special relationship with the Israelites and that His grace was for them alone, and it is an idea that permeates scripture. But there is another tradition, a tradition of universalism (little "u" not big "U"), a tradition that says that God's purposes are world wide in scope. That picture of Ruth INSISTING that she become one with Naomi's people and God is a perfect illustration of that tradition. Those who held to universalism believed that God's special relationship with Israel was meant to draw other nations to them and thus also to worship of Yahweh.
Another important aspect of Ruth illustrated in that moment is the theme of friendship. This is the first time in the Bible that a human friendship is elevated to the same level as, say, the parent/child or spousal relationship. There are Biblical friendships before this point, to be sure, but here we see friendship as the very embodiment of Divine Love, and this is the first time that happens. We are told that Ruth CLINGS to Naomi, in language very similar to how Genesis talks about the husband/wife relationship. That theme then repeats in the story of Jonathon and David and Esther and Mordecai and on into the New Testament.
There is also this sense in Ruth that God is not a particular actor within the story but the background for the story as a whole. There is no individual point in which God comes in. There is no theophany to move the story along, no miracle that gets people out of their problems and no prophet to reveal God's will. This is a simple, human story of people just trying to be the best people they can be. But the writer sees in that human drama a Revelation of the Divine as clear as any other. And that motif is repeated in Esther, in 1 Maccabees, in Judith, in Nehemiah and elsewhere.
And finally there is a circumstantial historical significance to the book. For in the Book of 1 Samuel we are told that King David is able to survive the onslaught of Saul in part because he can hide among the Canaanite tribes, most notably the Moabite tribe. Now it is entirely possible that his ability to connect with these Canaanites was due to Moabite ancestry. And so David's entire dynasty may have been established, in part, because of his connection to Ruth. It may be for that reason more than any other that the story teller is able to see behind this everyday human experience, the very hand of Providence. Thank you.
The Book of Ruth begins with the story of the family of Naomi and Elimilech, who leave their ancestral home of Bethlehem during a time of drought and famine, and settle in the area controlled by the Moabite tribal group. Now in Moab they set down real roots. Their sons Mahlon and Chilion married Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah respectively. But eventually tragedy struck the Elimilech family. Elimilech himself died, and eventually Mahlon and Chilion also died, leaving Naomi alone with her daughters in law without any familial support system at a time when it was very difficult for women to survive without such a support system. So Naomi, broken and dejected, decided to return home to Bethlehem where she could, perhaps, find aid from family members. Ruth and Orpah tried to persuade Naomi to let them go with her, but Naomi refused. She said in essence, "my family system cannot be your support, and I cannot produce a new family for you. So you go back to your own people, and your own gods." Orpah reluctantly agreed to stay in Moab, but Ruth would hear none of it. She insisted on staying with Naomi and finally Naomi relented and let Ruth return to Bethlehem with her.
Now once in Bethlehem they must have found the support system they sought, because they seemed to find a place to live. We are told at one point that there was some family holdings of Elimilech, and that is likely where they took up residence. To boot, Ruth found work gleaning in the fields of a relative of Naomi's named Boaz. Gleaning was the practice of picking up the crops that were dropped during harvest. In Leviticus, the Hebrews were commanded to leave whatever they dropped while harvesting crops for the poor, and that is how Ruth and Naomi survived. Now Boaz took a liking to Ruth, inspired by her willingness to work so hard for a woman she wasn't even related to by blood. He showed her kindness and conspired with his workers to make sure she got more than what she and Naomi needed. And they survived like this for about a season.
Naomi detected in Boaz's kindness to Ruth a possible attraction, and so she told Ruth to lay at Boaz's feet and ask him to 'spread his cloak over him', which would be a sign that he would be willing to redeem or marry her. So one night Boaz was half passed out from drinking in one of his barns, and Ruth laid by his feet. When he woke up she asked him to lay his cloak over her. He was deeply moved by Ruth's willingness to choose a mate not based on what was best for her, but what was best for Naomi. That inspired Boaz and he said that he would indeed marry her, but that there was a relative more closely related to Mahlon who had first rights to her and the Elimilech family holdings. So he met with this relative and kind of played a trick on him. He said to him in essence "Hey, you are entitled to the property of Elimilech's family, but I have to warn you, if you accept it you will also have to marry the wife of Mahlon, Ruth." The man detected in Boaz's words a warning and passed on his rights, leaving Boaz free to marry Ruth, which he did. And they had grandchildren for Naomi that brought her great joy. One of those grandchildren was Obed, who was the father of Jesse, who was the father of David. And so Ruth is the matron of the Davidic Dynasty.
Now when talking about the historical significance of the book, I want to go back to a particular passage towards the beginning that I think embodies most of what is really important. When Ruth is trying to convince Naomi to let her go with her to Bethlehem she says to her "where you go, I will go. You're people will be my people, you're God will be my God, and where you are buried I will be buried. May God deal with me, be it ever so severely if anything other than death separates you from me."
You see there is a tradition in the Bible, a tradition of exclusivism and particularism. It is the idea that God had a special relationship with the Israelites and that His grace was for them alone, and it is an idea that permeates scripture. But there is another tradition, a tradition of universalism (little "u" not big "U"), a tradition that says that God's purposes are world wide in scope. That picture of Ruth INSISTING that she become one with Naomi's people and God is a perfect illustration of that tradition. Those who held to universalism believed that God's special relationship with Israel was meant to draw other nations to them and thus also to worship of Yahweh.
Another important aspect of Ruth illustrated in that moment is the theme of friendship. This is the first time in the Bible that a human friendship is elevated to the same level as, say, the parent/child or spousal relationship. There are Biblical friendships before this point, to be sure, but here we see friendship as the very embodiment of Divine Love, and this is the first time that happens. We are told that Ruth CLINGS to Naomi, in language very similar to how Genesis talks about the husband/wife relationship. That theme then repeats in the story of Jonathon and David and Esther and Mordecai and on into the New Testament.
There is also this sense in Ruth that God is not a particular actor within the story but the background for the story as a whole. There is no individual point in which God comes in. There is no theophany to move the story along, no miracle that gets people out of their problems and no prophet to reveal God's will. This is a simple, human story of people just trying to be the best people they can be. But the writer sees in that human drama a Revelation of the Divine as clear as any other. And that motif is repeated in Esther, in 1 Maccabees, in Judith, in Nehemiah and elsewhere.
And finally there is a circumstantial historical significance to the book. For in the Book of 1 Samuel we are told that King David is able to survive the onslaught of Saul in part because he can hide among the Canaanite tribes, most notably the Moabite tribe. Now it is entirely possible that his ability to connect with these Canaanites was due to Moabite ancestry. And so David's entire dynasty may have been established, in part, because of his connection to Ruth. It may be for that reason more than any other that the story teller is able to see behind this everyday human experience, the very hand of Providence. Thank you.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
The Great Shift
Perhaps the most important ethical shift in my life was a shift from feeling like I was owed something to feeling like I owe something. For so long I was overly concerned with the bad things that happened to me and the good things I had done. Everything was a calculation, figuring out just how much I had suffered and put into life and how much I should expect out of it. I lived in envy of those who had more and was constantly complaining about how unfair life was. At my worst times, heck probably most of the time, I'm still like that. But as I searched for the meaning of life and the truth behind the religious quest, it became clear to me that my main impediment to happiness and fulfillment, and really to relationship with God, was this basic attitude.
Strangely enough, it was a film about Buddhism that helped me move out of this pattern. The film is "The Razor's Edge", the story of a man who is psychologically damaged by his time in World War 1. Embarking on the search for a meaningful life, he separates from many of the people he loves most, who seek a shallower and easier existence. At the end he tells one of his former friends what his quest was all about, beginning with a reference to his commanding officer in the war, who had died saving his life: "When Piedmont died, I knew I had to pay him back for my life. Along the way I learned there's another debt, we all owe for the privilege of being alive." I remember when I first heard those words, they struck me to my core. They soon became the center of all my thinking on such matters, and later on I found powerful intellectual and emotional exposition of this same idea in Victor Frankl's MANS SEARCH FOR MEANING, an account of the triumph of the human spirit in the face of the Holocaust.
These ideas now form the foundation for my understanding of Jesus' sacrifice and the meaning of grace. It is the idea that all that you have and all that you are, that every breath you take is a gift, and more than a gift it is a gift that cost God the life of His Only Son. The idea that creation and salvation does not come at the whim of God but through the Pain of God is the idea that, ultimately, all suffering has to be seen in the shadow of God's suffering. I am happy only so long as I keep my eyes on that Truth. To see each day as a gift, as something that I don't deserve and as something that comes at a cost to the Divine Spirit is to free myself from resentment and live from a place of happiness rather than making happiness some ephemeral 'something' I seek out there, somewhere.
And that gift then comes to me as something I have to use for God's good purposes. I know I can't pay back what I've been given, but I can try, and I think the trying is important. If a relative gives you a car it is a gift to be sure, but it is a gift that comes with real responsibilities. To crash the car in a street race the day after you receive it is to have made the gift into a curse, likewise the grace Christ gives is freely given, but it comes with real responsibilities. It is the shift from a sense of being owed anything to owing everything. Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 7 that we were 'bought with a price', is in truth the very foundation of a good and meaningful life. The shift from feeling you are owed to feeling that you owe is a massive one, but it is one I commend to anyone and everyone. Strangely enough responsibility is not the enemy of happiness, but its foundation.
Strangely enough, it was a film about Buddhism that helped me move out of this pattern. The film is "The Razor's Edge", the story of a man who is psychologically damaged by his time in World War 1. Embarking on the search for a meaningful life, he separates from many of the people he loves most, who seek a shallower and easier existence. At the end he tells one of his former friends what his quest was all about, beginning with a reference to his commanding officer in the war, who had died saving his life: "When Piedmont died, I knew I had to pay him back for my life. Along the way I learned there's another debt, we all owe for the privilege of being alive." I remember when I first heard those words, they struck me to my core. They soon became the center of all my thinking on such matters, and later on I found powerful intellectual and emotional exposition of this same idea in Victor Frankl's MANS SEARCH FOR MEANING, an account of the triumph of the human spirit in the face of the Holocaust.
These ideas now form the foundation for my understanding of Jesus' sacrifice and the meaning of grace. It is the idea that all that you have and all that you are, that every breath you take is a gift, and more than a gift it is a gift that cost God the life of His Only Son. The idea that creation and salvation does not come at the whim of God but through the Pain of God is the idea that, ultimately, all suffering has to be seen in the shadow of God's suffering. I am happy only so long as I keep my eyes on that Truth. To see each day as a gift, as something that I don't deserve and as something that comes at a cost to the Divine Spirit is to free myself from resentment and live from a place of happiness rather than making happiness some ephemeral 'something' I seek out there, somewhere.
And that gift then comes to me as something I have to use for God's good purposes. I know I can't pay back what I've been given, but I can try, and I think the trying is important. If a relative gives you a car it is a gift to be sure, but it is a gift that comes with real responsibilities. To crash the car in a street race the day after you receive it is to have made the gift into a curse, likewise the grace Christ gives is freely given, but it comes with real responsibilities. It is the shift from a sense of being owed anything to owing everything. Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 7 that we were 'bought with a price', is in truth the very foundation of a good and meaningful life. The shift from feeling you are owed to feeling that you owe is a massive one, but it is one I commend to anyone and everyone. Strangely enough responsibility is not the enemy of happiness, but its foundation.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
A Homily On Jacob's Struggle With God
This homily was given to St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church in Nassau Bay, TX, on July 31, 2011
When I found out that I was going to be preaching on this day, on this day in particular, I got very excited. That is because the readings for this day include my favorite passage from the Old Testament, "Jacob Wrestles With God". Its so mysterious, so alien, and yet somehow, so familiar. The imagery: Jacob all alone, the river, the dark and then God. A God so incarnate that in their subsequent wrestling match, God actually dislocates Jacob's hip. And then when God blesses Jacob He names him Israel, which is the name that would be given to God's people. And Israel doesn't mean "loves God" or "serves God" but rather "struggles with God". To be blessed by God, to be one of God's people, is to be called "struggles with God". I don't know about you, but that's my whole life right there man.
The other thing I like about this story is for an analytically minded person like myself, a historical background for the story is easily reconstructed. A more superficial reading is possible; because Jacob sends his family to the other side of the river. It's clear he's conflicted. He's asking himself "am I going to do it? Am I going to face the brother I betrayed all the years ago? Am I going to do the hard thing? Am I going to do the right thing?" And so the struggle is, on this reading, a struggle of conscience. It is something every day; something we all can relate to: we've all failed in life and had to struggle with the question of whether or not we would face the music for our failure. But to keep the reading on this level without the other is, to miss the point, for the point is that through that simple human moral struggle Jacob discovered God. He discovered a God that isn't high and raised up, distant from him, but an incarnate God, a God that was closer to him than he was to himself.
And the Gospel reading is the sort of thing. A historical reading is possible, especially when we realize that in the John version of this passage, the original loaves and fishes were brought by a little boy. It is easy to imagine using this young man's sacrifice to inspire the people there to give, and they did give until there was enough for everybody and more. But again, to leave the reading at this level without the other is to miss the point, for what really matters is that in that moment, the people there felt God moving in a way they never had before. They saw in the face of the leader who had inspired them to give the very face of the Divine.
One of my favorite theologians, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was a gifted pastor and prolific writer. Perhaps one of his most enduring lessons is that if we want to encounter Jesus Christ, the living incarnate God we must discover Him through the moral struggles of our lives in the world. He said this explicitly in a letter to his friend Eberhard Bethge the day before he was sentenced to death for his involvement in the plots to kill Hitler. He said, "I learned later, and I am still learning up to this moment that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. By this worldliness, I mean living unreservedly in life's duties and problems, successes and failures. Taking seriously, not our own suffering, but the suffering of God in the world. In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, standing with Christ at Gethsemene. That, I think, is faith. That is metanoia, and that is what it means to be a Christian, and a man." The Genesis passage, and the gospel passage are no less profound than this. They are about a cosmic dimension behind human moral experience; a divine theater within which everyday human life takes place.
As a Christian educator, I have come to believe that instilling a sense of cosmic significance behind everyday human life is the primary challenge for the Church in the 21st century. This realization was driven home to me when a friend of mine came to me with a problem. Her child, I think he was six at the time, said to her one night, "mommy, I want to see Jesus. I don't want Jesus to just be in my heart I want to see Jesus right now." My friend didn't know what to say and to be honest, neither did I. But I've spent a lot of time reflecting on that child's simple request, and I think it corresponds to a need I see within the young people I meet. You see the young people of today are seeking faith, but they are seeking a faith that is relevant to life in this world. They will not abide a religion that demands that they stand at the edge of life and look to a time after death when they will finally know the relevance of their beliefs and finally see the face of their Creator. They yearn for the sense that what they do in this life matters, and matters ultimately.
This is a need I think that we as a church would do well to take very seriously, because I think it gives us an opportunity to reflect upon what Christianity is really all about. For I have come to believe that Christianity at its best is not primarily a set of doctrines and beliefs, which isn't to say that doctrines and beliefs don't matter. I don't even thing that Christianity is, primarily, a way of life, which isn't to say that actions don't matter. I believe that Christianity is, at its best, a way of seeing; a way of seeing the world and a way to see God in the world. And so Christian education is primarily not a teaching what, but a teaching how: a teaching how to see life in a whole new way. It is the instilling of a skill. The problem is that the church has been stuck in patterns of teaching what, rather than teaching how: teaching what to believe, and teaching what to do, and like I said all that stuff matters. But the real challenge to day is not giving laundry lists of beliefs and actions but the raising of consciousness, the changing of perspectives and the instilling of new points of view, and that is a much more difficult challenge.
Now, I am not sure how we meet this challenge exactly. I know that in my own ministry, television and film have played an important role. We watch a particular piece of art, we change the way we look at it and hopefully, over time, this helps us change the way we look at every day life: art can be a wonderful way to change perspectives. But I know that this methodology is limited, and that there will be more to it than that. As I said I don't have all the answers. Its a challenge, its a calling, but it is a calling I feel we must heed, because if we don't than we fail to communicate an incarnational theology and thus why Jesus matters at all.
To teach people how to struggle with God, to teach them how to struggle alongside God. That is what it means to be Israel, to be God's people, to be Christians and to be truly, fully, human. Amen.
When I found out that I was going to be preaching on this day, on this day in particular, I got very excited. That is because the readings for this day include my favorite passage from the Old Testament, "Jacob Wrestles With God". Its so mysterious, so alien, and yet somehow, so familiar. The imagery: Jacob all alone, the river, the dark and then God. A God so incarnate that in their subsequent wrestling match, God actually dislocates Jacob's hip. And then when God blesses Jacob He names him Israel, which is the name that would be given to God's people. And Israel doesn't mean "loves God" or "serves God" but rather "struggles with God". To be blessed by God, to be one of God's people, is to be called "struggles with God". I don't know about you, but that's my whole life right there man.
The other thing I like about this story is for an analytically minded person like myself, a historical background for the story is easily reconstructed. A more superficial reading is possible; because Jacob sends his family to the other side of the river. It's clear he's conflicted. He's asking himself "am I going to do it? Am I going to face the brother I betrayed all the years ago? Am I going to do the hard thing? Am I going to do the right thing?" And so the struggle is, on this reading, a struggle of conscience. It is something every day; something we all can relate to: we've all failed in life and had to struggle with the question of whether or not we would face the music for our failure. But to keep the reading on this level without the other is, to miss the point, for the point is that through that simple human moral struggle Jacob discovered God. He discovered a God that isn't high and raised up, distant from him, but an incarnate God, a God that was closer to him than he was to himself.
And the Gospel reading is the sort of thing. A historical reading is possible, especially when we realize that in the John version of this passage, the original loaves and fishes were brought by a little boy. It is easy to imagine using this young man's sacrifice to inspire the people there to give, and they did give until there was enough for everybody and more. But again, to leave the reading at this level without the other is to miss the point, for what really matters is that in that moment, the people there felt God moving in a way they never had before. They saw in the face of the leader who had inspired them to give the very face of the Divine.
One of my favorite theologians, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was a gifted pastor and prolific writer. Perhaps one of his most enduring lessons is that if we want to encounter Jesus Christ, the living incarnate God we must discover Him through the moral struggles of our lives in the world. He said this explicitly in a letter to his friend Eberhard Bethge the day before he was sentenced to death for his involvement in the plots to kill Hitler. He said, "I learned later, and I am still learning up to this moment that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. By this worldliness, I mean living unreservedly in life's duties and problems, successes and failures. Taking seriously, not our own suffering, but the suffering of God in the world. In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, standing with Christ at Gethsemene. That, I think, is faith. That is metanoia, and that is what it means to be a Christian, and a man." The Genesis passage, and the gospel passage are no less profound than this. They are about a cosmic dimension behind human moral experience; a divine theater within which everyday human life takes place.
As a Christian educator, I have come to believe that instilling a sense of cosmic significance behind everyday human life is the primary challenge for the Church in the 21st century. This realization was driven home to me when a friend of mine came to me with a problem. Her child, I think he was six at the time, said to her one night, "mommy, I want to see Jesus. I don't want Jesus to just be in my heart I want to see Jesus right now." My friend didn't know what to say and to be honest, neither did I. But I've spent a lot of time reflecting on that child's simple request, and I think it corresponds to a need I see within the young people I meet. You see the young people of today are seeking faith, but they are seeking a faith that is relevant to life in this world. They will not abide a religion that demands that they stand at the edge of life and look to a time after death when they will finally know the relevance of their beliefs and finally see the face of their Creator. They yearn for the sense that what they do in this life matters, and matters ultimately.
This is a need I think that we as a church would do well to take very seriously, because I think it gives us an opportunity to reflect upon what Christianity is really all about. For I have come to believe that Christianity at its best is not primarily a set of doctrines and beliefs, which isn't to say that doctrines and beliefs don't matter. I don't even thing that Christianity is, primarily, a way of life, which isn't to say that actions don't matter. I believe that Christianity is, at its best, a way of seeing; a way of seeing the world and a way to see God in the world. And so Christian education is primarily not a teaching what, but a teaching how: a teaching how to see life in a whole new way. It is the instilling of a skill. The problem is that the church has been stuck in patterns of teaching what, rather than teaching how: teaching what to believe, and teaching what to do, and like I said all that stuff matters. But the real challenge to day is not giving laundry lists of beliefs and actions but the raising of consciousness, the changing of perspectives and the instilling of new points of view, and that is a much more difficult challenge.
Now, I am not sure how we meet this challenge exactly. I know that in my own ministry, television and film have played an important role. We watch a particular piece of art, we change the way we look at it and hopefully, over time, this helps us change the way we look at every day life: art can be a wonderful way to change perspectives. But I know that this methodology is limited, and that there will be more to it than that. As I said I don't have all the answers. Its a challenge, its a calling, but it is a calling I feel we must heed, because if we don't than we fail to communicate an incarnational theology and thus why Jesus matters at all.
To teach people how to struggle with God, to teach them how to struggle alongside God. That is what it means to be Israel, to be God's people, to be Christians and to be truly, fully, human. Amen.
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