Today we will hear a little about how we started dividing our lives and making the physical world something negative. To the extent to which Christianity cut itself off from its Jewish roots and adapted itself to the ancient world, it became a religion of redemption. It gave up eschatological hope and its apocalyptic alternative to 'this world' of violence and death, and merged into the Gnostic religion of redemption. Beginning with the church father Justin, the Greek philosopher Plato came to be revered as 'a Christian before Christ' - he had allegedly 'stolen' his good idea from Moses - and was extolled because of his sense of the divine transcendence and his feeling for the values of the ideal, spiritual world. I will include the above stuff again with tomorrow's piece from Brueggemann. This is a good place to stop for now. In many ways, this is why some people talk about being a Greek thinker verses holding onto the world view of our Jewish roots. We took on the division of self and left the shalom or wholeness of our being out in the dark. Our focus then became something other - another life somewhere else - another life after this one - another thing we can think about and attempt to focus our substance and worth out into some other time and other place. I cannot be completely critical here. When life is hard and there appears to be no way things are getting better and it even appears that those who follow in the way of Jesus are being shut down and shut out, the thoughts of another life or another state of being can become attractive. The result is wonderful devotion and even a strong piety. The result is also a turning inward and a retreat from the everyday world - the world of Jesus. Instead, we are left with a cosmic, other-worldly notion of Christianity. When we talk about being rooted in our Jewish past, we are not talking about an ethnic faith that must be preserved. Rather we are talking about a grounded reality that was and is meant to bring us to life now and make that life vitally important for the welfare of creation. Connection: Are you able to live within a faith expression that is willing to let go of the primacy of an after life that is the "goal" of our life here and now? If so, what does that mean for you? Lord of Creation, keep us present within the grasp of your living Reign that is at hand holding out to us all the glory of new life that comes in the midst of the next moments of our lives. Amen. |
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