Some time ago at a seminar I was struck by one of the comments made; that the person concerned had struggled to understand how he could retain his commitment to theology given the human situation in front of him. In that instance he had chosen to ditch his theology in favour of human life but what shocked me was the obvious gap between the two. Between 'theology', talk about God, and human life.
I hate to be boxed in by definitions but I think practical theology is a label I'm pretty happy to carry. Surely there should not be such a rift between our theology and our human lives that one or the other has to take the fall; either we surrender our concept of God in the face of human realities or we deny the complexity of human existence in order to preserve a simplistic view of God. It does cause some problems though - what happens when our lives don't match up to our theology, when a God who heals just doesn't or when the transforming power of the cross just doesn't appear to be enough for the drug addict. Do we allow our theology to be dictated by our experience? Absolutely not!
I'm totally still working on this but I'm thinking that God is not scared by human life, he's not surprised by our issues or intimidated by the complexity of our situations. If God is our Creator and our Redeemer then not only does he know all that we are capable of but he has also made a way of redemption through the darkest and seemingly most hopeless situation.
We must never shy away from human life in order to protect our idea of God and we must always be prepared to hold our experience accountable to a biblical account of the nature of God.
Wednesday, 31 October 2007
Monday, 29 October 2007
Stale beer - the scent of the holy
Recently I've been looking back to my Liverpool days. In my current context of urban theology it seems crazy and amazing to me that ten years ago I was walking the back streets of Liverpool city centre and finding God in every step.
On my breaks from work I would walk and pray, taking in the textures, sights, sounds and smells of the city and falling in love with it and with the God that I found there. In the two and a half years I was there I dreamed for that city, but most of all I dreamed for the human community I encountered; the homeless, the clubbers, the drug addicts and the shoppers. Those above and below the waterline of the city, some surfing some drowning.
I readily admit my naivete at the time; I was still coming to terms with myself and my engagement with the people I met was instinctive rather than strategic, I had no language, no 'theological framework' for my experience - just me and Jesus.
Recently God has been revealing his passion for human community to me again in a new context. My response has been one of pain and awe in the face of such massive need and human chaos; a response which God has consistently met with a gentle reassurance of his sovereignty, his all sufficiency which surrounds every need waiting to be unleashed.
The nature of God makes every need a glory, every weakness an affirmation of his strength. Again I find myself needing to come to terms with a new me and find a new engagement with my community; its an exciting new adventure but it also carries a sweet nostalgia. The pubs in Openshaw smell of the same stale beer in the mornings as Liverpool's Slater St, and it's sourness will always be to me the fragrance of God's presence.
On my breaks from work I would walk and pray, taking in the textures, sights, sounds and smells of the city and falling in love with it and with the God that I found there. In the two and a half years I was there I dreamed for that city, but most of all I dreamed for the human community I encountered; the homeless, the clubbers, the drug addicts and the shoppers. Those above and below the waterline of the city, some surfing some drowning.
I readily admit my naivete at the time; I was still coming to terms with myself and my engagement with the people I met was instinctive rather than strategic, I had no language, no 'theological framework' for my experience - just me and Jesus.
Recently God has been revealing his passion for human community to me again in a new context. My response has been one of pain and awe in the face of such massive need and human chaos; a response which God has consistently met with a gentle reassurance of his sovereignty, his all sufficiency which surrounds every need waiting to be unleashed.
The nature of God makes every need a glory, every weakness an affirmation of his strength. Again I find myself needing to come to terms with a new me and find a new engagement with my community; its an exciting new adventure but it also carries a sweet nostalgia. The pubs in Openshaw smell of the same stale beer in the mornings as Liverpool's Slater St, and it's sourness will always be to me the fragrance of God's presence.
Wednesday, 17 October 2007
What kind of bread?
Today I've been reading the gospel of John and within my usual preoccupation with God's heart for the poor I spotted something a bit interesting. In chapter 6 Jesus miraculously feeds 5000 people with a few loaves and fish, clearly impressive but the response of the people is really telling. After the meal Jesus sneaks off for a bit of alone time and later that evening joins his disciples as they make their way across the lake to Capurnaum. The next day the 5000 people who had been fed by Jesus realise he has given them the slip and all get into boats and cross the lake to find him; but why?
When they get to Jesus he sees right to their hearts; 'I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.' It would not be too much of a presumption to suppose that this crowd were poor and lived at subsistence level; in Jesus they had not recognised the Son of God but just a meal ticket. Jesus urges them 'Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life'.
In our attempts to bring the kingdom through material provision and social justice, meeting the 'felt needs' of the poor in our society, we need to remember that food does not make disciples; for the poor and marginalised in our society Jesus is their source, but not only of food and clothing, also of something far more enduring, of eternal life. Jesus was passionate to meet their need for food but also to reveal to them their real need beyond their felt need, and ultimately to meet both through his miraculous power and presence. 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry'.
When they get to Jesus he sees right to their hearts; 'I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.' It would not be too much of a presumption to suppose that this crowd were poor and lived at subsistence level; in Jesus they had not recognised the Son of God but just a meal ticket. Jesus urges them 'Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life'.
In our attempts to bring the kingdom through material provision and social justice, meeting the 'felt needs' of the poor in our society, we need to remember that food does not make disciples; for the poor and marginalised in our society Jesus is their source, but not only of food and clothing, also of something far more enduring, of eternal life. Jesus was passionate to meet their need for food but also to reveal to them their real need beyond their felt need, and ultimately to meet both through his miraculous power and presence. 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry'.
Monday, 8 October 2007
The power of a body
I've just watched an amazing programme about methods of protest which included the story of Rachel Courie who opposed the destruction of a family home in India by sitting in front of the bulldozer and was killed as it ran over her, backed up and ran over her again, just to make a point. This horrific story must provide a challenge to anyone with any understanding of God's heart for justice. It reminded me of the Sebastian Acevedo Movement against Torture (for more info see Cavanaugh's Torture & Eucharist) who protested against the kidnapping and torture carried out by the Pinochet regime in Chile during the 1980s by taking liturgy to the streets, appearing in groups in crowded squares, performing liturgical and poetic mini services and disappearing again , in many cases the police would swoop in and attemp to silence them with gas, water and dogs, in this way they in their own bodies displayed the unjust torture suffered by the unseen victims and allowed the authorities to condemn themselves in full view of the world.
The exposure and condemnation of injustice through the embodiment of suffering is profoundly Christ-like. Biblical images of the suffering redeemer abound, Hosea lived it, Isaiah wrote about it, all pointing towards Jesus who embodied the bondage of sin and exposed its evil grip on humanity in his very public and torturous death. I would like to think that if I had been in Chile during such oppression I would have been a part of this courageous and convicted Movement against Torture; but in my context Christ's radical indentification with me in my sin challenges me to seek to indentify with the community around me, in its bondage and need in order to expose and condemn this bondage and demonstrate the liberating power of the kingdom of God.
The exposure and condemnation of injustice through the embodiment of suffering is profoundly Christ-like. Biblical images of the suffering redeemer abound, Hosea lived it, Isaiah wrote about it, all pointing towards Jesus who embodied the bondage of sin and exposed its evil grip on humanity in his very public and torturous death. I would like to think that if I had been in Chile during such oppression I would have been a part of this courageous and convicted Movement against Torture; but in my context Christ's radical indentification with me in my sin challenges me to seek to indentify with the community around me, in its bondage and need in order to expose and condemn this bondage and demonstrate the liberating power of the kingdom of God.
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