Why I Love Dallas Willard

 

 ”Life is primarily devoted to work.  All legitimate work is devoted to the creation of value, of what is good to a lesser or greater degree.  That was God’s plan.  He not only creates; he creates creators – you and me.  One of the saddest things in human life is the desecration of work in a loveless world.  Discipleship to Jesus, properly guided by pastors, enables individuals to find in their work a divine calling and see the hand of God in their efforts to create what is good and to serve others in love.”  

 

 

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.”

Continuing the Conversation

What a posture our faith places us in!  We recognize the reality of evil, and we don’t deny the presence of suffering, grief, and pain.  Yet we are also a people characterized by hope.  Sunday we reflected on the question, where does this hope come from?  The answer to this question is the core of the Easter message…

Contrary to Western Enlightenment thinking, our hope does not lie in the “Myth of Progress”.  We aren’t hopeful because we believe in humanity’s power to achieve and move the human experience forward.

Our hope also does not lie in Platonic dualism.  In other words, we aren’t hopeful because Jesus Christ has promised to simply save us from this evil world.  We don’t cling to a doctrine of “escapism”.  

Our hope lies in the resurrection of Jesus.  We believe and hope that God will do for us and all creation what he did for Jesus on Easter morning – make a whole new creation.

Continuing the Conversation

I love discussions about the conscience.  I find them to be amazingly provocative, and I believe the conscience is perhaps the most revealing issue pertaining to human nature, God, and morality.  I am thankful for Paul revealing the very difficult yet truthful reality that all communities are comprised of different consciences.  As I’ve shared the last two weeks, I am continually challenged by the idea that the primary task of the church is not to bring everyone’s conscience into conformity, but, rather, to practice humility by learning how to be aware of and serve each others conscience as we promote a healthy conscience individually and communally.  Convicting indeed.

May our community be marked by a seamlesssness between our knowing and our doing.  Amen.

Continuing the Conversation

This Sunday we tried to view Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 7 through the lens of a first century “feminist”.  The overall goal was to authentically place ourselves within the social context of the Corinthian church in an effort to explore if there is a way to read Paul’s instructions regarding marriage and sexuality in a manner that doesn’t come across as derogatory regarding the institution as it may sound to contemporary ears.  

A closer examination of the first century church truly reveals a community that seriously and effectively redeemed the status of women and the idea of what marriage can and ought to be.  The underlying theme I walked away with is that virtuous living works and is, thereby, life affirming, contagious, healthy, and sustaining.

Continuing the Conversation

 Sunday we hosted a conversation regarding church discipline and wrestled with the tension involved in walking in two worlds yet being formed and shaped by only one.  This eventually led to the topic of accountability and the whole issue of accountability partners.  

I’ve often wondered if “accountability” is the best metaphor for our intentional relationships.  As noted Sunday, according to Websters on-line, accountability is “The system of recording and summarizing business and financial transactions and analyzing, verifying, and reporting the results.”  Although this works well in the business world, does it really translate to human relationships?  Are we not cultivating a climate that expects and looks for failure?  Is there another way to envision how we intentionally relate to one another?  

I love Joseph Meyer’s suggestion in his book Organic Community that we consider the metaphor of editing rather than accounting.  Think about it – while accountants look for problems to correct (a rather dehumanizing way to approach life), editors “help an author (person) toward richer communication – a rich, full voice that is free of encumbrances.  Accountants keep records.  Editors wipe away errors while keeping the voice of the author.”

Continuing the Conversation

Sunday we spoke further on Paul’s message of life in God’s Kingdom.  As he juxtaposes the way of the Cross to the way of the World he continually emphasizes the difference between humility and pride.  Among other things, we asked the question, “what does the prideful church look like?”  This is a worthy conversation.    

I have become intrigued by Paul’s metaphor in 1 Corinthians 5 of a “flat bread” church/a church without yeast to “puff it up.”  What would the “flat bread” church look like?  How would the “flat bread” church market itself?  

Here are some suggestions from our conversation Sunday:

• The flat bread church wouldn’t pretend to have the corner on truth.  Rather, it would be a student of truth.
• The flat bread church would face hard issues rather than bury its head.
• The flat bread church would be experts at getting along and not breaking fellowship in the name of individual preferences and opinions.
• The flat bread church recognizes the myth of universal agreement.  The key to their unity is humility – not agreement.

Here are some thoughts I had upon engaging in discussion with folks afterwards:

• We do need to move things forward and engage our communities, but there are ways to do that which foster agreement and unity rather than gossip and discord.  It’s not easy, but changing allegiances from one realm to the other is not an easy thing.
• We must remember that Paul’s instructions on humility are specifically directed to the church.  There is a standard God’s church is to live up to that is simply not possible in the broader world community.  
• One intuitively senses from Paul’s writing that there are differences between issues which call for humility and submission in the name of not breaking fellowship (i.e. covering women’s heads for worship) and issues that are immoral and need to be confronted (slavery).  Although it’s tempting to suggest these issues reveal themselves by simply using common sense, it must be admitted that in today’s society the church is often divided about which issues are tolerable and which need to be confronted (homosexuality).

Continuing the Conversation

Sunday we discussed the issue of pride in the church and how it contributes to division and factions. Paul’s consistent answer to this in 1 Corinthians is to learn to live in the way of “Christ Crucified”.  Living as Christ Crucified…hmmm…..  

As I wrestled with this topic all week I kept coming back to the question, “why do people leave churches (to find better churches/churches that fit them, etc.)?”  Although in our culture of choice and freedom we take it for granted that it’s virtuous to exercise our rights of choice whenever we see fit, I couldn’t help wondering if this pattern of living resembles American individualistic consumption more than “Christ Crucified”.  

The phrase “Christ Crucified” implies (to me at least) a way of life that involves difficulty, submission, humility, and perhaps even some suffering.  Yet if it’s through the church that we learn to live into this kind of life, is there not a tension inherent in the idea that we shop for churches that “fit” us the same way we shop for clothes?  

I certainly would never want to imply a static “rule” that it’s always wrong to change churches.  I just think we could benefit from taking the issue of Christ Crucified seriously as we look at various ways pride (the elevation of self at the expense of community/looking to one’s own interests before the interests of others) effects the church experience in our lives and culture.

Humility and Unity

Reflecting on our conversation Sunday at Beggars Table I can’t help being amazed at Paul’s insight into human nature.  If you’re dealing with a community that’s falling apart at the edges; becoming unglued due to outside pressures and circumstances, how do you deal with it?  What steps do you take to bring about unity once again?  

We really don’t have to look much further than our own family life, church life, or the Sports section of the newspaper for possible answers.  Unfortunately in my family I often take the position that saying the same things only louder will bring about unity.  Churches too often seem to think that if they just say the same things it will bring about unity.  Looking at the Royals and Chiefs – two franchises that know about pain – it seems like replacing personal is the answer.  Don’t you sense a renewed spirit of unity within the Chief’s fan-base as a result of firing Carl Peterson?

Paul knows that these things don’t ultimately work.  They don’t cut to the core of what’s needed for any kind of community to function.  He bypasses all these “easy” answers and “quick fixes”.  Instead he introduces the concept of humility.  Want to be a united and healthy community even in the face of trials?  Learn to do these things: Set aside your own ambitions, consider others before you consider yourself, and consider others interests before your own.  

The only drawback to this amazing insight.  It’s not easy.  I confess that after being a Christian for most of my life, I really don’t know how to do what Paul suggests…