Many thoughts today

I wrote most of the following in class this morning. But somehow I hadn't heard about the attack in Qana (or Cana, as in first miracle of Jesus, water into wine not blood). So we need to take a moment to pray for that situation. Dear God, this world is fucked up.

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OK, now let me respond to a few recent comments.

First, yes, I also was convicted especially by Eddie's comment about spending time with God now. We were having such a wonderful time, earlier in the summer, when we were doing the morning prayer together every day. But now we can't because we have to be up and out so early. It was lovely, though, to read scripture (which was always new and interesting) and to read a piece from a Father or Mother, or about that day's saint, or just to debate and discuss the passage we'd read. I don't know how to make that happen with our current schedule. And it will only get harder once the fall comes.

I can do morning prayer alone and I do, but it's just not as nice. It makes one feel a bit shizophrenic to say to oneself: "The Lord be with me" "And also with me" "let us pray."

Ah, well, we must carry on. I read the most lovely bit from Julian of Norwich today - her meditation upon Jesus as Mother. Not Katherine our new Presiding Bishop, not some radical feminist (of the 20th century, anyway) - no, good old Julian, mystic from the 15th century. This idea is not an imposition of our times. Beyond Christ himself longing to be like a mother hen, we have evidence in the Fathers (who weren't the greatest towards women, so that's saying something), and then this from Julian:

We make our humble complaint to our beloved Mother, and he sprinkles us with his precious blood, and makes oursoul pliable and tender, and restores us to our full beauty in course of time...And this sweet and lovely work he will never cease from doing until all his beloved children are born and delivered...And I understood that there is no higher state in this life than that of childhood, because of our inadequate and feeble capacitty and intellect, until such time as our gracious Mother shall bring us up to our Father's bliss. And then the true menaning of those lovely words will be made known to us, 'It is going to be all right. You will see for yourself that everything is going to be all right.'

Preach it, grrrl.

Anyway, about this Christology thing, let me see how many ways I can be heretical today. But first let me point out that I don't see anything against universalism in the Nicene Creed, and I think I explained yesterday how I still have a pretty strong Christology, just not one that is based in exclusivism and substitutionary atonement. So the anonymous person who said I was a heretic b/c of universalism and weak Christology isn't actually correct. I'm not a Baptist or Roman Catholic, to be sure...I'm not even following the 39 articles, probably...but I don't think I've gone beyond the Creeds. So am I really a heretic? Well maybe by today's standards. And being a strong believer in the progression of the Church and God's continued revelation to us, and the true faith of our tradition being as much God's Word as the Scriptures (tho of course it's not as easy to read! Or is it? Perhaps the Scriptures are harder than we think!), I do strongly respect that I am not following the journey on which the church has found itself. But then again, I do fall into line with many in my church, and I do agree with many of the founders of our faith (although of course I know Origen was considered a heretic for universalism) on the issues they were hashing out. I'm certainly not a gnostic.

Anyway, let me muse on Christology for a moment. Is Jesus the son of God? Of course. But does that matter? Of course it does. If I say it doesn't I am not a Christian. But is it necessary for salvation to recognize this? Or does it just make it much easier to live your life in line with God's story? My husband, paraphrasing Dallas Willard, says, "The smartest man who ever lived is offering a master class in how to live your life and you're invited to join and learn." Now I know that could be reducing Jesus to just a good teacher or smart man...but then again, we should recognize that. It seems often that the non-Christians recognize these aspects of Jesus (good teacher, smart) better than Christians do! How many Christ followers really think Jesus was a genius?

So I think Jesus was the smartest person who ever lived. And I believe he is the son of God. I believe his incarnation was the turning point in history when all the universe was able to start heading back toward God. I believe that his life is the model for our lives. I believe that his death and resurrection were the model for our future. Did they separately do something to balance the cosmic scales? Well they did make a big difference, in that nobody had been resurrected before. And the resurrection is the foretaste, as they say, of what is to come. Solid evidence of God's kingdom come.

But I don't think I believe that God demanded the sacrifice nor that without Christ's death we'd all be lost. Perhaps without Christ's resurrection we'd not be able to resurrect. But this idea of cosmic scales balancing...well I just don't see it. It sounds more like yin/yang to me. What I see when I read God's story is a God who never balances the scales. A God who always pushes toward us no matter how crappy we act. A God who forgives over and over and over and over again. A God who deeply longs for people to love him no matter what they've done against him. A God who doesn't hold grudges. This is the story of God. This is the whole story, not a prooftext.

How can you know that story and not be universalist?

That's rhetorical, anonymous. (I'm considering blocking anonymous posting anyway...)

We don't have the answers yet at all, and we are on a journey. Why can't we be on different places in our journey? Not just you and me, but those from other cultures and faith traditions.

My journey is going through some woods right now. I fear what I think - things that go against what I was always taught was salvation. But salvation isn't based on what I believe, is it? I mean, come on. Is it really based on what we believe? Or is it based on who we love?

Jesus is the answer, that is my Christology. But he is the answer because he is the incarnation of God's love, he is God reaching into the world in love. I love him and I want to live like he did. The answer to the question of what is the meaning of life, I guess.

Which is where the pluralism has affected my Christology. I'm not longer sure Jesus is the only way to God. I think I believe he's the best way. At least, he's definitely the most direct route! But the only way? Jesus is God's love in the world. But God's love is manifest in other ways, albeit not as powerfully. My exposure to world religions has convinced me that God has revealed Godself through other religions in some ways. So the piece of information that we Christians have is Jesus - perhaps he's the thing we know about that others don't. But I believe others know things about God that we don't know - or that we are blind to. There is beauty in the manifold names and faces for God in Hinduism - their God is much bigger and more diverse than ours. There is genius and peace in the meditation of many traditions, especially that of Buddhism which gives such honor to the natural world (and that's something Christians often neglect). We can learn so much from the Baha'is about peace and ecumenism. I personally am fascinated with the eschatology of the LDS church. Muslim devotion to prayer is certainly beyond most of us. Jewish liturgy is gorgeous and their reverence for Scripture is enviable. Even pagan religions (or cosmological) recognize the revelation of God in nature and respect and work with that better than we do.

So. Whew. All of that to say that there's a lot of not just wisdom but TRUTH in other religions. God's truth. God's revelation. So the pluralism has affected my sotierology and eschatology. I said that it's affected my Christology, but you know, I actually don't think it has. I still pretty much think the same things about Jesus that I ever did. I've changed my mind about salvation and about what happens after death, and of course that's wrapped up in Christology to an extent. But I'm not sure having a "high" Christology necessitates exclusivism.

There, Rachel. That was for you. :)

One last thing, if you're still with me. I watched a fantastic, terrifying film that I strongly, strongly recommend you run out and rent. It's called The Corporation. I'm just going to tell you to see it. We can chat about it in the comments once you've seen it (or if you already have). Very. Scary. Stuff. And very, very important to know.

I got to thinking about why the younger generation - my brother's age and below (he was born in 1980) - is so up in arms and ready to mobilize. I thank God for it. But it's curious to me, because it's like this groundswell all of a sudden (this is largely anecdotal - my brother's on a kick). And as we were watching this Corporation movie, it struck us: the thing people are most afraid of is Communism and/or Socialism. That's why they are willing to let Corporations run the country - really, own the world - because they are so terrified of the government doing it. Because if the government does it (which I think is what democracy is?), then that is socialism. Or can become it.

But my brother was a kid when Communism fell. Young'ns today simply weren't taught about the evils of it. So they don't fear it. They don't have anti-Communism deep in their bones. So they can see the happy medium that just might be possible between fascism and socialism. They can visualize democracy. They don't fear stripping corporations of power and actually would prefer the government not be in bed with them. They aren't afraid of universal healthcare because they see that it makes sense. Many older ones of us can't see that it makes sense because we're afraid of what it could turn in to, or what it could portent. But it doesn't have to! And I think the next generation is finally in a place to teach us that. Maybe they can get us out of this mess of wars, too. They're not equating the terrorists with the commies. They're not interested in another cold (or hot) war, and they don't seem all that interested in defending our "honor" or "way of life." They can see the flaws in the American way of life and call us on it.

The young changed the world in the 60's. Let's let them do it again. I know I'm being way simplistic and overoptimistic here (but hey, I'm accused of being such a negative person on here, may as well go off the other end now & then). But if you could hear the desperation in my brother's voice when he calls me and begs for information to DO something...it's really touching. And he's connected - his generation is way networked. Which, funnily enough, is what Eddie is telling us at the moment is quite key to the future of the church. It was the key to the early church, too - Christians were out there in the marketplace and you couldn't not meet them. But they stayed friends with non-Christians and never retreated into a bubble (either a literal one or one of ideology and opinion). They couldn't have grown like they did (like rabbits, not pandas, as Gibbs put it today! He said we're the giant pandas ha ha) without networking and without taking advantage of their urban environment.

I guess you're doing the right thing, reading me here. :) And I'll keep writing for you. I wrote most of this during class today. So that's why you're not getting notes (sorry). I'll bet Eddie would be tickled to know his words are going up each day (almost). But anyway what I'm saying is let's keep networking, and keep telling each other about great films like The Corporation, and great websites like (you fill in the blank), and great churches like cota and All Saints, and great social movements like Sojourners and the Center for Action and Contemplation and their conference here in Pasadena. We are a community. It's real, not virtual. We exist. And we will change the world.