Regarding Humanity…

Beggars Table is currently wrestling with Deitrich Bonhoeffer’s ideas and theology surrounding the condition of being human.  I truly appreciate our Sunday conversations!  As we navigate through the idea that God’s desire for us is to be fully human – as Jesus is fully human – I am reminded of how strongly we need a thorough and grounded theology of creation.  

Many of us have become so accustomed to looking at humanity through a lens of degradation and brokenness that we often insinuate, whether we mean to or not, that God’s creation somehow wasn’t good enough or complete in and of itself.  If you listen closely, many well intentioned Christians subtly suggest that Jesus Christ saves us from humanity.  What an uncomfortable and unstable position for people who adhere to an orthodox faith that boldly proclaims Jesus Christ is fully human (as well as fully divine).   

We have to realize that God wants us to be exactly what he created – no more, no less.  This involves, among other things, believing God when he asserts that his creation is good.  Make no mistake – the Holy Spirit is not a foreign entity to the human condition.  Genesis reveals that part of being created human is to be in intimate relationship with God.  Sin, rather, is the foreign entity that invades humanity and distorts it from its original intention and design.      

Sin is antihuman – it works against God’s intention in creation.  Jesus and the Holy Spirit aid us in reclaiming our humanity.  

“We are called to be human as Jesus Christ is human, we are not to deny our humanity but to live in the world as whole people, as human beings.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Church is People…

A provocative quote from Belfast pastor of Ikon, Peter Rollins.  What do you think?

“Paradoxically, I say, Ikon doesn’t care about you. Ikon doesn’t give a crap if you are going through a divorce. The only person who cares is the person sitting beside you, and if that person doesn’t care, you’re stuffed. People will say, ‘I left the church because they didn’t phone me when my dad died, and that was really hurtful.’ But the problem is not that the church didn’t phone but that it promised to phone. I say, ‘Ikon ain’t ever gonna phone ya.’ Pete Rollins might. But if he does, it will be as Pete Rollins and not as a representative of Ikon. Ikon will never notice if you don’t come. But if you’ve made a connection with the person sitting next to you, that person might.
Ikon is like the people who run a pub. It’s not their responsibility to help the patrons become friends. But they create a space in which people can actually encounter each other.”

I feel Farrah’s loss more…

Is it just me or does it seem like Farrah’s death is somewhat lost in the media buzz surrounding Michael Jackson? I realize Michael is the “King of Pop” (whatever that means), but I feel inclined to publicly state that between the two of them, Farrah Fawcett meant much more to me.  I never liked Michael Jackson as an artist.  That’s a huge statement considering I was in high school when the Thriller video was first released.  I can honestly state, however, that I always considered Michael a bit cheezy, and his music always reminded me more of show tunes than anything resembling rock & roll.

Farrah, however…

I remember telling the kids in my Indian Creek Elementary School cafeteria that Farrah Fawcett and Lee Majors bought a house in my neighborhood – it was the closest form of intimacy my pre-puberty imagination would allow me to have with her.  From posters on my 6th grade wall to anticipating new episodes of Charlie’s Angels, Farrah Fawcett played a significant – if minor – role in shaping my adolescent self…for better or worse.