La autoridad

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Entre el 25 de marzo y 01 de abril publiqué 6 blogs sobre el tema de la autoridad y el ejercicio de la misma con respecto al territorio. Aquí hay un resumen en español.

Esta afirmación de Jesús es increíble:

Todo la autoridad en el cielo y en la tierra ha sido dada a mí … id…

Esa autoridad no es una autoridad para controler otras personas. No nos la ha dado para tomar autoridad sobre el pueblo, sino a dar nuestra vida por otros.

  • Es una autoridad que tiene una relación a nuestra vida, no principalmente una relación a lo que decimos, o a lo que mandamos en alta voz.
  • Puedo tomar autoridad sobre cosas malas pero si las semillas de esas cosas están en mí, entonces tenemos una autoridad que significa que estamos sembrando las semillas en la tierra: cuando sembramos habrá una cosecha.
  • Cuando hay un espacio de integridad entre lo que decimos y lo que somos, tenemos problemas. Así, por ejemplo, cada vez que redefino el matrimonio con respecto a mis actitudes y comportamientos, estoy sembrando semillas de la redefinición del matrimonio en la tierra. Cada vez que se puede demonizar a las personas y tener un punto de vista que son mis enemigos, también estoy sembrando semillas que pondrá en peligro a los no todavía nacidos en la tierra.

El nivel de autoridad tiene un conexión con mi compromiso a la tierra: “para casarse con la tierra”.

  • Cuando lo hacemos, habrá un intercambio – también vamos a heredar la tierra, vamos a sufrir. No vivimos por encima de la tierra.
  • Sin embargo, cuando vivimos en un lugar con compromiso tenemos una autoridad.
  • Podríamos leer con esto en la historia del endemoniado gadareno … tenemos algunos diálogos grabado allí:
    • Los demonios no piden ser echado de esa área
    • Las personas piden a Jesús que dejar esa área
    • El hombre liberado pide abandonar esa lugar

    No todas las preguntas son respondidas en la narración, pero la respuesta de Jesús ciertamente no es predecible.

    • 1) No parece que Jesús echó a los demonios fuera del área.
    • 2) Él no insiste en quedarse cuando le preguntaron a salir.
    • 3) No se deja salir el hombre.

    Él (el hombre) debe permanecer porque – como un hombre libre – tiene las llaves de la libertad de la zona.

  • Sin embargo, hay un dilema. Vivir en un lugar es necesario para tener la autoridad, sino cuando vivimos allí no podemos llegar a ser inmune a lo que se siente al vivir allí. Suponemos que lo que es ‘normal’ es de hecho normal.
  • Por eso es necesario que podríamos recibir a los que venir para ayudarnos del exterior.
  • Esas personas cuando se envían por Dios vienen a estar al lado – no más – los que viven en un lugar. Traen una autoridad simplemente porque han sido enviados.
  • Si se han enviado tienen que ser recibidos – es por eso que no tenemos que recibir a todo el mundo. Si se envían y reciben entonces Jesús viene. Eso parece un buen trato.
  • Ellos pueden venir con unos puntos de vista nuevos. No estaban viviendo bajo el lugar, por lo que a menudo pueden tener perspectivas que no teníamos antes.
  • Eso no significa que tienen más autoridad. Significa, simplemente, que han cruzado el ‘río’ para ayudarnos. Si vienen como los enviados por Jesús, uno de los aspectos de su identidad debe ser una de humildad y disposición a lavar los pies de los que viven allí.

En todo esto, yo vengo de círculo completo. Autoridad tiene que ver con cómo vivimos, cómo nosotros obedecemos, cómo aprendemos a someternos unos a otros. Se trata de un cambio, de la oración, de caminar la tierra. Se trata de vivir en el intermedio: entre el cielo y la tierra, el pasado y el futuro, lo que es y lo que está por venir.

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.

Two Books that have Found Me

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Occasionally books turn up that are a message I need to hear. In some cases they may have been books written years ago, long ago read and benefited from by friends and even recommended to me. I may have bought it and had it sitting on a shelf or in a pile by the side of my bed for years, probably because it was a good idea but I was not yet ready for the message.

At other times I just see a book, or hear of it somehow, and just know I must get it now, and drop everything else to read it. They are often life-changing. It was like that with ‘The Shack’, and Richard Rohr’s ‘The Enneagram’ and Brennan Manning’s ‘Ragamuffin Gospel’. You’ve probably got your own list. Some people read in the hope of solving problems in their world, I mostly read to solve problems in myself – in the hope that if I can make progress the world around me will enjoy it and respond. I think both orientations are valid.

I’m not a prolific reader. Each book feels like quite an investment of time and mental energy so I have to choose carefully. Maybe what I subconsciously do is let the books find me. That’s just preamble however. What I mean to say is I’ve had one book of each type find me this last month.

The first was Tom Wright’s ‘Surprised by Hope’, which has been on my shelf for a couple of years. The second is ‘Immortal Diamond’ by Richard Rohr, which leapt off Blackwell’s shelf. They both approach the subject (for me revelatory at present) of resurrection, but from different directions. Tom’s from rigorous scriptural argument and Richard’s from a contemplative and mystical angle. Two books, for me, in harmony; witnessing the same thing.

From Tom’s point of view, resurrection has been a lost truth who’s absence from our consciousness has led to diminished thinking and living on the part of Christians. The book actually did for me what it said on the cover, it restored hope in a surprising way.

The little piece of revelation that broke through to me this morning was that because of the hope of resurrection, it is O.K. for things to be begun in this age that will not be finished by us, or even by anyone. It is O.K. to be unrewarded and unknown in this age. And I don’t mean sadly and self-sacrificially accepted, but really, joyfully, O.K. I can be confident that all I endeavour by faith in Christ will finally be completed, fulfilled and perfected in the really real resurrection age. Nothing that was by faith that dies and goes into the ground will remain there forever. Nothing is lost, nothing is wasted. I no longer need to define success in any terms I’ve learned so far.

There are also promises and dreams I’ve lived with and not yet seen. At times I’ve imagined they were expiring, but now not so. Time is not what I thought it was, neither is a lifetime. Weariness and discouragement can fall away in the light of such truths.

On the cliff at Dodman Point in Cornwall there stands a large stone cross first erected in 1896, with a plaque laid at its base. At first sight one thinks, ‘War Memorial’, but in fact it’s a ‘navigational aid’. The plaque says something like this…”In the sure hope of the soon coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the resurrection from the dead, and for the encouragement of those who live by faith…this cross is erected.” The first time I saw this cross there was a sense of past and future opening up and being reconciled in the present, at a geographical point, and me standing there. I think the truth that Tom reminds us of does the same.

So the second angle, one that I find contemplatives such as Richard help me with, and which makes increasing sense to me combined with the first perspective begins with a question:

How much participation in the resurrection age is available to me to experience now, and how, really, experientially might it be accessed? Though for the moment it is always held in paradoxical tension with incompleteness, it surely has to be experiential and not just knowledge.

In the resurrected, restored, heaven-and-earth-reunited age there is an essential element of me that will be there, recognisable but different. We can only try to imagine, but like Jesus as the gardener or the fellow traveller on the road to Emmaus, who ‘I’ will be then is the ‘me’ who I am now, only more so; minus the temporary hiddenness and restrictedness. Mystics and contemplatives have told us there is a ‘True Self’ discoverable amidst the temporary clutter of fallen-ness and conditioning, and found that the quest to perceive and honour the immortal diamond; the Divine Image we are created in, involved dying. This process they wisely called ‘life’, and the art was waking up from the trance and paying attention to ‘life’.

On waking up they discovered there was a choice needed to invest our identity in that which continues, which is eternal, and disinvest our identity from that which must fall away. Not disinvesting from the physical body (that problem will be solved by a simple upgrade at some point), but the constructed, conditioned, inadequate ego identity that is the ‘me’ that cannot survive the glory that is my destiny. It is the part that dies continually by being let go of, and the part that as it dies, really feels like death. In Christian teaching I think this is what we call ‘Living by the Spirit’, only that has been seldom earthed.

The mystics and contemplatives (of which Paul must have been one) just had more courage than most to explore the experience to the limits to find out what was there. To let go means falling, to fall means entering the abyss, in the abyss is the dragon, but dragons hoard stolen treasure. By the time we encounter the dragon, however, we have already ‘died’ so it has no power over us. So we plunder, reclaim our lost treasure and more besides and we return with gifts. Is this what ‘I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live’ means?

They encourage us to believe that we can co-operate with the letting go now and as we do so experience more of who we will be, which is not a stranger to us, but is who we really are. They tell us the falling is actually how we get caught and held – the way we’ve longed for all our lives.

Richard encourages me and reveals the meaning of all my experiences in the light of resurrection starting and still to come.

Taking the two together; the sharp perceptions of the intellectual thinkers and the courage and sensitivity of the mystics seem to me to be pointing the same way. The great fulfilment of which resurrection is part is getting nearer and clearer, and it is more worth living fully than ever before.

Not so simple

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Some 16 years ago I wrote a paper on the issue of the biblical material and homosexuality. In it I tried to look honestly at the biblical material. Having previously written on gender equality and Scripture, so for example, ‘I forbid a woman to teach and have authority over a man’ I maintained had no relevance to the issue, I was asked why the same did not apply to the issue of homosexuality. My response was that there was a key issue of what can be termed the ‘intra-canonical dialogue’. Let me explain.

With slavery there were many pro-slavery evangelicals who appealed to the authority of Scripture, but, amidst a slavery culture, there were some/enough Scriptures that clearly pointed in a different direction. And in the case of women within a patriarchal society (and a patriarchal-biased book) there was a phenomenal pull in an egalitarian direction. But in the case of homosexuality that there was not this intra-canonical dialogue.

Another aspect that needs a lot of unpacking (and qualification) was that the boundary for sexual activity was marriage and that marriage was between a woman and a man.

At the same time I wrote that original paper I was asked what would convince me to take a view that differed from the perspective that I was outlining. My response was that if there was a community that embraced same-sex activity, yet espoused biblical beliefs and gave clear evidence that the fruit of the Spirit was being manifested among them, then I might have to reconsider. That fruit would need to be clearly manifested (and not just through some claim to manifest ‘love’) and it would need to be maintained over a period of time – then we might have to consider that the Holy Spirit had ‘cleansed their hearts through faith’. (Now in applying this test I realise that if we were to apply it to some heterosexual Christian communities they might fail the test.)

In my response I was thinking of the first-century response to the Gentiles. The apostolic community was immersed in the biblical narrative but their primary question was ‘what do we perceive the Holy Spirit is doing’ which then pushed them to interpret and re-interpret the Scriptures.

Over the years I have had some wonderful dialogue with people of same-sex orientation. Men with a sensitivity and awareness of who they are – and an empathy with others – that is so often lacking in many hetero-sexual males. Without a doubt Jesus-like qualities.

I have also been very challenged when reading the Gospels. I am sure that Jesus would not be popular in church-circles because he would hang out with the ‘wrong’ people… and that would include the gay community.

Is there healing for our sexuality? Sure but what do we mean by that. My identity is who I am, part of my identity is my sexuality, and part of my sexuality is my orientation amongst other elements. First and foremost I am not defined according to my orientation. We do not introduce ourselves as ‘Hi I am xxx, I am hetero-/homo-sexually oriented.’ Our identity is in who we are, our personhood. Part of our healing is to realise that our sexuality does not define us.

There is nothing intrinsically more holy about being hetero-sexual in orientation than being homo-sexually oriented. Orientation – and I think most believers are clear on this – is not an issue. What remains is how I express my sexuality.

Having recently read, and reviewed, God’s Gay Agenda, I would gladly say to anyone ‘read this book with an open mind’. I have no doubt that the author and the community she represents are committed to Scripture and that there is no objective reason to say the Holy Spirit is not present with them. Indeed, and I thought rather ironically at that, when the author was at a low point in her spiritual life she went to Pensacola and was powerfully impacted there. She recounts how the Spirit came on her and in a corporate prayer time she began to groan and call out for the freedom for her people (the gay community), that the barriers to their entrance to the community of God would be broken down, that they would find their place.

We have to listen to such testimonies. If we disregard them we should also disregard other testimonies that have their source in a similar experience or environment. What is for sure is that this situation is not about to disappear and in a society / church where there is a greater push for transparency we are going to find ourselves being shocked at numerous points. Thank God for Scripture, but we so need the Holy Spirit to help us in our interpretation.

Here then in this post I want to conclude with some questions.

  • Slavery – women – homosexuality. Are these on a trajectory or is there a difference?
  • Prophetic imagery? I can see the dualities of Scripture (heaven/earth) being represented in the duality of male/female coming together. Can gay-marriage be prophetic in a biblical sense or simply provocative to force us to reconsider our boundaries?
  • Are the restrictions on same-sex activity cultic and anti-idolatrous in their contexts or are they wider than this?
  • What are legitimate boundaries for sexual expression?
  • And where does the call to celibacy fit in? (And with reference to Sandra’s book is the biblical reference to those who ‘are eunuchs from the womb’ a reference to celibacy or to those with same-sex orientation?)

Someone wrote me and asked if my views had changed since reading Sandra’a book. That is hard to answer. My attitudes I am sure have. By that I mean, we all think we are open and do not have a problem, but on many issues we can find that a button is pushed. So I am being softened, this has been an ongoing process over the past 25+ years. (Before that I knew too much to be softened… (translation – was too defensive)). I am sure that in this context Sandra’s book has been another tool from heaven in softening me.

My views today? I still have questions. I have what might be called ‘sticking points’, but I am desperately trying to hear what the Holy Spirit is doing and saying.

The dialogue is certainly with us.

For those interested here is Sandra’s web site.

God’s Gay Agenda: A review

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Some time ago I signed up to review some books through http://thespeakeasy.info/ and this is one of them. If you are a blogger / podcaster consider applying to be part of the deal too. The deal is a free book and then to give a fair review that is submitted and appears on one’s own site. I will also pick this up again in a few days time. So here is the review:

My lasting impression from reading this book is that it should be read by those on both ‘sides’ of the debate. I don’t say this solely because of the solid content, but more because of the spirit with which the book is written. It is not written defensively nor aggressively and the pace of the book is just right. Sandra gets the balance right between content to chew on and personal reflection. Probably there is a great need to think and feel our way to a conclusion. This book certainly helps enormously in that.

The material on ‘those born eunuchs from their mother’s womb’ forms a strong central part to the book and the research that she gathers here cannot be easily dismissed. She also puts the ‘clobber passages’ (as she terms them) in a context of idolatry rather than stand-alone comments on sexual-orientation/activity.

Is the argument closed? No, a great case is presented, and the discussion will continue, and I hope with this book as part of that ongoing discussion. Sandra presents a strong case that should not be dismissed out of hand by those who take an opposing perspective. Perhaps a weakness is that on a few occasions she moves from presenting something as a possibility to a few chapters later it is an-all-but certainty. For example, the centurion’s servant (Matt. 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10) could have been his lover (ch. 3 with arguments offered from culture and language) to ‘the account of the centurion and his servant lover’ in the following chapter.

An important read on an issue that we cannot ignore. If read in the same spirit with which the book is written I am sure it will prove to be enormously beneficial.

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.

Empires… how long do they last?

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The academic world has really taken hold of this issue of Empire. Scot McKnight and Joe Modica have a recent recently published book called Jesus is Lord, Caesar is Not: Evaluating Empire in New Testament Studies. There have been studies on Empire for a considerable length of time – the Anabaptists with people like Yoder of course have understood this issue – but unless I am mistaken the focus on this issue within Academia has intensified in recent years. Helped along by the re-discovery of the Gospel as political proclamation, the new perspective etc.

In around 2002 I can remember how in prayer we began to increasingly touch on the issues of Imperial power, and if I had received a euro for every time I have (mis-)quoted that the

Imperial spirit is that which pervades any organisation so that there are a few that shape the organisation and they promise benefits to all who comply but the real benefits flow back to the few.

I would be reasonably well off (well in euro terms!!).

I remember the day when I had a word that God was going to lead us to the Roman cities in the UK to undo a prevailing spirit there that was still active in the land. Two or three days later I met with a few people, we had no discussion about this and into the mix Sharon Stone said she had had a dream and in it the Lord said ‘I am coming to roll up the Roman road’.

Exciting days. Has the prayer and revelation increased the interest in the academic world?

Prayer… right thinking… legs and feet to the body.

Flooding in Rome at the Milvian Bridge. Is it too crazy to think we could be seeing a shift on Imperial issues on a larger scale than we thought possible? I am under no illusion that we build the kingdom (basileia = Greek for kingdom and the Greek word used for Empire) but I do think increasingly there are gaps appearing where truth and good practice can rise. And those who speak the truth and get in with good practice might include a few Christians but will certainly include many who have not found themselves in a personal relationship with Jesus, but they might just be influenced by his Spirit.

Romania… many questions

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This is our third year to come alongside the Networks Romania team. Although it was beneficial for them – described as helping trim the feathers on the arrow so that it flies straighter – the real benefit was for Gayle and I. The quality of the dedicated hard work that goes on is very impressive. The team are not ones to blow their own trumpet and I hesitate to do so, so just one example. Recently Lee was invited to a dinner for some 200 people in Sweden by a wealthy investor. Sitting at the table he asked someone what they were involved in. Later the same person leaned across the table, grabbed Lee’s arm and said ‘Compared to what you do I am sure what I am involved in sounds very hollow to you.’ The amazing part is Lee had not even said what he was involved in.

Stories of favour, of being called on for input could be multiplied many times over.

Practical help with vegetable growing, creating a clothing line, repairing houses, providing firewood and a host of other basic tasks that are anything but glamorous are all part of their invaluable support for the communities where they work. They have also been able to provide school education and some health care. And all of this connected to a people who believe in the supernatural intervention of heaven is wonderful.

We also connected this time with a church in Arad, Adoram, and I was able to teach there for a couple of hours. My interpreter said that it dismantled everything they had believed (about eschatology) but it all hung together. Imagine translating at the same time as ‘that’s just destroyed what I believe’. Funny interlude: last time I had a similar response was when riding with an ex-southern Baptist minister across Texas. About 5 hours in to the journey the conversation turned to alcohol.

‘I preach against it’ he proclaimed.

No response, then ‘what about you?’

Response (I had not read how to win friends and influence them at the time): ‘I drink it.’

Shock, horror…

‘But the Bible teaches against it.’

‘It does? What about Jesus and the early disciples? They drank wine.’

‘The wine in the Bible was non-acoholic.’

‘Ah that makes sense of Paul. Do not get drunk on non-alcoholic wine’ I replied.

‘You have just ruined my sermon.’

‘Maybe you had better get a new one then.’

That dialogue made the time pass a little quicker!!

Any way – interlude over… There were a couple of areas that really provoked me while there. First the question of do we need another outpouring of the Spirit or do we simply need to see released what has been deposited already. Now I hope we are not going to turn down another outpouring, but as Sue Mitchell has pointed out the 20th Century saw three global outpourings of the Spirit. Do we need more? Or is God now expecting us to steward what has been given. The hugest challenge has to be the release of an apostolic movement – and thank God there are already ones released – that puts feet to what has been released.

We have the presence of God in the earth, now enough framework of theology and thinking around the issues of the kingdom and empire, that what is really needed is for feet on the body. We are told that the early church grew at some 40% per decade (not stupendous growth – but way beyond anything in the Western world): this works out at 10 people today and 14 in ten years time. If that is a pattern then it is not that we need tremendous growth targets, we simply need consistency and depth. I do not think for one moment that what we saw in Romania is perfect, but if we could see something similar spread throughout the Balkans maybe in 10 years there would be little to show for it, but maybe after 40 years (an apostolic lifespan?) we might have something very different appearing.

Long term planning?

Another aspect that is very noticeable in Romania is the strong support from Sweden for the work there. Some funding and practical support comes from that nation – and from people who would not proclaim to have an evangelical faith. That aspect is always a strong sign – like Paul and his Asiarch friends in Acts. The second aspect that is so encouraging about this is that the nation of Sweden carries a giving and finishing anointing, and for years I have been saying that when we see the gifts of Sweden released we will know that Europe is moving into a new phase.

Always questions… Yesterday we sat with pen and paper to write down reflections, and questions that have been posed to us while away. Questions easily fill a page. Answers… well I am still scratching my head this morning, but as always great to be home!

Posting soon

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We are back and as always much to digest. I will be posting on our time away soon – not too many reflections as the work there can certainly not be accused of self-promotion so I do not want to embarrass them, though it is probably the best work that we have been able to see. Not perfect but…

Also in the next few days I will be posting here on a book I have been reading: God’s Gay Agenda. Some time back I agreed to review some books tied to thespeakeasy.info, so I need to fulfil that obligation.

Recently questions over austerity have arisen!! The 28 year old graduate who seems to have found errors in one of the main research papers undergirding the drive for austerity as the cure, and now The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, has said: “While I think ‘austerity’ is fundamentally right, I think it has reached its limit.”

Interesting times!!

Also very challenging while in Romania we discovered that under the communist regime the (now debt-laden country) had a significant surplus and was free of debt. So all we need now is some smart volunteers to help steer society in a nice straight line. Any volunteers out there?

Pause for breath

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We are travelling this week so will only be online on a few occasions… this being one of them. We made our (customary) 15 hour journey on Monday and arrived in Romania and our bed (3.00am) to be reminded as to why we come here these next two following days. I hope to put a little more flesh on the bones at some point but this is one of the best mission-wholistic-gospel-faithful projects that we connect with. At one level I would love to list out some of the amazing stories that are here, but am also aware that Lee and team are not looking to blow their trumpet.

I have just finished a day on Revelation – started at 9.00am so if the team is not a little tired I can make up for that. A pleasure to input and so receptive. It certainly leaves us with the huge thought of what does this look like with feet on it. While here I have been very provoked to think through the answer to the question I present below and then the practical issue of who.

There is enough theology framework around now regarding the nature of the Gospel, resurrection as political act, New Jerusalem, critique of Empire, kenarchy etc., that we need to begin to find an answer relating to the apostolic criteria:

  • Apostolic mandate knows about the issue of territory
  • It relates to a generational time frame
  • It is obedient to the one eternal Gospel but seeds it in a culturally relevant way
  • and can fill the blank in of ‘My God is able…’

I will be pursuing these issues these next days in my thinking.

The Questions or the Answers?

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“Stay with the question. When there is a question, you are awake. When there is an answer you go to sleep.”

It was a comment made by the teacher on an Enneagram weekend I went on recently, and I have been pondering the wisdom of it a lot. It challenged me to ask which, then, is more valuable – the question or the answer?

His point was about letting questions remain to accomplish what they need to; not hating the not knowing, the transition, the imbalance so much that we have to dismiss it by the fastest means.

Our lives seldom present us with a set of instant answers, they more often immerse us in questions that set us on searches and journeys. They place us uncomfortably within questions not yet answered, with paradoxes that, unless we are to do violence to ourselves or others, just have to be held and with mysteries that we are not yet equipped to probe.  And yet we are also made to believe in fulfilments and home-comings and to yearn towards them. In Acts 17 Paul seems to be saying to the Athenians that the very environment we live in, God deliberately tailored for us to stir questions and initiate searchings rather than to present solutions. Jesus too, seems to have more often than not replied to questions with questions. Something was more important to him than knowing the answer.

It is what being alive is all about in our present age I think. Not so much about the arriving as the being on the way. The quick answer, the sure thing that we can settle on before we know why, could be more of a curse than a blessing. It could park us in a siding and delude us. Eschatologically as well, our lives are in tension between something begun; something promised but not yet completed. Who you and I really are is still a mystery, yet to be revealed. There is resurrection potential within; a concealed diamond crusted for the moment in the fallen and temporary but one day to be revealed in unimaginable spiritual and physical glory. There is an image of God we glimpse in ourselves and each other, hinting at something more to come.

So letting each other live with the journey and with the not yet discovered must be as important as embracing it for ourselves. We often feel, with our friends and partners and children that we already have just the thing that they need, so we want to do them a favour by short-cutting their search. Sometimes we mean well, wanting to spare them some effort or pain. At other times it’s because their state has made us feel uncomfortable and we want relieve ourselves of their pain. Perhaps it’s because we long to be useful, or we may even be motivated by fear that they will never arrive, or arrive at the wrong place. I know I’ve done all this to those I care for at times.

So, being true to God’s ways with us and the way he allows life to teach us, is the church meant to give the answers or to facilitate and support the searching?

Preparing some notes

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Just putting together some notes for our time this coming week in Romania. So here is a seed thought that I am seeking to incubate between now and then:

  • The New Jerusalem fills the whole of Creation
  • God and the Lamb fill the whole of the New Jerusalem.

This could go in a number of directions. But are we to ‘get into God’ or does ‘God get into us as we get into Creation’?