Category Archives: Theological perspectives

Eye for an eye

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Retributive justice and the Bible? The death penalty today or in the light of the cross is it totally abhorrent?

It is of course interesting to see how the principles of the OT play out in society, for the laws were not simply ‘moral’ laws but whole life laws for the structuring of life within a nation – albeit a theocratic nation. However, it is more interesting in this context when looking at the first murder case in history and the way it was dealt with that we do not find an eye for an eye being the principle of the punishment. This is pre-cross.

When Cain murders Abel God is the judge (Gen. 4). There is clear witness to the event, so there is no possibility of a mistaken identity scenario. The punishment is that he is to be banished from land and his own context but he does not lose his life. He (ironically) is afraid that he will become a possible murder victim. God protects him. He values the life of the one who did not value the life of his brother. There is something restorative, educational that is involved in the punishment.

God cannot do everything

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The old philosophical debates such as ‘can God make a four sided triangle’ might be a little teasing and even amusing but are not at all significant. They say all-but nothing about the character of God and are more over definitions surrounding language. However, more interesting are the questions such as ‘can God save someone against their will?’ That is a more theological question… but for me a more interesting discussion still is in response to ‘God doesn’t need us to do… as he can do it without us’ type of response. Now this one is tricky.

Sure we cannot do anything without him, but the flip side is can he do everything without us? Paul did not seem to think so – how will they hear without a preacher? was his rhetorical question. So at the very least we have to think that the norm is he will do it with us. Likewise Paul termed us ‘fellow-workers with Christ’. Partnership.

There are records of supernatural inbreakings of God’s revelation without any seeming human involvement. But given the nature of prayer and the lack of our knowledge we simply have retain the word ‘seeming’ there. However, perhaps we can go above the term ‘the norm’ in the preceding paragraph.

We must not give a conceptual omnipotence attribute to God. That is the substance of a Greek-dominated approach. All attributes have to be subject to his personality. Hence I suggest that God cannot do everything, but that statement has to be applied beyond the ‘four-sided triangle’ issue.

God is limited because he is God. A god of our making would not be limited (the famous approach of Anselm on the ‘ontological argument’ for the existence of God comes close to this). And I am not just pushing this to the ‘saving people against their will’, but to his God-committed partnership with humanity. This is what got us all in trouble in the first place, that gave the devil the scope he has. It left us – God and ‘us’ – with the kingdom of God not being expressed in the materially created realm as it was in heaven.

We are forever bound as partners. We can do nothing without him… however he cannot do everything without us. And I do not use the word ‘will not’ because omnipotence can only be defined by God-ness not by a dictionary.

Joining together

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I like how Jesus puts things together. Loose ends that only come together in him. I do not think that lone rangers who come in and do what needs to be done accomplish too much, but I am very open to those who are sent on a mission. I am open cos I have done that on different occasions, so I cannot speak negatively of anything I have and will continue to do!!

We have just finished in our readings the material on the 2 1/2 tribes that were given land east of the Jordan but were instructed that they had to cross over to help the other tribes. Moses was very strong with them and said if they did not do that they would be guilty of the same sin as their forefathers. (Now here’s a thought: sin being generationally relative. Provocative thought and one that I might well push further at some stage, as the activity of the forefathers and the potential activity of these tribes are not the same.) These tribes had to add their weight to the others for there to be a positive outcome.

So this then is how I see it. Those who live in an area have an authority in God because they live there. They can say ‘not on my watch and not in my house’. I am not talking success, but I am talking effectiveness. Success, as I have written before is related to what happens now and around me, effectiveness is much wider in scope, both in terms of time and in terms of outworking – that is the challenge of the book of Revelation as I understand it.

But when sent by God there are those who come in to stand alongside – not over – those who live in a place who will bring an authority simply because they have been sent. If sent they need to be received – this is why not everyone needs to be received. If sent, and received then Jesus comes. That seems quite a deal.

Just because they can come in with fresh eyes, not living under the place, they can often bring perspectives that are so perceptive. That does not mean they carry more authority. It simply means they have crossed over the river to help us. If they come as those sent by Jesus one of the hallmarks must be one of humility and willingness to wash the feet of those who live there.

In all of this I am coming full-circle. Authority is to do with how we live, how we obey, how we learn to submit to one another. It is about change, about prayer, about walking the land. It is about living in the in-between: in between heaven and earth, the past and the future, what is and what is to come.

A time shift

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Clocks go forward – in fact I am writing this blog a half hour into the new time. (I know you in the US and some other places got there before us, but we in the old world eventually get there.

I am also writing this in the early hours of Easter Sunday… on this day almost a couple of millennia ago and a few hours before this hour time was shifted forward dramatically. What an amazing faith faith in Jesus is. Centred in the resurrection, for if he was not raised then we ‘are still in our sins’. It was by the resurrection he is declared to be the son of God.

Time still moves on chronologically. But ‘old time’ is now fragile. So fragile that a number of saints back in the day received their resurrection way ahead of time (‘The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many’ – Matt. 27:52,53). Fragile as it cannot hold captive those who have been captive.

Decay is present but resurrection life is visible to those with eyes to see. Post-resurrection what is recorded for us are the appearances of Jesus. Acts records for us the prolonged time he spent teaching the disciples, but primarily we have records of his appearances. This is what resurrection opens for us – the possibility of appearances. Moments, short and long, when we see him. When we see the new time, when we are convinced that old time cannot hold us.

So happy Easter everyone, but beware your clock is not accurate.

OK you can help

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‘I live here, you don’t.’ So what does that look like? (The ‘I’ is whoever.)

1) I make a commitment and get some of the junk coming back on me
2) I take heart that Jesus does not let me leave because he is planting me as seed
3) There is something of a shift that begins – a measure of reverse flow
4) I realise I have authority… but

I live here so I really know what it is like to live here, but I live here so I slowly cease to realise what it is like to live here. A contradiction? No not at all. It is only possible to know what it is to live somewhere (and by ‘live’ I do not mean have a house and a bed, but to live as defined by the Last Adam not the first Adam – Cor. 15) by living there. The battles, the personality of the place, what goes on in the heavens etc. However, by living there we can forget what it is like to ‘live’ there. The atmosphere, culture begins to shape us rather than the other way round. That is inevitable, it is part of getting our feet dirty. It happens at the macro scale when my Christianity is shaped by national(-istic) cultural values and I subsume my faith to a cultural set of values. It happens at the micro, localised level when my expectations and experience are subject to what is around me.

So here I am the liberated person left in the region as the key to the future. But here I am the person who begins to lose true perspective. Help and dynamic help can come!

What still no mention of the lone-ranger role? Keep reading because in the next episode…

I live here, you don’t

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The previous post (I like that sounds pretty important: previously on West-Wing Martin Scott’s blog) I wrote about the effect of the two-way relationship, from the land to us and vice-versa. Now if commitment is part of what is needed to exercise authority where does that leave the lone-rangers who fly in, make the proclamations and leave again?

This one needs some unpacking… The story of the demoniac in the Gerasene area is a very provocative narrative. We have dialogue that seems to centre around land issues.

The demons ask not to be cast of that area
The people ask Jesus to leave that area
The liberated man asks to leave

Not all our questions are answered in the narrative, but Jesus’ response certainly is not predictable.

1) He does not seem to cast the demons out of the area.
2) He does not insist on staying when asked to leave.
3) He does not let the man leave.

My guess is I would be tempted to do the complete opposite – cast them out, refuse to leave (we’re back!!) and if I were to leave I certainly would not leave recently delivered convert to the snares that were present.

There seems to me to be a connection between the weak and insignificant and the strong. Jesus takes the foolish / the no-thing (the recently delivered man) to confound and bring down the powers – as represented both in the demonic stronghold and in the economically compromised driven leaders of that region.

So breakthrough begins with living in a place, weak, unsure but available. Oh and what about the lone-rangers. Well tomorrow we can look at that. (In the next episode of xxxxx Martin’s very wise words…)

So who gets what and from whom?

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I finished the previous blog reflecting on the need for a two-way relationship and had quoted scriptures concerning ‘marrying the land’. (I have very much appreciated reading Liz’s comment on the post too.)

So taking this further. Commitment engages us in the grime of where we are. We are meant to get grimey, hence the need for Jesus to wash the disciples’ feet. Dirty feet are not a problem, in fact they are a healthy sign, and we can afford to have dirty feet provided our hearts are clean through his word and we are willing to have our feet washed. (A reflection here – they probably get washed at times, or we refuse to have them washed, when Jesus shows up in unusual ways.)

If we make a commitment there will be a measure of damage that ensues!! What is in the land will begin to infiltrate us (not sure if this is the correct description). If there are particular vulnerabilities within us we will find unhelpful resonances and we will be pulled down.

Now the good news is this is not bad just difficult. We have to push through so that the flow begins to reverse.

Cleansing of our area might be our focus but as we do that we will find that the cleansing has to take place in us first. This does not mean we focus inwardly until we are ‘clean’. No the way God has it is we focus outward calling for the land to be cleansed but as we do we will soon discover that we also need cleansing. The discovery of that will mark some of the shifts.

Making a commitment

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in these posts, starting yesterday, I am exploring perspectives on ‘authority’ with respect to transformation of our environment through the influence of the Presence of Christ. Scripture is full of references to the relationship between ‘land’ and people. There are over 1200 references to land in Scripture an the primary contrast / comparison is not between heaven and hell but between heaven and earth. If movement is from heaven to earth in Scripture true spirituality has to be very earthy.

Location then is important. This can outwork as ‘land’ physical, or land as spheres of society. Our choice of location then is not simply a personal preference issue but a discipleship question. In Isaiah 62:4,5 we read:

You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married.
For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

Strong words, and as always, speaking of the land as the recipient of a response from heaven and from people. Land is personalised. We do not need to push this beyond Scripture to a New Age ‘all is divine’ perspective but neither should we pull back and devalue the material creation. Scripture treats land as personal and invites us to relate to land as if it were personal.

Marriage is a strong term to use as far as our relationship to land is concerned, and there does not seem to be evidence of a relationship to the land that requires a permanent ’till death us do part’ vow to be taken, but the use of this language certainly speaks strongly of a level of commitment.

I know when I am making an inroad to a situation, it is when I am able to talk to the place and have a conversation in the sense that the place begins to communicate back about its history, experience and desires. There is a revelation of who it /she /he is. Like all relationships that has to develop and what is communicated is not always the whole truth.

The first time I ever realised I was connecting with land was some 22 years ago. I received a prophetic word about a geographical move, it seemed so imminent, almost immediately. The next morning I was up and out by 6.00am. I walked the perimeter of where I was living and can remember at one point on the walk speaking to the place, saying I was going to leave, but not to be concerned, others would come who would care for the place. I had never said that before but it seemed the right thing to do and say.

It is very good for me to write these things as these opening months here have been very challenging at the spiritual level of finding a true resonance that is necessary in a two-way relationship.

Exercise or be exorcised?

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All authority in heaven and earth is given to me… go…

Pretty strong words, and of course they do not carry the meaning of authority ‘over’ people in terms of making them comply. However, they do carry with them the sense of authority over spiritual powers (whether we demythologise them or not a la Wink).

Authority is distributed not localised in one person or place and diverse authorities are inter-dependent, however my focus for this blog here is with regard to the exercise of spiritual authority for change. Good news – his authority is absolute (‘all’) and under his instruction it is exercised by his followers. This raises a question (possible ‘bad news’) as to what have we done / are we going to do with what has been given?

If authority is simply speaking with a loud voice surely there has been enough of that to change the Universe a few times over. Scriptures such as: ‘If you say to this mountain…’ and ‘if two of you are agreed…’ have been quoted enough times and then implemented with some bold (stupid) declarations to change everything around us. I have certainly made a few in my time and hope I will continue to make a few more!! However, the resultant change has not been as great as we would have wanted.

Jesus had and has authority. His words carry authority because he carries authority. So maybe there is a gap between who we are and what we say? I remember being hit by the words (from the evil spirit) in Acts 19:15:

Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?

Three distinct levels. And it is vital that we move from the last to the middle category. My guess is that takes place when the reality gap is closed. So far pretty clear? To take it though one step further and come back to the issue of ‘what have we done / going to do’ with the authority that he has restored. What if…

What if the body of Christ has an authority, even if it is impaired because of the integrity gap, and that authority is more intrinsically related to life (who we are) than speech (what we say/ declare/ pray). What then if we devalue / dehumanise the lives of others… and at the same time take a strong stance against abortion on demand? Are the two related? I certainly think so.

Maybe the positive use of authority does not begin with what we ‘bind’ (restrict) but what we ‘loose’. If I do not loose joy, life, generosity can I really bind death, robbery and violence? Can I really bind witchcraft and occult power while being power-focused and controlling? If I do not see my neighbour (local and global, national and trans-national) as my friend, but can categorise them as a ‘them’ and not an ‘us’ what shift will I make to the issue of the life of the unborn?

I am sure we have released what we should not have released while at the same time we have thought we were binding what needed binding.

The opportunity to bring about change through prayer, apostolic declarations and prophetic intercession is immense. Yet the very real possibility of continuing to release compounded problems through not considering what the effects of what we are sowing while ‘exercising our authority’ remains.

My thoughts are I need to be slower to ‘exercise my authority’ and quicker to have his pure authority, that came his way through the cross, exorcise my life.

To sit or not, that is the question

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Well not really the question, but as a follow on from yesterday’s blog it might be the question for today. Kings / kingship / hierarchical positions all have to be questioned in the light of how God is sovereign, of how he rules. Pentecost, as first-fruits, and eschatology as consummation throw a stark question to us as to how we understand leadership. Of course there are straight-forward elements of authority that are based on task and gift-set. Those though seem to me to be largely situational not institutional, or in theological language, charismatic not office-based.

The discussion seems to me to centre around the rightness to occupy a seat in order to empty it out. The argument for occupying seems to be mainly made on the grounds of pragmatics. The top 3% influence and shape the culture and we need to be in that top 3%. Get to the top and then we will have good that results. A few days ago I mentioned Joseph in the blog. He made it to the top, through the favour of God and more than his fair share of tribulation, but was he ultimately free of the Egyptian ways?

The strong argument in not occupying the seat is that Jesus himself did not seem to go that route. He did not occupy a central seat among the rabbis and then influence the theology and practice within Judaism. His initial interaction with the Temple as a twelve year old boy did not pave the way for a Temple career but rather a Temple clash!

I recall being in a conference when a bishop was present and also an author from an Anabaptist background. Inevitably the discussion came round to Constantine, Christendom and bishops in the house of lords. The bishop had an articulate voice for justice and godliness in the public arena of influence, and asked if the Anabaptist was serious about him leaving that position. ‘Absolutely as it is not possible to stand for justice when the ground that we are occupying is unjust!’, was the tone of the reply.

I have sympathies with that retort. Maybe because I do not have that level of influence (not one of the 3%), I do not want the level of tribulation to get to that level, or I do not trust myself… or maybe I think there is a Jesus-way through it all that is not ‘get to the top and change everything’.

But… and there is so often a but. But, how do we engage with a fallen world where also the seats and the uses of authority are also perverted? Fallen is such a good word. Fallen is not evil. Fallen implies a mixture. In that context I do believe it is possible to engage, to be one of the 3% (can barely believe I have written that!!) and work for change.

Here would be my two cents worth of advice:

  • am I free of the love of power
  • am I deriving my values and status from the seat I am occupying
  • am I able to act and make choices that are redemptive – even when I cannot make a perfect choice
  • am I able to walk away from this
  • am I genuinely able to sit in the seat missionally
  • am I able to bring redefinition to the understanding of power and authority

Those kind of questions are not simply for the ‘kings’ and the ’3%’ but for all of us. The danger though of being polluted and thereby polluting others when occupying a seat of power is that more likely.

So in a fallen world it is possible to sit, but it is certainly not necessary, to sit in those seats to change things. And for those who do it is probably essential that we have our feet washed over and over again by the true Lord who is among us.

Perhaps to a greater extent we should be focused on learning how to be effective (and if necessary effective failures) so that we can see the changes we long for. The class for that course I suspect is not one we graduate from quickly.

Kings and their kind

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We have just returned from the UK… a long 15 hour journey home: a car ride, a train, a plane, a bus, a train, a taxi. Key in door and bed!! Loved our time away. I was with friends in the Black Country with a particular focus on the social enterprise work there. Inspiring. Also had time to catch up with Sam Miller and Justin Abraham. Then Gayle and I were both able to spend a weekend at Silverdale, home / friary for Roger and Sue Mitchell. If you have not linked to Roger’s blog it is so worthwhile. Check it out. Kenarchy is the theme and keep an eye out for a forthcoming book on the fall of the church. Our time there is always stimulating. So this is a spin off from it… discussion about filling a seat and then emptying it out.

Let me try and explain the above short phrase. Jesus model of leadership was leadership by example, by servanthood. He critiqued the model of hierarchy saying that was the model for the ‘lords of the Gentiles’, saying that was not to be the way among his followers, and that he himself was ‘one among them’. He demonstrated this in the extreme through the washing of the disciples’ feet, a task that was beneath that of a Hebrew slave to perform. And of course further demonstrated it through the cross.

So positions of authority can be problematic when they perpetuate inequalities, marginalisation and oppression. (Of course in a wider discussion on authority there is the need to look at the exercise of right authority based on functional issues such as task and gift-set within a given context – I am simply looking at positions that are inherently problematic.)

So before looking at occupying to empty or not (tomorrow) there is a piece I want to clarify. Israel rejects God as king, choosing to have an earthly king ‘as the other nations’ did. Kingship is not in the mind of God for us (nor was priesthood a godly institution). I want to push this one step further though. What kind of king is God? It is true that Israel susbtituted Saul / David / Solomon et al. for God. But there is something more going on that is important and we should not miss it.

Step 1: Substitute human king for God
Step 2: human king is as a king of one of the nations
Step 3: we now have a picture of what a king is – some good some bad
Step 4: God is the same as a good king (only better).

This final step is the challenge. We now have a grid to understand how God is king. WRONG!!! Barth: ‘You cannot say ‘God’ by saying ‘man’ with a loud voice’ comes to mind (sorry about the non-pc terminology in his quote). So we cannot understand kingship that way round, ending up with a sovereign God over us all (which is of course true, but it misses how he is king).

Eschatology is vital and necessary. How things will be is what is to shape us now. We are to live in and from a new creation. In that new creation we do not find a centre. There is no Temple in the city, there is not even a centralised throne – the life of the Lamb and of the Lord God are throughout the city. A radical distribution of Presence – the fulfilment of Pentecost which is the Feast of Firstfruits.

Now all of this Roger has elaborated on in a much more eloquent way in his writings on kenarchy.

God is Sovereign, he is king; but our imagery of king and sovereignty are deeply flawed.

This is an element that has to be born in mind. God does not occupy the throne of king and empty it out in love. He is king among us. He was not sovereign and then decided to pour that out in love. He is love.

The Traveller’s Rest- Penultimate.

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The Journey…

Three years ago I was e-mailed by Martin about guest blogging on here about my journey for a few weeks and then maybe a few other aspects and prophetic things. I do not know whether I ever left the journey part and moved on to the other aspects or prophetic things, the few weeks of journey have turned into a few years and I cannot see that part ever coming to a finishing point. Those other parts are integrated into the story without a moving on from the journey itself. Whatever the journey has been written, recorded, read, replied to, enjoyed, endured, enlightened, puzzled, brought peace and discomfort all in equal measure. I could never have envisaged where it was going or the ebbs and the flows because it is literally walking in the dark (or is that towards the Light so I am dazzled by the brightness?) in places where I have never been before. The experience of the experiment. A roller-coaster ride that seems to have no stopping point. Those tentative steps have been recorded in all their glory, along with the trips and falls. A life lived in the margins and yet out there in the open for all to read. I have never felt so vulnerable and yet so safe. I have never felt so accountable and yet so free. What a ride!!! I am just so grateful to Martin for having the courage to invite me to blog on his site. Although I consider Martin a Spiritual Father to myself personally and to this land called Wales we have sadly had very little time in each others company. A relationship born out of the Sowing Seeds prayer weeks where something just resonated and clicked. A visit that I will always say began my ruin and yet began my restoration. To invite me to blog was therefore an amazing surprise and an incredible privilege. The invitation came at my lowest point and was in a way a lifeline. A hand pulling up out of the water in which I was drowning in. The dark night of the soul. Still floundering around in lack of identity, rejection, hurt, doubt, fear, isolation. Into that confused world came this e-mail, which I think became like ointment poured forth and therapy to my mind and soul. That my journey was okay. My questions were fine. My walking outside the walls was not a walk of the lost but a walk of discovery. Given freedom to say or write anything in a safe place and yet knowing that mutual love and care would look out for me. I cannot say that I made it through to anywhere but I have found a love and acceptance of where I am. I can live in the place of no answers. I can loiter in the margins. I can enjoy the journey and not have to worry about destinations. Without this outlet I do not know how the journey would have unfolded but I thank God for that invitation three years ago. Martin I honour and love you. It is a joy to walk with you.

Connected in disconnection.

Through this blog I have discovered many others on a journey. Not all making the same decisions, not all leaving the church per se, but on a journey to see God redeem something. Many others feeling isolation and yet finding some form of connection through the story. The relief to some that someone else is out there and saying it is okay. God’s in the wild walk outside the walls. I thank God for connections made. Some so far remain in words on here or as Facebook friends. Others I have had the privilege of meeting as I have journeyed to Sweden, Cramlington, Latvia and Romford. Relationships forged through the dismantling of lives and churches. Friends of a deep, deep level. In all my years of being a Christian I have never had such relationships of reality. People that you can truly be real and honest with without trying to be a church superstar. I thank God that I have these people in my life and I am believing for so many more. What I lack here in my own locality, as many believers think I have lost the plot, I have gained in so many more  ways. I may be on my own but I very rarely feel alone anymore. Dreams have been lived, especially my dream to one day stand in Scandinavia, and I thank Maria and Torbjorn who have made that possible, and the clan in Cramlington who were the first to invite this journey man to share his story, which led to the rekindling of a dream as I looked over the north sea. People who accuse me of not being part of the Body or not being in fellowship or not being connected know nothing of the story. There is so much connection in this place of disconnection, yet connected not through what we do but through the Spirit of adventure, journey, pain, rejection, reality, the blank canvas. The community of the marginalised is so much larger than we all realise. I love my family.

Out of the Shadow.

So why all these meandering thoughts, as one of my friends recently called them (bless you Mark). I have felt for a while that I needed to step out of Martin’s shadow on his blog page. Those few weeks have lasted three years, and I could keep on recorded my journey here, but it is all about making space and stepping out into the big wide world without the apron strings. I want to make space for others to record their journey on Martin’s page so they too can experience the privilege and space that I did. I know he would never say it or even think it but I do not want to out stay my welcome, and it is all part of growing up into what God has for me. I am not the greatest computer literate man but from the first week in February the journey will continue on my own attempt at a blog page. It may not have too many pretty pictures and intricate designs but it will be the story continued, ever ebbing and ever flowing. Would love for you to continue to join me if you so desire. I will put the details and link in next weeks final blog on this page. I too want to give space to others to share something of their journey. I want it to be a place of community as well as a place of thought, journey, ideas from my own journey. I do not have too many plans because I want it to take a shape all of its own. I know this move will reduce my readership in some ways, but for me the journey was never about numbers but about God and people, especially those who find connection in some way. I am at the same time nervous and excited. The blank canvas is there to be written on with invisible ink, never held onto too tightly. A shape-shifting world where God is the source of all that is both constant and flowing. To those of you who will leave the journey here thank you for reading and bless you in your own journey. To those who will take a peak the journey continues and will be blogged as each tentative footstep is taken. So to the final chapter here next week and then the ongoing journey.